The FBI has taken control of a forum used for selling stolen data. The fact it's the second time BreachForums has been taken down this year shows how it may be an endless task. Such forums are arguably a key incentive for hackers to steal data in ... the first place. The forums make it easier to find buyers for the stolen data, rather than the hackers having to figure out their own tactics for exploiting the stolen information. BreachForums was also a key marketplace for selling malware used for successful hacking attacks. High-profile data offered for sale on the site in recent months included ... (view more)
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It's no surprise TikTok has challenged a law that bans it operating in the US under Chinese ownership. But what wasn't expected was individual users suing to block the law. The US government recently passed a law giving TikTok's Chinese-based owners ... ByteDance until January 19, 2025 to sell to a non-Chinese company. If it doesn't, app stores will be barred from distributing the app and hosting companies would not be allowed to serve the business. TikTok says the deadline is so short and the conditions so strict that the law is effectively an outright ban. It's already started a legal challenge ... (view more)
Internet adoption has a positive link with wellbeing, according to an international research project. But it's a mixed picture and cause and effect could be questioned. The research comes from the Oxford Internet Institute, which examined a wide ... range of studies into psychological wellbeing and mental health. They covered a total of 2.4 million people across 168 countries at various points between 2006 and 2021. (Source: ac.uk ) The researchers then cross-referenced the results with figures on broadband and mobile Internet use in the relevant countries at the relevant times. The biggest ... (view more)
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has banned Internet carriers from giving some applications access to "fast lane" speeds. The tweak to recently-restored net neutrality rules aims to close a potential loophole. Last month, the FCC voted to ... restore the principle of net neutrality. Broadly they say Internet carriers must treat all traffic equally. The commission has now published the full wording of the rules which will enforce the principle. One of the most notable elements of net neutrality is speed. Previously used rules explicitly barred carriers from slowing down access when ... (view more)
A new form of laptop memory aims to remove one of the biggest trade-offs in portable devices. It promises speed and power efficiency while still being easily replaceable. Most existing laptop memory falls into two categories, each with a weakness. ... One type, which is easily replaceable, takes up a comparatively large amount of space and uses a lot of power. That's double bad news in a portable computer. The other type is smaller and more energy efficient but must be soldered onto the motherboard, which is effectively the "spine" of a computer's operations. That's great at first but it removes ... (view more)
A new form of Android malware can hijack legitimate apps. "Dirty Stream" take advantage of a legitimate function designed to make life easier for users. The function is called ContentProvider and allows one mobile app to access data from, or ... communicate with, another app. It makes it possible to, for example, open a PDF attachment from a messaging app in a dedicated PDF reader app. The people behind the DirtyStream malware found a vulnerability in the way ContentProvider worked. This made it possible not only to force another app to open a compromised file, but to then use the contents to ... (view more)
Google says it blocked 2.28 million potentially malicious apps from getting into the official Play store last year. It stopped or paused a further 200,000 which didn't correctly use the permissions system. The figure for malicious app blocks is up ... almost half compared with 2022. Google didn't say conclusively whether that means more scammers are trying their luck or if it simply did a better job of detecting them. However, it did note the 2023 figure was "in part thanks to our investment in new and improved security features, policy updates, and advanced machine learning and app review ... (view more)
The FCC has restored net neutrality rules, theoretically making it harder for broadband providers to favor traffic speed on some sites or services over others. But the introduction of 5G technology could be a glitch in the plan. Net neutrality is a ... longstanding topic of debate for the FCC with policy largely following partisan politics. Rules were last introduced in 2015 and then repealed in 2017. (Source: theverge.com ) The general principle of net neutrality is that all Internet traffic (except for inherently illegal content) should be treated equally by carriers. That means, for example, ... (view more)
The next generation of the iPhone could have no physical buttons at all. The volume and power buttons could be replaced with sensors similar to the touchscreen itself. The news comes from leaks in the component manufacturing market that are normally ... reliable, though it's not certain the changes will come quickly enough for the iPhone 16's release, expected this summer. Similar rumors came before last year's iPhone 15, but Apple reportedly dropped plans because of manufacturing challenges. The theory of the latest rumors is that the physical buttons will be replaced with capacitive input. That ... (view more)
Apple has confirmed some users will be able to download iOS apps from websites rather than an app store. But the relaxation of rules comes with a major limitation. The new policy applies to European Union countries and is part of Apple's response to ... the Digital Markets Act. That's a new rule that says operators of services with a very large number of users in Europe must remove some barriers to competition. These generally include opening services up to third party access. That includes iOS apps were historically Apple has strictly enforced a rule that users can only install apps from its ... (view more)
Last month's Windows 10 and 11 updates included a bug that has broken VPN functions for some users. Microsoft is working on a fix but hasn't give a timescale. VPN stands for virtual private network. It's an approach to security and privacy that uses ... a secure connection between the user and the Internet. It's sometimes likened to a traffic tunnel: although the traffic still flows normally without disruption, it's not visible to anyone outside the tunnel. Using a VPN can disguise a user's IP address (which identifies their connection point to the Internet) and makes it much harder for anyone to ... (view more)
