Recently, a serious cryptography problem was discovered in Android. The exploit, when used by hackers to break into Bitcoin wallets, would’ve enabled them to steal the currency. In view of the security loophole, several Bitcoin applications have upgraded their wallets.The Android exploit could affect any such Bitcoin applications which rely on an Android component. Specifically, the Java SecureRandom class, which is used to generate random numbers automatically, was found to be problematic when it started generating same numbers for different transactions.Such repetition in what are supposed to be random transaction numbers can allow a hacker to figure out a user’s private key and by using it, steal the user’s Bitcoins.Bitcoin.org was quick to dish out a solution for this problem, “This involves generating a new address with a repaired random number generator and then sending all the money in your wallet back to yourself. Once your wallet is rotated, you will need to contact anyone who has stored addresses generated by your phone and give them a new one.”So far, a number of Bitcoin clients relying on Android have been fixed. These include Blockchain, Bitcoin Wallet, BitcoinSpinner and Mycelium Bitcoin Wallet. It has been reported that in the past, similar security exploits have been used to hack into PS3 machines, which goes on to show that the said Android exploit is serious in its nature. We hope that other Bitcoin clients too will be upgraded soon before hackers make use of this exploit.
Wednesday, 25 December 2013
A New Era of Hacking through Sounds
Sounds Made By A PC Can Be Used To Hack Personal Details
With every passing day, new and astonishing PC exploits are
discovered. Scientists have, for instance, now revealed that the sounds made by
a PC can be used to hack the personal details of its users.
This is a fairly astonishing claim because normally, the sounds made
by a PC come from its CPU and are not only complex but also quite low. The
exact method involves listening in on the CPU sounds very closely as it
encrypts secure information. Whenever any information needs to be encrypted
using the widely used RSA algorithm, such as when providing login details to a
secure site, the CPU makes unique sounds known as loops. Each of these loops corresponds
to a particular step in the whole encryption and decryption process. These
sounds can be recorded using a mobile microphone. The next part is to take these
recorded sounds and match them against unique sounds that correspond to RSA
algorithms. Such an analysis of the recorded sounds can reveal the exact RSA
key that is used in encryption.
Once a hacker has this information, he can not only access the personal
details sent online by a user but may also be able to tap into his login
information for online accounts. However, a hacker will need to physically
place a low-power microphone near the PC in order to record the sounds. This
microphone can be placed within a 13 feet distance of the PC which has to be tapped.
Although there have been no instances where such attacks have been reported to
have taken place yet, the researchers say, “We experimentally demonstrate that
such attacks can be carried out, using either a plain mobile phone placed next
to the computer, or a more sensitive microphone placed 4 meters away.”
What is BITCOIN?
.
Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer currency. Peer-to-peer means that no central
authority issues new money or tracks transactions. These tasks are managed
collectively by the network.
A Bitcoin is the base currency of the Bitcoin market. It is like how
we reference a Dollar or a Euro, and like the different currencies in the
world, the Bitcoin trades at different values based primarily on speculation,
supply and demand. One of the most attractive features of Bitcoins is that they
are not controlled by any government. They cannot be artificially inflated or
deflated. A monetary authority cannot pump more of them into the market to
boost the economy. Basically, there is a set amount going out over time and as
time goes on the amount entering the market decreases.
It is a digital currency that has made countless headlines in recent
days. Its protocol is highly secure, it is anonymous and its value has soared
sky high since it initially started. If you want in on the whole thing, here’s
how to get you started.
Bitcoin account and wallet:
To start in
the Bitcoin business, the first thing you need is a wallet. A wallet is like
your digital account where you can
receive Bitcoin, send Bitcoin from and keep your Bitcoin wealth safe. The
second thing you need is link to a Bitcoin exchange so that you can directly
buy Bitcoin against your dollar payments.
