follett
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Ancient apps leave 3.2 million PCs open to ransomware attacks
Criminals are relying on some particularly insidious ways to spread ransomware. Cisco's Talos group has discovered that intruders are taking advantage of vulnerabilities in old versions of Follett library management software (specifically, the associated JBoss web servers) to install backdoors and slip in ransom code. The attack has 'only' put 2,100 backdoors in place, but about 3.2 million systems are known to be at risk -- many of them at grade schools. Suffice it to say that many educators don't want to pay a hefty sum just to regain access to their library data.
Inkling to sell iPad textbooks in over 900 college bookstores
Inkling is an e-book publishing platform that's currently running an app on the App Store, and while Apple has been making an official push for more textbooks in iBooks, Inkling is strengthening its own holdings. The company has made a deal with Follett to bring hundreds of Inkling titles into college bookstores, where students can buy the ebook content right there in person. The company is selling whole textbooks, or it's also offering a program called "Pick 3," which allows students to grab three chapters of a book at a time, keeping costs down if teachers or students don't need the whole book. Overall, this may not be cheaper, however -- don't forget that students who buy real books can often have a chance to resell them, or can buy them used, and with ebooks, there's obviously no resale value. The Follett deal should be ready by the time students head back to school in the fall.
