|
| |
Archive for July, 2012
Wednesday, July 25th, 2012
Between jewelry, passports, laptops, and even tablets, a lot of us carry some very expensive things when we travel. And we expect the hotel we’re staying at to do all they reasonably can to keep us and our belongings safe. But according to a Forbes report, hotel doors with keycard entry offer virtually no security at all — they can be easily hacked with as little as $50 worth of equipment.
According to 24-year old security expert Cody Brocious, if your hotel room door’s keycard lock has a DC power port, it can be broken in to with inexpensive software and other hacking tools. And to prove it, Brocious has created a device capable of breaking into as many as 5,000,000 hotel rooms worldwide. The device works by spoofing the all-access cards used by hotel staff. According to Brocious, while every locked hotel room door requires its own access code to open, that access code is programmed into the door itself. The hacking tool can read the code, and then use it moments later to unlock the door.
Brocious will talk more about his hacking tool (and, more broadly, hotel room security) at the Black Hat USA security conference on July 24
Read original story here: yahoo.com
Tags: hacking, hotel key card, software
Posted in Crime News, hacking, National News, safety, Security | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 25th, 2012
PITTSBURGH (AP) — High-tech security? Forget those irksome digital eye scans. Meet the biometric shoe.
A new lab is working to perfect special shoe insoles that can help monitor access to high-security areas, like nuclear power plants or special military bases.
The concept is based on research that shows each person has unique feet, and ways of walking. Sensors in the bio-soles check the pressure of feet, monitor gait, and use a microcomputer to compare the patterns to a master file for that person. If the patterns match the bio-soles go to sleep. If they don’t, a wireless alarm message can go out.
“It’s part of a shoe that you don’t have to think about,” said Marios Savvides, head of Carnegie Mellon University’s new Pedo-Biometrics Lab, in Pittsburgh.
The lab, which has $1.5 million in startup funding, is a partnership with Autonomous ID, a Canadian company that is relocating to several U.S. cities. Todd Gray, the company president, said he saw the potential when his daughter was in a maternity ward decorated with representations of different baby feet all along a wall.
Autonomous ID has been working on prototypes since 2009, with the goal of making a relatively low cost ID system. Gray said they’ve already run tests on sample bio-soles, which are no thicker than a common foot pad sold in pharmacies, and achieved an accuracy rate of more than 99 percent. He said Carnegie Mellon will broaden the tests to include “a full spectrum of society: big, tall, thin, heavy, athletic, multicultural, on a diet, twins and so on.”
Gray wouldn’t speculate on what the system will cost or when it might reach the marketplace, but each worker at a site would have his or her own pair of bio-soles.
“Within the third step, it knows it’s you, and it goes back to sleep,” he said. “If I put on yours, it would know almost instantly that I’m not you.”
The idea may seem far-fetched, but scientists have known for centuries that individuals have unique ways of walking, and in recent years the U.S. Department of Defense has been funding millions of dollars of gait research, as has the Chinese government.
The Institute of Intelligent Machines is doing extensive research into gait biometrics, including reports of systems where a floor monitors footsteps without people’s knowledge.
One expert who is not connected with the CMU lab said the biometric sole seems promising.
“I must admit I find this news very exciting,” said John DiMaggio, an Oregon podiatrist who has worked with law enforcement to use foot information in forensic investigations. While it is too early to fully judge the CMU research plan, DiMaggio said using feet as a biometric identification source makes sense.
While researchers have noted that gait can vary with injuries, fatigue and other factors, Savvides said the bio-soles can detect signs of those things, too.
The bio-soles might also have medical uses. Several papers presented this month at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Vancouver suggest changes in how elderly people walk — such as a slowing pace or variable stride — can provide early warnings of dementia.
