Pirates vs World Wide Web

July 3, 2015 — Leave a comment

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One thing is more than certain in the so-called Hollywood-Pirate-Wars, these cyber-pirates are surprisingly persistent and extremely innovative. You should not get us wrong. This is not some pro-piracy post. We are eager to see how far this stubborn game is going to go and last, including the fate of its participants.

The Pirate Bay uses six alternative domains almost on a daily basis. What is even more interesting the busy little pirate bees are discarding the www prefix, as well. It is as if they are coming from some other parallel Internet universe. Would all of these unorthodox measured help them in the long run?

The Hollywood empire will strike back eventually, this way or another. This is no longer a thing that has to do with money or copyrights. Maybe, we are imagining things, but we just cannot help ourselves noticing some unexplainable personal moments in this endless conflict.

Is it really so hard to come up with a compromising solution, which is more or less satisfactory for both parties? This is really hard to believe. If you want to end the reign of torrent sea pirates, then you have to do better than this. We have this funny feeling that this is not the last post about the cyber-piracy.

No Keys, No Doors, Only Windows

July 2, 2015 — Leave a comment

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There are so many new things that we are very likely to experience with Windows 10. It is almost impossible to keep a track of them all. It seems that every single element in the great MS puzzle is going to be turned upside down or replaced. This also includes the legendary activation keys, as well.

From what we know for sure, Windows 10 activation is going to be a fully automatized process. You will not be required to do a thing about it. So, forget about all those activation key numbers and letters you have to type patiently and precisely. This thing is a history now.

If you already own a legal version of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, then this is supposed to be a carefree experience. Right? You wake up one lovely day in July, and you realize that your computer runs in the new Windows 10 environment. So, what is going to happen with the illegal “leftovers”?

Apparently, they will have to purchase Windows 10, or deal with the activation key in some of the older Windows versions. We all know that at the end of the long business day at Microsoft, all that is going to truly matter, is how many people bought or use the new shiny OS star called – Windows 10.

You Like Familiar To Windows 10 Mobile

July 1, 2015 — Leave a comment

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Until we get it for real, we are going to hear so many intriguing things about the new Windows 10. It can do this or that. It will do this or that. Some of the things are great, and we cannot wait to get our fingers on them. On the other side, some just make us so worried. So, how about this one?

From now on, the front camera of your Lumia phone thanks to Windows 10 Mobile will come with the facial recognition system. The plan is to make your life much simpler for you. Your smartphone recognizes you, and you are good to go. No password is needed. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

Now, let us examine some additional options. Who else is going to recognize you, besides your cyber pet called a smartphone? So, we are supposed to believe that nothing bad or unwanted is not going to happen. Seriously? What about the people around us? This camera is going to treat us nice.

Well, we are not convinced. Not, at all. Actually, the number and power of these facial recognition systems worry us deeply. What are we supposed to do about it? To wear sunglasses all the time? To hide away from our own smartphone? No, this is definitely a bad idea. Think about it again grandpa Microsoft.

Android Security Rewards Program

July 1, 2015 — Leave a comment

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If you are looking for a legitimate way to earn some money while you live up to your hacker’s fantasies, Google presents you with the Android Security Rewards Program. This is such a lovely reminder of those good old days, when we had quite a few bugs bounty reward programs.

With this one you can earn from $2,000 up to $40,000 for a single bug hunt. The minimal amount in this bug bounty stories is reserved for the newest Nexus models. On the other hand, if you want to earn some serious money, then you have to do some serious work. Here is an example.

The five figure amounts are reserved for the guys, who can find a bug in the Android system itself. In addition, there is a nice way to double your reward. If you can find a bug, and a solution for it, as well, then you got yourself a rocking win-win. It seems that Google has figured it all out, isn’t it?

When it comes to bug bounty programs, there is no such thing as a wasted money. Every single dollar you invest for these purposes pays back two, three or more times. It is definitely better to reward people, than to compensate them once a certain cyber problem occurs. Right?

To Serve, Protecte, And Hide, If Necessary

June 27, 2015 — Leave a comment

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One of the latest rumors has it that Facebook managed to get its hand on the former chief of the Yahoo security system. Alex Stamos is supposed to do exactly what in Facebook? The same job he was doing in Yahoo. Right? Is Facebook in trouble? Should we be worried about our cyber security on Facebook?

If you scratch a little bit deeper underneath the Facebook surface, you will realize that it still cares about its users. In a profitable way, of course. That is why, anything and anyone to make users uncomfortable is not welcome on this most popular social network in the world.

Here is the catch. The list of most unwanted guests includes our dear government among other notorious men in black. This means that we will be safe from all kinds of spying and tracking programs made in the NSA or the CIA. If that is really the case here, then our hats off to Facebook.

We have to admit that we are a little bit suspicious. Facebook and Google have quite a negative reputation as being extremely “government-friendly”. They just cannot say no to the government, can they? Let us just hope that Facebook hackers will lose their job, thanks to this man Alex Stamos .

