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 »

Gmail's revised image-handling criticized as risky, intrusive

<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 imgId100025731 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt1.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/02/gmail_primary-100025731-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">Google's decision to change the default setting for Gmail</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/2079842/google-updates-gmail-to-always-display-photos-embedded-in-emails.html?tk=rel_news" style="line-height:1.7em;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;color:rgb(37,167,215)">to show images by default</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">has been criticized by security researchers as opening the door to sophisticated forms of message tracking.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Until recently, Gmail would ask users whether they wished to display images in an email, and for a good reason: Booby-trapped images have in the past been used to route users to external malicious content, while their use by marketers and spammers to track whether a user had opened a communication were implicit.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Worse, spammers could use http image requests to verify that a random address was in use, causing even more spam to be sent to that identity.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Aware of these issues, <a href="http://gmailblog.blogspot.nl/2013/12/images-now-showing.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Google announced</a> that as part of the change it will now proxy all email images, transcoding them to avoid such obvious abuses.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"Your images are checked for known viruses or malware, and you'll never have to press that pesky 'display images below' link again. With this new change, your email will now be safer, faster and more beautiful than ever," Google reassured its users.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Senders would not be able to determine a receiver's IP address or set or read cookies, Google insisted.</p><h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em"> Security challenged</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Critics have pointed out that although Google caching images should make it more difficult than at present to track a user's email interaction, marketers are spammers could simply send each user the same image with a unique URL. Because these will now load automatically through Google's proxy system, this could actually make tracking even more powerful than at present.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"If Gmail does start to display images automatically and this occurs only when a user views the message, it will enable 'read tracking' by default for all Gmail users. This would allow a stalker or other malicious entity to determine whether the email they sent to a target is being read," said H.D. Moore, Rapid7 chief research officer and Metasploit architect.</p> <img alt="gmail logo" height="201" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/12/gmail-logo-100160576-medium.png" 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"> It could also open the door to spammers bombarding random Gmail addresses to find out which ones were being used, he said.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">What's unclear is why—beyond speeding up image loading and avoiding some user annoyance—Google thought that the default image-handling setting needed to be changed in the first place. Proxying could have been introduced as an extra safety layer for those users wishing to enable images for specific senders. Gmail users can already set image display to "on" for trusted senders.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Judging from forum discussion, the most likely motivation is simply that many users don't understand why Gmail asks them to allow images in emails, seeing it as an unnecessary hindrance. As Google points out, it is still possible to reset the new default so that Gmail continues to ask whether images should be opened through the settings/general/ 'ask before displaying external content' setting.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">But it's also true that many non-technical users <a href="http://news.techworld.com/security/3493810/marketers-excited-about-gmail-image-display-changes/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">will not understand the privacy and security downsides</a> of making image-handling more convenient.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"If Gmail starts to cache images as email is received and *BEFORE* the user reads the message, the tracking aspect will be resolved, but it does open the door to malicious request proxying in a much more aggressive form," Moore said</p> </span>

Gmail's revised image-handling criticized as risky, intrusive

Google's decision to change the default setting for Gmail   to show images by default   has been criticized by security researchers as...

Read more »