Gray said the technology is less invasive of privacy than eye scans and other biometrics, in part because the individual data stays inside the bio-soles. (more…)
Tags: bio-soles, biometric, Todd Gray
Posted in "Hmm.", National News, Security, Technology | No Comments »
Thursday, July 19th, 2012
Ever feel like nothing is secret any more because of the Internet? You may be right. It took 4Chan users only 15 minutes to track down and bust the Cleveland-area Burger King employee who stood on top of two containers of shredded lettuce and then posted a picture of the gross act. 4Chan is a bulletin board-type website where members post images and comments.
“This is the lettuce you eat at Burger King,” wrote the unnamed employee on the evening of July 16. Guess he thought that was funny. Other users weren’t laughing: according to Hypervocal.com,Anonymous, the notorious vigilante hacking group, used GPS data embedded in the photo to locate the fast food restaurant’s address and reportedly contacted the franchise and FoxNews8. “Whoever this is is getting fired,” a morning shift manager named Andrea, told the Cleveland Scene.
Bryson W. Thornton, Director of Burger King’s Global Communications, wrote in a statement to Yahoo! Shine:
“Burger King Corp. has recently been made aware of a photo that shows a BURGER KING® restaurant employee violating the company’s stringent food handling procedures. Food safety is a top priority at all BURGER KING® restaurants and the company maintains a zero-tolerance policy against any violations such as the one in question. The restaurant where this photo was taken is independently-owned and operated by a BURGER KING® franchisee. The franchisee has taken swift action to investigate this matter and terminated the three employees involved in the incident.”
Still, make mine a burger, but hold the lettuce.
Read Original Story Here: yahoo.com
Tags: 4chan, burger king, internet
Posted in busted, Caught!, Idiot, National News | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 17th, 2012
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Food and Drug Administration’s secret monitoring of its staff raised hackles in Congress on Sunday after lawmakers learned their own offices were apparently targeted by the surveillance operation.
Six current and former FDA scientists and doctors filed a lawsuit in January claiming the agency tried to repress warnings about potential corruption in device reviews.
Documents detailing the surveillance operation suggest it was large-scale and that the FDA kept a list of targets including lawmakers and their aides, The New York Times reported on Sunday.
“It is absolutely unacceptable for the FDA to be spying on employees who reach out to members of Congress to expose abuses or wrongdoing in government agencies,” said Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.
Van Hollen, who is a member of the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives, was named in the documents as a target, the paper reported.
The whistleblowers suing the FDA worked for an office in the agency responsible for reviewing applications to sell medical devices in the United States.
The FDA acknowledged monitoring the communications of five staff members it suspected had leaked confidential details about a device under review.
“The agency had evidence suggesting that they might be responsible for the unauthorized disclosure of proprietary information,” said FDA spokeswoman Erica Jefferson.
Jefferson denied that lawmakers’ offices were targeted and said the surveillance was limited to communications on government-owned computers.
Among the devices the FDA employees say they flagged as dangerous was a computer-aided detection device used with mammograms. The FDA approved the device for sale despite staff warnings that it could cause significant harm to women, according to the whistleblowers.
“The FDA should be focused on resolving these complaints rather than retaliating against its employees,” Van Hollen said.
The whistleblowers’ lawsuit claims the FDA retaliated by failing to renew employment contracts and by alleging criminal wrongdoing. Four of the six plaintiffs are no longer working at the FDA.
“The FDA has a lot of explaining to do in the weeks ahead,” said Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, another lawmaker reportedly targeted in the surveillance operation.
(Reporting by Jason Lange, Andy Sullivan and Anna Yukhananov; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)
Read Original Story Here: yahoo.com
Tags: FDA, spying, Survelliance, Van Hollen
Posted in busted, National News, privacy, Technology, Video Security | No Comments »
Thursday, July 12th, 2012
That overstuffed wallet of yours can’t be comfortable to sit on. It’s probably even too clunky to lug around in a purse, too.
And with every new bank slip that bulges from the seams, your personal information is getting less and less safe. With just your name and Social Security number, identity thieves can open new credit accounts and make costly purchases in your name. If they can get their hands on (and doctor) a government-issued photo ID, they can do even more damage, such as opening new bank accounts. These days, con artists are even profiting from tax-return fraud and health-care fraud, all with stolen IDs.
