Lizard Squad ruins gamers’ Christmas with DDoS attack

By on January 15, 2015 in Blog, Security

Millions of gamers were not able to play online over the Christmas period, thanks to a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) on the gaming networks of both PlayStation and Xbox, instigated by hacking group Lizard Squad.

Anyone who received an Xbox One or PS4 for Christmas was unable to get online on Christmas Day, after huge amounts of fake traffic were sent to Microsoft’s and PlayStation’s networks, causing them to crash. This meant gamers couldn’t play certain games, access the services’ online stores or download anything to their consoles.

Microsoft managed to resurrect its service fairly quickly, and Xbox Live was back up and running within a few days, but PlayStation’s network, which has more than double the number of subscribers, was still suffering during the first weekend after Christmas.

[themecolor]What is a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack?[/themecolor]

A distributed denial of service attack is a strategy used by hackers to render targets inaccessible by flooding them with huge volumes of online traffic. In non-cyber terms, it would be like somebody repeatedly dialling your telephone in order to keep your line busy and prevent you from making a call.

To continue with this analogy, the ‘distributed’ aspect would be achieved if your telephone number was then passed on to hundreds of other people who also attempted to ring you.

[themecolor]Why did they do it?[/themecolor]

A hacker who claimed to be a member of Lizard Squad said the attacks were orchestrated partly for amusement, but also because it wished to demonstrate weaknesses in the company’s systems.

This is not the first time PlayStation has been attacked by this particular hacking group. Lizard Squad claims to have taken down the network several times – it even tweeted a terrorism threat to an airline when PlayStation’s president of online entertainment was onboard one of its planes.

Sony Pictures, another branch of Sony, was also hacked in late 2014. However, the two attacks are unrelated; the Sony Pictures attack was much more sophisticated, as the perpetrators stole confidential information. DDoS attacks alone do not tend to end in data being stolen; instead the service or website is simply taken down for a period of time.

After ceasing its Christmas attack on Xbox and PlayStation, Lizard Squad went on to target Tor, a secure network which allows people to communicate anonymously.

Read more

New study highlights importance of hardware upgrades

By on January 15, 2015 in Blog, General

It can happen to the best of us. A new study reveals that the majority of IT professionals have fallen victim to hardware failure, with many instances causing data loss and downtime. Furthermore some are warning this problem is being exacerbated by delays in upgrading hardware.

Carried out by research company Vanson Bourne, a survey was answered by more than 3,300 IT workers across the world. Sixty-six per cent of those asked said they’d been let down by equipment in the past – worryingly, this is 19 per cent higher than in 2011.

Of those who had experienced failures, 35 per cent said they’d completely lost power, while others had suffered a range of minor issues. It’s the consequences of these issues that most will be worried about, however.

[themecolor]1 in 3 hardware failures resulted in lost revenue[/themecolor]

More than a third (34 per cent) of the respondents said their hardware failures had resulted in lost revenue, with 54 per cent claiming staff productivity had been impacted in some way.  Customer relationships have also been damaged for many of those questioned, with 29 per cent saying loyalty had been noticeably affected.

Data loss is obviously a major concern for most IT-dependent enterprises, and the study – sponsored by computing firm EMC – does little to dispel this idea. The majority of the professionals asked (71 per cent) said they were not confident in their ability to recover data, or even the failed systems themselves.

EMC president Gary Churchward says he can see why some businesses are struggling.

In a statement, he explained: “With 62 percent of IT decision-makers interviewed feeling challenged to protect hybrid cloud, big data and mobile, it’s understandable that almost all of them lack the confidence that data protection will be able to meet future business challenges.”

In total, the study estimated the annual costs of the failures to be somewhere in the region of £1.1 trillion. Downtime and data loss cost businesses £626 billion and £495 billion respectively, Vanson Bourne suggests.

Read more

Microsoft readying new web browser

By on January 15, 2015 in Blog, Microsoft, Product releases

After being the subject of Internet Explorer-based ridicule for a number of years, Microsoft is set to release a brand new web browser to compete with the likes of Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, according to reports this month.

The program, which is being developed under the code name ‘Spartan’, will be Microsoft’s first new attempt at a browser since Internet Explorer – or IE – was first released almost two decades ago as part of the Windows 95 operating system.

[themecolor]IE market share falls to 1 in 5[/themecolor]

While Internet Explorer was the world’s most popular web browser for a number of years, it was overtaken by Google Chrome in 2012 and has since been widely criticised by the tech world for a range of issues related to its poor performance when compared to its major competitors.

As of November 2014, just one fifth of the world’s internet users surf the web on a version of IE, as compared to 52 per cent for Google Chrome. Now with Satya Nadella scheduled to give a keynote speech on Windows 10, speculation is building around the possibility that Spartan will be officially unveiled officially at the event on January 21.

In an interview on the topic, the Microsoft CEO said: “Productivity is the only thing that matters for the individual, the organisation or the entire economy. The core driver of the use of technology is to create fulfilment in individual lives and drive economic gain for entire companies and entire economies.”

