The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers says its first upgrade to the cryptographic key helping to protect the internet Domain Name System went off without a hitch. The majority of internet users didn't realize the upgrade had occurred, and only a handful of connectivity problems were reported.

Samsung Electronics marketing executive Rebecca Hirst anticipates that smart home technology and voice interaction will go mainstream, which could be a "game changer for loyalty." Hirst notes that adoption has been slow to start, as there's a psychological hurdle to establishing these devices in the home, but she adds that once they're over that, consumers will be able to see the opportunity.

Malicious PlayStation Network messages on PlayStation 4s are causing devices to crash and making them unable to reboot. To reduce this risk, users should set message rules to friends-only or off.

In Connecticut alone, as many as a million cyberthreats are detected on some busy days, making cybersecurity a priority for national security. But experts say the nation is largely unprepared for widespread attacks, and "foreign nations and sophisticated nonstate actors could devastate -- some even say prevail over -- the United States by hitting us where we are weakest," writes Arthur House, Connecticut's chief cybersecurity risk officer.

Facebook has lowered from 50 million to fewer than 30 million its estimate of users whose information was breached recently, but it has not talked about who might be behind the attack, citing FBI protocol. Company apps such as Instagram and WhatsApp were not targeted in the breach, the company said.

West Virginia will be the first state to deploy an app allowing ballots to be cast from remote locations, but experts say the blockchain-based app could open the door to more Election Day tampering. "This is a crazy time to be pulling a stunt like this," said David Jefferson, a computer scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, adding that "all internet voting systems, including this one, have a host of cybervulnerabilities which make it extremely dangerous."

An initiative dubbed DRIVE -- Digital, Research, Informatics and Virtual Environments -- is focused on improving medical treatments for children using technology. Part of the project uses virtual reality to immerse children in a dinosaur-themed environment to keep them occupied as they're being treated.

Increased consumer confidence, low unemployment and a wide range of new products have led many consumer electronics distributors to be optimistic for the holiday season. Despite this, some report concerns that Chinese tariffs could cause an increase in prices.

Trend Micro's Zero-Day Initiative uncovered a vulnerability in the Microsoft JET database, which it claims is still vulnerable to attacks after a recent update. The vulnerability could give hackers full remote access to users' systems.

Commvault revealed its Complete Backup & Recovery-as-a-Service at its annual Commvault Go conference. The offering is available through Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, and provides backup and recovery for virtual machines and cloud-native application data.