Tech Talk

An assault is raging on Twitter.

Thousands of accounts on the popular social network have been hijacked and turned into spammers at a speed never before seen, Mashable reports. It may be tied to the recent attack against Gawker and its 1.3 million commenters.

The tweets link to domains containing “acainews,” the technology blog reports — and it is strongly advised to steer clear of such links. Many of the tweets seem to advertise a berry-based product that will help folks to lose weight.

Folks operating compromised accounts should immediately change their passwords and then check if their accounts have been linked to unknown third-party accounts.

Tech Talk advises folks never to use the password for more than one account, that all passwords are at least 12 characters long and contain special characters, numbers and capital letters and to change all passwords every 30 days.

Folks in some of the most rural parts of New England have been left to fend for themselves at this hour — thanks to the very individuals promising to deliver a better life. Interesting strategy.

The Associated Press is reporting that political robocalls have sparked service outages among Comcast subscribers throughout parts of Massachussets and New Hampshire meaning 911 service has been knocked offline.

The telecommunications company was forced to reroute phone traffic as a result, the wire service reported Monday evening.

In addition, the New Hampshire Democratic Party reported a loss of phone service at 11 locations across the state on Monday afternoon, the wire service reported. The outages reminded Hearst Connecticut copy editor Bob Gottlieb of outages the party suffered in the state eight years ago.

Conspiracy theorists, be on alert.

Tech Talk thanks Hearst Connecticut copy editor Tim Bleasdale for this tip.

Hey girls, you might want to change your passwords and lock your computers to ensure your privacy.

While Tech Talk has always been adamant about Internet safety, a recent survey reported by Mashable left us stunned.

A whopping 53.18 percent of men polled said they believe privacy is dead online, according to AskMen’s “Great Male Survey,” Of the more than 100,000 dudes who completed the survey, 21.31 percent said that privacy is alive and well.

The survey, which was conducted over two months and involved more than 100,000 gentlemen, found that 13.32 percent of men read their partner’s electronic correspondences because it was open.

Nearly nine percent of survey participants said they admitted to breaking into their partner’s e-mail or messaging account — and a whopping 23.51 percent said they read a partner’s messages “with my partner’s knowledge,” a very broad answer.

Nearly 22 percent of respondents indicated that they would check their partner’s messages if “I suspected my partner was up to something.”

Of course, not all guys violate their partner’s privacy — and not all girls are innocent in this. There are a lot of good, upstanding gentlemen out there who go the extra mile to ensure their significant other’s cyber security. Nonetheless, however, everyone should be prepared.

The lesson in all of this is your privacy online is growing more difficult to safeguard — but it does not have to be.

Tech Talk recommends that passwords are randomly generated and are changed monthly — and should include special characters (such as exclamation points and asterisks,) capital and lowercase letters and numbers.

For more information on strong passwords, you could check out Microsoft’s corresponding page — and we recommend trying their password checker.  You could create a randomly generated password here.

Happy surfing.

Google collected sensitive data, including passwords, a French data protection agency examination has found.

The information was collected from unsecured wireless networks by the search engine’s Street View vehicles as the company logged WiFi hotspots, the BBC reported Monday.

CNIL, the French data protection agency, told reporters that an early look indicated the presence of “data that are normally covered by… banking and medical privacy rules,” the BBC reported.

Passwords for e-mail and “chunks of text from messages” were reportedly found, according to the British media.

The search engine giant said it was working with authorities and would delete the information it had gathered, if requested, the BBC reported.

Google acknowledged that its vehicles had “mistakenly” collected and stored data broadcast from wireless networks in Connecticut, Tech Talk reported earlier this month.

The search engine called the collection a software mistake, Tech Talk cited a release by Connecticut’s Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal, as saying. Google has stressed that the data has been secured and was not used “in any Google service or product.”

Google said it has grounded its entire Street View fleet and has stopped collecting wireless data, Tech Talk has previously reported. The search engine “believes” it started collecting the data in Connecticut two years ago, Blumenthal said in a statement.

“Our ultimate objective is to delete the data consistent with our legal obligations and in consultation with the appropriate authorities,” a Google spokesperson said.

Investigations have been launched in Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and Spain. Several U.S. states are considering filing civil suits, the BBC reported.

