ComputerWorld – Page 115 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: JR Raphael| Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2018 09:04:00 -0700

Android security sure can seem like a scary subject.

And it’s no wonder: Every few weeks, we see some new hair-raising headline about how our phones are almost certain to be possessed by demons that’ll steal our data, eat our ice cream, and pinch our tenders when we least expect it.

This week, it’s a series of Android malware monsters known as “ViperRat” and “Desert Scorpion” that has phone-holders everywhere trembling in their bootsies. (Kudos to whoever came up with those spooky-sounding names, by the way. It’s an art!) Last week, it was word that Android device-makers might be skipping security updates that had our hands a-shakin’.

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ComputerWorld Independent

April 16, 2018 admin

12+ things you can do with a locked iPhone

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2018 07:06:00 -0700

With so much focus on staying productive, it may surprise you to realise just how many things you can do with a locked iPhone. What can you do and how can you switch these features off?

Wake it up

The Raise to Wake feature available since iPhone 6S/SE means your iPhone can tell when you pick it up and will wake the display up automatically, so you need not do so. Left on by default, you can disable this feature in Settings>Display & Brightness where you toggle Raise to Wake to off.

Make a call, send a message and more

You can call people from a locked iPhone. Just ask Siri to call a person in your contact book. You can also send Messages using the locked device, just ask Siri to send a Message and name someone in the device’s Contacts book. To stop this, set Allow Siri When Lockedto off in Settings>Siri & Search.

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ComputerWorld Independent

April 16, 2018 admin

Well, DID she ever change her password?

Credit to Author: Sharky| Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2018 03:00:00 -0700

Flashback to the days when this pilot fish is managing an email system for several corporate clients, and he needs to pick good passwords from the get-go — because these users will never bother changing them.

“I wrote a program to generate accounts and to create a password,” says fish. “The system consisted of a dictionary of about 100 three-letter words, and a separate dictionary of four-letter words where I had tried to remove the bad words. Then there was a list of special symbols, and then the digits 0 through 9.

“The system chose one element from each list, and put them in a random order. It then printed the information out. I folded the piece of paper and placed it in an envelope and mailed it — never actually looking at it.

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ComputerWorld Independent

April 13, 2018 admin

Does moving your pen drag the canvas? Welcome to yet another bug in Win10 1709 patches

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2018 10:23:00 -0700

A Windows Ink engineer has confirmed that there’s a bug in the third Win10 1709 March Cumulative Update, KB 4089848, that breaks common pen movements in Photoshop, Lightroom and CS Paint. Looks as if the same problem bedevils this month’s 1709 Cumulative Update, KB 4093112, as well. Microsoft, it seems, decided to break pen behavior in Win10 1709 without any notification or explanation.

Early this month, DavideV, on the Microsoft Answers forum, posted a rather strange observation:

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ComputerWorld Independent

April 13, 2018 admin

Two vendors now sell iPhone cracking technology – and police are buying

Credit to Author: Lucas Mearian| Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2018 10:17:00 -0700

Law enforcement interest in iPhone encryption-cracking hardware from two new companies is a strong indication that Apple no longer claims the mobile security high ground.

“What this means, if it’s true, is that people who thought all of their communications were totally secure shouldn’t feel so confident going forward,” said Jack Gold, principal analyst with J. Gold Associates. “But, then security has always been a tug of war between the ones implementing it and the ones trying to break it.”

In February, reports surfaced that an Israel-based technology vendor, Cellebrite, had discovered a way to unlock encrypted iPhones running iOS 11 and were marketing the product to law enforcement and private forensics firms around the world. According to a police warrant obtained by Forbes, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had been testing the technology.

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ComputerWorld Independent

April 13, 2018 admin

Everything you need to know about Apple's GDPR privacy upgrade

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2018 08:07:00 -0700

Apple is updating its products and services to bring them in line with the EU’s forthcoming privacy protection rules (GDPR). Among other improvements, customers will be able to download all the information Apple keeps about them.

What is GDPR?

Europe is about to introduce General Data Protection Regulations, (GDPR). These rules are designed to bring existing data protection laws into the 21^stCentury, they allow individuals the right to see what information companies hold about them, oblige business to handle data more responsibly, and put a new set of fines and regulations in place. Almost any entity that handles personal data will be impacted by the rules, which you can read here. These changes may be taking place in Europe, but there is expectation most big tech firms will apply similar protections outside Europe, which will give more effective protection to most people – which is a good thing.

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ComputerWorld Independent

April 12, 2018 admin

Patch Tuesday brings some surprises, some early crashes, and a surreal solution

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2018 06:40:00 -0700

With all of the problems in the January, February and March patches for Windows and Office, you’d think we would catch a break in April. In one sense we did — some of the worst bugs in the earlier patches now seem to be behind us. But we’re definitely not out of the woods just yet.

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ComputerWorld Independent

April 11, 2018 admin

What happened to the new spring update, Windows 10 version 1803?

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2018 07:42:00 -0700

Most of us expected Microsoft to drop its latest and greatest version of the last version of Windows yesterday. The highly anticipated version 1803, Redstone 4 — which many of us have been testing for weeks — looked ready to go … until it wasn’t.

Rumors are flying but, as of this writing, the actual cause for the delay isn’t public.

Microsoft, of course, has never committed to a release date. Or a build number. Or even a hokey “Spring after Fall Creators Update” style name, for that matter. (I’m still plugging for “Terry Myerson Swansong version” but doubt it’ll gain traction.)

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