- Friday, November 28, 2014
- 0 Comments
An “ATM skimmer” is a malicious device criminals attach to an ATM. When you use an ATM that’s been compromised in such a way, the skimmer will create a copy of your card and capture your PIN.
If you use ATMs, you should be aware of these attacks. It’s often possible to spot ATM skimmers, or at least to protect your PIN so ATM skimmers won’t be able to capture it.
ATM skimmers are becoming more and more sophisticated. Instead of a device fitted over a card slot, a skimmer may be a small, unnoticeable device inserted into the card slot itself.
How ATM Skimmers Work
An ATM skimmer has two components. The first is a small device that’s generally inserted over the ATM card slot. When you insert your ATM card, the device creates a copy of the data on the magnetic strip of your card. The card passes through the device and enters the machine, so everything will appear to be functioning normally –but your card data has just been copied.
The second part of the device is a camera. A small camera is placed somewhere it can see the keypad — perhaps at the top of the ATM’s screen, just above the number pad, or to the side of the pad. The camera is pointed at the keypad and it captures you entering your PIN. The ATM appears to be functioning normally, but the attackers just copied your card’s magnetic strip and your PIN.
The attackers can use this data to program a bogus ATM card with the magnetic strip data and use it in ATM machines, entering your PIN and withdrawing money from your bank accounts.
Instead of a camera pointed at the keypad, the attackers may be using an overlay — a fake keyboard fitted over the real keypad. When you press a button on the fake keypad, it logs the button you pressed and presses the real button underneath. These are harder to detect. Unlike a camera, they’re also guaranteed to capture your PIN.
ATM skimmers generally store the data they capture on the device itself. The criminals have to come back and retrieve the skimmer to get the data it’s captured. However, more ATM skimmers are now transmitting this data wirelessly over Bluetooth or even cellular data connections.
How to Spot ATM Skimmers
Here are some tricks for spotting ATM skimmers. You can’t spot every ATM skimmer, but it won’t hurt to take a quick look around before withdrawing money.
- Jiggle the Card Reader: If the card reader moves around when you try to jiggle it with your hand, something probably isn’t right. A real card reader should be attached to the ATM so well that it won’t move around — a skimmer overlaid over the card reader may move around.
- Look at the ATM Machine: Take a quick look at the ATM machine. Does anything look a bit out-of-place? Perhaps the bottom panel is a different color from the rest of the machine because it’s a fake piece of plastic placed over the real bottom panel and the keypad. Perhaps there’s an odd-looking object that contains a camera.
- Examine the Keypad: Does the keypad look a bit too thick, or different from how it usually looks if you’ve used the machine before? It may be an overlay over the real keypad.
- Check for Cameras: Consider where an attacker might hide a camera — somewhere above the screen or keypad, or even in the brochure holder on the machine.
If you find something seriously wrong — a card reader that moves, a hidden camera, or a keypad overlay — be sure to alert the bank or business in charge of the ATM. If something just doesn’t seem right with the machine, go find another ATM machine.
Basic Security Precautions
You can find common, cheap ATM skimmers with tricks like attempting to jiggle the card reader. But here’s what you should always do to protect yourself when using any ATM machine:
- Shield Your PIN With Your Hand: When you type your PIN into an ATM machine, shield the PIN pad with your hand. Yes, this won’t protect you against the most sophisticated skimmers that use keypad overlays, but you’re much more likely to run into an ATM skimmer that uses a camera — they’re much cheaper for criminals to purchase. This is the number one tip you can use to protect yourself.
- Monitor Your Bank Account Transactions: You should regularly check your bank accounts and credit card accounts online. Check for suspicious transactions and notify your bank as quickly as possible. You want to catch these problems as soon as possible — don’t wait until your bank mails you a printed statement a month after money has been withdrawn from your account by a criminal.
- Thursday, November 27, 2014
- 0 Comments
ZigWheels.com: BMW M3 and M4 launched in India. http://google.com/newsstand/s/CBIwrNOg0h8
- Thursday, November 27, 2014
- 0 Comments
German researchers say old TV signals should be made available as “common property” for super Wi-Fi networks that can travel for miles
Researchers in Germany say the reassignment of vacant and unused television frequencies as “common property” could relieve pressure on cellular infrastructure by enabling ‘Super Wi-Fi’ networks capable of transmitting a signal over several kilometres.
Currently, Wi-Fi networks use high frequencies of 2GHz or above, with lower bands reserved for other uses, such as Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and mobile networks, due to their longer range and because of fears of congestion.
However Arnd Weber and Jens Elsner of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) believe they have devised a technique that prevents such congestion and suggests that governments should release sub-2GHz frequencies for public use, rather than auctioning them off to mobile operators.