YouTube says it will completely block third-party apps that show its videos with ads removed. It's the latest move in a crackdown on ad blocking that's provoked heated debate. The company has previously attempted to stop ad blocking in web browsers ... tools such as add-ons or extensions. These crackdowns have had mixed results, with some ad blocker developer continuing to stay one step ahead in a game of cat and mouse. Now YouTube has turned its attention to third-party apps that show videos from the site. This is done perfectly legally through an API, a software tool that websites can make ... (view more)
Microsoft is to run what are effectively ads in the Windows 11 Start menu. The "recommendations" will initially appear only for those who've signed up to be early testers of new features. The promotions will appear in the "Recommended" section at ... the bottom of the Start menu. This normally includes links to both installed apps and documents that the user has either recently used or frequently uses. The idea is that these are most likely to be what the user wants to open at any given moment. Insiders are Test Dummies The new feature will mean this list also includes suggested apps from the ... (view more)
The FCC has launched "broadband labels" to help consumers compare different packages and providers. The labels are modeled on those used for nutritional information. The idea is to help consumers make more informed decisions about choosing a ... provider. The problem is that often it's a lack of choice that's the biggest barrier to getting good value Internet services. Most providers will need to start displaying the labels from this month, though those with fewer than 100,000 subscribers have until October to comply. Customers can complain to the FCC about missing or inaccurate labels. The FCC ... (view more)
Microsoft has released one of the biggest Patch Tuesday updates ever. It includes 149 security fixes, including two "zero day bugs". Some reports suggest this is the most fixes in any monthly Microsoft update while others suggest it is "merely" the ... biggest in the past seven years. Either way, this is not a month for anyone who chooses to install Windows security fixes manually to hang about. Three of the fixes are for bugs Microsoft classes as "critical", meaning attackers could exploit them without requiring any action by the user. Almost all the rest are "important," meaning the attacker ... (view more)
Google has launched a "find my phone" feature that can work even after the battery has run out. It's part of a major upgrade delayed by a dispute with Apple, though privacy remains a hot topic. The big upgrade is to the "Find My Device" network of ... what Google says is more than a billion Android devices including phones, watches and earbuds. It aims to overcome the problems that it's not necessarily viable (or desirable) for all portable devices to constantly be connected to cellular networks or WiFi, broadcasting their location ready to be tracked by their owner. Instead the idea is that each ... (view more)
Google is reportedly considering charging users to get AI-based search results. It would be the first time the company had a fee for using its search tools. The plans were revealed by the Financial Times, which says it got details from "three people ... with knowledge of [Google's] plans." The technology for the charging is already in development and it's now simply a case of deciding whether to go ahead with the plan. (Source: ft.com ) There's no suggestion whatsoever that Google will start charging for its core search engine results. Instead a subscription fee would apply to extra results ... (view more)
Microsoft has warned Gmail is blocking messages from some Outlook users. It’s shared a workaround for the problem, caused by an overactive spam filter. The problem appears to be affecting users who have an Outlook email address that ends with a s ...pecific country domain rather than “.com”. When they send a message to a Gmail account, it’s undelivered. Instead, the sender gets an automated response reading: mx.google.com: Remote server returned message detected as spam -> 550 5.7.1 [[ IPAddress]] Gmail has detected that this message;is likely suspicious due to the very low reputation of the ..."/news/11385/microsoft-warns-gmail-spam-error" class="more-link">view more)
Infopackets Reader Fred J. writes: " Dear Dennis, Like you, I use an on-premise version of ConnectWise ScreenConnect to provide technical support to my clients. A recent security vulnerability ( CVE-2024-1709 ) this past February forced me to ... upgrade ScreenConnect to their latest branch (currently version 23.9) in order to patch the system. Prior to that, I was using an old Linux version of ScreenConnect from 2016. A few weeks after the upgrade, however, the 'Administrator' user I use to log into my on-prem ScreenConnect is locked out because bots keep hitting my login page in order to guess ... (view more)
Florida law now says under-14s can't use social media while 14 and 15-year-olds need parental permission. The controversial law takes effect from the start of 2025 but may still be challenged in the Supreme Court. The new state law says social media ... platforms must delete any existing account held by somebody aged under 14 as well as prevent under 14s from opening a new one. Supporters of the law said children of this age weren't mature enough to understand the "addictive technologies" of such sites and make an informed choice whether to use them. Hefty Penalties For those aged 14 or 15, ... (view more)
YouTube may soon automatically figure out the "best parts" of a video and let users jump straight to them. It could aid viewers but might not be great news for people who make videos for in return for compensation (whether it's an embedded paid ... sponsorship or Google Ads). The company is testing out the technology in what it is calling "a very small experiment in the US". It suggests the feature will, at least at first, be exclusive to subscribers of YouTube Premium. The feature, known as Jump Ahead, appears to be in testing in both the mobile app and connected TV app versions of YouTube. With ... (view more)
