Archive for July, 2017

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Android Backdoor ‘GhostCtrl’ Can Silently Record Your Audio, Video and More

Posted in Commentary with tags , on July 19, 2017 by itnerd

Researchers over at Trend Micro have discovered a new Android backdoor that at first glance, seems scary:

The information-stealing RETADUP worm that affected Israeli hospitals is actually just part of an attack that turned out to be bigger than we first thought—at least in terms of impact. It was accompanied by an even more dangerous threat: an Android malware that can take over the device.

Detected by Trend Micro as ANDROIDOS_GHOSTCTRL.OPS / ANDROIDOS_GHOSTCTRL.OPSA, we’ve named this Android backdoor GhostCtrl as it can stealthily control many of the infected device’s functionalities.

There are three versions of GhostCtrl. The first stole information and controlled some of the device’s functionalities without obfuscation, while the second added more device features to hijack. The third iteration combines the best of the earlier versions’ features—and then some. Based on the techniques each employed, we can only expect it to further evolve.

Lovely. The malware distributes itself via illegitimate apps for WhatsApp or Pokemon GO. Trend Micro suggests you keep your Android devices up to date and data backed up regularly. They also recommend using an app reputation system that can detect suspicious and malicious apps. In other words, this is a real and present threat and I am sure that we’ll see threats just like this one in the not too distant future.

Leave a comment »

#Fail: OnePlus 5 Handsets Allegedly Rebooting When Users Dial 911 or 999

Posted in Commentary with tags on July 19, 2017 by itnerd

Users on Reddit are reporting on a problem that seems kind of troubling. Apparently if you own a OnePlus 5 and if you dial emergency services in the UK via 999 or do the same thing in the US or Canada which is 911, your phone will reboot. One user even took to Facebook to show the fail in action. I for one don’t recommend that you try this at home as the authorities get kind of upset when you needlessly dial your local emergency services.

For its part OnePlus has been spreading the word that they’re working with customers individually to solve the issue. That kind of implies that there is a bug that they need to fix. If you’ve tripped over this, send an email to support@oneplus.net to start the process to get you sorted.

Leave a comment »

WhatsApp May Be Blocked In China

Posted in Commentary with tags , on July 19, 2017 by itnerd

The New York Times is reporting that popular messaging service WhatsApp appears t be blocked in China:

The blocks against WhatsApp originated with the government, according to a person familiar with the situation who declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak on the record about the disruption. Security experts also verified that the partial disruption in WhatsApp started with China’s internet filters.

“According to the analysis that we ran today on WhatsApp’s infrastructure, it seems that the Great Firewall is imposing censorship that selectively targets WhatsApp functionalities,” said Nadim Kobeissi, an applied cryptographer at Symbolic Software, a cryptography research start-up.

This isn’t trivial as WhatsApp has something in the area of 1.2 billion users worldwide. Thus this is going to get a lot of attention. The question is, will the Chinese government care about the blowback from this? We’ll have to watch and see.

Leave a comment »

American Demands For Changes In NAFTA May Bring Cheaper Wireless Plans For Canadians

Posted in Commentary with tags , on July 19, 2017 by itnerd

You have to believe that the corner offices in Bell, Rogers, and Telus are not happy places to be right now. I say that because a number of media outlets including The Toronto Star and Global News are reporting that the demands to renegotiate the NAFTA trade agreement between Canada, USA, and Mexico includes demands to allow US telcos to do business in Canada. If that’s the case the result would likely be cheaper cell phone plans for Canadians. After all, Canadians because of the oligopoly of Rogers, Bell, and Telus pay the highest prices for cell phones in the G7. A fact that is highlighted by the Global News article that I linked to.

So, what do I think of this? If you take all of the hysteria that surrounds this out of the mix, I am all for it. Long time readers of this blog know that I have said that Canadians pay way too much for their cell phones which is impossible to escape every time I travel on business to places that have much cheaper prices for cell service. Long time readers will also know that I’ve been saying that we have to let in foreign competition to solve this problem as no “made in Canada” solution exists. It would have to be on the scale of a Verizon or Deutsche Telekom as they’d have to build their own infrastructure from scratch which isn’t cheap. But if they did do that, your wireless bill would nosedive instantly as for the first time, the trio of Bell, Rogers, and Telus would have real competition. If those three carriers were smart, they’d get ahead of this by quickly adjusting the prices of their plans to get into the same universe of what is being offered in the USA and apply it to new and existing customers. But chances are that won’t happen and they’ll likely only do something after changes to NAFTA take place, and when US carriers set up shop in Canada to start scooping up customers by the truckload.

This should be fun to watch.

Leave a comment »

Prosthetic Reality Augmented Art Show Coming To House Of VR

Posted in Commentary with tags on July 18, 2017 by itnerd

Come see the future with art that comes to life! House of VR is proud to announce an interactive showcase on Aug 1-15 from the viral hit art book, Prosthetic Reality. Utilizing cutting-edge AR (Augmented Reality) technology, the experience allows viewers to digitally interact with physical artwork through their mobile phones and provided tablets. The exhibit showcases the work of 30 international artists, digital animators and sound designers. Please bring earbud headphones for the best experience!