Gmail's revised image-handling criticized as risky, intrusive

<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 imgId100025731 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt1.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/02/gmail_primary-100025731-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">Google's decision to change the default setting for Gmail</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/2079842/google-updates-gmail-to-always-display-photos-embedded-in-emails.html?tk=rel_news" style="line-height:1.7em;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;color:rgb(37,167,215)">to show images by default</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">has been criticized by security researchers as opening the door to sophisticated forms of message tracking.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Until recently, Gmail would ask users whether they wished to display images in an email, and for a good reason: Booby-trapped images have in the past been used to route users to external malicious content, while their use by marketers and spammers to track whether a user had opened a communication were implicit.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Worse, spammers could use http image requests to verify that a random address was in use, causing even more spam to be sent to that identity.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Aware of these issues, <a href="http://gmailblog.blogspot.nl/2013/12/images-now-showing.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Google announced</a> that as part of the change it will now proxy all email images, transcoding them to avoid such obvious abuses.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"Your images are checked for known viruses or malware, and you'll never have to press that pesky 'display images below' link again. With this new change, your email will now be safer, faster and more beautiful than ever," Google reassured its users.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Senders would not be able to determine a receiver's IP address or set or read cookies, Google insisted.</p><h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em"> Security challenged</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Critics have pointed out that although Google caching images should make it more difficult than at present to track a user's email interaction, marketers are spammers could simply send each user the same image with a unique URL. Because these will now load automatically through Google's proxy system, this could actually make tracking even more powerful than at present.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"If Gmail does start to display images automatically and this occurs only when a user views the message, it will enable 'read tracking' by default for all Gmail users. This would allow a stalker or other malicious entity to determine whether the email they sent to a target is being read," said H.D. Moore, Rapid7 chief research officer and Metasploit architect.</p> <img alt="gmail logo" height="201" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/12/gmail-logo-100160576-medium.png" 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"> It could also open the door to spammers bombarding random Gmail addresses to find out which ones were being used, he said.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">What's unclear is why—beyond speeding up image loading and avoiding some user annoyance—Google thought that the default image-handling setting needed to be changed in the first place. Proxying could have been introduced as an extra safety layer for those users wishing to enable images for specific senders. Gmail users can already set image display to "on" for trusted senders.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Judging from forum discussion, the most likely motivation is simply that many users don't understand why Gmail asks them to allow images in emails, seeing it as an unnecessary hindrance. As Google points out, it is still possible to reset the new default so that Gmail continues to ask whether images should be opened through the settings/general/ 'ask before displaying external content' setting.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">But it's also true that many non-technical users <a href="http://news.techworld.com/security/3493810/marketers-excited-about-gmail-image-display-changes/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">will not understand the privacy and security downsides</a> of making image-handling more convenient.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"If Gmail starts to cache images as email is received and *BEFORE* the user reads the message, the tracking aspect will be resolved, but it does open the door to malicious request proxying in a much more aggressive form," Moore said</p> </span>

Gmail's revised image-handling criticized as risky, intrusive

Google's decision to change the default setting for Gmail   to show images by default   has been criticized by security researchers as...

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Tablets face a turning point

