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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Privacy Alert: 10 Biggest Threats of 2010

Privacy Alert: 10 Biggest Threats of 2010

Taken from : http://www.pcworld.com/article/212631/10_biggest_privacy_threats_of_2010.html

1. Google's Wi-Fi Spying

Threat Level: GREEN
Threat Levels
Google's Wi-Fi spying debacle didn't start out evil. By using its Street View vans to map out open Wi-Fi networks, Google could provide better location data to mobile users. If you use Google Maps from your phone, it could employ nearby wireless networks to determine where you are, no GPS required.
Google Street View carHas this car been spying on your Wi-Fi network?The problem: Besides the Wi-Fi network's name and location, Google's Street View vans were accidentally slurping up unencrypted data--including user passwords and e-mail messages. Over three years, Google gathered 600GB of extra data in more than 30 countries, resulting in international sanctionscivil lawsuits, and an FCC probe.
Even so, the impact on average consumers is minimal, says Peter Eckersley, senior staff technologist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. You're in greater danger of being spied on by nosy neighbors or creeps parked outside your house.
The solution: Password-protect your wireless network (duh) and use encrypted HTTPS connections to browse the Web when possible (see item #3 below).

2. The iPad E-Mail Leak

Threat Level: GREEN
iPad 3GIf you bought one of the first iPad 3G units to leave the stores, your e-mail address may have been compromised.If you bought one of the first Apple 3G iPads, an obscure security group may have purloined your e-mail address.
Last June, Goatse Security exploited a hole in AT&T's Website that displayed an iPad owner's e-mail address when it encountered an HTTP request containing that user's ID number. Goatse flooded AT&T.com with URLs containing random 20-digit numbers and collected 114,000 e-mail addresses of iPad owners. It then shared a few of them with Gawker.
The good news? The Goatse hack didn't reveal passwords, so the group couldn't access information beyond your name. And you're in select company--ABC's Diane Sawyer, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and top government and military officials also had their addresses stolen.
The solution: None needed. AT&T quickly closed the hole--and if a spammer wants your e-mail address, there are easier ways to get it. So is the iPad magical and life-changing yet?

3. Facebook Wi-Fi-Jacking

Threat Level: YELLOW
Updating your Facebook status from a Wi-Fi cafĂ©? A stranger can log in to your account and pretend to be you. Blame Firesheep, a free Firefox plug-in that captures login cookies as they fly by unencrypted. Programmer Eric Butler wrote the program to demonstrate how much data people send "in the clear" without realizing it. Using Firesheep, a hijacker can access your account on Facebook, Twitter, and two dozen other sites. Any information you thought was private now isn't. Feeling naked yet?
The failure of sites such as Facebook and Twitter to require secure logins is "an enormous privacy problem," says the EFF's Eckersley. "Google demonstrated this could be done on a colossal scale at minimal cost with Gmail. Now we need to get the rest of them to do that."
The solution: Use EFF and the Tor Project's HTTPS Everywhere plug-in for Firefox to force sites to use SSL encryption if available. And don't log in to sites containing sensitive info from a public network.

4. 'Naked' Security Scans

Threat Level: BLUE
TSA Boddy ScanTSA body scans may sound a little personal, but c'mon: How personal does this really look?If Firesheep doesn't make you feel naked, passing through airport security might. Major U.S. airports and federal buildings are deploying body scanners that can peer through clothing, rendering you virtually nude to security guards viewing the scan.
It gets worse. Last August, the U.S. Marshals Service in Orlando, Florida, admitted to storing some 35,000 body scans it was supposed to have destroyed. Naturally, some of those found their way onto the Net.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security, attempting to keep airports from deploying the machines. A wave of protest ensued, including everybody from ordinary people to members of the Allied Pilots and U.S. Travel Associations.
The solution: In lieu of a scan, you can opt for an "If you touch me there, you'd better buy me dinner and a movie first" full-body frisk. But we don't think you'll feel any less violated.

5. Mobile Malware

Threat Level: YELLOW
The smartphone in your pocket is catnip to malware authors, yet mobile security is barely on most people's radar, says Winn Schwartau, chairman of security vendor Mobile Active Defense.
Kaspersky Lab identified the first malware known to target Android phones last August, and rogue code targeting jailbroken iPhones and iPads has been available for over a year. Schwartau agrees with estimates that 20 percent of all Android and iPhone apps may be infected.
"Mobile apps are the best hostile-code delivery system ever invented," Schwartau says. "The entire mobile space is in chaos."
The solution: Before you install a new app, do some sleuthing to suss out potential red flags; avoid apps from unfamiliar vendors or sites. "Install Gotcha 1.0 from Bob's App Store?" says Schwartau. "I don't think so."