In partnership with Crayola Canada, House of VR will be featuring a playful AR colouring zone for kids! With Colour Alive 2.0, colouring flies off the page with characters that come to life through Augmented Reality, giving kids an interactive experience and fusing real-world creativity with digital play. Kids can colour for free in the Kids Zone and books (including free crayons) will be for sale.

EYEJACK
EyeJack is an Augmented Reality App and platform that specializes in the curation and distribution of augmented art. EyeJack is currently representing 45 AR artists from around the world and is dedicated to building a community around augmented art. www.eyejackapp.com

HOUSE OF VR
House of VR is Toronto’s premier Virtual Reality lounge + event space. Located in trendy Queen West (at Bathurst), House of VR has quickly become a central hub of futuristic technology in the city. House of VR has been featured on CBC, CTV, CityNews, the Toronto Star, blogTO, Toronto Life and many more.

House of VR will be curating and updating content on a weekly basis so every visit will have some fresh new experiences. www.houseofvr.com

Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/771212363039846/?ref=br_rs

View a promotional video here:

Leave a comment »

Data Science On The Go With Docker & Raspberry Pi

Posted in Commentary on July 18, 2017 by itnerd

Scott Edenbaum, a recent graduate of the NYC Data Science Academy, has built a portable data science development and training platform for $20 using a Raspberry Pi and Docker.  The goal of the project was to configure and setup a Raspberry Pi computer as a self-contained Data Science development and training platform with a web interface usable by nearly any computer/tablet/etc with a web browser.

The result is a powerful, fully functional powerful data science platform that can connect to almost any device.  In a Raspberry Pi case, it measures roughly ¼ the size of US dollar bill, allowing teachers, business analysts, data scientists, or anyone with a need for mobile (and cheap) data science to use it on the go.  All of the software on the Docker image is open source, meaning anyone can use Scott’s creation for:

  • Education – learn programming in R, and Python on your tablet with a Raspberry Pi connected to the same wifi network.
  • Development testing environment – Easily fire up multiple Raspberry Pi computers with the Docker image to test Python and R code in a standardized environment.
  • Business – Analyze, manipulate, and visualize datasets with the Raspberry Pi through any networked desktop, laptop or tablet.
  • Web scraping – Use Jupyter Lab to run a headless web scraper in Python or R without tying up resources on your main computer.
  • Machine Learning – Train basic regression and classification models

To learn more about the project: http://blog.nycdatascience.com/student-works/data-science-go-docker-raspberry-pi/

 

1 Comment »

SURE Universal Introduces Software-Defined IoT Platform Based On Open Connectivity Foundation Standard

Posted in Commentary with tags on July 18, 2017 by itnerd

SURE Universal Ltd. introduces the Software-Defined IoT (SD-IoTTM) platform as the next-generation software solution for digital media, Smart Home, and IoT. At MWC Shanghai in July 2017, SURE Universal demonstrated an Android based Set-Top Box (STB) that includes both Smart TV and IoT gateway functionality based on OCF protocol.

With the introduction of the IoT gateway, SURE achieves a complete SD-IoT solution including the smartphone universal remote client, cloud platform for communications data, and micro-controller software for smart appliances. The SURE SD-IoT platform enables any manufacturer to turn their legacy appliances into smart appliances that are compliant with the OCF standard and therefore interoperable with other Smart Home products.

The novel solution is based on the Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) protocol, which is the leading open-source standard for IoT vendors to allow their appliances and smart devices to work seamlessly together, regardless of brand. OCF originated in 2017 from a merger of three different IoT standards developed separately by Microsoft, Samsung, and Qualcomm. Currently, OCF has close to 500 members including most leading appliance vendors in the world. SURE Universal delivered the first software solution to receive OCF mobile client certification.

The consumer part of the solution is the award winning SURE Universal Remote app for digital media and legacy infra-red appliances. It is available for Android and iOS smartphones and has millions of active users. The latest version of SURE Universal Remote for Android announced at MWC Shanghai, features Amazon Alexa voice assistant integration. Future versions of SURE Universal Remote will also include support for Google Voice and Apple Siri, making SURE Universal Remote the only smartphone application needed to control any connected device with voice commands.

The SURE Software-Defined IoT separates the control layer from the underlying hardware. So now, industry players including smart appliance vendors, STB manufacturers, and Multiple-System Operators (MSOs) can provide compelling IoT systems using inexpensive off-the-shelf devices from multiple vendors, and be assured of their interoperability. They will no longer be dependent on a single supplier for smart devices, and still will be able to provide their customers with a coherent, universal, and simple user experience.

Currently, SURE Universal is integrating the SD-IoT technology with some of the biggest appliance manufacturers in the world to assist them with implementation of the OCF protocol and to achieve interoperability with other IoT vendors. The appliance vendors benefit from fast time-to-market because of the proven SURE Universal technology. In addition, the SURE SD-IoT solution is future-proof because of its compliance with the OCF standard.

