Wednesday, February 11, 2015

When we say, “No one is safe,” we really mean no one.
Anthony Noto, Twitter CFO, gets first-hand feel of hacking as account breached
Anthony Noto, Twitter’s chief financial officer, got a first-hand feel for the pain a hacker inflicts after discovering someone was tweeting out spam from his account.
Twitter spokesman Jim Prosser confirmed the account was hacked for a brief time.
“His account was sending spam tweets,” Mr. Prosser said, the New York Post reported. “We’ve locked the account down and deleted the tweets. There’s no indication any account information was accessed.”

(Related)
Newsweek, International Business Times Twitter Accounts Hacking By Cyber Caliphate Makes Us Question Twitter's Cybersecurity Features
Newsweek's Twitter account was commandeered by a group claiming to be connected with the Islamic State Tuesday for about 15 minutes and spewed threatening messages to First Lady Michelle Obama, with publication's Twitter banner switched out for one featuring a Black Standard flag and a masked man.
… Also hacked Tuesday, by reportedly the same group, was the Twitter account of a military veteran organization called Military Spouses of Strength and the website of International Business Times, was also hacked.

(Related) Now this is just mean. Article 3
Forbes’ Hack of the Day
Forbes’ Thought of the Day, which is presented to readers when they first land on the site, was used to send malicious code to visitors’ computers. As reported by The Washington Post, security researchers have discovered the widget was compromised for several days at the end of last year, starting on Nov. 28.
It is believed that Chinese hackers used the Thought of the Day to launch an attack primarily aimed at financial institutions and defense contractors. Vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer and Adobe Flash were used (surprisingly!), both of which have since been patched.


“Existing agencies don't share data, so we will rely on the data they share to make this center work!” Typical politician thinking. Should I think of this as a Library of Cyber Threats? More importantly, will I be able to tap into it directly?
White House to Create New Cyber Security Agency
The new agency will be known as the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC)
its focus will be integrating intelligence about cyber-threats and providing analysis to policymakers and operators, she explained.
The center will not collect intelligence; it will only analyze and integrate information already collected by other sources, she added.


Perhaps I should send all 10,000,000 an email to let them know?
Dan Goodin reports:
A security consultant has published 10 million passwords along with their corresponding usernames in a move he characterized as both necessary and legally risky given a legal landscape he said increasingly threatens the free flow of hacking-related information.
Most of the existing corpus of passwords exposed in hack attacks is stripped of usernames, preventing researchers from studying the possible relationship between the two fields.
Read more on Ars Technica.


When everyone is required to report a breach, I'll release an App that finds this information and delivers it to any Class Action lawyer who pays my fee. (If I charge $0.99 per breach and there are a bazillion security breaches each year, I should be able to buy my own brewery!)
Telecompaper reports:
The lower house of the Dutch parliament has approved legislation requiring businesses and organisations to report security breaches of personal data they hold. The Law on Personal Information will be expanded to include the new requirement, which applies to businesses of all sizes as well as public sector agencies.
Read more on Telecompaper.


Marketing is always inventing new ways to intrude on any technological experience. Imagine this coming in the middle of a sales pitch to Coca Cola.
Samsung Smart TVs 'inserting ads' into video apps
Users of Samsung's Smart TVs are complaining that advertisements are being inserted into their own locally-stored programmes and films without their permission.
In a post on the Reddit community website, several Australian users of the Plex app on Samsung Smart TVs reported their viewing had been interrupted half way through by a Pepsi video ad.


Unless you opted out, Google is in (location) data gathering mode.
Use this trick to see a map of everywhere Google knows you've been
If you have a Gmail account or use any of Google's apps, there's a good chance Google has some of your location data stored in its systems.
Luckily, there's an easy way to see exactly what Google knows about where you've been, and you can even see a map of past locations you have visited.
This all depends on whether you have enabled two settings tied to your Google account: location reporting and location history. Of course Google lets you turn these settings off at any time, and it even offers step-by-step instructions.