Source- techweekeurope
- Thursday, November 27, 2014
- 0 Comments
- Tuesday, November 25, 2014
- 0 Comments
Here is the Google ad that is taking over the huge new billboard on New York City's Times Square.
From Monday, Nov. 25, Google becomes the inaugural advertiser on the screen, which runs nearly a length of a football field from 45th to 46th Street along Broadway, and is eight stories tall. The display is made up of 24 million pixels and it is the highest resolution LED screen of its size in the world.
Passers-by will be able to use Google's Androidify app on Android and iOS to create their own Android character to play with on the big screen using their smartphones from Monday afternoon through Tuesday.
Those that can't make it down to Times Square can still submit their character to appear on the big screen. If it appears on the billboard, Google will send you an email of the character on the billboard.
Google is using the billboard to showcase its lead products, beginning with newly introduced Nexus handsets and tablets, through to Android Wear, Chrome and Maps.
The cost of advertising on the billboard space, which is situated above the Marriott Marquis Hotel and operated by Clear Channel, has not been disclosed.
- Monday, November 24, 2014
- 0 Comments
U2F is an open authentication standard. It was initially developed by Google, but it's now managed by the FIDO (Fast Identity Online) Alliance. The FIDO Alliance also includes household names like Microsoft, Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, Discover, Samsung, and BlackBerry among its members.
Two-factor, or multi-factor authentication has long been promoted as a more effective security mechanism, but it's a hassle, requiring you to juggle passwords with a second factor such as a texted code or an authentication app. U2F proposes to streamline the process using a U2F-enabled USB or NFC key fob, card, or mobile device alongside traditional authentication methods. All you have to do is use a Web browser with built-in support and native drivers.
Users must first register the U2F device with sites or services that support U2F authentication, such as webmail, or banking sites. You must insert the U2F device into a USB port, enter your traditional username and password credentials, and then touch the U2F device to generate secure login credentials. Because successful authentication relies on interaction with the U2F device, U2F protects against common attacks like session hijacking, man-in-the-middle attacks, advanced Trojans, and other malware.
Yubico and Plug-up are the two primary providers of U2F-enabled devices. Today, Duo Security announced that it joined the FIDO Alliance and now offers U2F support in its FIDO-ready products. Duo Security provides cloud-based two-factor authentication for more than 5,000 companies around the world, including Facebook, Toyota, Sony, and Etsy. With Duo Security committing to the FIDO Alliance and supporting U2F, Duo Security customers will now be able to support U2F as well.
Google revealed that it now supports U2F as part of the two-factor authentication for Google sites and services. It also announced that the Chrome Web browser supports U2F authentication. Chrome is available for ChromeOS, Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, so U2F protection is accessible to users on every major platform.
Two things make U2F a more effective approach to two-factor authentication, and more likely to succeed in gaining mainstream acceptance. First it's an open standard, so it’s easier for organizations to implement it. That means that a user with one U2F device can take advantage of two-factor authentication across a potentially vast array of sites and services.
The second factor that will drive the success of U2F is its simplicity. Granted, touching the U2F device is still less convenient than just entering a username and password, but when it comes to two-factor authentication it doesn’t get much simpler than that.
The FIDO Alliance and its U2F standard are young, but they can boast major supporters in the tech and financial worlds. As more household names join the party and support U2F authentication, it could emerge as a widely accepted standard for two-factor authentication.
As of right now, the only Web browser that supports U2F is Google Chrome. With Microsoft on board as a member of the FIDO Alliance, though, it seems reasonable to expect Internet Explorer to support U2F in the near future.
- Sunday, November 23, 2014
- 0 Comments
- Thursday, November 20, 2014
- 0 Comments
Instant photography is making a big comeback lately. As both the success of The Impossible Project and the popularity of Fuji’s most recent Instax models can attest to, people want to hold prints in their hand, and if they can do it as soon as they take the picture, all the better.
Prynt is a product that is planning to ride this popularity wave at its peak by combining instant printing with mobile photography in an extremely convenient fashion: by creating a photo printing case for your phone.
Currently, Prynt exists only as a prototype as the French startup works to source the best hardware and prepare for a Kickstarter campaign early next year. But printing your memories isn’t going to be the only feature of the Prynt case/app combo — there’s an interesting twist built in.
Further differentiating it from the other mobile printing options (none of which are a case as of yet anyway…) is the fact that the Prynt app automatically captures a slightly extended memory each time you take a photo.
According to TechCrunch, when you snap a picture with the Prynt app, it captures a video of the moments before and after you took the picture. You’ll get your print-out, but showing that picture to the Prynt app will also bring up the short video, allowing you to better re-live the moment.
And Prynt is hoping to further expand and secure this experience (e.g. a picture of the picture wouldn’t bring up the video) by the time the printing case hits Kickstarter.
