Saturday, October 14, 2023

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It's time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off. 

Quordle is the only one of the many Wordle clones that I'm still playing now, around 18 months after the daily-word-game craze hit the internet, and with good reason: it's fun, but also difficult.

What's more, its makers (now the online dictionary Merriam-Webster) are also keeping it fresh in the form of a variant called the Daily Sequence, which sees you complete four puzzles consecutively, rather than concurrently. 

But Quordle is tough, so if you already find yourself searching for Wordle hints, you'll probably need some for this game too. 

I'm a Quordle and Wordle fanatic who's been playing since December 2021, so I can definitely help you solve Quordle today and improve your game for tomorrow. Read on for my Quordle hints to game #629 and the answers to the main game and Daily Sequence. 

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #629) - hint #1 - Vowels

How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 3*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too). 

Quordle today (game #629) - hint #2 - total vowels

What is the total number of vowels in Quordle today?

The total number of vowels across today's Quordle answers is 6.

Quordle today (game #629) - hint #3 - repeated letters

Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 0.

Quordle today (game #629) - hint #4 - total letters

How many different letters are used in Quordle today?

The total number of different letters used in Quordle today is 12.

Quordle today (game #629) - hint #5 - uncommon letters

Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #629) - hint #6 - starting letters (1)

Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 2.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #629) - hint #7 - starting letters (2)

What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• F

• F

• H

• L

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #629) - the answers

Quordle answers for game 629 on a yellow background

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #629, are…

  • FALSE
  • FLAME
  • HYPER
  • LURCH

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.


Daily Sequence today (game #629) - the answers

Quordle daily sequence answers for game 629 on a yellow background

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #629, are…

  • ROUGE
  • REEDY
  • NICHE
  • LOATH

Quordle answers: The past 20

  • Quordle #628, Saturday 14 October: RALPH, HABIT, STRIP, WISER
  • Quordle #627, Friday 13 October: GRILL, SEEDY, FROND, MURAL
  • Quordle #626, Thursday 12 October: AWFUL, STOLE, ADMIN, LIMIT
  • Quordle #625, Wednesday 11 October: MOODY, GRIMY, NAPPY, NURSE
  • Quordle #624, Tuesday 10 October: PUTTY, KARMA, STIFF, PLUMB
  • Quordle #623, Monday 9 October: VERGE, ERROR, GOOFY, STEAK
  • Quordle #622, Sunday 8 October: READY, ABASE, PUFFY, UTILE
  • Quordle #621, Saturday 7 October: PAGAN, ALOOF, SPIKY, WHILE
  • Quordle #620, Friday 6 October: SWORD, REFER, GUILD, NASAL
  • Quordle #619, Thursday 5 October: STRAW, TILDE, MINER, CARVE
  • Quordle #618, Wednesday 4 October: WHIFF, CREEP, BLUNT, SPELL
  • Quordle #617, Tuesday 3 October: QUALM, CAULK, VOILA, GOING
  • Quordle #616, Monday 2 October: GUAVA, FLORA, LEGAL, ONION
  • Quordle #615, Sunday 1 October: LEAST, ARRAY, BOWEL, MATEY
  • Quordle #614, Saturday 30 September: MELEE, CHECK, SHONE, GLIDE
  • Quordle #613, Friday 29 September: PARER, CLASP, SHARD, JERKY
  • Quordle #612, Thursday 28 September: SAUCY, PEACH, SURER, STRIP
  • Quordle #611, Wednesday 27 September: NOISY, CLEAT, EAGER, CARAT
  • Quordle #610, Tuesday 26 September: SEDAN, CHARD, CHASM, GUSTO
  • Quordle #609, Monday 25 September: LEASH, GAZER, GUILE, KNEED

Quordle FAQs: Everything you need to know

What is Quordle?

Where Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day, Quordle presents you with four puzzles to solve. And rather than complete them in turn, you do so simultaneously. You get nine guesses, rather than the six for Wordle, but the rules are otherwise very similar. 

