2014

Symantec is overhauling its Norton security software, going from nine products to just one as the company turns its attention to smartphones and connected devices. The new product, called Norton Security, doubles down on the company’s renewed focus on subscription models. In its most recent quarter, when Symantec reported a $236 million profit on a 2% gain in revenue to $1.74 billion, the company said it planned to optimize the Norton business while streamlining product support. ...

So many Facebook scams in 2014 have been a little worrying even though at first they all seem innocent enough, but these are social scams to lure users in to gain money or access to computers. One particular Facebook scam this year was the “Robin Williams goodbye video”, which was apparently made before his death. This fake BBC News video is a scam and no such video exists. The “Robin Williams goodbye video” started to circulate on Facebook and asks users to share the video before they can watch it, DO NOT click on it. There is no video so no point on sharing it, Symantec explains in detail that when Facebook users click on the video it asks them to either fill out a survey or install an application. When the survey is complete the scammers gain money for each one completed. ...

A couple days ago, NBC News ran a report pegged to the Sochi Olympics about Russian hacking. In it, correspondent Richard Engel uses a “brand new” smartphone to test out the Russian internet while hanging out in a Moscow cafe. “Almost immediately,” he says in the segment, “we were hacked.” Naturally, as the security consultant NBC hired for the segment explained today, it’s not true. ...

REDMOND, WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Bill Gates’s first day at work in the newly created role of technology adviser got off to a rocky start yesterday as the Microsoft founder struggled for hours to install the Windows 8.1 upgrade. The installation hit a snag early on, sources said, when Mr. Gates repeatedly received an error message informing him that his PC ran into a problem that it could not handle and needed to restart. ...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is willing to pay top dollar for the malicious, infectious software the rest of us pay to keep out of our computers, according to the Federal Business Opportunities website. A Monday price quote request by the Investigative Analysis Unit of the agency’s Operational Technology Division is asking computer security developers and retailers to help the agency build a library of malware for an undisclosed reason, letting the companies name their price. ...