Coinbase is
an excellent place to start because it is a fine combination of the two
aforementioned features. It is a wallet plus an exchange and is fairly reliable
and reputed. To create a Coinbase account, you will need to furnish your bank
account and verify the phone number you provide. There’s also the option of
adding a credit card which can speed up your online transactions but that’s
your call.
Once you
provide all this information, Coinbase will take a few days to verify these
details. At times, the company may take many days to verify your details, being
wary of Bitcoin-related frauds that have been perpetuated by hackers in the
past. As soon as your account is verified, you can start Bitcoin-related
transactions right away.
Bitcoin Address:
You will be
provided a BTC address, a key which is the digital equivalent of your bank
account number. Whenever you want to receive Bitcoin from someone, you will be
asked to provide the BTC address. Similarly, if you want to send Bitcoin to
another user, you will need that user’s BTC address.
These basics
will get you started on the basics of Bitcoin. Given the digital nature of the
currency, you must take every measure to keep your Bitcoin-related account
information safe from possible hackers.
Bitcoin uses
public-key cryptography, peer-to-peer networking, and proof-of-work to process
and verify payments. Bitcoins are sent (or signed over) from one address to
another with each user potentially having many, many addresses. Each payment
transaction is broadcast to the network and included in the blockchain so that
the included bitcoins cannot be spent twice. After an hour or two, each
transaction is locked in time by the massive amount of processing power that
continues to extend the blockchain. Using these techniques, Bitcoin provides a
fast and extremely reliable payment network that anyone can use.
Is bitcoin a real Capitalism?
Is bitcoin a real Capitalism?
jingle bells.. jingle bells.. jingle all the way...!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS
I hope that you've accomplished
everything you've set your mind on during that past year. If not, let 2014 be
the year of your personal success. I wish you all the love in the world along
with the peace to enjoy it.
I myself have been enjoying a
wonderful readership from all over the world this past year and I hope to see
you all back next year. There are some of you not celebrating Christmas, but I know
that the Christmas values are there deep inside everyone. Compassion, sympathy,
and love for each other is what makes us humane no matter what God you believe
in and how you celebrate it.
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So I am sending this warmest
Christmas wishes to you and your family. Let Love, Peace and Joy fill your
world this Holy season.
First Look of JOLLA
Jolla may be
a completely new name in the smartphone game, but the people in charge are no
rookies. Founded by former Nokia employees, the Finnish company is looking to
give the MeeGo platform a new lease of life. Established in 2011, it took Jolla
two years to unveil its first product.
Their first
handset is called just like company itself - Jolla, but while the naming wasn't
particularly innovative the Sailfish-based smartphone certainly is. It's pretty
clear that plenty of fresh new ideas went into its development and the result
is quite different from anything else you can get in the market.
The Jolla
smartphone runs Sailfish OS - a successor of the MeeGo open platform, which
Jolla took and developed further. In a way, it could be viewed as MeeGo 2.0
However, Jolla would like to start fresh and not carry the burden of its
neighbor, who abandoned the project that many truly loved.
We are yet
to see if the new Finnish kid on the block will feature the same sort of magic
as the Nokia N9, which made so many mourn the end of MeeGo. For starters here
are the key Jolla specs.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Dimensions:
131 x 68.0 x 9.9mm, 143g
Display:
4.5" IPS LCD display of 960 x 540 pixels resolution, Gorilla Glass 2,
245ppi pixel density
Chipset:
Qualcomm Snapdragon 400; dual-core Krait 200 at 1.4GHz, Adreno 305 GPU, 1GB RAM
OS: Sailfish
OS
Camera: 8MP,
3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Video
camera: 1080p @ 30fps video capture with main camera
Storage:
16GB built-in, microSD card slot with support of up to 64GB
Connectivity:
NFC, A-GPS+GLONASS, WLAN (2.4) a/b/g/n, microUSB 2.0, Bluetooth 4.0 LE
Battery:
2,100mAh Li-Ion
Misc:
Android app compatibility via the Yandex.Store and Amazon Appstore
Given the
price tag, the mid-range specifications came as somewhat of a nasty surprise
when Jolla unveiled its smartphone. However history has shown that a smartphone
can be much more than a sum of its parts and we shouldn't write off any device
before giving it a proper test.
