Category Archives: Internet Security
Internet of Things presents the next frontier of cyberattacks – ITProPortal
Todays rapidly growing global network of internet of things (IoT) devices brings with it new levels of convenience to the lives of everyday consumers. In late 2019, one survey conducted by Parks Associates found that the average person in the U.S. owns as many as eight connected devices, and the number is expected to climb to 13 by 2022. The smart speaker market alone Amazon Alexa and Google Home grew from 66.7 million devices in December 2017 to 118.5 million devices just one year later. It seems just about every type of home appliance or gadget has added network connectivity in the past few years. Everything from cars, house locks, climate control systems, and even hair straighteners are just a few examples of devices that are now connected to a network or mobile application to make life more convenient.
However, as the development of IoT devices accelerates, the risk of a cyberattack accelerates as well. Research and development teams must work diligently to place data security at the core of connected device designs. Recent headlines have brought unwanted attention to IoT devices being compromised or vulnerabilities being discovered. Automation has led to the rise of smart homes that can be unlocked and accessed through vulnerabilities in the connected mobile applications found on many smartphones. Cars can even be accessed through the infotainment system, as demonstrated at a recent hacking contest when a group of hackers gained access to a Tesla 3.
But the reach of IoT extends far beyond the household appliances that are spurring the home automation movement. The current state of urban planning is increasingly exploring ways of incorporating automation and connectivity. Power grids, water lines and natural gas lines are being updated with state-of-the-art monitors to immediately alert city services when deviations are identified, ensuring that services are not disrupted. London, for example, operates the largest number of CCTV cameras in the world many of which are connected to the cloud. These cameras can be used to detect everything from traffic jams to ruptured sewer or water lines. In one example, the impact to public safety was recently measured in a 2017 study published in the Journal of Safety Research that found car crash rates were 21 per cent lower in cities with red light cameras installed and active at signalised intersections in over 100 large U.S. cities.
As government services look to maximise efficiency and public safety through automation, connected devices will continue to become more prevalent with bulk data analysis and collection a primary focus. However, these systems are not completely immune from the cybersecurity risks similar to those that continue to plague smart home devices. Real-world cybersecurity threats designed to target municipalities, for example, include identity theft, ransomware attacks such as those recently seen in Atlanta and Baltimore or a complete shutdown of government services to disrupt the lives of ordinary citizens.
One of the biggest challenges faced by the IoT industry today is finding internal consensus on an appropriate level of security for the manufacturing and the development of smart devices. Ideally, security should be a fundamental building block during the design phase of development. Secure smart systems should include the ability to quickly detect any anomalies or threats before bad actors have the opportunity to cause irreplaceable damage both to the user and the brand reputation of the manufacturer and/or developer.
Another key element in protecting connected devices is designing a product that, once an attack is detected, immediately isolates the infected device to contain the attack and minimise any resulting damage. Fortunately, the real-time data analytics currently available can identify these threats and prevent one bad apple from spoiling the bunch, while also ensuring that other products are protected from the attack as soon as recognised. It also is important for product designers and developers to understand that wireless carriers continue to roll out 5G networks that will only bring more and more efficiency and cost-effective connectivity. It will be critical that IoT network devices remain secure as the rapid exchange of data between devices and servers will only increase exponentially, putting even more pressure on security analytics scalability.
Manufacturers are setting out to create products that are designed to make life more efficient and safer, but notable risks are cause for concern despite convenience. To futureproof IoT networks, it is critical for connected device manufacturers and developers to focus on security from day one and as a foundational design element rather simply relegate it to a check-box item later down the road. By designing connected devices with security embedded at the foundation, all stakeholders -- manufacturers, customers, and retailers -- will be able to reap the benefits of IoT with peace of mind that personal data and privacy are not at risk of being exposed by hackers.
Asaf Ashkenazi, chief strategy officer, Verimatrix
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Internet of Things presents the next frontier of cyberattacks - ITProPortal
Ooma Improves on Phone and Home Security with New Products for Cord Cutters – Cord Cutters News, LLC
This year at CES, we had the opportunity to talk with the Ooma team about their new products that offer security and peace of mind for both businesses and consumers. In addition to home security and monitoring, the company had the Ooma Telo 4G on display.
The Ooma Telo 4G connects to the internet through a 4G LTE adapter and includes a backup battery, providing service, including 911 access when you need it most, during internet and power outages.This is a great solution for cord cutters who have also opted not to use a landline at home.
