Samsung dialer remote-wipe vulnerability

Just as the new iPhone had a vulnerability, so too does a range of Samsung smartphones. Late last week it was discovered that some Samsung phones could be remotely wiped clean with the Dialer app. Right now, it is unclear why exactly someone would want to employ this type of assault on Samsung phone users because there is no monetary benefit. It has been studied that hackers normally do their "hacking" for financial gain. However, there is no monetary gain in simply wiping the personal information out of someone's phone. Samsung sent an over-the-air patch out to try to clear the issue up but it's not clear if all Samsung phones will have the patch available to them.

Lookout Mobile Security, a popular mobile phone antivirus, has issued a free fix that will scan telephone links before they open and tell you if they are malicious. This should help the majority of Samsung phone users with security of their phone. Lookout is the only antivirus company to produce a patch for this sort of breach.

As I said in my last post, it's inevitable when a new phone rolls out for there to be security breaches within them. It's great that companies like Lookout are taking a proactive approach to protecting consumers information. However, far more should be done by everyone to combat the huge problem of mobile cyber security. It seems like companies don't take this type of breach seriously since it only involves dumping of the users data, no attacks on their money etc. A simple breach like this is practically an open door for more attacks to be studied and implemented based off of the breach example. For instance, once they learn they can gain access to your personal infomation through the Dialer app they can then use the information to try to figure out how to steal from people through this approach.

I've feel like we've hit the time where we've created enough technology/gadgets to keep us happy for a long time. Now, we need to work on keeping these items secure and also learn how to maintain them. Most of us aren't even aware of the full range of capabilities of the teachnology we have surrounding us.

New Apple iOS 6 quirks..

It's inevitable...anytime a new phone is released whether Apple or Android, there are bound to be a few "bugs" to shake out. Apple recently released it's new version of the iPhone running iOS 6, gleaming a huge profit. However, there are a few bugs that must be fixed first.

The first of all deals with the social media sites Facebook and Twitter. It has been reported that other people can send Facebook message and tweets from your new iPhone even if the phone is locked. This is because Apple has enabled Siri voice command to interact with Twitter and Facebook even when your phone is locked. The simple fix for this is to go through your settings to "disable" Siri from being activated in the passcode state.

The second thing that has many people anxious is a fix for it's new Apple Maps program. Since Apple has decided to drop Google off of their preloaded apps lineup as well as the Apple Store since they haven't been "playing nice" now that Google has teamed up with Android. Then they decided to create their own new program called Apple Maps. Unfortunately for many, the Apple Maps program is said to have very basic maps with little detail and GPS guidance that is off kilter. To get around this for now, you can bookmark the much more detailed and exact Google Maps in your browser and can get to it anytime you have access to phone service.

There are many quirks that most phones endure the following days after launch and there is no doubt in my mind that the latter of these two issues will be addressed in the coming months. It has been reported that Apple made this risk because they wanted to get away from Google and make their own version of maps, even if it wasn't anywhere near ready yet. Polls have shown that despite these minor hiccups, Apple has done exceeding well in their sales.



References

Cooper, C. (2012, sept 22). ios 6 maps was no big surprise to apple. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57517967-37/ios-6-map-mess-was-no-big-surprise-to-apple/

Mills, E. (2012, SEP 20). ios 6 allows tweets, facebook posts from locked device. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57517364-83/ios-6-allows-tweets-facebook-posts-from-locked-device/

Twitter and New Security "Dream Team?"

You heard it right...Twitter has been working hard on what some are referring to as a "security dream team." This is a pretty important step for a social media site to actually say that they care about the security of theirselves and users information (to an extent at least). With many social media sites practically "giving" away their users information to anyone who asks for it, Twitter is trying to take a different approach. They recently hired Charlie Miller, "famous for his hacks on the iPhone and MacBook Air, finding hols in iOS and devising ways to hijak Android phone with NFS. (Mills, 2012)"

So now, not only the President but also social media sites are starting to take their cyber data seriously. I think since the Web 2.0 boom, when these technologies literally appeared out of thin air, no one really gave a second thought/had time to think about what implications this new technology would have against safeguarding cyber data. Now that these technologies have been around for a while and quite a few malicious attacks have been made, we are discovering that we really need to step up the way we protect information that is private and important to our lives. It's good to see that some social media sites are starting to implement security features, although not by leaps and bounds. Baby steps are a sign of change.


Reference:

Mills, E. (2012, 09 14). Twitter hires security expert charlie miller. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57511803-83/twitter-hires-security-expert-charlie-miller/

President Takes Cybersecurity Seriously...

Recently President Obama has considered an overhaul of the current system that protects the nations cyber information. It is currently outdated (created in 2003) and leaves a lot of "wiggle room" for a cyber attacker to swoop in and steal or harm the integrity of government information that is shared between the private sectors. Year after year Congress has debated what to do concerning the matter but have not come to any sustainable conclusions. Mr. Obama states is ready to take on Congress unless something is agreed upon.

This sends a strong message that the President highly values the presence of cybersecurity ideals. Think about what a wide-spread online attack to information would do to this country. Since we rely so heavily on computers and transacting business online it would completely devastate the whole country. We would essentially be boxed out from the rest of the world with little interaction.

Reference:

Kincaid, M. (2012, August 31). Cybersecurity news roundup: Obama administration considers cyber options. Retrieved from http://www.clearancejobs.com/defense-news/848/cybersecurity-news-round-up-obama-administration-considers-cyber-options