 

Leave a comment »

Euronews launches “All Quotes” To Combat Fake News

Posted in Commentary with tags on July 18, 2017 by itnerd

n line with its new digital strategy around verticals, after the launch of www.livingit.com, and within the battle against ‘fake news’, Euronews launches All Quotes in partnership with Storyzy

Since January 2017, ‘All Quotes’ is an automated service using Storyzy’s natural language processing (NLP) technology.

The new vertical revolutionizes news consumption through the direct quotations of notable people and is enriched by the Quote Verifier, an essential feature to fight against fake news on social networks.

With the ‘Quote Verifier’ users can easily verify if the quotes they read are authentic or not. Enter the quote and the tool provides an instantaneous result. The quote could be authentic, incomplete or dubious.

This performance is made possible by Storyzy’s database composed of +15 million authentic quotes from the news since 2015 (enhanced by +50,000 new authentic quotes daily), and of the 96,000 quotes from notable, historical figures. All of these indexed quotes come from reputable media sources.

Already hundreds of topics have been curated for Euronews’ consumers, from the conflict in Syria to Facebook; from Brexit to Climate Change. Currently, 111,000 global experts in various fields from science to entertainment, have individual pages with their archived authentic quotes. The automated system creates on average 400 new people pages daily.

These pages are automatically generated and permanently stored and updated by Storyzy’ssystem. The A.I. program not only extracts quotes from Euronews articles, but from news articles all around the web, which are organised by speaker and occupation.  Already available in English, Euronews and Storyzy aspire to launch this initiative in other languages.

Users can see a snapshot of the service and also follow what people say in the news on the Twitter account @AllQuotes_enws.

Leave a comment »

Hack in Paris 2017 Wrap-up

Posted in Commentary with tags on July 17, 2017 by itnerd
Hack in Paris 7th edition at the Hotel Newport Bay Club Convention Center just finished. In this amazing place, the event has been driven by three days of trainings and two days of talks in English.

Dedicated to IT security and hacking experts, this yearly “Rendez-vous” brought 600 people together, a new record for Hack in Paris.

From June 19th to 21st, six international experts taught attendees some of their theoretical & practical knowledge:

  • Corelan Advanced, with Peter Van Eeckhoutte
  • Offensive Mobile Application Exploitation, with Prateek Gianchandani
  • Practical IoT Hacking, with Aseem Jakhar
  • Developing Burp Suite Extensions, with Luca Carettoni
  • Practical SAP Netweaver ABAP Pentest, with Yvan Genuer
  • Smart Lockpicking, Hands-on exploiting IoT devices, with Slawomir Jasek

The talks took place on June 22nd and 23rd. Jayson E. Street started the show, introducing physical pentesting and international IT security. Then, speakers followed him during 15 conferences. Some dealt with technical presentations, exposing IoT (Internet of Things) failures, or how to secure as much as possible different networks, web apps, databases… Some other chose to talk about the social aspects of hacking & hackers in our present world.

Once again, Winn Schwartau ran a debate, this time dealing with Hackers role facing the Media, Truth, Trust and Alternative facts. Michael Masucci, Hollywood producer, Deral Heiland, IT researcher, Annie Machon British whistleblower and Winn Schwartau involved the public and debated on this subject two hours long.

The week ended with La Nuit du Hack on June 24th, confunded by Sysdream and HZV. This event was a great success too, recording more than 2 000 participants for its 15th edition.

Now that the event is closed, Hack in Paris team wants to thank all of the participants, trainers, speakers and the Convention Center’s staff who made of this event a unique and rewarding experience for everyone. Sysdream also thanks its sponsors : EC-Council, Checkmarx, Yes We Hack and Beyond Security.

If you did not attend the event or want to access the talks replays, check out our Youtube playlist: goo.gl/X8FfnF

The slides are also available at www.hackinparis.com

Leave a comment »

Concur Makes Three Announcements At GBTA 2017

Posted in Commentary with tags on July 17, 2017 by itnerd

This weekend Concur announced a number of new offerings to improve corporate travel at the annual GBTA Convention 2017. Here is a short summary of announcements:

  • Concur announced an expanded partnership with Airbnb. Corporate travellers will be able to search for and book Airbnb listings embedded within the Concur Travel platform. Itineraries and e-receipts will also sync with Concur Expense.  This is the first time Airbnb listings will appear on a corporate travel partner’s platform.
  • Concur announced the availability of Concur Locate and Active Monitoring, which gives businesses the tools they need fulfill their duty of care and find, inform and communicate vital information with employees who are travelling in minutes during times of crisis and uncertainty.
  • Concur Travel has new features that reduce time and costs associated with booking and managing travel. The features include new TripLink supplier connections and increased adoption, virtual cards for hotel bookings and branded fares to offer low-cost airfares bundled with select travel perks.

Concur Locate and Active Monitoring is available now. The Airbnb offerings and new Concur Travel features will become available in the coming months.

Leave a comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »