You got spam mail: Slew of AOL email accounts fall prey to spoofing attack
The undead are rising from their graves--or at least a legion of long-forgotten AOL email addresses are.
Brad Chacos | 23 Apr | Read more
Stories by Brad Chacos
Dropbox CEO defends Rice despite 'Drop Dropbox' privacy backlash
Dropbox intended to make headlines after introducing Carousel, Dropbox for Business, and the Mailbox app expansion on Wednesday. But the cloud storage company probably didn't expect those headlines to be about another news item altogether: its newest Board member, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Brad Chacos | 12 Apr | Read more
Report: NSA secretly exploited devastating Heartbleed bug for years
You had to see this one coming.
Brad Chacos | 12 Apr | Read more
'Drop Dropbox' protests flare as wiretap proponent Condoleezza Rice joins board
With the unveiling of new Carousel and Mailbox apps and the rolling out of Dropbox for Business, CEO Drew Houston made it clear on Wednesday that Dropbox wants to be a bigger part of your day-to-day life. But protesters are threatening to ditch Dropbox from their life completely, thanks to yesterday's appointment of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the Dropbox board.
Brad Chacos | 11 Apr | Read more
Just previewing email can give attackers control of your PC, Microsoft warns
Attackers are actively exploiting a newly discovered Microsoft Word vulnerability that could be used to gain remote access of your PC, according to Microsoft, and even worse, the exploit can be triggered by opening or merely previewing a malicious email using Outlook's default settings.
Brad Chacos | 25 Mar | Read more
Avast: Windows XP users already attacked 6 times more often than Windows 7 users
The words of warning about Windows XP's impending end-of-life are no joke. After April 8, Microsoft will stop supplying security patches for the 13-year-old operating system--and a recent blog post by Avast, provider of one of the more popular free antivirus solutions around, drives home just how dangerous using Windows XP beyond that is.
Brad Chacos | 18 Mar | Read more
Encryption, lawyers, and openness: Microsoft acts on NSA's 'persistent threat'
"Many of our customers have serious concerns about government surveillance of the Internet. We share their concerns. That's why we are taking steps to ensure governments use legal process rather than technological brute force to access customer data."
Brad Chacos | 05 Dec | Read more
Researchers create malware that communicates via silent sound, no network needed
When security researcher Dragos Ruiu claimed malware dubbed "badBIOS" allowed infected machines to communicate using sound waves alone--no network connection needed--people said he was crazy. New research from Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing, and Ergonomics suggests he's all too sane.
Brad Chacos | 03 Dec | Read more
Sneaky software turns your PC into a Bitcoin-mining zombie -- and owns up to it in the EULA
As the Bitcoin bubble inflates to over $1,000 per unit, legions of newcomers are scrambling to join the digital gold rush. For some companies, that means accepting the currency at online checkout counters; for others, it means releasing PC hardware designed to "mine" new Bitcoins at blistering rates. But an unscrupulous few have turned in a more sinister direction, covertly converting users' hardware into Bitcoin-mining zombies.
Brad Chacos | 02 Dec | Read more
'Encrypt everything:' Google's answer to government surveillance is catching on
While Microsoft's busy selling t-shirts and mugs about how Google's "Scroogling" you, the search giant's chairman is busy tackling a much bigger problem: How to keep your information secure in a world full of prying eyes and governments willing to drag in data by the bucket load. And according to Google's Eric Schmidt, the answer is fairly straightforward.
Brad Chacos | 21 Nov | Read more
Google slams U.S. government in latest transparency report
Edward Snowden. Widespread NSA surveillance. Mass metadata collection. Direct taps into private Google and Yahoo server connections--and the backbone of the Internet itself. Broken illusions and broken encryption and secret court orders abound.
Brad Chacos | 14 Nov | Read more
Next-gen HTTP 2.0 protocol will require HTTPS encryption (most of the time)
Sending data in plain text just doesn't cut it in an age of abundant hack attacks and mass metadata collection. Some of the biggest names on the Web--Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc.--have already embraced default encryption to safeguard your precious data, and the next-gen version of the crucial HTTP protocol will only work for URLs protected by HTTPS.
Brad Chacos | 13 Nov | Read more
Microsoft zero day attack more widespread than thought, with no Patch Tuesday fix coming
Well, this isn't good news. A malicious "zero day" attack capable of hijacking your PC via a vulnerability found in Windows, Office, and Lync is being exploited more widely than originally thought, and Microsoft won't have a permanent fix ready in time for next week's Patch Tuesday blitz.
Brad Chacos | 08 Nov | Read more
It's a trap! Malware disguises itself as Grand Theft Auto 5 for PC gamers
After hitting more than $1 billion in sales in a scant seven days, Grand Theft Auto 5 is officially a cultural phenomenon--at least if you're a console gamer.
Brad Chacos | 22 Oct | Read more
How to keep your real name and face out of Google's ads
The journey was long and full of baby steps, but we've finally reached the destination: Google updated its terms of service on Friday to allow the company to slap your real name and face alongside ads, under an expansion of its "shared endorsements" program.
Brad Chacos | 11 Oct | Read more