And while
the screen resolution could have certainly been higher, you can't blame this
one for skimping on innovation. The Jolla phone is made out of a unique
combination of aluminum and premium plastic and sports a replaceable back panel
dubbed "the Other Half", which allows you to automatically change
profiles with covers.
Saturday, 21 December 2013
5 Top Social Media lessons to be learnt
It was a big year for social media. Twitter made its
successful debut on the stock market while Facebook recovered from its troubled
IPO a year earlier. We also saw the launch of Vine, the rise of Snapchat and
the acceptance of social media by the SEC, which said public companies could
use these sites to disclose information And that was just in the United States.
In China, which has the world's biggest population of
Internet users, ecommerce giant Alibaba spent $586 million for a stake in Weibo,
the country's top microblogging service and a rival to Tencent's popular WeChat
instant messaging app. Meanwhile, in the Ukraine, mobile phone operators were
expecting a boom in data traffic as protests against the country's president
were organized over social networking sites, similar to the Arab Spring of
2011.
All of which is to say that if 2013 showed us one thing,
it's that there's a growing global business in accumulating friends and
followers. there's a growing global business in accumulating friends and
followers.
Of course, similar to previous years, there were also social
media gaffes and hacks mixed in, along with plenty of celebrity narcissism and,
unfortunately, twerks. We still have a ways to go in understanding and applying
social media to the business world, but there was no shortage of lessons to
glean from 2013.
Social Media Can Move Markets
On April 23, the Associated Press’ Twitter account was
hacked, sending a fake tweet that there were “two explosions in the White House
and Barack Obama is injured.” In a matter of seconds, the Dow dropped 150
points. Then in June, activist investor Carl Icahn joined Twitter,
first using it primarily as a megaphone in his battle with Dell and later to
announce his stake in companies, most notably Apple. On Aug. 13, Icahn tweeted
that he had a "large position" in the iPhone maker, pushing the shares
of the tech titan up about 5%.
Witnessing a single tweet swing the pendulum of markets
proved that social media is every bit as valuable to day traders as it is to
newsmakers.
Social Media Is Increasingly Visual
Sure, you can say a lot in 140 characters, but a picture is
still worth a thousand words. In January, Twitter-owned Vine launched as a
mobile service for sharing six-second looping videos. Then, in June, Facebook
responded by enabling video on Instagram.
We also saw the rise of Snapchat, a service that allows
users to share photos and videos without the permanency of other social
networks. That’s because users control how long (one to 10 seconds) the
recipients can see their "Snaps." Once the time is up, the photo or
video disappears. The service has become so popular among young Internet users
that Facebook reportedly recently offered to buy it for $3 billion. Snapchat
declined.
And days before its IPO, Twitter launched a product update
so that tweets with Twitter photos or Vine videos display a preview thumbnail.
While this facelift is still in its early days, it's already made Twitter feel
like a more visual and less-textual platform.
Social Media Isn’t Just for the Kids
From Warren Buffett joining Twitter to Jamie Dimon joining
the LinkedIn Influencer program, 2013 showed us that global leaders are
embracing social media.
Sometimes, the business impact can be unpredictable, as
Rupert Murdoch's tweets have shown.
Social Media Advertising Is Growing, Evolving
During the Super Bowl, the most talked about advertisement
wasn’t a coveted 30-second TV commercial, but rather a tweet. After a power
outage at the Superdome prompted a 34 minute break in play, Oreo responded by
tweeting "No power? No problem" and an image of an Oreo with the text
"you can still dunk in the dark." The tweet generated strong press
and proved a turning point in the opportunities for advertising on social
media. 2013 also showed how much money could be made from social
media advertising. In the third quarter, Facebook reported revenue grew 60%
compared with a year earlier, with a large piece of that from mobile
advertising. Around the same time, Facebook-owned Instagram announced sponsored
posts would be coming to user newsfeeds in the United States.
