Facebook has been plagued with another viral scam – the false “dislike” button.  Of course the irony is that many Facebook users have been asking for such a button, to complement the existing, legitimate “like” button.  Apparently Facebook users want to be able criticize as well as show encouragement for user posts.  This demand was taken advantage of by scammers who offered up a malicious, faux dislike button installation that once it obtains access the user’s profile posts spam from the user’s account.

On top of this, the world is speeding up.  We are impatient and accept nothing less than instant.  According to a recent survey, it seems that college kids are finding email “too slow” and instead are opting for IM or SMS.  (SMS is winning the pack; it integrates with social networks and interacts over multiple platforms.

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I cannot live without my smart phone.  Take my car.  My cat (sorry Fluffy).  Just not the phone.  I use it for email both work and personal.  It houses not only all my contacts but all kinds of useful information in the form of notes and calendar appointments and to do lists.  I check my bank and credit balances on it.  I also depend heavily on its GPS tools to shepherd me through the world.

I am not alone.  This year, there are about 45 million smart phones in use, just in the U.S.  These numbers are growing fast.

Imagine my sinking feeling to read about the research team at Rutgers’s University who managed to: (more…)

Airport screening technology research seems to be moving away from looking only for malicious objects and towards looking also for malicious intent.

The U.S. Homeland Security Department has been funding a project called FAST: Future Attribute Screening Technology whose purpose is to use physiological cues (perspiration, eye movement, heart rate, body temperature, etc.) to detect people who intend on doing harm.  FAST builds on research that shows how one’s physical reactions reflect an emotional or mental state.  Simply put, twitching and sweaty = nervous. 

And nervous may mean you are up to no good.  Or, not.  An absence of factors would likewise be suspicious, according to project descriptions.

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A Russian hacker who says he is living in New Zealand, going by the name of Kirllos has claimed on various hacker forums that he has managed to steal the account information for 1.5 million Facebook users and he’s offering those accounts at very low pricing.

Kirllos is offering the user names and passwords of 1.5 million Facebook users for between $35 and $62.70 per 1000 accounts sold on an underground hacker forum. The New York Times reported that the login details of as many as 700,000 Facebook had already been sold.

Little is known about Kirllos, although his ICQ account says he is a 24-year-old who was born in Russia and speaks English, French and Russian.

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According to an article in the Jerusalem Post, the Israel Airport Authority (which declined comment) has implemented a policy of sending suspicious animals through X-ray machines to confirm that bombs have not been hidden inside their bodies by terrorists.  When you note that effective terrorist threat mitigation requires keeping ahead of terrorist methods, it doesn’t sound as silly.  There have been numerous instances of using animals (dogs, donkeys) and recently humans to conceal bombs (Abdullah Asieri carried a pound of explosive plus detonator in his rectum in a failed attempt to assassinate a Saudi Prince).

Intelligent screening always takes into account threat based on terrorist MOs, and if the passenger – and in this case their furry four legged traveling companion – are suspicious vis a vis a given MO.  I’m pretty sure that no screener at Ben Gurion would engage your pet in questioning about the nature of his trip (“Fido, did you keep your water bowl in view at all times?” Not because of the language barrier, but because like anything else, not every pet is threatening.  Likewise, not every pet is built for a bomb.  Too small to artfully conceal a bomb, the diminutive Chihuahua is probably safe from xray screening altogether.  On the other hand, if Richard Reid had been carrying a poodle, that poodle would be scrutinized, along with the rest of Reid’s possessions.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its Technology Directorate division want to help create 40 prototypes, by the end of this year, of cell phones that can detect toxic chemicals in the air. Upon receiving an indication of a potentially toxic gas, the cell phone will alert the user and will send an anonymous notification to the local authorities.

The new application should also handle false positives by cross referencing indications from other cell phones. For example, suppose a poisonous gas was released at a train station. The service would look for correlated reports across a number of devices in a particular location. This capability will allow law enforcement and first responders to pinpoint the exact location of the incident.

Qualcomm, NASA, and Rhevision Technology are teaming up to work on the next step of the testing phase: proof of principle. Also, Homeland Security’s Science and Technology arm is actively engaging Qualcomm, LG, Apple, and Samsung — with research and development agreements to hopefully use your phone as the digital sniffer of the future.

The following is a comprehensive list of “do’s and don’ts,” a guideline for safe online behavior, written with the non technical user of the internet in mind.  We discuss tips for safe use of the internet be it emailing, shopping or using social networks, and how to avoid unwanted exposure for you, your family and friends.  We review the tracks you make online that are used by criminals and harassers to exploit, manipulate and even attack an online user.  We explain your digital identity – those footprints left behind whenever we use the internet, and how these traces can be used to gather intelligence on you.

Some of the suggestions are related to our behavior and online habits.  Other implementation suggestions are related to technology and could be passed on to your IT support person.  The bottom line is that in this day and age, we need to educate ourselves and act proactively to be cyber secure.

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The Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) is warning BlackBerry users about a spyware program that allows attackers to turn a target’s handset into a microphone that can be accessed remotely. PhoneSnoop is a free, remote spying application designed for BlackBerry phones. The app works by intercepting phone calls from a predetermined ‘trigger’ number. When PhoneSnoop detects an incoming call from that number, it accepts the call and turns on the BlackBerry’s speaker phone, effectively allowing the caller to listen in on the target’s surroundings.

In this video you will find some examples of the spyware used to hack and listen into mobile phones

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A new British website called Internet Eyes is offering a new and somewhat controversial service. Users of the site will monitor CCTV fids with the objective of catching criminals. The website , which is marketed as a worldwide online instant notification system offers cash prizes of up to £1000 each month. Those interested in making some money will be offered random live feeds – each lasting up to 10 minutes – from one of the four million CCTV cameras disseminated across the country. If they witness a criminal act being perpetrated, they just have to send a photo off to the owner. Amateur Spies can register for free without any recurring fees and if they manage to detect a suspected crime, they will be awarded with one point and three points for an actual crime. 

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This year the Department of Homeland Security came up with a new wacky idea: to explore the feasibility of technology to detect and determine signs of lying based on body odor. This new outsourced study is another example of how DHS misses the mark when it comes to understanding threats, terrorists and security. And here is why:

First, a person who lies doesn’t necessarily poses a threat. Everyone lies! A person may lie because he is flying to his mistress and he doesn’t feel comfortable disclosing the true nature of his trip. A person may lie just to get through the security lines quicker. The real security challenge is to find the intent behind the lying and not the lie itself.

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