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PC Monitors Vulnerable To Hacking
You should probably be leery of what you see since, apparently, your computer monitor can be hacked.
Researchers at DEF CON presented a way to manipulate the tiny pixels found on a computer display.
Ang Cui and Jatin Kataria of Red Balloon Security were curious how Dell monitors worked and ended up reverse-engineering one.
They picked apart a Dell U2410 monitor and found that the display controller inside can be used to change and log the pixels across the screen.
During their DEF CON presentation, they showed how the hacked monitor could seemingly alter the details on a web page. In one example, they changed a PayPal’s account balance from $0 to $1 million, when in reality the pixels on the monitor had simply been reconfigured.
It wasn’t exactly an easy hack to pull off. To discover the vulnerability, both Cui and Kataria spent their spare time over two years, conducting research and understanding the technology inside the Dell monitor.
However, they also looked at monitors from other brands, including Samsung, Acer and Hewlett Packard, and noticed that it was theoretically possible to hack them in the same manner as well.
The key problem lies in the monitors’ firmware, or the software embedded inside. “There’s no security in the way they update their firmware, and it’s very open,” said Cui, who is also CEO of Red Balloon.
The exploit requires gaining access to the monitor itself, through the HDMI or USB port. Once done, the hack could potentially open the door for other malicious attacks, including ransomware.
For instance, cyber criminals could emblazon a permanent message on the display, and ask for payment to remove it, Kataria said. Or they could even spy on users’ monitors, by logging the pixels generated.
However, the two researchers said they made their presentation to raise awareness about computer monitor security. They’ve posted the code to their research online.
“Is monitor security important? I think it is,” Cui said.
Dell couldn’t be reached for immediate comment.
Source- http://www.thegurureview.net/computing-category/computer-monitors-are-also-vulnerable-to-hacking.html
Amazon Finally Goes Two-Factor
Amazon is making it a little, or a lot, harder for miscreants to make off with user accounts by adding two-factor authentication.
It has taken Amazon some time to fall into line on this. Two-factor authentication has become increasingly popular and common in the past couple of years, and it is perhaps overdue for a firm that deals so heavily in trade.
Amazon is treating it like it’s new, and is offering to hold punters’ hands as they embrace the security provision.
“Amazon Two-Step Verification adds an additional layer of security to your account. Instead of simply entering your password, Two-Step Verification requires you to enter a unique security code in addition to your password during sign in,” the firm said.
The way that the code is served depends on the user, who can choose to get the extra prompt in one of three ways. They may not appeal to those who do not like to over-share, but they will require a personal phone number.
As is frequently the case, Amazon will offer to send supplementary log-in information to a phone via text message or voice call, and even through a special authenticating app.
It’s an option, and you do not have to enable it. Amazon said that users could select trusted sign-on computers that spare them from the mobile phone contact.
“Afterward, that computer or device will only ask for your password when you sign in,” explained the Amazon introduction, helpfully.
There are a number of other outfits that offer the two-factor system and you might be advised to take their trade and do your business through them. Apple, Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Dropbox, Facebook and many others offer the feature.
A website called TwoFactorAuth will let you check your standing and the position of your providers.
Source- http://www.thegurureview.net/technology-2/amazon-finally-goes-two-factor.html
Confusion Continues To Reign With U.S. Chip & PIN
November 11, 2015 by admin
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Several large U.S. retailers are ramping up efforts to use personal identification numbers, or PINs, with new credit cards embedded with computer chips in a bid to prevent counterfeit card fraud.
But they are being resisted by the banking industry, which sees no need to invest further in PIN technology, already used with debit cards, resulting in halting adoption and widespread confusion.
A small band of retailers with the clout to call the shots on their branded credit cards is leading the charge. Target Corp is moving ahead with a chip-and-PIN rollout, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc plans to do the same.
But Wal-Mart said it faces obstacles because its credit card partner, Synchrony Financial, is not yet able to handle PINs on credit cards. Synchrony declined comment.
Broadly, U.S. banks
are unprepared or resisting the change.
The impasse comes after many consumers got their hands on new credit cards embedded with so-called EMV chips in advance of an Oct. 1 deadline that required retailers to accept chip cards or be liable for fraud losses. EMV stands for EuroPay, MasterCard and Visa.
But only about a third of merchants are actually using the chip technology, according to analyst estimates. The number may not pick up until early next year, if at all, because the retail industry typically halts upgrades during the crucial holiday shopping season.
