'Where's Waldo?' comes to Google Maps for some reason

Today, Google announces that it is bringing the "Where's Waldo?" franchise to Google Maps. If you aren't familiar, this is a picture book series in which the reader has to find "Waldo" -- a man wearing a striped sweater. By design, he is hard to find -- he is hidden in plain sight by blending into his surroundings. Exactly why Google is doing this is a mystery, but OK, whatever. Tomorrow is April 1, a date that represents "April Fool's Day" -- a holiday where people play pranks on each other. In recent years, technology companies -- including Google --… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft releases Windows 10 Spring Creators Update Build 17133 to the Slow ring, but not for all

Microsoft only released Windows 10 Spring Creators Update (Redstone 4) Build 17133 to the Fast ring a few days ago, but it’s already been cleared for the Slow ring. However, as part of some deployment testing, not everyone on the Slow ring will receive it immediately. You will be able to force the update if you want to though. SEE ALSO: Microsoft releases Windows 10 Redstone 5 Build 17634 for Skip Ahead Windows boss Terry Myerson leaves Microsoft as part of a major shakeup Microsoft releases Windows 10 Spring Creators Update Build 17133 to the Fast ring Microsoft admits Windows… [Continue Reading]

Less than half of Android security apps offer effective protection

A new study from independent testing lab AV-Comparatives reveals that of over 200 Android security apps tested the majority are dubious, unsafe or ineffective. The company downloaded 204 apps from the Google Play store in January this year and found 84 of the apps detected over 30 percent of malicious samples, and had zero false alarms. 79 detected under 30 percent of malware samples and/or had a high false alarm rate. The remaining 41 apps have since been removed from the store. These are described by the report as very buggy, unsafe and ineffective apps that appear to have been… [Continue Reading]

What's the probability of a data breach happening to you? Or is that the wrong question?

Correctly calculating the probability of risk is becoming critical to organizations. And it’s not just because it is essential and fundamental to good Risk Management practice, but also because new laws such as GDPR are mandating it. Security measures must be appropriate to the risk, and the risk is suffering a data breach. So, calculating the probability of a data breach happening, regardless of scope, is vital to determining appropriate security measures. ISACA, previously known as the Information Systems Audit and Control Association but now known solely by its acronym, talks about the probability of risk as: RISK = PROBABLITY… [Continue Reading]

Best practices for effective Privileged Access Management

It feels like almost every week, we hear of a new breach, and each week, we’re thankful it wasn’t our company. But how long can we dodge the breach bullet? No one wants to be the next headline, but what can we do to ensure that we aren’t? The common denominator in virtually every breach is that somehow, someone who shouldn’t have access to your company’s system and data sources has found a way in. The bad guys are smart, creative and motivated, and can use even the smallest opening. So how do we defend ourselves against these relentless attacks?… [Continue Reading]

Apple releases iOS 11.3 with a massive focus on privacy

Ahead of GDPR in Europe, Apple has released iOS 11.3, complete with a selection of privacy-focused tools. But while privacy is at the heart of the release, it is far from being the end of the story. The recent Facebook scandal has focused attention on privacy, and this is something Apple will be more than happy to capitalize upon, bringing GDPR-prompted tools to the world -- not just Europe. But iOS 11.3 also includes an extensive changelog with a range of fixes and updates. See also: Apple proposes new emojis depicting disabled people Apple unveils its most affordable iPad yet,… [Continue Reading]

Best Windows 10 apps this week

Two-hundred-and-seventy-six in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 on the Windows Store in the past seven days. Microsoft added the new Edge Extensions page to the Store recently. The Store page lists recent and popular Edge extensions, and also extensions by category. As always, if I missed an app or game that has been released this week that you believe is particularly good, let me know in the comments below or notify me via email. Discounts this week The following list is a selection of the best deals. Make… [Continue Reading]

Leaked Facebook memo: 'so what if the social network's growth leads to terrorism and death?'

A leaked memo written by Facebook's vice-president, Andrew Bosworth, entitled "The Ugly" gives a glimpse into the attitude the social network has towards its own growth. "Boz" Bosworth says the "ugly truth" of Facebook's growth is that connecting people could lead to deaths -- but so be it. In the memo, Bosworth says "anything that allows us to connect more people more often is *de facto* good". He goes on to say: "That's why all the work we do in growth is justified. All the questionable contact importing practices. All the subtle language that helps people stay searchable by friends.… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft releases update that fixes problematic Meltdown patch

As if the Meltdown and Spectre chip vulnerabilities weren't bad enough in their own right, the patches designed to fix them caused a further series of problems. A Swedish researcher recently discovered that Microsoft's Meltdown fixes lowered security in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, and now the company has issued a fix. As the new patch is being released outside of the usual schedule, it is indicative of the importance of the security update. KB4100480 is a kernel update for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 that addresses CVE-2018-1038 problems. See… [Continue Reading]