A program to make broadband cheaper for low income households will soon expire. The Affordable Connectivity Program provokes political debate on both the importance of technology and the role of government. The program launched in 2021 with a $14 ... billion funding commitment from the federal government. It was available for households based on their income or them also being eligible for programs such as Medicaid or nutritional aid. Eligible households received a $30 discount on their broadband bill. Some providers created basic packages priced at $30, meaning the households did not pay any ... (view more)
Recently, Google has started baking artificial intelligence (AI) into its standard search results. However, the new AI-powered responses have been criticized for giving credibility to scams, including leading users to malicious sites where their ... systems could be compromised by ransomware and similar. Although the baked-in artificial intelligence results have already been available for people who have intentionally asked to try it, what's important to note is that Google is now rolling it out for some ordinary users when they carry out a search. The idea of the new tool is to better handle ... (view more)
Infopackets Reader Steve T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I use Chrome as my web browser and when I right click on a web page, I often use the option to 'View page source' so that I can copy its contents and edit the HTML using another program. The problem ... is that in 2023, Google released an update to Chrome that changed the right click menu. Now, I am forced to scroll through the menu in order to get to the 'View page source' option. This is painful and time consuming since I do it many times a day. Last year I came across a few articles that suggested going to 'chrome://flags/' via the web address ... (view more)
Major tech companies including Microsoft and Meta say Apple is trying to weasel out of a court ruling on the way it handles app payments. They've weighted in on a court dispute about how to enforce a judgment against Microsoft. The case centers on ... in-app payments where people who've already installed an app give extra money to the app developers. Common examples include subscriptions to a digital service or payments for additional content in games. Apple demands a cut of either 15 or 30 percent of such payments made through its payment handling services. Critics, including games maker Epic, ... (view more)
YouTube says video creators must reveal when they have used artificial intelligence tools. However, the rules only apply in specific circumstances. According to YouTube, creators using AI is not a problem in itself. Instead it wants viewers to be ... better informed about "whether the content they're seeing is altered or synthetic." The new requirement only applies when people use such tools create "realistic content", which YouTube defines as "content a viewer could easily mistake for a real person, place, scene or event." (Source: blog.youtube ) Animation OK There's no need to label AI-based ... (view more)
Google says Chrome will now warn users about risky sites using real-time information. The improvements won't compromise user privacy. Chrome already offers a feature called Safe Browsing. The default option, "standard protection," kicks in when ... users are about to visit a site, download a file or install an extension. The feature compares the target URL (website address) against a database of known and suspected security risks and warns the user of a match. The optional "enhanced protection" option will also actively check the target site for any signs that it may be compromised, threaten ... (view more)
Infopackets Reader Gina P. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently checked my Windows 11 Update and Security (i.e. Windows Update), and I see a bunch of failed updates for Hewlett-Packard - USB - 2/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - 44.1.2402.1741 . I've rebooted my ... machine three times today, and I see 6 corresponding failures for Hewlett-Packard - USB - 2/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - 44.1.2402.1741. From what I gather, appears that the HP USB update is attempting to install twice each time I turn on the machine or reboot. It also appears to have been failing to install for well over a year. I've searched google on ... (view more)
Google has revealed it paid $10 million in bounties to people who spotted security bugs in its products last year. More people earned rewards than in an equivalent Microsoft program, though Google paid out less per person. Such programs are designed ... not only to boost security but to encourage security researchers to work for good, rather than exploit bugs. However, critics say tech companies should put more of their resources into making software as bug-free as possible to start with. Google paid out a total of $10 million in 2023, split between 632 researchers in 68 countries. The highest ... (view more)
What's one of the best one-stop video/image quality enhancement and editing software available for Windows? Answer: Digiarty's VideoProc Converter AI! From the makers of WinX DVD Ripper and WinX Video Converter comes VideoProc Converter: a ... multi-award winning software program that is a one-stop video/image processing program that allows you to restore and enhance video image quality in 1 click, convert video/audio, rip DVDs, edit video, download videos, video to GIF maker ... plus much more! The latest version of VideoProc Converter AI includes the ability to upscale old pictures and video ... (view more)
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My name is Dennis Faas and I am a senior systems administrator and IT technical analyst specializing in cyber crimes (sextortion / blackmail / tech support scams) with over 20 years experience; I also run this website! If you need technical assistance , I can help. Click here to email me now; optionally, you can review my resume here. You can also read how I can fix your computer over the Internet (also includes user reviews).
My name is Dennis Faas and I am a senior systems administrator and IT technical analyst specializing in cyber crimes (sextortion / blackmail / tech support scams) with over 20 years experience; I also run this website! If you need technical assistance , I can help. Click here to email me now; optionally, you can review my resume here. You can also read how I can fix your computer over the Internet (also includes user reviews).
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