American firm Trendnet produces a range of home security cameras that let users check activity in their property while away, via an Internet connection. The problem — which the company has only just admitted — is that for several weeks now tens of thousands of the camera feeds have been viewable by everyone who’s online.
15 major Internet firms have launched a joint project to make it harder to get “phishing” e-mails through to recipients. The plan involves the firms labeling their messages in a way that is much harder for scammers to emulate.
An Amazon footwear subsidiary has reported an estimated 24 million customers are affected by a security breach. But while it’s only the sloppy password brigade who’ll suffer among the public, it’s Zappos itself that’s getting the most hassle.
Google’s mobile operating system gets a lot of grief for fragmentation. For better, worse and whatever comes after that, the platform is actually standardizing and rapidly so. In fact, a 55 percent and increasing share of active devices are running a version of Android that Google released two Christmases ago.
“Hacktivist” group Anonymous may have crossed the line from disruptive protest to outright fraud. But as always it’s hard to verify claims or associate individual actions with the “movement” as a whole.
The big black hole of personal computer security can usually be found right between the user’s ears. From phishing (miracle weight loss, cheap Viagra, anyone?) to the subject of this wake up call, passwords, it’s people like you and me making bad, bad and easily avoidable choices.
Any computer can be hacked, it’s simply a matter of time, motivation and, increasingly less, skill. If you want to exploit Adobe Flash, the source of much hacker inspiration, there are ready made exploit kits available for download. With Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook and, yes, even Adobe turning to HTML5, the question of security comes to mind.
Researchers at Columbia University say hackers could seize control of a printer and cause it to catch fire. But they’ve been unable to prove the claims with a demo, and manufacturers HP suggest it’s unlikely such attacks could be carried out.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security say they have no evidence that an online attack caused an Illinois water pump to fail. They contradicted a previous state report leaked to a security firm owner.
The United States has finally accused China and Russia of stealing data that threatens the economic security of the US. Up until now the US has been ignoring the problem that has been happening for years. Just as with most things that threaten ones health, ignoring it only means it is harder to manage once you acknowledge the problem.
Most members of the hactivist group Anonymous are generally in favor of freedom of expression online without giving up privacy. But everyone has their limits, and in this case it’s child porn.
When it comes to operating system security breaches, Apple is best known for silence. Until, that is, the company has worked out a fix and is ready to release it. However, that approach might not work vis-a-vis iTunes fraud, especially when one of the victims just happens to be a prominent state attorney general.
These days it appears being hacked when you’re a major company is so common as to carry little shame. Keeping it secret though — well, that’s another matter altogether.
Android the mobile operating system is a huge success with tens of millions of smartphones out in the wild. However, Android the ecosystem isn’t doing nearly so well, especially developers, a critical issue that Google and its partners need to address if the platform is to not just survive but thrive.
Either hundreds of millions of Windows computers are at risk of express-delivery malware, or a dude on the Internet is lying. Thankfully it’s probably the latter.
Riding a motorcycle can give you a sense of freedom and excitement. It can also end very badly through no fault of your own. When an accident does occur, emergency personnel hope you were wearing a helmet. Many times though, helmets have to be cut off and precious minutes can be lost. Voztec has created a helmet that will protect motorcyclists in the case of an accident while giving EMTs quick access to the victim.
What do you want in a smartphone? For many people, “is a phone, does that touch thing and can play Angry Birds” pretty much covers it. If the salesperson adds “free” or “buy one, get one free” to the pitch and the customer’s walking out the door with a bag.
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