Internet Explorer Hackers Latest Target: Beware

Still using Microsoft Internet Explorer or Windows XP to surf and enjoy your daily online stuff?

Do you feel completely safe and secured while using Internet Explorer?

If the answer is “Yes” to my above questions, than you are definitely in the right place to know more closely about security concerns of your favorite web browser IE and operating system.

Recently, Microsoft has published that hackers have found a breathtaking pothole in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Due to this latest security issue, more than half of the world’s web browsers are vulnerable to severe attack.

Let’s just check, which version of Internet Explorer are you using V 6/7/8/9/10 or 11?

As per FireEye, which discovered the flaw, the security glitch lies in almost all the versions from IE v6 to IE v11, but majority of attacks have been found on IE 9 through IE 11 representing 26 percent and IE 6 to IE 11 representing about 56 percent of the total web browser market.

So, beware, if you are using any of them, you can be the prime target at any point of time!!!

You must be curious to know that what kind of activities will attract hackers' attention towards you?
The answer is a well-known flash exploitation technique to bypass Windows Security protection. In simplistic words, it means hacker will trick the user to click on a link or request the user to open an email attachment.

Now the question here arises, what can you do to save yourself?

There are some choices available here. First is to wait for the monthly Microsoft’s security update or a special security update. Opting which you will be dependent on the company which may or may not work in your favor. The second option which I think is the safest one to opt while you wait for an update from Microsoft is switch to any other browser like Google Chrome, Safari or Firefox rather than using Internet Explorer. But, if you don’t even want to do that then Microsoft has suggested to download Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit Version 4.1, which will help you guard against attacks until a patch is released.

As per study, this is one of the biggest security catastrophes for users who are still using Windows XP, for which Microsoft has discontinued support earlier this month. A lot of government organizations, banks, and ATM’s are already under a great risk due to XP as well as this newly found threat. The short term solutions will do no good to old operating systems as Microsoft is not going to provide any patches for them.

Thus, around 10 % percent of government computers which include thousands of classified military and diplomatic networks are on a big security risk.

So, if you are an XP user, then you need to think once again, "do you want to save some bucks and let a security disaster happen or you want to avoid a possible dreadful threat by spending a little bit for Windows 8 or 8.1??"

Think a little more before deciding, as the choice is completely yours and it matters a lot !!!

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Lumia 30 Series To Be Launched Soon

Nokia/Microsoft is going to launch Lumia's 30 series soon.

Today it is expected that Nokia-Microsoft deal will be closed and it is still unclear that Microsoft will rename the mobile handset division to "Microsoft Mobiles" or not (though many sources have confirmed that they will rename it). But one thing is clear that Lumia's new series with new hardware is ready for its launch.

After the success of Lumia 525, Lumia 625 and Lumia 925, their successors, Lumia 530, Lumia 630, Lumia 635 and Lumia 930 are expected to be launched in the month of May this year. These Lumia devices will be the first ones to run on Windows Phone 8.1.

The specs and price of Lumia 530 are still not disclosed but it is expected to be a budget phone like its predecessors. Whereas Lumia 630 and Lumia 930 are expected to cost around Rs 11,000 and Rs 34,990 respectively in India.

Lumia 630 will be available in two variants: single SIM and dual SIM. It will be powered with 1.2 GHz Quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and will have 512MB RAM which means that apps with minimum requirement of 1GB RAM will not work on this device. The phone will have 8GB internal memory, expandable upto 128GB. It will have a 5 MP primary camera which will able you to record 720p HD videos but unlike Lumia 625, it will neither have flash with primary camera nor it will have a secondary camery. Lumia 630 will have 4.5 inches IPS LCD display with 221 ppi pixel density and 480 x 854 screen resolution.

Coming to Lumia 930, it will a higher end phone like its predecessors. It will support single SIM only and will be powered with 2.2 GHz Quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor. Lumia 930 will have 2GB RAM and 32GB internal memory with no option of expansion. It will have a 20 MP auto-focus primary camera with dual LED flash and a 1.2 MP front camera. Lumia 930 will also have 4.5 inches display but it will be AMOLED with 441 ppi pixel density and full HD 1080 x 1920 screen resolution.

Both the smartphones are good in their category but low RAM and no flash is a bit dis-heartening.

Well first lets wait and see that the devices will be available in market as "Nokia Lumia" or "Microsoft Mobiles Lumia" and if they are released as latter ones then what Microsoft does in terms of marketing their new smartphones will new brand name.

Till then do tell us how did you find the new Lumia devices??


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Nokia-Microsoft deal to close by Week End

The acquisition of mobile division of Nokia by Microsoft will complete by this week end and will be renamed to "Microsoft Mobiles".

Nokia confirmed that the acquisition of its mobile devices and services business by Microsoft will be complete by April 25, 2014. The company has received all the required approvals.

