Microsoft just released its August 2017 security patch, as is customary on Patch Tuesday, which, by itself, is not news. The importance of this particular security update, however, is extremely newsworthy, and if you’re not in the habit of installing security updates when they come out, you’ll want to grab this one.

“Sometimes the wheel turns slowly, but it turns.”

That quote, made famous by Lorne Michaels, certainly applies in the case of the government’s involvement in securing internet-connected devices.

By now, almost everyone has at least one “smart” device in their home or driveway.

Smart device manufacturers are learning a lesson that most internet-based service companies know very well. At least half of the consumer market is willing to trade their personal information, and trade it cheaply, according to a recent study conducted by Parks Associates titled, “The Value of Data – New Smart Home Business Models.

The British Government has had enough. The past several years have seen a large and growing number of high-profile data breaches with every year breaking the last year’s records in total number of attacks and total number of compromised records. Even so, a shockingly low number of companies seem to have gotten the memo that the game is changing around them.

The IRS is being proactive. With tax season fast approaching, they’re warning filers to beware of email scams designed by hackers to steal your information. In fact, they’re ramping up a 10-week “Don’t Take The Bait” campaign to heighten awareness of what is fast becoming an extremely sophisticated scam.

It’s not often that you read the words “Disney” and “trouble,” in the same sentence, but the company’s reputation is taking a big hit, thanks to a class-action lawsuit recently filed in California.

The claim is that a number of Disney’s apps, many that target kids under the age of 13, are being married to industrial strength behavioral analysis programs used to better target kids with marketing messages.

Recently, employees and contractors working for Virgin America Airline (now owned by Alaskan Airlines) received notification from the company that hackers may have gained access to their login and other personal data.

The company’s cybersecurity team discovered the intrusion attempt on March 13 and immediately put their response plan into action, informing law enforcement and contacting forensic experts to assist them in getting to the bottom of the issue.

A few low-end Android phones have been found to be infected with the Triada Trojan, according to the Russian Cybersecurity firm, Dr. Web, which discovered a variant of the malware lurking inside the Android OS Zygote core process.

In this instance, the likeliest point of insertion was via a third-party vendor, somewhere in the phone manufacturer’s supply chain.

Despite getting off to a somewhat rocky start, USB Type-C cables have been a boon to computer users everywhere by providing bidirectional transfer capabilities, which essentially gives Type-C cables two “lanes” to work with.

The USB 3.0 Promoter Group recently announced that things are about to get even better and faster when they released the new USB 3.2 specification.

Several tech giants have plans in the works to expand the number of people who have access to broadband.

Google’s plan would use a series of low-orbit satellites to beam wireless signal all over the globe. Facebook has plans on the drawing board that involve gliders.