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Looking for identity theft protection? |
Age: The ancient Greeks used honey to preserve quinces, but modern jam probably dates to the 16th century, when cane sugar came to Europe. |
Appearance: Edible gloop ranging from orange to purple in colour. |
Dyeing? I guess it can be, if you get it on your clothes. No, I mean jam is on the way out. Sales in Britain fell by 2.9% in 2017, down to £106m. |
2.9%? Not great news for the jam-makers, but it hardly spells the death of spreads. Certainly not. Spread sales are up 6% overall. Only jam is bucking the trend. |
How come? I love jam! It’s being supplanted. |
By what? By peanut butter, sales of which are up 17% year on year. |
That’s odd. You would think that higher peanut butter consumption would necessarily drive increased jam sales. Not to mention bread. How little you understand the UK spread sector. |
That’s fair. Peanut butter is now seen as a healthy, protein-rich foodstuff, thanks to a range of premium products that contain less sugar, more organic ingredients, and as a consequence are way more expensive than ordinary peanut butter. |
And jam? Jam has fallen foul of Public Health England’s drive to reduce children’s sugar consumption by 20% by 2020. |
How much of jam is sugar? In traditional recipes, about half. |
Half of what? Half a tablespoon? Half of the jam: you normally use a pound of sugar for every pound of fruit. |
That does sound a lot. And if you reduced the sugar content by 20% … You would probably end up with something unworthy of the name of jam. |
I see. So this really is the beginning of the end for marmalade? Wrong again. Despite the decline in sales of other preserves, marmalade sales are up nearly 3%. |
Why would that be? It’s all down to the influence of Paddington 2, apparently. |
You mean that people – and by people I mean adults – are purchasing more marmalade because a bear from a kids’ film likes it? Yes, but he really likes it. |
Normally, I would suggest we are all doomed at this point, but I find that sort of heartening. Exactly. Preserves may be down, but they’re not out. Don’t bet against them. |
Spread betting, you might call it. I don’t think I would, no. And I don’t think you should, either. |
If your antivirus misses a zero-day ransomware attack, you're in big trouble. The free Acronis Ransomware Protection offers another layer of protection, plus 5GB of online backup storage. |
Protects against most ransomware samples, including Petya. Recovers affected files. Detected 10 simulated ransomware attacks in our tests. Includes 5GB of hosted online backup. Free. |
Malware comes in many varieties, and theoretically your antivirus should handle them all. Still, it's smart to add an extra layer of ransomware protection. If your antivirus misses a brand-new Trojan or virus, well, it will probably catch it with the next update. But removing ransomware doesn't undo the damage. You sti... |
Acronis introduced its Active Protection technology as part of its Acronis True Image backup utility. Acronis Ransomware Protection offers precisely the same technology for free and throws in 5GB of hosted online backup as a second line of defense. Naturally, the company hopes you'll like it so much that you spring for... |
Downloading the utility, signing up for an account, and running the installer takes just a few minutes. After a short tutorial, the product goes into action immediately, rating all active processes as safe or suspicious. Unlike the simple, static displays of RansomFree and Malwarebytes Anti-Ransomware Beta, Acronis sho... |
Your setup isn't complete until you identify important files for online backup. Doing so is as simple as dropping files or directories on the program's main window. You can add more files for protection at any time, up to the 5GB limit. |
When Acronis detects suspicious activity, it pops up a warning window and asks you whether to trust or block the process. If you're busy using an archiving program to compress and encrypt files, just click Trust. If the message is unexpected, click Block. |
After you click Block, another popup offers to recover any affected files. Note that this doesn't mean restoring from a backup. Acronis can recover any such files from its local cache. The backup is an additional line of defense. On the chance that recovery wasn't effective, Acronis retains the encrypted files in a ded... |
This second popup also states, "You can blacklist this process to block it permanently," which confused me just a bit. There was no link to blacklist the program, and of course it didn't appear on the Manage Processes view because Acronis already terminated it. |
