Showing posts with label data security. Show all posts
Showing posts with label data security. Show all posts

Tuesday, 28 February 2017

Stop Charging Your Phone in Public Ports

charger
Credit:Selena Larson, CNN
As the time period of smartphones increases, its battery begins to retard. First 1 year is very enjoyable; when you are just required to charge your phone only once a day and get all the privileges all throughout of the day. In the beginning the battery even stays for two consecutive days if you do not use your phone very frequently, but as time passes you get to experience a huge lot of problems related to your phone, especially your battery.

It generally happens that when you forget to charge your phone completely, that very day you end up with an emergency when your battery runs out and you are forced to take the help of some unknown source to charge your phone, but this alternative can turn out to be very risky. Recent discoveries have been made where a different kind of scamming was discovered. The public plug-ins that are available on roads, railway stations or hospitals can turn out to be your major enemy in lieu of the benefit of charging.

The hackers are inflicting this public USB ports with some hacking device, which as soon as you connect your mobile with these ports in order to get the battery charged immediately all your information gets copied on the other side. In this world of digitalization, cashless society, paytm, mobicash all your data are mainly saved on your phone because with the help of your smartphones you avail these benefits and the data remain on your phone.
You know that this datas includes all your personal details related to your bank account details and if any scammer gets hold of it you will feel to get penalized without any mistake of yours. Just your casualty will force you to face several consequences.

This whole process involves many technicalities where as you plug in your phone into an unreliable source, your device gets infected, just like your phone gets inflicted by virus when you unknowingly visit unauthorized sites. In this case also the problem is the same by connecting your phone into a public outlet your data gets compromised.

Drew Paik who belongs to a security firm known as authentic8. This Authentic8 develops Silo, which is a high defined security browser that safeguards all the activities related to web.

Remember, the cord that you use to charge your phone is also used to share data from one phone to another. So, you can well imagine that when you plug in the cord to an infected socket what can the consequences be. If the port is truly hacked by the hackers then you cannot even imagine that to what extent they can draw your data.

The easiest way to charge your phone will turn out to be the biggest mistake of your life. So, never connect your phones to this public ports this can lead to serious consequences; you might have to face such problems that you didn’t expect to come across ever in your life.

Wednesday, 24 February 2016

John McAfee offers to Unlock Killer's iPhone for FBI

John McAfee

John McAfee to Break the Encryption on iPhone of Killer Syed Farook


John McAfee the creator of anti-virus software has stated that he would break the encryption on iPhone which tends to belong to San Bernardino killer Syed Farook. He made the offer in an article to FBI which was published by Business Insider. Apple had declined to abide with the court order asking it to unlock the device in-between opinion on whether the firm should be compelled in doing so.

Mr McAfee stated that he together with his team would undertake the task `with no charge’. The offer came up while Mr McAfee continued his campaign as a US presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party. He had claimed in his article that it would take them around three weeks. Graham Cluley, security expert had informed BBC that he was doubtful about Mr McAfee’s claim.

He stated that the iPhone is notoriously difficult to hack when compared to the other devices. Mr Cluley, for instance, had doubts on Mr McAfee’s idea that he could use `social engineering’ to work out the pass-code on the locked iPhone of Farook. It is a procedure wherein the hackers attempt to find out login identifications by deceiving people in disclosing them.

Back Door – iPhones Susceptible to Hacking


Mr Cluley said that `in a nutshell, dead men tell no tales. Good luck to Mr AcAfee trying to socially engineer a corpse in revealing its pass-code’ He added that the FBI is not interested anyway, they want to set a pattern that there should not be locks, they cannot break’. Mr McAfee, in his article had said that he was keen in unlocking the device since he did not want Apple to be forced in implementing a `back door’, a method wherein security services could access data on encrypted devices.

Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple had earlier commented in a statement that the firm did not want to co-operate. He discussed that introducing a back door would make all the iPhones susceptible to hacking by the criminals. Mr McAfee is of the belief that there would be a possibility of retrieving data from the phone by other means, but did not give much details regarding the same.

Tech Firms Support Apple


Those comprising of the Australian Children’s eSafety Commissioners, who had spoken to tech website ZDNet had stated that Apple would not essentially need to introduce a back door. However, the firm is only being asked to provide access to a single device. Other tech firms have supported Apple’s following a few days of debate on how it ought to respond to the request of FBI.

Sundar Pichai, Google boss had expressed his support for Mr Cook and recently chief executive of Twitter Jack Dorsey had added his approval through a tweet. Facebook had mentioned in a statement that it condemned terrorism and had solidarity with the victims of terror, though would tend to continue its policy of opposing requests of diminishing security.