6. Facebook's ID Giveaway

Threat Level: ORANGE
When users clicked ads on Facebook, Web links sent to advertisers contained unique IDs that could be traced back to the users' public profiles--giving the advertisers access to detailed information about a user's religion, politics, sexual preferences, and more. In other cases, app makers simply sold the user IDs to brokers.Facebook is often rightly accused of playing fast and loose with its 500 million members' data. But perhaps the site's worst privacy breach of 2010 was when Facebook and its biggest apps revealed user identities to advertisers and data brokers.
EFF's Peter Eckersley says using Facebook IDs to extract personally identifiable information is easy for data brokers. "Tracking people is what they do," he says. "If they're sitting on a gold mine of data, they're going to dig for gold."
The solution: Use Facebook's privacy controls to keep your public profile sparse, and opt out of data-broker databases when possible.

7. Cell Phone Tracking

Threat Level: ORANGE
Facebook PlacesIt's fun to check in when you're out and about. It could also be dangerous.Geolocation services such as Facebook Places, Foursquare, and Gowalla let you tell the world what you're doing and where you're doing it, but they're voluntary. Other people may be tracking you in secret, thanks to that homing beacon in your pocket.
In September, a federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled thatlaw enforcement officials do not have to obtain a search warrantbefore obtaining location data, though a judge may still request one. (Conversely, last August the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that a warrant is required before the feds can put a GPS tracking device on your car.) Until the Supreme Court issues a ruling or Congress enacts laws making location privacy a priority, the rules will vary depending on your location (appropriately enough). Meanwhile, private businesses can use your location data as they wish.
The solution: Turn off all of your handset's wireless antennas when you feel the urge to roam free.

8. Webcam Watchers

Threat Level: GREEN
A high school in southeastern Pennsylvania achieved international infamy after it used school-supplied laptops to secretly spy on students. Harriton High officials admitted that the school remotely operated Webcams on the district's 2400 MacBooks as an antitheft feature, capturing more than 50,000 images of students over three years.
A major kerfuffle erupted. Families sued the school district, prosecutors investigated, and the U.S. Senate held hearings. Tales of remote Webcam spying in other schools came to light. But an investigation failed to find criminal wrongdoing; the district agreed to stop remotely spying and settled the suits for $610,000.
Could this happen to you? Possibly. Any malware that can take control of your system can be used to operate a Webcam remotely. But only a handful of Webcam spy cases have ever been prosecuted.
The solution: High schoolers foiled the cams by disabling them or putting tape over the lenses when they weren't in use; you can too.

9. Zombie Cookies

Threat Level: ORANGE
CookiesChocolate chip cookies are yummy. Browser cookies are a serious threat to your privacy.Graphic: Diego AguirreDon't want online ad companies shadowing you across the Web? Simply delete their browser tracking cookies, and you're free to wander. Right? Wrong. Web advertisers have found a way to follow you anyway, using Adobe Flash cookies that automatically respawn after you delete them--hence their nickname, zombie cookies.
Last summer, privacy attorney Joseph Malley filed class-action suits against ABC, Disney, MTV, NBC, and their advertising partners, charging them with violating federal privacy and computer security laws via Flash cookies.
The solution: You can use Adobe's occasionally flaky Settings Manager, the Firefox plug-inBetterPrivacy, or CCleaner to nuke those zombies. The problem? Sites such as Pandora Radio and YouTube rely on Flash cookies--which can store up to 100KB of data--to improve media playback, and they may not work without them. So choose your undead victims with care.

10. Criminal Stupidity

Threat Level: RED
For years we've been told that online-privacy policies will protect our rights. Now it seems that many of those policies are not worth the paper they're not printed on.
Google flatly denied that it was slurping data off Wi-Fi networks--until the German governmenttold it to check again. Facebook said it had no idea it was sharing user IDs with advertisers--untilthe Wall Street Journal pointed it out. Body scans weren't supposed to be retained; Webcams weren't supposed to capture teenagers in their bedrooms. Some of the biggest companies on the Web failed to play by their own rules, and didn't even realize it.
But Mobile Active Defense's Winn Schwartau says consumers are equally to blame--for clicking on spam and failing to protect their data, for sharing too much and caring too little.
"The biggest problem is criminal stupidity," he says. "If people follow basic security practices--secure their connections, pick reasonable passwords--they'll be in much better shape."
The solution: You're reading this article. That's a start.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Wind Powered iPhone Charger

 Just when you thought that there would be no other way for renewable energy other than solar which is portable enough to power your mobile gadgets, someone made a charger which can charge your iPhone using wind power.


