Technology Archives - Page 3 of 16

DuckDuckGo Now Also Blocks Microsoft Scripts

8Aug

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

Technology, News

DuckDuckGo Now Also Blocks Microsoft Scripts

After criticism from users, the privacy-friendly search engine will also stop tracking by Microsoft. DuckDuckGo is a search engine that does not track you online and thereby omits trackers or other techniques to identify you online. In addition, it also has extensions for Firefox and a mobile browser. In May, the organization was criticized for this. Despite its promise, DuckDuckGo's browser still contained Microsoft tracking scripts. That is why it is now announcing that that too will be discontinued. CEO Gabriel Weinberg also explains why: "We were restricted from applying 3rd-Party Tracker Loading Protection to Microsoft tracking scripts by a policy requirement linked to our use of Bing as the source of our search results." Now that requirement is no longer there, and Weinbe...

French Student Arrested in Morocco for Hacking American Companies

1Aug

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

Technology, France, Morocco, News, US

French Student Arrested in Morocco for Hacking American Companies

In Morocco, 21-year-old Sebastien Raoult has been arrested at the request of the FBI. The man is accused of hacking and stealing data from various American companies. Raoult's arrest dates back to June 1 but only became known through French and Moroccan media last week. He was arrested at Rabat airport while trying to catch a flight to Brussels. According to the FBI, Raoult is part of the ShinyHunters hacker group. In it, he would have hacked several American companies since 2020 and sold their data. As a result, the man was signalled to Interpol and could be arrested. The question now will be whether the man will be extradited to the US. He risks a prison sentence of up to 116 years, but his lawyer is against it. He argues that the facts would have been committed in France by a...

Microsoft Launches Facebook Clone for Teams

20Jul

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

Technology, News

Microsoft Launches Facebook Clone for Teams

A new social platform within the Teams application should encourage employees to share news and interests. Microsoft has launched Viva Engage in the United States, an app within Teams that is very similar to Facebook, to strengthen social networks within the company. The app draws a lot from software from Yammer, a community-building software company that was acquired by Microsoft about a decade ago. The Viva Engage app stands out mainly because it resembles a clean Facebook version. There's a news feed for your stories, conversations, videos, images, and more. It, therefore, seems mainly made to become a social network for work.

Samsung Expects Turnover to Increase by More Than 11 Percent

7Jul

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

Technology, News

Samsung Expects Turnover to Increase by More Than 11 Percent

South Korea's Samsung Electronics expects its operating profit to rise 11.4 percent in the second quarter of 2022, despite ongoing global supply problems. The company said this in a statement on Thursday. Operating profit for the period is expected to be 14 trillion won, compared to 12.6 trillion won in the same period a year earlier. In addition, the world's largest smartphone maker expects its sales to rise 21 percent between April and June to 77 trillion won. That would be less than in the first quarter of this year when the group posted sales of 77.8 trillion won. Analysts say the company benefited from strong memory chip performance, which offset a decline in smartphone sales in the second quarter.

Travel Industry and Travellers Important Target of Phishing This Summer

30Jun

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

News, Technology

Travel Industry and Travellers Important Target of Phishing This Summer

Consumers should be extra vigilant during their holidays due to the heightened cybersecurity risks. That warning comes from Check Point, a leading provider of security solutions. The company sees, among other things, a phishing trend in which hackers pose as well-known travel companies because holidaymakers are looking for last minutes. Despite increased costs and problems at airports, international travel is expected to increase by 11 percent this summer. As a result, according to Check Point Research, hackers widely impersonate well-known travel industry companies for phishing attacks. 'Holiday travellers looking for last-minute available trips, hotels and attraction offers are sensitive to emails about those topics. For example, there is a fraudulent e-mail from Delta Airline...

Killnet Carries Out Series of DDoS Attacks on Lithuania

28Jun

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

Technology, Lithuania, News, Russia

Killnet Carries Out Series of DDoS Attacks on Lithuania

The pro-Russian group Killnet is claiming a series of cyber attacks that disrupted internet traffic in Lithuania on Monday. The distributed denial of service attacks is said to be in retaliation for Lithuania's decision to block EU-sanctioned goods sent from the Russian border to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. DDoS The Lithuanian government says malicious internet traffic has disrupted some key components of its national security network. The local security services are said to have identified the main victims during the attacks and helped them counteract DDoS attacks in real-time. “There is a good chance that these and more intense attacks will continue to come in the coming days, especially against our communications services, energy suppliers and financial sector,” said...

Mars Probe on Windows 98 Gets Major Update After 19 Years

27Jun

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

Technology, News

Mars Probe on Windows 98 Gets Major Update After 19 Years

As support for Windows 8.1 ends on Earth, a device further out in the solar system will receive a major update to its current system based on Windows 98 for the first time in 19 years. The Mars Express, a probe that departed for the red planet on June 2, 2003, and is still circulating there, is getting its first major update. Currently, the probe runs on MARSIS software, an operating system based on Windows 98. It is now being modernized with an upgrade. Many details about the hardware the system runs on, and whether much of the original Windows 98 remains, are unknown. The ESA does say that the update gives the Mars Express more options. This makes it possible to use radio waves to look much deeper under the surface of Mars, or the surface of its moon, Phobos. For example, the ...

German Competition Watchdog Starts Investigation into Google Maps

22Jun

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

Technology, Europe, Germany, News

German Competition Watchdog Starts Investigation into Google Maps

Limits in the terms of use of the service could be a form of monopoly abuse. The German antitrust watchdog has launched an investigation into Google Maps for possible anti-competitive practices. The organization wants to know whether the limits Maps places on combining its services with those of third parties could have given Maps a competitive advantage. Specifically, the watchdog wants to find out whether the terms of use for the charting platform may be illegal. These are conditions that make it difficult for app developers to combine the Google Maps API with that of alternative map makers. The cartel watchdog would also start an investigation of Google's Automotive Services. "We're going to see if Google extends its dominance in certain mapping services through this practice...

Swiss Airspace Closed for Several Hours Due to Computer Failure

15Jun

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

Technology, Europe, News, Switzerland

Swiss Airspace Closed for Several Hours Due to Computer Failure

Switzerland's airspace was closed for about three hours on Wednesday morning for security reasons, due to an IT breakdown at Skyguide. At Geneva airport, all departing and inbound flights were suspended until 11 a.m. Two flights to Geneva were scheduled from Brussels Airport on Wednesday morning, one of which was cancelled and another was delayed. Many flights to Geneva or Zurich were diverted to airports in neighbouring countries, including Lyon, Milan and Vienna. The spokesman for air traffic controller Skyguide, Vladi Barrosa, informed the German news agency DPA that the company does not assume a cyber attack, but that a hardware problem was the cause of the breakdown.

US has Fastest Supercomputer Again After Two Years

30May

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

Technology, News, US

US has Fastest Supercomputer Again After Two Years

The fastest (publicly known) supercomputer in the world is now located in the US. The Frontier is the first to hit more than one exaflop. According to the Top500 ranking of supercomputers, the fastest machine is now located at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The machine achieves a peak performance of 1.1 exaflops, which makes it a lot more powerful than the previous number one, the Japanese Fugaku which hits 442 petaflops. The ranking of supercomputers changes regularly as more powerful machines are made and delivered. Fugaku, made by Fujitsu, has been in the lead for the past two years, since mid-2020. Frontier is a supercomputer based on HPE's Cray EX platform. The machine is water-cooled and features AMD's 3rd generation Epyc processors, Instinct MI250X accelerators...