Beware ransomware, mobile malware in 2014, McAfee says

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img alt="malware" class="galleryImage imgId100032981 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt4.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/04/malware-100032981-gallery.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/security" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">Cybercriminals will increasingly use ransomware, malware, and hacktivism over the next year to move further into the lucrative business market.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">McAfee has released its 2014 threat predictions, which highlight the trend<a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/258795/ransomware_threatens_victims_with_police_reports_for_child_pornography.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">toward ransomware</a> and targeted attacks over the next 12 months.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">In 2014, the security firm also expects to see an increase in the new complex types of attacks on business PCs and<a href="http://www.techhive.com/article/2039530/growing-mobile-malware-threat-swirls-mostly-around-android.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">mobile devices,</a> but it is clear that traditional tactics which have been around for years will also continue to impact businesses.</p> <img alt="smartphone malware" height="201" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/07/smartphone-malware-100045232-medium.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="300"><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> A key trend is that ransomware attacks, which usually target consumers, such as CryptoLocker, will move further into the business space where they have the potential to severely affects operations and cost companies a lot of money, said Michael Sentonas, McAfee's Global CTO for Security Connected.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"We also expect to see an increase in mobile malware, which effectively locks the user out of his or her device or machine so the cyber criminals can access data, to have an impact on businesses via their increasingly mobile workforces," he said. "Hacktivism attacks which usually target governments are anticipated to spill over into business and enterprise markets."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Understanding cyber threats and areas of vulnerability in the year ahead is vitally important as more businesses move operations into the cloud and embrace mobile technologies, providing cyber criminals with more entry points into company networks and data.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">But Sentonas said, unfortunately, the poor cyber security foundations of many companies will continue to create an environment of high motivation, high opportunity for the attacker in 2014.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"In 2013, I saw a number of successful high profile attacks that occurred due to poor patching, misconfigurations, out of date security, and a lack of enterprise wide security visibility.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"Businesses need to understand that lax cyber security could have significant implications on their company data, operations and financial viability."</p><h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em"> Top ten threats for 2014:</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>1. Ransomware—</strong>Expect ransomware samples to increase given the financial success the cyber criminals have had with this type of malicious software. Ransomware such as CryptoLocker has typically targeted consumers, but now also targets enterprises.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>2. Mobile Malware—</strong>The increasing volume and complexity of malware designed to capture identity and financial information will continue to crossover from desktops to mobile devices; a significant issue for an increasingly mobile workforce.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>3. Destructive Malware—</strong>Cyber attackers are leveraging more destructive functions within their attack code. Cyber criminals will continue to drive the unprecedented rise in destructive malware, some of which are designed to damage the victim's master boot record resulting in complete computer systems being rendered inoperable.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>4. Hacktivism—</strong>Hacktivist groups based in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia will continue to target governments in 2014 and are expected to also spill over and target private enterprise.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>5. "Next Generation" security tools will come under attack—</strong>Attackers will continue to develop exploits that will be 'sandbox aware' aiming to bypass security systems, demonstrating that sandboxing is a feature and not a complete security solution.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>6. The Internet of Things comes alive—</strong>All devices that connect to the corporate network and the internet should be considered endpoints that come with a level of risk as they typically have less security, both by design and through poor security practices, and will be a target for attackers.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>7. Bypassing Digital Signatures—</strong>More than 1.5 million samples of malware signed with digital signatures already exist and attackers will continue to circumvent the trust mechanisms upon which our digital ecosystems rely.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>8. Security vs Privacy debate will continue—</strong>In 2014,expect to see some government and corporate organizations go dark in response to privacy issues. Consumer privacy demands will impact security architectures, the cloud, and information-sharing.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>9. Threat cycles will be recycled—</strong>A significant percentage of successful cyber intrusions do not rely on sophisticated techniques, rather the attackers aim to exploit lax security architecture, policy and skills shortages using tried and true methods.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>10. Targeted Attacks to continue—</strong>An increase in targeted attacks on government, large enterprise organizations and small businesses is expected as cyber criminals focus their attempts to financially exploit targets. This does not necessarily mean a correlating increase in advanced malware and advanced persistent threat samples, as attackers may use sophisticated or traditional techniques to achieve their ends.</p> </span>

Beware ransomware, mobile malware in 2014, McAfee says

Cybercriminals will increasingly use ransomware, malware, and hacktivism over the next year to move further into the lucrative business ma...

