With the Facebook Hacked Your security is compromised

The Facebook Hacked was discovered on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 25th. The security of about 50 million account holders have been compromised. This discovery was made by the engineering team of Product Management. The VP of Product Management wants all the account holders to know that after the Facebook Hacked came to light, they are taking the issue very seriously. They want the users to be aware of the Facebook Hacked and that they will be taking prompt action to safeguard the user’s accounts and details.

Though the investigation regarding the Facebook Hacked is in its initial stage, it is quite clear that the hackers have found a way to access the user’s accounts. It is thought to be a vulnerability in the Facebook’s code which impacted the ‘View As’ feature. This feature of Facebook allows the users to see what their personal profile looks to others. The hackers could steal Facebook access tokens which enabled them to take over and operate the Facebook user’s accounts. The access tokens are actually the digital keys wherein a Facebook user can remain logged in without any need to re-enter their password every time they need to use the app.

Action taken towards Facebook Hacked

The primary action towards the Facebook Hacked was that the law enforcement agencies have been informed and the vulnerability has been fixed.

The access tokens of the affected 50 million accounts have been reset in order to protect the user’s security. As a precautionary measure, the access tokens of about 40 million accounts which have been subject to ‘View As’ in the past 1 year have been reset.

Due to the Facebook Hacked, at least 90 million users will now have to log in to Facebook or any other apps that use Facebook Login again. After this is done, the users will receive a notification at the top of their News feed explaining about the Facebook Hacked.

The ‘View As’ feature is temporarily turned off so that they can conduct a thorough investigation to figure out where the breach occurred. They have yet to see if any of the user’s accounts were misused or any personal information accessed. It is also not clear who is behind these attacks and where the hackers are based. If they find that there are more accounts that have been affected, then the access tokens willbe reset immediately.

Further Details regarding the Facebook Hacked

Only last week some additional details came to light. The vulnerability of the system was exploited and the Facebook access tokens for the user’s accounts in HTML were exposed. This happened as a result of three bugs.

The ‘View As’ feature which is a privacy feature allows people to see what their profile looks like to others. ‘View As’ is a view only interface. The box that allows you to wish your friends on their birthdays, with the ‘View As’ feature incorrectly enabled it to post a video.

In the second instant, the new version of the video uploader, (which appears due to the first bug) that was introduced in July 2017, gave an access token that had the accessibility of the Facebook mobile app.

Thirdly, when the video uploader appeared, it provided the access token not to you as the viewer, but for the user you were looking up.

All these three bugs combined became a vulnerability when the ‘View As’ feature was used to see your profile as a friend, the code did not remove the person that allows people to wish you; the access token was generated with the video uploader and the access token was not for you but for the person being looked up.

The access token was present in the HTML which the hackers extracted and could log in as another user. They could then access other accounts and get more access tokens.

Google Project Stream will be Huge for PC Gaming

Project stream to REACH New Heights!

Streaming has been the greatest invention since the internet or at least in my view. There is no hassle of downloading just the need for an internet connection. You can then watch your favorite shows, movies or listen to your favorite songs all without any problems. But that is not all streaming can do. Google plans on pushing the limits of streaming even further with its project stream operations. To make streaming even more capable than what it can currently do, Google’s project stream will be much more demanding than just streaming your average day video.

Project stream is Google’s way of pushing the limits when it comes to streaming in a good way. It is a test of sorts to see how far streaming can actually go. Our current day streaming has come a long way since only a few years back. But now for the ultimate test in project stream Google plans on streaming a blockbuster game.

Streaming a Blockbuster video game through Project Stream:

To really push the boundaries in project stream, Google has come up with a way to stream a blockbuster game and this is no ordinary game either. The game chosen for project stream is one of the best known and highly played games- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. The game may not be released just as yet but it is well on its way to becoming one of the most played games in the world.

The game to- be- released by one of the best gaming publication houses out there- Ubisoft, is all set to feature as Google’s test on streaming with project stream.

Who gets to be a part of Project Stream?

The game is all set to reach Google’s project stream platform on October the 5th. For the duration of the project stream test, Google will select a certain number of participants to play the game for the duration of the project stream test. This will take place at no extra cost to the players.

To play the game you have to be a US resident and aged above 17 years, plus (this goes without saying) you also have to have a working internet connection like say 25 megabits per second to play. This is besides there being other criteria which you can check out on Google’s help center.

The Difficulties of Streaming a Game on Project Stream:

Streaming comes with its own set of problems like buffering and the annoying wait for that to happen. But this is when you watch something like a video. But when it comes to gaming it’s a whole different ball game.

You have graphically rich content to stream and not only that, there can be no lagging and buffering, there has to be instant interaction between the player and what happens on screen.

The only latency that is acceptable is a few milliseconds and no more. Plus if you take in graphics, that makes it a really complex process that Google hopes to overcome with project stream.

