New spyware targets Hong Kong protesters' phones
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/01/spyware-targets-hong-kong-protesters/
Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters have more to worry about than they thought -- someone is gunning after their phones, too. Lacoon Mobile Security says it has detected new spyware, Xsser, that tries to trick WhatsApp users on Android and iOS by posing as a coordination tool for the Occupy Central movement. Anyone who falls for the ploy grants access to virtually all of their sensitive info, including contacts, call logs and instant messaging archives. The code is unusually sophisticated, to boot; it's a rare instance of a cross-platform mobile attack, and it updates itself over time.
Just who's responsible (beyond a Chinese-speaking entity) isn't clear, since the culprits have gone out of their way to hide their tracks. Lacoon suspects that the Chinese government may have crafted Xsser to snoop on protesters, but there's also a chance that criminals are using the hostile code to look for accounts they can steal. The malware isn't likely to be all that effective no matter who's at fault, especially among cautious types who've already switched to secure messaging software. Still, it's not exactly comforting for activists who already have plenty of reasons to be suspicious.
[Image credit: Chris McGrath/Getty Images]
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile
Via: New York Times
Source: Lacoon Mobile Security
To first understand how to perform your own disappearing act, here's a basic lesson in lenses.
This point is called the focal point, and it is where the bent light rays converge to produce a magnified version of an object.
With these principles in mind, you're ready to build your own Rochester cloak in four simple steps!
Below is the device that the University of Rochester physicists designed.
To make an object disappear, the physicists place it in between the first two lenses on the left side of the optics bench in the image. Below, they have placed a silver ruler between these two lenses.
The ruler then disappears when you look through the front lens. Ta da!
This is the first cloaking device that can make an object appear to vanish at multiple angles. So, if you move your eye from looking straight down the center of the lens to looking slightly from the left, right, top, or down, you still won't see the ruler in the image above.
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