Read more »

Beware ransomware, mobile malware in 2014, McAfee says

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img alt="malware" class="galleryImage imgId100032981 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt4.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/04/malware-100032981-gallery.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/security" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">Cybercriminals will increasingly use ransomware, malware, and hacktivism over the next year to move further into the lucrative business market.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">McAfee has released its 2014 threat predictions, which highlight the trend<a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/258795/ransomware_threatens_victims_with_police_reports_for_child_pornography.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">toward ransomware</a> and targeted attacks over the next 12 months.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">In 2014, the security firm also expects to see an increase in the new complex types of attacks on business PCs and<a href="http://www.techhive.com/article/2039530/growing-mobile-malware-threat-swirls-mostly-around-android.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">mobile devices,</a> but it is clear that traditional tactics which have been around for years will also continue to impact businesses.</p> <img alt="smartphone malware" height="201" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/07/smartphone-malware-100045232-medium.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="300"><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> A key trend is that ransomware attacks, which usually target consumers, such as CryptoLocker, will move further into the business space where they have the potential to severely affects operations and cost companies a lot of money, said Michael Sentonas, McAfee's Global CTO for Security Connected.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"We also expect to see an increase in mobile malware, which effectively locks the user out of his or her device or machine so the cyber criminals can access data, to have an impact on businesses via their increasingly mobile workforces," he said. "Hacktivism attacks which usually target governments are anticipated to spill over into business and enterprise markets."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Understanding cyber threats and areas of vulnerability in the year ahead is vitally important as more businesses move operations into the cloud and embrace mobile technologies, providing cyber criminals with more entry points into company networks and data.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">But Sentonas said, unfortunately, the poor cyber security foundations of many companies will continue to create an environment of high motivation, high opportunity for the attacker in 2014.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"In 2013, I saw a number of successful high profile attacks that occurred due to poor patching, misconfigurations, out of date security, and a lack of enterprise wide security visibility.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"Businesses need to understand that lax cyber security could have significant implications on their company data, operations and financial viability."</p><h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em"> Top ten threats for 2014:</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>1. Ransomware—</strong>Expect ransomware samples to increase given the financial success the cyber criminals have had with this type of malicious software. Ransomware such as CryptoLocker has typically targeted consumers, but now also targets enterprises.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>2. Mobile Malware—</strong>The increasing volume and complexity of malware designed to capture identity and financial information will continue to crossover from desktops to mobile devices; a significant issue for an increasingly mobile workforce.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>3. Destructive Malware—</strong>Cyber attackers are leveraging more destructive functions within their attack code. Cyber criminals will continue to drive the unprecedented rise in destructive malware, some of which are designed to damage the victim's master boot record resulting in complete computer systems being rendered inoperable.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>4. Hacktivism—</strong>Hacktivist groups based in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia will continue to target governments in 2014 and are expected to also spill over and target private enterprise.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>5. "Next Generation" security tools will come under attack—</strong>Attackers will continue to develop exploits that will be 'sandbox aware' aiming to bypass security systems, demonstrating that sandboxing is a feature and not a complete security solution.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>6. The Internet of Things comes alive—</strong>All devices that connect to the corporate network and the internet should be considered endpoints that come with a level of risk as they typically have less security, both by design and through poor security practices, and will be a target for attackers.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>7. Bypassing Digital Signatures—</strong>More than 1.5 million samples of malware signed with digital signatures already exist and attackers will continue to circumvent the trust mechanisms upon which our digital ecosystems rely.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>8. Security vs Privacy debate will continue—</strong>In 2014,expect to see some government and corporate organizations go dark in response to privacy issues. Consumer privacy demands will impact security architectures, the cloud, and information-sharing.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>9. Threat cycles will be recycled—</strong>A significant percentage of successful cyber intrusions do not rely on sophisticated techniques, rather the attackers aim to exploit lax security architecture, policy and skills shortages using tried and true methods.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><strong style>10. Targeted Attacks to continue—</strong>An increase in targeted attacks on government, large enterprise organizations and small businesses is expected as cyber criminals focus their attempts to financially exploit targets. This does not necessarily mean a correlating increase in advanced malware and advanced persistent threat samples, as attackers may use sophisticated or traditional techniques to achieve their ends.</p> </span>

Beware ransomware, mobile malware in 2014, McAfee says

Cybercriminals will increasingly use ransomware, malware, and hacktivism over the next year to move further into the lucrative business ma...

