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Chicago-based Forward Technologies delivers IT support and cyber security to businesses in the Chicago area and nationwide.

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Microsoft Blocks Popular Windows Activation Hack

November 14, 2025 by Edward Silha

Cartoon illustration of a worried middle-aged man in glasses pointing at a laptop on a desk. The laptop screen shows a Windows logo next to a cartoon thief holding a padlock. Beside the laptop is a trash bin overflowing with papers labeled “Activation Script,” with smoke rising from them. The background includes large, faint security icons.Microsoft has closed the door on one of the most widely used tricks for activating Windows 11 without paying for it. The company pushed out new security updates this month that permanently disable a set of PowerShell scripts known as MAS, short for Microsoft Activation Scripts. The tools, created by a group called Massgrave, had been circulating on GitHub for years and gave users a quick way to unlock Windows or Office without a valid license. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog, Tech In General Tagged With: KMS38, MAS scripts, Massgrave, Microsoft, piracy crackdown, PowerShell, software security, Windows 11, Windows activation

Digital ID Hits the Wallet: U.S. Passports Join Apple Wallet for TSA Travel

November 12, 2025 by Edward Silha

Illustration of a smartphone screen showing a Digital ID in Apple Wallet labeled "Kelly G." alongside a physical U.S. passport, symbolizing the integration of passport-based identity verification with Apple’s digital ecosystem.Apple has launched a new feature that lets U.S. passport holders add their passport as a Digital ID in Apple Wallet, usable at over 250 TSA airport checkpoints nationwide. The rollout marks a key expansion of Apple’s digital identity push and eliminates the need for a physical driver’s license or state ID, at least for domestic travel. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog, Tech In General Tagged With: Apple, Apple Wallet, biometric verification, Digital ID, iOS 26, iPhone, mobile identity, travel, TSA, U.S. passport

AWS Outage Shows How Fragile the Cloud Really Is

October 21, 2025 by Edward Silha

Cartoon-style illustration of a dimly lit office with computer screens showing Venmo, Delta, McDonald’s, and Alexa logos, and a sign on the door reading “Gone to reboot — AWS US-EAST-1,” humorously symbolizing an internet outage.On October 20th, 2025, a disruption in a single AWS service rippled through the backbone of the internet. What started as elevated error rates in Amazon’s DynamoDB service in the US-EAST-1 region quickly escalated into a full-blown outage across dozens of AWS products. For anyone who relies on Amazon Web Services, and that’s nearly everyone, this was a stark reminder of just how fragile cloud infrastructure can be. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog, Tech In General, WebDev Tagged With: Amazon Web Services, AWS outage, cloud infrastructure, cloud resilience, Delta app, DNS failure, DynamoDB, internet outage, Venmo outage

Android Exploit Can Steal 2FA Codes Without Permissions

October 16, 2025 by Edward Silha

Cartoon-style illustration of an Android smartphone glowing in green and blue tones, with pixel fragments peeling off the screen to reveal a two-factor authentication code, symbolizing the Pixnapping attack stealing visual data.A new attack called Pixnapping can steal sensitive data from Android devices, without needing a single permission. The exploit targets visual data on-screen, including two-factor authentication codes, private messages, and location histories. It works by quietly measuring how long it takes to render specific pixels. If that sounds like science fiction, it’s not. Researchers have already tested it on Pixel and Samsung devices with unsettling results. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog, Cybersecurity Tagged With: 2fa, 2FA code theft, alan linghao wang, Android, android security, CVE-2025-48561, cybersecurity, cybersecurity research, galaxy s25, google authenticator, google security patch, gpu.zip, malware, mobile hacking, pixel 6, pixel 7, pixel 8, pixel 9, Pixel devices, pixnapping, ricardo paccagnella, smartphone vulnerabilities, timing attack

Windows 10 Is Dead. Long Live Windows 10!

October 14, 2025 by Edward Silha

A cartoon-style illustration showing an old desktop PC holding a shield labeled "Windows 10" while standing defiantly. Around it, sleek new laptops and tablets wave flags with the Windows 11 logo. The background hints at a battlefield, symbolizing the ongoing fight for relevance and support in the Windows ecosystem.After nearly a decade, Microsoft is finally closing the book on Windows 10. As of today, free support and regular security patches have officially ended. But despite the headlines, your computer is not about to implode. If you plan wisely, or even just use decent security software, you can keep running Windows 10 safely for a quite a bit longer. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog, Cybersecurity, Tech In General Tagged With: cybersecurity, ESU program, extended security updates, Microsoft, operating systems, PC upgrades, Windows 10, Windows 11

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STE 500B
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