Month: July 2015

The Living Room Pirates

July 31, 2015 — Leave a comment

0705_imela_4

It is nice thing to fight piracy from the Hollywood’s perspective. However, there is this question, we need to ask. Can you exaggerate a little bit, from time to time? We dare to say, this is exactly what has happened in the UK cyber and law field. Have you heard about their piracy laws?

The UK lawmakers have adopted one of the most rigorous no-copy policies in the entire cyber history and world. Even if you are the rightful owner of a certain video or music CD or similar, you cannot make a copy for yourself. Under any circumstances. Seriously?

Not so long ago, this strange law, at least to say, had a reasonable limitation. You can get yourself in trouble, if you make copies in order to share them with your friends, or earn money by doing so. This make sense, but what is with this no-copy zero tolerance?

How they are going to prove that the UK users have done something wrong, in the first place? They are going to chase or spy people in their living or bedrooms? It just does not make any sense. So, what should we do? Leave your CDs at home when you are planning to travel to London. Right?

Hacking MS Team

July 30, 2015 — Leave a comment

0705_imela_3

What is your very fist impression, when you hear a name for a group – the Hacking Team? Probably, not such a positive one. Right? Who is to blame us, for our cyber prejudices? However, in this particular case, the busy little bees in the Hacking Team helped both Microsoft and us, a lot.

The Hacking Team has identified a security bug associated with the specific font’s driver. On the other side, grandpa Microsoft has delivered a security update, silently and efficiently. This is how it is supposed to be done. I tell you that something is wrong or broken. You fix it.

The end of potentially dangerous cyber story. As simple and as complicated as that. We have to say that we area dying to hear, what grandpa Microsoft sent to the Hacking Team as a sign of its gratitude. This is something we would like to hear and share with you.

It seems that every time your hear words, such as hacking or a hacker, this does not necessarily mean that something bad is going to happen. Just ask grandpa Microsoft, we are quite sure, it has so much to tell you about it. Good job, Hacking Team!

Samsung Pay Doesn’t Like The Rooted Play

July 28, 2015 — Leave a comment

wpid-wp-1426031398096.jpeg

Samsung Pay was introduced almost hand-in-hand with its latest flagships Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. However, the latest announcement has it that Samsung is not going to allow you to use this mobile payment service, if you are planning to run it on the so-called rooted devices.

Why? Is that a fair thing to do? Well, from the Samsung’s point of view, it certainly is. If you want to succeed in the cyber world, you just have to follow the money flow, as simple and as complicated as that. All eyes, ears, and especially fingers are on the mobile money.

Apple Pay is already fully operational. Google wants to improve its Wallet service even further. And, the list goes on and on. Every major IT players nowadays has its own mobile payment service. It is not a matter of prestige, but the basic business survival, under the new circumstances.

That is why, Samsung simply cannot afford itself a luxury of compromising its golden goose called Samsung Pay. What you are going to do with your rooted phone is your own thing, but you can forget about payment operations with it. Fair or not fair, Samsung has made up its mind in this situation.

Why Does My Email Heart Feel So Bad?

July 26, 2015 — Leave a comment

wpid-wp-1432409199574.jpg

The busy little bees in Symantec have some good news for all of us. It turns out that the number of spam has reached its critical minimal point in the last ten years. This can mean only one thing. The web and email service providers are doing their homework properly.

Or, we can put it in this way. One in two emails is a spam. According to Symantec this is great. Actually, this is the best thing, which happened in this field, during the last cyber decade. Are we supposed to be happy or relieved about it? Symantec has a nice reminder.

Not so long ago, three out of four emails you are supposed to get were with a spam purpose. Yes, this is a great change. No, we are not supposed to be thrilled about it. Is there something we can do to decrease spams to a harmless level of a statistical error?

If you are happy with the current situation, they you are not very likely to change it. Right? This is a moral we strongly recommend for this story. Otherwise, the spam-masters can say, great news, business will be as usual, for us.

Million Miles Away From Hacker’s Home

July 24, 2015 — Leave a comment

wpid-wp-1413765967231.jpeg

When there is a will, there has to be a way of improving our extremely compromised cyber security. Even if you do not have or do not want to pay money for cyber security services, you can always compensate. Just ask United Airlines, because they certainly have a lot to tell you all about it.

For what is worth, the busy little bees in the United Airlines have launched a genuine bug bounty program. So, what is so special about it? Well, if you knock them off their feet, your reward is not going to be a financial one. Surprised?

How about a one million miles of free flights reward, for a change? The United Airlines has decided that it is worth of every mile. What for? Well, thanks to the cyber bug bounty hunters, their website is bulletproof, when it comes to potential hacker’s attacks.

That is not all. One of the biggest worries for every airline company is a serious threat of a cyber hijack of a plane. In this worst case scenario, no price is too high to pay for a proper safety measure. Our hats off to this brilliant move. We should follow United Airlines’ example.

Who Will Guard The Guardians?