I found that running the same sample twice and blocking it a second time got a slightly different result. The warning popup added a checkbox titled "Remember my choice for this process," checked by default. This time clicking Block actively blacklisted the process and offered a link to the Manage Processes page. |
My contact at Acronis confirmed this is working as designed, and indeed it is effective. However, I think the messaging could be clearer. |
The only way to really be sure a ransomware protection product works is to expose it to real-world ransomware. I have a half-dozen samples that I use for this kind of testing. Acronis blocked all but one of them, which is better than many. RansomFree also missed one. CryptoPrevent Premium missed half the samples, and s... |
Bitdefender Anti-Ransomware also missed half of the samples, but I should point out that Bitdefender doesn't attempt to detect ransomware behavior. Rather, it vaccinates the system against known ransomware by planting flags that make the system look like it's already infected. |
On the flip side, Malwarebytes and Check Point ZoneAlarm Anti-Ransomware caught all my samples, though one sample managed to encrypt a handful of files before Malwarebytes zapped it. ZoneAlarm's only error was reporting that it failed to restore all files in one instance, when in fact it succeeded. |
Before I had actual ransomware samples, I wrote a very simple ransomware simulator that I called FakeCryptor. It launches at startup, seeks text files in the Documents folder, and encrypts them using a simple, reversible algorithm. Behavior-based detection systems often don't detect this simple-minded tool, because it'... |
In testing, I found that CyberSight RansomStopper caught my FakeCryptor program when I launched it manually, but not when it ran at startup. That suggested a new test. I took a ransomware sample that Acronis definitely foiled, dropped it in the Startup folder, and rebooted the system. Like RansomFree, Acronis successfu... |
I recently obtained a sample of the dreaded Petya ransomware. This one's different. Rather than encrypting specific files, it performs whole-disk encryption, meaning that you can't use your computer at all. I've only tested a few products with Petya, and results are mixed. Like RansomStopper, Acronis caught the attack ... |
Security intelligence company KnowBe4 offers a free ransomware simulator called RanSim. This tool runs 10 helper programs that simulate 10 different types of ransomware behavior, as well as two processes that perform legitimate encryption tasks and thus shouldn't be blocked. I celebrate high scores in this test, but do... |
Like RansomBuster, Acronis detected and blocked all 10 of the simulated ransomware attacks and incorrectly blocked one of the innocent processes. ZoneAlarm eliminated all the helper processes before they could launch, leaving RanSim unable to offer a score. |
Like most ransomware protection tools, Acronis relies on behavior-based detection. It also includes two levels of file recovery, the local cache and the online backup. But these aren't the only approaches to foiling ransomware attacks. |
As noted, Bitdefender's free anti-ransomware tool fools certain known ransomware types into thinking they've alrady infected the system. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus does quite a bit more. In addition to behavior-based detection of ransomware and other malware, it blocks unauthorized modification to any files in folders ... |
Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security and RansomBuster also block unauthorized access to protected files. Panda Internet Security and IObit Malware Fighter 5 Pro take things a step further, preventing unauthorized programs from even reading protected files. |
Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus takes an unusual approach to malware detection in general. When it encounters an unknown process, it starts journaling all activity and sending behavioral data to its cloud-based analysis system. It also prevents any non-reversible actions such as transmitting your private data out of t... |
Acronis Ransomware Protection is a fine addition to your security arsenal. It works alongside your antivirus as a second layer of defense against ransomware attack. For yet another layer of protection, it offers cloud backup for 5GB of your most important files. Given that they're both free, you may also want to try Cy... |
Our Editors' Choice in the realm of ransomware protection isn't free, though it's not expensive. Check Point ZoneAlarm Anti-Ransomware costs $2.99 per month for three licenses. It turned in excellent performance in our hands-on testing, detecting all the ransomware samples and correctly recovering all files. Its only m... |
