As many as 50,000 Uber drivers could have been affected by a security breach last year, potentially leaving their personal data in the hands of an unauthorized third-party, reports Tech Crunch.
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AVG is always looking for ways to help people protect and secure their online identities and this year at Pepcom in Barcelona, we’re excited to reveal a pair of invisibility glasses.
Developed by AVG Innovation Labs, the glasses help protect your visual identity in the digital age.
Through a mixture of technology and specialist materials, privacy wearables such as invisibility glasses can make it difficult for cameras or other facial recognition technologies to get a clear view of your identity.
There are a number of reasons why invisibility glasses could be a valuable privacy tool in the future:
While the technology behind invisibility glasses is still in the prototype phase, there are generally two different methods of combatting unwanted facial recognition:
Infrared Light
The use of infrared light to break facial detection software was first introduced Isao Echizen of Tokyo Nation Institute of Informatics.
The idea is to place infrared LEDs inserted around the eyes and the nose areas. Since the infrared lights are completely invisible to human eyes, they are only detectable by cameras which are sensitive to the wavelengths of these LEDs. They claim to break face detection when the lights are on.
In this example we show how infrared can be used to avoid Facebook’s facial recognition technology.
One drawback of this approach is that many cellphone camera sensors have an infrared filter strong enough to cut off any wavelengths beyond the visible spectrum.
Retro-reflective Materials
These specialist materials help maintain your privacy at the moment that the image is actually taken.
While most surfaces reflect light by diffusing or scattering it in all directions, retro-reflective materials are specially designed to reflect light back at the same angle as it arrived.
If caught in flash photography, retro-reflective materials will send most of the light back to the sensor. This will result in an image that will put the Dynamic Range of the camera sensor to test.
A noticeable drawback of this approach is that it only works with flash photography as otherwise, not enough light will be sent back to distort the camera sensor. Secondly, a camera with higher dynamic range can be used to minimize the darkening of the subject.
At this stage, invisibility glasses, including those we will be displaying at Pepcom are just a proof of concept .
Rather than designing a product for market release, tech experts are investigating how technology can adapt to combat the daily erosion of our privacy in the digital age. Don’t expect to see them for sale any time soon!
If you are visiting Pepcom in Barcelona next week, please come and talk to the AVG team, we’d love to meet you and give you a demonstration of our invisibility glasses!
Twitter has revised and simplified its rules and process for reporting abusive behavior on the service, and users now have the ability to report people who are posting their personal information. The change essentially gives Twitter users a method to combat doxing, which is the process of dumping a victim’s personal information online. This often […]
Digital dating has become more popular than ever because of apps like Tinder, but it’s not without risks. Stay safe by remembering the following tips.
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In a rather bold move, Apple has published a Privacy page that talks more about the security measures in iOS 8 that prevent Apple from bypassing your security and accessing your data. Of course, if Apple can’t access your data, then there’s no way for them to provide it in response to a government warrant. Not one to be left out, Google has also talked about their security and encryption methods in Android that will keep data safe.
During certain criminal investigations, government agencies will try to access data from smartphones to help them learn more about the case, and if they’re not going to be able to do that effectively thanks to these safety measures, then the argument is that it’s going to make it harder to solve crimes and criminals will be even more bold with their use of technology.
Only last week the news spread about the largest SIM card maker in the world being impacted by a major security breach. Nothing unusual, except Gemalto’s system seems to have been compromised by both NSA and GCHQ in the aim of storing the encryption keys that protect SIM cards. “Once successful, the program would have allowed intelligence agencies to decrypt cell phone signals in mid-air or implant malware remotely into any phone with a Gemalto SIM card” according to The Verge.
For many people, this topic presents an interesting conundrum. As much as the public may want privacy, a lot of the people that you ask would likely say that the government should be able to access certain data from a smartphone when necessary in order to solve a case. In other words, they don’t want the government to have access to everything so that they can pick and choose what they want to see, but they do think that technology can hold the key to solving certain crimes and should be used when appropriate.
What do you think?
Should everyone have equal #smartphone privacy or should concessions be made when it comes to criminals?
The post Is there such a thing as too much privacy ? appeared first on Avira Blog.
WhatsApp is one of the most popular instant message apps in the world, but it’s not without security risks. Avoid the dangers with these 5 top tips.
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Even if you’re not a customer of health insurer Anthem, your data could have been put at risk. Be on your guard.
The post Anthem hack puts at least 8.8 million NON-customers at risk appeared first on We Live Security.
