Saturday, September 26, 2015

You are safe to book the hotel, just don't spend any money once you get there.
Hackers reportedly stole credit card data from numerous Hilton hotel properties
According to online security analyst, Brian Krebs, hackers have "compromised" numerous point-of-sale registers in restaurants, coffee shops, and gift shops at Hilton hotel properties across the country in order to steal credit card information.
In August, Visa alerted numerous financial institutions of a breach. Five different banks determined the commonality between the cards included in that alert was that they were used at Hilton properties — including Embassy Suites, Doubletree, Hampton Inn and Suites, and the upscale Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Krebs reports.
Hilton says it is investigating the claims.
… Krebs notes that the guest reservation systems at the affected properties do not appear to be impacted by the alleged breach, and says it remains unclear how the compromise will affect Hilton. He also says the incident may be ongoing.




Of course they did. That does not mean that every Internet user is a suspected terrorist or that any of the details captured will ever be looked at. But, it is better to have the data and not need it than to need the data and not have it. (And what makes you think the NSA and GCHQ are the only ones?)
GCHQ tried to track Web visits of “every visible user on Internet”
If you used the World Wide Web anytime after 2007, the United Kingdom's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has probably spied on you. That's the revelation contained in documents published today by The Intercept, which detail a GCHQ operation called "Karma Police"—a program that tracked Web browsing habits of people around the globe in what the agency itself billed as the "world's biggest" Internet data-mining operation, intended to eventually track "every visible user on the Internet."




This must be limited to “official government agencies” because no one has contacted me yet. No doubt they will continue to subscribe to similar (non-government) services.
The U.S. and China agree not to conduct economic espionage in cyberspace




For my Computer Security students.
Troy’s ultimate list of security links




What if my password was “I'd like to call my lawyer now?”
Forcing suspects to reveal phone passwords is unconstitutional, court says
The Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination would be breached if two insider trading suspects were forced to turn over the passcodes of their locked mobile phones to the Securities and Exchange Commission, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
"We find, as the SEC is not seeking business records but Defendants' personal thought processes, Defendants may properly invoke their Fifth Amendment right," US District Judge Mark Kearney of Pennsylvania wrote.




What if the image was from their sex education textbook? Oh. Wait. They don't teach sex education in New Jersey so kids have to teach themselves.
Don E. Woods reports:
Authorities charged two 11 year olds for their possession of an illegal nude photo of another juvenile, police said.
Police learned Tuesday that the two were in possession of and forwarded a nude photo of the other juvenile.
Read more on NJ.com.
Would someone PLEASE stop the madness of criminalizing what is often normal child or pre-adolescent behavior?




Worth reading and thinking about.
Lucy Schouten reports:
Technology has made wearing a camera nearly as easy as putting on a pair of shoes, but the constant surveillance made infamous by George Orwell’s “1984” raises its own set of questions.
Body cameras offer an impression of safety in what can otherwise feel like an insecure world. One man from Florida said he started wearing a GoPro camera on his belt to get evidence his wife was abusing him, WSTP News reports. Michael Novak said he hopes video can help him in a custody battle, since courts generally believe women – and not men – are the victims of domestic violence.
Read more on CS Monitor.




What price “free Internet?”
Critics Still Doubt Facebook’s Free Internet Despite Changes
Mark Zuckerberg has his eye on the rest of the world.
This week, Facebook and its conspicuous founder rebooted the free app that provides (some) online access from mobile phones in 19 countries across the globe, dropping its old Internet.org moniker in the face of various complaints and rebranding it as “Free Basics by Facebook.” On Saturday, at the United Nations in New York, Zuckerberg will give two speeches on the importance of online communications in the developing world. And on Sunday, back at Facebook headquarters in Northern California, he’ll host a town-hall-style Q&A with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. No doubt, the Internet will be the main topic of conversation.




Perspective. Continuing the search for the perfect music delivery service.
Deezer's IPO Filing Shows Both Potential and Problems
The financial information in Deezer's filing for a public stock offering provides rare transparency into a standalone music subscription service's challenges and weaknesses. While the public has limited information about Spotify's financial performance and detailed information about its licensing contract, it hasn't had this kind of insight since Napster's last quarterly earnings release back in late 2008 — and that was a different era for subscription services.
Deezer, an on-demand subscription service available in about 180 countries, has filed for an initial public stock offering on the Paris stock exchange.




If I'm going to make my students write Apps (and I am) I should give them some examples they can steal learn from.
5 Safe and Clean Places to Download Free Apps




Stuff to share with my students and with other teachers.
Best of the Web - Autumn 2015
This morning at the 21st Century Technology and Learning Symposium in Ponoka, Alberta I gave the latest version of my popular Best of the Web presentation. The presentation included some old favorites mixed with some new favorites. Some of the old favorites in the slides continue to update which is why they continue to be in this slide deck. The slides are embedded below.




What a silly profession.
Hack Education Weekly News
… the Department of Education has released a (competency-based-education) CBE Experiment Reference Guide.
… Florida has closed its investigation into the DDOS attack that shut down its online testing system earlier this year. It found no motive and no leads. More via Education Week.
… "Introduction to Computing and Programming" is now the most popular course in Yale College. The materials and lectures mostly come from Harvard’s class of the same name, just with a Yale TA.
Via The Guardian: “School questioned Muslim pupil about Isis after discussion on eco-activism.”
Elsewhere in the UK: “Student accused of being a terrorist for reading book on terrorism.”
The Chronicle of Higher Education looks at a new feature on Academia.edu that lets researchers post papers “in progress” and solicit feedback from others.
A study to be published in CBE - Life Science Education has found that the flipped classroom (that is, videotaped lectures as homework and more hands-on activities in class) is beneficial for women and students with low grades.


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