QUIC, the new official network protocol to replace TCP
04/06/2021QUIC, the network protocol designed by Google, has been presented by the Internet Engineering Task Force, IETF, as a new official Internet standard to replace TCP, the current main standard. Google's QUIC (Quick UDP Internet Connections) network protocol is designed to reduce latency with retransmissions taking less time, potentially reducing the waiting time for search results by 8% on computers and 4% on mobile devices, according to the paper released by Google in 2017. QUIC will replace TCP, the current main standard of the Internet since 1974 - when it was still Arpanet - and on which the operation of Internet elements such as the World Wide Web (WWW) logic system, file transmission, 'emails' and remote administration depend. The new QUIC protocol has already been published by the IETF, making it an official network protocol.
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Telegram incorporates chatbots into Telegram Business accounts
03/04/2024Telegram Business has announced the addition of chatbots among its features aimed at streamlining communication between companies and their clientele. The new automated assistants on this instant messaging application are designed to provide information automatically in response to predictable inquiries. This recent development was announced through the company's official blog, where Telegram also explained that the chatbots also have the option to provide links that direct customers to booking or order tracking. Additionally, these new automated assistants from Telegram Business are also capable of offering welcome messages and absence notifications, useful for informing customers, for example, about holiday closures. Telegram explains that thanks to this new feature of Telegram Business, user companies will be able to enhance their brand presence and foster lasting relationships with their customers by leveraging the power of automation along with personalized communication.
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Roku warns of unauthorized access to hundreds of its customers' accounts
19/03/2024A Roku investigation, the company that manufactures media streaming devices running Roku software to access all kinds of streaming content, has revealed unauthorized access to hundreds of its users' accounts, "likely due to compromised login credentials obtained from third-party sources unrelated to Roku," they said. According to the company itself, these credentials were used to access Roku accounts, where changes were made, including attempts to purchase streaming subscriptions. However, in an official statement, Roku said that any sensitive personal data such as full payment account numbers could not be accessed. The affected accounts were secured and required password resets, as well as the cancellation of unauthorized subscriptions. Roku has announced that it will refund its users for all unauthorized charges. "What can I do if I can't access Roku? Roku has reset all passwords for accounts affected by these unauthorized accesses, so if we are holders of one of them, we may not be able to access it in the usual way. To regain access, we should go to my.roku.com and use the "Forgot your password?" option. Additionally, the company recommends reviewing subscriptions and devices linked to the Roku account from the Roku account Dashboard."
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Detected a Trojan that emulates the WhatsApp account and fraudulently manages subscriptions to payment sites
17/10/2022Kaspersky researchers has reported that YoWhatsApp advertised on Snaptube and Vidmate, two of the most popular download platforms at the moment, is actually a Trojan capable to issuing paid subscriptions and stealing WhatsApp accounts. YoWhatsApp would act as a mod of the original messaging program, offering new functions that the official service does not allow, such as wallpapers, personalized fonts for chats and password-protected access to conversations, .... As Kaspersky researchers have explained, when a user installs YoWhatsApp on a device, it’s forced to log in to they real application account, and in this moment, Triada Trojan is activated, downloaded and executed on the terminal. Once this is done, the Trojan is capable of accessing the user's real WhatsApp account credentials, steal all the data, having already detected unauthorized subscriptions to paid subscriptions. Kaspersky recommends to install, only, Apps from official stores and reliable sources and they have insisted on the need to check always the permissions granted to each application. Installing an antivirus is another recommended measure.
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Hungary Proposes Orchestrated Attacks Against Illegal IPTV Platforms
23/09/2022Television operators in Hungary have come together in an unprecedented common front in the country to combat illegal Internet IPTV platforms.The objective is to put end to the unfair competition from these services and to do it they propose launching denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against the websites that host them.In order not to incur in the legality, the television stations would entrust these attacks to an organization that would act with legal authorization and under official levels of supervision and control.Upon receiving continuous DDoS attacks, the pirate platforms would be overwhelmed by malicious traffic and the hope of the television stations is that the inconvenience that would be shared by getting their services active again would make them rule out continuing their operations.
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Google will retire Hangouts in November
04/07/2022From today, all Hangouts users when they open the messaging app, will see a message inviting them to switch to Chat. The reason is that continuing with its plans to migrate all its users to this tool, Google has confirmed that Hangouts will not be longer operational this coming November. As they has explained on its official blog, users who still use Hangouts in Gmail will automatically switch to Chat, The change includes the transfer of conversations, history and contacts. Those who access Hangouts through the web or the mobile application must carry out this transfer with the help of Takeout, Google's data download tool.
