software – Page 3 – Computer Security Articles

How to take full advantage of Android 10's privacy-reclaiming powers

September 10, 2019 admin Android, Mobile, Operating Systems, Security, software

Credit to Author: JR Raphael| Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2019 08:23:00 -0700

Well, gang, it’s here. In case you’ve been hibernating over the past week (or maybe just, ahem, on an unfortunately timed week off), Google brought Android 10 into this wacky ol’ world of ours this past Tuesday.

There’s really only so much to say about the Android 10 basics at this point — because, quite frankly, it’s the same software we’ve seen evolving in plain view over the past several months.

Yes, Android 10 has new gestures for getting around your phone. Yes, it has a new system-wide switch for making the entire operating system dark. And yes, it has a nifty new Focus Mode for limiting distractions on an app-by-app basis.

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ComputerWorld Independent

Safari to ape Firefox, go all-in on anti-tracking

August 20, 2019 admin Browsers, Security, software

Credit to Author: Gregg Keizer| Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2019 11:53:00 -0700

The WebKit project – the open-source initiative that generates code for Apple’s Safari browser – quietly announced last week that it would follow in Mozilla’s footsteps and quash tracking technologies designed to follow users across the web.

In a short message on Aug. 14, the WebKit team pointed to its new Tracking Prevention Policy, a document that spells out its plans in detail, including what types of tracking it will create and how it will deal with any side effects.

“We have implemented or intend to implement technical protections in WebKit to prevent all tracking practices included in this policy,” the document read. “If we discover additional tracking techniques, we may expand this policy to include the new techniques and we may implement technical measures to prevent those techniques.”

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ComputerWorld Independent

Mozilla blames 'interlocking complex systems' and confusion for Firefox's May add-on outage

July 26, 2019 admin Browsers, Security, software

Credit to Author: Gregg Keizer| Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2019 03:00:00 -0700

Mozilla has issued multiple after-action reports analyzing the major mix-up in May that crippled most Firefox add-ons. The reports also made recommendations for preventing similar incidents in the future.

The fiasco started just after 8 p.m. ET on Friday, May 3, when a certificate used to digitally sign Firefox extensions expired. Because Mozilla had neglected to renew the certificate, Firefox assumed add-ons could not be trusted – that they were potentially malicious – and disabled any already installed. Add-ons could not be added to the browser for the same reason.

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ComputerWorld Independent

5 smart questions that'll smother most Android security scares

July 25, 2019 admin Android, Operating Systems, Security, software

Credit to Author: JR Raphael| Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2019 03:00:00 -0700

I haven’t looked at today’s tech news too closely just yet, but I have a sneaking suspicion some evil-sounding virtual gremlin or other is probably on the brink of invading my smartphone, stealing my secrets, and setting me up for a lifetime of dread and despair.

He might even be covertly eating all the salty snacks from my kitchen this very second. ALL THE SALTY SNACKS, DAMN IT!

I don’t have to scan the headlines too closely to know there’s a decent chance of all of this happening — because all of this happens practically every other week here in the Android world. A solid few to several times a month, it seems, some hilariously named and made-to-seem-scary new piece of malware (ViperRat! Desert Scorpion! Ooga-Booga-Meanie-Monster!) is making its way onto our phones and into our lives. Or so we’re told, rather convincingly and repeatedly. (All right, so I may have made Ooga-Booga-Meanie-Monster up just now, but c’mon: It’s probably only a matter of time til we see something using that name.)

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ComputerWorld Independent

Slack tweaks desktop app to be faster, more efficient

July 22, 2019 admin Collaboration, Security, software

Credit to Author: Matthew Finnegan| Date: Mon, 22 Jul 2019 09:50:00 -0700

Slack has overhauled its desktop software, adding offline access and tweaking the software for faster load times.

Recent efforts to improve the desktop app were highlighted at Slack Frontiers last year and the coming update – which the company says will launch 33% faster than before – will be available to users “over the next few weeks.”

Calls made to team mates via the app should be a speedier too, up to 10 times quicker, Slack said. “That could mean the difference between showing up to a meeting on time or not,” the company said in a blog post Monday. “These moments saved can quickly add up, giving you more time to focus on the tasks at hand.”

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ComputerWorld Independent

Mozilla takes swipe at Chrome with 'Track THIS' project

June 27, 2019 admin Browsers, Security, software

Credit to Author: Gregg Keizer| Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2019 04:28:00 -0700

Mozilla this week touted Firefox’s anti-ad tracking talents by urging users of other browsers to load 100 tabs to trick those trackers into offering goods and services suitable for someone in the 1%, an end-times devotee and other archetypes.

Tagged as “Track THIS,” the only-semi-tongue-in-cheek project lets users select from four personas – including “hypebeast,” “filthy rich,” “doomsday prepper,” and “influencer” – for illustrative purposes. Track THIS then opens 100 tabs “to fool trackers into thinking you’re someone else.”

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ComputerWorld Independent

Mozilla makes anti-tracking the Firefox default

June 6, 2019 admin Browsers, Security, software

Credit to Author: Gregg Keizer| Date: Thu, 06 Jun 2019 12:43:00 -0700

Mozilla this week began to switch on an aggressive anti-tracking technology in Firefox that it has touted since 2015.

With a June 4 update to Firefox 67, Mozilla turned on Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP) by default for new users. Existing customers simply updating their browsers may enable ETP themselves. The default-of-on will be extended to those users “in the coming months,” Mozilla said, apparently activating it in stages as a last-step quality control.

Mozilla also used the update to Firefox 67.0.1 to trumpet other privacy- and security-centric enhancements, including an add-on that brings its Lockwise password manager to the desktop browser and an improved Facebook Container, an extension designed to keep the social network behemoth from tracking users elsewhere on the web.

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ComputerWorld Independent

WWDC: What you need to know about Sign In with Apple

June 4, 2019 admin apple, iPad, iPhone, Macs, Security, software

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Tue, 04 Jun 2019 11:32:00 -0700

There’s lots of interest in Apple’s new Sign In with Apple system, a highly secure, private way to sign in to apps and websites. Here’s what you need to know:

What is Sign In with Apple?

Apple has noticed that sign-in systems for services, apps, and websites rely on services that use your action of signing in to place cookies on your computer and track what you do.

Apple’s focus on privacy means it is attempting to restrict such practices, which is why it has developed the new system as a more private way to sign into these apps and services.

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