We talked with consumer-protection advocates to identify the eight things you should purge from your wallet immediately to limit your risk in case your wallet is lost or stolen.
And when you’re finished removing your wallet’s biggest information leaks, take a moment to photocopy everything you’ve left inside, front and back. Stash the copies in a secure location at home or in a safe-deposit box. The last thing you want to be wondering as you’re reporting a stolen wallet is, “What exactly did I have in there?”
1. Your Social Security Card…
…and anything with the number on it.
Your nine-digit Social Security number is all a savvy ID thief needs to open new credit card accounts or loans in your name. ID-theft experts say your Social Security card is the absolute worst item to carry around.
Once you’ve removed your card, look for anything else that may contain your SSN. As of December 2005, states can no longer display your SSN on newly issued driver’s licenses, state ID cards and motor-vehicle registrations. If you still have an older photo ID, request a new card prior to the expiration date. There might be an additional fee, but it’s worth it to protect your identity.
Retirees, pull out your Medicare card, too, because it has your SSN on it. Instead: Photocopy your Medicare card (front and back), black out the last four digits of your SSN on the copy, and carry it with you instead of your real card.
2. Password Cheat Sheet
The average American uses at least seven different passwords (and probably should use even more to avoid repeating them on multiple sites/accounts). Ideally, each of those passwords should be a unique combination of letters, numbers, and symbols, and you should change them regularly. Is it any wonder we need help keeping track of them all?
However, carrying your ATM card’s PIN number and a collection of passwords (especially those for online access to banking and investment accounts) on a scrap of paper in your wallet is a prescription for financial disaster.
Instead: If you have to keep passwords jotted down somewhere, keep them in a locked box in your house. Or consider an encrypted mobile app, such as SplashID ($9.95; Android, Blackberry, iPad, iPhone), Password Safe Pro (free, Android only) or Pocket (free, Android only).
3. Spare Keys
A lost wallet containing your home address (likely found on your driver’s license or other items) and a spare key is an invitation for burglars to do far more harm than just opening a credit card in your name. Don’t put your property and family at risk. (And even if your home isn’t robbed after losing a spare key, you’ll likely spend $100+ in locksmith fees to change the locks for peace of mind.)
Instead: Keep your spare keys with a trusted relative or friend. If you’re ever locked out, it may take a little bit longer to retrieve your backup key, but that’s a relatively minor inconvenience. (more…)
Tags: fraud, identity theft, social security cards, wallet
Posted in Home, Personal & Travel Security, National News, safety, Security | No Comments »
Monday, July 2nd, 2012
Home Network security seems to be a simple thing these days. It is not difficult to set your router with the proper security measures to stop others from hopping on your WiFi signal and getting that internet service you are likely over paying for.
A NEW wallpaper that can filter out Wifi and certain other frequencies has been developed by French researchers: and they say it could be priced the same as classic wallpaper.
Of course this magical block that keeps out WiFi pirates really comes down to a password. It’s a tiny bit more complicated than that, but for the most part this is all it takes to make your home network private instead of branding it a hotspot and sharing it like the town bicycle.
But of course there are ways around these security measures, and if you want to keep signal thieves out of your network, here’s a product that will likely stop them dead in their tracks.
With all the logic of a giant wall of stones, this solution has a coating of silver ink that can be embedded into wallpaper to block out certain electromagnetic frequencies while only allowing certain “important” signals to pass through.
Pierre Lemaitre-Auger of the Grenoble Institut Polytechnique said the wallpaper – called Métapapier or Metapaper – would give people and businesses reassurance about electromagnetic radiation from Wifi and mobile phone signals. (more…)
Tags: pirates, security, Wallpaper, WiFi
Posted in Home Surveillance, National News, Online Security, privacy | No Comments »
| |
|
