Tag Archives: cellular phone

Gaming

Minecraft is most malware infected game

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228k Users Affected, Are You One Of Them?

As people are looking for ways to unwind at home, the gaming industry has been one of the primary places people set their eyes on. Not only is it a way to entertain yourself for hours on end, but it is also a place for people to connect, which is otherwise hard to do during the pandemic. 

According to data presented by the Atlas VPN team, 303,827 individuals’ devices were affected by gaming-related malware and unwanted software between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021. Mobile games are also a major threat for gamers.

As many as 50,644 users attempted to download 10,488 unique files disguised as the ten most-played mobile games, generating a total of 332,570 detections. Minecraft was by far the most popular game on both PC and mobile platforms for dangerous app distributors to hide behind. On PC, nearly 185 thousand users were affected with over 3 million malware and unwanted software detections.

On mobile, the number of victims exceeds 44 thousand for the period.

Unwanted software includes files like adware, spyware, and so on. There are various versions of Minecraft and a plethora of mods (modifications that may be placed on top of the basic game to diversify gameplay) may account for its enormous popularity. Because mods are unofficial and developed by users, they can be used to hide dangerous payloads or undesirable software. 

Security tips for gamers

  • Protect your accounts with two-factor authentication (2-FA) whenever possible. 
  • Use strong passwords for your accounts, with a different one for each. That way, even if one of your accounts is compromised, the remainder will remain unaffected.
  • Downloading games from official retailers such as Steam, Apple App Store, Google Play, or Amazon Appstore is safer. These marketplaces aren’t completely safe, but they are at least examined by store staff, and there is some sort of screening procedure in place: not every app is allowed into these stores.
  • If you want to buy a game that isn’t accessible in major stores, you should do it through the official website. Make sure to double-check the website’s URL to avoid impostor sites.
  • Be cautious of phishing campaigns and unfamiliar players. If you are unsure about the sender, do not open links you receive via email or in a gaming chat. Do not open files sent to you by strangers.

Another one of the most well-known game titles worldwide, The Sims 4, was the second most often used title to distribute unwanted files. Over 43 thousand users were impacted, with detections closing in on 1.3 million.  For the Silo, Valentina Perez.

Sci-Tech

Years Of I-phone Innovations Meant Big Expectations For Newest Models

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Have things changed in the past 5 years? Take a look at this article from 2014 and let us know via the comments section below.

In the summer of 2007, Mike Lazardis, co-founder of BlackBerry, got an iPhone to check what’s inside. He pried it open and was shocked on what he saw: BlackBerry wasn’t competing with a phone, he thought, it was competing against a Mac. Lazardis was recalling that moment in an interview with The Globe and Mail, hinting about the months leading to the fall of RIM.

Such is the iPhone’s disruptive story: it put the computer in our phones and made them smart. Suddenly, we could buy and play music in our phones, surf the net via wifi, run desktop-like OS, and, the best defining factor of a smartphone, download apps. We do all that without a keypad (to BlackBerry’s shock). No, Apple didn’t invent these technologies, it innovated them. Over a decade earlier, IBM had Simon, the world’s first smartphone.

In the infographic prepared by our creative team we highlighted the key features in each iPhone launch since the first generation phone came out in 2007. Some features are truly innovative (A series chip, Siri, App Store) and some are unabashed embellishments.

So what’s in store for future iPhones? We can get some clues from Apple patents registered with the U.S. Trademark and Office. Apple is developing an audio jack to double as a headphone jack, plus an audio transducer that doesn’t need a grille to emit sound. That means future iPhones can be totally enclosed or water-proofed. Another patent talks about combining motion analyzer, scenery analyzer, and lockout mechanism to detect if you’re driving and disable Messages Apps. With the increasing text-induced car accidents, expect this feature sooner than later.

Yet another patent indicates that Apple is cooking an intelligent Home Page that brings up the app you need for specific scenarios like when you need to show an electronic ticket in an airport or an e-coupon at a counter. The patent uses location-based signals and tracks user data patterns like calendars, emails, notes, etc. to predict when to bring up the app.

But let’s not talk about the future; rather, let’s see what iPhone users want today. For the Silo, Alex Hillsberg.

iPhone6 Predicted

iPhone6 PredictediPhone6 Predicted

 

Supplemental- Are Apple products made ethically?