Xpertfeed

The web giant is the latest firm, behind Google, Facebook, and Twitter, to warn users of state attacks.  Bob Lord, the company's newly appointed chief information security officer, said in a blog post that it will notify users if it suspects suspect that their account may have been targeted by a state-sponsored actor. "We'll provide these specific notifications so that our users can take appropriate measures to protect their accounts and devices in light of these sophisticated attacks," said Lord. Yahoo's security team, dubbed the "Paranoids," will provide notifications to targeted users with "specific actions" so that they can ensure their Yahoo accounts are safe and secure. The numerous safety steps on offer to the user, in part thanks to Lord's predecessor, Alex Stamos, who left earlier this year to work for Facebook, includes two-factor authentication and verifying account recovery information is valid and up-t...

Summary: Microsoft will release the core components of its 'Chakra' JavaScript engine as open source in January 2016. Microsoft plans to publish the core components of its "Chakra" JavaScript engine to GitHub under an MIT open source license in January 2016. Company officials announced the plans, which had been  rumored for the past few weeks , at the  JSConf on December 5 . Chakra was the codename for the JavaScript engine  that Microsoft built to power Internet Explorer 9 and which it has used in subsequent IE and  Edge browser  releases. I didn't realize until this until this week that the Chakra engine also is powering Cortana, Outlook.com, Azure DocumentDB and TypeScript. With Windows 10, Microsoft enabled Node.js to run with Chakra, enabling Node.js to work on Windows 10 IoT Core. Microsoft officials said that the people expected to use Chakra and for what types of applications and services as "We are still in the very early stages of ...

Summary: A serious security flaw in VPN protocols used by companies en masse exposes the real IP addresses of users. A vulnerability discovered in protocols used by virtual private networks (VPNs) allows attackers to expose the true IP addresses of intended victims. In a   security advisory posted this week   by VPN provider Perfect Privacy, the company says that the flaw, dubbed "Port Fail," affects VPN providers which offer port forwarding and have no protection against IP leaks. VPNs are used worldwide by the privacy conscious and to circumvent geolocation-based content restrictions by disguising the true location of a person. VPNs are also a way to bypass censorship in countries that rule Internet access with an iron fist. The use of VPNs has also increased post-Snowden as more of us are now concerned about who could be tracking our online activity. Naturally, a security flaw which leaves our true IP addresses open for all to see defeats the purpose of VP...

Summary:  Telstra, Optus, and Apple have unveiled their pricing for Apple's new tablet, with the iPad Pro available in Australia now. Apple's new high-end tablet, the iPad Pro, has been launched in Australia, with prices ranging from AU$80 per month up to AU$188, and 12-month, 24-month, and month-to-month plans on offer. Apple launched the iPad Pro alongside the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus in September, with the tablet aimed at the enterprise sector, which is currently primarily served by Microsoft's Surface Pro. It has an optional stylus, named the Apple Pencil, and a keyboard. In regards to specs, the tablet comes in Wi-Fi-only and LTE options, with a 12.9-inch 2,732x2,048, 264ppi Retina display; a 10-hour battery life; an 8-megapixel iSight camera; and Touch ID. It is available in silver, space grey, and gold, and is only 6.9mm thick. It also supports Adobe and Windows applications. Telstra has announced its  24-month pricing plans ...

Summary:   Although only newly identified, Linux.Encoder.1 crypto-ransomware for Linux web servers seems to have spread rapidly. A Google search for the file in the malware that contains decryption instructions and the ransom demands yields over 2,400 results. Over 2,000 websites have already been compromised by the newly-discovered Linux.Encoder.1 Linux crypto-ransomware, according to a security firm. Earlier this week Russian security company Dr Web revealed the first case of crypto-ransomware for Linux web servers, which encrypted numerous directories and file types. At the time, the company reported that "tens" of websites were infected. However, in the past few days infections have increased to thousands, it now says. Today the company reported that about 2,000 sites have been infected by Linux.Encoder.1 . The estimate is based on a Google search for the string README_FOR_DECRYPT.txt, which is the file in the ...

