The ideas of cloud-based computing and Web-based applications seem fine and dandy…at least, until a security breach of a clever scammer figures out a way to turn an online service into one-stop shopping for account details and personal information. Microsoft has said that on October 1 perpetrators of a phishing scheme published account details and passwords to more than 10,000 HotMail accounts on the code-sharing Web site pastebin.com. The accounts primarily belong to European account holders and start with the letters A or B; however, there’s no telling whether the posting was all the data perpetrators had, or whether they also have information for accounts C–Z.
Microsoft says it has launched an investigation; pastebin.com took down the material on being informed of its presence. The list of impacted accounts includes addresses not only in the Hotmail.com domain, but also Microsoft’s other online email services msn.com and live.com.
Microsoft is recommending Hotmail users change their passwords both on their Web-based email account but also on any other sites that use the same password. Industry studies find that anywhere form one third to half of computer users re-use passwords on multiple sites or services, which means that a compromised password on one service has the potential to create security problems on other services.
In this case, it appears the attackers obtained the account information via a phishing attack, which falsely asked users to input their Hotmail account information via a fake Web page or Web site.
In 1950, Alan Turing asked whether machines can think. Rather than argue over definitions, he turned the question into a party game, where an interrogator trades typed messages with hidden players and tries to work out who is who. Since then, chatbots have gotten so good that they have already fooled humans in modern versions of the test.
So, four researchers from Paris Cité University asked the obvious follow-up question in a new study published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports: can AI at least catch its own kind?
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
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.