Microsoft isn’t having any luck this week with its Outlook.com email service. After reports initially noted that hackers were able to compromise Outlook.com servers for months, recent updates from Microsoft itself are beginning to show a bit more detrimental picture. Motherboard has reported that 6% of affected individuals received an email from the Redmond, Washington-based company alerting them that their email contents may have been revealed to hackers.
The Outlook.com team has apparently only admitted this via email after first being presented with screenshot evidence confirming the hackers’ level of access. The report continues to note that the system intruders were able to access accounts for up to six months, but according to the Verge, Microsoft rebuts the statement, saying that “the claim of 6 months is inaccurate.” While any level of comprised accounts is disturbing, this instance is exacerbated by the company’s refusal to reveal precisely how many accounts were affected in the breach.
“Our notification to the majority of those impacted noted that bad actors would not have had unauthorized access to the content of e-mails or attachments … a small group (6 percent of the original, already limited subset of consumers) was notified that the bad actors could have had unauthorized access to the content of their email accounts, and was provided with additional guidance and support,” said a Microsoft spokesman.
Previous information about the Outlook.com breach appears to remain accurate, with the crime being committed through the use of a customer support agent’s credentials. Initially, Microsoft had claimed that only email addresses, subject lines of emails, folder labels, and names were able to be accessed by the intrusion, but the new report shows otherwise.
Microsoft has already followed up with users, sending out emails that not only describe recent events but urge caution and note that those affected may see a rise in scam or phishing emails being sent to their inboxes. As such, it is essential to follow basic online safety tips and to keep a close eye on emails that may be trying to phish information from you.
We will continue to update readers on the Outlook.com breach as more information becomes available.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.