The deal worth $7.5 billion was still pending because of the approvals, though the two companies already agreed on it in the month of September last year.

Microsoft also said that not only the mobile devices but it will also manage Nokia's online assets including nokia.com domain. The company also said that they might as well rename the division to "Microsoft Mobiles" even when it has bought the rights to use Nokia brand name for 10 years. It has also bought license and use of company's patents and mapping services along with its employees. Microsoft has also bought the rights to use Lumia and Asha brand names.

Microsoft will have to do some marketing and awareness campaigns to tell people that what used to be Nokia is now "Microsoft Mobiles" if they choose to change the name.

Though, Microsoft has not bought Here maps and network equipment business divisions of Nokia.

The two companies also made some changes to the original deal recently to close the deal.


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Windows Phone Getting Smarter With Windows Phone 8.1

Microsoft has released Windows Phone 8.1 developer version. The Windows Phone 8.1 update will be rolled out to Windows Phone 8 devices in coming months.

Nearly four years back Microsoft launched its Windows Phone 7 OS in Nokia devices. It had a unique interface to compete with Android and iOS but when it came to functionality the OS lacked a great bit. It does not even had a simple functionality of copy and pasting text. At that time, being new in market, Windows Phone Store also had very limited apps, again failing to have even some basic apps. The uses had to connect their Phones to computer to even set a ringtone of their choice and file transfer to other phones was out of picture. Though, it was highly appreciated for its interface and ease of operating as compared to the monotonous Android OS.

Within all these years Microsoft have been trying really hard to improve its Phone OS. They made many improvements in Windows Phone 8 version and recently released Black OS update. The interface remained elegant and simple yet users got a lot in terms of functionality. But as it is human behavior, people never stop complaining, same happened with Windows Phone 8. Users were not happy for not having 'notification center'.

Now Microsoft has come up with Windows Phone 8.1. It is currently available to developers and is a very big update when it comes to functionality. The OS has many amazing features: two big ones and few small ones.

First and for most the Windows Phone 8.1 OS now comes with a personal virtual assistant "Cortana" like Siri in iOS. "Cortana" is said to be the best of Google Now and Siri. It can talk back and even say funny things unlike Google Now, and it can also track a courier package or your flights which is very unlike Siri. Though the tracking will not be available in the Indian version of the OS. In fact, Cortana itself is not officially available in India.

Moving on to the 'Notification Center', for which people used to crib a lot. Yes, Windows Phone 8.1 has a 'Notification Center'. I think they named it as 'Action Center' as you can do much more than just seeing the notifications there. The 'center' allows you to access 4 common settings: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane Mode and Rotation Lock (recently introduced in Windows Phone Black update) by default. But it is not just all, if you want to see some other settings in your 'Action Center' then Microsoft has provided that option as well. You can select from a large list of items. You can also choose the apps which are allowed to give notifications and which aren't. The user have to scroll down from top of the screen to open 'Action Center' just like any Android device.

Apart from these two huge features Windows Phone 8.1 offers many more features such as setting tiles background as an image rather than just the basic colored theme. It looks really good but the only problem with this is, if any app tile does not support theme background then its background will not be changed.

Users can now search through their messages. Yet again a simple but very useful feature. The OS also has Swype to type feature which makes typing dramatically faster, once you get used to it. Windows Phone 8.1 also offers a new camera app and a new version of Internet Explorer (IE 11).

Now you can separate the volume levels for ringers, notification and apps. The calender has also been updated with weekly view.

Anyone can get the developer version of Windows Phone 8.1 but you have to compromise with your device warranty. You just have to visit Windows Phone App Studio website and register using your Microsoft account there. Then download the app named "Preview For Developer", open and register yourself using your Microsoft account again. Go to settings, check for phone update and there you go.

To sum up, this update will surely attract more users towards Windows Phone platform. And as I already mentioned earlier that Windows Phone devices will get 'smarter' after this Windows Phone 8.1 update.


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HTTPS Compromised: Heartbleed Bug

Now even "HTTPS" is not so secure; credit goes to "Heartbleed" bug.

The Heartbleed bug is a serious exposure in the popular OpenSSL cryptography library, used to implement the Internet's TLS protocol. The weakness allows stealing the secure information encrypted using SSL/TLS encryption.

The Heartbleed bug allows anyone on the internet to read the system's/server's memory resulting in disclosure of secret keys used in encryption of secure information such as username or passwords.

Some 17 percent (around half a million) of the Internet's secure web servers were believed to be vulnerable to the attack. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Ars Technica and Bruce Schneier all deemed the "Heartbleed" bug catastrophic.

The bug is in the OpenSSL's implementation of the TLS/DTLS (transport layer security protocols) heartbeat extension (RFC6520). When it is exploited it leads to the leak of memory contents from the server that is why they have named it "Heartbleed" bug.

