anti

Amazon sets fire to the tablet market

Amazon is heating up competition in the tablet sector with three new models of the Kindle Fire that are clearly aimed at wooing those who might buy a tablet from Apple.

The Amazon assault begins with a new $199, 7-inch model with an HD screen that doubles the built-in storage of the previous entry-level Kindle Fire to 16GB. Amazon has also doubled down on that product line with a larger, 8.9-inch model that has a 1,920-by-1,200 resolution, features 16GB of built-in storage, costs $299 and ships November 20. Topping out the line is a new 32GB model … Read more

Why the Apple, FBI and AntiSec UDID debacle won't go away

Hacktivist collective AntiSec kicked off the week by publishing one million anonymized Apple UDIDs (Unique Device Identifiers) including device types and associated usernames, saying it was part of a 12 million large database that they'd snagged off an FBI agent's computer.

Online, techies scrambled to see if their devices were in the database dump, and look for clues as to where the alleged larger collection might have come from.

The FBI waited until the end of the day to issue an uncharacteristic, slightly sophomoric Tweet calling AntiSec's allegation TOTALLY FALSE and an oddly worded … Read more

Nokia Lumia shows off new camera tricks

Wednesday's tech news roundup cures the colorful phone shakes:

Nokia revealed new Lumia smartphones running Windows Phone 8. The Lumia 920 comes in red and yellow and the camera has "floating lens" technology, meaning it helps stabilize shaky movements and allows the shutter to stay open longer for more light to enter. It also has photo editing tools that remove someone walking by your picture, or you can animate part of a still photo as a cinemagraph. (Check out these examples.) It also has a charging station, so it doesn't need cords. The JBL Power Up … Read more

AVG goes all-in with Windows 8

Microsoft is forcing everybody to rethink the operating system that everybody loves to hate with Windows 8, and that includes security suite makers. Freeware faves AVG leap into the future today with a touch-friendly interface, a zippy installation, and impressively fast scans.

The upgrades are available at no cost as AVG Anti-Virus Free 2013 (download), or as a paid update to AVG Anti-Virus 2013 (download) and AVG Internet Security 2013 (download), exclusively from Download.com today.

Security vendor claims about being faster, or better, or able to protect your computer while doing your dishes, are perennial boasts. At least in … Read more

As Windows goes touch, Norton goes social

Symantec's annual Norton security suite delivers an interface optimized for Windows 8, but its new features address the mobile and social implications of the era arriving with the new operating system at the end of October.

The new features in Norton Anti-Virus 2013 (download), Norton Internet Security 2013 (download), and Norton 360 2013 (download), aim squarely to cut down on social engineering threats like scams and phishing attacks.

Windows 8 is already gaining a reputation as the safest version of Windows to date, but this doesn't surprise Gerry Egan, Norton's senior product manager. "Each time Microsoft … Read more

FBI finds no evidence that AntiSec hacked its laptop

The FBI said today that it does not know anything about a laptop that hackers say they compromised and that led them to millions of Apple iOS device user details, of which 1 million have been released on the Web.

"The FBI is aware of published reports alleging that an FBI laptop was compromised and private data regarding Apple UDIDs was exposed," said an FBI spokesperson. "At this time there is no evidence indicating that an FBI laptop was compromised or that the FBI either sought or obtained this data." Before the statement was released the … Read more

Apple user data uncovered by hackers

Tuesday's tech news roundup is cracking the code:

Members of the hacker activist movement AntiSec claim they accessed an FBI agent's laptop and found the unique device identification numbers for 12 million Apple iOS devices. The group posted one million of these ID numbers online. Hackers criticized the data that these UUID numbers can reveal about a user, and called into question what the data could be used for.

These UUIDs are not the same as Apple ID email and passwords used to log into iTunes accounts. Rather, these are unique serial numbers for every Apple device, and … Read more

Panda 2013 reaches out, touches its Windows 8 future

Windows 8 support and a new interface for touch screens arrive in Panda's 2013 security suites, released today.

Following the mid-summer update to Panda Cloud Antivirus, Panda's 2013 line-up of Panda Antivirus Pro 2013 (download), Panda Internet Security 2013 (download), and Panda Global Protection 2013 (download) offers a competitive range of security features. But if you're not already a Panda fan, it's hard to see what's in this year's release that would convince you to jump.

There are some solid improvements, to be sure. As mentioned, the new landing screen favors large, mobile-style buttons, … Read more

AntiSec claims to have snatched 12M Apple device IDs from FBI

An online hacker group associated with Anonymous claims to have posted 1 million Apple Unique Device Identifiers (UDIDs) by breaching FBI security.

A UDID is the unique string of numbers that identifies each iOS device, formerly used by developers to track their app installations across Apple's user base.

In all, AntiSec claims to have obtained more than 12 million UDIDs, including user names, addresses, and notification tokens from a laptop used by an FBI agent. In a missive posted to Pastebin, the hacking group explains how it obtained the data from an FBI agent's laptop:

During the second … Read more

Kaspersky 2013 ups the ante with exploit prevention

The 2013 updates to the Kaspersky protection suites bring to consumers some of the most advanced security technology currently available. It involves introducing an exploit prevention engine as part of the security suite, but also a Safe Money banking protection tool that you can interact directly with. The suite's scans aren't the fastest, but it definitely will protect you.

Installation Installing Kaspersky has been dramatically simplified over the past two years. Following on 2012's fuss-free install, the installer for 2013 will remove conflicting security programs and any detected malware automatically.

You're still on the hook for … Read more