ComputerWorld – Page 108 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Wed, 30 May 2018 05:30:00 -0700

Along with key HomePod improvements, Apple also introduced Messages in iCloud with iOS 11.4. It’s a useful feature designed to store your Messages and attachments in iCloud, but enterprise users should think twice before enabling it.

Security is everything

I’m not saying iCloud is not secure – so long as you use a six-or more digit passcode or (better, but more awkward) an alphanumeric passcode, it’s highly secure. I’m reasonably confident a strong password, Apple’s own systems and its insistence you use two-factor authentication is enough for most of us.

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ComputerWorld Independent

May 30, 2018 admin

Microsoft Patch Alert: Major bugs introduced in May fixed, plenty of problems remain

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Wed, 30 May 2018 03:49:00 -0700

Once more we have a monthly Windows/Office patch scorecard that needs a guidebook. Or two. And we just got a handful of buried warnings about problems in old patches, plus a brand new way to fry your network interface card.

Thus continues the tradition of two cumulative updates per month for all of the supported Windows 10 versions – that’s eight cumulative updates in total – in addition to bobs and weaves and a very long list of acknowledged bugs introduced by recent security patches in Windows 7.

Conflicts with Remote Desktop

The strange behavior of the CredSSP update – where the Patch Tuesday fixes for all versions of Windows seemed to break Remote Desktop Protocol with a strange error message: “This could be due to CredSSP encryption oracle remediation” has been resolved.

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ComputerWorld Independent

May 29, 2018 admin

WWDC: Apple’s NFC plan is a big developer opportunity

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Tue, 29 May 2018 08:01:00 -0700

Apple will open up fresh opportunities for developers as it extends Near Field Communications (NFC) support in iOS to more uses.

NFC: Apple’s story so far

Apple introduced support for a new NFC framework called Core NFC at WWDC 2017. Developers were pleased, but the implementations were rather limited.

Core NFC let developers build apps that read NFC tags, but only for things like visitor attractions and museum exhibitions.

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ComputerWorld Independent

May 28, 2018 admin

TSB phishing attacks | Salted Hash Ep 33

TSB customers in the U.K. were already frustrated by the bank's technical problems, but now the situation has gotten worse as criminals take advantage of the chaos. Host Steve Ragan looks at recent TSB phishing attacks and the kit that powers them.

ComputerWorld Independent

May 26, 2018 admin

Amazon's Echo privacy flub has big implications for IT

Credit to Author: Evan Schuman| Date: Sat, 26 May 2018 08:34:00 -0700

Amazon has confirmed a report that one of its Echo devices recorded a family’s conversation and then messaged it to a random person on the family’s contact list, who is an employee of a family member.

But Amazon, in a statement emailed to Computerworld, confirmed every privacy advocate’s worst nightmare with its explanation: “Echo woke up due to a word in background conversation sounding like ‘Alexa.’ Then, the subsequent conversation was heard as a ‘send message’ request. At which point, Alexa said out loud ‘To whom?’ At which point, the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customer’s contact list. Alexa then asked out loud, ‘[contact name], right?’ Alexa then interpreted background conversation as ‘right.’ As unlikely as this string of events is, we are evaluating options to make this case even less likely.”

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ComputerWorld Independent

May 25, 2018 admin

Avast blames Microsoft for Win10 1803 upgrade blue screens, nonsensical options

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Fri, 25 May 2018 12:28:00 -0700

Looks as if we have a solution for the Avast-related blue screens in Win10 1803 upgrades that I talked about earlier this week. Avast heavyweight Ondrej Vlcek chose his words carefully but threw lots of shade at Microsoft for the upgrade installer’s bug.

Posting on the Avast forum, Vlcek says:

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ComputerWorld Independent

May 23, 2018 admin

How your web browser tells you when it's safe

Credit to Author: Gregg Keizer| Date: Wed, 23 May 2018 13:27:00 -0700

Google last week spelled out the schedule it will use to reverse years of advice from security experts when browsing the Web – to “look for the padlock.” Starting in July, the search giant will mark insecure URLs in its market-dominant Chrome, not those that already are secure. Google’s goal? Pressure all website owners to adopt digital certificates and encrypt the traffic of all their pages.

The decision to tag HTTP sites – those not locked down with a certificate and which don’t encrypt server-to-browser and browser-to-server communications – rather than label the safer HTTPS websites, didn’t come out of nowhere. Google has been promising as much since 2014.

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ComputerWorld Independent

May 23, 2018 admin

How to see everything Apple knows about you (u)

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2018 04:41:00 -0700

Apple has at last introduced a new tool that lets you request and download everything the company knows about you, including all the data it gathers and retains when using the company’s retail outlets, iCloud, apps, products, and services.

Why is this tool available?

In part, Apple has made this information available to bring it into line with Europe’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) legislation, laws designed to better protect individual privacy in an online age.

Google, Facebook, Twitter, and almost every other company has also had to introduce these tools, making it far easier for users to compare the quantity and depth of information these unconstrained corporations hold about them.

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