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Alexa Now Makes It Easy To Donate To Charity
Amazon has made a small but significant change to its Alexa service, which now makes it possible to donate to charity by issuing voice commands. So far, there are 48 charities connected to the system, with more in the pipeline. There are two ways you can make use of the new feature. The first is […]
Amazon Removing Music Storage Service At End Of April
If you use Amazon’s Cloud MP3 Locker to store your music online, now is the time to start looking for a new home for it. Last year, the company announced that they were ending the service, but didn’t provide a firm date. April 30, 2018 will be the last day you’ll be able to access […]
Facebook Post Removals May Soon Get An Appeals Process
There are some big changes coming to Facebook, which may have some serious unintended consequences. In a recent interview, Mark Zuckerberg indicated that he’s considering allowing users to independently appeal to the content moderation team if their posts get taken down for violating various community policies. On the surface of it, this seems like it […]
Huge Spike in Malware With Mining Capabilities
There’s a new type of hacking attack to be concerned with, and it’s growing by leaps and bounds. Called “Crypto-Jacking,” it’s a process by which malicious code is placed on websites. When the sites are visited, the code secretly siphons off a portion of the affected user’s PC, laptop, or smartphone’s processing power and uses […]
MyFitnessPal User Information Data Breach Affects 150 Million
Another week, another high-profile data breach. This time, it’s Under Armour in the hot seat. Under Armour acquired the MyFitnessPal app back in February 2015, and the company recently announced that their new acquisition was hacked in late February 2018. So far, the company is taking all steps we’ve come to see as usual in […]
Another Google Service Is Going Away
If you are a fan of, and regularly use Goo.gl (the URL shortener service), brace for impact. The company has announced that as of March 30, 2019, the service will be shut down for good. Long before then, beginning April 18th of this year, only existing users will be able to shorten links via goo.gl. […]
Remote Desktop Flaw Affects Every Windows Version
Researchers at Preempt Security recently discovered a critical flaw in Microsoft’s Credential Security Support Provider protocol (CredSSP for short) that impacts every version of Windows in existence. It could allow a hacker to remotely exploit Windows Remote Desktop to execute malicious code and steal any data stored on the machine. The flaw, logged as CVE-2018-0886 […]
RottenSys Malware Has Infected 5M Android Devices Since 2016
There’s a new threat on the horizon, according to security researchers from Check Point. A group of hackers in China are busy building a massive botnet that so far, totals almost five million Android smartphones. The hackers are quietly taking control of these devices using a strain of malware known as “RottenSys.” While the malware […]
Google Changing Name Of Android Wear Without Updates
Wearable computing devices from smart watches to glasses are struggling to find an audience, and Google’s Android Wear operating system hasn’t gotten much love in recent years. It has weakened as major players in the tech space have struggled to find a market for these products. On the face of it, these products would seem […]
Intel Taking Additional Steps To Prevent Security Flaws
By now, you’ve almost certainly heard of “Spectre,” one of two recently discovered security flaws that impact every chip made by Intel in the last ten years. The story of Spectre, and Intel’s response to it has been an interesting one. In response to the flaw’s discovery, Intel rushed a firmware patch, but quickly had […]
A Visionary Approach to Your Security
The purpose of an IT partner isn’t just to fix something when it is broken, it is to keep your people working and your data secure. Astral moves beyond traditional managed services by addressing all the key areas of cybersecurity in today’s complex landscape.