WASHINGTON—A new nickel, dominated as never before by Thomas Jefferson's face and bringing back the bison on its flip side, starts trickling into circulation Monday. |
The U.S. Mint is releasing 97 million of the nickels to the nation's 12 Federal Reserve banks starting Monday. It expects to pour 600 million to 650 million of them into the change supply over the next six months. |
The new design, which features an up-close profile of the right side of Jefferson's face, is the third of four nickels being released to commemorate the bicentennials of the Jefferson-initiated Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. |
The fourth commemorative coin—the so-called "Ocean in View" nickel, depicting the Oregon coast where Meriwether Lewis and William Clark first saw the Pacific Ocean in 1805—will be released late this summer. It's inscribed with Clark's journal's words to mark the event: "Ocean in view! O! The joy!" |
I'm ten hours into Namco Bandai's massive tactical RPG cross-over for the 3DS, and Tron Bonne just asked Tekken's Jin Kazama who violated his cornflakes this morning. "I don't eat cornflakes." With dialogue like this, who needs plot? |
If you really need a story to justify 60 characters from .hack, Valkyria Chronicles, Mega Man, Street Fighter, Resonance of Fate, Virtua Fighter, Tales of Vesperia, Space Channel 5, God Eater, Sakura Wars, Dead Rising and more are teaming up to take on familiar enemies on familiar battlefields, then perhaps Project X Z... |
There is a plot. It involves lots of dimension jumping and confusion. Characters are being shuffled about the multiverse like cards in the hands of Endless Frontier's Haken Browning, another character caught up in this mess. There's a mysterious woman with pink hair that seems to be behind some plot, but the only impor... |
Gameplay-wise this is turn-based tactics for dummies. There's not a great deal of thinking involved, just move one of your ever-increasing number of two-character teams close enough to the enemy and attack. The action switches to a fighting game perspective, and timed button presses launch your character sprites into a... |
Fill the power meter in the bottom right past 100 percent, and you can launch a spectacular team move, complete with quick animation clips. These gorgeous spectacles of sprite choreography never get old — ten hours in I'm still letting them play out instead of skipping them. |
At this point I'm a little under halfway through them game. I'm probably looking at a total of 25-30 hours when all is said and done, though the stages are getting more expansive and complicated as I play. At the rate I'm playing I should be done by the end of the weekend. |
What's significant about the play time is that this is not a game I have to play. I was not assigned it. I have other games I need to be playing for various reasons, and still I've managed to claw away enough temporal scraps to play a significant amount. I am bringing my 3DS with me when I go out — something I've not d... |
So no, I don't need a cohesive storyline to play Project X Zone. All I need is a little free time and around 60 of my closest imaginary friends. |
The 1988 film Mystic Pizza was a success of nearly cultish degree. Perhaps because it was a breakout role for Julia Roberts. Or because it was here, for the first time, that we saw Matt Damon in a feature film. Or because of pizza. To be sure, the film was a magical combination and now, in what appears to be the End of... |
On Tuesday, Lively McCabe Entertainment announced it was developing a musical adaptation of the film featuring the music of Melissa Etheridge, that Gordon Greenberg and Sas Goldberg will write the book, that the story will be based on the vision of the original screenwriter, Amy Holden Jones. |
As for Etheridge, she’s been on Broadway before, with a role in Green Day’s rock opera, “American Idiot” (2011). Specific production plans—like whether we can expect the Mystic Pizza musical to make it to Broadway or not quite–have yet to be released. If it does, it will join the ranks of such films as Groundhog Day, M... |
Infantry Soldiers, indirect fire infantrymen and forward observers with 77th Armored Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, conducted a squad live-fire exercise Oct. 31 through Nov. 3 at Udari Range near Camp Buehring, Kuwait. |
The four-day training event synchronized the capabilities of ground infantry assets and indirect fire support to prepare for any mission U.S. Army Central requires. |
"This exercise enhances USARCENT's readiness," said Capt. Chris Grauel, the commander of Charger Company, 1st Battalion, 77th AR. "We're ready to fight tonight." |
