Tech

Charter charges more money for slower Internet on streets with no competition

Enlarge / A Charter Spectrum service truck in McKinney, Texas, on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. (credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg) It’s no surprise that cable companies charge lower prices for broadband when they face competition from fiber-to-the-home services. But an article yesterday by Stop the Cap provides a good example of how dramatically promotional prices […]

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No, it doesn’t just crash Safari. Apple has yet to fix exploitable flaw

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Apple has yet to patch a security bug found in iPhones and Macs despite the availability of a fix released almost three weeks ago, a researcher said. The vulnerability resides in WebKit, the browser engine that powers Safari and all browsers that run on iOS. When the vulnerability was fixed almost […]

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Amazon to buy MGM for $8 billion in major boost to Prime Video library

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Steve Jurvetson) Amazon today announced a definitive agreement to buy MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) for $8.45 billion. Amazon said that MGM’s filmmaking prowess “complements the work of Amazon Studios, which has primarily focused on producing TV show programming.” Buying MGM would let Amazon add plenty of movies to its Prime Video streaming […]

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Vulnerability in VMware product has severity rating of 9.8 out of 10

Enlarge (credit: Michael Theis / Flickr) Data centers around the world have a new concern to contend with—a remote code vulnerability in a widely used VMware product. The security flaw, which VMware disclosed and patched on Tuesday, resides in the vCenter Server, a tool used for managing virtualization in large data centers. vCenter Server is […]

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It’s ransomware, or maybe a disk wiper, and it’s striking targets in Israel

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Researchers say they’ve uncovered never-before-seen disk-wiping malware that’s disguising itself as ransomware as it unleashes destructive attacks on Israeli targets. Apostle, as researchers at security firm SentinelOne are calling the malware, was initially deployed in an attempt to wipe data but failed to do so, likely because of a logic flaw […]

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Actively exploited macOS 0day let hackers take screenshots of infected Macs

Enlarge (credit: CHUYN / Getty Images) Malicious hackers have been exploiting a vulnerability in fully updated versions of macOS that allowed them to take screenshots on infected Macs without having to get permission from victims first. The zeroday was exploited by XCSSET, a piece of malware discovered by security firm Trend Micro last August. XCSSET […]

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DarkSide ransomware makers accused of skipping town without paying affiliates

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) A crime forum is holding a quasi-judicial proceeding against the makers of DarkSide, the ransomware that shut down Colonial Pipeline two weeks ago, to hear claims from former affiliates who say the makers skipped town without paying. Or, at least that’s what members of crime forum XSS.is want us all to […]

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Vulnerabilities in billions of Wi-Fi devices let hackers bypass firewalls

Enlarge (credit: Mathy Vanhoef) One of the things that makes Wi-Fi work is its ability to break big chunks of data into smaller chunks, and vice versa, depending on the needs of the network at a given moment. These mundane network plumbing features, it turns out, have been harboring vulnerabilities that can be exploited to […]

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Hackers have been exploiting 4 critical Android vulnerabilities

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Unknown hackers have been exploiting four Android vulnerabilities that allow the execution of malicious code that can take complete control of devices, Google warned on Wednesday. All four of the vulnerabilities were disclosed two weeks ago in Google’s Android Security Bulletin for May. Google has released security updates to device manufacturers, […]

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Florida water plant compromise came hours after worker visited malicious site

Enlarge (credit: myoldsmar.com) An employee for the city of Oldsmar, Florida, visited a malicious website targeting water utilities just hours before someone broke into the computer system for the city’s water treatment plant and tried to poison drinking water, security firm Dragos said Tuesday. The website, which belonged to a Florida water utility contractor, had […]