Wind-powered iPhone battery charger concept

veenhoven Wind powered iPhone battery charger concept
As we demand more and more of our smartphones, the up time between charges suffers. Case in point – theiPhone. Chargers come in all shapes and sizes but few offer to power up the batteries using air, or more precisely – wind. Dutch designer Tjeerd Veenhoven has crafted just such a charger where his favored Appledevice slides into the soft rubber outer skin and fan blades capture energy from the wind, which tops up thebattery.
We’ve seen the idea of wind-powered charging floated before in devices like the HYmini portable charger and another concept piece, the Gotwind portable charger. Veenhoven’s iFan lends itself to comparison with the K2 from Kinesis, albeit minus the solar panel, but is said to take some six hours to charge up an iPhone. That’s not bad going for a modified computer fan and a custom-made case.
veenhoven 1 Wind powered iPhone battery charger concept
The designer thinks that with a bit more modification, the iFan could be made more efficient at harnessing power from the wind. He has just recently been tinkering with a bicycle mount design for the device which should allow users to top up their smartphones while out and about.
It’s perhaps not the most convenient or efficient way to charge a smartphone, but very handy for those who like nothing better than camping out in the middle of nowhere or trekking up the side of a mountain.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

TIME Broadband Fibre Update

I'm sure those who are living in the Gold Triangle will be happy to hear this news as TIME will be increasing their coverage especially for those who are not in the coverage area.

At least they have another alternative other than Streamyx and Unifi.

TIME CONNECTS 30K HOMES AND OFFICES WITH 100% FIBRE-BASED NETWORK

"Malaysians have always been crying out for fast, reliable internet" said self professed UniFi fan and TIME CEO, Afzal Abdul Rahim. Yesterday, Time dotCom Berhad (TIME) announced that it's 100% fibre network is in service at 30,000 homes and offices across the Golden Triangle and Mont Kiara with 16,000 more to be connected in the next few months.

TIME also announced their 100% fibre-based product packages for homes and businesses which promises boosted speeds of up to 50Mbps for a certain amount of hours per month. Customers have to activate and deactivate the speed boost when it's actually needed and are limited to around 16 hours per month, with extra hours chargeable.

For the regular consumer, home packages start from RM99 for the 2Mbps package, allowing you 10 hours/month of boosted speeds to 10Mbps, right up to the RM219 per month for 12Mbps and 30 hours/month of boosted speeds to 50Mbps. All of the packages come with a free wireless router (with the exception of the RM99 one), free installation, no download cap (fair usage policy applies of course) and they are all under 24-month contracts.

So if you are fed up with your current provider and want to give fibre a try, TIME Fibre Broadband is currently only available in the Golden Triangle & the Mont Kiara area. If you are lucky enough to fall under the pink magenta blanket of TIME, visit their website for more info on how to register. Depending on where you are, you can get up and running in 3-7 days.

Personally, I would have loved to see an actual 50Mbps package like our neighbours across the causeway and feel that the whole concept of a Speed Boost is pretty strange and kind of like crack; Once you get a taste of that speed, it's kind of hard to go back to your single digit Mbps. Excessive speed boosting could just bring your bill way above what you expect. Perhaps in the future we'll see something from an ISP, not just TIME.

For information about all of the TIME services, including their new business fibre broadband solutions, visitwww.time.com.my

http://www.lowyat.net/v2/time-connects-30k-homes-and-offices-with-100-fibre-based-network.html

Friday, December 3, 2010

Whoa!! Everyoneconnects is one year old!!!



“Now there’s you and me and we are not alone…”
It’s been one year since “Through My Window” was released on Everyoneconnects
in where everyone was guessing which band was playing the song.



Back then there was only a basic layout where we get to have fun on all the activities that unfolded within the few months after its release which lead up to the main event at Bukit Bintang and was the biggest outdoor sing along event in Malaysia.



A year later the website has gone on a major facelift.

The site is now more user interactive than before with the possibility of choosing your own avatar to explore the world and you can move it around and chat with other users who are online at the same time. There are also new features such as the Stadium, the Jamming Garage, Open House and Sini Maa.
The Stadium is a channel for sports fans especially fans of Manchester United where there is a show case of news, highlights, interviews and videos from Man Utd TV or MUTV for short.

The Jamming Garage serves as garage music studio where we can get the latest news on Bunkface from “Camp Bunkface” and also listen to their songs and watch video previews.