The hardware for the Telo 4G has a one time cost of $129.99, which includes a base station, wireless adapter, and 10 hour battery backup. Youll need a base subscription of $11.99/month for service through the nationwide Sprint 4G LTE network. The system delivers all the benefits of internet-based home phoneservice without worrying about power failures or losing 911 access in emergency situations.
Oomais dedicated to bringing peace of mind to families when it comes to staying connected with their homes and having a reliable way to reach first responders during emergencies, said Thad White, vice president of residential product development atOoma. We aim forOomaTelo4G, along with theOomaKeypad andOomaProfessional Monitoring forOomaSmart Security, to give our customers more choices and more control in protecting their homes.
Oomas new home security products and services include the Ooma Smart Security Keypad for $59.99 and Ooma Professional Monitoring for $14.99/month. The affordabledo-it-yourselfsystem offeringawiderange of sensors for detecting motion,the opening of doors and windows, water leaks, and the opening of garage doors. Optional premium features include multi-user geofencing to automatically control the system as family members arrive and leave the home, and remote calling to local 911 operators through theOomaSmart Security mobile app.
Did you know we now have aFREE appfor iOS, Android,and Amazon Fire? Click HERE todownload our app.
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Ooma Improves on Phone and Home Security with New Products for Cord Cutters - Cord Cutters News, LLC
Windows 7 computers will no longer be patched after today – Naked Security
Do you know what you were doing 3736 days ago?
We do! (To be clear, lest that sound creepy, we know what we were doing, not what you were doing.)
Admittedly, we didnt remember all on our own we needed the inexorable memory of the internet to help us recall what happened on 22 October 2009.
That was the official release date of Windows 7, so we armed ourselves with a fresh-out-of-the-box copy (remember boxed software?) and tried a bunch of new viruses against it.
Simply put, we took the next 10 Windows malware samples that showed up for analysis at SophosLabs, checked that they ran on the previous versions of Windows and then threw them at the all-new Windows 7.
The good news is that three of the 10 samples didnt work on Windows 7; the bad news is that seven did.
You cant really blame Microsoft for that, as much as you might like to, given that everyone expected existing software to work out of the box with the new version, despite numerous security improvements.
That was a decade ago 10 years and nearly 3 months, to be precise.
Today marks the other end of the Windows 7 story the very end of the other end, in fact.
Its the first Patch Tuesday of 2020 and once todays Windows 7 updates are shipped
thats that.
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
There wont be any more routine Windows 7 updates, as there havent been for Windows XP since Tuesday, 08 April 2014.
The problem is that new malware samples, together with new vulnerabilities and exploits, are likely to work on old Windows 7 systems in much the same way, back in 2009, that most old malware worked just fine on new Windows 7 systems.
Even if the crooks stop looking for new vulnerabilities in Windows 7 and focus only on Windows 10, theres a fair chance that any bugs they find wont be truly new, and will have been inherited in code that was originally written for older versions of Windows.
Bugs arent always found quickly, and may lie low for years without being spotted even in open source software that anyone can download and inspect at their leisure.
Those latent bugs may eventually be discovered, weaponised (to use one of the security industrys less appealing jargon terms) and exploited by crooks, to everyones unfortunate surprise.
The infamous Heartbleed flaw in OpenSSL was there for about two years before it became front-page news. In 2012, the Unix security utility sudo fixed a privilege escalation bug that had been introduced in 2007. OpenSSH patched a bug in 2018 that had sat undiscovered in the code since about 2000.
Windows 10 is significantly more secure against exploitation by hackers than Windows 7 ever was, and retrofitting those new security features into Windows 7 is just not practicable.
For example, there are numerous breaking changes in Windows 10 that deliberately alter the way things worked in Windows 7 (or remove components entirely) because theyre no longer considered secure enough.
For that reason, going forwards by upgrading can be considered both a necessary and a desirable step.
At the same time, not going forwards will leave you more and more exposed to security holes because any vulnerabilities that get uncovered will be publicly known, yet unpatched forever.
For better or for worse, the modern process of bug hunting and disclosure generally involves responsibly reporting flaws, ideally including a proof of concept that shows the vendor how the bug works in real life as a way of confirming its importance.
Then, once patches are out, its now considered not only reasonable but also important to publish a detailed expos of the flaw and how to exploit it.
As crazy as that sounds, the idea is that were more likely to write secure software in future if we can readily learn from the mistakes of the past, on the grounds that those who cannot remember history are condemned to repeat it.
The downside of the full disclosure of exploits, however, is that those disclosures are sometimes attack instructions in perpetuity against systems whose owners havent patched, cant patch, or wont patch.
