January 2023 – Page 21 – scrollingindia.com

Age of Empires 2 soldiers charging into battle

Tech News

I can’t believe Age of Empires 2 is playable in a browser

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A new trailer has dropped for Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition’s controller-friendly port, ahead of the iconic real-time strategy classic landing on Xbox consoles and Game Pass later this month.

This incarnation of Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition not only packs in all the bells and whistles found in the existing remaster, but also includes a control scheme specially optimized for gamepads. This means that you will soon be able to enjoy Age of Empires 2 on your Xbox Series X|S or Xbox One from the comfort of your living room sofa. The latest iteration is also compatible with Games Pass’ emerging, but nonetheless impressive, browser-based cloud gaming service.

Age of Empires 2 is a classic RTS in the truest sense. You take on the role of one of the game’s historical factions and wage war across isometric battlefields in real time. Players construct buildings and defenses, while developing and commanding increasingly vast and complex armies.

If you went back in time to 1999 and told me that, one day, you’d be able to play Age of Empires 2 in a browser, I would have accused you of being the very worst type of liar. Game Pass once again reminds us that we are, in fact, living in the future.

Head in the clouds

In addition to controller compatibility, Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition boasts a range of extra features that are not to be sniffed at. On top of a fully remastered soundtrack and graphical improvements (including 4K fidelity), the definitive edition includes an entire expansion with a range of new factions and campaigns.

The Last Khans expansion gives you access to four new civilizations: the Cumans, the Tatars, the Bulgarians, and the Lithuanians. There are also three new campaigns for the Tatars, Cumans, and Bulgarians, as well as an extensive rework of all the operations in The Forgotten expansion.

Supplementing all this, the Game Pass version of Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition also includes every expansion for the game released since the definitive edition’s initial launch. These include Dawn of the Dukes, Lords of the West, and Dynasties of India. As with The Last Khans, each of these expansions includes new civilizations and single-player storylines totaling a whopping eight new factions and nine new campaigns in addition to the content found in the vanilla definitive edition.

All in all, it’s an extremely generous package and well worth checking out if you’re an RTS enjoyer looking to sample one of the titans of the genre. Age of Empires 2 was a staple of my childhood and helped me discover a lifelong love of RTS games. Without Age of Empires, I would never have learned to love the cutthroat freneticism of Starcraft 2’s multiplayer ladder nor the joyful bombast of Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3.

Age of Empires set the bar for an entire genre, and there’s never been a better time to get to grips with one of the greatest RTS games ever made. Whether you’re on PC, Xbox Series X, or streaming via the cloud, soon you’ll be able to experience the definitive version of this iconic experience for yourself.

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Tech News

Zoom is bringing AI to live chat customer service

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Top Video conferencing software provider Zoom has announced a new “intelligent conversational” live chat solution powered by artificial intelligence.

In a keynote event followed by a post (opens in new tab) on the Zoom blog, the company announced Zoom Virtual Agent (opens in new tab), a chatbot designed to help businesses provide efficient customer service in a cost-effective way, by reducing handle times for human customer support staff.

While corporate chatbots are nothing new, Zoom claims that many of these rely on “extensive” manual coding, while its new offering is powered by “proprietary AI” and machine learning in order to naturally process language.

Zoom’s AI chatbot for enterprise

Zoom Virtual Agent supposedly integrates with various live chat, CRM and contact center-as-a-service (CCaaS) solutions, and will come packaged as part of Zoom Contact Center, the company’s own CCaaS.

The unveiling follows Zoom’s acquisition of Solvvy, a conversational AI company, in 2022. Mahesh Ram, head of digital customer experience at Zoom, and ex-founder and CEO of Solvvy, extolled the virtues of the new chatbot almost entirely in opaque buzzwords.

““Every leader I speak to is seeking dual outcomes from their CX [customer experience] technology: superior omnichannel resolutions for their customers and an improved bottom line,” he said.

