Chicago IT Support & Cyber Security | Forward Technologies
Chicago-based Forward Technologies delivers IT support and cyber security to businesses in the Chicago area and nationwide.
Researchers have uncovered a batch of malicious packages in the NPM repo that quietly racked up over 6,000 downloads before anyone noticed. These weren’t your typical cryptominers or info-stealers. They were designed to crash systems, wipe files, and corrupt data—sometimes all at once.
NPM is a massive public repository where developers share and download JavaScript packages. It’s used by millions, which makes it a prime target for attacks like this. [Read more…]
The crew behind the 3AM strain of ransomware has been hitting companies using a familiar playbook: flood the target with junk emails, follow up with a fake IT call, and convince someone to hand over remote access. It’s not new, but it still works. Probably more than it should.
This kind of attack was first seen with the Black Basta gang, then picked up by FIN7. Thanks to leaked chat logs and shared templates, it’s now being copied by others. Sophos tracked 55 attacks between November and January that used the same tactics, tied to two different threat actor groups. [Read more…]
Google is moving full steam ahead with AI integration in Search, whether users are ready for it or not. After a rocky debut last year, its AI Overviews have returned with a new feature in tow: AI Mode. Live for U.S. users following the company’s 2025 I/O event, this new tab aims to radically alter how people interact with search results.
AI Mode introduces a more conversational interface that mimics tools like ChatGPT. It’s built to handle layered, complex queries, parsing out multiple topics and drawing on a wide range of sources to deliver synthesized answers. The system uses what Google calls a “query fan-out” approach—breaking a question into parts, running simultaneous searches, and stitching the findings together into one long-form reply. Answers include sources and are presented with summaries, sometimes even visual data. [Read more…]
Apple’s next-gen Siri isn’t arriving at WWDC 2025—and likely won’t be ready for quite a while. Despite splashy ads last year teasing a major AI overhaul, the promised upgrade remains stuck in development.
Internally, Apple’s AI efforts have been chaotic. Senior leadership, including Software Engineering head Craig Federighi, initially saw little value in chasing generative AI. That changed only after ChatGPT’s release in late 2022. Executives quickly shifted gears, hoping to pack iOS 18 with AI-driven tools. [Read more…]
Microsoft will continue rolling out security updates for Microsoft 365 apps on Windows 10 until October 2028, extending support three years past the operating system’s planned end-of-life.
The change follows the company’s earlier position, announced in January, that Office apps would stop receiving updates on Windows 10 starting in October 2025. At the time, Microsoft urged users to upgrade to Windows 11 to maintain access to updated versions of Word, Excel, and other Microsoft 365 tools.