Soldiers were required to tactically move as a squad, react to enemy contact, call for indirect fire, assault and clear a bunker and hastily assume defensive positions. |
"We have to be ready to fight where the Army needs us," Grauel said. "Training maintains our ability to be ready at a moment's notice." |
All of Charger Co.'s nine-man squads rotated through the training lane over the course of the exercise. Each squad reinforced their proficiency by executing a walk-through phase, a blank-ammunition phase and a live-fire phase. |
"People learn through repetition," Grauel said. "[Training] in this environment, in this climate, on this terrain, is great for us." |
While infantrymen performed their tactical movements, mortars were used to provide indirect, suppressive fire. Mortars are weapons that fire high-angle projectiles. |
"Indirect fires allow us to get in close to the objective, so we can be effective with our machine guns and our small-arms fire," Grauel said. |
The mortar rounds were coordinated through radio communication by forward observers. |
"When they call for rounds, I call the mortars," said. Spc. Daniel Landry, a fire support specialist with 4th Battalion, 1st Field Artillery Regiment and a forward observer during the exercise. "Everybody has to be on the same page in a live-fire shoot like this." |
Landry said the live-fire exercise provided him with authentic, hands-on training. |
"We have simulators back in the rear, but out here we put that training to good use," he said. "The best part is when it all comes together. You're calling for those rounds and you see the impacts. You see the targets getting obliterated." |
Infantrymen heard the percussion of 60mm and 120mm mortar rounds hitting their targets as they assumed their tactical positions, adding to the realism of a combat scenario. |
"This training is the best way to prepare for an actual event we'd have to respond to," said Pfc. Michael Cameron, an infantry Soldier with the unit and grenadier of his squad. "It brings up our morale when we're in an environment like this." |
Cameron said he believes he is an important part of USARCENT despite being a junior-enlisted Soldier. |
"If you have one link in the fence that isn't there, the whole thing falls apart," he said. "Every person matters in this scenario. Every person has a role to fulfill. Even with the most basic rifleman. If he's not there, the mission can't be accomplished." |
John Oliver was biting during his HBO season finale last night on how dissecting President Trump's words can underscore his incoherence and only prompt futility for the media and other outsiders. Knock on wood that's not quite the same with the more than 13.4 million documents constituting "The Paradise Paper... |
On a chilly Chicago soccer field Sunday morning, a young tech executive asked me about them and why disclosure of tax havens used by Apple, Queen Elizabeth, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Bono and others made much of a difference. It's all mostly legal, right? |
For sure, they are legal, if unseemly, in the premeditated complexity and confusion by those who benefit from them. And, for sure, connections between the tax avoidance and real world concerns can be hard to understand. So it's fortunate that a fabulous story produced days after the initial, synchronized release o... |
Indeed, "Development Dreams Stand Still While Mining Money Moves Offshore" is by the consortium's own Will Fitzgibbon, who runs its Africa desk and traveled to the tiny landlocked West African nation Burkina Faso, which is home to a zinc mine owned by Nantou Mining S.A., a subsidiary of the Swiss commodity giant G... |
"Details from leaked Glencore records reveal a story of contrasts. As villagers struggled with hunger, poverty and other hardships, boardroom machinations in faraway Switzerland, Bermuda and other tax havens moved millions of dollars into – and then out of – the small African nation whose name means 'Land of Hones... |
"The details are revealed in files – containing multimillion-dollar sales contracts, board of directors’ decisions, budgets and emails – from the blue-chip Bermuda law firm Appleby. The files document its relationship with the mining company’s parent, Glencore, one of the world’s largest metals, oil and grain traders." |
The documents are among the more than 13.4 million analyzed by the consortium, Süddeutsche Zeitung and 94 media partners, including The New York Times, Guardian and Vice, which "reveal how Glencore made secret payments, battled cash-strapped countries in court, and sought to reduce its tax bill in nations around the wo... |