July 23, 2015 — Leave a comment

wpid-wp-1415098377104.jpeg

One National Guard member has exposed sensitive and private data of more than 850,000 of his fellows. How could this be? This is how, we have ended up in a vicious circle of game to blame. Really, who is to blame? The system or an individual, who has wrongfully used it?

Well, if the system works flawlessly with all of its security features, then there is nothing to worry about the potential misuse. However, if there is a flaw, then someone will take an advantage of it, sooner or later, this way or another. So, we have to blame the system. Right?

Maybe, the basic presumption that our own staff cannot do anything wrong is to be blamed. We are focused all the time to the threats coming from outside that we have completely forgotten about the cyber hazards working from inside. Which brings us back to our question.

Who and how will guard our cyber guardians? There should not be exceptions from our safety procedures and standards. On the contrary, we should apply special and additional standards for our guardians, because they are in a favorable position of taking an advantage over the system. Right?

The Call of The Dark Cyber Side

July 22, 2015 — Leave a comment

wpid-wp-1423350122242.jpeg

The most recent scandal in the IT security community has raised quite a few eyebrows, while making us to examine one more time the unsustainable claim that hacking can sometimes be an ethical thing to do. So, what happened actually, and why it is so important for us?

It turns out that one young and promising IT security consultant had an “intriguing” hobby and a part time job. The “hero” of our story was creating malicious software solutions. In addition, he was selling them online. You can imagine the surprise of his colleagues at work.

To make the situation even more interesting and even funnier, this consultant was working on his own “case”. During his regular working hours, he was solving problems he created the nights before. This modern time Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde did not have a happy ending.

It is hard to say what is the proper moral of this unusual story. It seems that the call of the dark-cyber-side can be quite a strong one. This does not necessarily mean that we should play spy games with our friends and colleagues. However, we should be aware of the true power of the dark cyber side.

Deadly Cyber Games

July 21, 2015 — Leave a comment

wpid-wp-1421541961907.jpeg

One South Korean intelligence officer committed a suicide as a result of the unprecedented cyber spy scandal, which has deeply disturbed this country. It turns out that South Korea was importing some software “solutions” from Italy, which are supposed to be used against the North Korea.

With all due respect, the North Korean IT infrastructure is rather a modest one. Therefore, you really do not have to bother yourself with the state of the art spy technology in this field. In addition, someone among South Korean intelligence officers has figured out that this thing can be used in the home field.

This is how, we have ended up with one of the biggest cyber scandals in the recent South Korean IT history. Someone has been spying on his or her own fellow citizens. The pressure was so strong that one man took his own life, rather than to be a part of this scandal.

So, what is the moral of this sad story? One thing obviously comes without saying. Cyber actions derived from the virtual world can have the serious real life consequences. You just cannot play with other people’s privacy with no consequences, this way or another. RIP you poor man.

iPhone 6 vs AK-74

July 20, 2015 — Leave a comment

0703_imela_7

How many iPhones you need to stop a bullet fired from an AK-74? Well, according to the crazy and creative guys from a YouTube channel, who enjoy themselves in destroying the top smartphones, you need at least five models. If you have a soft heart for smartphones, then you should not read this post.

Believe it or not, these guys put a dozen iPhones in a line. Then, with no mercy at all, they shot through them with an AK-74. The fifth smartphone was able to stop the bullet. So, what’s is the moral of this merciless and heartless experiment? If you are going to a dangerous zone, make sure you have five iPhones with you.

Or maybe, there is one more not so obvious moral discretely attached to this story. We’re so in love with our smartphones that we tend to assign them all kinds of super-powers and special features. In most of the cases, we are easily caught in the endless loop of exaggerations.

We sure hope that these heartless brainiacs have had more than enough of fun. We don’t need any more of these heartbreaking “experiments”, do we? Who knows what more can cross their “creative” minds? Please, don’t suggest them anything crazy and painful for our dear cyber-pets. Please.

Nintendo Malware Innuendo

July 18, 2015 — Leave a comment

0703_imela_5

Ah, those merciless hackers, they always strike where it hurts us the most. It comes without saying that the modern hackers are reading their potential victims like a book. This is exactly, what is happening with a series of apps, which allow you to play your favorite games from the 1980s and 1990s.

It is really great to get this wonderful feeling back on your smartphone. However, we have to ask, is not the price for it a little bit too high? What are we talking about? It turns out that an Android app, which allows you to play old Nintendo games on your smartphone, is a notorious El Dorado of malware and viruses.

So, who is to blame? Do not blame it on Google. To tell you the truth, we believe that the busy little bees in Google have no idea what is happening with all those apps, due to the overwhelming abundance of new apps, which are pumping out at an unparalleled speed.

So, what are you supposed to do? Should you say no to all your nostalgic feelings? Here is a hint. You should do some checking first for each app you are about to use. This is the only way to have the right kind of a feeling, you are hopping to achieve. With no regrets, of course.