It's played online via the Quordle website and you can also get to it via the Merriam-Webster site, after the dictionary purchased Quordle last year

As with Wordle, the answers are the same for every player each day, meaning that you're competing against the rest of the world. And also as with Wordle, the puzzle resets at midnight so you have a fresh challenge each day.

The website also includes a practice mode - which I definitely recommend using before attempting the game proper! - and there are daily stats including a streak count. You also get Quordle Achievements - specific badges for winning a game in a certain number of turns, playing lots of times, or guessing particularly hard words.

Oh, and it's difficult. Really difficult.

What are the Quordle rules?

The rules of Quordle are almost identical to those of Wordle.

1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green.

2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow. 

3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray…

4. …BUT the word you guess appears in all quadrants of the puzzle at the same time, so an A could turn green in one square, yellow in another and gray in the final two. 

5. Answers are never plural.

6. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green.

7. Each guess must be a valid word in Quordle's dictionary. You can't guess ABCDE, for instance.

8. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses and there is no equivalent of Wordle's Hard mode.

9. You have nine guesses to find the Quordle answers.

10. You must complete the daily Quordle before midnight in your timezone.

What is a good Quordle strategy?

Quordle needs to be approached in a different way to Wordle. With four puzzles to solve in nine guesses, you can't blindly throw letters at it and expect to win - you'll stand a far better chance if you think strategically.

That's the case in Wordle too, of course, but it's even more important in Quordle.

There are two key things to remember. 

1. Use several starting words

Firstly, you won't want just a single starting word, but almost certainly two or three starting words. 

The first of these should probably be one of the best Wordle starting words, because the same things that make them work well will apply here too. But after that, you should select another word or possibly two that use up lots more of the most common consonants and that include any remaining vowels.

For instance, I currently use STARE > DOILY > PUNCH. Between them, these three words use 15 of the 26 letters in the alphabet including all five vowels, Y, and nine of the most common consonants (S, T, R, D, L, P, N, C and H). There are plenty of other options - you might want to get an M, B, F or G in there instead of the H, maybe - but something like that should do the trick.

If all goes well, that will give you a good lead on what one or sometimes two of the answers might be. If not, well good luck!

2. Narrow things down

Secondly, if you're faced with a word where the answer might easily be one of several options - for instance -ATCH, where it could be MATCH, BATCH, LATCH, CATCH, WATCH, HATCH or PATCH - you'll definitely want to guess a word that would narrow down those options. 

In Wordle, you can instead try several of those in succession and hope one is right, assuming you have enough guesses left. It's risky, but will sometimes work. Plus, it's the only option in Hard mode. But in Quordle, this will almost certainly result in a failure - you simply don't have enough guesses.

In the scenario above, CLAMP would be a great guess, as it could point the way to four of the seven words in one go.



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Latest Tech News

If you’re a Steam user, beware, as hackers have managed to deliver malware to gamers through the platform.

Multiple game developers have had their Valve accounts compromised recently, with the attackers using these accounts to update the games they were distributing through Steam, by adding malicious code. 

Valve has confirmed the news, contacting affected users via email, but has already taken steps to make sure something like this never happens again.

Extra friction

By the end of October 2023, developers will need to pass two-factor authentication (2FA) before being allowed to deliver the latest game update to the players. Unfortunately, the only way to pass 2FA will be via SMS, opening up the developers to SIM swapping. That being said, Steam partners will need to register a phone number with the platform soon enough. Those who don’t want to do that will have no other way to update their game.

Speaking to PC Gamer, Valve said the “extra friction” is a "necessary tradeoff for keeping Steam users safe and developers aware of any potential compromise to their account." 

If all of this sounds like overkill, it’s because this isn’t the first time Steam’s come under cybercriminal fire. Valve told the media that there’s been “an uptick in sophisticated attacks” against developer accounts recently. 