Interestingly, Spartan is not expected to replace Internet Explorer, but will instead be shipped alongside the latest version – IE11 – on desktop and mobile machines running Windows 10. It is not known whether the program will be made available on other major platforms – like iOS, OS X or Google’s Android system.

Prospective users can expect to see a number of new features included with Spartan, included an annotation tool and the ability to group tabs.

Read more

MEPs overwhelmingly support Google breakup

By on December 11, 2014 in Blog, Google

Internet search companies like Google should be broken up, the European parliament has suggested. Members of the European parliament (MEPs) have said that action needs to be taken to ensure that search engines are detached from other services provided by internet companies.

No specific search engine company was mentioned, but Google is thought to hold 90 per cent of the market share in Europe. Although politicians don’t currently have the power to break up companies like Google, the vote has put pressure on European regulators to take action against the firm.

The vote came as part of the European Commission’s continuing investigation into Google, after rivals lodged an anti-competitive case against the Internet giant in 2010.

They asked for four areas to be investigated, including the way Google copies content from other sites to use it within its own services and how it displays its own search services compared with competitors’ products.

[themecolor]Action unlikely due to lack of precedent[/themecolor]

EU competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, who has inherited the case, will make the final decision after her predecessor, Joaquin Almunia, failed to reach a settlement. He believed that the only solution would be a fine of up to $5 billion (around £3.19 billion).

Politicians are keen to find a solution, but many experts think that it’s unlikely the Commission will order the breakup of Google, as it has never ordered any other company to do so before.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association has criticised the idea of a break-up, calling the solution “extreme and unworkable”. It claimed the Commission is suggesting that all search companies should have their businesses separated, which is an unreasonable thing to ask in a rapidly changing online market.

An EU data protection group also recently said that the ‘right to be forgotten’ law should be expanded further to include .com domains.

Read more

More than 50 sites added to piracy blacklist

By on December 11, 2014 in Blog, Security

The UK High Court has added 53 new sites to the piracy blacklist, more than doubling the number of blocked sites.

Now, some 93 sites have been officially blocked, including Rapid Moviez, Warez BB, Sumotorrent, Torrentfunk, Torrentz, watchseries.It, BitSoup, Isohunt, Stream TV, IP Torrents, Tor Movies and Torrentdb. The sites themselves do not host the illegal material, they only provide download links to pirated software, films, TV shows, e-books and music. This means that blocking the sites does not remove the illegal content from the web, it just makes it harder for people to find.

The court decision came after the Motion Picture Association (MPA) made a complaint that was uncontested by internet service providers, as they no longer wanted to defend themselves in court.

Chris Marcich, president and managing director of the MPA in Europe, believes that ordering ISPs to block certain sites is an effective way to tackle the issue of online copyright infringement. He added that the law targets sites that aim to make a profit from stolen content and don’t contribute anything to the economy in return.

BT is one of the first ISPs to block the newly banned sites, with O2, Virgin, Sky, TalkTalk and EE expected to follow suit soon.

Although the first restrictions began back in 2012, this latest court order is the first to block private torrent sites, which only make the download links to illegal content available to members. TorrentDay.com, BitSoup.me and IPTorrents.com are examples of the private sites recently put on the blacklist by the High Court. The Pirate Bay was the very first torrent site to be outlawed under changes made to the Copyright Designs and Patents Act in 2012.

Read more

Sony experiments with e-paper, creating new smartwatch

By on December 11, 2014 in Blog, New technology, Product releases

Sony has created a watch made from e-paper, a technology similar to that used in e-book readers, such as the Amazon Kindle.

The so-called Fes Watch has a battery that can last for 60 days, much longer than the majority of smartwatches currently on the market. However, it is lacking in features when compared to its rivals, and the design is rather minimalist. Even so, this clever technology allows users to choose several different styles of watch ace and strap, making the look and feel of the watch highly customisable.

[themecolor]Retro and cool[/themecolor]

Stuart Miles, a gadget expert from Pocket-lint, has described the watch as “retro and cool”. He believes that next year fashion will influence the wearable tech industry and help shape it further.

Electronic paper displays work by reflecting light rather than omitting it. This means the screen is easier on the eyes and can be read from a wider viewing angle compared with many light-emitting displays. It also has a much longer battery due to the fact it uses a low amount of power – indeed, no power at all is used when the image is not changing.

Sony purposely hid the fact it was developing an e-paper watch with a spin-off division, called Fashion Entertainments, working on the device instead. It even ran a crowdfunding campaign to fund the project, to see just how interested the public would be in this kind of technology. The campaign raised 3.5 million yen, equivalent to £19,000.

Fashion Entertainments is now working on a number of wearable e-paper gadgets, including bow ties, glasses and shoes. Although e-paper has its limitations regarding what it can and can’t display, Mr Miles does not believe this will present a major obstacle to sale, since most people only want a watch to tell the time. He pointed out that one of the most popular smartwatches, the Pebble, uses e-paper too.

