Window's Tablet Malfunction

Earlier in class we learned what malware was, but incase you forgot or you missed it, I'll give you a reminder. Malware is malicious code, which is software that is intended to damage or disable computers or computer systems.

You're probably wondering where I'm going with all of this. Well earlier today CNN had reported that Russians have been using Windows tablets to spy on Ukrainian government and a scholar who was living in the United States due to a Microsoft Windows bug. Apparently they have been using a bug that exists in Microsoft Vista, 7, 8, and the newest 8.1.  

Its said that Dallas' intelligence firm (ISight) first saw the hackers attacking back in mid August. They were sending emails with malware in the forms of PowerPoint attachments to spy on Ukrainian government officials by using a technique called phishing.

     Phishing: is a way to acquire sensitive information by pretending/acting as a trustworthy      software/program.

The fact that this happened is pretty amazing especially with a company such as Microsoft would allow something such as this to happen. Then again bugs are a part of computer programing and technology, so I can definitely see how this is a possibility. The reason this caught my interest though was because of how much interest I had in the surface pro 3. Although I doubt I would have any problem with this, seeing that I wouldn't be the one getting targeted. However it's still interesting to see that things like this happen even with reliable companies, such as Microsoft. Who's to say it won't happen to another reliable technology company.

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2014/10/14/technology/security/russia-hackers/index.html

Sign Language Translation

Language barriers are terrible, especially between those who can speak and those who cannot.  Students at Asia University have developed these Sign Language Ring Translators.  These are a set of six rings that are worn on three fingers per hand.  The rings follow the movement of the fingers of the wearer and translate them through a bracelet.  The bracelet translates the movements of the rings into spoken words so another person, who does not know sign language, can understand what the non-speaking person is saying.  The bracelet can also understand spoken word and display that speech in text so a non-hearing person may understand those who do not speak sign language.

I just think this product is so amazing, and can be put to many helpful uses.  They make me really excited for technological advancements and really wanted to share this concept.

Project Delorean

Picture of the Delorean from the Back to the Future Trilogy

                             
     With the advent of the internet, the world is ever more reliant on the power of the cloud. Quickly everything that was once process locally on a computer is now being processed in the cloud. The cloud is internet-based computing in which large groups of remote servers are networked to allow the centralized data storage, and online access to computer services or resources.  
              

Cloud Servers.  Not an accurate representation.

      However, there have been many barriers to taking advantage of this emerging technology.  One of the main culprits that is holding cloud computing back is latency.  Latency is the time between an end users input and the result from a server to return to the end user.  Application that are time sensitive and require immediate feedback have been difficult to offload to the cloud. One such example is cloud gaming. This is clearly the future of gaming evident by the Xbox One's focus on the cloud and the new Playstation Now cloud gaming service. Unfortunately, latency is preventing modern games from being processed in the cloud without lag. This is especially a problem for those who live far away from a server farm or have low bandwidth. When the time delay between a player and what appears on the screen is too long, the game is unplayable.
     Recently, Microsoft's research team has developed a new technology to deal with latency in cloud gaming.  It is called Project Delorean.  This system predicts what a player is going to do.  This can cover up to 250ms of latency. It does this by processing multiple actions a player may choose before the player make a choice.  It then sends all of the possible options to the player's console early.  Then when a player chooses an action, the console would choose the correct option out of the multiple options that were processed.

Advertisement for the Cloud Powered AI in Forza Motorsport 5.

                      

   This invention indicates that we are very close to the age of cloud gaming.  Certainly, this new technology will make its way into Microsoft's PC and Xbox video games.  However, this technology might even translate into other programs and applications that are cloud based. Any application can benefit from the same system.  Even non-time sensitive applications can benefit by completely eliminating latency.   The benefits of the cloud will only continue to grow as similar systems to Project Delorean are implemented.  The potential uses are limitless.  With the power of the cloud, the sky is the limit.

Antikythera Mechanism: The Ancient Computer Found

Recently I found an article linked from iflscience on my Facebook feed saying that an ancient computer had been found in a shipwreck.  After reading this article I learned that this ancient computer was name the Antikythera Mechanism and was probably traveling with an important woman who was traveling to Rome to be married.  This, along with the other valuables were probably destined to be a wedding present.

This computer was made out of bronze.  It is very thin, mounted in a wooden frame, with a couple thousand characters inscribed in it.  It was thought to have the ability to predict the movement of constellations.  Through X-rays, scientist have discovered there are over 30 gears.  This is all very impressive considering it was estimated to have been created around 87 B.C.

Ingress Across the Globe

Ingress players in Seattle.

In a world where video games, particularly casual games, are common place among the masses thanks to the advent of the smart phone, there seems to be a new gaming fad every few months.  Most recently we have had Angry Birds and Flappy Bird games sweep across mobile platforms.  Like most mobile games, the location where you play the game is largely irrelevant.  Location agnostic games are about to get a dose of serious competition from augmented reality mobile games.

Mobile gaming may be on the verge of a revolution.  Ingress is an augmented reality game developed by Google for Android and iOS.  It is a game which requires that you ally yourself with the Resistance or the Enlightened.  Next, you use your Ingress app to find nearby portals(selected sites in the real world).  You must physically travel to a portal which is usually located at major locations in a town or city.  Then you can find two other nearby portals and visit them to make a triangle called a control field.  Then you must defend your control field from other players to earn points.

 

Local Ingress Battle

The longer one is able to control their field, the more points they earn.  The amount of points are increased if the population is high.  For example, cities like are prime location to rack up copious amount of points yet it is a location where one is more likely to be attacked.  Thus, these population dense areas are harder to control.

 

Snapshot of the global game of Ingress.