Sini Maa is a play on the word cinema if you have not noticed and is a place to watch movie trailers and web channels from Hypptv(Unifi) and Hypp.tv (web channels). And also not forgetting Movie Buzz where you can chat among fellow movie buffs.

The Open House is another feature that they added where fans can post messages and wishes for birthdays, festivals and celebrations. Besides that, it features video wishes; “Spread Some Love” which is a board for wishes;, and a selection of personalized e-cards that appeal to all
Malaysians.
For all of you who feel nostalgic about the old everyoneconnects.net site, there is a section dedicated to archive all the past activities that were held along with videos and photos which iscalled the EC Hall of Fame where you can view all the events that has happened since November 2009.



To commemorate the one year anniversary of Everyoneconnects, there was an event held by TM to celebrate it in collaboration with Sony, Universal Music and other partners with activities such as PS3 competitions, ballon busting event and birthday celebration for Everyoneconnects. Besides that, there was an online game face-off with pro-gamer Summer and a special performance by Bunkface (thumbs up!!). The event was hosted by Hunny Madu and Ben from Flyfm which was a blast.

If you want to know more about the events that were held, wait no longer and check out Everyoneconnects.net and join in the fun!!!! www.everyoneconnects.net

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

iPad+YES 4G

Seems that YTL is also selling the iPad in its YES flagship store right after its official release with a special offer of 10GB data free and free activation of YES Huddle.

It seems that you can still get the 10GB data free from YTL without buying the iPad though but the offer is only valid for those who activate it before 12th of December.

Say “YES” to the Apple iPad

Now that the Apple iPad is launched in Malaysia, you’re going need need some data to go with it. If you’re using a WiFi iPad (or a 3G iPad for that matter), and want to have blazing speeds on the go, you just have to say “YES”.

There’ll be an Apple iPad roadshow happening right inside the YES Flagship store at Lot 10, Kuala Lumpur. Every iPad purchased during this roadshow will enjoy FREE 10GB usage and FREE activation for your YES Huddle from 30th November – 5th December 2010.

The YES Huddle of course is a mobile WiFi/modem that allows you to create a WiFi hotspot anywhere you are. With 4G speeds, you’ll be able to surf at 4G speeds!

http://www.discoveryweek.com.my/2010/11/say-yes-to-the-apple-ipad/

iPad arrives in Malaysia

After waiting for so long, the iPad has finally arrived in Malaysia. I wonder how the sales would be when there is news that Apple is going to release the iPad 2 soon.

The iPad, Now Available in Malaysia

Well folks, Christmas is definitely around the corner as Apple resellers just announced the availability of the iPad in Malaysia starting 30 November 2010 which is wait…now!

iPad with Wi-Fi
Connect to the Internet wherever you can access a Wi-Fi hotspot.

16GB – RM1549
32GB – RM1849
64GB – RM2149

iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G
Connect to the Internet at Wi-Fi hotspots and a cellular network when you’re on the go.

16GB – RM1999
32GB – RM2299
64GB – RM2599

If you’re planning to get one as soon as possible, here’s the list of stores where the iPad will be available for sale. Start queueing, bring a book or two, cause the line is gonna be curling round the block.

Apple Premium Resellers:

• Epicentre, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur +603 2141 6278/ 6378
• Epicentre, IOI Mall, Kuala Lumpur +603 8075 0870/0871
• Machines, Lot 10, Shopping Centre +603 2142 5009
• Machines, Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur +03 2171 2633
• Machines, Mid Valley Megamall, Kuala Lumpur +603 2282 3996
• Machines, Sunway Pyramid, Selangor +603 5633 2998
• Machines, The Gardens, +603 2287 6787/ 5787
• Machines, City Square (Johor), +607 227 2606
• Mac Studio, Bangsar Shopping Centre, +603 2282 1799
• Mac Studio, Berjaya Times Square, +603 2145 1799 / 2143 1799 / 2143 9799
• Mac Studio, Plaza Low Yat, Kuala Lumpur +603 2145 4799/9799.
• Switch, Plaza Gurney, Penang +604 229 5591
• Switch, The Mines Shopping Fair, Selangor +603 8948 9591.
• AVE, Kinlap, Brunei
• Avelectronics, The Mall, Brunei

Apple Shop, Harvey Norman:

• Bukit Tinggi, +603 3326 2631
• Mid Valley +603 2282 2860
• Ikano PowerCentre, +603 7718 5200/5223
• Sunway Pyramid, +603 5622 1300
• Queensbay Mall, +604 630 8210.

Note: Each customer may purchase up to a limit of 3 units each.

http://www.discoveryweek.com.my/2010/11/the-ipad-now-available-in-malaysia/

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