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Fundación Telefónica wants to convert the world's first website into a World Heritage Site
27/05/2022Fundación Telefónica is determined that the first website in history, the one of the british computer scientist Bernes-Lee, from 1990, could be declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and has announced a campaign to achieve this goal. The action named “ElSitio1155” identifies the Bernes-Lee website as a fundamental piece of the history and culture of humanity. And this is like this, becouse this website, in addition to be the first to exist, marked the birth of the World Wide Web, and also led to the first step to the connected world of today. If recognition is achieved, it would be the first time that UNESCO would do so to a virtual and non-geographical site as usual. Prior to the presentation of its official proposal, Fundación Telefónica has launched a support campaign through its social networks and communication channels to make everyone aware of the importance of this first website in the world, the pioneer of more than 1.9 million websites accounted for on December 31, 2021.
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WhatsApp improves security in its desktop version
14/03/2022In accordance with the growing use of WhatsApp in the desktop version and with the aim of guaranteeing users maximum security, Meta has announced that has implemented in this app, a new security layer called Code Verify that acts as an open source browser extension verifying automatically the authenticity of the web code of this application. According to Meta, which has offered this utility to other services to use it, Code Verify allows web browsers to verify that the resources they obtain have not been tampered with. "When someone uses Code Verify, the extension automatically compares the code that is executed in WhatsApp Web with the version of the code verified by WhatsApp and published in CloudFlare", has said the company, who also explains that if any violation or inconsistency is detected , the user will receives a notification, immediately. This new WhatsApp code verification, which Meta has confirmed does not record metadata or user data or share information with the application, will be available in the official browser extension stores for Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox.
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Starlink Satellite Internet service multiplies their speed
11/02/2022Starlink, the Internet satellite network of SpaceX division, continues to bet on improving the download speed of their service and has just presented a new antenna that improves the performance of its basic kit. Its size is beat larger than the current antenna and Space X assure, it can offer a download speeds of 150 to 500 Mbps and a latency of 20 to 40 ms, compared to the speed of 50 Mb/s to 150 Mb/s of the initial kit . The official launch of the new antenna has been done in the United States, where users can already reserve it. It's expected that the antenna will arrive to Europe on the second quarter of the year.
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SQUID, the cryptocurrency of "The Squid Game" collapses
08/11/2021In just over a week, SQUID, the cryptocurrency that was launched on the market at the pull of "The Squid Game" has seen its value plummet after it was reported that his anonymous founders had withdrawn the cryptocurrency and all the earnings of the people who had invested in it. SQUID launched on October 26th at prices of $ 0.01 and reached its record price of $ 2,856.64 on November 1st. At that time, according to the users affected, the website created for this cryptocurrency was not working anymore and users could no longer sell their SQUIDS, or protect their Investments. According to the first investigations, the creators of the cryptocurrency of "The Squid Game", charged all their coins for real money, depleting the liquidity fund of the exchange that cannot sustain its value. The platform through which this cryptocurrency was traded did not have any official endorsement.
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Macro cyber-attack affects more than 350 companies worldwide
07/07/2021The number of companies that have suffered from the REvil macro cyberattack now exceeds 350 organizations worldwide from which the cybercriminals are demanding 70 million in bitcoins to provide them with a universal decryptor to restore their data. The attack was conducted through the update system of IT services software company Kaseya, which REvil exploited to spread and hide ransomware. The virus was leaked to TI Kaseya resellers and from there has reached all end customers using their software. The official data provided by TI Kaseya sets the number of affected companies at 350, although other sources such as the cybersecurity company ESET talk about more than 1,000, including some Spanish organizations, although no names have been disclosed. It has been made public that one of the companies most affected by the cyberattack has been the Swedish supermarket chain Coop, which has had to close its more than 800 points of sale for a few days due to the impossibility of using its cash registers or charging customers. Based on Sophos threat intelligence, REvil has been active in recent weeks and is currently the dominant ransomware gang involved in Sophos' defensively managed threat response cases. Prior to this latest attack, they were also responsible for the one suffered by meat company JBS, which forced the cancellation of all work shifts at the company's slaughterhouses in the US. JBS paid up to 11 million to restore normal operations. These macro cyber-attacks are in addition to other recent and highly significant ones, such as the one perpetrated by the hacker group DarkSide, which forced the preventive shutdown of the largest oil pipeline network in the United States, Colonial Pipeline, endangering the supply of fuel in a large part of the country, or the one suffered by the SEPE and the Ministry of Labor in Spain a few weeks ago.
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How to keep your Mac safe?