CloudBerry offers 50 percent discount for World Backup Day

This Saturday's World Backup Day is set to raise awareness of the importance of backing up important documents. Backup solution specialist CloudBerry is marking the day by offering a 50 percent discount until April 2nd on its CloudBerry Backup program for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The company has also conducted a survey which finds that only 51 percent of internet users actively back up their data, although personal data backup has increased by 15 percent in 2018 compared to 2017. Users back up to the cloud four percent more than last year too. The results show 56 percent of respondents… [Continue Reading]

Microsoft releases Windows 10 Redstone 5 Build 17634 for Skip Ahead

The Redstone 4 branch of Windows 10 -- the Spring Creators Update -- has reached RTM, and will begin rolling out to non-Insiders around the April 10. For those users already looking to the future, Microsoft is already pushing out builds for the following feature update, codenamed Redstone 5. Build 17634, for users on the Skip Ahead ring, adds search functionality to the calendar and a number of other improvements and fixes. SEE ALSO: Windows boss Terry Myerson leaves Microsoft as part of a major shakeup Microsoft releases Windows 10 Spring Creators Update Build 17133 to the Fast ring Microsoft… [Continue Reading]

NirSoft launches a software Easter Egg challenge -- can you track down 10 new programs on the site?

Prolific software developer Nir Sofer has created 10 more new tools, but they aren’t currently linked to on his site, or anywhere else. They are somewhere on the NirSoft site, but finding them won’t be easy. Do you have what it takes? Sofer explains that in order to find these new tools, "you need to have some programming knowledge, understanding of Web technology, and other skills." If you can’t find them all, don’t worry, as they will be published officially on the NirSoft site on April 1 (and no, it’s not an April Fool’s). To get you started, NirSoft has… [Continue Reading]

Windows boss Terry Myerson leaves Microsoft as part of a major shakeup

Terry Myerson, the executive vice president of Windows, is to leave Microsoft "in the coming months". Myerson has been at Microsoft for 21 years, and been involved in Windows Phone, Windows 10, Xbox One, and Surface devices. His departure is part of a large reorganization at Microsoft that sees Rajesh Jha, the executive VP of Microsoft Office products, expanding his responsibilities to take over Myerson's role, and Panos Panay serving as the company’s Chief Product Officer. In an email to staff, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke of Myerson’s departure, saying: "His strong contributions to Microsoft over 21 years from leading… [Continue Reading]

DevOps survey highlights complexity and culture worries

Top barriers to DevOps adoption include stagnant organizational cultures and managing a jumble of legacy processes. A new survey of DevOps and IT professionals from sandbox software company Quali finds 22 percent of respondents cite organizational culture, 21 percent legacy processes, and 20 percent growing software complexity as their top concerns. Other worries include the lack of standardized mechanisms for continuous testing (13 percent); managing the setup, tear-down and automation during different stages of the DevOps lifecycle (13 percent); and lack of dedicated budgets for these projects (nine percent). DevOps teams are still highly dependent on IT assistance to help… [Continue Reading]

Cryptocurrency mining booming in higher education

The higher education sector has seen a big increase in cryptocurrency mining activity according to a new report from AI security company Vectra. Vectra used its Cognito platform to monitor traffic and collect metadata from more than 4.5 million devices and workloads from customer cloud, data center and enterprise environments. It discovered that, of all the cryptocurrency mining detections, 60 percent occurred in higher education. Other sectors escaped lightly by comparison, with entertainment and leisure on six percent, financial services three percent, technology three percent, and healthcare two percent. The highest volume of attacker behaviors per industry is in higher… [Continue Reading]

79 percent of healthcare pros worried about the security of their personal data

According to new research, 79 percent of healthcare professionals say they are concerned about the cyber security of their own healthcare information. At the same time, 68 percent believe their organizations are doing enough to protect patient privacy and personal information from cyber attackers. The study from identity protection company Venafi, carried out at the HIMSS Conference earlier this month, finds respondents are conflicted about the role of cyber security regulation. A third believe there is too much cyber security regulation in the health care industry and 29 percent feel there is not enough regulation. Yet 87 percent of respondents… [Continue Reading]

Have I Been Pwned teams up with 1Password to improve post-security breach advice

Data breach checking website Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) -- used by governments and individuals around the world -- has announced a new partnership with 1Password The arrangement is a first for Troy Hunt's site, but it comes just over a month after 1Password started using a password-checker he developed. Hunt says that he has turned down numerous offers to sponsor Have I Been Pwned, but feels that teaming up with 1Password makes sense. See also: Have I Been Pwned is now used by governments to check for data breaches Firefox's 'master password' system can be easily bypassed using brute… [Continue Reading]