A Retrospective Look...

Well, I’d have to say that I enjoyed blogging this semester.  It is nice to sit down and read current events related to cyber security.  It looks like I started off blogging about more broad topics (foreign hackers) then narrowed it down and started talking about a security incident that happened in an elementary school.  After that it seems I found articles that pertained to home security..mostly because most articles I found centered around home security… as NSA is monitoring us more closely now.  I did throw in a couple random articles about security incidents at AT&T (this one probably interested me because I have AT&T).  The other random one was facebook..I have facebook as well, and I was curious what security leak happened that I was  not aware about.  I also threw in an article not related to cyber security..that was the supermoon article.  I think I liked this article because one of the airmen at work was talking about the supermoon.

The only source I used was CNET.  When I first read the assignment I thought we were only suppose to pick one source, so when I was looking through all the sources I wanted to pick a source that had a multitude of topics I could write on.  CNET seemed to be a good option as it had tons of up-to-date cyber security articles.

I think this type of blog would be very useful for a security professional.  I think a blog is great to keep all of your thoughts in one place.  That way you can go back and see what you wrote a week or a month ago.  It would help a security professional be an organized thinker.

If I was the next set of students, I definitely would want to keep the blog idea open and have them write in it.  I think it was great, and a great way for me to learn about blogging as I never have blogged before.  I do think that they should check out more sites than just one.  I wish I would have checked more out and wrote from a bunch of different sources.  I also think that the blog idea is great because we are required to have a blog post each semester for our masters and I think I can just add to this one! J

Extreme Reality

         In our last forum discussion post we talked about face recognition biometrics.  Well, extreme reality is similar in that it turns skeletons into biometric signatures.  The CTO and co-founder talks about how face-recognition technology is limited..that you need to be in the same position everytime.  Or if you grow a beard or wear sunglasses is an easy way to avoid face recognition.  This software technology uses "3D motion using a 2D camera to recognize individuals gait as a unique biometric signature". 

        When I first saw this I thought about the Kinect or the Wii, some kind of video game, that seems similar.  This software is different in that it will track 3D dimensions of a users skeletal joints and then will convert that into motion.

        The company wants to use this technology to differentiate between people.  It would be a great biometric signature.  Apparently it eliminates things that are outside of our human motion and joints and eliminates that.  the CTO also thinks it could be used in such things as golf simulators and fitness apps.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57595555-83/extreme-reality-turns-skeletons-into-biometric-signatures/

Canary aims to make home security simple and smart

I am  not sure how I feel about having a home security system installed in my home, that could be viewed from my cell phone but this is looking like its the new thing.

Canary recently started developing the home security system/device that you could obtain for only $199.  It can work with your smart phone too!

Apparently Canary is launching a campaign to raise $100,000 so that the first shipment of home security could be delivered by May 2014.

I know I have seen the app for iPhones for monitoring your baby, but I'm still on the fence about having a camera set up in your home.

The device is 6 inches tall and 3 inches wide and includes an HD video camera.  It has a wide lens, night vision, and multiple sensors for "tracking motion, vibration, sound, temperature, humidity, and air quality".  It can also send you alerts and notifications.

Can you imagine staying a friends house for the weekend, possibly sleeping on the couch and constantly getting monitored without knowing it?  I understand if you want to monitor your baby sleeping, but I think this may have gone too far.

This reminds me of "Meet the Parents" where the dad is constantly monitoring Greg!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57594843-83/canary-aims-to-make-home-security-simple-and-smart/

Pirate Bay founder creating surveillance-free messaging app

With NSA supposedly monitoring our every move..either texting or phone records, I have found that every other article out there nowadays on computer security is somehow related to this.

I came across an article that interested me on Pirate Bay creating a surveillance-free messaging app.  Currently the co-founder..Peter Sunde..and some of his app developers started trying to create an app that is "spy proof".  They wanted to create the app so that no one would be able to spy on you, not even the company that produced it.

This App will be able to work with both the IPhone and the Android.  It also uses end-to-end encryption.

I didn't realize that Sunde was the one of the creators of BitTorrent.  I am curious how this will turn out.  Though I think with every new invention someone will be able to find a leak or hole in it.  In other words if the government wants to monitor our every move this app wont stop them.

It will be interesting to find out!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57592992-83/pirate-bay-founder-creating-surveillance-free-messaging-app/

AT&T web site hacker - Andrew Auernheimer

Andrew Auernheimer was convicted of hacking AT&Ts web site. He accessed a non-password protected site, which allowed him to gain access to 100,000 iPad users email addresses. After he did this he then decided to download the records and give the results to "Gawker". The script he wrote was called "iPad 3G Account Sluper" and it basically collected those email addresses associated with those users. He was also convicted of 3 years in prison.

Apparently he was in prison for about a year, but as of Monday the appeals court said that it did not constitute theft because it was the result of lax security. This was my original question when I read about this. If AT&T did not have a password enabled on this site then why would he be charged and going to prison. I get that he created the script and collected the information, but really how much information can you get from someones email address..you don't have their password information? Plus this information was not password protected and available to anyone on the Internet.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57592084-83/at-t-ipad-hacker-appeals-conviction/

Hackers reportedly release data on U.S. troops in Korea

According to this article there are approximately 28,500 US troops in South Korea.  I know that alot of our airmen are going to Korea for short tours (a year).  You can opt to bring your family out there and stay for 2 years.  I have heard its a great deployment and its sad to hear about this cyberattack.

This article talks about the cybercriminals that have leaked information on those troops that are currently serving in Korea.  It was confirmed that not only government but private sectors were affected by these attacks.  This attack was huge because over 40,000 troops were affected.

The criminals apparently posted details online about how they attacked/hacked these websites.  This is disconcerting to me because we know these threats are out there especially with the Chinese and Koreans.  The article talks about how the South Korean government is investigating this attack, and it even states that the attack was similar to past attempts to hack sites. With our troops supporting our country, I would hope we would have better controls in place to mitigate these threats.  North Korea is of course denying these attacks.  This cyber attack was huge, and affected alot of innocent Americans. 

I think the biggest thing we can do is educate people on the type of threats and how to protect yourself and your family.  We must also keep in mind that this these cyberattacks aren't new and will progressively get worse if nothing is done to learn and educate ourselves.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57591048-83/hackers-reportedly-release-data-on-u.s-troops-in-korea/

Facebook bug exposed contact info of 6M users

Well this is a good article for me to read because I have facebook but didn't realize that a bug has affected 6 million users on facebook!  That's alot of users.  You have the option to put your email and sometimes your phone number is automatically populated off of your IPhone when its synced up to your facebook account.  Apparently the "Download Your Information" tool was exposing some peoples contact information that wasn't suppose to be shown.  For example if you downloaded your data, then some of your friends information that you weren't suppose to be privy to, was downloaded as well.  I sure hope I wasn't affected by this bug, and its a little worrisome that I never received notification of this security incident.  Supposedly if you were affected then you would receive an email letting you know you were affected and your contact information could be shared.  The article says that this isn't a real privacy concern because peoples contact information that was shared was to parties that already had your information anyways.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57590528-93/facebook-bug-exposed-contact-info-of-6m-users/