A major Windows bug — and Microsoft isn’t happy

Yesterday, Monday, Google’s Threat Analysis group disclosed a critical vulnerability in Windows in a public post on the company’s security blog. The bug itself is very specific — allowing attackers to escape from security sandboxes through a flaw in the win32k system — but it’s serious enough to be categorized as critical, and according to Google, it’s being actively exploited. As a result, Google went public just 10 days after reporting the bug to Microsoft, before a patch could be coded and deployed. The result is that, while Google has already deployed a fix to protect Chrome users, Windows itself is still vulnerable — and now, everybody knows it.

Google’s disclosure provides only a general description of the bug, giving users enough information to recognize a possible attack without making it too easy for criminals to replicate. Exploiting the bug also depends on a separate exploit in Adobe Flash, for which the company has also released a patch. Still, simply knowing that the bug exists will likely spur a lot of criminals to look for viable ways to exploit it against computers that have yet to update Flash.

Samsung Galaxy S5 Fingerprint feature handson

Samsung didn't shed many details about the fingerprint scanner on its new Galaxy S5 smartphone, but here is a detail setup and how it works.
First, the basics. Samsung's sensor is on the bottom portion of the screen, not integrated into the home button as originally thought. To unlock the phone with your finger, you swipe along the glowing path about half an inch from the bottom of the phone, going down and over the home button.
Setup took just a few minutes, after swiping your finger eight times along the sensitive portion of the screen to fully read yourprint. You're able to register only three profiles, for your own fingers or for someone else's.
The swiping area seems like it's pretty limited to a narrow, vertical strip. That means your finger has to be more or less vertical to succeed, which also means that you will probably need to hold the Galaxy S5 with one hand while unlocking it with the other. You may chose your index finger.
Scanning for prints worked pretty well, but you may experience some misfires if your finger wasn't correctly aligned or if you moved too quickly. If you do error out, you can also access the phone through a 4-digit backup PIN.
Overall, I like Samsung's approach to biometric unlocking, and it's something I'd use, especially if I were going to buy products through PayPal's fingerprint-scanning verification program. Check out the gallery below.

Mt.Gox site disappears, Bitcoin future in doubt

What was once the world's largest trading platform for bitcoins is now a blank page.
 The Bitcoin-trading website Mt.Gox was taken offline late Monday, putting at risk millions of dollars put there by investors who gambled on the digital currency. The exchange also deleted all of its tweets, and Mt.Gox CEO Mark Karpeles resigned from the Bitcoin Foundation's board of directors on Sunday.



Mt.Gox CEO Mark Karpeles has resigned from the Bitcoin Foundation, the currency's top advocacy group.

 The news frightened Bitcoin investors elsewhere, knocking the price down about 3% to $490 -- its lowest level since November.
 For now, there's no telling what's behind the shutdown. Mt.Gox did not respond to requests for comment.
 However, an unverified document called "Crisis Strategy Draft"

The 100 Best Jobs In 2014

US News has released its list of the 100 best jobs in 2014, and the No. 1 job on the list is: software developer.

The work is meaningful, touching every aspect of our lives. It pays well. It is in demand in all parts of the country and doesn't require a lot of grad school to get started.
Software developers (sometimes called programmers) get paid an average $90,060, with the top 10 percent earning $138,880, according to the latest stats available from the Labor Department.
Plus, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts there will be nearly 140,000 brand-new software development jobs created before 2022,
says the US News study.
If you can't be a software developer, your next bet is computer systems analyst, which is a job that deals with tech design, troubleshooting and analysis. The systems analyst role is morphing into something called a "data scientist," a new job title in huge demand thanks to the big data trend. A data scientist helps companies munch through massive amounts of information — like tweets, news articles and sales stats — to find business insights.
A computer systems analyst earns $83,800 on average, and $122,090 on the high end. Pay for this job will increase as demand skyrockets. The BLS predicts a whopping 24.5 percent growth for this job by 2022.
Both of these jobs are better than being a dentist or a doctor, US News says. In fact, here's the Top 5 best jobs, according to the report:
No. 1: Software developer
No. 2: Computer systems analyst
No. 3: Dentist
No. 4: Nurse practitioner
No. 5: Pharmacist
No. 6: Registered Nurse
No. 7: Physical Therapist
No. 8: Physician / Doctor
No. 9: Web Developer
No. 10: Dental Hygienist

Check out the entire list >