Read more

Wearable technology boom expected over Christmas

By on December 11, 2014 in Blog, Mobile devices, New technology

Wearable technology is coming to town this Christmas, with over £105 million worth of sales predicted for the festive period.

Figures released by the Centre for Retail Research suggest that a plethora of exciting ‘futuristic’ wearable products are going to provide the ultimate stocking fillers in 2014. Gadgets including smartwatches, health and fitness tracking wristbands and even Google’s £1,000-a-pop smart glasses are likely to see UK sales more than triple this month.

One in five adults in the UK already uses a piece of wearable technology, according to market research firm Mintel, and that figure is only expected to increase. Besides the aforementioned Google Glass, other popular products include the Pebble Smartwatch, which lets users add apps allowing them to tweak thermostats, adjust lights and control their television or sound systems, without even picking up a device.

[themecolor]Christmas 2014 – first true test of this new technology[/themecolor]

In total, smartwatches account for just 11 per cent of the wearable technology market, although sales are expected to have climbed by as much as 667 per cent once 2014 is over.

Fitness is by far the most popular wearable tech sector with Nike recently announcing plans to collaborate with Apple on its eagerly-anticipated iWatch, due for release in spring 2015.

Erol Sukan, business director for market research institute GfK, said: “It’s clear that as new brands have entered the market we have seen prices begin to rise across most wearables, however this is generally because manufacturers are positioning their first entries into the market quite high.

“As we are now starting the long lead-up to Christmas we could see many brands delivering price declines ahead of the festive season, or even introducing more entry price point models. Wearables will be a big gifting market, with Christmas 2014 the first true test of this burgeoning product.”

Read more

3 simple Word tips you should know

By on December 11, 2014 in Blog, Tips & tricks

Changing Default Save Location

Word installs a default file location for storing documents – generally the Documents folder on your computer – and it’s amazing how many users never change this location, despite routinely saving all their work somewhere else such as a network drive.

Here is how you change your default file save location:

  1. Click on File
  2. Click on Options
  3. Look to the left side of the window that appears and click Advanced
  4. Scroll down to the button that says “File Locations” and press it.
  5. Select Documents and click on Modify
  6. In the Save File dialog box that appears, type or browse to select the path you wish to set as a default and click on OK to close the dialog box.
  7. Click OK to close the window.

Quickly Adding Borders to Paragraphs

If you like to use borders between paragraphs to help format your reports in Word, you might like to know about a quick trick for adding a variety of bottom border styles. It is simply a question of typing 3 special characters followed by Enter – go on give it a try right now.

  • Press – (hyphen) 3 times followed by Enter to draw an underline border of 3/4 points
  • Press _ (underscore) 3 times followed by Enter to draw an underline border of 1.5 points
  • Press ~ (tilde) 3 times followed by Enter to draw a zigzag underline border
  • Press * (asterisk) 3 times followed by Enter to draw a dotted underline border
  • Press = (equal to) 3 times followed by Enter to draw a double underline border

Move Rows Of Text In Table

This is one of those tips that you won’t believe took this long for you to hear about.

Sometimes when you’re laying out a table in Word, you may wish to move one or more rows in the table up or down without changing the table formatting. You’ve probably tried copying and pasting in the past but this method does risk losing formatting changes.

A better method, which ensures formatting is not disturbed, is to use ALT+SHIFT+UP arrow key to move the entire row up. Similarly, to move the entire row down, use ALT+SHIFT+DN arrow key.

NB. Please note you must select the row in question before you can move it using the ALT+SHIFT+Arrow keys.

Read more

Merry Christmas from TEAMNERDYIT

By on December 11, 2014 in Blog, Company news

The team at M2 Computing would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  To celebrate this year, we are participating in the Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day on Thursday 11th December.  To support our team, please text TEAMNERDYIT to 70050 to donate £2 to Save the Children. As an added bonus UK Government have pledged to double every pound raised for the campaign. Jump with Jumper Joy!

Read more

Complete peace of mind for Thomas Mansfield Solicitors

By on December 1, 2014 in Case studies

Thomas Mansfield Solicitors are a specialist firm of employment solicitors, providing advice to both employers and individuals. They offer services for a range of employment law issues and a more in-depth consultancy service for HR strategy,organisational restructures and large-scale redundancies. Thomas Mansfield Solicitors pride themselves on their extensive employment law knowledge and their ability to consistently deliver high quality and cost effective advice to all their clients.Thomas Mansfield Solicitors operate using IT equipment across locations in London and Croydon. Key to the function of the business is access to their case management and time recording system.

“We are a firm of solicitors working to demanding deadlines. Since we contracted with M2 Computing to look after our IT requirements, the number of outages and downtime has dropped to next to nothing. In fact, IT issues no longer feature on our agenda. When a problem does occur it is dealt with quickly and efficiently by the friendly people on the helpdesk. I would have no hesitation in providing a recommendation’.

View Thomas Mansfield Case Study

 

Read more