Many companies make money spying on you while you surf the internet. Sometimes they even sell the data they collect on you to other companies, without you knowing what got collected or who will get your data. To do so they have normal web pages integrate their tracking cookies – which is by the way the reason why cookies have a bad reputation.
The post Avira Scout: Cookie Overkill appeared first on Avira Blog.
Did you know you could be unwillingly revealing your location via geotagging in photos you upload with social media applications?
AVG’s Michael McKinnon walks you through some things to be aware of when it comes to geotagging.
Did you know:
Here are some ways to protect your privacy when it comes to geotagging on your mobiles device:
For more great tips on getting the most out of your devices, visit us at www.now.avg.com and follow us on twitter or Facebook.
Stay safe out there.
Despite blocking efforts, online advertising is a daily part of our lives. Most of us get used to the large volume of adverts displayed daily, but authors of malicious code are trying to push the limits much further nowadays via advert-injection techniques used in malware threats.
In this post, we present a case study of one such malware that we detected via our AVG Identity Protection (IDP) component. Based on our telemetry, this infection is highly active and it is reaching its maximal peak. The most affected countries are the United States and Germany, followed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The user infection starts while installing an application proclaimed by its authors as a “Weather Forecast Application”. However, once installed, this application silently downloads and installs other components that are purely malicious – this threat tries to infect all installed browsers and inject additional adverts in browser pages. It also periodically loads sets of adverts in the background without user notification. As a side-effect, it sacrifices security and performance of the infected systems for the purpose of making money via ad providers.
Details about this threat are described in the following technical analysis.
You can also download the report now.
AVG customers are protected against this threat via our multi-level protection in AVG Internet Security. If you’re not protected, you might want to check your systems using the indicators of compromise (IOC) listed in the aforementioned technical analysis.
I am delighted that that we have released our updated Protection and Performance products and suites – consciously timed with the inauguration of National Cyber Security Awareness Month.
Introduced in the US by President Obama, National Cyber Security Awareness Month was conceived to raise awareness and education about cybersecurity, and help citizens protect the nation in the event of a cyber-incident. Throughout October, companies and organizations will be holding conversations, hosting events and taking part in Summits as they look to educate us to “Stop. Think. Connect”.
AVG fully supports this initiative, and is involved in a number of similar, designated days and months throughout the year, such as European Cyber Security Month, which aim to further security education. As we increasingly live our lives online, and the everyday devices in our homes become connected, cybersecurity has rapidly become a personal issue as well as a one of global importance. Most of us now own multiple devices and use apps for everything we do; but our growing dependency on technology, while simple to use, they bring high levels of complexity; and all too often, security and privacy become an afterthought. One of AVG’s goals is to take the complexity of your everyday, online environment and simplify it, making it as easy as possible for you to secure and manage you and your families’ digital lives and keep them protected.
The digital landscape is always evolving, and so too, must the products you use to protect yourself. The latest release of AVG’s protection products and suites are now auto-updated on a continual basis, so users will always have the latest features and capabilities without any required action on their part, removing the need for you to accept or search for an upgrades.
The new release adds significant protection capabilities, including Real-Time Cloud Detection, AI Detection and Improved Malware Detection, are also focused on real-time protection – ensuring customers are always secured against the latest threats.
These product releases continue to underscore our leadership in online security and commitment to protecting devices, data and people, at home and at work – in the August test results from AV-Test, AVG Internet Security scored 100% for both real-time and wide spread malware detection. Make sure to check back here on our blog, AVG Now, throughout the month, to hear more product and service news, and to read some of our top cybersecurity tips.
You can find out more about the latest AVG Performance and Protection products here: http://now.avg.com/avg-new-protection-performance-press-kit/
Self-driving cars got a boost earlier this month from Toyota, which committed $50 million dollars to Stanford University and MIT for artificial intelligence and driverless car labs.
Unlike others in the race to put a driverless car on the road, Toyota has said its approach is not to build a fully autonomous car, but to provide “semi-autonomous assists” that will keep the driver in ultimate control.