Read more »

Next up: Humans, systems team in cognitive computing

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img class="galleryImage imgId100001447 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt3.staticworld.net/images/article/2012/08/watson_mobil-100001447-gallery.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/computers-all" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">When Kenneth Wayne Jennings, noted for holding the record for the longest winning streak of 74 games on the U.S. syndicated game show, bowed to IBM's Watson as the new "Jeopardy!" champ in 2011, he quoted an episode of "The Simpsons" and wrote "I for one welcome our new computer overlords," on his video screen. That was probably one small step for a computer but a giant leap for computing.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">It's ironic to say that <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/219900/IBM_Watson_Wins_Jeopardy_Humans_Rally_Back.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Watson's dominance</a> on the game show didn't come out of the blue. The result was a culmination of over a decade of IBM's research. The victory, however, wasn't the end but the beginning of a new era. "It opened up a new chapter in information technology called cognitive computing—based on the idea of a natural interaction between systems and people," says Zachary (Zach) Lemnios, vice president of strategy for IBM Research.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">And this evolving relationship between humans and machines was also the key theme of Gartner's recent "Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2013." The analyst and consulting firm says it chose to feature the relationship between humans and machines due to the increased hype around smart machines, cognitive computing, and<a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2062900/the-internet-of-things-needs-a-lot-of-work.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">the Internet of Things.</a></p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Systems augment humans</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">It's no secret that organizations today, across industry, are overwhelmed with so much data that they are unable to make time-critical decisions. Not only is the data growing by leaps and bounds it is also <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2056580/ibms-doityourself-kit-makes-internet-of-things-accessible.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">coming in multiple shapes</a> and forms. "These increasingly challenging times need organizations to make tighter decisions in tighter timelines with the consequence of each decision going up," Lemnios said.</p> <img alt="jackie fenn gartner analyst" height="440" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/12/jackie_fenn_gartner_analyst-100221212-medium.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="300"><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Jackie Fenn</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Such a scenario probably calls for a closer look at the interaction between humans and computers.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"We encourage enterprises to look beyond the narrow perspective that only sees a future in which machines and computers replace humans. In fact, by observing how emerging technologies are being used by early adopters, there are actually three main trends at work," said Jackie Fenn, vice president and Gartner fellow.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">These trends, in Fenn's view, are "augmenting humans with technology—for example, an employee with a wearable computing device; machines replacing humans—for example, a cognitive virtual assistant acting as an automated customer representative; and humans and machines working alongside each other—for example, a mobile robot working with a warehouse employee to move many boxes."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Of these major trends shaping the emerging technologies domain, IBM is focused on cognitive computing which is also broadly classified under the natural-language question and answering systems. Lemnios explained the relevance of cognitive computing in the context of network security.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"Networks today are entirely ad hoc, largely mobile, and a mashup of consumer and industrial grade systems and they are vulnerable because they are so changeable that it allows access to attackers," he said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The current approach to tackling such vulnerabilities is a forensic one. "We look at error logs, attack files, and issue patches but it is essentially a rear view mirror approach," Lemnios said. But a network with cognitive agents residing in it can provide real-time assessments of the vulnerabilities in the network and other meaningful insights through a continuous dialogue with the network operations center. "This could fundamentally change how we run our networks," he added.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">IBM hopes to extend what has been learned with analytics, extend that to human-system interactions using speech as the medium, and take away the need to code a software tool. "Why have structured programs to deal with information when the underlying data is not?" Lemnios asks.</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Best of both worlds</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Gartner's studies explain that "humans versus machines" is not a binary decision; sometimes machines working alongside humans is a better choice. IBM's Watson does background research for doctors, just like a research assistant, to ensure they account for all the latest clinical, research and other information when making diagnoses or suggesting treatments.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">At a time when humans are clearly reaching the limits of what we can absorb and understand, Gartner suggests the main benefit of having machines working alongside humans is the ability to access the best of both worlds (that is, productivity and speed from machines, emotional intelligence, and the ability to handle the unknown from humans).</p> <img alt="zachary leminos" height="440" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/12/zachary_leminos-100221211-medium.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="300"><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Zachary Leminos</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">As machines get smarter and start automating more human tasks, humans will need to trust the machines and feel safe. IBM's Watson provides "confidence" scores for the answers it provides to humans.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Lemnios admits that the evaluation of the proficiency of a system and the reliability of system to gain trust in the dialogue is a challenge. "We see this issue of trust and proficiency in our human interactions. Transforming that set of ideas into a man machine computer user interaction is really what the technical challenges are about," he said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">It's the Watson jeopardy system that led to the further research and the announcement of the IBM Watson Engagement advisor which is delivered from the cloud and into the hands of mobile consumers, with the ability to crunch big data and provide fast, personalized advice. But a key factor with its predecessor in the game show was the ability to decide whether to answer, and building a level of confidence in its advice.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"Evidence behind the answer is a critical element of what we are exploring," Lemnios said.</p><h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em"> Computers can learn from us, too</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Gartner's research suggests that machines and systems can only benefit from a better understanding of human context, humans, and human emotion. This understanding leads to simple context-aware interactions, such as displaying an operational report for the location closest to the user; to better understanding customers, such as gauging consumer sentiment for a new product line by analyzing Facebook postings; to complex dialoguing with customers, such as virtual assistants using natural language question and answering (NLQA) to interact on customer inquiries. NLQA is one of the technologies on Gartner's Hype Cycle that represent these capabilities.</p> <img alt="" height="200" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/brainstorm-100058043-medium.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="300"><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> NLQA technology can improve a virtual customer service representative. NLQA can also be used by doctors to research huge amounts of medical journals and clinical tests to help diagnose an ailment or choose a suitable treatment plan. These supporting technologies are foundational for both humans and machines as we move forward to a digital future and enterprises should consider quantum computing, prescriptive analytics, neurobusiness, NLQA, big data, complex event processing, in-memory database management system (DBMS), cloud computing, in-memory analytics and predictive analytics.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The IT department faces the challenge of running a setup under enormous disruptions where the pace of innovation is only increasing. "Cognitive systems will assist the humans to mange these disruptions and let operate in this environment. This is like the transition from horse-drawn carriages to automobile," Lemnios said.</p> </span>