Some players have become so competitive that they are willing to travel hundreds of miles to control new locations.  One man bought a plane ticket just to fly to a remote outpost in Alaska to control a portal in Ingress. 

 

The real question here is how far are augmented reality games like Ingress going to develop and how popular are they going to become.  Ingress already has a considerable following that is likely to grow as the game expands to more platforms.  This appears to be the dawn of a new age of video games that actually requires players to get off their couches and go outside.  Most likely this will lead to new friends for players as well as new enemies. 

 

Personally, I would love to download this application, but I might become too competitive and end up buying a plane ticket to remote locations in Alaska for a few extra outpost to control.  Though if I had the money and the free-time, this sounds like a fantastic experience that encourages people to travel to places that might not have visited before.  The impact of games like this could lead people to find new areas of their towns and cities that might not be familiar with.  Businesses might even begin to encourage Ingress or other augmented reality games to add their businesses as a portal to control.  The potential benefits and impacts of such a game are absolutely limitless.

 

Taking The Extra Step to Protect Your Online Privacy

Perhaps you may have already heard the latest news, but hackers have recently attacked Hollywood's most beloved Celebs!  Top celebs including Jennifer Lawrence (Hunger Games Series) and Kate Upton (Model) were two of the many celeb victims whose most private of photos were compromised to the world via hackers. What!? How could this happen you ask? Well... What is estimated to have happened to these unlucky celebs is that the unknown hacker or hackers successfully discovered the celebrities iCloud accounts, a cloud or internet/network storage system provided by Apple inc., and hacked into them with the intent of obtaining nude celeb photos.  These photos were then shared anonymously and dispersed throughout the web for all to see Huffington Post.  It is assumed by tech experts that the app "Find my iPhone" was the key tool used by the hackers. Although it is still unknown how exactly these photos were hacked, it ultimately raised awareness of the overall security of iCloud and thus new security measures have been taken to by Apple Inc. to protect its iCloud users.


So What?...
If this can happen to celebrities it can happen to anyone! This news story brings up the bigger question of how aware are you of your online privacy? As technology is fast expanding in our lives it is important to recognize the importance of taking the extra step to protect your privacy. Simple practices as reading fine print, assessing your privacy settings, having passwords with multiple characters and numbers can protect you against possible cyber crimes such as this.

Click Here For Tips on How to Secure Your iCloud

Kevin Mitnick: Notorious American Hacker

Kevin Mitnick is most recognized as the "World's most renowned hacker". A Hacker is defined as a “Technically proficient person who breaks into a computer system”.  Shortly after the rise of the personal computer in the late 1970’s, Mitnick's initial interest of hacking took hold.  He realized that his skill of hacking gave him power and recognition among his peers, allowing him to make friends easily. His first successful hack was manipulating the Los Angeles transit system by figuring out "how to obtain free bus passes at the age of 12".  He did this through the practice of social engineering, or "Social interaction that preys on human gullibility, sympathy, or fear to take advantage of the target, for example, to steal money, information, or other valuables-basically a con".

 Some hackers are motivated by greed, rather Mitnick ultimately hacked for the challenge, or "fun of it". He quotes his motives for hacking as "Intellectual curiosity, pursuit of knowledge and seduction of adventure"Huffington Post.  He developed an addiction for this challenge of hacking which led him to committing numerous cyber crimes and thus having to later suffer legal consequences.

Mitnick's hacking crimes were so intense that he became an inspiration for the well known movie War Games after hacking into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense. He later became one of the FBI's ten most wanted criminals during the 90's.  "The FBI claimed that Mitnick cost companies and institutions millions of dollars by stealing their software and altering computer information" 2001. Throughout Mitnick's extensive history of hacking, he has been charged and arrested for such crimes as,

1981: Manipulating and breaking into phone company networks, such as Pacific Bell for the purpose of stealing technical manuals

1982: Breaking into the U.S. Pentagon's (the National Headquarters of United States Department of Defense) computer system from his computer while at the University of Southern California

1987: Stealing computer software from California software company Santa Cruz Operation

1989: "Illegally downloading source code from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)"

1992: Stealing software from companies such as,  "Motorola, Nokia, and Fujitsu"

1995: Mitnick is finally captured and arrested in Raleigh, N.C. for crimes of illegally breaking into corporate computer networks and stealing software


Today, Kevin Mitnick has now been out of prison for 14 years (Released in 2000, after serving five years) and owns his own computer security firm called Mitnick Security Consulting http://mitnicksecurity.com/, in which he offers a variety of services to help protect valuable assets of organizations.  

In addition to his business he is also an author of numerous book titles including, Ghost in the wires: My Adventures as the Worlds Most Wanted Hacker (2011), about the true story of his hacking adventures. In the book he describes his experience as the FBI was closing in on him, saying he already knew they were watching him because he "broke into the local cell phone network, allowing him to detect when agents were near his apartment"  He then says "When they were close, he removed evidence but left behind a box of donuts in the refrigerator, labeling them "FBI donuts" to annoy his pursuers" 2011. 

Although Mitnick's cyber crimes were deemed illegal and punishable by law, I would consider myself a Mitnick supporter in that his crimes brought recognition of the seriousness of computer security and thus introduced changes in how people secure themselves.  Overall he successfully turned his love and skill for hacking into a useful trait to help others!

"Works Cited"

Anderson, Greg, David Ferro, and Robert Hilton. Connecting with Computer Science. 2nd ed. Boston: Course Technology, 2011. Print.

Freeman, Edward H. "The Legend and Legacy of Kevin Mitnick." Information Systems Security 10.2  (2001): 5-6. Acedemic Search Complete. Web. 01 Sept. 2014.

Smith, Gerry. "Kevin Mitnick, Former Fugitive Hacker, Laments How The Game Has Changed." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16 Aug. 2011. Web. 01 Sept. 2014.