Depending on whom you ask, youll see figures suggesting that somewhere between 25% and 33% (thats one-fourth to one-third) of desktop computers are still running Windows 7.
So, please dont delay do it today!
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Windows 7 computers will no longer be patched after today - Naked Security
How the Trump administration is secretly assisting Iranian protesters – Washington Examiner
It's not just President Trump's tweets in Farsi.
Complementing the president's rhetorical support for Iranian protesters, the U.S. government is engaged in less public programs to help Iranian protesters now taking to the streets. They provide the positive counterpoint to Trump's excesses, such as his recent threat to Iranian cultural sites.
The critical point here is that this is about giving Iranians the tools to campaign for their own freedom and future, rather than interfering with Iranian domestic politics or instigating protests. The U.S. programs are not a 1953 coup part deux, but a provision to help those already on the streets struggle for their freedom.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is the point man for these efforts, centered at the State Department and the U.S. intelligence community.
The story begins in early 2017, with then-CIA director, Pompeo. Determined to escalate the CIA's activities against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's regime, Pompeo unified Iran operations under a specific mission center and aggressively minded chief. What followed were successful U.S. operations to obstruct Iranian nuclear activities, contest the regime's external activities, recruit Iranian officials (including senior officials), and identify those behind the repression of Iran's population. The mission center's activities now define Pompeo's push to see the CIA accept greater operational risks. The current director, Gina Haspel, has continued in this vein.
Pompeo again emphasized Iran operations on becoming secretary of state. And today, alongside its counterproliferation and counterterrorism activities, the United States now has significant human rights centered programs to help Iranians. While Britain's MI6 and France's DGSE actively work with the U.S. intelligence community on counterproliferation and counterterrorism issues, these human rights programs are something that the U.S. does largely alone.
One element involves assisting satellite streaming services in penetrating extensive Iranian censorship platforms. But a key focus is helping protesters to get their messages out. Iranian activists have shown courage and skill in rapidly getting videos out onto the internet during major crackdowns. But they face real challenges. So to give them a helping hand, sources tell me that the U.S. facilitates access to virtual private networks that allow internet connectivity outside of censor constraint. These VPNs transmit data through encrypted internet tunnels, protecting users from Iranian counterintelligence activities to detect and disrupt them.
But what happens when Iran's government shuts down the nation's internet service entirely, as during the November 2019 energy price protests?
Well, Iranian activists have to travel to Iran's border areas to jump on foreign networks. But a new development, as one senior administration official tells me, is that the U.S. has enabled protesters to get their messages out even "when the internet is shutdown." The official emphasized that while this effort is limited in scale, it is a positive work in progress.
The administration's countering of Iranian oppression doesn't begin and end with assistance to the protesters.
The U.S. intelligence community also provides secured communication platforms revamped following disastrous security breaches to allow its Iranian government sources to provide timely intelligence without compromising themselves. This allows U.S. officials to quickly learn the nature and human cost of Iranian security crackdowns. An important advantage in the context of the Iranian regime's particular penchant for deception.
Ultimately, we should be clear-eyed about what this effort represents. The U.S. is better enabling Iranians to get their message out to the world and petition for better lives. This is not aggressive U.S. interventionism in the vein of armed support for anti-regime groups. It is human rights advocacy in digital form.
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How the Trump administration is secretly assisting Iranian protesters - Washington Examiner
Interview with Jordan Blake on the potential of behavioural biometrics – The Paypers
Fraud Prevention and Online Authentication Report 2019/2020
The Paypers interviewed Jordan Blake, BehavioSec VP of Products, on the potential of behavioural biometrics and how to best use this deep authentication technology
How does BehavioSec develop the potential of behavioural biometrics and how do your customers leverage this technology?
In 2008, BehavioSec launched with a mission: to apply the nascent area of machine learning to behavioural biometrics the concept of leveraging someones behaviour to positively identify them. Today, our companys software platform protects billions of transactions across mobile apps and Websites by studying users typing patterns, touch screen gestures and even the way they hold their devices to discern authentic users behaviour from criminals, bots, or malware used to commit fraud, hijack accounts, or steal data. Customers leverage our platform in two primary ways: They use it to drastically reduce the number of legitimate end-users who are unnecessarily targeted by existing, noisy authentication signals. When an organisation isnt able to establish that an end-user is authentic, that user may be inconvenienced in a number of ways such as by having to answer obscure security questions, respond to CAPTCHAs, deal with heavy-handed password measures and may be subject to account lockouts and long phone calls to customer service. Organisations that utilise BehavioSec can significantly reduce reliance on such unfriendly safety measures.