One of the developers whose account was compromised, the media report, is BenoƮt Freslon. On Twitter, he said that malware stole his browser access tokens, which gave the attackers temporary access to his Steam account, where he kept his game NanoWar: Cells VS Virus.

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8 Yoga Poses to Try for the Best Sleep Ever - CNET

Use these gentle yoga stretches to help calm your mind before bed and prepare for a good night's sleep.

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Friday, October 13, 2023

Portugal vs. Slovakia Livestream: How to Watch Euro 2024 Qualifier Soccer From Anywhere - CNET

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Thursday, October 12, 2023

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Latest Tech News

For those of you who haven’t kept up with updating your Windows 11 device, now is the time to do so. Microsoft announced that it will finally be ending support for Windows 11 version 21H2 for Home and Pro editions.

According to Microsoft’s official page, the October 2023 security update is the last one, and 21H2 will no longer receive monthly security and preview updates. Microsoft explains, “To help keep you protected and productive, Windows Update will automatically initiate a feature update for Windows 11 consumer devices and non-managed business devices that are at, or within several months of reaching, end of servicing.”

Windows 11 version 21H2 was released as a free upgrade two years ago. But now Microsoft will be recommending those still using it to upgrade to Windows 11 version 22H2 and, as outlined in the statement above, will remind users to do so. However, for those using Enterprise, Education, IoT Enterprise, and Enterprise multi-session editions of the OS, the tech giant will still deliver security updates until October 8, 2024.

Windows 11 continues to be unpopular 

Despite Windows 11 being out for about two years now, it still has a much lower adoption rate than its predecessor Windows 10. According to data from StatCounter, Windows 11 holds a 23.6% market share, which is barely higher than its April 2023 market share, when it was at 23.1%. Compare that to Windows 10, which holds a 71.6% share of the desktop market even now. And in its first two years, 10 had a 36.6% market share, much higher than 11. 

There are several reasons for this issue, the biggest one being its new system requirements for Windows 11, especially TPM (security), discounted older generations of processors unless users spent money to upgrade their rigs. Another reason is the lack of significant difference between Windows 10 and 11, which would especially discourage those who would need to update their PCs.

Not to mention the other problems of advertisements sneaking into the OS more, privacy issues cropping up from that, as well as a steady stream of bug reports popping up and persistent problems like slow SSDs.

Hopefully, this all will be a lesson to Microsoft when it eventually releases Windows 12, that to convince users to make the OS switch you need to actually give users a reason to convert in the first place.

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Starlink is expanding its satellite communications to your pocket. Now, in addition to delivering an internet connection anywhere around the world, Starlink is set to start offering cellular connectivity next year through a brand new service called Starlink Direct to Cell.

The company will start off small as LTE phones will only have the ability to send text messages sometime in 2024. After that, the service will expand to allow sending voice calls and data plus support for IoT devices like smartwatches in 2025. Starlink states customers won’t need a different phone, a firmware update, or a special app. The service will work on current devices even in the most remote locations on Earth – provided “you can see the sky”. There can’t be anything getting in the way of the satellite’s signal. 

Speaking of which, Starlink says it will be deploying “satellites with the Direct to Cell capability at scale” on SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets. It appears Direct to Cell will mainly be for businesses that want remote cellular connectivity. At the time of this writing, the service isn’t present on the company’s Personal usage website.

Made in collaboration

If any of this sounds familiar to you, that’s because billionaire Elon Musk, who is the CEO of parent company SpaceX, and T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert announced plans for Direct to Cell last year although it wasn’t given a name yet. Sivert explained the connection will be available in “the lower 48 [of the United States], …vast parts of Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and territorial waters.” The areas covered include national parks plus certain terrains where it's tough to get a cell phone signal like the desert.

