Wednesday Newsbytes – News for You – 033022
Every day we scan the tech world for news that affects all of us who use Windows computers. Today, we’re featuring some of the news articles that grabbed our attention over the past week. We hope you find this week’s “Wednesday Newsbytes” informative and interesting!
GOOGLE has warned all Chrome browser users over a “high severity” security hole.
Now anyone with Google Chrome installed is being urged to install the latest security updates.
Update Google Chrome as soon as you can
The issue is also fixed for Microsoft Edge users on Windows PCs with a new update.
Neither Microsoft nor Google have detailed exactly what the problem is.
This could indicate that it’s a significant issue that may already be being exploited in the real world.
Security holes allow hackers to potentially take over computer systems – compromising your devices.
The ten biggest threats to your Windows PC in 2022 From malware to a man with a screwdriver called Steve, we round up the biggest dangers to your machine this year
The PC has been under attack – both literally and metaphorically – for years. Malware threats, environmental threats, and even the threat of obsolescence have all been quietly dealt with over the decades.
Still, forewarned is forearmed, as the old saying goes, and there’s no shortage of dangers lurking in the shadows for the PC in 2022.
We’ve canvassed the opinions of security experts and the PC Pro team to highlight ten dangers to your PC in the year ahead. Some are a little tongue-in-cheek, but all are things that you need to be wary of as we tick on as 2022 takes shape.
Microsoft Starts Blocking Vulnerable Drivers in Windows 10, Windows 11
Nobody wants their drivers on this list.
Microsoft is introducing a new Windows security feature that will automatically block drivers deemed as being vulnerable to malicious behavior.
As ghacks.net reports, it’s called the Vulnerable Driver Blocklist and forms part of the defenses offered by Windows Defender for Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server 2016. However, it’s only enabled by default for Windows 10 in S mode or on PCs with a Core Isolation feature referred to as Memory Integrity (more on this below).
The new feature was revealed via a tweet by David Weston, vice president of OS Security and Enterprise at Microsoft..
A driver is blocked if Microsoft deems it to have a known security vulnerability that can be exploited, has malware behavior previously associated with it, or demonstrates behavior that circumvents the Windows Security Model and can be exploited.
A NEW text message scam has been targeting millions of Verizon users – here’s what you need to look out for.
If your phone carrier is Verizon, then you may fall victim to a new SMS phishing (or “smishing”) scam that aims to steal your personal information.
Customers of Visible, Verizon’s mobile virtual network operator, have also reported receiving scam-like messages.
The fraudulent text initially purports itself as a user’s bill carrier and then offers them a ‘gift’ that can be accessed through a link.
Specifically, the SMS states: ‘Free Msg: Your bill is paid for March. Thanks, here’s a little gift for you.’
Read the rest at The U.S. Sun here.
Microsoft may have been hacked — what this means for you
Notorious hacking group claims to have stolen 37 GB of data
Updated March 23: Microsoft has confirmed that it was indeed breached, and we have more details.
Microsoft may have been hacked, with 37 GB of source code for Bing, Bing Maps and Cortana stolen. Or maybe not — Microsoft has yet to confirm the data theft, which was claimed over the weekend by a purportedly Brazilian group of hackers calling themselves Lapsus$.
The group seems amateurish, but its previous claims of hacking into the company networks of Nvidia, Samsung and Ubisoft have proven to be true. Today, enterprise single-sign-on provider Okta confirmed that Lapsus$ had indeed broken into its systems by stealing an employee password.
On Sunday (March 20), Lapsus$ put up what appeared to be screenshots of a Microsoft Azure DevOps cloud server containing the aforementioned items. Because the screenshot showed just part of an alphabetized list of projects, it’s possible many other Microsoft assets were compromised.
Is there a link anywhere to connect to a service request page? I need some help with my computer. Thanks
If you have purchased a service key the information for scheduling a session is in the email we sent you when you purchased the service key. If you lost that email let me know and we’ll resend it.
How interesting. Is it possible to some way get a copy of my service key? I have a key but have lost the information. Thank you
Shirley.