Articles by John P. Mello Jr.

Google on Tuesday announced a suite of analytics products for marketers The Google Analytics 360 Suite is a set of integrated data and marketing analytics products designed to give enterprise-class marketers the ability to reach consumers with the right message at the right moment, according to Paul Muret, Google's vice president of analytics, disp...

Micrososft on Monday withdrew a notice posted earlier in the day to its Windows website, which declared that bitcoin currency no longer would be accepted in its users' accounts "We continue to support Bitcoin for adding money to your Microsoft Account which can be used for purchasing content in the Windows and Xbox stores," the company said in a st...

Opera on Thursday announced that new version of its desktop browser will have ad blocking built in Users can block ads in other browsers, but only through add-on programs called "extensions." With ad blocking built in, Opera's Web engine can perform the task better than extensions....

The jailing last week of Facebook Regional Vice President Diego Dzoda in Brazil may have been the tip of an iceberg. Frustrated police made the arrest after Facebook failed to produce WhatsApp messages connected to a drug trafficking case. The incident is one of a growing heap of examples that highlight the difficulties law enforcement agencies face when trying to collect evidence in a digital world without borders...

Security researchers atPalo Alto Networks last week announced that they had found the first ransomware in the wild aimed at Macintosh computers, but Apple and one of its developers quickly neutered it The ransomware -- a malware program that scrambles data on a computer and won't unscramble it unless a ransom is paid -- was embedded in software for...

Apple on Thursday launched a Twitter channel to field support questions from users of its products, as well as to offer them tricks and tips By Friday, the@AppleSupport account had 134,000 followers and had sent more than 3,000 tweets....

In the world of computer security, fingerprints are found in more places than where the tips of hands touch That's because the term is applied to any data set that can be used to make a unique identification....

A Brazilian judge on Wednesday ordered the release of Facebook Regional Vice President Diego Dzodan, one day afterBrazilian police placed him under arrest forWhatsApp's failure to produce messages the government believed relevant to a drug ring investigation. Judge Ruy Pinheiro concluded the exec's detainment amounted to coercion, according to press reports...

Apple has changed the date for the launch event for its 4-inch iPhone and new iPad Air from March 15 to March 21, according to news reports If the rumor is correct, Apple will be holding the event the day before it appears in a federal court in California to contest a controversial court order. Apple has filed a motion to vacate the order requiring...

Google on Thursday announced that it was expanding its Project Shield program, offering to protect news and human rights websites from distributed denial of service attacks for free. Project Shield uses Google's security infrastructure to detect and filter DDoS attacks, which flood websites with Internet traffic or service requests in order to imp...

Popularity is becoming a two-edged sword for Linux The open-source operating system has become a key component of the Internet's infrastructure, and it's also the foundation for the world's largest mobile OS, Google's Android....

IT pros -- the gatekeepers of company security policies -- are willing to bend the rules to get things done, according toAbsolute Software, based on survey findings it released last week Forty-five percent of IT pros confessed they knowingly worked around their own security policies, according to the survey....

Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Tuesday attempted to clarify his position regarding Apple's conflict with the FBI, telling Bloomberg he was disappointed that his earlier comments had been construed as taking sides with the government Apple has sparked a public debate through itsresistance to a court order to unscramble the data on the iPhone used b...

Samsung on Sunday introduced two new models of its flagship Galaxy smartphone line at the annual gala for the mobile world, the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain Both phones have similar features, but one, the Galaxy S7 Edge, has a 5.5-inch display, the same size as the iPhone 6s Plus....

Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center on Wednesday announced that it paid approximately US$17,000 to resume normal operations after digital extortionists knocked its computer systems offline The Los Angeles hospital discovered its computer network infected with ransomware earlier this month. Ransomware is a form of malware that scrambles data and k...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security this month will start sharing threat information with a small number of hand-picked companies under the newly enacted Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act DHS hopes to collect threat indicators from companies and redistribute them to other companies so everyone gets a better view of threats and can use that...

Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center last week revealed its computer systems were offline after a ransomware attack scrambled the data on its systems Ransomware is a form of malware that encrypts data and system files on a computer and demands payment of a ransom to unscramble the files....

Google is expanding the right of Europeans to be forgotten on the Internet to domains outside their countries, according to news reports Thursday Searches made from European IP addresses for people whom Google has granted what's known as the "right to be forgotten" will turn up zero links, regardless of which version of Google the search is directe...

Twitter on Tuesday announced the formation of a panel to advise it on speech, abuse and safety issues The Trust & Safety Council, which has more than 40 members, will be part of a new strategy to ensure that people can feel safe when they express themselves on Twitter, said Patricia Cartes, head of global policy outreach....

The U.S. departments ofJustice andHomeland Security on Monday announced they were investigating reports that a hacker broke into government computer systems and stole sensitive information about employees at the agencies The hacker posted stolen information for about 9,000 DHS employees online Sunday and made public data on 20,000 FBI employees Mon...