Showing 41 - 50 of 70
Safe surfing with a VPN
Life, James Hein, Published on 27/08/2014
» So how safe is your surfing? Not the water, board and shark kind, but what you do on the web. Sitting in front of your computer you will either have your own internet protocol (IP) address or be assigned one as part of a pool that is doled out by your internet service provider (ISP). Somewhere between you and the rest of the internet will be a domain name server (DNS) that knows how to get a message from out there back to you and vice versa. Or to put it another way, they know where you are.
Get ready, this week is Apple-heavy
Life, James Hein, Published on 30/07/2014
» At a talk given at the recent Hackers On Planet Earth conference, Jonathan Zdziarski found a number of hidden surveillance tools hidden in the iOS operating system. One provides a back door that, while not wide open, is enough to gain access to the user’s address book, account info and other bits and pieces. In this case, you can get data out, but not back into the device. The retrieved data is in a raw format and needs additional processing. There is also an undocumented packet sniffer (com.apple.pcapd) that can log and export network traffic. These items have been actively updated by Apple, meaning they are not left over from testing.
Can’t hide your head in the Cloud
Life, James Hein, Published on 02/07/2014
» According to marketing hype, the Cloud is good for businesses, both small and large, and for social media (i.e. everyone). Microsoft, Amazon, Google and a whole bunch of others will sell you Cloud-based access with a wide range of options and plans. To be fair, there are a lot of businesses out there that don’t care where their data is kept. There are also banks, healthcare providers and a range of others subject to privacy and strict data protection laws that do care where and how their information is looked after. Since we are talking about the Cloud, your data could be held in countries that don’t care for such things, or those which have different rules on privacy. In that case, what could you do to stop them from accessing your data? Hint: not much at all.
#hashtag is now official
Life, James Hein, Published on 25/06/2014
» It is as official as it is going to get — Oxford have accepted the word “hashtag” into their dictionary. Normally it would take longer, but due to the widespread use of the word it has been added early. The first use was on Aug 25, 2007, in a Twitter posting. The symbol itself has a longer history when back before the 1960s the # symbol, technically known as the “octothorp”, was used as an indicator for a number. It is also called the hash, hatch, crunch, pound, number and tic-tac-toe sign. Yes, I made up that last one.
To code or not to code?
Life, James Hein, Published on 18/06/2014
» Should everyone learn some computer programming? According to Linus Torvalds, the man who gave us Linux, the answer is “no”. With 40 years of computer programming behind me, I have some views on this subject.
The Cloud is thinner than we think
Life, James Hein, Published on 28/05/2014
» The world is currently enamoured with the Cloud, which is more of a concept than a reality. The recent two-day crash of the Adobe Cloud highlights just how fragile this technology is. The Cloud is definitely spectacular, and the usual suspects jumped onto the bandwagon — unfortunately so did certain CEOs captivated by glossy handouts and presentations, as usual not bothering to first check in with their system administrators. This is new, bleeding-edge technology that should typically be something from which an organisation steers clear until it has matured.
Hackers getting younger
Life, James Hein, Published on 16/04/2014
» As a parent here is a headline you don’t want to see every day "A five-year-old boy has found and exploited a password flaw in his Xbox to hack into his father's Xbox Live account". Special irony points for this story comes via the father who is a computer security specialist. Kristoffer, yes you guessed it, from California, broke in by entering the wrong password, navigating to the verification screen and entering spaces before hitting submit. This allowed him entry and exposed a password bug. Microsoft has since fixed the problem and rewarded Kristoffer. As a one-year-old he held down the home key on Dad’s phone to defeat a lockout so it looks like this kid is going places.
Don't bank on security of websites
Life, James Hein, Published on 22/01/2014
» In more hacking news this week, the names, home and email addresses, phone numbers and other personal information of around 70 million Target shoppers were grabbed in yet another a database raid that included 40 million credit card details. One of the reasons I use PayPal is because I only have to give my credit card details to one provider. I try to minimise who gets access to my credit card and banking details and PayPal is one way to do that.
Goodies galore unveiled at Nevada show
Life, James Hein, Published on 15/01/2014
» As I write this, CES _ the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas _ is under way with its displays of awesome gadgets. Nvidia announced a 192-core mobile processor that comes in 32-bit ARM format, or a 64-bit version. Yes, you read that correctly: 192-core. There's lots more from all the usual suspects, but so far the release of the Galaxy S5 hasn't been announced. That's expected next month.
Drones target US shoppers
Life, James Hein, Published on 11/12/2013
» Duck, because that buzzing sound you hear might be the new delivery drones from Amazon. OK, here in Thailand they are unlikely to ever be seen, but in the US Amazon has plans to deliver packages up to 2.4kg within a 10km range of their distribution centres. Dubbed "Prime Air", this is still in the concept stage with all kinds of hurdles to pass before implementation. First off they need a reliable, cost-effective delivery drone. Another group is doing a similar thing in Haiti but in this case they are delivering medicine. This trial has had problems with mechanical failures due to humidity, dust and temperature. The next hurdle is the requirement for navigation ground stations, licenses to fly drones in a metro area, power line avoidance systems and crazy bird attacks. Yes, I did make that last one up. Given the current restrictions in all likelihood any realised solution will be deployed in a non-US country first.