DrayTek routers suffer from zero-day attack that is exploited en masse
The Taiwanese manufacturer of network equipment, DrayTek warns on its website for hacking attempts where the DNS settings of DrayTek routers are changed due to an unknown vulnerability. Once the DNS is changed, attackers can intercept traffic and automatically redirect victims to malicious websites. More than 700,000 devices are potentially affected.
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Google’s new streaming music service is called YouTube Music and it’s coming soon
Google has announced YouTube Music, a new music streaming service from the search giant. YouTube Music will become available in a free version and a paid version that is called YouTube Music Premium that costs $9.99 a month.
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Chrome’s autoplay mute functionality interferes with online games
Google has decided to temporarily disable the functionality that automatically mutes autoplay videos in Chrome because it also interferes with audio of web apps and online games. Since Chrome 66, the browser will turn off the sound of videos that automatically start to play.
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Researchers develop algorithm to distinct between recycled and new NAND flash chips
Researchers of the University of Alabama have developed an algorithm that can distinct between new and recycled NAND flash chips and report the age of the chip. The technology should protect users against shady recyclers that sell used NAND flash chips as new. A smartphone could run an app with the algorithm.
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Dropbox posts first quarterly report, posts huge loss
The number of paid subscribers to online cloud storage service Dropbox increased with 2.2 million the last year. The American company now serves 11.5 million paying customers, according to the first quarterly report of Dropbox since its IPO in March this year.
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Microsoft patches 2 zero-day vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer and Windows
During this month's Patch Tuesday, Microsoft patched two vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer and Windows that were actively attacked before an update was available. Last month, antivirus vendor Qihoo 360 warned for the critical vulnerability in Internet Explorer that was attacked through Microsoft Word documents.
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Intel delays first patches for Spectre NG vulnerabilities
Intel has delayed the first security updates for the recently revealed Spectre NG vulnerabilities. The updates were scheduled to be released today, but Intel appears to needs more time to prepare the patches for the eight new vulnerabilities in its processors. The vulnerabilities can be found in pretty much all Intel CPUs from 2010 and later.
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Bug in ransomware causes boot process of Windows 7 PCs to fail
Researchers warn for a new ransomware variant that breaks the Windows 7 boot process due to a bug in the malware. The ransomware has been discovered by security researchers from the cybersecurity company Fortinet.
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Netflix Ultra HD playback now possible after latest AMD Adrenaline drivers update
The latest AMD Adrenaline drivers add support for PlayReady 3.0, which means specific AMD video cards now also support playback of Netflix Ultra HD content. With the addition of PlayReady 3.0 in the AMD drivers, all major GPU manufacturers now support playback of Netflix content in Ultra HD. Depending on the movie or series, also HDR is possible.
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Firefox will show ‘privacy conscious’ Sponsored Content to users in the United States
Mozilla has announced it will start showing sponsored content to Firefox users in the United States. The company stresses it will respect the privacy of users. That's possible because the personalization of the sponsored content will be done on the client side, according to the browser developer.
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185,000 TP-Link routers vulnerable to remote code execution with no patch available
More than 185,000 TP-Link routers are connected to the internet while they are vulnerable to a critical vulnerability for which no patch is available yet. The vulnerability allows an attacker to execute code remotely on the device.
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Windows 10 April 2018 Update now also causes issues with Toshiba SSDs
The Windows 10 April 2018 Update not only caused issues with Intel SSDs, also Toshiba drives are affected. Where the update installed on a system with an Intel 600p series and Intel Pro 6000p series SSD could have serious consequences, the issue with the Toshiba SSDs is less bad.
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Adata XPG SX8200 480GB NVMe SSD Review
Welcome to Myce’s review of the Adata XPG SX8200 480GB NVMe SSD (hereafter referred to as the SX8200). The SX8200 uses Micron’s second generation 64 layer 3D NAND and Silicon Motion’s SM2262 Controller and Adata promises an outstanding level of performance to satisfy the demands of the PC enthusiast. The use of SLC caching plus a DRAM buffer does bode well so please read on to see what we make of the SX8200.
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Electronic detection dog finds hidden SD card of hacker who upped grades
An electronic detection dog from Contra Costa County in the United States was able to find a hidden SD card in a box of tissues. The card will be proof in a case of an underage boy that changed the grades of numerous students of the Ygnacio Valley High School.
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Roadmap shows 140 layer 3D NAND to become reality by 2021
The numbers of layers in 3D NAND flash memory will increase to 140 or more by 2021, according to a road map from Applied Materials that was presented during the International Memory Workshop in Kyoto, Japan. Besides adding more layers, manufacturers also try to make the layers thinner.
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Adobe releases important security updates for Flash Player and Creative Cloud
Adobe has released important security updates for critical vulnerabilities in Flash Player and Creative Cloud Desktop Application. One of the vulnerabilities made it possible for an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system with regular user privileges. Users are advised to upgrade as soon as possible.
