Dubbed BlackGuard, zScaler says that the new malware strain is “sophisticated” and has been made available to criminal buyers for a monthly price of $200. Infostealers are forms of malware designed to harvest valuable data, potentially including operating system information, contact lists, screenshots, network traffic, and online account credentials including those used to access financial services and banking. A range of malicious software and exploit kits are sold every day underground, some of which are purchased outright....

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it initiated the legal proceedings against Meta as the company either allegedly aided and abetted in false or misleading representations by the scam advertisers or stood idly by as the ads continued to be displayed. Of note in the ACCC’s latest lawsuit is that its arguments are grounded on Meta being responsible for the ads it publishes on its platform. “The essence of our case is that Meta is responsible for these ads that it publishes on its platform,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said....

In the tech giant’s new Cyber Signals report, the company says that just 22% of customers that use its cloud-based identity platform Azure Active Directory (AAD) had implemented “strong identity authentication” as of December 2021, which includes multi-factor authentication (MFA) and passwordless solutions, such as the Microsoft Authenticator app. MFA is one of the best defenses against remote phishing attacks as logging in to an Office 365 account with a compromised password requires that the attacker also has physical access to a second factor, like an account owner’s smartphone....

His advice to Microsoft’s corporate board? Your company needs to be more like IBM, he suggested. Buy Nokia, fire thousands of employees, and replace your CEO. In short, Microsoft should “reinvent itself.” So, how’d that work out? A decade later, even after failing spectacularly with its Nokia purchase, Microsoft is the second-largest company in the world, with 25 times the market capitalization of IBM. No reinvention required. It does help, of course, that the company had been building a juggernaut of a cloud business with Azure and Office 365 at the time, and both are now arguably at the core of the company....

Gradual evolution The ability to run SQL Server on Linux and in Docker containers, first enabled with the release of SQL Server 2017, was really the technological down payment for Arc-Enabled Azure SQL. Next, with the release of SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters (BDC), came the ability deploy multiple server instances of the database to Kubernetes clusters, along with a full command line interface for initiating and monitoring such deployments....

The issue might cause Windows to prompt the would-be printer for administrative credentials on every attempt to print in that scenario. This issue is likely to be more specific to enterprise environments, given the conditions required for Windows to trigger the credential prompt – but it could be somewhat inconvenient. “The affected environments described in this issue are not commonly used by devices designed for home use. The printing environments affected by this issue are more commonly found in enterprises and organizations,” Microsoft notes in its Windows release health known issues section....

Microsoft launched the free version of Teams in 2018, before the pandemic, when it was more of a rival to Slack than Zoom. The free Teams app was a stand-alone app untethered from Office 365/Microsoft 365 licenses, to which Teams was and remains free. The free option allowed it to compete with Slack better. But now Microsoft is reorganizing its free and entry-level products. Rather confusingly, there will still be a “Microsoft Teams free”, but the legacy Teams Free is going away, and so will any files linked to the legacy account....

Flexera’s 2022 State of ITAM Report found that 46% of respondents were audited by Microsoft for usage in the last three years with 30% citing Oracle. Software asset teams are spending most of their time focused on Microsoft followed by VMware, Adobe and Oracle. Indeed, 24% of respondents paid more than $1 million in true-up costs over the past three years due to software audits. The survey is based on responses from 465 technical professionals at global companies with at least 1,000 employees....

Update: The first testers will be able to access 50 select Android apps, according to Microsoft’s blog post. The new documentation says that the Windows Subsystem for Android “is currently only available through preview in the Windows Insiders Program.” However, as of right now, the Windows Subsystem for Android code isn’t in any external Insider test builds, including the Dev Channel. My guess is this will happen any day now, given the publication of the documentation....

Giorgio Sardo, general manager (GM) in the Experiences and Devices group at Microsoft and GM for the Microsoft Store, announced the changes today via Twitter concerning sections 10.8.7 and 11.2 of the Store policy document. These sections regard how much developers charge for apps and the copyright infringement reporting to Microsoft, respectively. The new wording for section 10.8.7 says: “In cases where you determine the pricing for your product or in-app purchases, all pricing … must not be priced irrationally high relative to the features and functionality provided by your product....