Next up: Humans, systems team in cognitive computing

When Kenneth Wayne Jennings, noted for holding the record for the longest winning streak of 74 games on the U.S. syndicated game show, bow...

Read more »

Next up: Humans, systems team in cognitive computing

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img class="galleryImage imgId100001447 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt3.staticworld.net/images/article/2012/08/watson_mobil-100001447-gallery.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/computers-all" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">When Kenneth Wayne Jennings, noted for holding the record for the longest winning streak of 74 games on the U.S. syndicated game show, bowed to IBM's Watson as the new "Jeopardy!" champ in 2011, he quoted an episode of "The Simpsons" and wrote "I for one welcome our new computer overlords," on his video screen. That was probably one small step for a computer but a giant leap for computing.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">It's ironic to say that <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/219900/IBM_Watson_Wins_Jeopardy_Humans_Rally_Back.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Watson's dominance</a> on the game show didn't come out of the blue. The result was a culmination of over a decade of IBM's research. The victory, however, wasn't the end but the beginning of a new era. "It opened up a new chapter in information technology called cognitive computing—based on the idea of a natural interaction between systems and people," says Zachary (Zach) Lemnios, vice president of strategy for IBM Research.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">And this evolving relationship between humans and machines was also the key theme of Gartner's recent "Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2013." The analyst and consulting firm says it chose to feature the relationship between humans and machines due to the increased hype around smart machines, cognitive computing, and<a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2062900/the-internet-of-things-needs-a-lot-of-work.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">the Internet of Things.</a></p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Systems augment humans</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">It's no secret that organizations today, across industry, are overwhelmed with so much data that they are unable to make time-critical decisions. Not only is the data growing by leaps and bounds it is also <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2056580/ibms-doityourself-kit-makes-internet-of-things-accessible.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">coming in multiple shapes</a> and forms. "These increasingly challenging times need organizations to make tighter decisions in tighter timelines with the consequence of each decision going up," Lemnios said.</p> <img alt="jackie fenn gartner analyst" height="440" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/12/jackie_fenn_gartner_analyst-100221212-medium.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="300"><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Jackie Fenn</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Such a scenario probably calls for a closer look at the interaction between humans and computers.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"We encourage enterprises to look beyond the narrow perspective that only sees a future in which machines and computers replace humans. In fact, by observing how emerging technologies are being used by early adopters, there are actually three main trends at work," said Jackie Fenn, vice president and Gartner fellow.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">These trends, in Fenn's view, are "augmenting humans with technology—for example, an employee with a wearable computing device; machines replacing humans—for example, a cognitive virtual assistant acting as an automated customer representative; and humans and machines working alongside each other—for example, a mobile robot working with a warehouse employee to move many boxes."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Of these major trends shaping the emerging technologies domain, IBM is focused on cognitive computing which is also broadly classified under the natural-language question and answering systems. Lemnios explained the relevance of cognitive computing in the context of network security.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"Networks today are entirely ad hoc, largely mobile, and a mashup of consumer and industrial grade systems and they are vulnerable because they are so changeable that it allows access to attackers," he said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The current approach to tackling such vulnerabilities is a forensic one. "We look at error logs, attack files, and issue patches but it is essentially a rear view mirror approach," Lemnios said. But a network with cognitive agents residing in it can provide real-time assessments of the vulnerabilities in the network and other meaningful insights through a continuous dialogue with the network operations center. "This could fundamentally change how we run our networks," he added.