Social Media Could Be TV’s Best Ally
In October, Nielsen Ratings released an analysis showing a
correlation between live-tweeting during TV and having a larger, more engaged
audience.The data illustrated that 19 million people in the U.S.
composed 263 million tweets about live TV in the second quarter of 2013.Social TV is still in the early days but with television as
the home to coveted big dollar ads and social media as the venue for audience
amplification and engagement, this could be the beginning of a long and
beautiful relationship.
Milktape Is a Modern-Day Mixtape for Music Lovers
Product Name: Milktape
Price: $15
Who would like this?: Hopeless romantics, significant
others, high school crushes and BFFs
"I made you a mixtape" is a phrase you probably
haven't heard since 1992. Even burning CDs is passé in the era of Spotify. But
somehow, sharing a playlist with the click of a mouse just doesn’t pack the
same romantic punch as an actual, physical gift. Let's face it, nobody is going
to blush like a schoolgirl over a file shared on Dropbox.
Awaken your inner awkward teenager with Milktape, USB
cassette tapes that are breathing life into the romantic (albeit antiquated)
tradition of exchanging mixtape cassettes with loved ones. Milktape adds a 21st
century twist to the gesture by hiding a pop-out USB drive within an iconic
cassette case, enabling users to upload 128 megabytes to the device (or
approximately 15 songs).
Ladies and gentlemen — this is a great way to step up your
game during the holiday season
Milktape is customizable –- drag and drop your favorite
tunes onto the drive, eject the device, and then decorate the blank label, case
and stickers any way you choose (leave it blank, bust out the Sharpies or
simply scribble down the song titles).
Playlist Ideas
Need a few ideas for the perfect Milktape playlist? From
sappy to laugh-out-loud, here are a few theme suggestions to boost your
creativity:
SEE ALSO: How Spotify Engineered the New Music Economy
1. 'Tis the Season — Christmas carols/seasonal playlists
2. Love Through the Ages — love songs through the years
3. Old Time Rock & Roll — old-school classic rock
4. Drive — great road trip songs (perfect for anyone
traveling over the holidays)
5. Year in Review (in Music) — best or top songs from 2013
(or year you met or married)
6. Country Classics — nothing says romance like a sappy
country song
7. All-Time Faves — share your all-time favorite album or
jams
8. Classically — exude classiness with a few classical
tracks
9. Best Of — personal favorite artist compilations
10. Winter Weather — rainy (or snowy) day playlist
11. Pump It Up — party playlist (or a workout playlist for
your gym buddy)
12. The Drop — different versions of one EDM beat or song
(or just various house songs)
13. LIVE from... — compilation of live songs from a show
attended together
14. By Candlelight — songs for a romantic evening
15. Guilty Pleasures – songs you’d never publicly admit to
listening to (on repeat, obviously)
16. I Love the ‘90s — or ‘80s, or ’70s, etc.
17. Cash & Cline — Johnny and Patsy
18. LOL — favorite comedy standup sketches
19. Desert Island — the 15 tracks you'd listen to if
stranded
20. Exclusively Acoustic -– acoustic versions of favorite
tracks
For the musically inclined, recording your own versions of
popular songs (or, depending on your level of ambition, original tunes) is a
surefire way to give a one-of-a-kind gift. Fellas, here’s your chance to make
up for last year's oh-so-thoughtful “as seen on TV” eyebrow-waxing kit.
Bands, agencies or organizations looking for more
customization (or to buy in bulk), check outUSBtape, Milktape's sister company.
What would you put on your playlist, or what songs would you hope to hear on a Milktape made for you?
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments. :)
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