The company stated earlier this month in a release sent through Blumenthal’s office that it considered the information broadcast from the personal and business networks to be public information. It said it needs the information to “improve our location-based services.”

This is a serious issue. Any information collected could lead to people becoming victimized – not just by Google but by someone who hacks into the technology giant’s servers, which have been compromised before.  This news should remind Web surfers that they should only use secure wireless connections – or else they face becoming a victim. Learn more about wireless security here.

Even before Monday’s news, Connecticut’s attorney general indicated that a probe in the state was underway.

“Google’s actions raise troubling and profound questions about privacy and whether laws need to be clarified or changed,” Blumenthal said in a statement distributed earlier this month. “I urge consumers to consider encrypting their wireless computer networks. An unencrypted network is an invitation to snooping, like broadcasting all communications on loudspeakers. Anyone with the right software and equipment can listen in.”

Some of the most prominent people on earth may be vulnerable to spam and malicious hacking, according to a published report.

The security breach threatens the identities of Apple’s iPad owners, including CEOs, military and finance officials, members of the media and the Washington elite, Gawker reports. The information exposed include subscribers’ e-mail addresses and the numbers used to identify the SIM cards that associate a mobile device with a specific user.

The information was obtained by a group calling itself Goatse Security, according to Gawker.

Goatse Security reportedly obtained the information through a script on AT&T’s website. The security hole was repaired after Gaotse Security notified AT&T of the breach, Gawker reports.

According to Gawker:

According to the data we were given by the web security group that exploited vulnerabilities on the AT&T network, we believe 114,000 user accounts have been compromised, although it’s possible that confidential information about every iPad 3G owner in the U.S. has been exposed. We contacted Apple for comment but have yet to hear back. We also reached out to AT&T for comment.

Although AT&T closed the security hole recently, the victims were not immediately notified, according to Gawker.

The problem, according to Gawker, appears to be AT&T fault, and will likely complicate an already strained relationship with Apple.

Among others, affected accounts, according to Gawker, belonged to folks from:

• Department of Defense
• New York Times
• Time Warner
• News Corporation
• Hearst
• Amazon
• Google
• Microsoft
• Goldman Sachs
• Morgan Stanley
• JP Morgan
• Citigroup
• GMail user who appears to be Rahm Emanuel
• Senate and House of Representatvies
• NASA
• Department of Justice
• Department of Homeland Security
• FAA
• FCC

This incident should remind users that it’s a good idea to use a separate e-mail address for the registrations of products — like the iPad. Such e-mail addresses could then be automatically forwarded to one’s primary inbox. By doing such, one’s primary personal e-mail will not be as likely to be compromised.

To read much more, including analysis, details about how the breach was perpetrated and a statement from AT&T, please click here.

Google has acknowledged that its Street View vehicles have collected and stored data broadcast from wireless networks in Connecticut, the state’s attorney general’s office has announced. The information could include e-mails, Web browsing and passwords.

The search engine called the collection a software mistake, a press release issued by Richard Blumenthal indicated.  However, Google noted that the data has been secured and was not used “in any Google service or product,” the press release continued.

The data was collected with the vehicles used to take photos of streets and surrounding buildings around the world to create its Street View maps.

Google said it has recently grounded its entire Street View fleet and has stopped collecting wireless data, according to the release. The search engine “believes” it started collecting the data in Connecticut two years ago, the state’s top lawyer announced.

The company said it considered the information broadcast from the personal and business networks to be public information. It said it needs the information to “improve our location-based services,” the statement continued.

“Google’s acknowledgement that it vacuumed up data from unencrypted wireless computer networks in Connecticut is disturbing and demands additional inquiry,” Blumenthal said in the statement. “Google grabbed information – which could include e-mails, passwords and Web browsing — that consumers rightly expect to be private. Google needs to better explain how this practice happened, exactly when, where and why. My office is carefully considering Google’s answers and will seek additional information. Key questions include how Google learned that its software was gathering unencrypted data and why the company kept the information.”

The statement indicated that the attorney general would consider the legality of the collection practices.

