John Lister

Researchers have spotted new ransomware with a nasty new twist. "Clop," as it's called, doesn't just encrypt files, but deliberately attempts to screw up applications as well. The move is most likely intended to reduce the chances of the ransomware ... being blocked, but also means an attack could be even more disruptive and make it more likely a complete rebuild of the affected PC is necessary. Normally ransomware's main task is to encrypt as many files as possible on a computer. The idea here is to extort the user by forcing them to pay a ransom to regain access to the locked files. ... (view more)

Microsoft has warned users to pay particularly close attention to emails that appear to come from "microsoft.com". A simple trick involving spelling was the key to a security attack that Microsoft believes was instigated by North Korea. A US court ... has given Microsoft legal control of 50 web domains it says were used to carry out cyber attacks on Windows users. It's said to be the work of a group dubbed Thallium operating out of North Korea. Microsoft says the attacks were targeted at "government employees, think tanks, university staff members, members of organizations ... (view more)

Microsoft will officially ditch support for Windows 7 in just a couple of weeks, a decade after the system debuted. It means Microsoft may face a difficult choice over security issues. January 14 will mark the end of Extended Support for Windows 7 - ... the second period of a Windows edition's lifespan. Mainstream support, which is the period when Windows 7 received new features and Microsoft deals with tech queries free of charge, already ended in 2015. (Source: bt.com ) Extended Support is where Microsoft charges for help and where the only updates are to fix security problems and major ... (view more)

A "smart" security camera maker has suffered a significant data breach. No video footage was leaked, but email addresses and details of some home gadgets were exposed. Manufacture Wyze hasn't revealed full details of how the breach happened, but ... denied that the leak was due to using cloud computing in China. According to Wyze, the exposed data covered 2.4 million customers and included "customer emails along with camera nicknames, WiFi SSIDs, Wyze device information, body metrics for a small number of product beta testers, and limited tokens associated with Alexa integrations. ... (view more)

Microsoft may be planning to change the way it issues updates for Windows 10. It could help break the cycle of updates fixing previous problems and introducing new ones. Windows 10 represents a shift in the way that Windows Updates are applied. In ... addition to frequent updates to fix bugs and add features, the biggest changes are saved for two major updates each year. The idea is that Windows 10 will be updated indefinitely, rather than introducing a totally new edition. This replaced the previous model of each edition of Windows getting a "Service Pack" of updates every year or two and then ... (view more)

Facial recognition software may be less accurate when dealing with non-Caucasian faces, according to a new study. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) noted the problem was likely the data used to "train" algorithms. The NIST ... examined 189 algorithms from 99 different developers, which it says is a majority of all commercially available systems. (Source: bbc.co.uk ) In the testing, it looked at two tasks. Specifically, they looks to see if two specific photographs are of the same person. In one example, it was to verify identity in order to unlock a phone or check a ... (view more)

Facebook is to stop treating user's phone numbers as a way to target advertising and recommend friends. Critics said the practice undermined a key security measure. The company says it wasn't collecting the numbers directly from phones or the ... Facebook app. Instead, users provided the number when taking advantage of two factor authentication. With this set-up, it means that if a user tries to log in to Facebook on a new device or from a new location, Facebook sends a security code by text message to the number on file. The user then has to type the code in to Facebook before they can login ... (view more)

Microsoft is to fix some major problems with the Windows 10 File Explorer. But the delay has raised some serious questions about its testing process. The problem first arose with Windows 10 version 1909, otherwise known as the November 2019 update. ... That version added a new feature to the File Explorer's search tool, which meant you can now preview documents stored remotely on OneDrive (cloud storage), rather than just locally on the computer itself. (Source: techradar.com ) Somehow adding that feature managed to add three major glitches: Many users found using the search tool would freeze ... (view more)

Russian leader Vladmir Putin still uses Windows XP if official photographs are to be believed. Ironically it might actually be a security measure. The photos released by the Russian state news agency show Putin's computers in his Kremlin office and ... his official residence. In both cases the screens are displaying the toolbar and icons from XP, though the default desktop background image is replaced with a picture of the Kremlin. (Source: themoscowtimes.com ) It would certainly be frowned upon (if not entirely shocking) for senior government officials in the West to still be running XP due to ... (view more)

An illegal streaming service offering more than a hundred thousand television episodes and ten thousand movies with no restrictions on device or location has been closed down. That's because the two men operating it have both pleaded guilty to ... copyright infringement. iStreamItAll was a subscription service that - had it been legal - would arguably have been the best value on the market, offering a bigger range than four leading legal services combined. Indeed, its chief Darryl Polo actively marketed it to customers of Netflix, Amazon Prime and similar services as a better option with a wider ... (view more)