Our platform is also leveraged to reduce fraud and the costs associated with it. Fraudsters find myriad ways to scam their way into users accounts, whether it be leveraging a shared password found in a data breach, targeting thousands of accounts with a login bot, performing a sophisticated SIM swap attack or even coaching a user over the phone (i.e. a voice-phishing or vishing attack). Regardless of the tactics used, our technology profiles authentic user behaviour in such a way that a fraudster, even with the keys to the proverbial kingdom, simply cannot replicate it.
By bringing BehavioSec into the mainstream market, our efforts are influencing the standards and norms in the industry, bringing about changes that help reduce the amount of financial loss that organisations incur every year due to cyber theft and fraud. In the fight to protect consumers from ever resourceful fraudsters and cybercriminals, behavioural biometrics offers significant advantages over other authentication technologies. We turn users into securitys strongest link by helping them stop attacks by just being themselves.
Could you thoroughly explain how continuous authentication works?
A consistent, individual signature marks the essence of human movement and touch every movement you make is influenced by personal style/preferences, speed, pressure, and dexterity. This also applies in the digital world. No one else can replicate exactly how we physically interact with our devices. BehavioSecs platform plays off this, continuously monitoring, and authenticating users based on their unique physical behaviours, throughout each session, not just once at login.
Powered by this unique application of behavioural biometrics, our companys platform integrates with websites and apps to analyse user behaviour in real time, enabling organisations to block or flag suspect transactions.
This anti-fraud protection surpasses one-time authentication measures like passwords and thumbprints by enabling organisations to invisibly and unobtrusively authenticate users by validating their personal mannerisms.
In which way is behavioural biometrics relevant in the PSD2s SCA context?
The PSD2 mandates that payment service providers must ensure Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), which comprises at least two factors from three different categories knowledge (e.g. password), possession (e.g. smartphone), and inherence (e.g. unique attributes of an individuals behaviour, like patterns in how users hold their mobile devices and interface with websites and browsers). Behavioural biometrics is an ideal technology for PSD2 compliance because it combines inherence with traditional login credentials, offering dramatically enhanced defences from account hijacking and fraud. Every customer and business handling online payments face mounting threats of fraud and abuse because login credentials are widely breached, and it is trivial for bots and other malicious programs to impersonate account holders names and devices. Behavioural biometrics breaks this cycle by giving institutions and payment companies the ability to block login attempts that deviate from known users behaviours.
There are several challenges for behavioural biometrics application related to privacy, impersonation attack (spoofing), and even error rates. How does your company meet these challenges to make this technology work at its best?
Privacy can be very well managed with this technology. For example, we do not gather or use any end user biometric data, nor are we interested in capturing PII like credentials. We provide the software platform that our customer organisations around the world then administer in their operations to protect their services and consumers.
Additionally, another benefit of our platform is the accuracy and low error rates. The platform has proven itself to yield low false positive alerts and delivers detailed information for real-time fraud detection and forensic purposes. Our customers discover measurable cost savings from lower fraud incidences, coupled with fewer customer support calls and false positive issues associated with traditional authentication tools across billions of transactions and millions of users.
What other developments do you have in the pipeline for 2020?
Our goal is to enable customers to mitigate risk and further link security and trust to their brands. We have ongoing product updates being introduced that further strengthen BehavioSecs platform and break the otherwise chronic password breach cycle.
About Jordan Blake
Jordans role as BehavioSecs VP of Products drives the vision and growth of cyber safety solutions while in addition to ensuring quality and client satisfaction. His 20-year career in product management, internet security, cyber security, and cyber safety solutions makes him the best choice to lead the product division. Jordan has held many Product Management roles with global industry leaders like IBM, and Symantec.
About BehavioSec
Founded in 2008 out of groundbreaking academic research, BehavioSecs technology allows companies to continuously verify digital identities with superior precision, in real-time. BehavioSec is the only enterprise-grade vendor used in global deployments safeguarding billions of transactions. BehavioSec investors include Forgepoint Capital, Cisco, ABN AMRO, Conor Ventures and Octopus Ventures.
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Interview with Jordan Blake on the potential of behavioural biometrics - The Paypers
Iowa results will be compiled over the internet, hacking threat aside – The Fulcrum
The first votes of the presidential election will be tabulated after the Iowa caucuses next month using the sort of internet-connected system that worries election security experts. They say preventing the sort of interference that sullied the 2016 election should be more of a priority than speed in compiling the returns.