Since that talk, SpaceX has entered new partnerships with other telecommunication companies from around the world like Rogers Communications in Canada as well as Optus in Australia

T-Mobil;e CEO Mike Sievert and Elon Musk

(Image credit: T-Mobile and Starlink)

Potential beta

What’s interesting is in T-Mobile’s press release from August 2022, it mentions there will be a beta program in select areas by the end of 2023. “SMS, MMS, and participating messaging apps” were supposed to be part of the program. However, Starlink's website doesn’t say anything about a beta, leading us to believe that maybe the idea was scrapped. Perhaps it just wasn’t ready yet.

Normally, we would ask Starlink or SpaceX for more information, but they don’t have any way for members of the press to contact them. Instead, we reached out to T-Mobile for more information; specifically on the beta and whether or not it’s still happening. This story will be updated at a later time.

It’s unknown exactly when everything will go live in 2024. SpaceX has been pushing the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) to hurry up with processing their satellite applications. But according to Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, the FCC has over 56,000 satellite applications pending on their desk, so it’s probably going to be a while.

If you want to know what the future holds, check out TechRadar's coverage of how satellite connectivity could become a major feature for smartphones.

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Editable posts, a feature that took Twitter (now X) years to add, just showed up on the still-young Threads.

Meta's X rival added the feature without fanfare on Thursday, edging the nascent social platform ever closer to being a complete Twitter replacement. The feature is also notably free while on X you'll have to pay an $8-a-month Premium account fee for the privilege of editable tweets.

I've been on Threads, which you can sign up for through your Instagram account, since it launched in July. In those early days, Threads enjoyed explosive growth and was quickly anointed "the next big thing" in social media. Since then, growth has slowed down and I've watched engagement flounder. Still, with Twitter (X) sliding into irrelevance, I've been rooting for Threads to pick up the pace of engagement and innovation.

Of course, Meta insists that it's not trying to be Twitter but it's been steadily adding features like a Following Tab, translations, and, more recently, the long-called for Web interface.

This latest feature, though relatively small, is for me a clear sign that Meta and Threads are comfortable taking on Twitter (X) at its own game.

Twitter spent years hemming and hawing over editable tweets, worried about how they might damage the platform and its trustworthiness. No one wanted people going back and editing Tweets from days, weeks, months, or years ago. Some of those Tweets are part of history. Twitter eventually figured it out but only launched it for Twitter Blue subscribers (read paying Twitter users).

Threads doesn't have Twitter's history or, it seems, its tendency toward hand-wringing. The new Edit Threads feature is free, simple, and has one critical built-in control: You can only edit a Thread for 5 minutes, after that, it's locked in and your only choice is to delete it.

Image 1 of 3

Threads Edit

(Image credit: Future)
Image 2 of 3

Threads Edit

(Image credit: Future)
Image 3 of 3

Threads Edit

(Image credit: Future)

Here's how it worked for me on the desktop version of Threads (it has yet to appear for me in the Threads app).

I posted a Thread with the word "test".

After I posted it, I opened the Thread and then selected the ellipses menu on the right side of the Thread. At the top is a new option: "Edit Thread".

I selected it and then edited it as a timer counted down to five minutes.

There's a little message that appears at the bottom of the screen telling you that Threads is editing the post. As with many things on Threads, this takes longer than it should.

Within the 5-minute timeframe, there doesn't seem to be a limit to the number of times you can edit a Thread. I edited my post twice. After five minutes, though, I couldn't apply any more edits.

What's missing

It's a good, simple update that is missing one key feature: a record of edits.

Anyone who reads my current Thread, which says, "This has been a test of Threads new Edit Thread feature," will have no idea that it previously said "test" and then "Test".

Obviously, in the case of my Thread, this is of no consequence. But imagine someone Threading something controversial and then using Edit Thread to cover their tracks.

It's a bothersome omission but I'm not too concerned. Instagram, which manages Threads development, has been relatively responsive and does seem to roll out updates pretty quickly. If this is recognized as an oversight, I bet the change will come soon.

