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If you have steadfastly refused to update your Windows 10 PC to a new build since launch, Microsoft has given you another 2 months reprieve to still get patches and bug fixes.

Build 1507 of the OS was to exit support on the 26th March, but Microsoft has now announced on Technet that version 1507 will continue to be serviced until May 2017.

Currently Microsoft plans to only support the two latest versions of Windows 10, and expect most users to remain current with the latest version of the OS via automatic updates, a practice which has been criticised but which means that more than 75% of Windows 10 users are on the latest public version of the OS.

Every year on January 28th, the world celebrates Data Privacy Day. But keeping data safe and out of the wrong hands isn’t a once-a-year task. Today, keeping your data private is a daily task—one that involves an understanding of new data protection regulations and cyber security best practices. Here are nine predictions to help you understand what data privacy and security will look like in 2017.

1. Privacy and security will clash. There will be a major clash between privacy and security, as advances are made on both fronts from various legislative actions. On the one hand, countries are working to expand their surveillance of data communications and streamline law enforcement access to computers and data. For example, Britain’s new Investigatory Powers Act (Snooper’s Charter) will require ISPs to keep logs of all websites visited by UK citizens for 12 months and which websites were visited but not the pages and not the full browsing history. It also allows police authorities and intelligence officers to see users’ Internet records as part of their targeted and filtered investigations without a warrant.
   On the other hand, data protection laws, such as the EU GDPR, which will go into effect on May 25, 2018, will restrict how businesses collect, store and use personal data and institute enforcement mechanisms to ensure businesses are reporting on data breaches in a timely manner to governing bodies. For example, businesses will be required to notify supervisory authorities of a data breach within 72 hours.
   
   
2. Second-hand electronics will cause headaches for many businesses. The rise in second-hand electronics will become a data recovery nightmare for both businesses and end users. An independent analysis of used drives and mobile devices from online sites like Amazon, eBay, Gazelle and Craigslist have shown this to be true with large amounts of sensitive personal data and corporate data recovered, including customer lists, Salesforce records, spreadsheets with sales information, company emails, social security numbers, financial details, photos, videos and so much more. This calls into question certain ‘reliable’ methods many businesses and people are using to supposedly ‘delete’ data. But many of these methods (i.e. quick format, basic delete, factory reset) are not actually effective and leave a treasure trove of data exposed to hackers.
   
   
3. Companies will leave data behind. Companies that go out of business – or shut down part of their operations/physical locations – need to add secure data removal into their ‘close down’ procedures. If they don’t, hackers could easily discover sensitive, confidential corporate data that’s been left behind in online backups, orphaned data stores, servers and virtual machines.
   
   
4. The Internet of Things will expand. IoT will create a morass of personal and corporate data on millions of connected devices. The only way to ensure all that connected data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands is to create a system of processes and tools that make it easy to manage, protect and securely erase all data on-demand. The important piece here will be in providing proof that the connected data has been removed and cannot resurface at any given point in the future.
   
   
5. Hackers will turn recent proof of concept exploits into attacks. This will allow them to mine poorly wiped virtual machines. Essentially, they’ll be able to steal credentials and other critical data. Organizations need to ensure they know where their data resides, especially when it comes to the cloud. Processes must be put in place to ensure that virtual machines are permanently and verifiably erased when they are no longer needed.
   
   
6. Ransomware, spear phishing and direct attacks will be a triple threat. The triple scourge of ransomware, spear phishing against corporate treasury functions and direct attacks on central banks will continue to drive investments in new security technology. On the endpoint, new technologies that use machine learning are being deployed to catch malware without needing signatures. Learning and training systems are being deployed to reduce the number of successful spear phishing attacks. Central banks are, in turn, beefing up their own cybersecurity practices and requiring partners to do so too.
   
   
7. Quantum computing research will continue. Nations will continue to make large investments in quantum computing research with the goal of being the first to engineer a major breakthrough. The winner in this new arms race will have a short-term edge (and leverage) in the world of technology. On the one hand, this will create a crisis for all cryptography since quantum computing is theorized to be extremely effective at breaking even the largest key. On the other hand, it will create an opportunity for post-quantum crypto start-ups. New methods of encryption will be proposed that are impervious to cracking with quantum computers.
   
   
8. Denial of Service attacks will be broken. In 2017, all records for large distributed Denial of Service attacks will be broken. Every organisation that depends on connectivity for communicating with their customers or providing a service should have a plan in place for dealing with DDos attacks. This means redundant systems for computing, DNS and connectivity, and a recovery plan. Look for single points of failure because the attackers will find them.
   
   
9. Where data is stored will matter more. The geographical preferences for where data is hosted will increase. For example, companies may want to host data in the UK or elsewhere. This will then require businesses to migrate data, which in turn, will trigger the need to permanently erase data from old locations. And this will need to be done on a large-scale basis for big companies – and will require specific processes to ensure the data migration project was done properly and that ‘old’ data was properly removed.

Program expanded in January 2017. It is essential to recheck your battery, even if you did so previously and were informed that it was not affected.


If you have already received a replacement battery, you are not affected by this expansion. 

In January 2017, in cooperation with various government regulatory agencies, HP announced an expansion of its ongoing worldwide voluntary safety recall and replacement program for certain notebook computer batteries, which was announced in June 2016. The program has been expanded to include additional batteries that were shipped with the same notebook products. These batteries have the potential to overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to customers. 

Because these batteries pose a fire and burn hazard, it is essential to recheck your battery, even if you did so previously and were informed that it was not affected. However, if you have already received a replacement battery, this expansion does not affect you. 

The affected batteries were shipped with specific HP, Compaq, HP ProBook, HP ENVY, Compaq Presario, and HP Pavilion notebook computers sold worldwide from March 2013 through October 2016, and/or were sold as accessories or spares, or provided as replacements through Support.

Customers should cease use of affected batteries immediately. Customers may continue to use their notebook computer without the battery installed, by connecting the notebook to external power. HP’s primary concern is for the safety of our customers. HP is proactively notifying customers, and will provide a replacement battery for each verified, eligible battery, at no cost. For customers with 10 or more potentially affected batteries, HP has put in place a process to assist with the validation and ordering process. For details please refer to the FAQs tab on this website. 
Getting Started 

Note: Not all batteries in all HP, Compaq, HP ProBook, HP ENVY, Compaq Presario, and HP Pavilion Notebook Computers are affected.

Click here to find out if your battery is affected.

Of the many methods, scammers seem to use the bank scam email approach on a frequent basis.

Always treat any communication from the bank with skepticism and keep in mind:

Your bank 
will NEVER ask you for your Internet banking password or your card PIN.
will NEVER ask you to download any software onto your computer
will NEVER ask you to grant the bank remote access to your computer

If you are not sure, ask for the caller’s details and call you bank to verify the caller

Never give out your personal or financial details
Don’t click on links in emails even if they seem legitimate
Always ensure there is a security symbol in your browser.

See some further information on this on ANZ's website here.

Alexa, a cloud-based speech recognition software from Amazon and the brain of its black cylindrical loudspeaker Echo, has been a big hit around the world – except for the younger ones, who take it for granted. Children will grow up alongside it, just as Alexa will evolve, as the AI powering it learns to answer more and more questions, and perhaps one day even converses freely with people.

PhotoScan is a new scanner app from Google Photos that lets you scan and save your favourite printed photos using your phone's camera. Picture perfect and glare free.... 

Create enhanced digital scans, wherever your photos are.

This is a great app if you are out somewhere and there is, say a old black and white photo of one of your ancestors. The app guides you through a process of photographing the picture in segments then seamlessly joining it up to reproduce the original photo.