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1 Mar 2025

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New botnet malware infects 1.6 million Android TV devices worldwide
Vo1d is a long-known botnet that infects Android TV devices, and security experts from XLab have now discovered a new variant that’s said to have infected over 1.6 million Android TV devices around the world, turning them into remote-controlled malware bots. According to the security researchers, the new Vo1d variant — or rather the botnet based on it — protects itself with improved encryption (which prevents cybersecurity experts from sending commands to the bots and analyzing them) and improved cloaking abilities. The infected Android TV bots are then recruited by the command-and-control server for illegal activities, including DDoS attacks (in which a group of bots takes down a service by flooding it with requests) and ad click fraud (in which bots imitate users by simulating clicks on ads and generating revenue for fraudulent advertisers). The Vo1d botnet is one of the largest botnets in recent years. The good news for Android TV users, though, is that while Vo1d is active around the globe, most reports of infections originate from Argentina, Brazil, China, Indonesia, South Africa, and Thailand. How to protect yourself Protection against Vo1d begins at the purchase of an Android TV device — make sure you buy from a reputable brand and retailer. Malware can be pre-installed on Android TV devices, either by the device manufacturer or introduced by a middleman along the production chain. The next most important defensive measure is to install all security updates and firmware updates released by the Android TV device manufacturer, and keep up with future updates. This will prevent attackers from remotely infecting your device via security vulnerabilities. As a third security measure, you should only install apps on your Android TV device from the Play Store and not from any other app stores. Further reading: The best streaming devices worth buying

I braced for a flood of Echo gear at Amazon’s Alexa+ event. It didn’t happen
For me, one of the most surprising things at Amazon’s lavish Alexa+ event earlier this week was what didn’t happen. A little backstory: Amazon traditionally trots out its latest devices, including Echo speakers, Ring cameras, Kindle tablets, and more during an annual hardware event in the fall. We’re not just talking a few devices, mind you. Oh no, Amazon goes big at these events, aiming a firehose of products at the quivering journalists in attendance. The parade goes at a breathless pace, one after another, so fast that you can barely keep up. Uncharacteristically, Amazon held its fire last fall, skipping its usual September event in favor of a smaller, Kindles-only gathering in October, featuring ex-Microsoft exec and new Amazon devices chief Panos Panay. So when Amazon announced it was having an “Alexa-focused” event this week, I braced myself. The new AI-enhanced Alexa (which had been originally introduced more than a year ago) was widely expected to be the star of the show, but Amazon being Amazon, I was ready for a flood of new Echo gear to go along with it. What could we be getting? A new Echo Dot? Oh, at least, and probably an Echo Show display or two. A new Fire TV powered by the revamped Alexa? Not out of the question. As we settled into our seats, I joked with my editor via Slack that I wouldn’t be surprised if Panay trotted out a humanoid AI Alexa robot—one that would never actually ship, of course. But then something funny happened: The flood of new Echo devices turned out to be a drought, with Panay and company focused solely on Alexa+. This unexpected change was refreshing from my standpoint, allowing me to go deep on the new Alexa rather than sprinting from one new Amazon product to the next. Still, it was a curious choice. Wouldn’t Amazon want to sell new Echo devices to customers signing up for the new Alexa? Of course, perhaps the point was that you don’t need a new Echo to partake in the new Alexa. Almost every Echo gadget currently in service is compatible with Alexa+, save for the very earliest Echo speakers and displays. And since Alexa+ will kick off with a free early access period and will eventually be free for Amazon Prime subscribers, many users will be able to try the revamped Alexa for the low price of zilch. In any event, when can we expect to see new Echo devices? None other that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy just dropped a big hint. “We have a brand new lineup of devices that are coming in the fall,” Jassy told Bloomberg during a post-Alexa+ event interview (by way of The Verge). “I think they’re beautiful. I think people will really like [them]”. Nope, not a lot of detail there, and that’s all Jassy said about Echo devices during the roughly 30-minute interview segment. That said, it certainly sounds like fall 2025 will mark the return of Amazon’s hardware firehose–and if you don’t want to get wet, stay away from the splash zones.

Microsoft is killing Skype and wants you to switch to a Teams app nobody uses
Microsoft plans to sunset Skype, a service that was part of the foundation of IP telephony, by May 5. Instead, Microsoft plans to replace Skype with the free version of Microsoft Teams, the company said. In doing do, Microsoft will throw a shovelful of dirt on Skype, which it bought for $8.5 billion in May 2011, 14 years ago. “In order to streamline our free consumer communications offerings so we can more easily adapt to customer needs, we will be retiring Skype in May 2025 to focus on Microsoft Teams, our modern communications and collaboration hub,” Jeff Teper, president of Microsoft 365 Collaborative Apps and Platforms, said in a blog post. Teper said that the “way we communicate has evolved significantly over the years.” Skype was founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, using a peer-to-peer protocol to route “phone calls” over the web, a technology later known as VoIP. eBay bought Skype in 2005 for $2.5 billion in stock, before Microsoft bought it in 2011. Skype’s free video app was released in 2013, when Skype claimed over 70 million users were using the app simultaneously. Microsoft tried to integrate Skype into Windows, but the writing may have been on the wall once Microsoft launched Teams as a Slack competitor in 2017 — though Teams began strictly as a chat app, it quickly added video. Microsoft tried to lure users away from Slack in 2018 by launching a free version of Teams, now awkwardly named “Teams (free).” But then Microsoft employed a similar strategy with its own Skype for Business in 2019, shuttering the service in 2021 and pushing business users to use Teams instead. “Over the last two years, we’ve worked closely with customers to refine Teams, and we now feel we’re at the point that we can confidently recommend it as an upgrade to all Skype for Business Online customers,” James Skay, the senior marketing manager for Skype for Business, said in 2019. Six years later, and Microsoft apparently feels the same about the consumer version of Skype. The problem? Consumers have never really cared to use Teams. Microsoft tried to launch a consumer version of Teams in 2021, which seems to have been largely ignored. There was Teams Chat, which lived in the Windows 11 Taskbar, which also debuted in 2021. That followed Microsoft Teams for Home‘s launch in 2020, with shared grocery lists and other features for consumers on iOS and Android. By 2023, Teams Chat was part of the free Teams app. In 2024, Microsoft signaled that it planned to streamline both the business and consumer versions of Teams into a single application. The common thread: No one seemed to care. Microsoft did say that, over the past two years, the number of minutes spent in consumer Teams calls has quadrupled — without saying from what to what. But Skype and its chat/calling capabilities have largely been replaced with apps like Discord. In any event, Microsoft seems to have given up on using the carrot to lure users from Skype to Teams. Instead, it’s using the stick. The Skype to Teams transition: How it will work Microsoft said that, over the coming days, Skype users will be able to sign into Teams (free) using their Skype credentials, beginning with users who have signed up for the Insider programs. Chats and contacts will automatically populate from one app to the other. Skype users can download Teams from the Microsoft website. Paid Skype features will sunset as well. “Moving forward, we will no longer offer new customers access to paid Skype features that allow users to make and receive international and domestic calls using pay-as-you-go credit and subscriptions. Current Skype subscription users can continue to use their Skype Credits and subscriptions until the end of their next renewal period. Skype Credit users can also continue to use their remaining Skype Credit. After May 5, 2025, the Skype Dial Pad will be available to remaining paid users from the Skype web portal and within Teams.” During the transition, Skype and Teams users will be able to chat with the other service. That period will apparently expire on May 5, 2025, when Skype will be turned off, 22 years after its founding.