Blog Archives - Page 2 of 5 - Chicago IT Support & Cyber Security

Microsoft Retires the Blue Screen of Death, Because Apparently Black Is More Soothing

June 27, 2025 by Edward Silha

After 40 years of glaring blue error messages and frowny faces, Microsoft is giving the infamous Blue Screen of Death a final sendoff. Starting later this summer, Windows 11 devices will crash in a new color. Say hello to the Black Screen of Death.

The change isn’t just about ditching the old aesthetic. Microsoft says the new screen will simplify crash messages and speed up recovery. Gone is the sad face emoticon. In its place is a stripped-down message with technical details like the stop code and system driver that triggered the failure. The goal is to help users recover faster and give IT teams what they need without dragging them into a full-blown forensic session. [Read more…]

Judge Sides with Meta in AI Book Lawsuit, But Blames Authors for Weak Case

June 26, 2025 by Edward Silha

A federal judge handed Meta a win in a major copyright case over using books to train AI models. But the decision wasn’t exactly a validation of Meta’s practices. It was a result of the authors failing to argue their case effectively.

Judge Vince Chhabria ruled in Meta’s favor after finding that the authors who sued didn’t present the right arguments or evidence. They claimed Meta’s Llama models let users reproduce their book content and that Meta harmed the market for licensing books to AI companies. Chhabria dismissed both arguments. He said the AI model couldn’t reproduce long excerpts even with aggressive prompting, and that authors don’t have the right to control the entire market for AI training licenses. [Read more…]

When the Code Breaks, the AI Doesn’t Get the Call. I do

June 17, 2025 by Edward Silha

The buzz around AI-powered coding tools is hard to avoid, and I get asked about them a lot. Instead of continuing to repeat myself I figured it was time to write down exactly why I don’t use them, and why that decision isn’t about being for or against AI in some grand ideological sense. This is just a practical take based on how I work, what I value, and what actually helps me get things done.

The core issue is speed—or the lack of it. If AI tools helped me move faster, I’d consider them. But they don’t. The idea of having an AI assistant write code for me sounds nice. A little robot fixing bugs while I sip coffee? Sure. But it doesn’t work like that. Any code that goes into my projects has to meet a standard, and that means reviewing it line by line. I have to understand what it’s doing, why it’s doing it, and feel confident I can tweak it later. Otherwise, it’s a liability. [Read more…]

DMARC in 2025: What’s Working, What’s Failing, and What Comes Next

June 12, 2025 by Edward Silha

Email authentication continues to improve, but DMARC is still widely misunderstood and often misused. The number of domains publishing DMARC records has grown steadily since 2023, especially in industries like finance, education, and healthcare. However, a large percentage of those domains are not enforcing any policy, which means spoofing and phishing attacks are still a serious concern.

Adoption is up, but enforcement remains low. Estimates show that while more than 30 percent of domains have added DMARC over the past two years, fewer than a third are using policies like quarantine or reject. Most records are set to “none,” which enables monitoring but provides no actual protection against domain impersonation. It’s a good first step, but without enforcement, DMARC doesn’t prevent malicious email from being delivered. [Read more…]

Microsoft Plugs One Secure Boot Flaw While Leaving Another Wide Open

June 11, 2025 by Edward Silha

Security researchers have identified two major exploits in the Secure Boot system, both capable of sidestepping one of the most important protections on modern PCs. Microsoft has issued a patch for one of them. The other remains untouched, even as it offers attackers a nearly universal method to bypass security during the startup process.

This week’s patch from Microsoft addresses a vulnerability known as CVE-2025-3052. It impacts over 50 manufacturers whose systems rely on Linux modules to support boot processes. The flaw allows someone with physical access to a device to disable Secure Boot entirely. Once that’s done, they can install malware that loads before the operating system starts. The attack is particularly concerning because it’s stealthy and persistent, and in cases where a hacker already has administrative access, it can be triggered remotely. [Read more…]

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