 Data privacy, as you know was one of the most discussed topics in 2020. Today, there is no limit to the amount of our personal data that is being circulated across various online platforms. The popularity of smartphones, social media, mobile apps, and many other inbuilt software applications within the phone has made us knowingly compromise on our data privacy to a certain extent. The global pandemic in 2020 has made it mandatory for every individual to depend on various mobile apps and social media for their daily needs. These tech gadgets and devices that were the choice of a few got extended to be a part of daily habitual behavior. We have seen all these platforms guaranteeing the privacy of our data, but also hear stories of data breaches happening every day, around the world by the same platforms. So, one question lingers around in our minds. Is data privacy in today’s world a myth? Isn’t there any foolproof data security solution to ensure complete data privacy across online platforms? Let’s discuss some common issues affecting our data privacy so that we remain vigilant to them in the future. The internet offers a wide variety of services and apps to make our life comfortable, facilitate easy communication, and for entertainment purposes as well. But, to use these services, everyone needs to accept some ‘terms of use’ specified by the service provider. It’s a fact that 99.9% of users don’t read these terms before accepting them, which results in them being unaware of their privacy being targeted. Even the technologically literate youths are compelled to accept them, otherwise, they won’t be able to enjoy the features of the service. Thus, our personal data gets shared with various companies for marketing and advertising purposes. This is the way apps and social media thrive by offering ‘free service’ to the public. Most people think that hackers target the highest levels like government departments, financial organizations, and VIPs like politicians or company CEOs. But, as they are more vigilant to such cyber threats, hackers also target common people. More often they try to access higher-level data of an organization through phishing emails and ransomware targeted at lower-level employees. This can be more prevalent in a remote work scenario that has become the ‘new normal’ in a post-pandemic era. Lean more by visiting OUR FORUM.  Intel has confirmed that a source code leak for the UEFI BIOS of Alder Lake CPUs is authentic, raising cybersecurity concerns with researchers. Alder Lake is the name of Intel's 12th generation Intel Core processors, released in November 2021. On Friday, a Twitter user named 'freak' posted links to what was said to be the source code for Intel Alder Lake's UEFI firmware, which they claim was released by 4chan. The link led to a GitHub repository named 'ICE_TEA_BIOS' that was uploaded by a user named 'LCFCASD.' This repository contained what was described as the 'BIOS Code from project C970.' The leak contains 5.97 GB of files, source code, private keys, change logs, and compilation tools, with the latest timestamp on the files being 9/30/22, likely when a hacker or insider copied the data. BleepingComputer has been told that all the source code was developed by Insyde Software Corp, a UEFI system firmware development company. The leaked source code also contains numerous references to Lenovo, including code for integrations with 'Lenovo String Service', 'Lenovo Secure Suite', and 'Lenovo Cloud Service.' At this time, it is unclear whether the source code was stolen during a cyberattack or leaked by an insider. However, Intel has confirmed Tom's Hardware that the source code is authentic and is its "proprietary UEFI code." While Intel has downplayed the security risks of the source code leak, security researchers warn that the contents could make it easier to find vulnerabilities in the code. "The attacker/bug hunter can hugely benefit from the leaks even if leaked OEM implementation is only partially used in the production," explains hardware security firm Hardened Vault. "The Insyde’s solution can help the security researchers, bug hunters (and the attackers) find the vulnerablity and understand the result of reverse engineering easily, which adds up to the long-term high risk to the users." Positive Technologies hardware researcher Mark Ermolov also warned that the leak included a KeyManifest private encryption key, a private key used to secure Intel's Boot Guard platform. Stay informed by visiting OUR FORUM often.  October 5 marked one year since Windows 11 hit general availability. Lansweeper, an IT asset management software provider that assists organizations understand, manage and protect their IT devices and network, has come up with a detailed report that has highlighted that 43% of Microsoft devices still can’t run Windows 11 based on 30 million Windows devices scanned at 60,000 enterprises.<br /><br />Lansweeper further detailed in their report that of those machines, only 2.61% are currently running Windows 11. In comparison, the adoption rates for the new OS at the beginning of the year and six months ago stand at 0.52% and 1.44% respectively indicating a significant growth. As per their findings, the Windows 11 minimum system requirements greatly affected this growth as a good number of the workstations forming part of the estimated 27 million Windows devices surveyed were not able to conform to them.<br /><br />92.9% of the devices factored in during the survey passed the RAM test while only 64.6% of those tested for the TPMs met the miminum system requirements."If this trend continues at its current pace, it will take around four years for devices to meet the minimum requirements for Windows 11," said Roel Decneut, Chief Strategy Officer at Lansweeper. Further in the report, it is evident that Windows 11 has moved up in the ranks beating Windows 8, however, Windows 7 is still ahead as far as market share is concerned even after reaching end of support. According to the report, "4.82% of devices are still running Operating Systems that aren’t being fully supported, as well as 0.91% of Servers that are also End-of-Life". Interestingly enough, you might recall that at the beginning of this, Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella reported that there are now 1.4 billion monthly active Windows 10 or Windows 11 devices, while AdDuplex's report indicated that the new Microsoft operating system is now running on 23.1% of surveyed PCs. Perhaps these figures might change in the foreseeable future, as Windows 11 reached broad deployment opening up its doors to users with Windows 10 PC that meets minimum requirements. Follow this and other threads on OUR FORUM. |
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