It stated that they would continue to fight aggressively against the necessities for companies in weakening the security of their systems and these demands would develop chilling pattern as well as obstruct the efforts of the company in securing their products.

Tuesday, 29 December 2015

Java Plugin Malware Alert to be issued by Oracle


Java
Oracle is widely known for being behind the popular programming language called Java. Java is used for variety of purposes by the developer from making apps, games to even other robust programs. Oracle has issued an advisory where it has warned millions of Java users could get exposed to a malware threat which results due to the flaw in the software update tool. This particular plug-in is installed on a large number of PCS’s which allows them to run small programs written in the Java language.

Oracle has issued an alert for this malware threat on the social media as well as on its official website. US’s Federal Trade Commission is currently investigating the Oracle for any wrongdoing which isn’t a good time for the malware to emerge.

The threat of the Malware target

The reason for launching an investigation on Oracle can be summarized from the FTC’s complaint which states that Oracle was aware of number of security issues in the Java SE (standard edition) plug-in when it bought Java technology from its creator Sun in 2010. FTC has highlighted the flaws in the security system of the Java will can easily allow hackers to craft malware providing access to consumer’s usernames and passwords for the financial accounts. Apart from this malware can even be designed to feed of other vital and sensitive information which results in the attack on the user’s privacy. FTC has alleged that Oracle has been fooling its customers by asking them to install its updates which would ensure that their PC’s remain safe and secure. But Oracle had the firm knowledge that the Java has existing security issues.

Reasons for security issues in Java

The presence of security issues in the Java language is mainly attributed to Sun as it didn’t deleted the original update process in the earlier versions of the software before passing it on to Oracle. FTC states that it offers a great way for the hackers to exploit and launch their attacks on the PCs running Java.

Oracle has tried to address this issue but its update tools were only able remove the issues in latest version of Java but it left the earlier editions behind. Oracle only managed to rectify the problem in August 2014. In the current investigation being carried out by the FTC Oracle is not liable to plead ignorance as internal documents dating 2011 has stated that Java update mechanism is not aggressive enough or simply not working.

Trouble days for Java

Java is currently used to power a wide number of web browser base games, hat tools, and calculator and performs some other essential functions. Java also happens to be one of the top three applications which are targeted by the criminals. Most of the people don’t even know that it comes pre-installed on a large number of machines. FTC is recommending the business to stop using the java application or to remove them from their systems in order to remain safe secure from cyber threats. FTC is basically corned about the update procedures which are followed by the Oracle and it will not simply settle the problem by imposing a financial penalty.

Tuesday, 28 July 2015

United Hackers Given Million Free Flight Miles


United
United Continental Holdings, a US airline has rewarded the two hackers under their bug bounty program because they have spotted security holes in the company website and they disclose the security flaw privately rather than sharing it online.

As a part of reward hackers have received the maximum reward of a million miles on flight, which is worth of hundreds free domestic flights and it is for two people. According to tech experts, its big and very good step in the domain of online security. In conversation with Reuters United Continental Holdings confirmed that they have paid the reward of one millions mile to each hacker, but they didn’t respond on the tweets of individuals which is saying that they have been also paid the small cash reward. This Chicago based carrier is hoping that its bug bounty program will help the company to uncover the cyber risks in the area of airline web security. With the help of bug bounty program web researchers solved the problem before hackers can exploit them and due to that the cost is much less than hiring outside consultancies.

However; all the three major competitors of United have declined any comment on the bug bounty programs and fourth was not available for commenting. Whereas; Trade group Airlines stated that in US all the air carriers should conduct these kinds of tests to make sure that system is secure. United adopted this strategy in the month of May when due to technology glitches they have grounded its fleet more than two times. In one incident company locked its airline reservations system and prevents customers from checking in, however; due to other zapped functionality of the software this air carrier dispatches its entire flight plan. According to spokesperson of United, “We believe that with the help of this program we will continue to provide best, secure and most excellent service”.

Jordan Wiens, who is working on the cyber vulnerabilities, tweeted that last month he received a reward of 1 million miles from United for exposing a security flaw which can allow hackers to control the website of airline. The more he added in an interview that there are not many companies in industry which are doing bug bounty programs, however; according to Wiens it’s normal for big companies such as; United to offer bug bounty program for their websites. Beyond the bug bounty program, United stated that its perfect test system which internally engages the cybersecurity firms to keep its website and online security secure.

According to Dr Jessica Barker, who is security consultant, “Schemes which are rewarding the hackers are perfect way to find and disclose the online security problems in right way and it help us to make the internet safe for all of us”. The more he added that bug bounty programs are common for tech companies because they understand online security and due to certain benefits now other industries are catching them.

Tuesday, 28 October 2014

Power of Big Data Analytics


Cloud Physics
Several companies tend to use Big Data technology across various industries to identify new options in improving their functions.

Cloud Physics is one such company who strives in bringing the power of Big Data analytics to every data centre, in capturing data with virtualized infrastructure, analyse it, providing great insights which could be helpful in making smarter data driven operational options.

Infographic helps in bringing about visual representations of information, data or knowledge which could present complex information accurately to the viewers. This could improve cognition through the utilization of graphics thereby enhancing the visual system of the human’s ability in seeing patterns and the trends.

The idea of the creation of infographic could be considered as data visualization, information architecture or information design. But there could be some scary things lurking in your data centre and CloudPhysics has brought about an awareness of some of the hidden hazards which could be lurking in virtualized data centres.

Data centres could tend to be fraught and could include hidden operational problems and since virtual infrastructure could be somewhat complex and dynamic, several vulnerabilities could go unnoticed and could be difficult to identify while on the other hand known hazards tend to get ignored since the administrators either underestimate, or don’t comprehend the scope, risk and severity.

Report Analysis on Virtualized Data Centre 

The company specializes in identifying and resolving issues which could affect virtualized infrastructures. A graphic in the spirit of Halloween, identifies issues like Heartbleed and renders control which could have unexpected repercussion on the operation of IT infrastructures.

Viewers could take the opportunity of requesting a free analysis report that could highlight hazards lurking in their data centres which is an easy process and can be obtained on furnishing the details desired by them.

The company helps in generating a full report on what is taking place in your virtualized data centre, at no cost. Should the user also tend to have other tools in their environment to inform on this stuff or that none of them may exits, the user could still benefit from the same.

Moreover, the report also provides information about virtualized datacentre which could not have been mentioned or that one may not be unaware of.

Thursday, 14 August 2014

1.2 Billion Passwords Snipped: Secure Your Online Account with a Strong Password


Cyber security
Technology represents a new identity with the extensive improvement and thus you can easily acknowledge the optimistic features helping you to set up a new identity online. However, along with the advanced attributes also you may be the victim of a negative impact such as hacking. Nowadays it appears as one of the biggest concerns that you need to take care of maintaining a suitable profile online. Manifold users complain that they have been hacked and the passwords are stolen, which lead to lose the confidential and important data.

The newspapers and the online news channels reveal the entire fact specifying the dark side of technology. According to the authenticated information, a particular Russian group hacked about 1.2 billion passwords from nearly 500 accounts. Therefore, all the users using the accounts faced serious problems recovering the entire set of data.

How to maintain the privacy of your account? 

From the above fact, it emerges as the essential feature to sustain a suitable privacy that blocks the hackers stealing your password. You need to set a password that is really difficult to retrieve. The passwords accumulating the common characters or figures can be easily tracked by the hackers that may be threatening for your account.

Incorporate other security features such as the secret questions that protect your account from the unauthorized access. So, all your information remains safe and you would not have to worry regarding the spamming activities. Furthermore, nowadays the webmail providers and the other social sites are implementing multiple security attributes to safeguard their users from the unruly bustles. Follow the regular news and other technical periodicals that depict useful information helping you to know how you can incorporate more safety measures to your account. Hence, you can prevent the leaking out of the data that may bring a tragic episode in your life.

Cyber Security to safeguard the Online Users

Furthermore, the administration employs a specific cyber security feature that protects the privacy of the users and thus you can carry out the online activities without any worry. The entire society is therefore convinced that they attain the ultimate safety over the web that leads to the flawless execution of the operations. Browse the various online sites that consist of other information revealing the particular facets for the cyber security. Acknowledge certain software and other equipment installing which you can increase the safety of your account online.

Eliminate the Negative Technical Brunt

Once, you are able to put a complete barrier to the hackers and other unqualified persons entering your personal account the overall theft will decrease to the large extent. It comes out as a significant feature that is really useful to affix a strict blockade to your top secret data. Employ the feasible security measures and ensure the effective account free from the spamming activities that destroy your useful information. Make sure that you are on the safe hands protecting your account from every type of unscrupulous bustle. Finally, you are able to set up a complete well-organized online account that achieves the ultimate safety.

Monday, 30 January 2012

Protecting Your Data

At one time, the majority of the computers that people used for business and personal use were stationary. In order to use them, you needed to be sitting at the desk in front of the PC or at the very least, be hardwired into the network in some way or another. With the popularity of laptops, however, this is changing quickly. In fact, many people are using laptops, not only to be able to travel and to take their work with them when they are on the go but also as a stationary computer as well.