Undergroundmod Lets Mod Your Life. Earlier this week, my colleague Chris from Threatpost penned an article about how Dropbox forced a password reset for users who had not changed their passwords since 2. At the time of his post, Dropbox called the move purely a preventative measure. Back in 2. Dropbox was the victim of a security breach that caused headaches and spam for users of the service. Four years later, the full extent of the breach is now coming to light after a cache of Dropbox user credentials was discovered online. Last night, Motherboard reported that the databases making their way around the database trading community were real and comprised more than 6. Dropbox accounts. In the post, Motherboard noted that Dropbox had not seen evidence of malicious account access. Of the 6. 8 million plus accounts, approximately 3. SHA 1. What does this meanAccording to Motherboards report, the Dropbox data dump is not currently listed on the major dark web marketplaces, presumably because when passwords are adequately secured, their value to criminals diminishes. Given that this story is still developing, I suggest keeping tabs on Threatpost theyll have rapid coverage should things change. This morning, Windows users woke to terrible news Microsoft was reportedly axing its beloved Microsoft Paint. The program, which has been annotating our memes. What should you do In the grand scheme of things, this breach is just another one to add to the ever growing list of data dumps from megasites. It joins Linked. In, My. Space, Tumblr, OKCupid, and Spotify x. Criminals find value in account credentials, and we know that hackers are gonna hack, so what we need to do as citizens of the digital world is to be smarter about how we secure our digital lives. As with any major breach, we will bang the drum on five essential tips for online security 1. Use strong passwords and change them regularly. Can we all agree that keeping the same password for four years is not a good idea Beyond that, passwords should both be easy to remember and strong for an exercise in creating strong passwords, try our password check tool. It is also a good rule of thumb to change your passwords regularly on vital sites. Think online banking, Facebook, Linked. In, and your primary personal e mail. Free online file hosting. Host your large files with one click. The easiest way to upload, download and host files. If the thought of creating, changing, and remembering all of your passwords seems daunting, consider using a password managing tool such as Kaspersky Password Manager. Delete old accounts. When we reported on Myspace in May, a common piece of snark on our internal chat was, Wait, people still use Myspace Well, no, not many do, but many dormant accounts still exist. People set up the free accounts in the early 2. Twitter and Facebook burst onto the scene and supplanted the one time head honcho of social networks. A good rule of thumb is to get rid of any accounts that you are not actively using. The reason for this is that if you arent actively managing an account and regularly changing the password on it you could be leaving yourself at risk, especially if you are in the habit of reusing passwords. By the way Dont reuse passwords. Ive mentioned it a few times already, but it deserves its own point. Just say no to reusing passwords. Sure, it makes things easy for you, but consider the password you used to join a My Little Pony community being stolen and allowing crooks into your bank account. Activate two factor authentication. Most online services enhance user security by offeringtwo factor authentication. They use app verification or SMS to ensure that the person attempting to get into an account is the person authorized to use the account. Note Dropbox offers this option. 5. Be wary of third party integration. Many online services, such as Facebook and Dropbox, let you connect with third party services for extra functions such as sharing files or competing in games with friends. The integration often makes life easier and can mean not needing to remember yet another password. The flip side of that ease of use is accepting more potential points of failure when it comes to security. Sure App X may save you some time when youre sharing updates on the go, but does it safely secure the keys to your digital castleBefore connecting services, think twice. Is it vital to use one login or to create another accountThe answer is up to each user, but the question is one to seriously consider. In closing, the Dropbox data breach is another eye opener and an important example of how criminals continue to target digital identities. We strongly advise everyone to roll the tips above into a regular security hygiene check. We have home security systems and locks for our terrestrial lives we should be just as vigilant about our digital lives. Just How Dead Is Microsoft Paint UpdatedThis morning, Windows users woke to terrible news Microsoft was reportedly axing its beloved Microsoft Paint. The program, which has been annotating our memes, creating our webcomics, and teaching us how to art since 1. Microsofts list of Windows features to be removed or deprecated in the Windows 1. Fall Creators Update. But this doesnt mean Paint as we know it is dead The list Paint was featured on very specifically says that each product will either be killed, or it will be deprecatedwhich merely means it will no longer be actively developed. Paint falls into the latter category. So it could be dropped in a future update, or it could hang around for the next decadean artifact of a different time. Outlook Express, another Windows application thats conjures memories for older users, is being killed in the same update. It is officially supplanted by the big boy Microsoft Outlook, which is more stylistically in line with Windows 1. Outlook Express. While Outlook Express has long languished in the shadow of its hipper Outlook cousin, MS Paint has seen infrequent updates that at least allow it to look like it belongs on a 2. Microsoft is very aware of how much affection users have for Microsoft Paint. The product, which many of us used as a digital doodling book when we were kids, has a cult following. When Microsoft briefed press on the original Creators Update back in March, its representatives only had nice things to say about the application. Paint is on every Windows computer It makes creating art easy Its like Photoshop but simple and freeThis is not how you talk when youre planning to ax a product. This is definitely the kind of talk you deliver when youre launching a new Paint product. Which was what was happening at that press briefing. Microsoft launched Paint 3. D, a 3. D rendering and printing tool intended to simplify the production of 3. D products, in March. The name Paint 3. D was specifically used so play on peoples nostalgia for MS Paint. Its not unreasonable to expect that the upcoming Fall Creators Update will see Paint 3. D expanded to incorporate the features we all know and love from Paint. Either way, it is not in Microsofts best interest to kill an application that has been loved for more than 3. Right now Microsoft is campaigning to steal all the artists and other creators who have traditionally preferred the Mac ecosystem for creating digital art. Its why Microsoft spent so much time talking about the Surface Pen when it updated the Surface Pro a few months ago, and its why it launched the Surface Studio last October. Heck, its why it keeps calling every new Windows OS update a creators update. It wants those usersTransforming its most enduring creative application into something more robust is a clear next step. Eventually Microsoft could kill the ugly version of Paint we love in order to release shiny new version of Paint or a Paint adjacent application. Or Microsoft could just leave MS Paint in the Deprecated column for a while, a cool app eventually destined to be forgotten as younger computer users snap up alternate tools like Photoshop Express or Autodesk Sketchbook. Either way Microsoft Paint isnt dead, its just deprecated, and Microsoft has made no comment on how long it could be deprecated. So maybe dont go ordering funeral flowers just yet. Weve reached out to Microsoft to learn more about the plans for Paint and will update if we hear back get back to us. Update A Microsoft spokesperson responded with the following statement MS Paint is not going away. In addition to the new 3. D capabilities, many of the MS Paint features people know and love like photo editing and 2. D creation are in Paint 3. D the new app for creativity, available for free with the Windows 1. Creators update. In the future, we will offer MS Paint in the Windows Store also for free and continue to provide new updates and experiences to Paint 3. D so people have the best creative tools all in one place. So there you have it. MS Paint is safe. Microsoft via The Guardian.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
November 2017
Categories |