“Imagine being able to deliver fast, accurate resolutions in 50% or more of your self-service interactions just weeks after launching. Solvvy delivered these types of outcomes for many leading brands.”

In short, Ram thinks Zoom Virtual Agent will help online startups expand quicker by solving an existential problem for them as soon as possible, while helping companies at large save money, possibly by cutting personnel costs.

A 50% success rate may not be as impressive as Ram seems to think it is, but previous Solvvy customers seem convinced.

“We’ve always enjoyed working with Mahesh and team, who helped us level up our support with self-service rates that exceeded our expectations. We’re excited to see what that same team has done with the new Zoom Virtual Agent,” said Marissa Morley, CX tools specialist for mobile ticketing platform SeatGeek.

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Thousands of WordPress sites at risk from online course plug-in flaw

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Tens of thousands of WordPress websites are vulnerable to multiple high-severity flaws found in a popular plug-in, security researchers have claimed.

Experts at PatchStack discovered three vulnerabilities in LearnPress, a learning management system plugin that enables people with almost no coding knowledge to sell online courses and lessons through their WordPress websites.

The patch for the flaws in the website builder has been available for more than a month, but the researchers warn that only a (significant) minority have applied it so far.

A fix is available

The three vulnerabilities in question are CVE-2022-47615, a vulnerability that allows threat actors to view credentials, authentication tokens, API keys, and similar; CVE-2022-45808, an unauthenticated SQL injection vulnerability that enables arbitrary code execution, and CVE-2022-45820, an authenticated SQL injection flaw which can also lead to data exfiltration and arbitrary code execution.

PatchStack discovered the flaws between November 30 and December 2, 2022, and reported them to LearnPress soon after. The company came back with a fix on December 20, bringing LearnPress to version 4.2.0. However, so far just 25% of websites updated the plug-in, BleepingComputer reported citing WordPress.org statistical data.

Given that roughly 100,000 websites are currently actively using the plug-in, that would bring the total number of still vulnerable websites to approximately 75,000. As these are high-severity flaws with serious consequences, web admins are urged to apply the patch immediately, or disable the plugin until they do.

WordPress is the most popular website building platform in the world, and as such, it’s an attractive target for cybercriminals. While WordPress itself is relatively secure (less than 1% of all WP-related flaws fall on the platform), its plug-ins (and free plug-ins, to be more exact) are usually the weakest link. While they bring countless extra functionalities to the platform, it is paramount webmasters choose the right ones and make sure they are always updated.

Via: BleepingComputer (opens in new tab)

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Gmail to halt campaign email spam filters following GOP complaints

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Google will end its Gmail spam filtering pilot program in the US amid continuing threats from Republicans.

According to The Washington Post (opens in new tab),a recent court filing saw Google lawyers detail the plan to end the pilot program at the end of January 2023, instead of continuing with its testing and development.

Google’s filing also asked the US District Court for the Eastern District of California to dismiss the case, implying that “Gmail’s spam filtering policies apply equally to emails from all senders, whether they are politically affiliated or not.”

Gmail political campaign filtering

It has been several months since Republicans first launched complaints that Google was sending its emails directly to users’ spam folders, with one paper suggesting as many as 67.6% of emails were being marked as spam compared with just 8.2% of Democrats’.

Google rejected the accusations, however the company designed a new pilot program in response that allowed parties to sign up as recognized, legitimate senders. This was met with a mixed bag of reactions, including concerns that Gmail users’ inboxes would be inundated with unwanted content.

Google spokesperson, Jose Castañeda, said he had hoped that the scheme would “provide more certainty for senders during this election period”.

Of the more than 100 committees that signed up for the pilot program, Google made it clear to the California court that the RNC had not.

“Many other politically-affiliated entities chose to participate in that program, which was approved by the FEC, ” the filing says. “The RNC chose not to do so. Instead, it now seeks to blame Google based on a theory of political bias that is both illogical and contrary to the facts alleged in its own Complaint.”

