It is important to understand the risks of the gadgets you are bringing into your home — and bedroom.
A lawsuit alleging that officials from a high school in an affluent area in Pennsylvania watched a 15-year-old at home on a school-issued laptop’s webcam has raised awareness of a relatively unknown risk. Many laptops sold today have webcams built into the monitor creating for the potential of increased voyeurism.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court, the family said the school’s assistant principal had confronted their son, told him he had “engaged in improper behavior in [his] home, and cited as evidence a photograph from the webcam embedded in [his] personal laptop issued by the school district.”
The Lower Merion School District, the suit alleged, was able to turn on the webcams and illegally invade students’ privacy.
According to the publication:
A statement on the district Web site said the lawsuit’s allegations “are counter to everything that we stand for as a school and a community.”
Stephen Henderson, a law professor interviewed for the story, told philly.com that using such a camera for home surveillance “would violate wiretap laws, even if done to catch a thief.”
It is important for folks with webcams to understand how the popular device works. Some have lights that illuminate when activated, while some do not. Many have the potential to be activated remotely. To preserve one’s privacy, users with webcams could simple place a small Post-it note over the camera’s hole to avoid any unexpected or undesired exposure.
It is important to remember to always think of the worst-case scenarios with any piece of technology you bring into your home, because chances are someone else already is.
America must look to technology to protect its citizens and infrastructure from 21st century threats.
Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence, said that the United States is at risk of a cyberattack that could “wreak havoc,” FOX News reported Wednesday. It is substantially easier to launch a digital attack than defend against one, the intelligence czar reportedly told the House Intelligence Committee.
“What we don’t quite understand as seriously as we should is the extent of malicious cyberactivity that grows, that is growing now at unprecedented rates, extraordinary sophistication,” Blair said. “And the dynamic of cyberspace, when you look at the technological balance, right now it favors those who want to use the Internet for malicious purposes over those who want to use it for legal and lawful purposes.”
Al Qaeda could attempt to carry out an attack in America within the next six month, FOX News quoted senior intelligence officials as telling Congress on Tuesday.
Despite President Obama’s promises to make cybersecurity a priority, FOX News reports that his budget actually requests a decrease in funds for America’s cybersecurity division of Homeland Security.
Our government has for too long been reactive, rather than proactive. Just consider how the TSA operates. New policies and protocols are routinely instituted AFTER threats are made known, rather than before. The alleged Christmas Day bomber is the perfect example.
Tech Talk has reported extensively on potential cyber threats facing this country. You can sample our cyberwarfare archives here.
As America becomes increasingly dependent on technology — to do everything from manage finances, sewage treatment plans, sustain missions in space and operate military operations, it is increasingly important to take the mounting cyberthreat seriously. Or else, it will be too late.
If you see this e-mail, do not click the link. Instead, delete the e-mail immediately.
A new Facebook phishing scam that attempts to extract personal information from Internet surfers is making its way around the Web.
The fake e-mail, brought to my attention by my Hearst Connecticut colleagues Tim Bleasdale and Lynn Schnier, prompts e-mail recipients to click a link in an effort to update their accounts.
Instead, the link directs users to a Polish Web domain.
This e-mail should be immediately deleted, and obviously not clicked.
A hacker claims that he has broken the encryption that protects the majority of cell phone calls on earth, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Karsten Nohl, a German hacker, said he and his small team have broken the code for networks that utilize GSM technology, which includes AT&T and 80 percent of the world’s wireless networks. He said his purpose, according to the Journal, is to make phone carriers more serious about securing the calls.
The newspaper quoted him as saying he does not fear a lawsuit because “Everything we do is within the framework of academic research.”
The Journal reported that he is expected to prove his claim Wednesday.
If Nohl’s claims are true and his team’s research is used maliciously, we could all suffer.
Let’s hope that regardless of whether his claims pan out that our nation’s cellular providers increase security and encryption.
Please click here to read the full Wall Street Journal report.
U.S.A. Think They Controlling And Managing Internet By Their Access, But THey Don’t, We Control And Manage Internet By Our Power, So Do Not Try To Stimulation Iranian Peoples To….
NOW WHICH COUNTRY IN EMBARGO LIST? IRAN? USA?
WE PUSH THEM IN EMBARGO LIST
Take Care.
As a result of the cyber attack, Twitter was down for several hours, but appears to be running smoothly now. However, as a precaution, TechCrunch suggests changing any passwords that are the same as the one tied to Twitter.
As you may recall, Twitter played a high-profile role in the social and political upheaval following the controversial Iranian elections earlier this year. You could read more information on that in these file Tech Talk pieces here.
“Twitter’s DNS records were temporarily compromised but have now been fixed. We are looking into the underlying cause and will update with more information soon.”
To read more, and see screengrabs, please read this TechCrunch report.
CNET offers readers a fascinating inside look at what could be the largest data center in the world.
The Microsoft center, located somewhere in Chicago, looks like a seemingly ordinary building from the outside. And even inside, it looks pretty ordinary.
However, within these walls are thousands of servers for e-mail, instant messaging, and applications for the soon-to-be-launched cloud-based operating system, Windows Azure.
Several years ago I had the opportunity to visit a data center in Wilton. I cannot give detail beyond that because of the strict security surrounding the center. However, I could say it was a fascinating experience to see the machines that essentially make the Internet possible.
Check out the full report of Microsoft’s data center here.
A malicious worm appears to be spreading across the Twitter network.
Over the past few hours, I have received a half dozen direct messages encouraging me to check out several supposed videos.
While I cannot confirm they are the Koobface virus, several people sent me this message:
“haha check out this vid”
I removed the url to prevent any accidental clicks.
In the past, the Koobface virus has hidden behind the promise of videos the victim was in.
Regardless of it is the Koobface, it is a dangerous link and should be avoided.
Upon doing a quick Twitter search, it is clear many users have already made that mistake and are spreading the worm. I hope you are not the next victim.
DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK IF YOU SEE IT. IT IS DANGEROUS TO YOUR COMPUTER AND THREATENS ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION YOU HAVE STORED THERE.
If you already clicked the link, change your password immediately, delete all posts that resulted from when you clicked the link and post a note explaining what happened.
REMINDER: Don’t ever click a link that doesn’t seem consistent with the user’s particular post pattern. And while it’s difficult to predict exactly what could be a virus, malicious software is often hidden behind misspelled messages or items that promise to share videos or photos.
A survey that asked Facebook users if President Barack Obama should be assassinated has been removed.
The survey, which was posted Saturday by an independent person using a third-party application, has led to a Secret Service probe, the Associated Press reported.
According to the wire service:
The poll asked respondents “Should Obama be killed?” The choices: No, Maybe, Yes, and Yes if he cuts my health care.
The Secret Service said Monday that they are taking the potential threat against the president seriously.
RT @bbcnews: The estate of Michael Jackson agrees a deal worth $200m (£160m) with the record label Sony, US reports say. http://bit.ly/b ... #March 16, 2010 4:34 am
RT @mashable: Twitter announces new "at anywhere" platform for websites - http://bit.ly/9xzUOp#March 15, 2010 7:11 pm
RT @nytimesbits: Finally! Fandango will let moviegoers flash their phones instead of paper tickets. http://tcrn.ch/91oflc ^CM #March 15, 2010 6:32 pm
RT @bbcentertain: A play which was first discovered nearly 300 years ago has been credited to William Shakespeare. http://bit.ly/bJjPGK#March 15, 2010 6:31 pm
RT @CTMirror: Transportation Committee passes bill to require seat belts on school buses... http://tinyurl.com/ya9t74n#March 15, 2010 6:20 pm
