Tag Archives: News

AVG

Carphone Warehouse reports massive data breach

Bad news if you are a customer of Carphone Warehouse, a leading UK retailer for mobile phones and call plans. Late last week, the company announced that it had suffered a large data breach affecting as many as 2.4 million customers.

The information leaked includes names, addresses, dates of birth and bank details. While as many as 90,000 encrypted credit card details were also stolen.

In a statement, Sebastian James, group chief executive of Dixons Carphone, said:

“We take the security of customer data extremely seriously, and we are very sorry that people have been affected by this attack on our systems.

“We are, of course, informing anyone that may have been affected, and have put in place additional security measures.”

“We took immediate action to secure these systems and launched an investigation with a leading cyber security firm to determine exactly what data was affected.”

If you think that you are potentially affected by this hack, here are two things that you should do as soon as possible to help mitigate any risk posed by unauthorized access to your bank accounts or credit cards.

Suspend your credit card

Naturally, one of the first things you should do is contact your credit card issuer and suspend your card. This means that you’re no longer vulnerable to credit card fraud if the card number has been stolen.

Your bank will issue a new credit card with a new number that wasn’t compromised in a breach.

Set up ID monitoring

I also highly recommend registering with an ID monitoring service. These scour the web searching for your credentials whenever and wherever they pop up. This allows you to take preemptive action against potential scammers.

There are instances of this being offered to data breach victims for free. Target did just that last year after their large hack. Should Carphone Warehouse contact you to say you’re information has been leaked, you should ask them about a similar service.

Beware of more scams

A word of caution, we’re likely to see some phishing attempts from fraudsters offering remedial services for data breach victims. Be very cautious about any email that arrives talking about compensation or other enticing services. Double check that any correspondence you receive is directly from Carphone Warehouse. If in doubt, contact them directly yourself rather than opening a suspicious email.

 

AVG

Heads-Up Displays: A Driving Solution or Another Distraction?

You may have seen recent reports about the “heads-up displays” (HUDs) technology for cars, where information is projected onto the windshield of the car as you drive. The transparent display provides navigational assistance, speed and other dashboard components, lane change alerts, etc.

The HUD technology was originally developed by the military for fighter pilots, who could see target data and other important information without looking down. But now the technology has entered into the automobile sector and is something we’re going to be hearing a lot more about…

Recently, a startup called Navdy unveiled a link to the auto display and your smartphone information. Other formidable players in this space are Continental and Garmin, among others. Most players have focused to-date on the display of navigational, safety, and instrument information. But it’s clear that with companies such as Navdy, HUD is headed into a more interactive territory.

According to a new market research report published by MarketsandMarkets, the heads-up display space is expected to reach $8.3 billion dollars in five years. (It should be noted this projection isn’t limited to automobiles but also to such other segments as aviation as well. See here.)

Proponents of HUDs believe they will make our roads safer by keeping drivers from fumbling with their smartphones while driving, or even having to look down at their instrument panel. With the projected image on your windshield, the theory goes, you’re able to keep your eyes on the road.

Indeed, on any given day, Distracted.gov estimates over 660,000 vehicles are being driven by someone using a hand-held cell phone. This all too frequently, and often tragically, results in accidents.

A second part of the HUD business proposition may be a pragmatic one: people are going to be using their phones anyway, so this is a better alternative.

But the question is: is it?

Hands-free technology and voice-activation software have equally been touted as benefits for the same reason: users can keep their eyes on the road. Yet, both voice-activation software and hands-free are not panaceas.

In the case of VA technology, it still affects the cognitive part of your brain.  Many of the simple tasks that come with VA technology increase a driver’s cognitive workload. And, depending on the situation, that can be dangerous. Vehicle voice-activated “infotainment” systems that are more complicated or just take longer to navigate created the highest levels of driver distraction and safety risks, according to a recent AAA study.

Hands-free phone technologies also don’t solve the problem of having a conversation, especially an important or emotional one, while driving can be only a little less distracting than juggling a phone. It’s for the same reason: Cognitive distraction.  Many studies back this up, including a groundbreaking one from the National Safety Council.

It would appear that the same question of cognitive distractions applies to new HUD techs.

While we can all appreciate any tools that will make our roads safer— the question is whether turning your windshield into a computer screen is the way to go? For that, we’ll have to wait and see.

 

Image courtesy of PC Mag

Panda Security

Thunderstrike 2 – the first virus for Mac

It seemed like this moment would never come and many times we were assured that there was no threat of a virus for Mac users… but Thunderstrike 2 has arrived and swiftly refuted those claims.

This worm was designed by two IT security experts, Xeno Kovah and Trammell Hudson, after noticing a security breach a few months ago. As reported in Wired, they found that various known weaknesses that affect firmware in all the main PC manufacturers could also be used against MAC.

The infection is able to be transmitted through email phishing, by USB o by an Ethernet port, without being detected.

According to its creators, this is how Thunderstrike 2 works:

The post Thunderstrike 2 – the first virus for Mac appeared first on MediaCenter Panda Security.

AVG

Hello, Alexa. Amazon Makes Bold Move Into IoT

Amazon is among the technology companies trying to seize the IoT space, and voice activation technology is a key part of the puzzle – as is artificial intelligence.

With its newly enhanced product, Amazon Echo (with Alexa), the company may do the trick, based on rave reviews amidst its recent (July 14) roll-out, which included going beyond beta phase and adding services. The device is now available to anyone, not just Amazon Prime members, who were the first to give it a try.

Basically, Echo is designed around the user’s voice, and is a hands-free speaker system that connects you to the outside world. It gradually adapts to the user’s voice and inflection.

It has seven microphones and the device connects to Alexa, a cloud-based voice service, to provide information, answer questions, play music, read the news, check sports scores or the weather, and more. So think of it as a smartphone service without the smartphone and you begin to get the picture…

Echo plays music from Amazon Music, Prime Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and other systems. If you want to wake up in the morning to Eye of the Tiger, just say “Alexa” and ask.

But there is more. For example, it’s compatible with Philips Hue connected-devices so that you can control lights and switches with your voice. As industry analyst Tim Bajarin wrote in his review on PC Magazine: “You can expect Amazon to get light switches, door locks, appliances, and more connected to the Echo so it becomes the central control point for an eventual home information and automation system.

Amazon is throwing serious money behind its voice recognition plans in hopes to become a key player. It has put $100 million dollars into The Alexa Fund to “fuel voice technology innovation.” So, the race is on.

It’s fascinating to me how IoT, voice commands, technology, convenience, and modern ideas are all converging. It’s an exciting time to be in tech, to be sure.

Finally, on a side note: I find intriguing that Alexa is again molded in a woman’s voice, soothing like Siri. Is this because all the programmers (or marketers) are trying to reach the key decision makers in the smart home – or were so frightened by HAL in Stanley Kubrick’s Space Odyssey and his representation of an AI-based future? But I’ll save that as a topic for another day…