While the pilot program’s days are limited, Gmail maintains that effective spam filtering remains a key part of what makes the email service so popular and successful. TechRadar Pro has asked Google to confirm whether it will continue to explore similar programs in the future.

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An angry office worker preparing to smash his laptop with a hammer.

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Nearly half of all UK businesses are embarrassed by their website

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Nearly half (47%) of UK businesses aren’t confident in their website’s ability to impress clients, while 92% of UK business leaders think theirs costs them up to £100,000 in sales annually.

That’s according to a new study (opens in new tab) from content management system (CMS) provider Storyblok, which surveyed 500 business leaders at “mid-sized” ecommerce companies across the US and Europe on their website’s costs and revenue performance.

With businesses preferring, on average, to spend £336,500 on marketing over half a decade, with a quarter of businesses spending £500,000 or more. it’s clear that many businesses still don’t believe the internet is a worthwhile, profitable space.

Embarrassing website design

Another recent StoryBlok survey (opens in new tab) of 6,000 customers across the US and Europe revealed that 60% of them abandon around 5 online purchases a year due to poor user experience (UX) on websites.

As a result, it seems a culture is emerging across businesses in the UK and globally that an “embarrassing” website is either a fact of life or just about good enough.

That’s a problem, says Storyblok co-founder and CEO Dominik Angerer, given how far web design tools have come.

“At first, these results look completely contradictory. On the one hand, businesses believe their websites are costly embarrassments, on the other hand, they are seemingly satisfied with their performance. The answer is that expectations are too low.”

“Many businesses believe that marketing technology is inherently very expensive and is difficult and time-consuming to get right. This is no longer the case.”

“A modern wave of API-first, best-of-breed technology is currently disrupting the industry, making the martech stack not only more cost-effective, but also more user-friendly for the teams working with it.”

From ecommerce website builders, to CMS providers like WordPress and its best alternatives, and even options as basic as link in bio tools, businesses of all sizes have a vast array of intuitive options at their fingertips to get an impressive web presence up and running.

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Working from home might be good for your wallet as well as your mental health

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Working from home often pays more than working in an office for jobs in the tech industry, new research has claimed.

HR company Remote collected data on more than six million jobs ads from 2022 from employee resource Glassdoor and found that web developer and software engineering roles had the most amount of remote opportunities compared to other professions, making up 37% and 36% of the total remote job market respectively.

Web developers working from home could also earn $22,508 more on average than their on premise counterparts, which is a 37% increase. The percentage difference between remote and office salaries for software engineers is slightly less, but overall they get paid more.

Salary plus benefits

The situation is largely the same for UK tech workers too. Again, web developers and software engineers make up the largest proportion of remote jobs, at 31% and 29% respectively, with the former earning £13,000 more than the average for the role, and £6,500 for the latter.

Remote commented that employees are the ones leading the way in this shift, and they are the ones who expect and seek out roles that offer flexible and remote working arrangements. So in order for company’s to acquire their much needed talents, they are advertising roles with these draws in mind.

Aside from specific job roles, Remote also analyzed industries in general. In the UK, the most popular industry for remote opportunities was IT, with 13.9% of remote jobs. In the US, IT came third with 15.4%, beaten by media and communication (15%) and management and consulting (19.4%) industries.

Remote VP Nadia Vatalidis commented on the benefits of remote working for both employers and employees, with a “much larger selection of top tier candidates and a reduced need for costly office space among other benefits” for the former and “increased flexibility and the potential opportunity to work from anywhere in the world” for the latter.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic forced many businesses to adopt remote working practices, arguments have come in from both sides over the sustained commitment to such arrangements.

So called hybrid working is now the latest trend, which seems to be striking a balance between new and traditional job culture, where employees have the choice to come into the office at certain times and stay at home at others. It allows for flexible working hours at times that suit the individual best.