“PIN issuance will remain a niche,” said Julie Conroy, credit-card analyst with Aite Group.
Banks favor using chip cards verified by old-school signatures, even though chip-and-PIN usage has led to lower fraud over the decade they have been used in Europe and elsewhere.
“The PIN is definitely a must,” said Lance James, chief scientist with cyber intelligence firm Flashpoint. “It’s one extra step that provides true two-factor authentication.”
But bankers say PINs provide little benefit beyond the advantage of using chips in combating the estimated $7 billion-plus in annual U.S. card fraud.
EMV chips thwart criminals who use stolen data to create counterfeit cards, a category that Aite estimates accounts for 37 percent of that fraud. Banks say that PINs only provide additional fraud protection when criminals seek to use lost or stolen cards, a situation that Aite estimates accounts for only 14 percent of fraud.
Banking groups say there are better approaches than PINs for verifying customers and have asked retailers to embrace tokenization and encryption to prevent theft of credit card numbers.
“PIN is a static data element that would not have a meaningful impact on overall payments fraud,” said Electronic Payments Coalition spokesman Sam Fabens.
Courtesy-http://www.thegurureview.net/aroundnet-category/confusion-continues-to-reign-with-u-s-chip-pin.html
Sony Exits PC Business
Sony will unload its struggling PC business to a Japanese investment firm, the company said Thursday, raising the possibility that the “Vaio” brand could all but disappear from markets outside Japan.
Tokyo-based investment fund Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) will operate the Vaio PC brand under a newly established firm and initially sell PCs in Japan only.
In another reform aimed at bolstering its restructuring efforts, Sony also said it would turn its beleaguered TV business into a subsidiary.
The moves come as Sony said it now expects a net loss of $1.1 billion for the year to the end of March, a reversal of its October profit forecast.
Vaio, which Sony introduced in 1996, looks set to vanish from most markets, at least for short term, as the new company will initially concentrate on selling consumer and corporate PCs in Japan. Whether or not Sony will continue to produce products under the Vaio brand remains to be seen, Sony said.
Although Sony is selling its PC business, it will continue to produce tablet computers, part of its renewed focus on mobile devices including smartphones.
Sony did not put a price on the sale. Sony will take a 5% stake in the new firm, it said.
Sony will stop making and selling PCs after its 2014 Spring lineup launch, but about 250 to 300 Sony staff, including some from a subsidiary that produces TV sets, cameras and computers at factories in Japan, will be hired by the new company, which is to be based at the hub of Sony’s current PC business in Japan’s Nagano Prefecture.
Meanwhile, Sony said it will turn its TV business, which has faced a decade of losses, into a wholly owned subsidiary by July 2014.
Phishing Attacks Increasing
Security researchers at Kaspersky Lab have reported significant growth in phishing attacks over the last year.
In a study entitled “The Evolution of Phishing Attacks”, Kaspersky said it found 37.3 million out of its 50 million customers running its security products that were at risk of being phished from 2012 to the present, an 87 percent increase over the same period between 2011 and 2012.
“The nature of phishing attacks is such that the simplest types can be launched without any major infrastructure investments or in-depth technological research,” Kaspersky said in the report.
“This situation has led to its own form of ‘commercialization’ of these types of attacks, and phishing is now being almost industrialized, both by cybercriminals with professional technological skills and IT dilettantes.”
The security firm explained that overall, the effectiveness of phishing, combined with its profitability for criminals and how simple the process is to undertake has led to a steadily rising number of these types of incidents.
Kaspersky noted that most of the victims in 2012-2013 were located in just ten countries, that is, Russia, the US, India, Germany, Vietnam, the UK, France, Italy, China and Ukraine. These 10 countries were home to 64 percent of all phishing attack victims during this time.
In addition to a rise in the number of users attacked, the number of servers involved in phishing attacks also increased, Kaspersky said, without giving any exact numbers. Though the firm did reveal that internet giants like Yahoo, Google, Facebook and Amazon are the top targets of malicious users.
“Online game services, online payment systems, and the websites of banks and other credit and financial organizations are also common targets,” the firm added, warning users to stay vigilant when entering personal data.
Samsung And Yahoo Ink A Deal
November 14, 2012 by admin
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Yahoo announced a deal on Tuesday with Samsung to integrate its Broadcast Interactivity service into the company’s Smart TVs.