David Kennedy, a security researcher and self described ethical hacker calls Heartbleed the bug that broke the internet.
"Everybody was affected by this, Facebook was affected, Yahoo was affected, a number of companies we put our information into every day were affected."

Many experts have given advice to the users to make sure that they do not log into accounts from affected sites until they are sure that the company has patched the problem. Robert Hansen, an ethical hacker said, don't use the same password for different sites. "In light of Heartbleed, probably the first thing you should do is go to a search engine and type in heart bleed check. And if you're going to do business with a website, type in that website's name into that form and see whether it is or isn't vulnerable to heart bleed."

Well these were some precautionary measures the users can take against the Heartbleed bug but apart from that Fixed OpenSSL has been released and now it has to be deployed. Operating system vendors, appliance vendors, independent software vendors have to adopt the fix and notify their users.

The users on their end must make sure that the company has patched the problem. You can check whether or not the sites have patched the problem here.

Well for now, the internet still remains defenseless and only by knowing it best, the people can secure themselves.

Know more to be secure.


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Samsung Galaxy S4 Successor "S5" released in India

Samsung Galaxy S5; Successor of Samsung Galaxy S4 is now available in Indian stores.

Now that the next version of Samsung Galaxy has been launched in Indian markets, the biggest question arises here is that "Is it worth spending half a lakh rupees on the device??"

We have collected various responses for this question and by far the best one is "Samsung Galaxy S5 launched, giving tough Competition to Honda Activa and Hero Splendor... Gadi ke daam mein mobile bechne walo... Janta nahin Karegi maaf iss baar... !"

Lets dig some more deep to know what is it the users will be getting in Rs 51,500.

The new Samsung Galaxy S5 is not powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon processor like some other variants offered by Samsung. Instead, it works on an octa-core processor; Combo of two quad-core processors (1.9 GHz+1.3 GHz) which seems similar to the processor on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. So I think the users shall not worry about the performance of this device.

The phone offers a 12.95 cm(5.1") Full HD Super AMOLED screen, 2 GB of RAM and it runs Android 4.4 (KitKat).

The device has a very promising 16 megapixel Autofocus rear camera which empowers the users to click really crisp and sharp images but on the other hand the front camera is just 2 megapixel which is not that impressive. The company claims that the primary camera has the world's fastest autofocus speed up to 0.3 seconds on a smartphone. There is a new selective focus feature as well that allows the users to take pictures with blurred backgrounds.

Now talking about the looks and design of the phone, S5 front looks are very much similar to any other Galaxy device but the difference lies at the back. Now the users will get a perforated back panel unlike to the other Samsung higher-end devices.

Other features on the Galaxy S5 includes dust and water resistance, an Ultra Power Saving Mode which can be used when you need to minimize battery consumption and a Finger Scanner for additional security.

So, even after digging this much deep the question remains the same: "Is it worth spending half a lakh rupees on Samsung Galaxy S5??"


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3D Smartphone By Amazon: Leaked

Amazon's upcoming 3D smartphone photos and specs have leaked online.

The smartphone is said to have as many as 5 cameras in front and 6th one at the back with a resolution of 13 megapixels. The phone though, looks like any other smartphones available in the market but Amazon has been working on it since a long time (several years may be). The company will launch the device as a higher-end smartphone section.

Amazon's smartphone has a unique custom 3D interface unlike the ones already available. The 3D effect will be available in app icons as well as other core elements of the UI. It will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and will include 2GB of RAM. It will run on an OS very much similar to the OS of Amazon's tablets, which means basically the phone will be running on Android OS only but it will be highly customized.

The smartphone's display will be 4.7 inches which is a bit smaller than Samsung & HTC phones available currently. The device will have decent pixel density of 720p HD.

3D interface being the key USP for Amazon's smartphone, the company is reported to have created apps and wallpapers that will give users this amazingly unique experience.

It is still unclear when the device will be launched but it said to be unveiled in the coming months.

Anyhow, after Samsung Galaxy S4 successor being released lets see how many people will actually experience this unique 3D interface and 6 cameras.


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"Sticons" Brought To U By LINE

LINE is back with "Sticons".

In the fast-growing world of messaging apps, LINE is known for its virtual stickers in many Asian markets.

Till now its users were able to send cartoon images / stickers as messages, but from now users can send a new form of graphics that are half stickers and half emoticons, called "sticons".

"Sticons" can be used in text messages in the same way as emoticons, but they can also be used like stickers as large, individual images. At the moment there are over 1,000 different "Sticons" which are divided in five different categories: faces, animals, symbols, sports, and vehicles. For now “Sticons” are available for free. However, it is unclear if Line has plans to open up a market for its newly released "Sticons".

Unfortunately the new functionality is included in Line’s new Android version update and iOS users have to wait a bit as iOS version of the "Sticons" is in making and will be released soon stated by Line in a blog.

LINE declared that it has crossed 400 million users worldwide and 18 million users in India in mere seven months of its launch in the country.


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