(credit: Chrome) Users of Google’s Chrome browser have faced three security concerns over the past 24 hours in the form of a malicious extension with more than 2 million users, a just-fixed zero-day, and new information about how malware can abuse Chrome’s sync feature to bypass firewalls. Let’s discuss them one by one. First up, […]
Enlarge / A stack of 60 Starlink satellites launched in 2019. (credit: SpaceX) A new SpaceX filing outlines plans for Starlink to offer phone service, emergency backup for voice calls, and cheaper plans for people with low incomes through the government’s Lifeline program. The details are in Starlink’s petition to the Federal Communications Commission for […]
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Distributed denial-of-service attackers have seized on a new vector for amplifying the junk traffic they lob at targets to take them offline: end users or networks using the Plex Media Server. DDoS amplification is a technique that leverages the resources of an intermediary to increase the firepower of attacks. Rather than […]
Enlarge As the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools, colleges, and businesses to limit in-person meetings, the world quickly adopted video conferencing from services such as Zoom and Google Meet. That, in turn, gave way to “zoombombing,” the term for when Internet trolls join online meetings with the goal of disrupting them and harassing their participants. Meeting […]
Enlarge / A SpaceX Starlink user terminal/satellite dish. (credit: SpaceX) Lobby groups for small ISPs are urging the Federal Communications Commission to investigate whether SpaceX can deliver on its broadband promises and to consider blocking the satellite provider’s rural-broadband funding. Meanwhile, SpaceX says the Starlink beta is now serving high-speed broadband to 10,000 users. SpaceX […]
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) SolarWinds, the previously little-known company whose network-monitoring tool Orion was a primary vector for one of the most serious breaches in US history, has pushed out fixes for three severe vulnerabilities. Martin Rakhmanov, a researcher with Trustwave SpiderLabs, said in a blog post on Wednesday that he began analyzing SolarWinds products […]
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Synergee) A man who has been an AT&T customer since 1960 has a message for CEO John Stankey about the company’s failure to upgrade DSL areas to modern Internet service. Aaron Epstein, 90, is so frustrated by his 3Mbps Internet plan that he took out a Wall Street Journal ad […]
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) In December, Ars reported that as many as 3 million people had been infected by Chrome and Edge browser extensions that stole personal data and redirected users to ad or phishing sites. Now, the researchers who discovered the scam have revealed the lengths the extension developers took to hide their nefarious […]
Enlarge / Jeff Bezos greets a crowd at Amazon’s Smbhav event in New Delhi on January 15, 2020. (credit: Getty Images) Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and Elon Musk’s perpetual rival in the seesaw “world’s richest man” contest, today announced he is leaving the CEO post of the Internet giant he has led since […]
Enlarge / A Comcast service van in October 2014. (credit: Mike Mozart / Flickr) Comcast is doubling download speeds and increasing upload speeds for the $10-per-month Internet Essentials plan that it sells to low-income subscribers. Comcast had faced criticism for keeping the plan’s speeds at 25Mbps down and 3Mbps up during the pandemic, though even […]