But the Iowa Democratic Party plans to deploy a smartphone app to officials running the caucuses across the state for use in calculating and transmitting the results the night of Feb. 3. Putting such vote totals into cyberspace makes them readily vulnerable to nefarious hacking.
Party leaders say they are aware of the potential problems but believe their system will repel them. If that doesn't happen, the opening round of the intense contest for the Democratic nomination will be condemned to global ridicule.
The aim of the new app is to get the caucus results to the public quicker, Troy Price, the chairman of the state party, told Iowa Public Radio. He declined to detail how the app was designed, or by who, or what has been done to guarantee security.
He said the state party worked with the national party's cybersecurity team, and with Harvard University's Defending Digital Democracy project. But Price declined to say whether any third party has investigated the app for vulnerabilities, as many cybersecurity experts recommend.
Unlike many states in which local and state officials oversee presidential primaries, in Iowa the responsibility for administering, staffing and funding the caucuses rests with the state party, which in turn relies mainly on unpaid volunteers.
The Iowa Democrats' plan is for caucus leaders to compile the results from the in-person gatherings and send them to party headquarters in Des Moines using their smartphone apps assuming the software works and the network does not become overwhelmed or compromised. In the past, making a telephone call was the default method, and phones will still be used as a backup this time.
Because caucusing and the climactic vote counting in hundreds of locations are open to the public, it's highly unlikely a hack to alter the results would go unnoticed. But the damage to the public confidence in the 2020 elections would likely be catastrophic.
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Iowa results will be compiled over the internet, hacking threat aside - The Fulcrum
Cyren (NASDAQ:CYRN) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Investment Research – Riverton Roll
Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Cyren (NASDAQ:CYRN) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday morning, Zacks.com reports.
According to Zacks, Cyren Ltd. provides messaging, antivirus and Web security solutions. The Companys messaging solutions include anti-spam, Outbound Spam Protection for service providers, Zero-Hour virus outbreak protection and GlobalView Mail Reputation services, as well as Command Antivirus and GlobalView URL Filtering services. It offers its solutions to network and security vendors offering content security gateways, unified threat management solutions, network routers and appliances, anti-virus solutions and to service providers, such as software-as-a-service vendors, Web hosting providers and Internet service providers. Cyren Ltd., formerly known as Commtouch Software Ltd., is headquartered in Herzliya, Israel.
Cyren stock opened at $1.28 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.93 million, a PE ratio of -4.13 and a beta of 0.28. Cyren has a twelve month low of $1.11 and a twelve month high of $2.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $1.31 and a 200-day moving average of $1.54.
Cyren (NASDAQ:CYRN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The technology company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $9.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $9.80 million. Cyren had a negative net margin of 47.56% and a negative return on equity of 68.95%. Equities analysts anticipate that Cyren will post -0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CYRN. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cyren in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in Cyren by 1.0% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 648,763 shares of the technology companys stock worth $1,122,000 after acquiring an additional 6,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, White Pine Capital LLC raised its position in Cyren by 33.2% during the second quarter. White Pine Capital LLC now owns 689,480 shares of the technology companys stock worth $1,193,000 after acquiring an additional 171,680 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.06% of the companys stock.
About Cyren
CYREN Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides information security solutions for protecting Web, email, and mobile transactions worldwide. The company operates Cyren Cloud Security, a SaaS security platform, which provides Internet security services, including Web Security that provides the enforcement of Web policy and state-of-the-art threat protection for business users; DNS Security, which allows businesses to protect employees at headquarters, visitors in remote offices, customers at retail stores, or students on a campus; Email Security, a cloud-based secure email gateway; and Cloud Sandboxing that protects businesses against breaches and data loss from threats.
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Cyren (NASDAQ:CYRN) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Investment Research - Riverton Roll
EZVIZ C6CN pan-and-tilt security camera review: Motion tracking keeps intruder in this camera’s sights – TechHive
The EZVIZ C6CN Internet PT Camera is an indoor pan-and-tilt security camera that can lock on to an intruder and follow their movements, potentially capturing more complete footage of a crime. The 1080p camera delivers fantastic video quality with comprehensive room coverage at an attractive price, but its most notable feature feels a little too shaky to trust completely in the event of an actual break-in. Its bounty of other security features, however, are rock solid.
The C6CNs body is slightly bigger than a baseball and rotates 340 degrees on its base. The camera itself tilts within this enclosure 120 degrees. You can control its pan-and-tilt feature from the app or set it to automatically track motion. That, paired with the cameras 94-degree viewing angle, should provide full coverage without blind spots in just about any room.
