For my Ethical Hacking students. Think of this as
“evidence.”
http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/google-now-lets-you-download-your-entire-search-history-n344971
Google Now
Lets You Download Your Entire Search History
Google
will now let you download and export your entire search history.
The search giant already
allowed users to view their history, but now they can download their
entire history in just a few simple steps.
As first noticed by the
unofficial
Google Operating System blog and pointed out by VentureBeat,
users just need to go to their Google
Account history and then hit the gear icon in the upper right
corner and hit "download."
A user's search history
will only appear for the time that they have enabled the Web
history setting.
Once a user opts to
download their history, a window appears warning the user not to
download the archive on a public computer.
Computer security for all my students.
Protect
your Google Accounts with a USB Security Key
Most big-name web services like Gmail, Microsoft,
Evernote, WordPress and Dropbox now support 2-step authentication to
improve the security of your online accounts. Once you enable
two-factor authentication, a malicious person will not be able to log
into your online account even if they know the password – they’ll
need access to your mobile phone as well to get in.
The verification codes required for logging into a
2-step enabled account can be generated either using a mobile app –
like Authy or Google Authenticator – or you can
have them sent to your mobile phone via a text message or a voice
call. The latter option however will not work if the mobile phone
associated with your account is outside the coverage area (like when
you are in a foreign country).
There’s another option that makes the process of
logging into a 2-factor enabled account Google less cumbersome.
Instead of generating the verification codes on a mobile phone, you
can use a hardware based authenticator that can be inserted into a
USB port on your computer and you’ll be signed-in automatically
without having to hand-type
the digits.
The option works for both Google and Google Apps
accounts and you don’t even need the mobile phone – watch video
demo.
I am using the least-expensive Yubico
key though there are more options
to choose from. The first stop is to associate the USB security key
with your Google Account.
No surprise. Just aggregating all existing
resources and simplifying the interface.
Frequent contributor Joe Cadillic has more on
surveillance in St. Louis – a story first reported
by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that was noted last week on this
site.
Joe writes:
What police are telling you is, Motorola’s ‘Real Time Crime Center’ is spying on you through numerous platforms:
“Real-Time Intelligence Client brings together streaming video with analytics, resource tracking, social media, voice, Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) and records information onto a single, intuitive interface with geospatial mapping.“
And it gets worse:
“The Real-Time Intelligence Client lets analysts prepare and distribute live tactical video, recorded video clips, documents, photos and key information to your officers in the field, and to other agencies for multi-jurisdictional response. Push-a-Link and Push-a Snapshot make it easy to distribute video and photos to dispatched units. Real-time analytics monitor video streams and detect user-defined events of interest – to improve response times by alerting RIC operators to crowd formations, dropped bags and other suspicious behavior as it occurs.”
Read more on MassPrivateI.
[Real
Time Crime Center brochure:
Also for my Ethical Hacking students. Some tools
for your toolkit.
Mobile app
privacy insanity – we’re still failing massively at this
… For the uninitiated, what I’m going to
show in this post amounts to nothing more than looking at the
requests that mobile apps are making over the web to back end
services and inspecting the responses that are returned. It’s the
mobile equivalent of looking at the network tab in the developer
tools of your favourite browser. In this case though, I’m simply
proxying my iPhone traffic through Fiddler which you
can set up in about a minute. The particular patterns I’m
looking for are discussed at length in my Pluralsight course titled
Hack
Your API First so if you want to understand the process in
detail, go and check that out.
Shouldn't this be obvious? You could cut any
utility (water, gas, electric) and then pose as a repairman.
David Kravets reports the latest development in a
case previously
noted on this site:
A federal judge issued a stern rebuke Friday to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s method for breaking up an illegal online betting ring. The Las Vegas court frowned on the FBI’s ruse of disconnecting Internet access to $25,000-per-night villas at Caesar’s Palace Hotel and Casino. FBI agents posed as the cable guy and secretly searched the premises.
The government claimed the search was legal because the suspects invited the agents into the room to fix the Internet. US District Judge Andrew P. Gordon wasn’t buying it. He ruled that if the government could get away with such tactics like those they used to nab gambling kingpin Paul Phua and some of his associates, then the government would have carte blanche power to search just about any property.
Read more on Ars Technica.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/04/fbi-cant-cut-internet-and-pose-as-cable-guy-to-search-property-judge-says/
You knew that, right? Nothing new, but a fair
summary.
Your Lawyer
Is Vulnerable to Cyberattacks
Lawyers help their clients as they negotiate
confidential business transactions, hold intellectual property,
manage funds and litigate disputes, among many other business
activities. In the ordinary course of business, lawyers also
maintain numerous confidential documents and data of and about their
clients.
As a result, lawyers have a big bull's-eye drawn
on their backs, visible to cybercriminals. The worst part is that
most lawyers do not realize how vulnerable they are, since few
lawyers understand IT security and cyber-risks. As a result, many do
not properly protect that confidential information.