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">IBM hopes to extend what has been learned with analytics, extend that to human-system interactions using speech as the medium, and take away the need to code a software tool. "Why have structured programs to deal with information when the underlying data is not?" Lemnios asks.</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Best of both worlds</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Gartner's studies explain that "humans versus machines" is not a binary decision; sometimes machines working alongside humans is a better choice. IBM's Watson does background research for doctors, just like a research assistant, to ensure they account for all the latest clinical, research and other information when making diagnoses or suggesting treatments.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">At a time when humans are clearly reaching the limits of what we can absorb and understand, Gartner suggests the main benefit of having machines working alongside humans is the ability to access the best of both worlds (that is, productivity and speed from machines, emotional intelligence, and the ability to handle the unknown from humans).</p> <img alt="zachary leminos" height="440" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/12/zachary_leminos-100221211-medium.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="300"><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Zachary Leminos</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">As machines get smarter and start automating more human tasks, humans will need to trust the machines and feel safe. IBM's Watson provides "confidence" scores for the answers it provides to humans.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Lemnios admits that the evaluation of the proficiency of a system and the reliability of system to gain trust in the dialogue is a challenge. "We see this issue of trust and proficiency in our human interactions. Transforming that set of ideas into a man machine computer user interaction is really what the technical challenges are about," he said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">It's the Watson jeopardy system that led to the further research and the announcement of the IBM Watson Engagement advisor which is delivered from the cloud and into the hands of mobile consumers, with the ability to crunch big data and provide fast, personalized advice. But a key factor with its predecessor in the game show was the ability to decide whether to answer, and building a level of confidence in its advice.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"Evidence behind the answer is a critical element of what we are exploring," Lemnios said.</p><h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em"> Computers can learn from us, too</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Gartner's research suggests that machines and systems can only benefit from a better understanding of human context, humans, and human emotion. This understanding leads to simple context-aware interactions, such as displaying an operational report for the location closest to the user; to better understanding customers, such as gauging consumer sentiment for a new product line by analyzing Facebook postings; to complex dialoguing with customers, such as virtual assistants using natural language question and answering (NLQA) to interact on customer inquiries. NLQA is one of the technologies on Gartner's Hype Cycle that represent these capabilities.</p> <img alt="" height="200" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/brainstorm-100058043-medium.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="300"><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> NLQA technology can improve a virtual customer service representative. NLQA can also be used by doctors to research huge amounts of medical journals and clinical tests to help diagnose an ailment or choose a suitable treatment plan. These supporting technologies are foundational for both humans and machines as we move forward to a digital future and enterprises should consider quantum computing, prescriptive analytics, neurobusiness, NLQA, big data, complex event processing, in-memory database management system (DBMS), cloud computing, in-memory analytics and predictive analytics.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The IT department faces the challenge of running a setup under enormous disruptions where the pace of innovation is only increasing. "Cognitive systems will assist the humans to mange these disruptions and let operate in this environment. This is like the transition from horse-drawn carriages to automobile," Lemnios said.</p> </span>

Next up: Humans, systems team in cognitive computing

When Kenneth Wayne Jennings, noted for holding the record for the longest winning streak of 74 games on the U.S. syndicated game show, bow...