<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="tablets" class="largeImage imgId100007395 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt5.staticworld.net/images/article/2012/10/tablets-collectio-100007395-large.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">The downturn in the personal computer industry may be ready to reach rock bottom, where it could stabilize even as cheap tablets stay hot, an analyst said today.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">In a piece published earlier this week on <a href="http://techpinions.com/glimmers-of-hope-for-the-pc-industry/25839" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Techpinions</a> (subscription required), Ben Bajarin of Creative Strategies theorized that there are, in fact, "glimmers of hope" for the PC business.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"It appears the PC market is stabilizing in the U.S., meaning that quarterly negative growth is lessening," Bajarin wrote. "What [the data] also shows is that tablet growth is also slowing in the U.S."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Bajarin cited numbers from industry researcher IDC and financial firm Morgan Stanley, figures which do show a flattening of the once dramatic growth gains by tablets and of the ongoing <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2053344/pc-sales-continue-to-plunge-but-the-drop-is-less-steep.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">PC shipment contraction.</a></p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">For example, IDC recently estimated that PC shipments will end <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9244499/Bleak_bleaker_bleakest_Latest_PC_market_forecast_projects_historic_10_downturn" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">2013 on a -10 percnt note</a>, but anticipated that the historic decline would weaken in 2014 to -4 percent before steadying the following year.</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">The new normal for PC sales</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Under those assumptions, IDC expected that the new normal for the PC industry will be approximately 300 million machines shipped annually, a far cry from the "Peak PC" of 2011, when computer makers ordered 364 million systems, but better than the swirl to the extinction drain of the last 24 months.</p> <img alt="" height="199" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/02/mips-tablets-2_500-100026721-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"> On <a href="http://www.techhive.com/article/2017437/the-best-tablet-for-you.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">the tablet side,</a> IDC just reduced its forecasts, saying earlier this month that growth would slow from 53.5 percent in 2013 to 22.2 percent in 2014, and slump to single digits by 2017.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Bajarin acknowledged that the glimmering he saw was, for now, just that: A glimmer. It will take at least another six months, perhaps longer, for the image to develop.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"There are an estimated 180 million to 200 million four- and five-year-old PCs in use," said Bajarin in an interview this week. "We've seen a major increase in battery life for notebooks [this year], so if people are going to actually upgrade those PCs, it's got to happen next year. It should be a pretty big refresh cycle."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">But if PC shipments do not pick up, that means people aren't using those older personal computers; instead they've turned to alternatives and may never look back.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Analysts figured that the upgrade cycle would occur in 2012, then switched their forecasts to 2013. But the upgrades failed to materialize in either year. "It hasn't happened," said Bajarin. "Last year, consumers held onto a huge number of old PCs."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">They're doing so for a variety of reasons.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">For many, their older PCs are "good enough," a term that strikes fear into the hearts of PC makers and Microsoft, whose Windows largely relies on new machines for its revenue. The old systems, even those running almost-outdated XP or the reputation-challenged Vista, continue to serve their often-limited functions like email, Web browsing and casual gaming. Realizing that, consumers don't see the point of upgrading a perfectly useful PC.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">For others, the personal computer may be collecting dust because tasks it once performed have been poached by tablets and smartphones.</p><h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em"> Tablet diversity</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">But blaming all tablets for the decline in personal computers is misguided, Bajarin argued. There are tablets and then there are tablets.