Software Updates To Boost Productivity, Cybersecurity

It’s easy to take the tools we use everyday for granted, especially if we don’t know what they’re not capable of. But a host of software updates have come out this month and the results are pretty amazing. For everything from enhanced video editing to integrated online document editing to blocking advanced threats from malicious software, these critical updates to some of your favorite software will make your tech run smoother and make your job easier.

Dropbox

This update is actually a pretty sweet partnership with Microsoft's Office Online. Thanks to the upgrade, users can now access and edit their Dropbox files directly from their browsers.

Netflix Hits 60 Million Subscribers Worldwide

Netflix has announced it reached 60 million global subscribers earlier this year, adding an extra four million from late 2014. Two million came from the US, two millions from overseas, showing the demand worldwide for the video streaming service.

40 million customers come from the US, making the bulk of its service focused on the American audience. It has been acquiring more content from cable channels in the hope of adding even more customers, even though several analysts claim the US market is nearing saturation point in terms of subscribers.

The overseas market is looking a lot more juicy for Netflix. 20 million customers are already subscribed, but if Netflix is able to bring more US TV shows and movies to its global platform, it should entice even more customers alongside local TV shows it has acquired.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings spoke about the issues with licensing and how the video streaming service wants to create Netflix Global. This would apparently lower the amount of piracy in Europe and Asia, from customers incapable of viewing US shows abroad without paying an extortionate amount or signing up to a different cable provider.

It might be some time before it is able to offer this global platform, but until then Netflix will focus on growing out its service to 200 countries. It is currently in less than 40, and in some only the basic TV shows and films are available.

Investors seemed very impressed with Netflix’s report, with stock shooting up to $538 per share, the highest in the company’s history. Profit dropped to $23 million from $53 million in the previous quarter, due to new investments in overseas content as we said before.

HBO recently launched its own streaming service called HBO Now, allowing internet customers to pay $14.99 to watch Game of Thrones, True Detective and a whole host of other TV programmes Netflix is probably never going to get its hands on.

This could be problematic for Netflix, but its own original programming appears to be winning a lot of customers. House of Cards continues to be a raging success, and other shows like Orange is the New Black and Marco Polo will return later this year.

Cybersecurity Report: Elite Hackers, Or Human Error?

Two new cybersecurity reports were released this week and they brought some surprising news: hackers don’t have to be great at what they do… employees do the hard work of infiltrating a network for them.

The reports–conducted separately by Verizon Communications and Symantec–showed that the biggest threat to business networks isn’t teams of black hat hackers or hostile foreign governments, but employees–from the hourly wage lackeys up through corporate CEOs–who click on malicious links, fall for phishing scams, or simply don’t protect the network with the company’s own mandated protocols.

The Verizon report demonstrated the top way that hackers get access to a network, which is by sending out phishing emails–which nine employees out of ten have fallen for, according to their research–which in turn installs malicious software on the network. Once the software is in place and the hacker gains access to the employee’s credentials, the rest is easy. He can roam around inside the network and exploit any file he wishes, or can even write his own software to prevent the system’s anti-intrusives from finding him.

Symantec’s report had even more daunting news: phishing attempts are so successful that even government spies are relying on that form of attack. Why hire highly-skilled, sophisticated hackers when all it takes is a bogus video link with the promise of a cat playing the keyboard to get clueless workers to open the door for you?

Still one of the easiest ways to violate a network or device, whether it’s from a Fortune 500 company or your grandmother’s smartphone, lies in the fact that users don’t like to install updates. This ignorance of the importance of updating lets hackers exploit known vulnerabilities, like last year’s Heartbleed bug, unless a patch is installed. Instead, consumers and workers alike continue to ignore those pesky little pop-ups and leave their systems open to attack.