Security researchers used the recent Def Con hackers’ convention to show just how easily some Bluetooth-based smart locks can be opened.Researchers Ben Ramsey and Anthony Rose of Merculite Security took a look at 16 smart locks from companies such as Ceomate, Elecycle, iBlulock, Mesh Motion, Okidokey, Plantraco, Quicklock, and Vians. Ramsey and Rose discovered that of those 16 locks, 12 could be hacked. Several of them could also be hacked with little to no effort. The researchers’ presentation slides are available on GitHub; the presentation was first reported by Tom’s Guide.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Security researchers used the recent Def Con hackers’ convention to show just how easily some Bluetooth-based smart locks can be opened.Researchers Ben Ramsey and Anthony Rose of Merculite Security took a look at 16 smart locks from companies such as Ceomate, Elecycle, iBlulock, Mesh Motion, Okidokey, Plantraco, Quicklock, and Vians. Ramsey and Rose discovered that of those 16 locks, 12 could be hacked. Several of them could also be hacked with little to no effort. The researchers’ presentation slides are available on GitHub; the presentation was first reported by Tom’s Guide.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Well, here we are. The free upgrade period for Windows 10 ended on July 29. You had a year to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, but you put it off, and put it off, and now it’s too late.Or is it? There is no longer an official way to upgrade to Windows 10 without paying a cent. But there are a few loopholes making the rounds on the Internet that apparently allow you to still get a free upgrade.INSIDER Review: Enterprise guide to Windows 10
We haven’t tested all of these methods to see if they’ll work. But we can tell you that all of these methods require you to check your morals at the door.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Anniversary Update for Windows 10 is just around the corner and it’s packed with all kinds of new features. Microsoft is emphasizing the improved Windows Ink functionality, as well as beefed-up Cortana features. But what are Windows 10 users themselves most excited about?To find out, we scoured forums on the Internet, posted inquiries on social media, and even asked for feedback via email. So here, in no particular order, are the features that have Windows users most pumped. What you see below might surprise you, and it just goes to show that often it’s those nice little touches that improve a user’s experience that get the biggest reaction.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Verizon's continuing its ongoing mission to pare down the number of customers on unlimited data plans by migrating them to ones with hard limits. Recently, the company came up with a way to get rid of its biggest data hogs.
Verizon is notifying customers using an “extraordinary” amount of data per month that they must move off their unlimited data plan by August 31. If they don’t switch, the carrier will disconnect their accounts, though they’ll have 50 days to reactivate them on a limited plan, as first reported by Droid Life.
Verizon ceased offering unlimited data plans in 2011.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There’s a new form of ransomware—apparently built by amateurs—that takes your money but deletes your personal files anyway. Security research firm Talos recently published a blog post about a new form of malware dubbed Ranscam.This ransomware follows the basic premise of previous variants. It claims your files have been encrypted, and thus inaccessible to you, then threatens to delete all your files if you don’t pay up. Ransomware's scary premise prompts many people to fork over the dough in order to save their photos and other content.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There’s a new form of ransomware—apparently built by amateurs—that takes your money but deletes your personal files anyway. Security research firm Talos recently published a blog post about a new form of malware dubbed Ranscam.This ransomware follows the basic premise of previous variants. It claims your files have been encrypted, and thus inaccessible to you, then threatens to delete all your files if you don’t pay up. Ransomware's scary premise prompts many people to fork over the dough in order to save their photos and other content.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
When Microsoft introduced the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) the common refrain was that you could use it to run Linux's beloved Bash tool but full Linux desktops were out.Turns out that wasn’t exactly true.It didn’t take long for people to note you could run an X server for windowed Linux applications. From there, it was only a short hop to running the Linux desktop on Windows without using a virtual machine.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
BlackBerry isn’t giving up on phones with physical keyboards, but the company does appear to be backing off the concept.
The company recently announced that it will no longer make the BlackBerry Classic. The handset was first launched in late 2014 as a replacement for the BlackBerry Bold.