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Like many industry analysts, Bajarin has wrestled with how to count tablets, how to categorize tablet subsets, and how to compare <a href="http://www.techhive.com/article/2079504/5-tablets-that-reigned-supreme-in-2013.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">trends in tablets</a> with those of PCs to see if the mobile, touch-based devices are the reason for the personal computer's decline.</p> <img alt="" height="203" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/02/ubuntu-for-tablets-3-100025999-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"> In <a href="http://techpinions.com/personal-computers-defined-by-possibilities/25776" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">other</a> recent <a href="http://techpinions.com/low-cost-tablets-are-the-netbooks-of-the-tablet-category/25438" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">commentary</a>, Bajarin has argued that tablets should be put in two buckets: One, dominated by inexpensive, low-powered, small-screen tablets, he has called "media consumption tablets." The other, which he has labeled "more capable tablets" and sometimes dubbed "tablet personal computers," is marked by beefier processors, more productive potential and larger screens, such as<a href="http://www.techhive.com/article/2055816/the-tablet-battle-heats-up-as-ipad-air-takes-on-challengers-from-all-sides.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Apple's 9.7-inch iPad Air</a> and<a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2058685/surface-pro-2-review-this-is-the-windows-tablet-youre-looking-for.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Microsoft's 10.6-inch Surface.</a></p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">It's the second group, which is smaller than the first, that threatens the traditional personal computer, Bajarin believes. "What we're observing is that this form factor [of tablet personal computers] is the future of the notebook form factor," said Bajarin. "The traditional clamshell [notebook] will become challenged in the marketplace in terms of volume."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">As tablet personal computers evolve and replace the iconic clamshell, the former should be counted as "PCs," Bajarin said, echoing a stance held by Microsoft. With tablet personal computers in the tally, the PC may actually return to a growth trend, reversing the current decline.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"The bulk of these [tablet personal computers] will be 10-in. or less," predicted Bajarin, referring to screen size. "That will also drive the opportunity for desktops as the one-per-household shared personal computer, while others in the family each have a media consumption tablet or more capable tablet."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The addition of tablet personal computers to the PC category, and more important, their expected sales volume, could push the industry back into growth, said Bajarin. "The bulk of the volume of PC [shipments] will be desktops and these more capable tablets," he predicted of the consumer market, looking years into the future.</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Good news for Apple and Microsoft?</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">If true, that would make Apple happy, as it sells the bulk of the tablets in Bajarin's "more capable" class. But it would also bring some smiles to Intel, which is currently running television ads for what it calls the "two-in-one" category, hybrid devices centered around a tablet that can be undocked or removed from a keyboard.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Microsoft would be grinning as well, since its Surface strategy is right down the middle of the tablet personal computer plate.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> "A number of vendors will be extremely aggressive on Intel's strategy," said Bajarin, referring to 2014—an emphasis that may shift consumer attention away from the notebook. "The best way to think about a notebook is as a portable desktop, but lot of people don't need a portable desktop."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">And Apple could further capitalize on the trend if—as some pundits and analysts have speculated—it <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9243417/Perspective_iPad_and_the_keyboard_getting_inside_Apple_s_head?" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">delivers an iPad "Pro" tablet</a>, perhaps one with a screen larger than the current design, in 2014 to complement the iPad Air.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"If the PC market is stabilizing, this is good news," said Bajarin on Techpinions. "We could very well be looking at a pendulum swing in the industry, where PC slowdown and [media consumption] tablet slowdown offset each other in particular years. PCs may be slow during [media consumption] tablet refresh cycles and [media consumption] tablet refresh cycles may be slow during PC refresh cycles.</p> </span>

Tablets face a turning point

The downturn in the personal computer industry may be ready to reach rock bottom, where it could stabilize even as cheap tablets stay hot,...

