Privacy & Security

TSA to Remove Naked-Image Scanners From US Airports

The Transportation Security Administration has announced that it will remove the controversial “naked image” body scanners from US airports because developers can’t write software to make the images less revealing. The scanners, made by OSI Systems Inc, have ruffled feathers since they were first rolled out. In a bid to quell controversy, the TSA looked…

Bad Grammar Make Good Password

Along with birthdays, names of pets and ascending number sequences, add one more thing to the list of password no-nos: good grammar. An algorithm developed by Ashwini Rao and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, makes light work of cracking long passwords which make grammatical sense as a whole phrase, even if they…

Two US Power Plants Hit By Malware Attacks

It’s come to light that two US power plants were hit by malware attacks in 2012, after employees used infected USB sticks. The US Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team reports that malware found its way into the plants and affected their operation. From ICS-CERT on one of the attacks: “A third-party technician used…

OkCupid App Bug Exposed Email Addresses and Birth Dates

OKCupid’s new blind date app came out today, to some fanfare and probably a little more mockery. But it’s hit a snag: Apparently, it was coughing up users’ emails and birth dates for anyone who bothered to dig for them. https://gizmodo.com/okcupids-new-blind-date-app-aims-to-find-you-love-or-r-5976070 The information was leaked when you “tweaked” the web traffic info from the app,…

Knowing the Real Life Location of These Tweets Makes You Feel Dirty

Twitter is modern day people watching. Anytime you check it, you see what a person is thinking or doing or saying. But it’s not all happening in a digital vacuum, they’re on break at work tweeting about their boss, they’re outside a hospital tweeting about their day, they’re somewhere tweeting about something. This photo project,…

Does Connected Home Security Actually Make Us Safer?

Securing your home against intruders used to be as simple as barring your doors and locking your windows. But home automation services—offering everything from remote monitoring to keyless door locks—have revolutionized how we fortify our houses. Are these new systems any better at protecting us? We saw several new services last week at CES 2013.…

Meet Red October: The Global Cyber-Espionage Ring That Spent 5 Years in the Shadows

There are plenty of cyberweapons floating around out there, like Stuxnet, Flame, and that whole gang. Now, Kaspersky has turned up a cyber-espoinage operation its dubbed “Red October,” and it’s up there in the big leagues. But unlike its cohorts, it doesn’t look state-sponsored. This is a freelance job, and it’s professional grade. https://gizmodo.com/meet-flame-the-massive-spy-malware-infiltrating-iran-5913779 While…

Oracle claims to have patched the Java vulnerability that Homeland Security was worried about. Browse freely! [Oracle]

How To Disable Java in Your Browser

Java isn’t good for your for your computer’s health right now. It can mess it up pretty bad. Bad enough that the Department of Homeland Security is warning us all to turn it off. OK, but how do you do that? Fortunately, it’s not that hard. https://gizmodo.com/even-the-department-of-homeland-security-wants-you-to-d-5975415 All the current Java exploits come from Java…

Oracle says it’ll have a fix for those egregious Java vulnerabilities “shortly.” [Reuters]

Even The Department Of Homeland Security Wants You To Disable Your Java

We’ve been concerned about the security of Java for a while now. There was that vulnerability that affected like a billion computers, and Apple went so far as to remove Java plugins from all OSX browsers. Now even the Department of Homeland Security is in on the act with a special message: “Yo, shut off…

Nokia’s Xpress Browser Decrypts Your HTTPS Data

It’s come to light that Nokia’s Xpress Browser—used on its Asha and Lumia handsets—routes your secure and encrypted HTTPS data through its servers and temporarily decrypts it. GigaOm reports security research which reveals that Nokia’s browser passes data to its servers—nothing odd there, it’s a proxy browser designed to speed things up—but that, at stages,…

Hack Turns Cisco’s Desk Phone Into a Spying Device

Cisco’s internet phones—which sit on thousands of desks around the world—have been shown to be easily hacked and turned into remote spying devices. The official announcement comes two whole weeks after Cisco first found out about the problem. The exploit was discovered by Ang Cui and Salvatore Solfo, a pair of computer scientists from Columbia…

NYT: Iran Is Behind the Recent Spate of Cyberattacks on Banks

A series of recent denial of service attacks on US banks are being blamed on Iran. According to the New York Times, “there is no doubt within the U.S. government that Iran is behind these attacks.” Recent months have seen PNC, Bank of America and HSBC all experience heavy DDoS attacks. The Times cites James…

These Rugged, Encrypted Pocket Drives Keep Your Data Locked Up Safe

There are plenty of external drives floating around at CES, but Rocstor’s offer up a rugged casing and secure encryption in a surprisingly sleek package. Rocstor has actually announced a trio of drives: the Amphibious X5, Hawker HX and Lancer LX. Sadly, the first isn’t waterproof, but it does use AES-256 encryption and both FIPS…

Weird Revolving Doors Like These Could Save Your Life Someday

Doors are some seriously ancient tech but they have this problem where they can only keep people out if they’re closed. This bizarre but clever take on the “revolving door” by a company called Barbecan, on the other hand, aims to get you inside, but simultaenously keep any ne’er-do-wells out. Specifically ne’er-do-wells with bombs and…

These Sites Violate Your Privacy

The Wall Street Journal has analyzed the top 50 sites in the United States plus 20 other top sites in sensitive categories like dating or health. They found that 25 of these sites—including OKCupid, Pinterest, YouTube, Yahoo—send personal data to other sites in the open, with no security encoding, using your own browser session. Their…

How to Protect Your Privacy on Foursquare

Starting January 28th, Foursquare will divulge more of your private information to complete strangers. If that freaks you out, it’s time to lockdown your privacy. Luckily, it’s very easy. In an effort to avoid an Instagram-like privacy debacle, Foursquare has gone ahead and told users the two changes that are likely to cause a stir:…

Oh God, Here Come the Private Security Drones

It was inevitable. Drones are in ever-wider use by the military, and some day they might deliver you food, but it looks like they’ll also be the private, flying-camera spies for private companies too. That’s what Japanese security company Secom is banking on with its new private security quadrotor. https://gizmodo.com/the-tacocopters-are-coming-for-real-5939895 Billed as the first security…

Starting January 28th, Foursquare is going to start publishing your full name when you check in. [TechCrunch]