It won’t break.
Category: mobile phones – Page 231
This is a good baseline around common known issues — the real problem is cyber terrorists (as I call them) learns from each attack they instigate and like an artist, they constantly are fine tuning their own skill. So, the attacker’s approach and execution may be done one way, and by the next attack they can easily have changed their whole attack model completely which makes it very cumbersome for experts to trace at times. If we believe this is bad now; wait until AI is more widely available and adopted. Or, Quantum ends up in the hands of these guys.
Cybercrimes in today’s technologically advanced society have become much more sophisticated and progressive. We can thank mobility for the ease of extended access to our personal data, as with every use of our mobile phones, laptops or tablets in public areas we further increase our risk and vulnerability. As business owners, online shoppers, students, employees and even house wives, we remain at high risk for intrusion of our virtual systems. In this digital day in age, our personal data is used everywhere from when we make an online banking transaction to buying a new shirt at the mall, and even working on a project at the local coffee shop. It is hardly responsible to think that your information is safe anywhere.
Protecting Yourself
Lucky for us, there are many effective and efficient opportunities for protecting ourselves virtually. When it comes to building a good defense against malicious cyber attackers the best mode of attack is a good offense. This means, educating yourself and setting up parameters that protect your system and therefore your personal data from all angles. In the grand scheme of things, knowledge is power and the more power you have, the more you can leverage such as a way to build a good defense against cybercrime. Here are five facts about cybercrimes that you might not be aware of:
The day the physical SIM card disappears is slowly getting closer. Last year, we heard that Samsung, Apple, and various mobile carriers were working to create a new standard for embedded or eSIMs (programmable SIMs that allow you to switch carriers without swapping the physical card in your device). Now, the GSMA has announced a new eSIM specification for smartwatches, fitness trackers, and tablets, with Samsung’s Gear S2 Classic 3G the first device on the market to come equipped with the new technology.
Now, a few caveats are needed. This isn’t the first mobile device to offer a programmable SIM card (certain iPads have this functionality using Apple’s own tech, for example). Nor does the standard apply to smartphones, with the GSMA saying that won’t be coming until June. And while the June eSIM will allow users to store the profiles of multiple carriers on a single phone, this new specification only supports one carrier at a time. However, this is still a big step forward for the eSIM, with the new specification backed by some of world’s largest hardware manufacturers (including Samsung, LG, Microsoft, and Huawei) and mobile carriers (including AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica, and EE).
Speaking to The Verge, the GSMA’s chief engineer Ian Pannell says that the new specification is all about giving users more control. “We don’t want the consumer to be disadvantaged compared to the current SIM model,” he says, adding that the new specification is a simpler version of the full eSIM, to ease hardware partners into the change: “We’re putting the first specification out for companies that may want to launch products that are very simple.” He adds that the eSIM is also 90 percent smaller than a traditional SIM card, offering “a big saving in space.”
Flexible smartphones were once talked about as being the ‘next big thing’ for the industry, but apart from the occasional limited demonstration at a convention, the hype surrounding the technology has died down – possibly because it’s taking so long to arrive. But now, Canadian researchers have created a device that may be the first step toward a truly flexible smartphone screen.
Created by researchers at Queen’s University Human Media Lab, the prototype ReFlex is the world’s first flexible smartphone to feature a full-color, high-resolution display and wireless technology.
ReFlex uses a 720p LG Display Flexible OLED touchscreen and is powered by an Android 4.0 KitKat board mounted on the side of the display. It also features a voice coil that allows the phone to simulate forces and friction through highly detailed vibrations.
Lookout for MAZAR Bot — Androids should be scared.
One interesting feature of Mazar is that it can not be installed on smartphones running Android with “Russian” selected as the operating system’s language.
The malware allows the attackers to spy on nearly every activity capable on an Android device, including establishing a backdoor connection, sending premium SMS messages, reading texts sent to the device, including bank authentication PINs.
Turn off “Unknown Sources” on your device — The best way to avoid downloading malicious items is to not allow unknown sources to install stuff on your device. The app asks for wide ranging permissions, including the ability to send SMS, have full internet access, and the ability to erase a phone.
Government and tech + telecom & ISPs need to come to an agreement in how to ensure innocent people’s privacy are respected. When a person murders, stalk, threaten, kidnap, and/ or assault a person then we have a responsibility first to protect the innocent public. And, with the resistance being displayed by Apple, are we running the risk of further alienating the consumers and business customers more when it comes to releasing AI like robots, self driving cars, etc. onto the public where criminals can buy AI technology and use it to hurt others?
We really need to be addressing these issues soon.
Tim Cook is playing a dangerous game of brinkmanship with the U.S. government. In the process, he may set in motion political and judicial processes that will endanger the security of all our mobile devices.
First, let me say that I agree with the spirit of Mr. Cook’s open letter rebuffing a court order that Apple Inc. create a new version of the iPhone’s operating system to allow the Federal Bureau of Investigation to access the…
A new smartphone is launching. And this one costs just a little bit more than a McDonald’s Happy Meal.
Despite the ubiquity of smartphones, you’d be hard pressed to find one that you could purchase with spare change. Yet Ringing Bells, a handset manufacturer from India, has managed to create one that’s only going to cost $4.
The device is called Freedom 251 and was just very recently unveiled. Specs aside, the most impressive thing about the Freedom 251 is, by far, its price. The pricing strategy and development of the technology was anchored on Narendra Modi’s intent to ‘empower India to the last person,’ and the smartphone was a way for central government to promote inclusivity among its constituents for its digital initiatives.
This is the ‘world’s cheapest’ smartphone.
A technology company in India is launching what it claims will be the ‘world’s cheapest’ smartphone costing just $7 or around £5.
The Freedom 251 is being built by Ringing Bells and will reportedly sell for around $7 although the BBC reports that local media are pricing it even lower at just £2.50.
Interesting read — I must admit that today’s CEOs of large companies are not like the CEOs of my grandfather’s generation who were more like the mold of Sam Walton.
This habit for grandiose predictions seems to be contagious. Last fall, Miguel McKelvey, founder of shared office space giant We Work Cos. promised his company would be in a thousand locations “in the near future.” Given that the company at the time was present in just 52 places, this promised a growth rate north of 1500 percent—but probably had some intended influence on the company’s $10 billion valuation.
In 2013, before he left Blackberry under pressure, the company’s CEO Thorsten Heins declared that “in 5 years, I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore.”
Six years earlier Steve Ballmer of Microsoft assured the world, “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”
I was waiting for this HIPAA’s new guidelines for mobile apps (focuses a lot on IAM); this is only the first wave. We will see more when more AI is launched.
Federal regulators have issued new guidance, including material to clarify for healthcare entities and software developers various scenarios where HIPAA regulations might apply to mobile health applications, including situations when patients use smartphones to collect or transmit personal health data.
See Also: 2015 Breach Preparedness and Response Study: The Results
Some privacy and security experts say the new mobile application guidance material from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights addresses a topic that is not only a current source of confusion for many covered entities and business associates, but also is likely to become increasingly complex as more consumers use smartphones and other devices to help manage chronic illnesses and other health issues.