The camera provides essential security features including motion detection alerts and night vision. Although it does not detect audio events, you can listen in on the environment and engage in two-way conversations with the help of an onboard mic in the front of the unit and a speaker in back. When youre home, you can activate a privacy shutter to cover the lens.
The C6CN can track moving objects for more complete video evidence.
The EZVIZ C6CN offers multiple storage options for captured video: You can save clips locally to a microSD card (up to 256GB, but youll need to provide the card), or to the EZVIZ NVR (network video recorder, sold separately for $230). Encrypted cloud storage is also available: A seven-day storage plan costs $6 per month or $60 annually, while 30 days of storage costs $11 per month or $110 annually. Other plans are available if you want to support more than one EZVIZ camera (up to four).
The cameras base lets it sit freely on any flat surface, but hardware and a mounting template are also included if you want to attach it to a wall or ceiling. Once youve positioned the camera and plugged it in, the bulk of the setup takes place in the EZVIZ app. After scanning a QR code on the camera, the app has you login to your Wi-Fi network and a voice assistant confirms each step of the connection process. (The camera also has an ethernet port if youd prefer to wire it to your router.)
The camera connected to my Wi-Fi without any hiccups and within a few moments, a screenshot of my living room appeared on the apps device page. Tapping the image opened the C6CNs live stream. The layout here mirrors that for other EZVIZ cameras, with basic camera controls, a video-history timeline, and deeper settings all easily accessible.
You can manually pan-and-tilt the camera with an in-app directional pad.
The first time I tapped the pan-and-tilt control it took a 360-degree picture of the room. Moving a few degrees at a time, it stitched together a succession of still shots and presented me with a panoramic photo that I could scroll through for a complete view.
Aside from revealing how messy the room was at the time, it also provided a quick way to see the whole scene in context, which can be incredibly handy if youre trying to capture evidence of a crime. You can retake the 360-degree picture on demand by clicking the appropriate tab at the bottom of the screen.
You control the pan-and-tilt feature using an in-app directional pad. The camera moves smoothly and fairly quietly, though there is some delay between when you stop pressing the pad and when the camera stops moving. The latency is fairly minimal, though, and the camera stopped in the general position I was trying to get it to.
Motion tracking, which you must enable, will lock onto a moving object and follow it. The forensic benefits are pretty clearan intruder cant evade being recorded by simply moving out of frame. Though the cameras movements in this mode are much more halting, the C6CN shadowed me pretty faithfully. There were a couple of variables that could trip it up though.
One was the amount of light in the room. As long as there was enough illumination, even if it only came from the cameras excellent night vision, motion tracking was flawless. But when the light varied, such as one morning when my living room was well-lit by sunlight, but the adjoining kitchen was in heavy shadow, the camera would lose track of me as soon as I stepped into the darker area. It would then pick me up again only when I returned to the brighter room. Ive used other motion-tracking cameras, including EZVIZs own CTQ6C pan-and-tilt camera, in similar lighting scenarios and havent encountered this issue.
Less surprisingly, the other scenario in which motion tracking had trouble was multiple moving bodies. If one of my pets and I were both in the room, the camera would lock on to whichever was closest to it and ignore the other one. That made for some herky-jerky video as we both moved around the room, so its easy to imagine the havoc it would cause if you were unfortunate enough to be visited by two intruders at the same time.
Whether or not I was using motion tracking, the cameras motion detection alerts were always accurate and delivered with a snapshot of the triggering person or pet. The app offers several ways to modify the frequency of notifications, including schedulingyou can set up to four time blocks per day when motion detection and recording is activedetection sensitivity adjustment, and customizable motion detection areas.
This last feature, which lets you mask in the areas you want monitored for movement, cant be used with motion tracking as it requires a fixed camera angle to work.
The C6CN is fleshed out with a few smart-home capabilities. If you have an Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant smart display, you can use voice commands to display the cameras live feed on that device. You can also activate a few IFTTT applets, available in the app, that will enable automations such as putting the camera into privacy mode when you arrive home and turning on your WeMo switch when the camera detects motion.
Motion tracking is a fairly premium security feature, so the fact that you can get it at such an affordable price makes the EZIVZ C6CN worth considering. It is not, however, the only budget-friendly option out there. The Blurams Dome Pro is a pan-and-tilt camera that also features motion trackingplus human detection and facial recognitionfor a comparable price.