Read more »

Tablets face a turning point

<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="tablets" class="largeImage imgId100007395 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt5.staticworld.net/images/article/2012/10/tablets-collectio-100007395-large.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">The downturn in the personal computer industry may be ready to reach rock bottom, where it could stabilize even as cheap tablets stay hot, an analyst said today.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">In a piece published earlier this week on <a href="http://techpinions.com/glimmers-of-hope-for-the-pc-industry/25839" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Techpinions</a> (subscription required), Ben Bajarin of Creative Strategies theorized that there are, in fact, "glimmers of hope" for the PC business.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"It appears the PC market is stabilizing in the U.S., meaning that quarterly negative growth is lessening," Bajarin wrote. "What [the data] also shows is that tablet growth is also slowing in the U.S."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Bajarin cited numbers from industry researcher IDC and financial firm Morgan Stanley, figures which do show a flattening of the once dramatic growth gains by tablets and of the ongoing <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2053344/pc-sales-continue-to-plunge-but-the-drop-is-less-steep.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">PC shipment contraction.</a></p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">For example, IDC recently estimated that PC shipments will end <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9244499/Bleak_bleaker_bleakest_Latest_PC_market_forecast_projects_historic_10_downturn" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">2013 on a -10 percnt note</a>, but anticipated that the historic decline would weaken in 2014 to -4 percent before steadying the following year.</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">The new normal for PC sales</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Under those assumptions, IDC expected that the new normal for the PC industry will be approximately 300 million machines shipped annually, a far cry from the "Peak PC" of 2011, when computer makers ordered 364 million systems, but better than the swirl to the extinction drain of the last 24 months.</p> <img alt="" height="199" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/02/mips-tablets-2_500-100026721-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"> On <a href="http://www.techhive.com/article/2017437/the-best-tablet-for-you.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">the tablet side,</a> IDC just reduced its forecasts, saying earlier this month that growth would slow from 53.5 percent in 2013 to 22.2 percent in 2014, and slump to single digits by 2017.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Bajarin acknowledged that the glimmering he saw was, for now, just that: A glimmer. It will take at least another six months, perhaps longer, for the image to develop.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"There are an estimated 180 million to 200 million four- and five-year-old PCs in use," said Bajarin in an interview this week. "We've seen a major increase in battery life for notebooks [this year], so if people are going to actually upgrade those PCs, it's got to happen next year. It should be a pretty big refresh cycle."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">But if PC shipments do not pick up, that means people aren't using those older personal computers; instead they've turned to alternatives and may never look back.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Analysts figured that the upgrade cycle would occur in 2012, then switched their forecasts to 2013. But the upgrades failed to materialize in either year. "It hasn't happened," said Bajarin. "Last year, consumers held onto a huge number of old PCs."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">They're doing so for a variety of reasons.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">For many, their older PCs are "good enough," a term that strikes fear into the hearts of PC makers and Microsoft, whose Windows largely relies on new machines for its revenue. The old systems, even those running almost-outdated XP or the reputation-challenged Vista, continue to serve their often-limited functions like email, Web browsing and casual gaming. Realizing that, consumers don't see the point of upgrading a perfectly useful PC.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">For others, the personal computer may be collecting dust because tasks it once performed have been poached by tablets and smartphones.</p><h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em"> Tablet diversity</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">But blaming all tablets for the decline in personal computers is misguided, Bajarin argued. There are tablets and then there are tablets.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Like many industry analysts, Bajarin has wrestled with how to count tablets, how to categorize tablet subsets, and how to compare <a href="http://www.techhive.com/article/2079504/5-tablets-that-reigned-supreme-in-2013.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">trends in tablets</a> with those of PCs to see if the mobile, touch-based devices are the reason for the personal computer's decline.</p> <img alt="" height="203" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/02/ubuntu-for-tablets-3-100025999-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"> In <a href="http://techpinions.com/personal-computers-defined-by-possibilities/25776" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">other</a> recent <a href="http://techpinions.com/low-cost-tablets-are-the-netbooks-of-the-tablet-category/25438" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">commentary</a>, Bajarin has argued that tablets should be put in two buckets: One, dominated by inexpensive, low-powered, small-screen tablets, he has called "media consumption tablets." The other, which he has labeled "more capable tablets" and sometimes dubbed "tablet personal computers," is marked by beefier processors, more productive potential and larger screens, such as<a href="http://www.techhive.com/article/2055816/the-tablet-battle-heats-up-as-ipad-air-takes-on-challengers-from-all-sides.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Apple's 9.7-inch iPad Air</a> and<a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2058685/surface-pro-2-review-this-is-the-windows-tablet-youre-looking-for.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Microsoft's 10.6-inch Surface.</a></p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">It's the second group, which is smaller than the first, that threatens the traditional personal computer, Bajarin believes. "What we're observing is that this form factor [of tablet personal computers] is the future of the notebook form factor," said Bajarin. "The traditional clamshell [notebook] will become challenged in the marketplace in terms of volume."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">As tablet personal computers evolve and replace the iconic clamshell, the former should be counted as "PCs," Bajarin said, echoing a stance held by Microsoft. With tablet personal computers in the tally, the PC may actually return to a growth trend, reversing the current decline.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"The bulk of these [tablet personal computers] will be 10-in. or less," predicted Bajarin, referring to screen size. "That will also drive the opportunity for desktops as the one-per-household shared personal computer, while others in the family each have a media consumption tablet or more capable tablet."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The addition of tablet personal computers to the PC category, and more important, their expected sales volume, could push the industry back into growth, said Bajarin. "The bulk of the volume of PC [shipments] will be desktops and these more capable tablets," he predicted of the consumer market, looking years into the future.</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Good news for Apple and Microsoft?</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">If true, that would make Apple happy, as it sells the bulk of the tablets in Bajarin's "more capable" class. But it would also bring some smiles to Intel, which is currently running television ads for what it calls the "two-in-one" category, hybrid devices centered around a tablet that can be undocked or removed from a keyboard.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Microsoft would be grinning as well, since its Surface strategy is right down the middle of the tablet personal computer plate.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> "A number of vendors will be extremely aggressive on Intel's strategy," said Bajarin, referring to 2014—an emphasis that may shift consumer attention away from the notebook. "The best way to think about a notebook is as a portable desktop, but lot of people don't need a portable desktop."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">And Apple could further capitalize on the trend if—as some pundits and analysts have speculated—it <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9243417/Perspective_iPad_and_the_keyboard_getting_inside_Apple_s_head?" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">delivers an iPad "Pro" tablet</a>, perhaps one with a screen larger than the current design, in 2014 to complement the iPad Air.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"If the PC market is stabilizing, this is good news," said Bajarin on Techpinions. "We could very well be looking at a pendulum swing in the industry, where PC slowdown and [media consumption] tablet slowdown offset each other in particular years. PCs may be slow during [media consumption] tablet refresh cycles and [media consumption] tablet refresh cycles may be slow during PC refresh cycles.</p> </span>

