Independent – Page 22 – Computer Security Articles

Microsoft plans to offer extended security updates to both business and individual Windows 10 users for the first time when the operating system reaches end-of-life in late 2025.

Microsoft encouraged Windows 10 customers to begin plans to migrate to the latest version of the operating system — Windows 11 — last April with the announcement that Windows 10 22H2 would be the final version.

Windows 10 is still the most widely used version of the OS, accounting for 64% of US desktop market share, according to StatCounter’s figures; that compared to 30% for Windows 11.

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ComputerWorld Independent

December 5, 2023 admin

How Fake Lockdown Mode can fool you into a sense of security

In yet another illustration of just how devious criminals have become in their attempts to undermine security, Jamf Threat Labs has identified a potential tampering technique that puts a device into Fake Lockdown Mode.

As most people know, Lockdown Mode is an extreme protection feature for iPhone designed to protect the kind of high-value targets some of the nastiestsurveillance and state-sponsored attackers aim for.

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ComputerWorld Independent

December 4, 2023 admin

The arrival of genAI could cover critical skills gaps, reshape IT job market

Generative artificial intelligence (genAI) is likely to play a critical role in addressing skills shortages in today’s marketplace, according to a new study by London-based Kaspersky Research. It showed that 40% of 2,000 C-level executives surveyed plan to use genAI tools such as ChatGPT to cover critical skills shortages through the automation of tasks.

The European-based study found genAI to be firmly on the business agenda, with 95% of respondents regularly discussing ways to maximize value from the technology at the most senior level, even as 91% admitted they don’t really know how it works.

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ComputerWorld Independent

December 1, 2023 admin

Apple secures WebKit as global ransomware attacks surge

If nothing else, Apple’s most recent emergency security update should be considered proof of an increasingly tense security environment.

Enterprises must understand that while Apple maintains a pretty solid ecosystem — certainly at present the most secure, even according to Cisco — that doesn’t mean it’s entirely safe, and every Apple customer needs to get wise to the growing proliferation of threats.

With more and more business users turning to the company’s solutions, it’s important to get ahead of the threat.

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ComputerWorld Independent

November 30, 2023 admin

Unused Gmail accounts head to the chopping block

It’s the last call to keep any Gmail accounts you haven’t used recently.

Beginning December 1, Google will start deleting accounts that have been inactive for two years, including all associated photos, Drive documents, contacts, emails, and calendar entries. The tech giant first announced this change in their inactivity policy in May.

Google confirmed to Computerworld that it’s proceeding with the deletion plan. “We plan to roll this out slowly and in phases, not all at once,” spokesperson Christa Muldoon said. “We’ll be starting with accounts that were created and never used.”

Separate Gmail accounts held by the same user under different names are also subject to deletion, Muldoon said.

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Independent Krebs

November 29, 2023 admin

Okta: Breach Affected All Customer Support Users

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2023 19:41:14 +0000

When KrebsOnSecurity broke the news on Oct. 20, 2023 that identity and authentication giant Okta had suffered a breach in its customer support department, Okta said the intrusion allowed hackers to steal sensitive data from fewer than one percent of its 18,000+ customers. But today, Okta revised that impact statement, saying the attackers also stole the name and email address for nearly all of its customer support users.

ComputerWorld Independent

November 29, 2023 admin

GenAI is highly inaccurate for business use — and getting more opaque

Large language models (LLMs), the algorithmic platforms on which generative AI (genAI) tools like ChatGPT are built, are highly inaccurate when connected to corporate databases and becoming less transparent, according to two studies.

One study by Stanford University showed that as LLMs continue to ingest massive amounts of information and grow in size, the genesis of the data they use is becoming harder to track down. That, in turn, makes it difficult for businesses to know whether they can safely build applications that use commercial genAI foundation models and for academics to rely on them for research.

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ComputerWorld Independent

November 29, 2023 admin

How to go incognito in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari

Private browsing. Incognito. Privacy mode.

Web browser functions like those trace their roots back more than a decade, and the feature — first found in a top browser in 2005 — spread quickly as one copied another, made tweaks and minor improvements.

But privacy-promising labels can be treacherous. Simply put, going “incognito” is as effective in guarding online privacy as witchcraft is in warding off a common cold.

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