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February 28, 2022 by Vertical Axion
According to researchers at HP, there’s a new threat to worry about. Hackers have recently begun disguising malware as Windows 11 upgrades and are using them to target Windows 10 users who are anxious to move to Microsoft’s latest OS. This new campaign begins like many others with an email informing the recipient that if […]
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February 23, 2022 by Vertical Axion
Researchers at Avanan are a Check Point subsidiary. They have recently issued a warning that anyone who uses Microsoft Teams should be aware of. According to the latest statistics, more than 270 million people use Teams every single month. According to Avanan, hackers are breaking into Team chats and attaching malicious files to ongoing conversations. […]
February 21, 2022 by Vertical Axion
Researchers have spotted a new phishing campaign you should be aware of. What sets this one apart is that the hackers are using a lowly but specially crafted CSV file to infect machines. They are installing the BazarBackdoor malware. If you’re not familiar with the term CSV stands for “Comma Separated Values” and it’s a […]
February 19, 2022 by Vertical Axion
Individual users often don’t have a good sense of the scope and scale of hacking attacks around the world. The numbers may shock you. According to Microsoft, in 2021 the company blocked more than 25.6 billion brute force authentication attacks against Azure AD users. They also and intercepted a staggering 35.7 billion phishing emails with […]
February 17, 2022 by Vertical Axion
Microsoft recently announced an important upgrade to Microsoft Defender. It now supports vulnerability management for both Android and iOS. The company’s announcement reads in part as follows: “With this new cross-platform coverage, threat and vulnerability management capabilities now support all major device platforms across the organization – spanning workstations, servers, and mobile devices. Threat and […]
February 15, 2022 by Vertical Axion
Back in September of 2020 Microsoft announced that it was experimenting with the addition of SMTP MTA Strict Transport Security (MTA-STS) support to Exchange Online. This was done in a bid to ensure the email communication and security of their Office 365 customers. In a recent statement by the company the Exchange Online Transport Team […]
February 8, 2022 by Vertical Axion
One of the most persistently frustrating aspects of our highly interconnected world is that we seem to exist in at least three different distinct ecosystems. Apple users live in the Apple ecosystem which encompasses both its mobile products and its PCs. Windows users live in the Windows ecosystem which encompasses both laptops and desktops but […]
January 31, 2022 by Vertical Axion
There’s a new strain of malware called SysJoker to be mindful of. It’s especially dangerous because it can target Windows, Mac or Linux systems. That makes it an equal opportunity strain. Researchers at Intezer are credited with discovering the malware in the wild in December of 2021 during an investigation of an attack on a […]
January 29, 2022 by Vertical Axion
According to the latest Gartner’s statistics, a total of 339.8 million personal computers were shipped in 2021. That was up from 309.1 million in 2020 which amounts to about 10 percent growth in the market. The company noted that the fourth quarter of 2021 saw a 5 percent drop compared to last year, which may […]
January 26, 2022 by Vertical Axion
Google is once again raising the bar where messaging and team meeting software is concerned. The company just rolled out the first phase of its new live translation service for Meet users after months of beta testing the feature. Naturally this is the first step in a long process, so there are some limitations and […]
January 20, 2022 by Vertical Axion
If you’re managing a company of any size and interested in copying from some other firm’s playbook, Apple is almost always a good choice. Even the folks at Google seem to think so. The search giant recently announced a plan to tighten the integration between Android/Chrome and Windows to create a seamless and hassle-free user […]
January 12, 2022 by Vertical Axion
If you’re one of the early adopters of Windows 11 then you may have already experienced the latest bug that crept into the mix as of build 21H2. Apps that utilize Win32 APIs to render colors on some HDR (High-Definition Range) displays may not work as expected. HDR displays are noted for their rich incredibly […]
January 10, 2022 by Vertical Axion
Are you a Skype user? If so be aware that Microsoft (the company that owns Skype) just added a handy new feature you may want to start taking advantage of right away. The next time you update your software you’ll be able to zoom in on a screen shared by the user you’re communicating with. […]
January 7, 2022 by Vertical Axion
There’s a new malware strain you should make sure your IT staff is aware of. Called the Dark Watchman, it is a well-designed and highly capable RAT (Remote Access Trojan) paired with a keylogger written in C#. First discovered by researchers at Prevailion this piece of malware likes to lurk in the Windows Registry and […]
December 30, 2021 by Vertical Axion
Two months ago, Microsoft began rolling out support for end-to-end encryption for all Teams calls. Given the pandemic and the increased demand for Teams and services like it, that was a very big deal. The good news is that Microsoft recently announced that the rollout is complete and all Teams calls now support E2EE which […]
December 25, 2021 by Vertical Axion
For a few years now Microsoft has been experimenting with voice commands. Their early experiments were limited to contexts that resided wholly inside specific applications however. For example, once you opened Word you could use voice commands to activate a few of the software’s features. Recently the company decided to take voice controls to a […]
December 17, 2021 by Vertical Axion
Emotet is one of the most feared malware strains circulating right now. The team behind it has managed to infect a staggering array of targets all around the globe. To say that it is a major threat would be an understatement. Recently the group behind Emotet just upped the ante even further. Researchers have recently […]
December 16, 2021 by Vertical Axion
Microsoft is making a few UI changes across its entire product line in anticipation of rolling out Windows 11. Early this year (2021) the company announced that they were updating the UI for Office 365 and Office 2021. Over the summer small groups of users participated in an open beta and began playing with the […]
December 13, 2021 by Vertical Axion
Microsoft has had a long and interesting relationship with its venerable “Paint” app. Most people are familiar with Paint. It’s been around since the earliest versions of Windows and let’s be honest it was never a great application. It allows users to do the basics but it was quickly eclipsed by more robust and feature-rich […]
December 11, 2021 by Vertical Axion
It’s no real secret that Microsoft has never been a big fan of Chrome, FireFox, or any other web browser that it didn’t build. The company clearly hasn’t gotten over the fact that it lost the browser wars and lost them handily. That’s why it keeps trying periodically to reinvent the wheel offering up new […]
December 2, 2021 by Vertical Axion
Sometimes the development process is smooth and sometimes it’s not so smooth. Right now Windows 11’s development is falling into that latter category. Recently Windows Engineers announced a serious issue plaguing the OS. The culprit was compatibility between the new OS version 21H2 and Intel’s SST (Smart Sound Technology) drivers. SST is a big deal […]
November 23, 2021 by Vertical Axion
If you use Exchange Server to handle your company’s email then you’re probably already aware that a critical security flaw has been discovered that puts the server at risk. The issue is being tracked as CVE-2021-42321 and impacts both Exchange Server 2016 and 2019. Even worse is that Microsoft reports that this issue has been […]
November 20, 2021 by Vertical Axion
Open-source applications don’t get much in the way of protection. However in recent years Microsoft has taken steps to change that and especially as it relates to Linux. A few months back the company expanded those protections by adding endpoint detection and response (EDR) to Defender for Endpoint. More recently Microsoft added that capability for […]
November 19, 2021 by Vertical Axion
If you spend a lot of time browsing the Windows Store you may have noticed something unexpected. You can now download Mozilla’s Firefox browser from that source. Previously Mozilla was unable to upload its browser to the Windows Store because Microsoft’s policies required that all browsers on their platform had to use the engine provided […]