… "If you're a major law firm, it's safe
to say that you've either already been a victim, currently are a
victim, or will be a victim. ... The question is, what are you doing
to mitigate it?" asked Chad Pinson, a managing director at Stroz
Friedberg, according to a Bloomberg report.
At least 80 of the 100 biggest firms in the
country, by revenue, have been hacked since 2011, according to
Mandiant, the same Bloomberg report noted.
… The ABA established a Cybersecurity
Task Force, which published an "ABA Cybersecurity Handbook:
A Resource for Attorneys, Law Firms and Business Professionals."
The next “We can, therefore we must?” May be
a tad premature.
Should Your
Voice Determine Whether You Get Hired?
Technology is changing every facet of work,
including how companies profile and select their employees. The
development of different apps, software, and algorithms has produced
many novel methodologies for screening job candidates and evaluating
their potential fit for a role or organization.
The latest of such methods is voice
profiling, the use of computer-based algorithms to predict job
fit based on an analysis of a candidate’s voice.
… Although the idea that each voice is unique
makes intuitive sense, some voice profiling tools, such as Jobaline,
are based on a rather unconventional premise: Instead of trying to
decode a candidate’s personality, intelligence, or mood state, they
aim to predict “the emotion that that voice is going to generate on
the listener.” In other words, the algorithm functions
as a mechanical judge in a voice-based beauty contest. Desirable
voices are invited to the next round, where they are judged by
humans, while undesirable voices are eliminated from the contest.
Perspective. In Japan, the trains do run on time.
Japan
maglev train breaks world speed record
A Japanese
magnetically levitated train has broken its own world speed record
for the second time in five days.
The maglev broke the 600 kilometres per hour
(372.82mph) barrier for the first time on Tuesday and hit a top speed
of 603 kph (374.69mph) on a test track in Yamanashi Prefecture, west
of Tokyo.
Operated by Central Japan Railway, the manned test
run surpassed the 590 kph (372.82mph) that it recorded on the same
track on Thursday.
… Plans are in place for Japanese firms to
build a maglev system in the United States, where it would link
Washington DC and Baltimore in a mere 15 minutes.
How does this fit into the EU's claim of
monopolistic practices? (Also, some design tips for my website
students)
Big Google
algorithm change this week will usher in a new mobile era
New changes to Google’s search algorithms,
taking effect this week, have a chance to cause some major headaches
for businesses without mobile-ready websites. The company is slated
to implement new tweaks to its search ranking tomorrow to prioritize
sites that feature “mobile-friendly” designs.
The change has been a long time coming – Google
first announced
it back in November – but starting Tuesday, companies that
haven’t made the switch will start feeling the hit in Google’s
search results. The changes will favor sites that avoid technologies
like Flash that don’t work on phones, have layouts that
automatically scale so that users don’t have to scroll side-to-side
or zoom, and have links placed far enough apart that they can be
easily tapped with a finger.
… The algorithm change signifies a bigger
shift by Google towards separating its mobile and desktop search
results, Meyers said, because tomorrow’s change will only affect
searches run from mobile devices including smartphones and tablets.
Would you cut off a large share of your market?
Google is known for its not great support. If you
have a problem with a Google account or associated service, good luck
trying to talk to someone at Google about it. It’s a very hands-off
way of dealing with products, and it looks as though that also
extends to support for older devices being able to use those
services.
This week Google has retired
its Data API v2 for YouTube, which means that a long list of
smart devices manufactured in 2012 or earlier will no longer have
functioning YouTube apps.
… It’s not as though Google hasn’t given
fair warning about this change. The retirement of Data API v2 was
announced in March 2014, and a migration guide for developers was
made available in September last year. That’s plenty of time for
upgrades to happen. However, there’s still a range
of devices that will lose functionality, including 2nd-generation
Apple TV, Google TV version 3 or 4, Sony and Panasonic smart TVs and
Blu-ray players manufactured pre-2013, any device running iOS 6 or
earlier, and any game consoles that don’t support Flash or HTML5.
They proved it can be done. Was it worth the
expense? Where else could we use this technology?
Chevy Runs
Digital Video Ads in Print (Yes, You Read That Right)
Here's something you don't see every day:
Chevrolet bought print ads to show off its digital videos.
The ad, which promotes Chevy's Colorado truck,
appears in the May issue of certain subscriber issues of Esquire and
Popular Mechanics. And it allows readers to watch one of three short
videos, which were created by Chevy's creative agency
Commonwealth//McCann.
Some 10,000 subscribers each to Esquire and
Popular Mechanics -- those considered likely Colorado buyers --
received copies with a video player embedded inside the print page.
Perspective. Interesting that Warton has jumped
in this so quickly.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/live-and-lucrative-why-video-streaming-supremacy-matters/
Live and
lucrative? Why video streaming supremacy matters
Two hot new apps will let couch potatoes
everywhere live vicariously through other people’s experiences —
as they are happening.
Meerkat and Periscope are the latest in socially
connected apps that let users broadcast live video. While similar
apps such as Ustream have been around for years, Meerkat and
Periscope have gained users quickly through the attraction of a
minimalist interface, a sense of immediacy, and the ability for
viewers to send messages and even bestow their approval of live
streams in real time.
