What's New
Malicious Chrome extensions with Session Replay appear in Chrome Store
Trend Micro security researchers identified 89 different malicious extensions for Google Chrome that use Session Replay functionality to log user activity while using the browser.
Session Replay scripts are analytics scripts that record user activity on websites. Companies use it to understand what users do on their sites by recording mouse movement, keyboard input and other interactions with the page in question.
Research suggests that nearly 1% of the top 50,000 Alexa websites use Session Replay scripts including WordPress, Microsoft, Adobe, Godaddy or Softonic.
Tab Mix Plus WebExtension Development Build is out
The author of the popular Firefox add-on Tab Mix Plus released the first version of the upcoming WebExtensions-based version of Tab Mix Plus yesterday.
The extension is available under a new URL on the Mozilla Add-ons Store to separate the classic add-on from the new.
Windows 10 S and S Mode rumors
When Microsoft revealed Windows 10 S in mid-2017, some believed that it was a return of the dead-before-it-shipped operating system Windows RT.
It was a low-cost version of Windows 10 designed for low-end hardware and "light-use" environments, and it only supported Windows Store apps.
Game Saturday: Blocksum (PC, Puzzle)
Blocksum is a puzzle game for Windows PCs that mixes elements from Tetris, 2020 (if that game existed back in 2007), and Dr. Mario.
Whereas you try to fill lines completely in Tetris to remove them and move blocks of the same number next to each other in 2020, you use basic math in Blocksum to create adjacent blocks of the same sum to have them all removed at once.
Redhat aquires Kubernetes and Containers company CoreOS
On Jan. 30., Redhat announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire CoreOS, Inc, for $250 million. CoreOS, is a major player in the containers and virtualization area of the corporate server / development world.
Adobe Flash 0-Day Vulnerability APSA18-01
Adobe released the security advisory APSA18-01 for Flash Player that confirms a critical security vulnerability in Flash Player 28.0.0.137 and earlier.
Flash Player 28.0.0.137 is the most recent version of the program which means that all installed versions of Flash are affected by it.
Affected products:
Details about Google's ad-blocking integration in Chrome
Google announced plans some time ago to integrate a native ad-blocking mechanism into the company's Chrome web browser.
The announcement may have come as a surprise to many as Google makes the bulk of its revenue through advertising.
Skype released as Snap for Linux
Snaps are a type of container created by Canonical Inc., to serve as a universal installation package across distributions, so that developers and users alike, know that the software can run on any system, anytime.
The idea, is that all dependencies are packaged, snaps auto-update and can easily be rolled back in the case of issues, so long as you use a distro that supports snaps, you’re good to go (in theory.)
Currently, the supported Distributions are:
Office 2019 will be Windows 10 exclusive
Microsoft's General Manager for Windows, Bernardo Caldas, and General Manager for Office, Jared Spataro announced changes to Office and Windows servicing and support today.
Microsoft revealed that Office 2019, the next version of Microsoft Office, will ship in the second half of 2018 and that previews will be available in the second quarter of 2018.
Firefox 59: Referer Path Stripping in Private Browsing
Mozilla plans to strip path information from the referer when visiting third-party sites starting in Firefox 59 Stable. The new feature applies to the browser's private browsing mode only.
Web browsers provide sites with information when connections are initiated. Part of this is the referer value which holds the path of the referring site.
eBay wants to intermediate payments
Online marketplace eBay announced today that it plans to intermediate payments on all eBay marketplaces in the coming years.
The company signed an agreement with global payments processor Adyen which makes Adyen the primary payments processing partner on the eBay platform.
LibreOffice 6.0 is out
The Document Foundation released LibreOffice 6.0 Final, a new version of the free and open source Office suite, for all supported operating systems yesterday.
The new version of the application is available for all supported desktop operating system -- Linux, Mac OS and Windows -- and as a cloud version.
The new version of the Office program does not support Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Mac OS 10.8 anymore. LibreOffice 6.0 requires at least Windows 7 Service Pack 1 on Windows machines and Mac OS 10.9 on Mac OS systems.
Back to basics Part 1 – Updating your GNU/Linux system
So, it’s been suggested to me that I start a “Linux basics” series, and I think it’s a wonderful suggestion! That said, to me the most logical starting point after an installation (which there will be more in-depth articles to come about!) would be learning how to update your system; as most distributions are not up-to-date when freshly installed.
Most distributions are relatively similar in their updating methods, consisting of either a GUI tool and or terminal commands. Typically, how the process works is two step:
Mozilla creates Shield study rules to avoid another Mr.Robot disaster
Mozilla created a set of guiding principles for Shield studies after it launched an analysis of the Looking Glass Shield study which went wrong on several levels.
Looking Glass was released as a system add-on to Firefox which meant that users saw the add-on appear in the browser's add-on manager without them initiating the installation.
Microsoft announces harder stance against programs with coercive messaging
Quick, our trustworthy program found issues that you need to address right now. Look, you have malware on your system which you need to remove asap. All you have to do is buy the premium version of our program or this add-on service to address these issues.
Maybe you encountered programs of the kind before, or helped friends, family or colleagues remove these programs after the fact from their systems.