At the Toyota announcement event, Re/Code reported that MIT’s Artificial Intelligence lab director Daniela Rus suggested artificial intelligence (AI) could, for example, enable a car to analyze your behaviour to assist in your driving and make it safer. She also described how AI features could make driving more pleasurable. For instance, if you were in a bad mood, it would begin playing your favorite music.
Meanwhile, a fascinating new book by the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times senior science writer and long-time tech reporter John Markoff, called “Machines of Loving Grace”, offers an exploration of the future of what smart machines can do for us and what they can help us do. The book, which is subtitled “The Quest for Common Ground Between Humans and Robots,” is an excellent primer on the topic of AI and autonomous cars. The question central to Markoff’s exploration is: Will we control these smart machines, or will they control us? (You can listen to an interview with Markoff on his book and the topic of AI and driverless cars that aired on National Public Radio).
Now is a good time to consider the question while driverless-car and other AI-driven technologies are still in early stages of development.
Most experts and insiders involved believe, for example, that it’s a five-year scenario before autonomous cars become a reality. However, in the meantime, we will continue to see more aspects of AI and the Internet of Things (IoT) impacting our daily lives, in and out of the car.
One example playing out right now is how major auto insurance companies are embracing and using the IoT to monitor vehicles and collect data on drivers’ habits and track their behaviour. This includes things like changes in speed, how often we drive, and the time of day we drive, etc.
In a new report, research by Business Intelligence estimates that there are 155 million cars on the road in the U.S. capable of being monitored today through On Board Diagnostic (OBD-II) dongles, or plugs, that sends analytics about the driver’s driving habits back to the insurance company. The purpose touted is that insurance firms can then offer clients potentially lower premiums based on the driving data and their ability to analyze and assess a clients’ risk levels. That’s certainly an incentive to drive well, but raises some concerns.
As Accenture analyst Mark Halverson points out in a recent article on the topic: “Big data is a boon for insurers, which use it for underwriting, pricing and more. For consumers, however, it’s more of a mixed blessing, as they sometimes fail to see the benefit of sacrificing privacy for convenience (to the extent they even know they are sacrificing privacy).”
If you are one of the hundreds of millions of people in the U.S. driving with OBD-II, do you know if your insurance company is monitoring your data?
Halverson argues that for the industry to provide a model of “purposeful” data collection and urges, “insurers should at the very least clearly state their purposes for collecting data, and ensure that the data will be handled securely.”
Ultimately, there are many questions to be answered about who will be in control of the drivers seat in the not too distant future.
Google has announced that organizations that pay for Google Drive will reap the benefits of a more secure platform.
The post Google Drive security boost for paying customers appeared first on We Live Security.
Our CEO, Gary Kovacs, announced at Mobile World Congress that AVG was developing a clear and simple version of its privacy policy for its users, and challenged the industry to do the same.
The new privacy policy does not come into effect until October 15th. We released the new privacy policy a month before it becomes effective to give our users time to provide any feedback they might have.
When creating our new policy format, we decided that our customers should have the ability to choose whether or not to participate in our anonymized data collection program.
We are currently adding this option to some of our FREE consumer products, and we can confirm that no sharing of data will happen until our customers are able to make this choice.
Most software products and websites collect usage data.
Usage data allows them to customize the experience for their customers and also share data with third parties that allow them to improve or develop new products. Knowing that 10 million users like a certain TV program gives broadcasters the data to get producers to make more of that type of program. This is also how taxi firms know how to distribute their fleets; and how advertisers know where to place banners and billboards, for example. Even at AVG, we have published non-personal information that we have collected regarding App performance.
We do not, and will not, sell personally identifiable data to anyone, including advertisers.
AVG has continually challenged the industry to simplify its privacy policies and provide an informative, one-page view. We are proud of our new privacy policy and intend to continue our drive for more transparency and greater user choice.
In the wake of increasing drone incidents, including the most recent highly-publicized crashes at the U.S. Open tennis tournament and the opening game of a newly renovated college football stadium in Kentucky, drones got a somewhat surprising defender last week: California Governor Jerry Brown.
Governor Brown last week vetoed a bill that would have barred drones from flying within 350 feet above a property without “express permission” of the property owners. Despite easily passing the state legislature, the bill was widely reported to have opposition by tech industry companies and trade organizations.
