Month: November 2014

November 25, 2014

TECH BITS: “Stupid Patent of the Month,” brought to you by Penn State.

Three months ago, the Electronic Frontier Foundation inaugurated a monthly tradition in which they wrote about a “Stupid Patent of the Month.” The first patent they publicized was basically a description of a doctor’s “computer-secretary.” Since then, they’ve highlighted a vague software patent owned by a serial litigant, a patent on filming a yoga class, and a patent with a formula for curing cancer (a combination of “sesame seeds, green beans, coffee, meat, evening primrose seeds,” among other things.)

Stupid Patent of the Month….

November 25, 2014

SECURITY BITS: Complex piece of malware with James Bond Level espionage capabilities: Meet Regin.

A highly complex piece of malware with James Bond-level espionage capabilities has been spying on governments, infrastructure operators, businesses and individuals since 2008, according to security company Symantec.

Detailed in a company blog post, the back-door type Trojan, called “Regin”, can be highly customised through the use of modules depending on its intended target and has allegedly been used as a tool for mass surveillance.

Regin has been found to infect its victims in multiple ways, from luring them to spoofed versions of well-known websites and installing itself to exploiting applications.

The malware has claimed a number of victims as part of two waves, with a first version targeting organisations between 2008 and 2011 before being withdrawn. It re-emerged in 2013 to target companies, government entities and research institutions, with almost half of all infections targeting private individuals, small businesses and telecoms companies.

Complex piece of malware…..

November 24, 2014

SECURITY BITS: Security bug in WordPress renders site visitors the potential victims.

It never ends. This time it’s WordPress’ turn. A four year old security bug in comments on WordPress could be used to launch a wide variety of malicious script-based attacks on site visitors’ browsers. Very bad indeed. This does not affect the latest version of WordPress (v4) but most sites still run on v3 which makes more than 80% of WordPress sites vulnerable. But their visitors are the ones that are vulnerable. Read more here:

http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/11/four-year-old-comment-security-bug-affects-86-percent-of-wordpress-sites/#p3

November 12, 2014

PRIVACY BITS: Pew study finds huge concern about personal data privacy.

It looks like Americans have given up on their privacy, but are still deeply concerned. A full 91 per cent in a nationally representative survey of 607 adults said they agree or strongly agree that consumers have lost control over how personal information is collected and used by companies. That breaks down to almost half (45 per cent) strongly agreeing with the statement and 46 per cent agreeing. Just 6 per cent disagreed, and only 1 per cent strongly disagreed.

Pew study finds huge concern about personal data privacy

November 4, 2014

WEB BITS: Mozilla has a new browser on the way. For developers.

Currently being referred to as something “unique but familiar”, Mozilla has a new browser on the way. Based on Firefox, the new web browser has been designed specifically with developers in mind. In a post of the Mozilla Blog, the company explains that the up-coming browser will include built in tools such as WebIDE and the Firefox Tools Adapter.

The browser is due to launch on 10 November:

http://betanews.com/2014/11/03/mozilla-to-launch-a-new-firefox-based-browser-just-for-developers/

November 4, 2014

TECH BITS: Check you this transparent car!

Hi,

Created by Susumu Tachi and Masahiko Inami of the Graduate School of Media Design at Keio University, the project is designed to help drivers stay aware of their surroundings. The technology isn’t new – this sort of video camouflage has been around for a while – but by shrinking it down and sticking it into a car you can do a sort of reverse camouflage. Instead of hiding objects with light, the projector renders the Toyota Prius in the video “transparent.”

Check it out:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/03/check-out-this-amazing-transparent-car/?ncid=rss