Microsoft Office macro viruses aren’t the only resurgent ’90s phenomenon right now, but they are the one that cause network administrators to lose the most sleep. Microsoft is offering a new tool for Office 2016 that might help.
Enterprise administrators can now set network-wide rules that disable macros for all documents downloaded from the Internet, allowing only locally created macros to run. Microsoft outlined the new features in a blog post on Technet, which also explores the extent of the problem.
It turns out that, in enterprise environments, macro viruses make up the bulk of Office-specific attacks: 98 percent, to be exact. Macros allow Office users to automate all kind of things inside a document, but have also been a popular vector for viruses since the days of Windows 95. Such macro viruses are on an upswing again this year.
“The enduring appeal for macro-based malware appears to rely on a victim’s likelihood to enable macros,” says the Microsoft post. “Previous versions of Office include a warning when opening documents that contain macros, but malware authors have become more resilient in their social engineering tactics, luring users to enable macros in good faith and ending up infected.”
The new feature prevents individual users from enabling macros in certain situations. Network administrators in an enterprise environment can set group policy that makes opening such malware less likely. Three kinds of documents can be filtered:
Administrators can disable macros in all documents that come from these sources, without blocking macros in documents created locally or stored on the company server.
This policy could potentially annoy some users, but it’s likely a good security move for any company concerned about macro viruses. And while there’s no version of this feature in the home version of Office right now, we hope something similar comes along there as well.
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.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.