“Google’s actions raise troubling and profound questions about privacy and whether laws need to be clarified or changed,” Blumenthal said in the statement. “I urge consumers to consider encrypting their wireless computer networks. An unencrypted network is an invitation to snooping, like broadcasting all communications on loudspeakers. Anyone with the right software and equipment can listen in.”

Google will provide additional information identifying the municipalities the information was collected from and the number of networks from which data was harvested, the release indicated.

Google has admitted to intercepting packets of data from unsecured networks in Europe, an earlier statement from Blumenthal’s office stated.

The attorney general is on the correct side of this critical issue. Blumenthal ought to be praised for standing up to Google on this important issue.

Residents in the state could be victimized – not just by Google but by someone who hacks into the technology giant’s servers, which have been compromised before.  This news should remind Web surfers that they should only use secure wireless connections – or else they face becoming a victim. Learn more about wireless security here.

“Unauthorized surveillance of wireless network data is the dark side of the new Internet era — and I will fight it,” Blumenthal said in a statement.

Other investigations are also on-going into Google. You could read about those here.

Another Connecticut bank appears to have been targeted by folks who tried to steal personal banking information.

Suspects allegedly used a skimming device to capture card and PIN information at a People’s United Bank early Thursday, the Darien Patch reports.

Three women were led away by police in handcuffs, the Patch reported, and police are reportedly seeking a fourth individual.

In July, Tech Talk reported the arrest of a man who allegedly attached skimming devices to ATMs in two Wallingford banks.

“As technology evolves, there are more and more ways for criminals to circumvent the process,” Connecticut State Police spokesman Sgt. Chris Johnson told the New Haven Register at the time.

Thieves can capture ATM, debit and credit card information through a process called skimming anywhere such cards are used by capturing the information contained on the cards’ magnetic strip.  In many cases, cameras are also attached nearby to capture PIN information.

However, by following but a few simple tips, you could avoid becoming a victim.

Consumer Reports recommends:

• Don’t type in your pin at the gas pump for your debit card because they are produced by only a couple manufacturers making it easier for someone to gain the ability to insert a skimming device inside the pump where it cannot be seen.  If a credit card is unavailable, the publication suggests choosing the screen prompt that identifies the card as a credit card so a PIN is not required; greater protection from liability is gained if fraud occurs this way.
• Closely monitor your bank accounts — preferably online — because federal law limits consumers’ liability for fraudulent debit-card charges to $50, but only if the  theft or loss is reported within two business days. Failing to report unauthorized charges within 60 days of the date of the statement could make you liable for any unauthorized withdrawals afterward.  Visa and MasterCard have zero liability policies that go beyond federal law by exempting debit users from liability in most circumstances when a bank investigation confirms a transaction is fraudulent.  However, dealing with debit-card fraud has the potential of having a greater impact on your finances than credit-card fraud as you won’t be out any money while the disputed charges are being investigated.
• Use ATMs at banks because there’s generally more traffic and surveillance cameras to prevent someone from attaching a skimming device.  Granted, as noted in the ABCNews.com report, bank ATMs could also be targeted.  And, in fact, ABCNews.com reports that criminals are beginning to target ATMs in banks because the increased traffic gives thieves the potential for more activity and subsequent money.

ABCNews.com offers six recommendations of how to spot ATM skimmers:

• Be aware of your surroundings. Be extra careful of machines in dark areas or in places that don’t look well guarded and monitored.
• Pay attention to the front of machines. If it looks different from others in the area (for example, it has an extra mirror on the face), has sticky residue on it (potentially from a device attached to it) or extra signage, use a different machine and notify bank management with your concerns.
• Notice how it feels to type in your PIN code. If it’s difficult to punch the keys or you feel resistance, it could mean that a keypad overlay is present.
• Cover your hand as you type in your PIN. If a camera is present or someone is trying to look over your shoulder, this will obstruct their view.
• If you think the area around the card entry slot looks peculiar, pull on it. If it comes off or loosens, alert bank management but try to leave the machine as you found it. Leaving the evidence in place could help authorities track down the criminals.
• If you find a skimming device, in addition to notifying bank management, the ATMIA says to notify local law enforcement.

If things get completely out of hand, American banks might resort to a South African technique of loading pepper spray into automatic teller machines to deter crooks, as Tech Talk reported here.  Granted, a few modifications would have to be made first.