And though the older EZVIZ CTQ6C has been removed from the companys website, that camera was still available on Amazon at press time for about the same price It offers virtually the same set of features, but I its motion tracking worked better for me. Its worth investigating all three before making a final decision.
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EZVIZ C6CN pan-and-tilt security camera review: Motion tracking keeps intruder in this camera's sights - TechHive
Password Managers: What Are They & How to Use Them? – TechAcute
There are a lot of password managers out there. In this article, you can find out why you should use them, how to use them, and what do they provide you with.
The dependency on online services is increasing day by day. Thus a large amount of confidential data like credit card numbers, bank account details, and account passwords are being stored on servers, always under the risk of getting stolen in a data breach incident. The Internet and online business for people are becoming inevitable in todays world, and because of that, online security is in high demand. People tend to keep passwords that are easy to remember, and this is what hackers take advantage of.
Passwords containing names, phone numbers, etc. are often easily guessable or can be cracked easily with a word list. A secure password must contain arbitrary numbers, characters, and special characters and must be at least eight characters long. Brute forcing these passwords would seem infeasible if they are long enough, containing arbitrary characters and numbers. Keeping secure, non-guessable passwords should be the highest priority when creating an online account, keeping in mind the consequences of not doing so. Using arbitrary passwords is the safest way to secure an online account.
Password managers are not a new concept. They have been in existence for more than a decade now. Password managers usually come as a bundle with three key features:
Some password managers implement a local database to store all the passwords while some use remote encrypted online stores. For example, Keeper Password Manager & Digital Vault has that kind of feature. It also provides users with dark web protection, secured cloud vault & encrypted chat services for the ultimate protection for your business and personal use. You can find more specific information about Keeper Password Manager & Digital Vault here. These password managers are accessible through web applications or mobile applications. Apart from these, hardware devices can also be used as password managers.
Using password managers that use a single master password to encrypt all your account passwords, so that it can provide you with better cybersecurity and information requires a central authority that stores the encrypted data on a server. Retrieving these passwords from the server requires an active Internet connection. To tackle this, the password managers tend to store the encrypted vault on the users device. If the device is stolen/lost, or if the master password is not strong enough, all the data may be compromised.
Storing private data on central servers may often produce a feeling of mistrust since there is always a chance of data getting breached. Even though hardware password managers are secure, it involves carrying the hardware device everywhere. If the device is lost, as no online backups are kept, all the password data is lost. Some password managers are local-storage-based but use a web interface to interact with the user. A small flaw in the algorithm design may break the complete system. Also, one has to ensure that the data from the server is synced with multiple instances of the app on various platforms like mobile, computers, smartwatches, and so on. If they are not in sync, a newly added password to the vault may not be accessible from a different or new device. A personal device on which the password manager app is stored is always needed to access the passwords.
The master password generator algorithm is an algorithm that doesnt store passwords anywhere. The setup starts with the user selecting a master password. Then, the user enters the website for which he/she wants a password. Afterward, the user selects the type of password numeric, alphanumeric, character only, or a passphrase. The algorithm generates a new, secure, and unique password for the website. The user then sets this generated password as the password for the site. This algorithm ensures that every time you enter the master password and the website name correctly, it will produce the same password as generated initially.
Thus, passwords are created on-the-fly. The only inconvenience involved in this method is changing the existing insecure website passwords to these newly generated passwords, which is to be done just once. After the initial setup phase, the algorithm will always create the desired password, provided that the master password, website name, and password type are the same. This algorithm does not restrict itself to generating arbitrary passwords. It can also create PINs or even passphrases.
A passphrase is a set of unpredictable but meaningful words used together as a password. They are easy to remember due to the usage of common words, and the master password uniquely produces them. The major advantage of this password manager is that there is no way of breaching any data. Also, there is no way for the attacker to know whether his/her guess of the master password is correct or not since the master password algorithm will always have a unique set of passwords associated with the master password. The algorithm can be implemented as a web, mobile, or a standalone desktop application, with the same algorithm implemented on all platforms.
The algorithm can be deployed as a complete password manager application, running cross-platform. An extension to this can be to the creation of a browser plugin/extension that can be used to auto-fill passwords on websites. The password generation algorithm is not restricted to a particular programming language. The accessibility of the password manager is crucial, and hence it should be implementable on a variety of platforms, which includes websites, phone applications, and desktop applications. It may also be possible to create a stand-alone hardware device that will have a biometric sensor, USB HID (human interface device) capability, and buttons for site selection.
