Following Google’s initial foray into the connected home front with the acquisition of Nest is an acquisition of Dropcam, a startup that makes a cloud-based WiFi video monitoring service. Rumors had emerged a few weeks ago that this was happening, but now the deal is going through for $555 million. According to...
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Earlier this week, we talked about Geeksphone's Blackphone, a smartphone that puts privacy and security front and center. In some ways, the goals of that phone might sound a little overkill for some, but after learning about Boeing's upcoming offering, it will seem like child's play. Boeing's phone doesn't seem to...
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Belkin has an intriguing suite of WeMo-branded smart devices for home automation, including light switches, motion detectors, integration with appliances, and more, but security firm IOActive recently discovered multiple vulnerabilities in WeMo--vulnerabilities that Belkin says it has now patched. Belkin’s statement on the subject reads...
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We've all fantasized at one point or another of standing in front of an ATM as it mistakenly shoots out cash, showering us in money. Famed computer hacker Barnaby Jack actually made it happen in 2010 during a demonstration at the Black Hat conference. Called "jackpotting," he demonstrated the vulnerability on two...
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Just as Apple and Samsung are pushing to get their phones cleared for high-security use within the U.S. government, a staple is announcing the expected. BlackBerry just announced that the U.S. Department of Defense has cleared BlackBerry 10 phones (and the PlayBook tablet as well, strangely) for use on DoD networks...
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Blizzard has been hit with a lawsuit over its $6.50 Battle.net Authenticator keychains that it sells online. According to the lawsuit, Blizzard makes millions of dollars by "deceptively and unfairly" charging customers for an after-sale security product, essentially shifting responsibility from the publisher to the consumer to protect their...
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Tread carefully on the Internet, surf ninja. That's always sound advice, but it's especially important now to be extra cautious, particularly if you use Java. Researchers at Security Explorations discovered a zero-day exploit in multiple versions of Java that could affect over a billion PCs around the globe. Technical details of the exploit...
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This is one of those little tidbits that breaks like a tactical nuke, not because it's a major policy change, but because the company in question has just revealed an astonishing degree of stupidity and is blissfully ignorant of it. In the wake of massive hacks, Blizzard released a statement reassuring world+dog that...
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One of the greatest advantages of choosing an Android device over an iOS equivalent is that Google's open source operating system plays nice with Adobe's Flash platform. Unfortunately, Flash doesn't always play nice with Android users, at least not when it's been mucked with. According to security firm Trend Micro, a fake Flash Player infested...
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If you should happen to run across a USB flash drive on the subway, you may want to leave it there, assuming you weren't planning to take it to lost and found to begin with. There's a good chance it's infected with malware, and that doesn't just apply to USB keys you find on the ground, but ones you buy at auction...
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Blue Coat announced the K9 Web Protection Browser for iOS. This free Web browser designed for Apple iPads, iPhones, and Web-enabled iPod Touch devices provides for a family-safe browsing experience. In addition to protecting from content that is not appropriate for children such as pornography, violence, illegal drugs, and gambling, the browser...
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Microsoft plans to fix a "browse-and-get-owned" vulnerability in its Video ActiveX Control when it releases software patches next week. The company acknowledged the vulnerability last week and is moving with uncharacteristic speed in issuing a fix for the problem. A second and similar vulnerability with Microsoft’s DirectShow was disclosed...
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On the heels of the phishing attacks on Twitter and Digg, where all that immediately seemed to be at risk were logon credentials to the social sites, comes a potentially much more insidious problem.Security vendor Trusteer has found a JavaScript bug in all major browsers makes it easier for crooks to steal your login information while you're...
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The British company Thruvision has announced the T5000 Security Imaging System, a camera that can "see" under clothes using what the company calls "passive imaging technology" to identify objects by the natural electromagnetic rays that they emit. The T5000 camera, created by a company called ThruVision, uses what it calls "passive imaging...
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Microsoft's Vista OS is going to almost instantly transform the market for all things OS, if the market share of all the other Windows operating systems is anything to go by. Businesses like Symantec and McAfee have made tidy little businesses out of protecting people from holes in Windows security. Well, they think they've been frozen...
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