Internet security firm Palo Alto Networks has identified a new campaign of cyber-treachery originating from the borders of Nigeria, the notorious source of a billion countless malicious emails attempting to trick people into giving up their money over the years. Palo Alto says it determined that the attacks came from Nigeria because many of the attackers that the firm tracked did not conceal their IP addresses.
The new batch of evil emails include attachments that, once clicked, are laced with two malicious programs. One, called NetWire, can allow someone to remotely take control of an infected computer, whether it’s running Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X. The other program, DataScrambler, aims to conceal NetWire’s existence from anti-malware scanners.
Nigerian email scammers have changed their targeting tactics, Palo Alto Networks says. Though they routinely devoted their efforts towards targets who were financially well off in the past, the firm says that many attacks this year have been lobbed at businesses.
Perhaps most troubling is the fact that the cyber thieves did not make the tools on their own. For instance, they leased DataScrambler for anywhere between $25 and $60 from hacking-centric forums online. Even a high-schooler with a part time job could afford them. Fortunately, the crooks weren’t the most adept at modern technologies, the security firm said.
“The group is comprised of individuals who have previously operated 419 scams, which rely on tricking wealthy individuals into giving their wealth to the scammer. These individuals are often experts at social engineering, but novices with malware,” reads a report detailing the troubling finding.
As always, whether you’re an individual or a business, you should also keep a sharp eye on emails you get which include attachments, even those that appear to come from people you know. Always be extremely cautious when opening them, and, if you get one from an email address you do not recognize, your best bet is to not open it, especially if the contents of the email itself look suspicious.
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.
After spending years with touchscreen Windows laptops, I've become rather accustomed to reaching out and tapping the screen if I just want to interact with something quickly. It's a small convenience, one that feels natural as soon as you get used to it. But whenever I use a MacBook for a bit, I inevitably find myself reaching for the screen before realizing that Apple has never offered this feature for its notebooks.
Apple has resisted touchscreen Macs for years, but that might finally change. The company is reportedly preparing to introduce its first touchscreen MacBook Pro, complete with an OLED display and a redesigned interface that accommodates touch input. Not to be confused with the new $2,000 M6 MacBook Pro, which just launched with minimal updates over its predecessor.