Switching Silicon in Solar Cells Drops Production Costs

Cutting the Costs of Solar Panels through a Change of Silicon

In the summer when it gets really hot, the first thing we think of is the air cooler but after a while, after we have properly cooled down, we think of the exorbitant bill that is going to come our way on account of the A/C. In such times getting a solar panel is the best solution. Although they do cost a lot to install, the subsequent costs are brought down. But who can shell out all that cash at the beginning? Here’s where scientists plan on bringing down per unit costs by changing out the silicon used.

Scientists at Michigan University have found that by switching out the silicon in solar cells, the costs drop by about 10% per unit manufactured. Solar energy has been in use for a while, as concerns for green- house gas emissions started to increase, solar energy became the new “in thing”. In some places the costs of using a solar panel instead of conventional forms of electricity is almost the same. But this 10% drop in costs will give solar panels another boost in the industry.

The Use of Silicon in Solar Panels: 

Silicon is the norm raw material that is used in solar panels or photovoltaic cells. They come in two forms- perfect crystals that cost more but will give you more efficiency and multicrystalline silicon that costs less but gives you less efficiency.

In both cases of silicon, the cells have to be etched to reduce sunlight reflection. This reduces efficiency as some part of the sunlight is lost. This loss of light through etching on the cells, gives the cells their bluish color.

The Alternative to such Silicon Treatments: 

The alternative is to use nano- texturing silicon with a dry etching technique. This gives you a blackish silicon surface that is much more efficient at capturing sun rays than the norm blue one.

The reason this type of silicon surface is black is that the entire surface of the cell is covered in etchings which resemble a forest of tiny needles. This is done so that what sunlight falls on the surface gets captured and does not get reflected back.

Another challenge to using this form of Silicon: 

With surface defects on the surface of the cell, normally you would have problems in conducting electricity. But scientists have discovered a method known as Atomic Layer Deposition or ALD for short. This coating minimizes the surface defects problem of conducting electricity.

The dilemma in using black Silicon: 

Using black silicon instead of the bluish ones in solar panels and then its subsequent treatment of ALD all adds to the cost of the solar panels. This is at least what scientists thought. Scientists thought that by using black solar panels instead, the cost would go up by 15 to 25%.

But on further notice, scientists seen that they could, in this case, use the lesser efficient and lesser costing multi crystalline silicon and get the same efficiency or even more than the normal silicon solar panels cutting costs altogether by 10%.

New Molecular Wires to help Shrink Your Devices

Since gadgets and the like first came out, scientists all over the world are in a race to shrink their sizes. It is not enough that you hold the device in your hand or fit it into your bag, they just have to get smaller. But smaller is not the only criterian, theses gadgets or gizmos have to perform better and with better battery life. To achieve this aim, scientists have tried making each and every component in the gizmo smaller and one such part is molecular wires.

Scientists at Tokyo institute have developed a new form of wire that not is smaller than their predecessor but is also better at conducting electricity. These new form of molecular wires are filled with organometallic ruthenium which gives it better conducting. The current forms of molecular wires are much different to the ones invented by the scientists up at Tokyo. In the sense, that these new molecular wires get their high conducting power from a different source.

Molecular Wires in Tiny Devices: 

As devices get smaller, their component parts also get smaller, that’s a no brainer. But molecular wires are just the building blocks in such devices and maybe one of the most important yet fundamental of all parts.

By carefully designing these molecules, scientists have tried to make beeter contraptions for us to use.

The New form of Molecular Wires: 

These new form of molecular wires are in the form of a metal- electrode- molecular- metal- electrode junction. This includes a polyene molecule which is an organic chain like molecule.
These new form of molecular wires are based on the engineering of the energy levels of the conducting orbitals in the wire.

Is the new form of Molecular Wires better? 

 

Scientists used scanning tunneling microscopy to understand the level of conductance in these new form of molecular wires. What they found was that these new molecular wires are better than the standard or other fully organic molecular wires.

This brought scientists to explore the origins of the superior conductivity in molecular wires. They found that the properties that gave these molecular wires their high conducting properties came from orbital splitting in the molecular wires.

This orbital splitting brings about changes in original electron orbitals in the atoms of the molecular wires to make a new hybrid orbital. This new form of orbital facilitates electron transfer between mental electrodes and molecular wires.

This finding is rare to see in current MMM junctions.

What gives these Molecular wires their Higher conductance: 

The most important factor that gives these molecular wires their higher conductivity is the narrow gap between the highest and lowest molecular orbitals. The new technique formulated by scientists in making these molecular wires exploits this knowledge in enhancing the molecular wires conductivity.

Using the same MMM junction in these molecular wires along with the extremely narrow gap between the highest and lowest orbitals, scientist have come up with a new form of molecular wires that has unprecedented levels of conductance.