Many of these users have made it their mission to test the chatbot’s capabilities and expose its flaws. From revealing its confidential codename used internally by developers, to declaring its love to a New York Times writer and asking him to leave his wife, to wishing it was alive, there is no doubt the chatbot was acting out of hand. Consequently, Microsoft decided to reel in the chatbot. As of last Friday, the chatbot has a five-question limit per session and a 50-chat turn limit per day....

While video meetings became standard for many office workers during the past couple of years, they also quickly became an annoyance, leaving some people feeling excluded, ignored or feeling that precious time was being wasted on long meetings that didn’t serve everyone well. With video meetings set to remain a feature of hybrid work, Microsoft decided to find out what made online meetings more inclusive and effective via a recently run survey of its own employees and a select group of Teams customers....

Those rectangles were the first sign of what was to become Microsoft’s line of Surface devices, at first with the familiar 16:9 aspect ratio, but soon transitioning to a more tablet- and document-friendly 3:2. That display has been the heart of Surface and is key to understanding how Microsoft thinks of its devices: a surface where we interact with applications and content. The LA launch (which was not gremlin-free) set the scene for Microsoft’s arrival in the PC hardware market, with slim, lightweight tablets and removable keyboards, plus a built-in kickstand for use on desk and (more awkwardly) lap....

Microsoft also is updating the interface of Phone Link to look and feel more like Windows 11. And officials are committing to adding more unspecified cross-device experiences to Phone Link over time. Microsoft launched Your Phone three years ago. The app allows people to access photos, texts and apps from their phones on their PCs. Your Phone has worked most fully with Samsung devices. It also supports Microsoft’s own Surface Duo dual-screen Android device....

The blockchain, decentralized technologies, DeFi, smart contracts, the concept of a ‘metaverse’ and Web3 – the decentralized foundation built on top of cryptographic systems that underlay blockchain projects – all have the potential to produce radical changes in how we understand and experience connectivity today. Read on: What is Web3? Everything you need to know about the decentralized future of the internet However, with every technological innovation, there may also be new avenues created for cyberattackers and Web3 is no exception....

According to the study, a greater emphasis on transparency around fee structures, improved customer support, business owners receiving faster payments, and how banks responded to COVID-related challenges fueled the increase. Bank of America had a merchant satisfaction score of 894, and Chase scored 879. Square was close behind with 878. The highest possible score is 1000. J.D. Power found that changes made by the banks during the pandemic resulted in greater trust from small business owners....

And now the device is getting 5G. That addition could be a game changer for Moto G Stylus. Why? The update to the Moto G Stylus earlier this year was a big advance on the 2020 version, which had a few rough edges and a rudimentary stylus that didn’t dock well. Motorola updates the Moto G Stylus with 5G, now $399 The 2021 Moto G Stylus featured a host of improvements to fit and finish, but the dealbreaker for me was the lack of 5G....

But there were other announcements, including two iPads, a new Apple Watch, and four new iPhones. And yes, they’re being called iPhone 13, so here’s hoping they’re lucky for us all. Since my articles about what gear I’m getting (or not getting) seem to be rather popular here on ZDNet, I thought I’d run down the product announcements and let you know which products justify pulling out the Apple Card to increase my debt load yet again....

Whatever your reason for wanting to improve your physical condition, the process typically comes down to two factors: diet and exercise. Tracking both is easier than ever thanks to the range of sensors and vast nutritional databases we can access via our smartphones and wearables. While these metrics can be invaluable on your fitness journey, accessing them can sometimes be a frustrating task, requiring multiple, sometimes redundant apps. Enter MyFitnessPal, one of the longest-running attempts at a one-app solution for tracking all of your diet and exercise progress quickly and easily....

The “unauthorised data access” incident was uncovered on August 29 and the relevant authorities had been informed of the breach, said MyRepublic in a statement Friday. It pointed to industry regulator Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and Personal Data Protection Commission, which oversees the country’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA). MyRepublic said personal data of its mobile customers were stored on the affected system, adding that “unauthorised access to the data storage facility” since had been plugged....