Google is helping us move towards a healthier world! (Any liability here?) Article 1
A Healthier Google Knowledge Graph
Google is adding a range of health-related information to its Knowledge Graph. This means that when someone searches for the answer to a common health question, Google will present the relevant information at the top of the results page.
Information presented in this way includes “typical symptoms and treatments … how common the condition is … whether it’s critical, if it’s contagious, what ages it affects, and more.” Some results will be augmented by helpful illustrations.
The good news for hypochondriacs is that all the information has been compiled, curated, and reviewed by real medical doctors. Even so, Google is at pains to point out that the medical information contained in its Knowledge Graph should only be considered the first step, and people should still consult a healthcare professional if they need to do so.


I guess I knew that, just never heard it stated so clearly.
Ed. Note, this post offers a preview of the authors’ upcoming article in the Santa Clara Law Review: The Notice Paradox: Secret Surveillance, Criminal Defendants & the Right to Notice.
… Though few may realize it, the public today depends on the people it is desperately trying to put in prison—criminal defendants, often in terrorism cases no less—to litigate the privacy rights of millions.


Just a thought, should all those “connected things” on the Internet of Things have kill switches? (In case someone wants to steal my refrigerator or my thermostat.)
Smartphone theft in London down by half thanks to 'kill switches'
Thefts involving smartphones have reportedly decreased by 50 per cent in London, since manufacturers began implementing 'kill switches' that allow the phones to be deactivated remotely.
Smartphone theft has also dropped in San Francisco and New York by 40 per cent and 25 per cent respectively, authorities said on Tuesday.


I might use this then again I might make my students use it. Yeah, my students.
Flipboard launches a full web version with design cues from Medium and Pinterest
Today Flipboard is unleashing the full version of its magazine-aggregating app on the web, in a sleek new interface that looks like a mix between Medium and Pinterest.
… In the new web version, rather than flipping pages, Flipboard serves up content in modules containing pictures, headlines, and occasionally a leading sentence.
Here are a few examples that show off the platform’s new visual capabilities:
  • Designica, a magazine that combines trippy animated GIFs with trippy soundtracks from Soundcloud, curated by Flipboard CEO Mike McCue [You should sit down before viewing this one. Bob]
  • The Hipster, a magazine of things that are too cool for you, by Gus Gostyla
  • The Explorer, a magazine curated by former NFL player and NASA astronaut Leland Melvin


For all my students.
Google Celebrates ‘Safer Internet Day’ With Security Checkup, 2GB Of Free Google Drive Space
While it’s not quite the 100GB of free One Drive cloud storage space that Microsoft is giving away if you sign up for Bing Rewards, Google is giving away freebies of its own to commemorate Safer Internet Day. In an effort to ensure that users are protected against hackers and other cyber threats, Google is asking its users to complete its Security Checkup by February 17.
The Security Checkup prompts you to verify your account recovery options (email, phone), gives you a listing of recent sign-ins on your account to help you spot any suspicious activity, and allows you to confirm or remove app that have access to your Google account information.


I collect anything I can use to harass my Math students.
Insert Graphs and Equations Into Google Docs and Forms
One of the most frequently asked questions in my webinars and workshops about Google Drive is, "how can I add math problems to my Form?" Thanks to Google Forms Add-ons there is a rather simple answer to this question now. g(Math) is a Google Forms Add-on that allows you to insert graphs and mathematical expressions into your Google Forms.
To get the Add-on select "get Add-ons" from the Add-ons menu in Google Forms. Then search for g(Math). Click the install button, give the Add-on permission to access your account, and then you're ready to go. To insert graphs and equations into your Form select g(Math) from your Add-ons menu and follow the directions that pop-up on the right side of the screen.
g(Math) is also available as an Add-on for Google Docs. The process of installing it and using it is the same as it is for the Google Forms versions of g(Math).


Have your phone read your textbook to you?
Read & Write for iPad and Android - Text to Speech and More
The popular Chrome app Read & Write for Google is now available as a free iPad app and as a free Android app. According to the email I received from Read & Write's product manager the new apps are essentially keyboards that allow users to access the support tools that have made Read & Write for Google popular over the last couple of years. Some of those popular tools include text-to-speech, a talking dictionary, and a picture dictionary.
The Read & Write iPad app and Android app provide text-to-speech functionality for free forever. The other features are free as a one month trial. But teachers who use their Google Accounts to sign into the apps (use your school-issued Google Account) can get all of the features for free. Click here for information on getting a Read & Write account with your Google Apps for Edu account.


Undo reliance, in one image.


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