In the meantime, I'm pleased with the update and just wish it had come soon enough for me to not have a typo in one of my few popular Threads posts.

Now if Threads can just get to work on hashtags, direct messages, and polls, I might be willing to leave Twitter (X) behind for good.

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Wednesday, October 11, 2023

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Latest Tech News

The three-day Adobe Max 2023 event in Los Angeles is in full swing, and the leading name in digital photo, video, and design suites unveiled major updates to its Creative Cloud, including – you guessed it – the latest AI-powered editing and generation tools.

Adobe’s Creative Cloud which includes Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere Pro, and Illustrator, has received a bumper update this year, and the next-gen Firefly plays a leading role. There’s too much to sensibly cover here, so let’s take a closer look at the headlines for the respective platforms. 

Adobe’s next generation Firefly

In the video short (above), Aya, an Adobe Product Manager on ‘Project Stardust’, talks us through Adobe’s new object-aware editing engine that is “going to revolutionize the way we interact with Adobe products”.

The video shows an image file being imported into the next-gen Firefly editor, where AI-powered non-destructive edits can be made. A yellow suitcase in a model’s hand is selected and becomes a new layer that can be moved around within the frame or deleted, and content-aware intelligently fills the background space left behind. 

We are then taken through generative word prompts, putting yellow flowers in the hands of the model instead of the suitcase. In another example (below), we see Firefly’s improved image generation capabilities.

All of this is nothing new per se, and it’s clear even from the first demo on a small display that there are artifacts where the yellow suitcase has been removed, but the ease with which these edits can be made seems to be another level from Adobe’s beta AI Firefly interface.

Image 1 of 3

Adobe Firefly generative AI with surprised boy generated images

(Image credit: Adobe)
Image 2 of 3

Two generated images of an exotic bird on colorful background generated using Adobe Firefly

(Image credit: Adobe)
Image 3 of 3

Vector model orange cat applied onto a modelled sweatshirt

(Image credit: Adobe)

Firefly works across Photoshop, Express and Illustrator, and includes the world's first generative AI for vector graphics, powering Text to Vector Graphic in Illustrator, with editable graphics including icons, scenes and patterns.

Put simply, the latest Firefly engine appears smarter, more versatile and more powerful, with a greater understanding of text prompts that can create commercially-ready assets just from a sentence of text. Firefly can recognize more landmarks and cultural symbols, give guidance to either expand or reword a prompt, and yield better results. It's not perfect, but it certainly is impressive and sees Adobe take a step forward from the competition.

New photo editing tools

Outside of Firefly’s generative AI, Adobe has added a host of tools for Photoshop and Lightroom. In the promo video (above), Adobe shows a new Lens Blur tool for Lightroom, which acts much like a smartphone's portrait mode, adding a blur to the background to make subjects stand out from their surroundings. The shape of the bokeh (out-of-focus points of light) can be changed to any one of five options, including perfect circles – again a tool we see on flagship handsets like the Huawei P60 Pro

Other Lightroom tools include improved HDR optimization and Point Color which helps photographers make precise, accurate, and detailed color refinements.

Adobe content credentials checking an AI generated image of penguins in a desert

(Image credit: Adobe)

And as more concerns over what is real and what is AI-generated arise, Adobe has highlighted its Content Credentials support for new file types, which serve as a digital “nutrition label”. 

Content Credentials provide information about the creator, date, edits – including those generated by AI – and tools used from start to finish of a digital file. This is a step up from a photographer simply adding copyright to their photos for ownership – it's proof of authenticity for those who wish to be more informed about what has and hasn't been changed in the photo. 

In the example of penguins in a desert (above), Content Credentials indicate that at least one element in the image has been generated with an AI tool. 

Adobe Max 2023 marks an evolution for the leading name in the creative digital space, an AI evolution that is rapidly enhancing what we can do in the editing suite. It's not perfect, but it's fun, it's speeding up the editing process, and shows plenty of promise. 