If nothing else, Kim Dotcom is a never ending
source of amusement.
Kim Dotcom
may get kicked out of New Zealand—but not because of copyright
… An extradition trial, delayed many times, is
currently
scheduled for June.
Now it's come to light that Kim Dotcom may get
kicked out of New Zealand sooner than that, but it has nothing to do
with copyright. The New Zealand Herald reports that the
country's Immigration Minister has launched
an inquiry to decide whether to deport Dotcom because of an
unreported driving violation, in which he pled guilty to driving 149
kilometers per hour in a 50 kilometer per hour zone. (That's 93 mph
in a 31 mph zone.)
Dotcom pled guilty to the offense in 2009, but
when he filed his New Zealand residency application in 2010, it asked
if he'd ever been convicted of an offense involving "dangerous
driving." He answered "No."
… The inquiry was opened after the Herald
revealed the conviction in an earlier article. [Apparently
newspapers have better access to government records than the
government. Bob]
If Dotcom was deported over the driving matter, it
would be to Finland or Germany, not the US, where he would have to
stand trial. However, it would clearly complicate his legal case,
and it isn't clear how such a move would affect his chances of
finally ending up in the US.
For my Data Management students. How would you
predict an increase in demand for Ice Cream cones?
Twitter
Could Predict Emergency Room Rush Hours
… Research that will be published in the IEEE
Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics combines Twitter
posts and air quality and hospital data to form a model that
researchers believe can predict emergency room trends more
effectively and immediately than existing disease surveillance
models, such as that published by the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. While health and data tools such as Google
Flu Tracker have used social media and search engines to monitor the
spread of contagions, this new model is the first to look at chronic
illnesses such as asthma, the researchers say.
… To find a connection between tweets about
asthma and asthma-related emergency room visits, they combed through
Twitter streams for 19 keywords, such as “asthma attack” and
“inhaler.” After filtering out the tweets that contained the
keywords but did not reflect “asthma affliction,” they compared
the Twitter post trends to air quality data from the Environmental
Protection Agency. Finally, they compared that information to
numbers from the Children’s Medical Center of Dallas. They found a
correlation between tweets about asthma, changes in air quality and
asthma-related emergency room visits.
… The global Twitter data set available to the
researchers consisted of nearly half a billion tweets, about 1.3
million of which contained asthma-related keywords. They narrowed
that pool down to those that had location coordinates (35,152), and
from there selected only those from the Dallas area (4,660). They
did away with non-English tweets [Strange choice in Texas, especially
with online translation tools. Bob] and any “that
mentioned asthma in an irrelevant context,” the paper says.
Believe it or not, this is for my Statistics
students. (We already discuss the statistics behind the movie
“MoneyBall”)
Even the
messiah can strike out three times on his first day in the
majors. Last Friday, Kris Bryant, the Cubs’ anointed savior, was
called up from the minors after weeks
of debate about whether he should’ve just started the season in
the majors. There is an aura
of myth to Bryant’s arrival, as though the stars have aligned
to offer the Cubs a chance to fulfill a prophecy.
Yet Bryant is still an untested prospect, and, as Cubs fans know
too well, even the best prospects can fail to live up to
expectations.
But Bryant really is special — he’s the rare
prospect that has both scouts and stats in complete agreement.
Because of the unique intersection of scouting know-how and minor
league data, Bryant is likely to match the hype.
I assure you I did not play these games. I grew
up in New Jersey. We played Cops & Robbers (with real cops)
Remember
Those Computer Games from School? Play Them Now for Free
… Since most of these titles are at least 20
years old, they’ve become publicly available. Some are clones of
the originals, but there’s something here for everyone who enjoyed
an
educational game during free periods of computer class.
For my students. If they like it, I might
actually get a smartphone! (Okay, probably not.)
Take Back
Your Smartphone with FreedomPop’s Free Phone Plan
… FreedomPop is now offering a truly
accessible phone plan with 100% free service, and they’ll even
throw in a certified pre-owned Samsung Galaxy SIII for you!
… Using our
limited-time deal, you’ll get a Galaxy SIII and a free
month-long trial of the Unlimited plan – which includes all the
talk, text, and data you can use – for just $99.99! After your
trial month is up, you can choose to continue using the Everything
plan for $19.99/month or try out the absolutely free plan. With 200
minutes of talk, 500 texts, and 500 MB of data for free each month,
you’ll have all your smartphone needs to thrive.
This plan is 100% free every month and will last
for life; all you have to do is act now!
… If you’re sick of getting played by US
mobile phone carriers, it’s time to act. Use
this link to join FreedomPop and get started with an awesome free
plan. The free plan is perfect for students and those who don’t
use their phones often, but if you need unlimited resources, why pay
T-Mobile or AT&T hundreds of dollars when FreedomPop lets you
have them for $20?
… Don’t forget: use
our special link to get your incredible offer!
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