Additional research from Slack found that employees may leave to find new work if hybrid working isn’t available, as many workers had greater job satisfaction and felt less stress when they could work this way.

On the flipside, employers are faced with a greater security challenge as various endpoints are spread across numerous home networks, so protecting data is more crucial than ever and needs the proper attention it deserves.

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Got an old iPhone or iPad? You need to install this security update now

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If you own an iPhone 5S, iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus, you’re probably no longer in the habit of giving it software updates – but a new security update from Apple is an essential install if you want to keep your device secure.

A newly discovered vulnerability, which also affects some iPads (the iPad Air, iPad mini 2 and iPad mini 3), was recently picked up by Google’s Threat Analysis Group, potentially allowing attackers to trick affected users into visiting “maliciously crafted web content”.

As a result, Apple has released an iOS 12.5.7 firmware update for those six affected devices, which owners should install now. If you don’t have automatic updates enabled, just go to the Settings app then General > Software Update.

Apple says that it’s “aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited against versions of iOS released before iOS 15.1”, so it’s definitely a good idea to install the update.

Given that the iPhone 5S is now nine years old, it’s impressive to see Apple stretching its security updates back that far. Neither the iPhone 5S, iPhone 6 nor iPhone 6 Plus can run iOS 13, which is why those phones in particular have been given updates.

Feeling secure

An iPhone on a grey background showing a software update screen

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple has led the way when it comes to providing firmware or security updates to older phones – last year, the seven-year-old iPhone 6S got iOS 15, and the five-year-old iPhone 8 is supported by the latest iOS 16.

But despite having a comparatively poor reputation for firmware support, Android manufacturers have also been boosting their credentials here. Last year, OnePlus said that “select models” of its phones would get four major Android updates and five years of security patches – the same as Samsung’s support for the Galaxy S22 and other handsets.

And Google is slowly improving in this regard, with its most recent Pixel phones (including the Pixel 7 series) getting a promised five years of security updates, if only three years of OS updates. Android 14 is also expected to block (opens in new tab) the installation of apps that target outdated versions of the operating system.

While that news has caused something of an outcry from hardcore Android fans who see it as impinging on Android’s open nature, these moves (and in particular, long-term security updates) will definitely be appreciated by most smartphone owners, who’d rather simply stay clear of malware or security threats.

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Riot Games says it has received ransom note following hack, but won’t pay up

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Riot Games has said it will refuse to pay a ransomware demand to regain some of its source code following a recent cyberattack.

In an update concerning this week’s incident, Riot confirmed it was an extortion attack, noting that the source code for League of Legends (LoL), Teamfight Tactics (TFT), and a legacy anticheat platform, was exfiltrated by the attackers.

It also confirmed receiving a ransom note, but added that it has no intention of paying the ransom demand.

Personal data safe

“Today, we received a ransom email. Needless to say, we won’t pay,” the tweet (opens in new tab) reads, without adding further information on the ransom demand or amount.

Further explaining the current state of things, the popular game development company said the attack “disrupted our build environment” which could cause issues in the future, but added that no player data, or personal information, was compromised as a result of the breach. The crooks might use the stolen source code to create cheats for its games, but that’s pretty much it.

“Since the attack, we’ve been working to assess its impact on anticheat and to be prepared to deploy fixes as quickly as possible if needed.”

The company also said the source code held a number of experimental features some of which could have made it to the live version of the game.

“Most of this content is in prototype and there’s no guarantee it will ever be released,” the thread continues.

Riot also said its security teams are working together with “globally recognized external consultants” on further evaluation of the attack, and on system audit. The police have been notified of the attack, and have launched an investigation of their own, the company said.

Earlier this week, Riot Games reported on a data breach impacting some of its products, saying that it might delay releasing game patches for LoL and TFT. All features that were planned to be released will still be released, but at a later date.

