Businesses that allow the Ask.com toolbar in their environments might want to rethink that after endpoints equipped with the browser add-on were compromised last November and then again the very next month using pretty much the same attack methods. In both cases attackers managed to infiltrate the Ask.com updater infrastructure to the point that they…
This past weekend at SXSW, two Congressmen suggested that the U.S. create a cybersecurity reserves system, similar to the National Guard, but the idea has received a mixed welcome from the cybersecurity community. According to House Rep. Will Hurd, a Republican from Texas, a national cybersecurity reserve could help strengthen national security and bring in…
Alphabet’s autonomous car unit Waymo is concerned about giving Uber Technologies’ internal counsel extensive access to documents it filed under seal in connection with its lawsuit alleging theft of trade secrets and patent infringement by the ride-hailing company. But on Thursday, District Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of…
When governments turn to private hackers to carry out state-sponsored attacks, as the FBI alleges Russia did in the 2014 breach of Yahoo, they’re taking a big risk. On the one hand, it gives them a bit of plausible deniability while reaping the potential spoils of each attack, but if the hackers aren’t kept on…
Google Home users got a surprise on Thursday when their virtual assistants cheerily mentioned that the live-action remake of “Beauty and the Beast” is opening in theaters this weekend. The ad seems to pop up when users ask for a rundown of their day, which kicks off the Home’s “My Day” feature. That feature is…
Researchers at Cornell University have developed a new type of radio-on-a-chip that could mean cheaper, more flexible wireless systems. Smartphone makers could, for example, use the technology to make a single model of each phone that works anywhere in the world. Single-chip radios have become a popular choice for communications hardware in the last decade…
When Microsoft said last year that it would restrict the latest Intel Kaby Lake and AMD Ryzen silicon to Windows 10, enthusiasts wondered what would happen if they tried running those PCs using Windows 7 or Windows 8. Now we know: no new patches. Word of a new Microsoft support document surfaced Thursday, applying the…
Alexa is coming to Siri’s home turf. On Thursday, Amazon began rolling out Alexa and her voice-assistant capabilities inside its flagship iOS app (iTunes link). This means that iPhone users can now ask Alexa questions, get shopping assistance, track orders, and play Prime videos and music. After an initial rollout, Alexa will be available to…
Oracle’s third quarter financial results continue to show that the company’s future is in the cloud. On Wednesday, the company reported massive growth in its software- and platform-as-a-service businesses, promising further gains as its customers do away with their data centers. The company’s SaaS and PaaS revenue from December 2016 through February 2017 was a…
New research is turning on its head the idea that legacy systems — such as Cobol and Fortran — are more secure because hackers are unfamiliar with the technology. New research found that these outdated systems, which may not be encrypted or even documented, were more susceptible to threats. By analyzing publicly available federal spending…