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Apple experts warn that spammers are abusing the iPhone's calendar system. They say users should be wary of responding in any way to unexpected "event" invites. The problem appears to affect multiple Apple products, including Mac computers, iPhones ... and iPads. It takes advantage of the way Apple's system lets users create events and then invite friends and family by inputting their email address. The spammers, who appear to be based in China, are using large lists of email addresses to send invitations to non-existent events, usually listed as special offers on consumer goods ... (view more)

A British bank is testing ATMs that let customers take out money using their phone rather than a bank card. It says the technology could be safer than using a card because there's less room for hackers to steal details. Withdrawing money without a ... card isn't a completely new idea. One rival bank already allows users to get cash out using a smartphone app that generates a unique code that they can then type in to the phone to get money. The idea is to remove the need to carry a card, for example on a night out. The new system from Barclays would be even quicker to use however, and ... (view more)

Infopackets Bill P. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am using Windows 10 and Firefox. Recently I went to sign onto my banking website and entered in the wrong user name during the sign on. A few days later I went to sign onto the bank again and it seems ... that Firefox saved the incorrect user name to that field (note - I am not using the Firefox password manager to fill my fields, I am doing it manually). Normally when I visit my bank website, I enter in a few characters for my user name and then Firefox usually presents me with the correct user name as part of the field - sort of the same autocomplete ... (view more)

Facebook users in the US may be able to find out if the site thinks they are conservative- or liberal-leaning. It's a side-effect of a new tool that makes it easier to influence advertisements which appear on the users' newsfeed. As reported ... recently, Facebook recently added new options which allow users to indicate that they don't want to see advertisements in the news feed related to specific topics. The new changes come as Facebook also prepares to roll out additional measures to prevent ad-blocking software from working on the site. To view the settings, users can visit their ... (view more)

Google says a set of security flaws on Android devices may not be as serious as initially feared. It says 90 percent of devices should be largely immune from what's been dubbed the "Quadrooter" exploit. A security research company found the problem ... in software which works with processors manufactured by Qualcomm, which are used in an estimated 900 million Android devices. The bugs affect the communication between different actions (known as processes) running on the phone at the same time. The name of the exploit (Quadrooter) comes from the fact that there are four ... (view more)

Google is working on an option to replace password logins on mobile devices with a "trust score" based on multiple factors. The idea is to combine all sorts of factors that aren't secure enough on their own. The idea is to balance the need for ... security with the hassle of remembering passwords by building on the concept of two-factor authentication. That's an existing philosophy that deals with the inherent weakness of using a single login factor such as a password. Two-factor authentication combines a password with another factor such as using a specific device or having ... (view more)

Microsoft's attempts to get all users running Windows 10 has taken yet another step further. It's now rolling out a sneaky way of getting users to "consent" to the update. As we've previously covered, Windows 10 is now classed as a "Recommended ... update" which means it will download and attempt to install on all Windows computers where the user hasn't actively changed the update settings from their default. After that reclassification, some users started seeing a pop-up message saying that Windows 10 was ready to install and the scheduled upgrade time. The ... (view more)

A major website used by hackers to exchange stolen data has itself been hacked. The breach has exposed hundreds of thousands of user accounts. The site called "Nulled" hosted discussion forums for users to exchange tips on how to hack into websites. ... It also included a section for buying and selling data such as stolen account information. Ironically, given the new development, the site had the slogan "Expect the unexpected." At the time of writing, the site was offline for "temporary unscheduled maintenance," with its database leaked onto other websites for ... (view more)

Microsoft's push to get Windows 10 onto computers seems to be going a step further than anticipated. Even tech-savvy users are complaining their machines updated to the new system without their express consent. The last big change to the Windows 10 ... upgrade process took place last month, but seems to be working more aggressively than expected. The change involved Windows 10 being reclassified as a "Recommended" update in the automatic update program. That was hugely significant as the default setting for most Windows PCs is to install all recommended updates automatically. It ... (view more)

Facebook is to tweak the way it selects and displays content in user news feeds. The idea is to make life easier for users on slow, inconsistent, or wireless Internet connections. Part of the changes affect how the content will be shown; for ... example, users on a slow connection will see more text-based content such as status updates, rather than showing more videos. There will also be a change affecting how media content is downloaded as a priority. Facebook has already switched to an image format known as Progressive JPEG that displays low quality images first, then gradually downloads into a ... (view more)