2017
What you need to know about the iPhoneX
Over the coming weeks and months, the media will overwhelm you with review and editorials about the new iPhoneX. Of all the products Apple announced this week, the iPhoneX was the most radical in design. They have eschewed the home button and most of the bezels. This newfound space has allowed them to cram a beautiful 5.8" Super Retina OLED screen (458 pixels per inch) in a device that is smaller and easier to hold than an iPhone 7Plus or iPhone 8Plus.
Comparing Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“792”]Image by Iván Rivera used under Creative Commons License [/caption] Chrome has been the browser king for many years and many users can't remember a time where Firefox was "the browser". Chrome overtook Firefox and Internet Explorer(according to StatCounter) in November 2011. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1280"]<img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/4d4bb9cd74.jpg" alt=" Statcounter browser marketshare "> Statcounter browser marketshare [/caption] But recently a group of highly technical security experts seem to have moved back to Firefox. Why have technically knowledgeable users left Chrome for Firefox?
Bypass Google's AMP with DeAMPify for Android
A handful of readers asked me to review the DeAmpify Android app and talk about it on my blog. So for those readers, here is my opinion. Google introduced AMP in 2015 (Accelerated Mobile Pages) with the hope of speeding up the mobile web by degunking all of the junk publishers were adding to their web pages (tracking, advertising, etc.) The CBC web page I am using for this article connects to 16 separate domains (to load content) and has eight different trackers.
Honest review of the Tunnelbear VPN service
Similar Articles: Review of Private Internet Access (PIA) KeepSolid VPN Unlimited Review Your ISP is always watching, tracking and profiling you Honest review of the ProtonVPN service Beware of the fake VPN providers What is Tor and should I use it Review of HideMyAss VPN (HMA) Start I've written about half a dozen articles over the last couple of weeks reviewing various VPN services. I asked my social media followers what other VPN services they wanted me to review, and many readers requested that I review TunnelBear.
Install IOS Update 10.3.3
As mentioned in my various articles, keeping your operating system and applications updates is a critical component to good overall security. Apple released IOS 10.3.3 yesterday, and amongst all of the bugs it fixes, there is one nasty security vulnerability that justifies installing it now. Right now. Do it. I'll wait. Come on, we don't have all day. Put Apple's banal sounding description aside for a second ("A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved memory handling".) This vulnerability comes from the Broadcom BCM43xx wifi chipset (CVE-2017-9417) and allows an attacker to execute code on the targeted device with kernel privileges.
Google hopes Hire gives it a better stronghold in corporations
Google sees the corporate world as an excellent cash cow and has been working hard to secure its place. Most recently we have the fruits of its labour with redesigned G-Suite offerings, the Jamboard and more. Google is the king of data and has decided it can help HR do a better job with recruitment. Google Hire is a purpose built solution that promises to make the entire hiring process easier and more efficient (from finding to managing). The target customer is the small or medium organisation that may not be using any of the larger more expensive and complicated tools.
Get thousands of dollars of Microsoft ebooks for free
It's Christmas in July for any tech enthusiast that loves getting "something for nothing". The books are presented in a straight text list (without pictures) and organised by category and file format. There are no limits, conditions or restrictions. You can download one, or you can download them all. The books will interest hardcore IT administrators or casual Windows users looking to sharpen their skills. You can click on this link to see the massive list. Some General computing topics include:
Review of HideMyAss VPN (HMA)
After writing my first VPN service review a couple of weeks ago, I asked my readers "what other VPN services" I should evaluate. A much-requested one was HideMyAss (HMA), so here is that review. You can't evaluate VPN service providers without seeing HideMyAss. They have ads everywhere. My first experience with HMA was through a 1-month free offer provided by Anonabox. Most security blogs and posts on review sites give HideMyAss a poor rating because they have (allegedly) turned over user log information to authorities (without putting up a fight).
Get 7 months of Microsoft's Grove music service for $10
There's a good chance you never heard about Microsoft's very unpopular Grove music streaming service (Apple Music, Google Music, Pandora, Spotify, Deezer, etc.). Microsoft is determined to change the fate of this little-known offering by enticing you to subscribe with a fantastic deal: when you buy a single month of service for $US9.99, they give you two 3-month vouchers to share or use yourself. If you are a Microsoft fanboy already paying for this service, then you are out of luck, this applies to new subscribers only.
Review of Private Internet Access (PIA)
The question I receive the most is "what VPN service should I use when I travel?". I started writing and testing the most popular ones and so far you can read these ones: Honest review of the ProtonVPN service Beware of the fake VPN provides KeepSolid VPN Unlimited Review VyprVPN Review The next most requested service is Private Internet Access (referred to online as PIA). Introduction Private Internet Access (PIA) is one of the most popular and affordable VPN service providers around.