Prynt stopped by TechCrunch headquarters to show off the prototype case, and you can see it in action in the video above. The prototype, for now, is a bit clunky and slow, but they promise that the final version will work much faster, hold between 10 and 30 pieces of ink-packed paper, and cost only $100. Plus the paper will only cost 30 cents per sheet… much cheaper than Polaroid.
TC also revealed that the final product will be compatible with any smartphone that sports a 4.x-inch screen and there is an adaptor in the works for the bigger phones like the Galaxy Note series and Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus.
- Tuesday, November 18, 2014
- 0 Comments
TORONTO: Imagine if you could read as your girlfriend types, deletes or rewrites a reply to your message. With this new app, there is no hiding the emotions that you pour into your messages.
Known as Beam Messenger, "this is the closest you will get to having a verbal conversation in a messaging app," says its download page on Google Play.
Unlike traditional texting apps, the app developed by the Toronto-based Propulsion Lab shows both participants in a conversation what the other party is writing.
"Beam Messenger is a first of its kind 'True Real Time' communications app. It allows for instant typing and transmission of text. Erase messages in real time or interrupt your friend to say 'you have heard the story before!'" the post of the company's website read.
"Every character, every deleted character, every single pause, in real time. Right there in the palm of your hand," it added.
Beam Messenger is free for Android users.
Known as Beam Messenger, "this is the closest you will get to having a verbal conversation in a messaging app," says its download page on Google Play.
Unlike traditional texting apps, the app developed by the Toronto-based Propulsion Lab shows both participants in a conversation what the other party is writing.
"Beam Messenger is a first of its kind 'True Real Time' communications app. It allows for instant typing and transmission of text. Erase messages in real time or interrupt your friend to say 'you have heard the story before!'" the post of the company's website read.
"Every character, every deleted character, every single pause, in real time. Right there in the palm of your hand," it added.
Beam Messenger is free for Android users.
- Monday, November 17, 2014
- 0 Comments
It's been awhile since Android's default Messaging app got some really good updates, Google has a new, updated Messenger with better sharing, number blocking, and more.
While many people have switched over to Hangouts for all their messaging, some of us prefer the Hangouts-free experience, and it's nice to see an update for our camp. The new Messenger app brings a shiny new, colorful interface to your messages, along with advanced features like archiving, search, and faster sharing. You can also block individual senders or set contact-specific ringtones right from the message thread, which is a very nice touch.
To take advantage of most of these features, you may need to set Messenger as your new default SMS app—so head into the settings and turn that on when you start it up.
Messenger | Google Play Store
- Thursday, November 13, 2014
- 0 Comments
INBOX by Gmail !
1st of all invite thing at this stage of growing App world was just inappropriate. are people satisfied for what there were curious about and waiting like a week for Invitation from Google like me ? generally speaking efforts to change the whole prospect of Email was appreciated but what about professional people? for them checking Email and Replying is only task they want to perform, easy interface, less clicks, no complex UI is what needed.
let not forget "Google wave" very nice concept but didn’t worked because it was Too complicated and no fun. hope INBOX don't go into that line.
Conclusions:
Usual condition apply here: it’s still in beta, and lot can change, its still very early days yet.
On using Inbox I felt the typical horror
and frustration that everyone feels when something changes, but it only
took an hour or so to appreciate it and feel my way around.
- Wednesday, November 12, 2014
- 0 Comments
It’s common knowledge that almost every single geek hates Internet Explorer with a passion, but have you ever wondered why? Let’s take a fair look at the history and where it all began… for posterity, if nothing else.
Contrary to what you might think, this article is not meant to be a hate-fest on Internet Explorer—in fact, since IE 9, they have continued to improve the performance, add new features, and generally make it standards-compliant.
In the Beginning There Was IE, and It Was Good?
We’ve all been so used to thinking of Internet Explorer as that slow, buggy browser that is behind the times, but it wasn’t always that way—in fact, way back when, Internet Explorer pioneered many innovations that made the web what it is today.
Here’s a quick tour through the easily forgotten history of the infamous browser:
1996: Internet Explorer 3
This version of the browser, introduced in 1997, was the first browser to implement CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Yes, you’re reading that correctly—in fact, it introduced many new features like Java applets and sadly, ActiveX controls.
1997: Internet Explorer 4
IE4 introduced a blazing fast (at the time) rendering engine as an embeddable component that could be used in other applications—this was a lot more important than people realize. This version also introduced Dynamic HTML, which allows web pages to dynamically change the page using JavaScript, and added Active Desktop integration.
Even more weird? Seems like nobody remembers this anymore, but IE4 was actually cross-platform—you could install it on Mac OS, Solaris, and HP-UX—and by the time IE5 was released, IE4 had reached a 60 percent market share.