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Less phishing, but better targeting in 2013, report says

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img alt="Phishing" class="galleryImage imgId100065803 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt3.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/10/phishing-100065803-gallery.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/security" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">Criminals are sending markedly fewer phishing emails than a year ago, but they are now being more skillfully targeted, an end-of-year report by security firm Websense has found.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">According to Websense, phishing volumes have continued their journey downwards of recent years, falling to 0.5 percent of all email in 2013 from 1.12 percent the year before.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Although good news on the face of it, when it comes to any measurement of security there is always a rub and in this case it is the rise of plausible subject lines capable of tricking users into opening attachments or links.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The top ones experienced by Websense (which sells email filtering gateways) were</p><ul style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px 0px 0px 40px"><li style="line-height:1.45em">Invitation to connect on LinkedIn</li> <li style="line-height:1.45em">Mail delivery failed; returning message to sender</li><li style="line-height:1.45em">Dear customer <insert bank name here></li><li style="line-height:1.45em">Comunicazione importante</li> <li style="line-height:1.45em">Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender</li></ul><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"></p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">As the criminals know, these subject lines are difficult to filter using subject lines alone because that would risk trapping legitimate messages. If <a href="http://news.techworld.com/security/3490146/uk-bank-networks-hijacked-spew-botnet-spam-bbc-finds/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">sent from legitimate domains</a> (for example, Gmail) they are also harder to block using reputation technology.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">And years on from its appearance, the uncomfortable fact is that phishing still works as long as it is sufficiently targeted or <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2062300/phishing-increase-builds-on-hijacked-brand-names-study-reports.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">appears to come</a> from a legitimate individual as numerous stories about Advanced Persistent Threat (APTs) launched using the medium underline.</p> <img alt="" height="200" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/12/phishing_generic-100016365-medium.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="300"><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> "Cybercriminals aren't simply throwing millions of emails over the fence. They are instead targeting their attack strategies with sophisticated techniques and integrating social engineering tactics. Scammers use social networks to conduct their recon and research their prey," Websense said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The firm also published some data on the countries most often used to host phishing URLs although it's not clear that this is particularly significant. China was the top source of phishing email, followed by the U.S., Germany, the U.K., Canada, Russia, France, Hong Kong, The Netherlands, and Brazil.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">This most likely reflects the availability of compromised hosts rather than reflecting badly on those countries in particular.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Not all phishing requires email to carry its message; a recent study noted the still-popular tendency <a href="http://news.techworld.com/security/3493755/typosquatters-fraudsters-still-exploiting-antivirus-brands-analysis-finds/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">to register typo domains</a> (domains that are close misspellings of familiar brands), using them to host phishing sites. These are usually found inadvertently from the address bar.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">What doesn't seem to be in doubt is that criminals are sending out fewer phishing emails. An <a href="http://news.techworld.com/security/3462159/phishing-attacks-show-sudden-drop-as-criminals-use-servers-for-ddos/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">analysis by the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) recorded</a> a significant drop in the number of campaigns detected during 2013. This was probably because criminals were using their servers for other activities, such as DDoS attacks</p> </span>

Less phishing, but better targeting in 2013, report says

Criminals are sending markedly fewer phishing emails than a year ago, but they are now being more skillfully targeted, an end-of-year repo...

Read more »