Summary:   Got some Windows 10 related headaches that you're trying to fix? Not sure where to go for help? Can't find the answers you're looking for in the forums?   FixWin for Windows 10 by The Windows Club might be able to help. FixWin 10 is an update to the popular FixWin application that brings with it a raft of Windows 10 specific repair options to the application. Getting started with FixWin 10 is easy - you just download the file, extract it, and you're ready to go, with no installation required. Here are the common Windows 10 related issues this application can fix: Having problems downloading Apps from Store. Clear and reset Store cache The Application wasn't installed from Windows Store. Error Code: 0x8024001e Windows Store apps not opening. Re-register all apps Reset Settings app. Settings doesn't launch Disable OneDrive. OneDrive runs in background and syncs huge amount of files. Repair corrupt Windows...

Summary:   Red Hat is opening up Ceph's open-source, object and block cloud program leadership to other leading companies such as Canonical and SUSE. Red Hat' s Ceph is a popular software-defined object and file cloud storage stack. While the code is open source, Red Hat has directed the project's strategic direction. At the Toyko OpenStack Summit , Red Hat announced its Ceph-based software-defined storage technology's formal collaboration is now in the hands of the newly formed Ceph Advisory Board. Specifically, "the advisory board launches with the goal of expanding and enhancing community participation and collaboration for the Ceph project, working closely with the community's technical and user committees." Besides Red Hat, the Ceph Advisory Board includes members from Canonical , CERN , Cisco , Fujitsu , Intel , SanDisk , and SUSE . In short, Ceph is no longer just a Red Hat ...

Summary:   Microsoft's search business has turned the corner and is finally profitable, and generated $1 billion in revenues during the company's first quarter of 2016.It's been a long, long time in coming, but Microsoft's Bing is officially no longer a bottomless money pit. During its first quarter fiscal 2016 earnings call, Microsoft announced that Bing had finally achieved profitability. Search contributed more than $1 billion to Microsoft's first quarter for fiscal 2016, said Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood during the company's October 22 earnings call. For the past few months, Microsoft execs had been saying to expect Bing to break even some time during the company's fiscal 2016. Microsoft officials told analysts back in 2013 that Microsoft could see the light at the end of the Bing datacenter-building tunnel. Microsoft has been working to streamline its search and advertising business business for months. Earl...

Summary:   Postal service operator purchases a 96.3 percent stake in TradeGlobal Holdings, as it looks to beef up its e-commerce logistics network globally. Singapore Post (SingPost) says it has purchased a majority stake in US e-commerce player, TradeGlobal Holdings, forking out US$168.6 million (S$234.2 million) in the deal as it looks to beef up its online capabilities. The postal service operator's wholly-owned subsidiary, TG Acquisition, had bought out 96.3 percent of TradeGlobal, which itself was owned by private equity firm, Breagal Sagemount, SingPost said in a statement Thursday. TradeGlobal provides a range of services that support online retail and e-commerce websites, including website development, content management, analytics, global fulfilment, and logistics. The deal would enable SingPost's customers across Asia-Pacific to expand their business into the US, while TradeGloba...

Summary:   AMD is the only chipmaker to have released a processor based on the Heterogeneous Systems Architecture. But this week MediaTek, Imagination and ARM announced that they plan to adopt HSA, which should lead to more efficient systems and more powerful apps. Chipmaker AMD is finally about to get some company in the HSA (Heterogeneous Systems Architecture) club. At the Linley Processor Conference this week, the HSA Foundation announced that other HSA products are 'imminent' including chips from MediaTek, and technology from IP providers Imagination and ARM. Most chips already shift certain tasks from the CPU to other processing engines that can handle them more efficiently. But every chip designer takes its own approach to heterogeneous computing. That makes it tough to develop hardware and software to take advantage of all the different types of cores in a modern system-on-chip (SoC). The purpose of...