Samsung Provokes Debate with Claims that Smartphones Are The Most Secure for Cryptocurrencies Last month, leading Samsung author Joel Snyder penned a blog post in which he made the bold assertion that smartphones encompass the best security for ... owning, trading and managing cryptocurrency. He put this down to the Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) in which smartphones, and particularly those developed by Samsung, operate. A trusted execution environment (TEE) is a secure area of a processor found on smartphones (not PCs), originally developed in 2010 by Open Mobile Terminal Platform ... (view more)

Google has been tracking mobile device users movements even when they have "Location History" switched off. It turns out users need to turn off a less well-known setting to stop tracking altogether. The issue doesn't just affect devices running ... Android. Some iPhones are also affected if they have Google apps such as Maps or Search running. In theory, switching off the Location History setting on your device or in a Google account will prevent the company tracking and storing location information. The immediate effect is visible as the timeline feature in Google Maps will stop updating. ... (view more)

An 11-year-old boy hacked a replica of a Florida election website in just 10 minutes. Officials have downplayed the incident saying it's not an accurate recreation of how such hacking could work. The hack took place at DefCon, an annual conference ... for people interested in computer security. It often has competitions and demonstrations of security vulnerability - and certainly isn't a place you would want to connect your wireless device to unknown WiFi networks. One of the events at the conference was the DefCon Voting Machine Hacking Village. Participants, including many children, attempted ... (view more)

Google is reportedly working on an option to run Windows on Chromebooks. It could remove one hurdle to people buying the devices, but won't be suitable for the lowest-spec line of Chromebook machines. Chromebooks are portable computers than run an ... operating system called ChromeOS. It's effectively a souped-up version of the Chrome browser, which means most of the processing is actually done by remote servers, rather than on the machine itself as with conventional PCs and laptops. This type of setup reduces hardware demands, meaning it can get by with cheaper components as well as being ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Larry O. writes: " Dear Dennis, I don't know what's going on but all my files on my external western digital 'My Book' are marked as ' READ ONLY '. I have tried formatting the My Book drive using File Explorer, but it tells me the ... drive is write protected. I have looked but there is no tab or switch on the USB drive to unlock or disable the write protect . I have also tried formatting the drive with Windows Disk Management but it fails. Also, if I right click the drive partition in Disk Management, the delete option is missing. I am at a complete loss. I have searched for ' ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Joe P. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit. I am trying to install 'ON1 Photo Editor' on my machine which requires Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable. The installer package for the ON1 Photo Editor ... includes the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable as part of the installation. During the installation, however, the Microsoft Visual C++ hangs during the install and does not proceed. I have let it sit for over 24 hours and nothing happens - the installation hangs and ultimately fails . I should also mention that my Windows Update is also broken ... (view more)

Officials in Europe want all phone companies to use the same technology for charging mobile devices. If the rules go ahead, it could mean Apple has to ditch its custom 'Lightning' port, and Qualcomm's 'Quick Charge' (used by Android devices). The ... European Union is running an "impact assessment study" to decide whether to push the policy and if so, whether to seek a voluntary agreement or impose rules. If it opts for the latter, manufacturers might decide it is easier to use the relevant charging port format worldwide rather than make specific handsets for Europe. (Source: independent.co.uk ) ... (view more)

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has banned military staff from using geolocation tools such as GPS-enabled fitness trackers in "operational areas." The move follows fears such data could be unintentionally public and threaten security. Earlier ... this year fitness tracker company Strava published a worldwide map showing the most popular routes for its users to run and carry out other exercise activity. The map showed routes in increasing levels of brightness depending on their popularity. Middle East Bases Unintentionally Mapped Several users then spotted several routes in countries such as ... (view more)

The next edition of the Google Android operating system for phones and tablets will include measures to help users spend less time on their mobile devices. The update also makes notifications more useful and addresses battery life problems. The ... changes come in a new version of the operating system that's officially called Android 9.0 but nicknamed Android Pie (or "Android P"), continuing a pattern of naming updates after food. It's already available for Google's own Pixel phones and will then start gradually rolling out to other models, though older handsets may not get the update. ... (view more)

Staff of a local government in Alaska have switched to typewriters after a ransomware attack crippled their computer network. Officials are currently rebuilding the system from scratch. The attack hit Matanuska-Susitna Borough, which covers the ... region just north of Anchorage. The problems began on July 24, though officials believe the malware may have been on the system for several weeks before activating. IT staff spotted the ransomware attack thanks to antivirus software , but had to start manually removing some of the more sophisticated elements. They also reset all passwords as a security ... (view more)