Technology

Italways a good idea to pause Windows updates just before they hit the rollout chute. This month, we&re facing two extraordinary issues that you need to take into account. Wouldn&t hurt if you told your friends and family, too.

Take last monthWindows patches. Please. We had one patch, KB 4524244, that slid out on Patch Tuesday, clobbered an unknown number of machines (HP PCs with Ryzen processors got hit hard), then remained in &automatic download& status until it was finally pulled on Friday. We had another patch, KB 4532693, that gobbled desktop icons and moved files while performing a nifty trick with temporary user profiles. Microsoft never did fix that one.

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A newly discovered malware campaign suggests that hackers have themselves become the targets of other hackers, who are infecting and repackaging popular hacking tools with malware.

Cybereason Amit Serper found that the attackers in this years-long campaign are taking existing hacking tools — some of which are designed to exfiltrate data from a database through to cracks and product key generators that unlock full versions of trial software — and injecting a powerful remote-access trojan. When the tools are opened, the hackers gain full access to the targetcomputer.

Serper said the attackers are &baiting& other hackers byposting the repackaged tools on hacking forums.

But itnot just a case of hackers targeting other hackers, Serper told TechCrunch. These maliciously repackaged tools are not only opening a backdoor to the hackersystems, but also any system that the hacker has already breached.

&If hackers are targeting you or your business and they are using these trojanized tools it means that whoever is hacking the hackers will have access to your assets as well,& Serper said.

That includes offensive security researchers working on red team engagements, he said.

Serper found that these as-yet-unknown attackers are injecting and repackaging the hacking tools with njRat, a powerful trojan, which gives the attacker full access to the targetdesktop, including files, passwords, and even access to their webcam and microphone. The trojan dates back to at least 2013 when it was used frequently against targets in the Middle East. njRat often spreads through phishing emails and infected flash drives, but more recently hackers have injected the malware on dormant or insecure websites in an effort to evade detection. In 2017, hackers used this same tactic to host malware on the website for the so-called Islamic Statepropaganda unit.

Serper found the attackers were using that same website-hacking technique to host njRat in this most recent campaign.

According to his findings, the attackers compromised several websites — unbeknownst to their owners — to host hundreds of njRat malware samples, as well as the infrastructure used by the attackers to command and control the malware. Serper said that the process of injecting the njRat trojan into the hacking tools occurs almost daily and may be automated, suggesting that the attacks are run largely without direct human interaction.

Itunclear for what reason this campaign exists or who is behind it.

This pilot fish works as a Linux sysadmin at a small software-as-a-service company. &I come in early in the mornings, while the tech that does most of our Windows and desktop work comes in later and stays later,& fish says.

&One night, she does a scheduled migration of one of our accounting personnel to a new desktop and sends the user an email that the switch was complete and everything looks good.&

But next morning itfish who gets a panicked call from the user, who tells fish that nothing is working and can he please come right over to take a look?

Fish knows henot up on the latest Windows issues, so he heads to the userdesk with a bit of trepidation.

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BMW will not bring the iX3, the automakerfirst electric crossover, to the U.S., the latest automaker to shift its EV strategy to Europe and China.

BMW told Automotive News, the first media outlet to report the change, that at this time, it doesn&t have plans to bring iX3 to the U.S. market. The change is notable because the iX3 is based off of the X3, the most popular BMW model in the U.S.

The BMW iX3, which will be manufactured in China, is scheduled to come to market in the first half of 2021.

BMW unveiled the iX3 concept at the Auto China 2018 show in Beijing. The automaker is targeting the U.S., Europe and China for its broader EV strategy. However, the realities of the U.S. market, where automakers with the exception of Tesla have faced a tepid response to EVs, mixed with stricter emissions regulations in Europe, are now hitting home for BMW.

BMW isn&t the only automaker to pull back plans to bring upcoming electric vehicles to the U.S. Mercedes-Benz has delayed the U.S. launch of the electric EQC SUV by a year. The EQC is now scheduled to come to the U.S. in 2021.

Volkswagen has also tweaked its sales strategy for its upcoming ID electric lineup. The company will keep its compact hatchback, the ID.3, out of the U.S. Instead, VW plans to bring the ID.4, (otherwise known as the ID. Crozz) to the U.S., although even this vehicle will first launch in Europe.

Although containers emerged from the land of Linux, Microsoft has wholeheartedly embraced them. Beginning with Windows Server 2016, the company began offering two types of Docker-compatible containers: Windows Server containers and Hyper-V containers. And six years after that fateful day whenMicrosoft announced it loved Linux, developers today routinely plug apps in Docker containers on any Linux distro supported by the Windows Linux Subsystem or the Azure cloud.

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As Stanford, Princeton, Columbia and others shutter classrooms to limit the coronavirus outbreak, college educators around the country are clambering to move their classes online.

At the same time, tech companies that enable remote learning are finding a surge in usage and signups. Zoom Video Communications, a videoconferencing company, has been crushing it in the stock market, and Duolingo, a language teaching app, has had 100% user growth in the past month in China, citing school closures as one factor.

But Kristin Lynn Sainani, an associate professor of epidemiology and population health at Stanford, has a fair warning to those making the shift: Scrappiness has its setbacks.

&[The transition to online] is not going to be well-planned when you&re doing it to get your class done tomorrow,& said Sainani, who has been teaching online classes since 2013. &At this point, professors are going to scramble to do the best they can.&

As the outbreak spreads and universities respond, can edtech startups help legacy institutions rapidly adopt online teaching services? And perhaps more tellingly, can they do so in a seamless way?