Brown said in his veto message that the measure went too far in its restrictions. The bill, which is SB142 by Santa Barbara Democratic Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, would have created a trespassing crime for operating drones within 350 feet above private property without the consent of the property owner.
In his official statement about the veto, Brown noted, “Drone technology certainly raises novel issues that merit careful examination,” and should be looked at “more carefully.” But in his measured response, he suggested the act would be a crime “whether or not anyone’s privacy was violated by the flight.”
Said the Governor, “This bill, however, while well-intentioned, could expose the occasional hobbyist and the FAA-approved commercial user alike to burdensome litigation and new causes of action.”
As industry observer news website Re/Code reported, one of the tech industry’s leading associations, The Consumer Electronics Association, was a vocal opponent of the legislation. Among CEA members are Amazon and Google, both of which are planning drone delivery services. And among other influential participants, Re/Code also reported that GoPro, which recently announced plans for a drone, was in opposition.
“Safe, responsible drone use will transform the way we do business — allowing these devices to assist in search and rescue and disaster relief missions, improve crop production and efficiency, and create safer work environments for infrastructure maintenance.” Gary Shapiro, the CEA president and CEO, said in his statement to Re/Code.
Drones are (literally) at the intersection of technology, security, and privacy. Unfortunately, some bad players have colored the drone issue to date. But there are benefits to be derived from drone technology: They can speed delivery of emergency supplies, they can provide great benefits to agriculture, and they can literally save lives. For example, in natural and/or manmade disasters, drones can be positioned to survey damage, locate lost hikers or disaster victims, and improve efficiency and safety of rescue teams.
There will no doubt be more legal decisions and bills involved. As Re/Code also noted: 46 different states have considered 156 different bills about drones this year. And as American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) policy analyst Jay Stanley recently said about drone policing,” It’s still a bit of a Wild West.”
But as Capt. Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger, the now-retired US Airways pilot that in 2009 managed to safely land his Airbus A320 passenger jet in the Hudson River, saving all 155 persons aboard, emphasizes: we need better risk management, better regulation of the recreational drone industry, and more enforcement of those regulations when drone operators do what he describes as “stupid, reckless, dangerous things.”
Schneider Electric has published new firmware for its StruxureWare Building Expert building automation system that patches a remotely exploitable vulnerability.
We lock our doors and activate security systems to keep intruders out. We place parental controls on TV channels to manage what our children watch. We keep our kids out of R-rated movies until we feel it’s appropriate. We monitor the violence of their videos games. All of this to keep them shielded from explicit content. Except this time, the violence was very real and readily available on social media.
The recent shootings in Virginia created an unprecedented situation for parents. The incident was caught on camera during a live broadcast of a television newscast, producing a graphic video of the shooting, violence that wasn’t in a video game or TV show but a real murder. That clip, along with video of shocked expressions during the newscast, circulated the Internet available for children to stumble upon. The shooter also recorded the murder from his phone and uploaded it onto social media, making the video widely available. And people viewed it and shared it.
This also raises larger questions: How many people viewed these videos online? Should we have sought out and viewed these videos? Is there a social responsibility to take ownership of our online behaviour? Is our own behaviour demonstrating to our kids how to responsibly use the internet?
The children we try so hard to protect could have seen these videos online. Children’s introduction to the Internet often happens before they’re educated in online safety skills. An AVG Technologies survey found 66 percent of children ages three to five stated that they can play a computer game, but only 14 percent can tie their own shoes.
Much of the online crises that can occur to youth today—from teen sexting to identity theft to cyberbullying—can be mostly avoided if they understand the consequences of their actions. According to the same survey from AVG, nearly one in three teenagers said they regret posting something online and 32 percent have had to ask someone to remove content posted online about them.
When technological development outpaces society’s sense of responsibility and understanding of that technology, it can create unintended consequences in our lives and in the lives of our children. The answer is not only to encourage a society-wide attitude of responsibility for our impact as digital citizens, but also to empower the leadership of organizations to work together and create new solutions that allow innovation to continue while taking responsibility for our own digital lives.
For more information about the Smart User Initiative, go to www.smartuser.com.
