security

A newly-identified piece of malware has achieved arguably the ultimate goal of cybercriminals. "Nemesis" is able to infect a Windows computer before the operating system is loaded. The malware is a particularly nasty form of a rootkit . That's ... software which is able to inappropriately access some of the core components of a computer (both hardware and software), often disguising its actions. A rootkit is a serious problem because it's often completely undetectable, which means that it can easily override antivirus software to carry out malicious tasks. In this case, the Nemesis ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Tom H. writes: " Dear Dennis, I'm currently running Windows 7 and would like to upgrade to Windows 10. However, the one thing I'm greatly concerned about is how Windows 10 will track and share my information online. In your ... opinion is Windows 10 worth it or should I stick with Windows 7? " My response: That's a good question, and there a number of things to consider. Updates for the Life of the Machine In my opinion, it's definitely worth the upgrade to go from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10 simply for the fact that you will be running the latest operating system from ... (view more)

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has hired a noted privacy campaigner to investigate Internet providers. It's part of a joint move with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to strengthen security and privacy measures in the communications ... industry. Jonathan Mayer has been hired as the FCC chief technologist in its enforcement division. In effect, he'll deal with the practical issues involved in deciding whether or not a company is following the law. It's a strong sign the commission intends to get tougher on company violations. New Appointee Exposed Google Trickery Mayer ... (view more)

Apple has told a court that it's impossible to access data in most iPhones and iPads without a password. It could lead to a legal standoff in the 'security versus privacy' debate. The comments came in a case involving a recently-seized iPhone. The ... United States Justice Department is unable to access the contents of the phone and has therefore asked the court to order Apple to help them gain access. In this specific case however, Apple is physically able to access the device's data because the phone itself is running a susceptible operating system (iOS version 7). Nonetheless, Apple has ... (view more)

Google is to tone down security warnings for users of the Chrome browser. It believes the move won't increase user risk and may instead encourage websites to improve security. The change involves the way secure websites appear in the address bar in ... Chrome. At the moment, a website in Chrome will appear with one of four icons to the left of the address to indicate whether or not it is secure: A plain white 'blank page' icon indicates an ordinary http site, meaning there's no encryption of data passing back and forth between the website and the user's computer. A green ... (view more)

Microsoft says it may revise its policy of giving little to no information about the contents of updates to Windows 10. For now at least, any details would only go to business customers. As previously discussed, Windows 10 marks a departure from the ... traditional monthly release of updates , with the only exceptions being one-off security patches for serious bugs in the wild which are usually being exploited by hackers. Under the new system, Microsoft quietly sends out updates both for security fixes and enhancements to features, as and when they are ready. That's accompanied by a change in ... (view more)

Companies that don't do enough to protect customer data against hacking are more likely to be sued, thanks to a court ruling this week. A federal appeals court rejected an argument that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) overstepped its powers by ... suing a company over three hacking incidents. The company is question is the Wyndham Hotel chain, in which 619,000 customers' credit card data was leaked. According to the FTC, Wyndham failed to use suitably complex login details on accounts, stored card data on its servers in unencrypted form, and did not use adequate firewalls to protect the ... (view more)

Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 10 users will be able to block or undo some updates to the system. It's a minor exception to the recently-instated policy that all updates are mandatory. In previous editions of Windows, users have always had the ... choice of whether or not to download a new feature or security update, including whether or not it was installed automatically, or manually. Last month Microsoft raised eyebrows when a page on its site revealed that users of the Home edition -- the one aimed at the general consumer market -- will have all updates downloaded automatically. The ... (view more)

Microsoft has confirmed it will support Windows 10 for at least ten years. The statement answers some questions, but raises other queries. The confirmation comes via a change to Microsoft's Windows lifecycle fact sheet . That's the page that ... explains exactly when it plans to stop offer support for each of its operating systems. The listed dates for Windows 10 are October 13, 2020 for the end of mainstream support and October 14, 2025 for the end of extended support. (Source: microsoft.com ) Although XP's support was extended several times (owing largely to the reluctance of many ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sam R. writes: " Dear Dennis, Is there an alternative to Adobe Flash? I just read John Lister's article ' Flash Blocked in Firefox over Security Risk ,' and I'm concerned that Flash might download a virus onto my system. I'm also ... concerned that Flash is a major CPU hog which slows down my system. If there is no alternative to Flash, and I block Flash entirely, how can I watch YouTube videos? " My response: Unfortunately there is currently no alternative to Flash on Windows systems that allows you to play Flash content (that I am aware of). There are, however a few ... (view more)