Via: The Record (opens in new tab)

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Bad news – LastPass owner confirms customer backups were stolen

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Another update on the recent LastPass data breach has revealed even more potentially bad news for users of the password manager (opens in new tab).

Paddy Srinivasan, CEO of LastPass parent company GoTo revealed in a blog post (opens in new tab) that the attackers who targeted third-party cloud storage service shared by both firms managed to exfiltrate encrypted backups related to a number of products.

These products include Central, Pro, join.me, Hamachi, and RemotelyAnywhere.

Encryption key taken

Besides encrypted backups, the attackers also exfiltrated an encryption key for “a portion” of the encrypted backups, Srinivasan added.

The data that is now at risk includes account usernames, salted and hashed passwords, a portion of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) settings, and some product settings and licensing information. Credit card or banking details were not affected. Birth dates, home addresses, and Social Security numbers, were also said to be secure, as GoTo doesn’t store any of these.

Furthermore, a “small subset” of Rescue and GoToMyPC users have had their MFA settings impacted. Encrypted databases, however, were said to not have been taken.

While all of the account passwords were salted and hashed “in accordance with best practices”, GoTo still reset the passwords (opens in new tab) of affected users, and had them reauthorize MFA settings, where possible. The CEO also said the company is migrating affected accounts onto an enhanced Identity Management Platform to provide additional security and more robust authentication and login-based security options.

The affected customers are being reached out to directly, Srinivasan confirmed.

LastPass first reported suffering a data breach in November 2022. An initial investigation determined that the hackers managed to steal customer vaults, essentially databases containing all of their passwords. The vaults themselves are encrypted, however, meaning the crooks will not have such an easy time reading their contents.

“These encrypted fields remain secured with 256-bit AES encryption and can only be decrypted with a unique encryption key derived from each user’s master password using our Zero Knowledge architecture,” LastPass CEO Karim Toubba had said. “As a reminder, the master password is never known to LastPass and is not stored or maintained by LastPass.”

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Illustration of a laptop with a magnifying glass exposing a beetle on-screen

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Perimeter 81 boosts malware protection

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Perimeter 81 says it has gotten even better at protecting its customers from internet-borne risks, as it adds malware protection to its growing list of services.

The new offering works as a combination of continually updated signature-based detection, and advanced machine learning-based capabilities which are able to identify and block complex polymorphic and zero-day attacks, the company said. It added that the feature complements its existing web filtering services well, resulting in even stronger and more robust protection for all users, regardless of business size.

The number of cyber threats businesses are facing grows every day. Between viruses, trojans, keyloggers, phishing attacks, ransomware, and other malware, not a day goes by that we don’t learn of a new company falling victim to a dangerous cyberattack. The results usually include large data protection watchdog fines, loss of business, and a tarnished reputation.

Easy setup

To protect against these threats, businesses deploy all kinds of security solutions, from firewalls, to VPNs, to password managers and web filters. However, the decentralized nature of these solutions makes management difficult, allowing threat actors to slip through the cracks. Thus, having fewer solutions covering more aspects of cyber-risk is always welcome.

Perimeter 81 says the malware protection feature needs no particular setup. As soon as users sign into the agent, the new offering is activated, automatically applying an extra level of protection. What’s more, user experience is not affected, the company claims. Malware protection works both on the wider internet, and on corporate networks, it was added.

“Malware protection is increasingly important for organizations to arm themselves with so that they can avoid threats like HavanaCrypt,” said Amit Bareket CEO and Co-founder 81. “This advances Perimeter 81’s converged network security offering to easily connect and secure any business network with a hardware-free, cloud-based service.”

When users active the new product, it starts inspecting web traffic (file downloads, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, etc.), looking for potential malware. Once the traffic is deemed safe, it is sent to the end user’s browser. If it detects a threat, it will block it and notify the user. The notifications are also sent to the company’s IT admins for further analysis.

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