28/06/20215 things you should do to protect your Mac How many times have we heard that Mac is a more than secure and unbreakable system? For years, Apple has made its security through obscurity, or in other words, its proprietary software, flagship and brand guarantee. Today, however, just when Mac is no longer a minority option, Steve Jobs' system has become another favorite target for hackers and cybercriminals. The market has responded to this with the development of specific protection tools for Mac, while Apple works on optimizing its system in each version. Knowing what kind of tools exist for Mac and which ones are already included in our computer will help us to stay safe and choose the best strategy that fits our needs and use of the equipment. 1. Use computer security tools Cybersecurity is a universal and necessary practice in all operating systems today. The objective is to ensure protection against attacks and theft by cybercriminals who are looking for personal or confidential information stored on our computers or that enters or leaves them, in order to use it for their own benefit. What is VPN security? Cybersecurity tools help us to minimize our footprint on the Internet and thus increase our privacy and security. In this regard, VPN services for Mac stand out, as they incorporate advanced protection technologies capable of connecting to the Internet through intermediate servers, so that our IP address - our identification on the network - is replaced by the IP address of this secure server, without anyone being able to trace our connection. This type of VPN service also encrypts any information leaving our computer, thus preventing it from being accessed on its journey to its destination. This is essential, for example, when using public Wi-Fi networks to connect to the Internet. 2. Keep the operating system and software up to date As simple as it may seem, one of the best and easiest ways to protect a Mac is to always have the latest version of the operating system installed and to work with updated software downloaded from the Mac App Store. System updates usually include security patches, among other things. How do I update my Mac? Through the System Preferences Panel of our computer we can set that when there are available updates we receive a notice from MacOs warning us of it or that these updates, whether system data files, security updates or official software are installed automatically. To check if we are working with the latest versions available and our Mac is up to date we can do it by checking through this same panel if there are updates available at that time. If we have checked the automatic updates option, Mac will do this task for us routinely. 3. Use secure settings Mac's default security settings can be greatly enhanced by manually configuring the security and privacy terms of our computer. How to change the Privacy and Security preferences on the Mac? By accessing the "Privacy" tab of the "Security and Privacy" option of the Control Panel we will have the option to manage what information we allow our computer to make available to others over the Internet or on a network and what applications we allow access to our data and files. In the same way, but through the "Security" tab, we will be able to incorporate passwords for the access to different tasks and operations of the computer and through the "FileVault" tool we will be able to ensure the encryption, for example, of our personal information or certain documents for which a password will be required to unblock them. 4. Use an Antivirus for Mac There are antivirus programs developed specifically for Mac. Some of them are special for certain threats, although in general most of them offer a wide range of services to help us keep our computers safe. Which is the best antivirus for Mac? The range of antivirus for Mac, free and paid, is nowadays much wider than a few years ago, highlighting among the most complete and advanced, antivirus with malware protection functions in real time, tools against digital identity theft, protection against spyware or advanced detection and removal of blackmail programs. 5. Make regular backups Apple has a native function, Time Machine, which makes backup copies of our hard disk on a separate secondary disk, so that if for any reason we suffer an attack or a breakdown we can recover all the information. Many antiviruses offer a backup service, backup or backup similar but in the cloud, as a preventive measure against writing errors on the disk, theft of devices or even against data hijacking or ransomware.
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How to sign a PDF document with electronic signature?
24/06/2021When a document needs to be signed by one or more people, the usual thing, until now, has been to print it and stamp by hand the necessary signatures to validate or make its content official. This requires paper, printer, ink, but above all access to the document by all signatories, which is not always easy due to geographical location, availability, timing, etc. With teleworking on the rise and a growing globalization of business, these drawbacks have become more evident than ever, although they have found a quick and effective solution in electronic signatures. What is an electronic signature for? The electronic signature is a digital validation system for documents that unequivocally identifies the signatory. The electronic signature is assimilated to the handwritten signature and therefore its digital stamping on a document gives it the same validity, as it would have had with a handwritten signature. What are the advantages of electronic signatures? Electronic signatures simplify document management processes that require the validation of documents such as pdf signatures, facilitating remote signing by one or more people regardless of where they are located, or the situation or time of day they receive them. This flexibility contributes to the efficiency and agility of this type of procedure and being a secure signature system, it is suitable and useful in many areas related to business management, administrative management, e-commerce, informed consent and many other procedures. In addition to the versatility, practicality and security of the online PDF signature, we must also point out, as a great advantage of this process, its contribution to paperless. How to sign electronically? The electronic signature is easy to implement through tools specifically designed to guarantee not only the correct validation of the cryptographic signature or signatures included in a PDF document, but also that it cannot be altered and that all the necessary signatures required by each situation can be added. Within the framework of this type of tool, the most advanced ones, in addition to being compatible with any browser and accessible from any type of device - computer, tablet, Smartphone,... -, make it easy to convert PDF any Word, Excel, JPG, PowerPoint... file for signing. They also allow users to request a verifiable digital signature, view the properties of the digital signature and send the document directly by email to the signatories and once signed, forward it to all parties to download it. In addition, to guarantee the privacy of the documents and the security of the online signatures, these transfers are made through encrypted files with TLS encryption. Also, when we sign documents using this type of tool, they offer the option of including a LTV (Long Term Validation) time stamp that certifies the validity of the signature in the long term. For all these reasons, tools for signing PDF documents with electronic signatures are now a must for companies and businesses in all areas where process optimization, security and sustainability are a priority.