Honest review of the ProtonVPN service
UPDATE 7/5/2017: My connection to the ProtonVPN endpoints using their Windows client is extremely unreliable. At random intervals, the connection just "stops working" and the only way to fix it is to connect to a new location. I have had a support request open for over 1.5 weeks and my issue hasn't been resolved yet. I cannot recommend the ProtonVPN service at this time for the reasons listed below and because my experience has been unstable (and support has been slow to non-existent).
Beware of the fake VPN provides
I've written 2 reviews for VPN Services recently: VyprVPN Review KeepSolid VPN Unlimited Review I've also written 2 reviews for WIFI VPN/TOR portable boxes: Anonabox Review InvizboxGo Review One item I have never covered is the proliferation of scammy VPN services sold by snake oil salesmen. With the Edward Snowden leaks and all the media coverage about the loss of online privacy, even the most complacent internet netizens are starting to think about securing their online presence.
KeepSolid VPN Unlimited Review
VPN Unlimited is one of the most popular VPN services available and for good reason. It is fast, reliable and competitively priced (deal below). VPN Unlimited is a USA based provider and offers termination in more than 30 countries (with multiple locations in most countries). VPN Unlimited has good platform support (Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android) and very well written clients. <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/d1dfbf0fa8.jpg" alt=""> Above is a screenshot of the protection menu option on their IOS client. When set to High security, they (in addition to VPN protection) automatically add anti-malware, tracking blocking and ad blocking.
VyprVPN Review
VyprVPN owns and manages its own networks and servers. During my recent VPN testing shoot-out, VyprVPN consistently ranked as one of the fastest VPN providers out there. In addition to raw speed, they have an incredible list of supported clients from traditional PCs (Mac, Windows, Linux), to routers (DDWRT, OpenWRT, AsusWRT), smartphones (iPhone, Android, Blackphone, Network Attached Storage (QNAP, Synology), TVs and the Anonabox. Contrast this to other popular VPN solutions like UnlimitedVPN, which only supports a small number of custom made clients.
How to protect your PC from infection
Think of all the valuable data your PC contains (pictures, files, invoices, contacts, etc). Now imagine losing all of that data Virus' are still a thing but you should be more worried about ransomware, worms and all of the other digital creepy crawlies roaming the net looking to make you their next victim. Go read my article entitled "How to secure Windows 10". Backup everything, then back it up again In 2012, I wrote an article entitled "The best way to protect your data - images, music, documents"
Your cloud provider is making you a target
Phishing is a powerful and effective tool and a favorite in the threat actor arsenal. So what happens when your cloud provider gives threat actors a roadmap to steal from you? A couple of weeks ago, Workday sent a security advisory to its customers regarding a phishing campaign targeting its customers. Although details of the attack campaign are light, here is what I believe is happening based on discussions on various darknet forums. What was the Workday phishing attack model? First, none of this is a weakness or vulnerability in Workday or any of its systems or processes.
Michael Moore launches Trumpileaks using strong encryption tools
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“2500”]Image by g4ll4is used under creative commons license [/caption] American politics is an extremely divisive issue and I will not be taking any sides in this debate. The purpose of this article isn't to promote any sides but rather to talk about how encrypted communication tools are being used. <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/10da371f56.jpg" alt=""> Michael Moore launched a sub-page to his domain called Trumpileaks. The purpose is to give whistle blowers a "secure mechanism" to share information.
Best 360 degree camera for consumers
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“644”]Nokia Ozo. Photo courtesy of Nokia. [/caption] 360 degree videos are the new THING because they capture more of the experience you are trying to share. Facebook, Youtube & Twitter all support this new more immersive medium. So the question is "What's the best 360 degree consumer video camera available?" Good question considering your local BestBuy has over a dozen in store and on display. Having tested about a dozen of them, the best one is still the Ricoh Theta S.
Downloaded over a billion email addresses and passwords this weekend
I am a CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) for a major tech company and manage people, budgets and strategy. But the security researcher in me never went away. Over the weekend our intelligence service downloaded 3 separate dumps totalling over 1B leaked credentials (the largest of which was the 400M+ credentials.) The smallest one was a Pastebin dump that contained 6,500 email addresses with cleartext passwords (I was able to verify 3 email/passwords listed in the list by contacting people I recognized on the list).
2017 has started as a busy year for hackers
2017 is shaping up to be a busy year for Information Security professionals. The last major hack was HipChat from Atlassian. Surprisingly most consumers still "don't care" about their data security and millions have bad security hygiene. Visualizing the hacks To make the data more palatable, firms have tried to create visually appealing representation of these hacks. The first is called the World's Biggest Data Breaches and provides a nice easy to understand list since 2004. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1179"]<img src="https://ekiledjian2.