AMSTERDAM and SAN FRANCISCO – February 24, 2015 – AVG Technologies N.V. (NYSE: AVG), the online security company™ for 197 million active users, today announced that company CEO, Gary Kovacs, will deliver a keynote address on digital rights at Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona, Spain.
By 2020, most of the global population will be connected to the Internet. These estimates suggest that two billion people will come online in the next few years. As we increasingly live our lives online, what we often hear is that privacy is not a social norm or even a realistic expectation anymore. AVG believes that people should not have to give up their personal rights and freedom in the Digital Age. Moreover, AVG believes that businesses can gain a strong competitive advantage by protecting people’s privacy.
To prompt a serious debate on data protection, privacy, and the economy of the Internet at Mobile World Congress, Mr. Kovacs will call on the mobile industry to work together to frame the rights of both consumers and businesses in a connected world.
“The unprecedented surge of cybercrime in the last few years has made cyber security a multi-billion-dollar industry, not to mention a matter of national security. We have developed, and continue to develop, products that help protect all kinds of devices and data from external and internal threats. However, what the tech industry often overlooks is that it is the users, everyday people, who ultimately need to be protected. Neglecting their rights for any reason is not an option,” said Mr. Kovacs.
Mr. Kovacs will also discuss the ways in which consumers are taking back control of their privacy in the digital age, along with how businesses can also benefit from this trend. “Recent consumer studies clearly show that by violating users’ privacy in more and more ways, companies are undermining their trust. As a result, the penetration and adoption of new technologies face significant barriers – from hardware to software to services,” said Mr. Kovacs. “We are witnessing the most amazing technological revolution in the history of mankind, but it has brought us to the point where we also need a ‘revolution of trust’. My mission at the Mobile World Congress this year is to send a wake-up call to the industry on this topic.
We have to enable this revolution through three main avenues: by providing people with more powerful, simple and integrated security tools; by committing to transparency and responsibility in the way we work with users’ data; and by educating users on how to keep themselves and their families safe in the digital world, to make them smart users of smart devices.
We must change the dismissive attitude many companies have towards user privacy rights on the Internet and pledge to provide a basic level of security and privacy to everyone in the world. Trust is the only foundation through which we can offer new services and products, and further support the development of societal frameworks for services like e-Government and m-Health.”
The keynote address will take place on March 4 at 9:15am as part of the Keynote session 5, “The New Mobile Identity”. Other speakers present for the session will include: Brian M. Krzanich, CEO of Intel Corporation; Patrick Gelsinger, CEO of VMWare; Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Group CEO of Dialog Axiata PLC; and Siret Schutting, MD of e-Estonia.
For more than 25 years, Gary Kovacs has held leadership positions at a number of technology companies, including IBM, Sybase, Adobe, and Zi Corporation. Prior to joining AVG in July 2013, he was the CEO of Mozilla Corporation. He has been a passionate advocate of digital rights and online privacy throughout his long career.
In recent years, he has developed and launched a number of projects that help people protect themselves and their families from cyber threats, and that help them take better control their digital identities overall. Fierce Wireless named Kovacs one of the Rising Stars in Wireless for 2013, which recognized the mobile innovation and privacy initiatives that he drove during his tenure as CEO of Mozilla.
He is a frequent public speaker and panel member. His 2012 TED talk, “Tracking the Trackers,” explored issues of Internet privacy in an increasingly connected world. At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions in 2012, he presented strategies for creating a resilient cyber economy amid economic, security, and privacy obstacles. He was a keynote speaker at the Mobile World Congress 2013. In December 2014, he addressed EU policy officials at the GSMA Mobile 360 event in Brussels where he shared his view that the industry has a responsibility to help educate new users on the matters of staying safe and protecting their privacy online.
AVG is the online security company providing leading software and services to secure devices, data and people. Over 197 million active users, as of December 31, 2014, use AVG´s products and services. AVG’s Consumer portfolio includes internet security, performance optimization, and personal privacy and identity protection for mobile devices and desktops. The AVG Business portfolio – delivered by managed service providers, VARs and resellers – offers IT administration, control and reporting, integrated security, and mobile device management that simplify and protect businesses.
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
US
Katie Han
Waggener Edstrom for AVG
+ 1 (212) 551 4807
UK
Samantha Woodman
Waggener Edstrom for AVG
+ 44 (0)20 7632 3840
Gemalto officials say that while they are still in the process of investigating whether the company was compromised by the NSA and GCHQ to access the encryption keys for its SIM cards, they say they believe their products and platforms are secure. In a statement issued Monday, Gemalto officials said they are still trying to […]
Kris Jenner is reportedly being blackmailed over a naked video that was stolen from her iCloud and could be released in the public sphere.
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