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‘Apple to disable iPhone’s Lightning port after device is locked for 7 days’
Apple might soon release an update for the iPad and iPhone that disables the Lightning port after the phone has been locked for 7 days. The new security measure was discovered by software company Elcomsoft which found it in a beta of iOS 11.4. The feature should make it harder for the police or secret services to retrieve information from locked iOS devices.
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Trick with hidden symbols makes Whatsapp and smartphone crash or hang
Adding specific symbols to a message makes it possible to crash Whatsapp on Android smartphones. The symbols that make Whatsapp crash are normally used to tell the smartphone to reverse the text direction. In the worst cases, it might even make the phone hang or reboot.
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Researchers find new Spectre-like critical vulnerabilities in Intel processors
Security researchers have found 8 new vulnerabilities in Intel processors. The vulnerabilities are potentially worse than the well known Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities that were discovered about 5 months ago. Of the vulnerabilities 4 are marked as 'critical' and the other 4 as 'medium'. They go by the name Spectre Next Generation (NG) for now.
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Sony announces credit card size external SSD
Sony today announced a new line of external SSDs, the SL-E series. The credit card sized external drives connect to the Windows and macOS computers through USB-C and are available in capacities of 240GB, 480GB and 960GB.
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Windows 10 April Update will be released today
Microsoft has announced it will release the Windows 10 April 2018 Update today. The update comes later than expected because Microsoft found some issues when it initially released the update. The company usually releases updates gradually, so it can detect issues before the update is installed on all systems.
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Brazilian authorities want Microsoft to change Windows 10 installation
The Brazilian federal prosecutor, Ministério Público Federal, has filed a civil lawsuit because it wants Microsoft to change the default installation of Windows 10. The prosecutor has asked a judge to force Microsoft to change the installation process of the company's latest operating system because it alleges that the current installation process violates several local laws.
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Growing demand for SSDs could stabilize NAND flash memory prices
The ongoing decrease of NAND flash prices could come to an end by the third quarter of this year due to a growing demand of SSDs. Adoption of SSDs has been accelerated by the current relative low prices of the drives. The long-term outlook is that NAND flash prices will continue to drop.
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Chinese Smartisan R1 phone is available with 1TB of flash memory storage
A Chinese manufacturer of mobile phones named Smartisan, has announced a smartphone of which the top model has a storage capacity of 1TB. Also variants with capacities of 64GB and 128GB are available. The 128GB and 1TB version are available with 8GB of RAM.
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Adobe fixes critical leaks in Acrobat Reader
Adobe today released important security updates for Acrobat and Acrobat Reader. The updates patch 47 vulnerabilities of which 24 are classified as critical. In the worst case, these vulnerabilities allow an attacker to take control over the system.
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Cinemartin announces 8K 50MP camera with built-in NVMe SSD
The Spanish company Cinemartin, best known on our site for it's Blu-ray conversion software MyBD, has announced an 8K camera with a 50MP sensor that is has named 'FRAN'. The FRAN should become available in fall this year with a price, that according to the company is, “affordable in comparison with rivals.”
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Google releases Android updates for May to patch numerous vulnerabilities
Google has released Android updates that fix numerous vulnerabilities in the mobile operating system. One of the vulnerabilities is a critical leak in a Wi-Fi component. Google releases Android updates each month together with updates for its own Pixel and Nexus smartphones.
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Windows 10 April 2018 Update causes bootloops on systems with specific Intel SSDs
Microsoft has stopped distribution of Windows 10 April 2018 Update to owners of systems with specific Intel SSDs as the combination of the operating system update and the Intel SSDs can result in a boot loop. For now, owners of those systems won't get the update automatically and can't start the update manually.
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Intel reveals 480GB and 960GB Optane 905P series SSDs
Intel today officially launched its Intel Optane 905P series SSDs, which are available in capacities of 480GB and 960GB. The 905P series is targeted at enthusiasts and prosumers and will be available with a PCIe NVMe 3.0 x4 interface.
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Critical vulnerability in popular 7-Zip file archiving software patched
A new version of the free and open-source file archiver 7-Zip has been released that fixes a critical vulnerability. Through the vulnerability an attacker could take control over the system. All that needed to happen was that the user opened a specially prepared RAR file.
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Security researcher: specially crafted USB stick can crash Windows 10, Microsoft won’t fix
A Romanian security researcher, working for Bitdefender, has discovered a new vulnerability that can crash Windows 7 and Windows 10 computers, even when they're locked. To crash the computer, it's enough to insert a specifically crafted USB stick. Microsoft has stated it won't fix the issue.
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British National Health Service will switch to Windows 10
The British National Health Service (NHS) today announced it will switch to Windows 10. With Microsoft's latest operating system, the NHS hopes to be better protected against cyber threats.
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‘256GB SSDs to become mainstream in laptops next year’
Laptop vendors will increasingly use SSDs in their devices and 256GB will become the mainstream capacity for SSDs in laptops by 2019, according the Taiwanese website Digitimes. The growth in capacity and demand is fueled by dropping prices and the growing demand for more storage capacity, industry insiders told the website.
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