Who’ll Guard The Guardians?

June 26, 2015 — Leave a comment

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Can you imagine this worst case scenario? Your password manager just got hacked. That is the trouble with a strategy, let me put all of my eggs in one basket. On the other side, what other real options do we have? They say, do not use the same password for all of your various devices.

OK, we got it, but who is going to remember dozen of different passwords. Now, you see what is the big problem here. When it comes to the password managers, we expect from them to be bulletproof in terms of flawless cyber security. When they fail, what are we supposed to do?

Passwords are going to be our most annoying problem for quite some time. We are literally helpless. Every now and then, you hear about the more or less successful innovations in this field. There are some experts, who are suggesting us to use Emoji symbols as a password alternative.

Can you believe it? How about body implants? Can this work for you? Do we really need to trade our privacy for an adequate password? The more we talk about passwords, the more frustrated we eventually become. Should we use the word password for our only password?

Emoji Password

June 25, 2015 — Leave a comment

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OK, we got it. We are not rocket scientists, but we know for sure that a password based on Emoji symbols is actually a picture-based security measure. It makes a perfect sense, doesn’t it? This new type of password is supposed to be a tougher challenge for hackers.

For what is worth, thanks to Emoji, we have more combinations at our disposal to play with. On the other side, we could not help ourselves noticing one obvious practical problem. How we are supposed to remember our new Emoji password? This is going to be a little bit harder, than it seems.

If you want a strong password, then you will have to use quite a few Emoji symbols. Very different ones. Right? Which eventually brings us back to the very beginning of our story about the bullet-proof passwords. Do we have to use a special program to memorize our Emoji passwords for us?

We are pretty much convinced that some reckless users are the perfect match for the category called the helpless-cyber-security-cases. Someone will just put six or eight smileys in a row. And, that will be it. The Emoji version of a password for the password.

Cyberphone The New BlackPhone

June 21, 2015 — Leave a comment

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Since the beginning of the smartphone time, we have dreamed about the magical model, which will be a synonym for the uncompromising safety and bulletproof privacy. This is how, we have ended up one fine day with a thing called the BlackPhone under our pillow. Yet, that was not enough.

The main purpose of this dark-knight-smartphone was to encrypt all of your mobile data. Protection of your privacy was its primary and only purpose. However, we still could not find a solution for the secure mobile transactions. This is the reason, the Cyberphone is introduced.

This is the early part of the smartphone day, that is why, we cannot tell you a lot. This smartphone, which comes with a straightforward name Cyberphone, walks in the mysterious mobile ways, as it should be. Nevertheless, this does not solve all of our problems. We need a double-bubble solution.

What if the Cyberphone and the Blackphone can have kids? Smart kids, if possible. This way, we will be able to kill two most troubling cyber-threats with just one smart-stone-phone. Protecting privacy, while ensuring safe mobile transactions. It really sounds like a dream, doesn’t it?

When Experts Walks In, Security Walks Out

June 20, 2015 — Leave a comment

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Here is the thing with the cyber security experts. They talk too much. When you ask them to give you a couple of life saving tips, this is what you get as a result. The very first thing you are going to hear is that you should always walk on the safe side of the cyber cliff. What is that supposed to mean?

Use only legitimate software. Avoid suspicious websites. Do not do anything foolish while being online. Seriously? It is just like they are referring to the regular users of the notorious Silk Road. What else do these brainiacs have to share with us that can improve our security?

We are supposed to forget about all those ridiculous passwords, which include among other hard to believe “crown jewels” of pure ingenuity, such as password, 123456, 123456789, iloveyou, and similar. Do you feel safer already? What is the moral of this story about the top cyber security secrets?

Well, either these experts were in the bad mood mode, or we, the users, are helplessly naive and reckless. Maybe, we can really strengthen our cyber security position, with a few simple steps, we fail to apply over and over again. Maybe, the image in our cyber security mirror is too scary to look at.

Browser Hijackers

June 17, 2015 — Leave a comment

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Is there at least one place in our brave new cyber world, which is safe from hacker’s harm? We have seen quite a few troubling things, and heard so many horrific stories, but this is simply too much to handle. Now, our precious web browsers are not going to be left aside, “thanks” to the so-called browser hijackers.

The use of the term hijacking, says a lot about this extremely annoying cyber menace, doesn’t it? Someone hijacks your browser in order to change its settings without your knowledge nor permission. So, what do you get as a result? Well, you do not have to guess twice, do you?

Your browser is very likely to pump up some website’s search results or even worse to steal your privacy and logging data. Unfortunately, this is almost a fully legitimate way to do some illegal things. There is more. This is not the worst  thing about the web browser hijackers. Can you guess what it is?

It turns out that you yourself are to be blamed for your hijacking situation. You have installed some completely unnecessary piece of software or you have followed some naughty link. Either way, no one hacked your browser in a traditional sense. Remember that. Prevention is still the best cyber defense.