What You Need To Know About Google Titan Security Key

In this digital world, no accounts are safer because there is always a scope for the malicious hackers to get into the accounts and steal our information. As so many people are struggling to safeguard their accounts, Google has launched their new “Google’s Titan security key” to preserve and protect your accounts online.

In general, to protect your online accounts from hackers, you have to be careful in keeping a secured password and also you have to be reasonably good with the memory or else you will simply miss your password. Even when you have both, there is still a possibility to sneak through from your account for hackers. So, to add another layer of protection the new Google’s Titan security key will be helpful.

Google has started selling its new small piece of hardware from Aug 31, and it is called as the titan security key. It is specifically designed to add an extra layer of protection to your online accounts and online security.

Although Google has launched this extra layer of security, but it also has faced criticism for producing the Google titan security key in China through the partnership of feitian, company. I am saying according to the report of CNBC.

Now, after seeing this most of you might be curious to buy this Google’s Titan security key. And some might think what is precisely titan security key and how it’s going to help them. If these questions are wondering in your mind means don’t worry, I am going to explain them in this article.

What is Google titan Security Key?

Google Titan security key is a piece of hardware that acts as the extra layer of protection to your online security. This tool is following FIDO standards for two-factor authentication (2FA) to verify a user’s security key, and then it verifies the address of the login page.

This device is particularly helpful for high-value users such as IT managers and admins. The titan security keys work only work with the popular browsers, which supports FIDO standards.

The hardware chip in the Google security key includes a firmware specially engineered by Google to verify the keys.

Now, then we have learned about Google titan security key. Let us go into the further steps of Google titan Security key.

Features of Google titan Security Key:

Google’s new titan security key is having good features to protect us from online threats. Although most people hesitate to buy Google’s Titan security key, its features will attract you to buy this product.

Phishing Resistant 2FA:

The Google’s Titan security key provides the cryptographic proof that users are connecting with the legitimate services, which they originally registered their security key. So it will help you to stay away from all kind of the phishing attacks. Along with that, it has a two-factor authentication option as well.

Tamper- Resistant Hardware:

The small titan security key has a hardware chip that is specially designed by the Google developers, which help to verify that the keys haven’t tampered. These chips are specially designed to resist any physical attacks such as extracting firmware and secret key material.

Broad Browser Support:

This new tool is compatible with the all the FIDO standard browsers including Google Chrome. These are available in two form factors such as (USB/NFC/Bluetooth and USB/NFC).

Enhanced Security Key Enforcement:

Titan security key can provide security key enforcements to the available Google cloud customers. It allows all the admins to use these security keys in their organization as well.

Growing app ecosystem:

Titan security keys can also be used in authenticating the Google and other services which the help of the FIDO standards. Therefore, this is also a useful feature for all the people who strive to protect their accounts.

Advanced Protection Program:

The new titan security keys are compatible with the superior protection program of Google. It is one of the most robust security offerings in the Google. This feature helps to protect your Google accounts of anyone at the risk of the targeted attacks.


These are the new features of the Google’s Titan security key. Now, let us get into the other factors such as price and other aspects.

Google’s Titan Security Keys Brief:

As you, all know security keys are standard in the corporate environment. Moreover, people generally utilize it in the corporate world to make sure that only authorized users are accessing remote apps and other sensitive applications of the company.

They use these kinds of keys apart from the password, Pin, Biometric, and 2FA or two-step verification systems to protect their networks from hackers.

Google Titan security key exactly does that secures your accounts, and it works seamlessly with its Google owned products like Gmail, G suite apps, and so on. You can also use this with other websites and apps as well. As this key is fully compactable with the FIDO rules, it simply stands out in online security.

Now, most of you might be wondering about what is FIDO right “FIDO is nothing but a new set of technology agnostic security specification designed for strong Authentication. More than 260 companies accept it, and they are part of the FIDO alliance some of those companies are Google, Facebook, Amazon, PayPal, and Microsoft, etc.

As said that Titan security key is phishing resistant. So you can protect your accounts from devastating phishing attacks. Google has even said that since it has rolled out the titan security keys to its staff, it hasn’t been a single phishing attack got through the security key. So that strengthen the security key it can save you a lot.

Google Titan Security Price:

Google has started selling this from Aug 31st, and you can start making the purchase of the Titan device from the Google. Google is selling this tool for $50 in Google online Store. If you want to purchase the Google titan security, then you can buy it on Google online stores.

Most of the people think that this little key isn't worthy of $50, but I bet you, this is key is better than its price. It helps you to stay with peace of mind as it provides the security that is priceless.

So, this is it all about the google titan security key.

Conclusion: 

Now, in this Google’s titan security key post I have explained everything about the Security key.

It is up to you; let us know your views on the Titan security key.

Whether you like the security key or you don’t like it either way comment below.