Tablets face a turning point

The downturn in the personal computer industry may be ready to reach rock bottom, where it could stabilize even as cheap tablets stay hot,...

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Windows 8.1 Preview will die soon, Microsoft warns

<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 imgId100043944 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt5.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/06/windows8.1newbackground_primary-100043944-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/windows-8" 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">Microsoft is reminding customers that 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/2043516/weekend-project-install-the-windows-8-1-preview.html?tk=rel_news" style="line-height:1.7em;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;color:rgb(37,167,215)">Windows 8.1 Preview</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">will conk out on January 15, and it's time to shell out for the full edition.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"Now that Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 have been generally available for a while, it's time to get all your remaining devices that are still running Windows 8.1 Preview or Windows RT 8.1 Preview to the final GA release before the Preview release expires," Microsoft said in a short post to a<a href="http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/springboard/archive/2013/12/18/moving-forward-from-windows-8-1-preview.aspx" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">company blog</a> last week.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"GA," for General Availability, is a label Microsoft uses to denote the final, shipping version of a product.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"You have no right to use the software after this expiration date [of January 15, 2014]," stated the preview's license ( <a href="http://download.microsoft.com/download/C/1/0/C10C43A6-A2C1-4412-8F79-08661FE3971F/Windows-8_1-Pre-Release-License.pdf" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">download PDF</a>) "Starting from the expiration date, you may not be able to access any unsaved data used with the software."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9240383/Microsoft_restarts_Windows_push_with_refined_blend_Windows_8.1_beta" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Microsoft released a single preview</a> of Windows 8.1 on June 25, when CEO Steve Ballmer—who would <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2047327/microsoft-ceo-steve-ballmer-to-retire-within-12-months.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">announce his retirement</a> two months later—called on a coffee metaphor to say the update was "a refined blend of our desktop experience and our Modern user experience."</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Several upgrade paths</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Users who installed the Windows 8.1 preview atop Windows 8 will be able to update to the final version free of charge, but others—those who tried the beta on a machine that had previously run Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP—will need to either restore the system's original operating system or pay between $120 and $200 for <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048508/windows-8-1-review-the-great-compromise.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Windows 8.1.</a></p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Neither Windows Vista or XP are designed to be upgraded to Windows 8.1, but users can instead take a circuitous path—first to Windows 8, from which they can update to 8.1 via the Windows Store—or follow the steps outlined on this <a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/upgrade-from-windows-vista-xp-tutorial" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Microsoft support page</a>.</p> <img alt="windows 8 logo" height="80" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/03/windows-8-logo-100030498-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"> Even those who formerly relied on<a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2012830/windows-8-the-official-review.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Windows 8</a> and experimented with the 8.1 Preview have work to do after an update to the final. "Note that you will have to reinstall all of your applications (desktop or modern) after doing this," Microsoft said today.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">According to analytics company Net Applications, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 accounted for a combined 9.3 percent of all personal computer operating systems in November, a number that represented 10.2 percent of all those devices running Windows.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/update-from-preview" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">More information</a> on updating from the beta to the final of Windows 8.1 can be found on Microsoft's website</p> </span>

Windows 8.1 Preview will die soon, Microsoft warns

Microsoft is reminding customers that the   Windows 8.1 Preview   will conk out on January 15, and it's time to shell out for the full...

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Windows 8.1 Preview will die soon, Microsoft warns

<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 imgId100043944 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt5.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/06/windows8.1newbackground_primary-100043944-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/windows-8" 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">Microsoft is reminding customers that 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/2043516/weekend-project-install-the-windows-8-1-preview.html?tk=rel_news" style="line-height:1.7em;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;color:rgb(37,167,215)">Windows 8.1 Preview</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">will conk out on January 15, and it's time to shell out for the full edition.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"Now that Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 have been generally available for a while, it's time to get all your remaining devices that are still running Windows 8.1 Preview or Windows RT 8.1 Preview to the final GA release before the Preview release expires," Microsoft said in a short post to a<a href="http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/springboard/archive/2013/12/18/moving-forward-from-windows-8-1-preview.aspx" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">company blog</a> last week.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"GA," for General Availability, is a label Microsoft uses to denote the final, shipping version of a product.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"You have no right to use the software after this expiration date [of January 15, 2014]," stated the preview's license ( <a href="http://download.microsoft.com/download/C/1/0/C10C43A6-A2C1-4412-8F79-08661FE3971F/Windows-8_1-Pre-Release-License.pdf" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">download PDF</a>) "Starting from the expiration date, you may not be able to access any unsaved data used with the software."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9240383/Microsoft_restarts_Windows_push_with_refined_blend_Windows_8.1_beta" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Microsoft released a single preview</a> of Windows 8.1 on June 25, when CEO Steve Ballmer—who would <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2047327/microsoft-ceo-steve-ballmer-to-retire-within-12-months.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">announce his retirement</a> two months later—called on a coffee metaphor to say the update was "a refined blend of our desktop experience and our Modern user experience."</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Several upgrade paths</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Users who installed the Windows 8.1 preview atop Windows 8 will be able to update to the final version free of charge, but others—those who tried the beta on a machine that had previously run Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP—will need to either restore the system's original operating system or pay between $120 and $200 for <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048508/windows-8-1-review-the-great-compromise.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Windows 8.1.</a></p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Neither Windows Vista or XP are designed to be upgraded to Windows 8.1, but users can instead take a circuitous path—first to Windows 8, from which they can update to 8.1 via the Windows Store—or follow the steps outlined on this <a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/upgrade-from-windows-vista-xp-tutorial" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Microsoft support page</a>.</p> <img alt="windows 8 logo" height="80" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/03/windows-8-logo-100030498-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"> Even those who formerly relied on<a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2012830/windows-8-the-official-review.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Windows 8</a> and experimented with the 8.1 Preview have work to do after an update to the final. "Note that you will have to reinstall all of your applications (desktop or modern) after doing this," Microsoft said today.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">According to analytics company Net Applications, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 accounted for a combined 9.3 percent of all personal computer operating systems in November, a number that represented 10.2 percent of all those devices running Windows.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"><a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/update-from-preview" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">More information</a> on updating from the beta to the final of Windows 8.1 can be found on Microsoft's website</p> </span>

Windows 8.1 Preview will die soon, Microsoft warns

Microsoft is reminding customers that the   Windows 8.1 Preview   will conk out on January 15, and it's time to shell out for the full...

