Latest Security News and Updates from this Week

Number of Government Websites Hacked so Far – 78
According to Milind Deora, Minister of State for Communications & IT, 78 government websites have been compromised by hackers till June 2013. 16,000 odd cases related to spam, malware infection, and data breach have also come to light. Victims mainly included sites run by government, defense sector, and public sector undertakings. Read the full story here.

Ultra High Tech Japanese Toilet uses “0000” as Default Pin
Getting the gist, no? There is this Satis toilet (made in Japan), that does everything, well not everything, for the user. The toilet can be controlled by a free Bluetooth application the user has to install in their smartphone. A few taps on the phone, and the user is done with their nature call. But, here’s the issue. Reports revealed that both the application and the toilet uses “0000” as the default pin. Any mischief monger who installs the application, can cause a series of unfortunate toilet events for the user; events you can guess easily. So, if you come across any such Bluetooth-enabled toilet, look around for a simpler washroom first.

The NSA is all Eyes and Ears for Text Communication to and from the United States
New reports claim that the National Security Agency (NSA), is now barging into text communication sent overseas and received from any foreign nation. The method works by running these communication through a machine, where officials look for certain keywords. If any keyword matches their criteria, then the matter is sent for human check. The rest of the matter is destroyed, and becomes unretrievable. To know more on this, follow this link.

Now even Android has something like “Find my iPhone” feature
Better late than never. A long-waited service that, perhaps, all Android users were longing for, is finally out on the street. “Android Device Manager” offers services similar to Apple’s “Find my iPhone”. It can show you your lost/stolen phone’s recent location on a map. You can also use it to trigger the device to ring at full volume for 5 minutes, and even remotely erase its contents. Android Device Manager, however, does nothing to stop a thief from factory resetting your device or to send a text to it. While it is similar to “Find my iPhone” it is still not good enough. Know more about this service here.

Twitter Simplifies its Two-Factor Authentication Protocol
The two-factor authentication that Twitter rolled out in late May, required the user to type in a code they would receive via SMS, while signing in. Twitter has changed all of that now. Now a user can use their Twitter app as the authentication factor; just a tap and they get verified. If you want to know how all this process works, then follow this link.

Rajiv Singha