Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Make 'business connections' with Virgin America's new in-flight social network ;)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/11/virgin-america-in-flight-social-network/

Haven't had much luck buying alluring strangers a drink on your last few Virgin America flights? What you need, my friend, is a service to expand your circle of potential prospects and make the in-flight connection you deserve. At least that's what the airline must be thinking with its announcement of the "first-ever" in-flight social network, developed with Gogo Wifi and the Here on Biz geo-location app.

Once you've downloaded Here on Biz from the App Store (sorry, no Android types need apply) and connect through Gogo, the service lets you register via Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter to contact fellow travelers at the gate, on your plane and even on other Virgin America flights. But don't think the social network is all about helping you get lucky at 35,000 feet (the sexy skies are the furthest thing from Richard Branson's mind, after all); Virgin America says the service is targeted at business travelers who want to "take advantage of downtime in-flight to build or renew their professional connections." It's unclear, though, whether Virgin will claim rights to any startup ideas hatched on board.

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Source: Virgin America, Here on Biz (iTunes)

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Sophisticated malware finally discovered after 7 years, likely created by a nation-state

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/11/the-mask-careto-malware/

Security firm Kaspersky Labs recently released a research paper that uncovers the existence of a piece of highly complex malware that's been in circulation for almost seven years. It's called "The Mask," which is a rough English translation of Careto, a Spanish word for "ugly face" that was found in the malware's code. Aimed at high-level targets such as government institutions, embassies and large energy corporations, Kaspersky says "The Mask" has already claimed nearly 380 unique victims (with more than 1,000 IPs) in 31 countries that include China, France, Germany, the UK and the US. Kaspersky first spotted it in a spear phishing email campaign that entices the recipient over to malicious websites disguised as news sites like The Guardian and the Washington Post.

Kaspersky reports that the malware is extremely sophisticated, with a set of tools that include a rootkit, a bootkit, versions that'll affect 32- and 64-bit Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and possibly even mobile operating systems like Android and iOS. Once it gets its hooks into your system, it can be used to hijack all your communication channels and snatch everything from Skype conversations to sensitive encryption keys. It's also very difficult to detect. Due to the level of finesse found in the malware, Kaspersky concludes that "The Mask" was very likely created by a nation-state, much like Stuxnet and Duqu. As to which nation-state that is, the security firm doesn't know, but says it's probably one that is Spanish-speaking based on the code's language. Intrigued? Go on and hit the PDF link here to get the full rundown of what Kaspersky discovered.

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Via: Vice

Source: Kaspersky Labs, (PDF)

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With an Android search update, you can tell your phone to 'call Mom'

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/11/android-search-update-lets-you-call-mom/

Google search for Android lets you call Mom

One of Siri's cleverer tricks is its support for terms of endearment -- you can tell an iPhone to "call Mom" rather than saying your mother's name every time. Today, that handy shortcut is reaching Android through a Google search update. You can now rely on shorthand when using the search app to call or text family members. If you haven't already established the appropriate relationship in your contacts, Android will ask you to clear things up. The feature is already live, so you can test it out right away -- we're sure your folks would be glad to hear from you.

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Source: Google (Google+)

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drag2share: More Snapchat Security Concerns

source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/nzRKfz4NSZU/the-facebook-publisher-dynamic-is-becoming-clearer-2014-2

MORE SNAPCHAT SECURITY CONCERNS: A security researcher found that he could run a program that sends so many messages to a Snapchat user that it crashes the recipient's iPhone (it doesn't appear that he tested other mobile devices). The security hack is what's known as a denial of service (or, DoS). DoS attacks attempt to overload a server with thousands of requests in seconds, which can cause the entire service to crash. Twitter used to be a target of this type of hack in its early days. Snapchat needs to fix this vulnerability, and prevent future DoS attacks if it wants to mature into a reliable service for users. (The Guardian) 

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Article: Google Chrome Now Tells You When It's Been Hijacked

Google Chrome is helping its users fend off browser hijackings. Linus Upson, Google's vice-president of engineering, announced a new protection in a blog post last week that asks users to reset their account if Chrome's system detected a potential hacker. The tech giant revealed that Chrome users...

http://mashable.com/2014/02/11/google-chrome-protection-hijacked/

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