This may be the end of the Classic handset but it isn't the end of physical keyboards for BlackBerry. The company still produces the Passport, which features a smaller physical keyboard to create more space for the phone’s touchscreen. There's also the Android-based BlackBerry Priv, which has a slide-out keyboard.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
After months of embracing malware-like tricks so nasty that some fearful Windows 7 users felt forced to disable updates completely, Microsoft is backing off its sneaky Windows 10 upgrade tactics and reverting to an interface that is far clearer and doesn’t violate user trust.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Computer maker Acer recently revealed to California’s Attorney General (AG) that hackers broke into the company’s online store and grabbed sensitive customer data. The leaked data includes information such as customer names, addresses, and credit card numbers including expiry dates and three-digit CVC security codes. The hack affects 34,500 customers based in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico, as first reported by ZDNet.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Computer maker Acer recently revealed to California’s Attorney General (AG) that hackers broke into the company’s online store and grabbed sensitive customer data. The leaked data includes information such as customer names, addresses, and credit card numbers including expiry dates and three-digit CVC security codes. The hack affects 34,500 customers based in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico, as first reported by ZDNet.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you go out shopping for a new PC after the Windows 10 Anniversary Update rolls out this summer, you might notice something we haven’t seen in a long, long time. The basic hardware requirements for Windows 10 are going up—albeit just slightly. This is the first such hardware increase since 2009 when Windows 7 rolled out.Starting with the Anniversary Update, Microsoft’s recommended specifications to hardware vendors—as first noticed by WinBeta and Nokia Power User—will see the RAM requirement increase for 32-bit versions from 1GB to 2GB. It’s a minor change to be sure, but it is the first such change in nearly seven years.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Everybody loves smartphones, but almost nobody loves Windows smartphones.A majority (78 percent) of all mobile phones sold worldwide between January and March were smartphones, and smartphones sales grew by 4 percent compared to the same time period the year previous, according to a recent report by market research firm Gartner. Yet with all that smartphone activity, Windows phone sales fell even further. Actually, the word “fell” is being generous. The truth is they crashed.Hard.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: 10 (FREE!) Microsoft tools to make admins happier
Windows mobile device market share fell below the one percent mark worldwide to 0.7 percent during the first quarter of 2016, according to Gartner. Just one year ago, Windows device sales were anemic at 2.5 percent, but that’s still many times better compared to where they are now.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft is adding a new weapon to its aggressive Windows 10 push—or at least it appears that it is.Earlier in the week, Microsoft added what sounds a lot like an advertisement for Windows 10 to its Patch Tuesday release for Internet Explorer, bundling it in with a critical security patch. The new update affects only Windows 7 and 8.1 PCs and brings an upgrade prompt to Internet Explorer 11.In its description of update KB3146449, Microsoft says it “adds functionality to Internet Explorer 11 on some computers that lets users learn about Windows 10 or start an upgrade to Windows 10.” Or as we common folk call it, an ad.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The slow death of the password continues. Microsoft's following in the footsteps of Google’s Chrome OS with a handy-dandy new Windows 10 feature that eliminates the need to manually log in to your PC.The company's currently testing a refreshed Authenticator app for Windows 10 mobile called Phone Sign-in Beta. It looks like the app will continue to generate codes for multi-factor authentication, but the star feature of the upgraded app is a new feature that unlocks your PC with one tap when your phone is nearby, as The Verge first reported.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple reportedly wants to take itself out of the equation when it comes to decrypting data on a criminal suspect’s iOS device. Company engineers are working on a solution that would make it impossible for Apple to help law enforcement break into an iPhone and gain access to the encrypted data contained within, according to The New York Times.The report is yet another storyline to come out of the continuing saga of Apple’s battle with the Federal Bureau of Investigation over the iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino, California shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. That iPhone, running iOS 9, is locked with a passcode and thus all data on the phone is encrypted until the device is unlocked with the proper password.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Before there were botnets, the MyDoom worm, and Stuxnet, malware that hit your DOS personal computer was of a completely different breed. Some were simply annoying, some would corrupt files or mess with your system, but they all did it with style.+ ALSO: All hail: Inside the museum of nonsense +Now you can relive the magic of malware from the 1980s and 1990s courtesy of the Internet Archive’s brand new Malware Museum. Here, through the safety of an in-browser DOS simulator, you can relive some of the highlights of malware from yesteryear. This initial collection was created by Jason Scott, archivist and software curator for the Internet Archive, and Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer of F-Secure.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Skype is adding a new default security feature primarily to protect gamers from their overheated rivals. The Microsoft-owned service recently announced it would start hiding users’ IP addresses by default in the latest update to Skype. Previously, a Skype user’s IP address was not hidden, meaning hackers who knew what to look for could easily obtain your IP address and thus target your computer.
Why this matters: Online gaming is serious business. So serious that people who lose major online battles or matches can sometimes seek revenge. One easy way to do that is to launch a distributed denial of service attack knocking their victorious rival offline. Before launching a DDoS, however, you need your target’s IP address. That was actually pretty easy if you knew your target’s Skype name. You don’t even need to be a capable programmer as many websites called ‘resolvers’ promised to reveal a Skype user’s IP address.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Look on the bright side! There’s one good thing that comes out of all those website breaches every year: Security researchers get to comb through all those lists of usernames and passwords to remind us just how bad most of our passwords are. Now that we’re well into 2016, password management company SplashData just released its annual round-up of the worst passwords of 2015.+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD 25 most commonly used and worst passwords of 2014 +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Ian Paul