Computer Safety & News

This new standard simplifies access controls & may be helpful in reducing some misuse by scammers https://www.pcmag.com/news/372724/facebook-messenger-now-requires-a-facebook-account Facebook has used the quiet Christmas period to tweak the requirements for new Messenger account sign-ups. It’s now mandatory that you also have a Facebook account.   As VentureBeat reports, Facebook rolled out the change quietly, but has since confirmed a […]

CES 2020 conference will be coming in early 2020.  This vast electronics show will feature new TV and monitor technology https://www.techradar.com/news/tcl-will-challenge-oled-dominance-at-ces-2020-with-its-new-mini-led-tvs If you like OLED TVs but haven’t loved the low peak brightness of the panels, you’ll definitely want to tune in to CES 2020 – especially to what TCL is doing this year.   The Shenzhen-based TV manufacturer […]

For Windows 10 v1909 some minor bugs were introduced into new version File Explorer search.  Based on recent developments it is projected Microsoft will fix these issues in early 2020 https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/windows-10-file-explorer-bugs-to-be-fixed-after-holidays/ With this new feature, new bugs were also introduced that cause File Explorer to hang, the search box to become blurry, the search field to become unresponsive, […]

This highly informative research reports highlights dangers that abound in the cybersecurity landscape: https://community.webroot.com/news-announcements-3/nastiest-malware-2019-340824 https://www.eweek.com/security/webroots-listing-of-the-nastiest-malware-of-2019 https://www.webroot.com/us/en/business/landing/protectnow Data Point No. 1: Botnets — Botnets have continued dominate the infection attack chain in 2019. No other type of malware was responsible for delivering more ransomware and cryptomining payloads. TOP THREATS: Emotet, Trickbot, Dridex Data Point No. 2: […]

The UNIX O/S has a solid & secure design to last 5 decades, as it celebrates it’s 50th anniversary on JAN 1st 2020 🙂 An interesting discussion follows on Y2K38 design limitation that is a long 18 years away & will be addressed in future https://www.networkworld.com/article/3511428/unix-is-turning-50-what-does-that-mean.html Unix time, also known as ‘epoch time,’ is the […]

The new XBOX ONE model is a popularnew  gaming system that likely many received as gifts, during the holiday season … some key features, accessories & setup videos are noted below https://www.windowscentral.com/best-accessories-for-new-xbox-one-owners The Xbox One is an awesome system by itself, but the maturing console has a range of accessories that can help elevate your […]

SANS ISC highlights new attack from IcedID family of malware called BOKBOT with details below … these links share malicious WORD documents with dangerous macro routines that can be harmful or leak information back to attackers https://isc.sans.edu/forums/diary/Malspam+with+links+to+Word+docs+pushes+IcedID+Bokbot/25640/ On Monday 2019-12-23, a wave of malicious spam (malspam) was distributing IcedID malware, also known as Bokbot. Today’s […]

https://isc.sans.edu/forums/diary/Malspam+with+links+to+Word+docs+pushes+IcedID+Bokbot/25640/ But first I’ll start with a poetic satire of “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Clark Moore Twas the week during Christmas, when all through the net malspam was spreading, as if on a bet. Windows and Office were run without care in hopes that malware would never get there. Sysadmins weren’t patching […]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2019/12/24/got-an-apple-watch-5-how-to-secure-it-in-three-simple-steps/ Do you need to secure your Apple Watch? — Well, if you check the security vulnerability database at CVE Details, you will see plenty of problems that could specifically impact WatchOS. There are 473 vulnerabilities listed in total, ranging from the low severity to the critical. But don’t panic; if you sort the results […]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2019/12/23/windows-10-security-warning-as-dropbox-zero-day-vulnerability-is-confirmed/ The vulnerability exists in Dropbox for Windows and is an arbitrary file overwrite issue that can give an attacker with local user access escalated privileges to execute code as SYSTEM. The problem is with the DropboxUpdater service and, although the researchers have released no exploit code, it would appear to allow a local user […]