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What is the value of a Bitcoin?
11/06/2021Since Bitcoin first appeared in 2009, this digital currency not issued by any government or company, nor, under the umbrella of any kind of economic policy, has gained a foothold in the market and has already started to fit into existing legal frameworks. What gives Bitcoin its value? The great value of Bitcoin is that it is a decentralized and global currency, an alternative to fiat currencies (those issued by governments). All transactions with Bitcoins are public and each of these crypto currencies belongs exclusively to its owner, therefore, it is a currency that cannot be intervened by anyone. What can I do with Bitcoins? To date, with this cryptocurrency, it is possible to monetize all kinds of services, in addition to making investments, free or practically free of commissions, which in the medium to long term are proving attractive. This has made Bitcoin an asset in which to invest and an increasingly popular means of payment through which to transfer value from one user to another without losing friction along the way, going through an intermediary or paying a commission. What is the price of a Bitcoin? Like any other good, the price of a Bitcoin varies according to market demand, although the fact that it has been designed to behave as a deflationary asset and that its supply is limited to 21 million coins, facilitates that by the law of supply and demand itself, the Bitcoin exchange rate tends to rise continuously. As of June 9, at the time of writing this article, the Bitcoin value today is 30,007.86 euros, 3.4 times its price a year ago, when the Bitcoin to Euro conversion rate was 8,629.5 Bitcoins for 1 euro. In 2010 Bitcoin price was less than one Euro cent. What does the value of Bitcoin depend on? The value of Bitcoin depends on the trust and acceptance of users to use it, hence why Bitcoin is rising in value some days and not others. As Bitcoin has been implemented as a means of payment in multiple transactions and its popularity has grown, its value has grown in parallel. Likewise, when there have been news or events that have questioned, for example, the suitability of this crypto currency, its price has fallen. Like any other currency, the price of Bitcoin fluctuates and it is the users themselves who set it at the time of the purchase and sale transaction, which prevents the existence of a single price for Bitcoin, since it is not operated through a single platform as is the case with other currencies. Even so, buying and selling prices of Bitcoins tend to be quite similar. To know how much Bitcoin costs, there are several online platforms, known as "Bitcoin trading platforms" that report live the evolution of the value of the cryptocurrency. Is it safe and profitable to invest in Bitcoin? As with any other asset, investing in Bitcoins is profitable if we know how to do it at the right time. On the other hand, the Blockchain technology on which Bitcoin is based is reliable and difficult to manipulate, with no risk of being counterfeited, although some experts believe that the perfect, 100% inviolable system has not yet been created. In the cryptocurrency segment, convertibility is contemplated, so that Bitcoins can be exchanged for fiat currencies. What can I buy with Bitcoins? Over the last few years, a large number of companies have incorporated Bitcoin as an official method of payment for their goods and services From travel companies to ticket sales platforms for all kinds of shows, through gaming platforms, digital bookstores, software stores or even non-profit organizations already accept this digital currency. That is, Destinia, 13tickets, Gear Best, Shopify, Wordpress, Hostinger, Greenpeace,... among many other companies. eBay is currently considering adding Bitcoin as a method of payment. What is Bitcoin mining and how are Bitcoins generated? The users themselves through a totally decentralized system create Bitcoins. To become a bitcoin creator, computers with high computational capacity are needed to process and verify transactions and quickly solve the complex digital processes of generating the currency. This work is called mining and one of its best attractions is that the system offers "miners" rewards in Bitcoins in exchange for these services, which has made this activity very appealing for certain users. Is it profitable to mine Bitcoins in Spain? Bitcoin mining requires very powerful equipment, with high calculation capacities to solve operations, being nowadays totally inoperative for this operation the PCs of domestic or office use. The investment to mine Bitcoins requires, in addition, to assume the large power consumption required by this more powerful equipment, which makes Spain, at this time due to the high price of KW/h, an uninteresting market for mining Bitcoins. On the contrary, other locations such as China, Iceland, Iran or Georgia, where the Bitcoin mining business is in full expansion, are very interesting.
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