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Tuesday, October 10, 2023

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Latest Tech News

Your Oura Ring will soon be receiving three new features to help you manage stress, understand what causes it, and even offer recommendations on how to relax.

The full update will be released incrementally starting off today with Daytime Stress. This tool identifies what triggers your stress by constantly checking for “small changes" like heart rate fluctuations and shifts in body temperature. The device records these changes every 15 minutes or so. You can check these readings on your smartphone via the Oura app, where it’ll tell you “which experiences add stress… and which ones help [you] recover.” The on-screen dot graph informs users when they are the most exhausted as well as when they are totally relaxed. A daily summary appears the moment you launch the app. 

There is a catch: users will need to have a subscription to the Oura Membership in order to access Daytime Stress. It’s unknown if there are plans to roll out the feature to non-subscribers.

Letting it all out

Next is Reflections, an AI-powered journal for the Oura smartphone app. It allows users to record short entries in the app about what’s stressing them out. The company claims “journaling is an effective tool for reducing stress” with Reflections making this process a lot easier. To get the conservation started, there will be a prompt question at the top of the screen.

Oura app Reflections

(Image credit: Oura)

Speech recognition will automatically transcribe the text while the AI will suggest implementing tags to “correspond with your journal entries”. Those tags will add context “to help you understand your own personal stressors”. That way, you’ll know, or at least have some idea, of how to recover. Also, if you don’t feel like talking, you can always type in an entry.

This feature is currently in beta for iOS devices. No word on whether or not the beta will migrate over to Android, although we did ask.

Road to (stress) recovery

Rounding out the trio is Stress Resilience coming out this winter. True to its name, this function “creates an assessment” detailing how resilient someone is to certain “physiological” situations. It tracks a person’s “daytime stress load”, how they recover during the day, and how they recover while sleeping. Paired with Daytime Stress mentioned earlier, the tool will provide “insights, education, and recommendations” on how to manage everything. The goal here is to aid people in finding the most effective way to chill out. 

We reached out to Oura for clarification for certain things like if there will be an Android version of Reflections plus the exact launch date of Stress Resilience. This story will be updated at a later time. 

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Tens of thousands of WordPress (WP) sites have been compromised through a flaw in popular premium themes, with the attackers using the vulnerability to redirect visitors elsewhere.

As reported by BleepingComputer, cybersecurity researchers Sucuri recently discovered that tagDiv Newspaper and tagDiv Newsmag WordPress themes both carried a vulnerable companion tool called tagDiv Composer. 

This tool was vulnerable to a cross-site scripting flaw (XSS) tracked as CVE-2023-3169, allowing attackers to remotely send and run PHP code, with some hackers abusing the flaw to deliver the Balada Injector, which redirected visitors to fake tech support pages, fake lottery wins landing pages, and various push notifications scams.

The importance of patching

In total, Sucuri claims, at least 17,000 WordPress websites were compromised in September alone. The entire attack surface counts some 155,000 websites, as those are cumulatively all sites using tagDiv’s vulnerable premium themes (not accounting for pirated copies).

This is not a brand-new flaw, either, first being discovered by Dr. Web in December 2022. The Balada Injector campaign, some researchers believe, has been active since 2017. The company behind the premium themes, tagDiv, was notified of the existence of the flaws months ago and has since released a patch. The problem is that many site owners didn’t apply the fix on time. 

"We are aware of these cases. The malware can affect websites using older theme versions," tagDiv said. "Besides updating the theme, the recommendation is to immediately install a security plugin such as wordfence, and scan the website. Also change all the website passwords."

The earliest secure version of tagDiv Composer is 4.2.

As a web-builder platform, WordPress is generally considered safe. It’s the plugins, such as these two, that threat actors usually scan for flaws and abuse. That’s why website owners are advised to only install plugins from reputable sources and make sure they’re regularly updated.

Via BleepingComputer

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Monday, October 9, 2023

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