Less phishing, but better targeting in 2013, report says

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img alt="Phishing" class="galleryImage imgId100065803 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt3.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/10/phishing-100065803-gallery.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/security" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">Criminals are sending markedly fewer phishing emails than a year ago, but they are now being more skillfully targeted, an end-of-year report by security firm Websense has found.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">According to Websense, phishing volumes have continued their journey downwards of recent years, falling to 0.5 percent of all email in 2013 from 1.12 percent the year before.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Although good news on the face of it, when it comes to any measurement of security there is always a rub and in this case it is the rise of plausible subject lines capable of tricking users into opening attachments or links.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The top ones experienced by Websense (which sells email filtering gateways) were</p><ul style="margin:1em 0px;padding:0px 0px 0px 40px"><li style="line-height:1.45em">Invitation to connect on LinkedIn</li> <li style="line-height:1.45em">Mail delivery failed; returning message to sender</li><li style="line-height:1.45em">Dear customer <insert bank name here></li><li style="line-height:1.45em">Comunicazione importante</li> <li style="line-height:1.45em">Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender</li></ul><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"></p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">As the criminals know, these subject lines are difficult to filter using subject lines alone because that would risk trapping legitimate messages. If <a href="http://news.techworld.com/security/3490146/uk-bank-networks-hijacked-spew-botnet-spam-bbc-finds/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">sent from legitimate domains</a> (for example, Gmail) they are also harder to block using reputation technology.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">And years on from its appearance, the uncomfortable fact is that phishing still works as long as it is sufficiently targeted or <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2062300/phishing-increase-builds-on-hijacked-brand-names-study-reports.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">appears to come</a> from a legitimate individual as numerous stories about Advanced Persistent Threat (APTs) launched using the medium underline.</p> <img alt="" height="200" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/12/phishing_generic-100016365-medium.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; height: auto; max-width: 100%; float: left;" width="300"><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> "Cybercriminals aren't simply throwing millions of emails over the fence. They are instead targeting their attack strategies with sophisticated techniques and integrating social engineering tactics. Scammers use social networks to conduct their recon and research their prey," Websense said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The firm also published some data on the countries most often used to host phishing URLs although it's not clear that this is particularly significant. China was the top source of phishing email, followed by the U.S., Germany, the U.K., Canada, Russia, France, Hong Kong, The Netherlands, and Brazil.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">This most likely reflects the availability of compromised hosts rather than reflecting badly on those countries in particular.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Not all phishing requires email to carry its message; a recent study noted the still-popular tendency <a href="http://news.techworld.com/security/3493755/typosquatters-fraudsters-still-exploiting-antivirus-brands-analysis-finds/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">to register typo domains</a> (domains that are close misspellings of familiar brands), using them to host phishing sites. These are usually found inadvertently from the address bar.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">What doesn't seem to be in doubt is that criminals are sending out fewer phishing emails. An <a href="http://news.techworld.com/security/3462159/phishing-attacks-show-sudden-drop-as-criminals-use-servers-for-ddos/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">analysis by the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) recorded</a> a significant drop in the number of campaigns detected during 2013. This was probably because criminals were using their servers for other activities, such as DDoS attacks</p> </span>

Less phishing, but better targeting in 2013, report says

Criminals are sending markedly fewer phishing emails than a year ago, but they are now being more skillfully targeted, an end-of-year repo...

Read more »

How to check for hackers

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img class="galleryImage imgId100026919 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt0.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/02/identity_theft_hacker-100026919-gallery.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/security" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">With all the</span><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px"> </span><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2081860/target-customers-card-data-said-to-be-at-risk-after-store-thefts.html?tk=rel_news?tk=rel_news" style="line-height:1.7em;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;color:rgb(37,167,215)">security breaches</a><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px"> </span><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">we're having these days, it doesn't hurt to be vigilant for any suspicious activity. Your Microsoft account—linking SkyDrive, Outlook.com, Office webapps, Xbox, and possibly your PC—comes with a tool that shows you if any unauthorized parties tried to get into your account.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">It's much like Google's and Dropbox's "last activity" solution: Microsoft keeps a log of successful and unsuccessful sign-ins, incorrect password attempts, and so on—along with the IP address, a map, and other details of the attempted device. <a href="https://account.live.com/Activity" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)" target="_blank">Log into your Microsoft account</a> and click the "Recent activity" link in the left menu to see it.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">It looks like this:</p><div class="item-list" style> </div><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><img alt="Microsoft recent activity" border="0" height="" src="http://www.itworld.com/sites/default/files/microsoft-account-recent-ac_0.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" width="500"></p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">As you can see from my example, someone in Russia tried to get into my account but entered the wrong password. The map tells me this is someone in Khabarovsk, a place I've never been.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">I'm not too concerned with that unsuccessful attempt. Because it's an unknown device and I have <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2035459/microsoft-adds-two-factor-authentication-to-keep-accounts-secure.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">two-factor authentication</a> turned on—something<em style>everyone should do wherever possible</em>—the supposed hacker couldn't get in without my other authenticating device.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">What would be troubling is if there was a successful sign-in from a location that's not mine. Then you know you've been compromised. You can hit the "This wasn't me" button on that page to tell Microsoft and recover your account.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Anyway, like looking at logs of your Wi-Fi router's login attempts, it's nice to remember every now and then that everything is all right</p></span>

How to check for hackers

With all the   security breaches   we're having these days, it doesn't hurt to be vigilant for any suspicious activity. Your Micro...