1999: Internet Explorer 5.x
Microsoft invented Ajax. Wait… what? That’s right, it was this version of IE that introduced the XMLHttpRequest feature in JavaScript, which forms the underlying technology behind every web application you’re using today—you know, like Gmail. Of course, the term “Ajax” wasn’t actually coined until years later by somebody other than Microsoft, but this release supported everything required to make it work.
So Yes, Microsoft Innovated
From IE3 until IE6, Microsoft used all their resources to simply out-innovate the competition, releasing new features and better browsers faster than Netscape. In fact, Netscape 3 Gold was a buggy piece of junk that crashed all the time, and Netscape 4 was extremely slow and could barely render tables—much less CSS, which would often cause the browser to crash.
To put it in context: web developers used to complain about Netscape the same way they complain about IE6 now.
What Made It Go So Very Wrong?
The trouble all started when Microsoft integrated IE into Windows as a required component, and made it difficult to uninstall and use an alternate browser. Then there was the whole business with them exploiting their monopoly to try and push Netscape out of the market, and a lot of people started to view Microsoft as the evil empire.
Microsoft Stopped Trying
By the time Microsoft released Internet Explorer 6 in 2001, complete with lots of new features for web developers, since there was no competition and they had a 95 percent market share, Microsoft just stopped trying—seriously, they did nothing for five years even after Firefox was released, and geeks started migrating left and right.
Microsoft-Specific Features
The whole problem with Microsoft’s innovation is that much of it was done in ways that didn’t follow the web standards—this wasn’t as big of a problem when Internet Explorer was the only game in town, but once Firefox and Webkit came around and started following the standards correctly, suddenly it became a huge problem for web developers.
Security Holes and Crashing
Since Microsoft decided they didn’t need to try anymore, and they didn’t keep up with the competition from Firefox and other browsers, bugs and security holes just cropped up left and right—really terrible ones, too. For instance, this code is all that is required to crash IE6:
<script>for(x in document.write){document.write(x);}</script>In fact, the screenshot at the beginning of this section was a live example of testing out this particular bug.
IE7 and IE8 Were Too Little, Too Late
It took five years after IE6 for Microsoft to finally get around to releasing IE7, which added tabs and made the browser slightly more tolerable, but for web designers it was still a nightmare to deal with, and only complicated the issue since now you had to make pages render correctly in two lousy browsers instead of just one.
It took another 2.5 years for Microsoft to finally release Internet Explorer 8, which greatly improved CSS support for web developers, and added new features like Private browsing, tab isolation to prevent one bad page from taking down the whole browser, and phishing protection. By this point, most geeks had already moved on to Firefox, and then some of us to Google Chrome.
Here’s the Real Reason Geeks Hate IE
![image[21]](http://cdn5.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/572x232ximage2110.png.pagespeed.ic.cZIffuDlaz.png "image[21]")
Just because we’re geeks doesn’t mean we hate everything that’s inferior and outdated—in fact, we often love retro computing—that’s why we love Atari, NES, Commodore 64, etc. We take pride in our geek knowledge. So why’s Internet Explorer a different story?
Here are a couple of reasons that fueled our hatred of the buggy browser, and finally put us all over the edge:
Supporting IE is Like a Fork in the Eye for Web Devs
Here’s a sample of a day in the life of a web designer: You spend hours making sure that your page looks great, and you test it out in Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and even Opera. It looks great, awesome!
Now you open up IE and the page looks like somebody put it into a blender and hit the Whip button. Then you spend double the amount of time trying to fix it to look tolerable in IE6 and IE7, cursing loudly the entire time.
Luckily by 2014, Internet Explorer 6 and 7 are a statistical anomaly in actual Internet usage, and most of the bigger websites have completely stopped supporting them. Even Internet Explorer 8 usage has dropped to single-digit percentages for many websites.
Geeks Being Forced to Use Internet Explorer
And here’s where we come to the real issue—the whole reason that geeks can’t stand Internet Explorer:
Geeks everywhere were forced to use Internet Explorer at work even when there are better browsers, forced to support it for corporate applications, forced to make sure web sites still work in IE, and we couldn’t convince everybody to switch to a better browser.
Geeks don’t hate something that’s inferior—but they do hate it when it’s forced on them.
The Good News: The Future Is Brighter for IE
Thankfully, it seems like Microsoft has finally learned from their many, many mistakes in the browser world. Internet Explorer 10 and 11 are blazing fast, mostly standards-compliant, and other than the outdated UI that really needs some love, are a solid choice for anybody. There are even rumors that Microsoft might finally release a better user interface for IE in Windows 10. Here’s hoping!
In fact, based on our recent testing, a lot of the new malware isn’t even targeting Internet Explorer anymore, because writing plugins for IE is a complicated thing, whereas writing some quick HTML and JavaScript code to make spying adware extensions for Firefox or Chrome is really easy.
It’s a whole new world, and Chrome, rather than IE, is the target.
- Wednesday, November 12, 2014
- 0 Comments