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Target breach likely involved inside knowledge, experts say

<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="cloud security" class="largeImage imgId100155717 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt4.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/12/cloud-security-100155717-large.png" 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">The Target security breach that left millions of debit and credit</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" style="line-height:1.7em;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;color:rgb(37,167,215)">card holders at risk</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">of becoming victims of fraud left experts pondering the question of how such a massive theft might have occurred.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Theories varied, but the scant details released by the retailer Thursday left some experts believing the criminals had to have some inside knowledge of the company's point-of-sale system in order to compromise it so effectively.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Either people inside the organization were involved or, "at the very least, (the thieves) had sophisticated knowledge and a clear understanding of the cardholder data flows, in order to pinpoint where to steal this very specific data and then exfiltrate it," Mark Bower, director of information protection solutions at Voltage Security, said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Target reported Thursday that card data, including customer name, credit or debit card number and the card's expiration date and CVV code, <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2081844/target-says-40-million-cards-likely-skimmed-in-security-breach.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">had been stolen</a> from 40 million accounts used for shopping between November 27 and December 15. The CVV code is the three-digit security number found on the back of cards.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The theft may have involved tampering with the machines used to swipe cards when making purchases, The Wall Street Journal reported. The information stolen, called track data, is stored in the metal strip on the back of cards.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Target declined to discuss the breach, which a spokeswoman described as "a very sophisticated crime." The Journal reported that the theft involved Target stores nationwide and as many as 40,000 card devices may have been affected. Target has 1797 stores in the U.S.</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Malware may have been tool</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Bower believes the thieves may have planted malware in the electronic cash register attached to the card reader. When a card was swiped, the malicious app would copy the data likely traveling in plain text from the reader.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Modern cash registers often run on Linux or Windows operating systems, so are as vulnerable to malware as regular computers. However, how the collected data got to the thieves' computers is a head-scratcher, because the registers were likely on a closed network that isn't accessible from the Internet.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Because of the difficulty of compromising so many point-of-sale systems, other experts believed the breach more likely occurred at the corporate data center where card data may have been sent from stores before being relayed to a card-processing company.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Lucas Zaichkowsky, enterprise defense architect at AccessData, said hackers may have compromised the corporate system and planted malware that copied data just before it entered the system.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">If the network between the stores and corporate systems were closed, then the data may not have been encrypted, until it left the internal network, said Zaichkowsky, a former employee of card processor Mercury Payment Systems.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"There's only three, maybe five, of these really advanced financial attackers, and they're really good at breaking in and hacking and they understand credit-card processing inside and out," Zaichkowsky said.</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Internal access called probable</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The fact that CVV codes were stolen was a red flag for John Kindervag, analyst for Forrester Research, who said it was an indication that Target may have had a serious security flaw.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">If CVV data were stored, then that would have been a violation of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) that financial institutions require of businesses accepting credit cards. In addition, if the data wasn't encrypted, then that could also run against the standard.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Because so much account data was stolen in such a short amount of time, Kindervag believes its more likely the thieves broke into a database somewhere on Target's network and grabbed the data, as opposed to intercepting it in transit on the network.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"When you see that many credit-card numbers breached in a single instance, that would lead me to believe that a credit-card database itself had been stolen," Kindervag said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Avivah Litan, analyst for Gartner, said she was confident Target was in compliance with PCI DSS, but that doesn't mean the retailer was protected 100 percent.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> "It's impossible to plug up all the holes when you're a retailer," Litan said.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">She gave it a "50-50 chance" that either an insider with privileged access to Target's network was involved or the thieves obtained the credentials of a privileged user.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">No matter the cause, the breach is likely to cost Target millions of dollars, Litan said. Credit-card issuers are likely to raise its merchant fee on every transaction and fine Target whether it was in compliance of PCI DSS or not. In addition, the retailer may have to pay back card issuers for any fraud resulting from the breach</p> </span>

Target breach likely involved inside knowledge, experts say

The Target security breach that left millions of debit and credit   card holders at risk   of becoming victims of fraud left experts ponde...

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