The agreement will allow Yahoo to push real-time content alongside TV shows and advertisements on Samsung TVs, such as “subtle, on-screen prompts” that inform viewers of additional content that they can watch.
“With the touch of a remote, connected tablet or phone, Samsung Smart TV viewers can easily surface content or offers related to the TV shows and commercials they are watching,” Samsung said.
TV programmers can use the integration feature to provide Samsung TV customers with “complementary content” such as trivia, additional information about the show being watched and interactive gaming.
Showtime Networks and National Geographic Channel are two of the first TV programming partners that will take advantage of the agreement, Yahoo said.
If TV ads aren’t annoying enough, Yahoo said the partnership also creates new forms of advertising by “extending traditional 30-second commercials into immediate actions”.
In other words, with broadcast interactivity enabled commercials, advertisers can embed “calls-to-action” for downloading apps or digital media, providing coupons, ordering samples, reading reviews or viewing product information. Just in case you really want to know more about that Mr Muscle sink unblocker, or the next JML cleaning gadget that is set to transform your home life forever.
Is Acer Threatened By The Surface?
Taiwanese computer manufacturer Acer has suggested that Microsoft Corp should reconsider its planned venture into the tablet market, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Acer Chairman and Chief Executive J.T. Wang, said Microsoft’s plans to launch its own “Surface” tablet in October would be “negative for the worldwide ecosystem” in computing.
Microsoft’s “Surface” tablet would enter the market in direct competition with Acer’s “Iconia” or Hewlett-Packard Co’s “TouchPad” tablets.
“We have said think it over. Think twice. It will create a huge negative impact for the ecosystem and other brands may take a negative reaction. It is not something you are good at so please think twice,” Wang is quoted as saying.
For the past two decades, Microsoft and personal computer makers have enjoyed a symbiotic relationship.
Campbell Kan, Acer’s president for personal computer global operations, said the company was debating internally how to respond to the Surface.
Dell Intros Ivy Bridge Xeon Servers
Dell has become the first to announce servers using Intel’s latest Ivy Bridge Xeon E3 processors.
Intel launched its single socket Ivy Bridge Xeon E3 processors a month after it wowed everyone with its dual-core Sandy Bridge Xeon E5 processors, and it has taken Dell only another month to announce the first servers to make use of Intel’s latest nearline server chip. Dell’s Poweredge C5220 microserver uses Xeon E3 1200 series processors that have thermal design power (TDP) down to 17W.
Dell is pitching its Poweredge C5220 servers towards high performance computing, cloud deployments and content delivery networks. While Dell calls the Poweredge C5220 a microserver, that really isn’t a reference to its size or density, but rather the fact that it is a single socket server.
Dell offers the Poweredge C5220 with either 17W or 45W TDP Intel processors supporting DDR3-1600 memory. The firm claims close to double the performance over previous generation single socket servers, mainly due to a 50 per cent increase in density.
Facebook Is Display Advertising King
Facebook’s U.S. advertising revenue will reach roughly $2.2 billion in 2011, toppling Yahoo Inc to collect the biggest portion of online display advertising dollars, according to a new study.
Facebook’s U.S. advertising revenue will give it a 17.7 percent share of the market for graphical display ads that appear on websites, according to a report released on Monday by research firm eMarketer.
Last year Facebook garnered 12.2 percent share of the U.S. market.
The figures highlights the growing clout of Facebook, the world’s No.1 Internet social network. It has seen its valuation soar to roughly $80 billion in recent transactions for its shares on the private markets as some investors anticipate it could have an initial public offering next year.
While Facebook has grabbed the top ranking, eMarketer analyst David Hallerman said the overall market for display ads, which include banner ads, video ads and Web page sponsorships, is growing robustly enough that it is benefiting numerous companies.
Dell To Unleash Microservers
Dell is apparently in the process to debut two new microservers that are equipped with low-power consumption efficient processors from AMD and Intel.Representatives from Dell stated that the PowerEdge C5125 and C5220 were built for businesses that want to set up cloud computing infrastructures. Dell’s Barton George wrote in his blog that the C5125 will utilize AMD processors and will ship next month and the C5220 which will have an Intel processor will ship in May. The PowerEdge eco-friendly servers will have a dense 3U infrastructure that has 12 one-socket servers that can be used for running one application. These types of servers use four times less rack space and cabling which makes data centers more efficient.