Along the way, the consortium discovered "a confidential assessment by Burkina Faso’s tax office that accuses the Glencore subsidiary of abusing tax loopholes and creating fictitious charges by shell companies to reduce taxable earnings and avoid paying tens of millions of dollars in taxes to one of the world’s poorest... |
Glencore denies improprieties but this is a damning window into the nexus of avoidance and related injustice, in particular how it involves workers seen by some as de facto slaves (which the company denies) at the country's biggest zinc mine (where housing built for workers "lies largely empty and abandoned," whil... |
As Mike Hudson, senior editor of the consortium, put it Sunday, "We've struggled to do these kinds of on-the-ground impact stories throughout our offshore leaks investigations, because the harms caused by offshore secrecy and chicanery are, while real and potent, usually indirect (fewer tax dollars for governments... |
The word got out that Radhika Jones, now a New York Times book editor and a former editor at Time, will succeed Graydon Carter as editor of Vanity Fair. At first blush, it sounds like a smart choice. |
Michael Duffy, the longtime estimable reporter and editor at Time who recently left the magazine, worked with her daily and said, "She's gonna be great. Radhika is a curious, engaging and yet tough-minded editor with great range and skill as well as a keen sense of fun. … VF and its readers are in for a treat." |
books, art and politics. And she is a wonderful colleague. It was a smart hire." |
Think, too, of what this says about the bench strength of the Times — and the lack of same at nearly all American newspapers. Vanity Fair plucks a talent from the book section, who's probably not especially well known among a lot of the rank and file. Oh, yeah, a real book section! Remember when even major regiona... |
The New York Times opens with an amazing anecdote of a cybersecurity consultant, Jake Williams, who looked at a tweet during an Orlando training session and realized he'd been outed as a former ace National Security Agency hacker (part of its Tailored Access Operations). Scott Shane, Nicole Perlroth and David Sang... |
"Current and former agency officials say the Shadow Brokers disclosures, which began in August 2016, have been catastrophic for the N.S.A., calling into question its ability to protect potent cyberweapons and its very value to national security. The agency regarded as the world’s leader in breaking into adversaries’ co... |
The news show interviewed star U.S. Olympics gymnast Aly Raisman, who alleged sexual abuse by Dr. Larry Nassar, former USA Gymnastics doctor. |
"The abuse did not become public until two former gymnasts told The Indianapolis Star last year that they were abused by Nassar during the 1990s and early 2000s. They said he molested them during multiple treatments. The Indianapolis Star is part of the USA Today Network." |
"According to the Lansing State Journal, also part of the USA Today Network, more than 140 women and girls have since said Nassar sexually abused them, with nearly all of them saying it happened during medical appointments." |
"Mueller Immediately Closes Investigation After Hearing Putin Proclaim His Innocence" |
"Keurig Pulled Its Ads from Hannity and Now His Fans Are Trying to Boycott Bad Coffee" |
"Trump & Friends" heralded their guy talking trade in Manila (while co-hosts Brian Kilmeade and Ainsley Earhardt pushed their own new books, including a look at their book tour appearance in Jacksonville, Florida). As for Trump, there was his so-called "breakout " with the Australian leader, a chance "to focus on trade... |
Roy Moore? That was a favorite topic at "New Day," as it offered the problematic vision of Moore having to sit down for a deposition in a potential lawsuit (of which there is no certainty). Meanwhile, Trump's Vladimir Putin comments over the weekend were the talk of "Morning Joe" (which was without Mika Brzezinski... |
Bloomberg's Joe Nocera looks at the Department of Justice fumbling over the proposed AT&T-Time-Warner merger, with rumors swirling about Justice Department pressure to unload CNN. "Trump's Already Tainted U.S. Antitrust Lawyers — However the Justice Department rules on the AT&T-Time Warner deal, the reek of p... |
The International Center for Journalists gave an award to Fox's Chris Wallace, with the Washington stalwart making the case, "I believe that some of our colleagues — many of our colleagues — think this president has gone so far over the line to bash the media it has given them an excuse to cross the line themselve... |
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