Such a device could be attached to any device that accepts USB keyboards, and the generated passwords can then be entered without a driver. However, requirements for such hardware to existing are algorithms that can produce a hash based on fingerprint minutiae that must be studied and carefully applied. Such a hardware device will be cost-effective to construct, would work for any person (no storage and no vendor lock-in), and on any device which accepts USB HID keyboard input. If device manufacturers deem fit, all upcoming devices can implement this functionality by default, virtually eliminating the need ever to remember passwords or use weak ones.
Photo credit: The feature image has been done by Jezael Melgoza. The photo of the USB dongle has been taken by Sara Kurfe. The picture woman in black was prepared by Donny Jiang. The photo womens blue denim jeans was done by Joshua Gandara.Source: Sophie Anderson (Safety Detectives) / Alison Grace Johansen (NortonLifeLock) / Merriam-WebsterEditorial notice: This article has been made possible by site supporters.
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Password Managers: What Are They & How to Use Them? - TechAcute
New Year, new gadgets? Five ways to keep your new devices safe from hackers, cyber attacks and malware – ZDNet
While obtaining a new piece of tech hardware over the holidays can be exciting, it's not without risks, because in many cases, the default delivery state of the shiny new thing offers very little in the way of cyber security.
That means connecting your new product to the internet straight out of the box without taking security precautions could leave you open to hacking, cyber attacks and malware - all of which could put your data and privacy at risk.
To help users enjoy their new devices safely, the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) the cyber arm of the GCHQ intelligence service has detailed five simple steps which can help make devices more secure.
1. Protect it with a strong password
People often believe that cyber criminals need to be expert sleuths to crack people's passwords, but the reality is that people use weak passwords which are easy to guess. It could be that they're using the default password which comes with the new device, or it could be that they're using common or easily guessable weak passwords like '12345' or 'password' for their email, shopping and social media accounts.
That's why the NCSC says that users should change simple or default passwords to a more secure one, so that it's not so easy for cyber criminals to guess. One way the NCSC suggests doing this is by making your password three random words which are memorable to you, but difficult for others to guess.
2. Turn on two-factor authentication (2FA)
A strong password is a good first step to securing a device and the accounts, but it isn't impossible for cyber criminals to use brute force attacks in an attempt to crack passwords, or to use phishing attacks to dupe users into giving up their passwords.
That's why the NCSC recommends using two-factor authentication to ensure that there's another barrier to attackers gaining access to accounts. Because even if attackers know your password, having to authorise the login attempt via a text message or application on your smartphone makes it harder for hackers to hijack the account.
SEE:A winning strategy for cybersecurity(ZDNet special report) |Download the report as a PDF(TechRepublic)
"While you're at it, turn on 2FA for your main email account if you haven't already. That's the centre of your digital life because things like password resets get sent there, so it needs to be better protected than other accounts," saidIan Levy, technical director at the NCSC.
3. Always accept automatic updates
Smartphones, tablets, computers and Internet of Things devices all now regularly receive updates from manufacturers but users will regularly put off applying either because they see installing the updates as a waste of time or don't understand why devices need to be updated.
However, updates are often issued after security vulnerabilities arise as means of closing loopholes which can otherwise be exploited by hackers. Many of the most high-profile malware campaigns and cyber attacks of recent years have spread so easily because they're taking advantage of known vulnerabilities which users haven't applied the patches to fix.
Because of this, the NCSC recommends that users should configure all their smart devices to install automatic updates and to install updates for phones, tablets and computers as soon as they get the option.
4. If you don't want it anymore, perform a factory reset
Sometimes people decide that a gadget isn't for them, or they decide that they want to trade it in for a newer model. If this is the case, the NCSC suggests that users should perform a factory reset of the device. By returning the device to its original settings like this, users will wipe all of their personal data from it, meaning that that information can't be potentially exploited by whoever uses it next.
5. Here's what to do if something goes wrong
If the worst happens and users think an outsider has control of a device inside their home, the NCSC recommends users perform a factory reset. Meanwhile, if users become aware of an incident reported in the news and think their product is affected, they should visit the manufacturer website for advice.
There's also the option of visiting the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) website, or the website of the NCSC.
The five tips are simple, but they can do a long way to protecting users against the vast majority of cyber attacks.
"Enjoy your new devices and the cool things they can do. Don't be afraid of new technology and the internet. With some basic prevention, you'll be as safe as houses," Levy said.
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New Year, new gadgets? Five ways to keep your new devices safe from hackers, cyber attacks and malware - ZDNet