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Aarti Shahani
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at the Future Decoded conference in London on Nov. 10. The company hopes to create new social tools to increase productivity in and out of the workplace.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at the Future Decoded conference in London on Nov. 10. The company hopes to create new social tools to increase productivity in and out of the workplace. Kevin Coombs/Reuters /Landov hide caption

itoggle caption Kevin Coombs/Reuters /Landov

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Microsoft Wants To Mine Data Like A Social Network

Microsoft is going social. With more than a billion people using Office, the company hopes to gather data and create social tools to help users be more productive in their workplaces and lives.

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Participants in an ethical hacking contest at a Swiss security conference in Geneva in March. So-called bug bounty programs are becoming very popular in Silicon Valley's high-tech sector.

Participants in an ethical hacking contest at a Swiss security conference in Geneva in March. So-called bug bounty programs are becoming very popular in Silicon Valley's high-tech sector. Salvatore Di Nolfi/EPA/Landov hide caption

itoggle caption Salvatore Di Nolfi/EPA/Landov

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Banks Reluctant To Use 'White Hat' Hackers To Spot Security Flaws

High-tech firms have been offering bounties to security researchers to find holes and bugs in their software, but these reward programs haven't drawn much interest from major banks.

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A customer sets up her new iPhone 6 at an Apple store in Beijing on Friday. A group says the Chinese government backed an attack against users of Apple's iCloud service, but the government denies the claim.

A customer sets up her new iPhone 6 at an Apple store in Beijing on Friday. A group says the Chinese government backed an attack against users of Apple's iCloud service, but the government denies the claim. Feng Li/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Feng Li/Getty Images

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Cloud Data Security Concerns Raised After Reported Attack In China

A group says the Chinese government backed an attack against users of Apple's iCloud service. Experts worry attacks that target weaknesses in the transfer of data on the cloud will become more common.

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Ramzi El-Fekih, CEO of Creova, stands in his server room in Tunis. He has built a mobile payments company, but because of banking restrictions, Tunisians can use his product only for domestic purchases.

Ramzi El-Fekih, CEO of Creova, stands in his server room in Tunis. He has built a mobile payments company, but because of banking restrictions, Tunisians can use his product only for domestic purchases. Aarti Shahani/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Aarti Shahani/NPR

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Tunisia's Emerging Tech Sector Hampered By Old Policies

When Tunisia's young people protested in 2011, they had one key demand: jobs. Now, despite new political leadership, that demand remains unmet — even in tech, the sector that offers the most promise.

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Microsoft says it's patching a Windows security flaw cited in a report on alleged spying by Russian hackers.

Microsoft says it's patching a Windows security flaw cited in a report on alleged spying by Russian hackers. Ted S. Warren/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Ted S. Warren/AP

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Microsoft Windows Flaw Let Russian Hackers Spy On NATO, Report Says

A weakness in Microsoft Windows has been exploited by Russian hackers to spy on Western governments, NATO, European energy companies and an academic organization in the U.S., according to a report.

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Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Yahoo will gain nearly $8 billion from the Alibaba IPO because of its $1 billion investment in Alibaba 2005.

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Yahoo will gain nearly $8 billion from the Alibaba IPO because of its $1 billion investment in Alibaba 2005. Paul Sakuma/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Paul Sakuma/AP

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With Alibaba IPO, Yahoo Reaps A Big Reward From Risky Bet

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang made a smart move when his company invested in a Chinese e-commerce firm called Alibaba in 2005. With this week's Alibaba IPO, Yahoo will gain nearly $8 billion.

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Cyberstalking victims often don't know they're being tracked through their own phone because spyware apps like mSpy use misleading labels (labeled "android.sys.process" here) and don't take up much data.

Cyberstalking victims often don't know they're being tracked through their own phone because spyware apps like mSpy use misleading labels (labeled "android.sys.process" here) and don't take up much data. Aarti Shahani/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Aarti Shahani/NPR

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Smartphones Are Used To Stalk, Control Domestic Abuse Victims

Cyberstalking has transformed domestic abuse in the U.S. Tracking tools called spyware make it cheap and easy for someone to monitor a partner secretly, 24 hours a day.

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