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How to check for hackers

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img class="galleryImage imgId100026919 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt0.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/02/identity_theft_hacker-100026919-gallery.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/security" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">With all the</span><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px"> </span><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2081860/target-customers-card-data-said-to-be-at-risk-after-store-thefts.html?tk=rel_news?tk=rel_news" style="line-height:1.7em;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;color:rgb(37,167,215)">security breaches</a><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px"> </span><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">we're having these days, it doesn't hurt to be vigilant for any suspicious activity. Your Microsoft account—linking SkyDrive, Outlook.com, Office webapps, Xbox, and possibly your PC—comes with a tool that shows you if any unauthorized parties tried to get into your account.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">It's much like Google's and Dropbox's "last activity" solution: Microsoft keeps a log of successful and unsuccessful sign-ins, incorrect password attempts, and so on—along with the IP address, a map, and other details of the attempted device. <a href="https://account.live.com/Activity" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)" target="_blank">Log into your Microsoft account</a> and click the "Recent activity" link in the left menu to see it.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">It looks like this:</p><div class="item-list" style> </div><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><img alt="Microsoft recent activity" border="0" height="" src="http://www.itworld.com/sites/default/files/microsoft-account-recent-ac_0.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" width="500"></p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">As you can see from my example, someone in Russia tried to get into my account but entered the wrong password. The map tells me this is someone in Khabarovsk, a place I've never been.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">I'm not too concerned with that unsuccessful attempt. Because it's an unknown device and I have <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2035459/microsoft-adds-two-factor-authentication-to-keep-accounts-secure.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">two-factor authentication</a> turned on—something<em style>everyone should do wherever possible</em>—the supposed hacker couldn't get in without my other authenticating device.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">What would be troubling is if there was a successful sign-in from a location that's not mine. Then you know you've been compromised. You can hit the "This wasn't me" button on that page to tell Microsoft and recover your account.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Anyway, like looking at logs of your Wi-Fi router's login attempts, it's nice to remember every now and then that everything is all right</p></span>

How to check for hackers

With all the   security breaches   we're having these days, it doesn't hurt to be vigilant for any suspicious activity. Your Micro...

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Understanding tech language: The difference between malware and a virus

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: auto; min-height: auto; width: 320px;"><img src="http://zapt1.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/09/0919-thumb-100053021-large.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px;" /></div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; overflow: hidden;"><em style="color: #25a7d7; display: inline!important; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.7em; margin-right: 5px; text-transform: uppercase;"><em style="display: inline!important; line-height: 1.7em; margin-right: 5px;"><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.7em;">Depending on how technically correct you want to be, viruses are a subset of malware, or the two words mean the same thing.</span></em></em><br /><a name="more"></a></div><br /><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">The word <em>malware</em> (malicious software) describes any piece of code designed to infect your computer (or mobile device) and make it do things that you don't want it to do, such as mass-mail spam or steal your banking passwords. Trojans, worms, and rootkits are all types of malware.</div><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">And so is a <em>virus</em>, in its most technically-correct meaning. A virus is malicious code that spreads by infecting existing files, similar to the way a biological virus spreads by infecting living cells.</div><br /><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">Once common, true computer viruses have become quite rare. Criminals have found better ways to spread malicious code.</div><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">So if viruses are rare, why do people still talk about them? And why do we still run antivirus programs?</div><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">Viruses were the dominant form of malware in the 1980s and 90s, when personal computers were first becoming common. At that time, there was no commonly-used umbrella term such as <em>malware</em>, so people called any malicious program a<em> virus</em>.</div><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">And the word has stuck. Although that program you keep running in the background protects you (hopefully) from all forms of malware, it's called<em>antivirus </em>because that type of program has always been called <em>antivirus.</em></div></div>

Understanding tech language: The difference between malware and a virus

Depending on how technically correct you want to be, viruses are a subset of malware, or the two words mean the same thing. The word  malwar...

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