Want to check your password’s strength? Try this
Got a secure password? You may have to rethink!
US software giant Microsoft has developed a new online tool that tells you how vulnerable your passwords may be, helping you choose better passwords in the future.
The tool 'Telepasswords' tries to predict the next character of your passwords by using knowledge of: common passwords, such as those made public as a result of security breaches, common phrases and common password-selection behaviors.
The new project from Microsoft Research has a simple premise: you start typing one of your favourite passwords in its little text box, and it tries to guess what the next character is.
"To guess the next character you will type, we send the characters you have already typed to query our prediction engine. The prediction engine uses a database of common passwords and phrases that is too large for us send to your computer," the project website said.
To measure how much of an effect Telepathwords has on your behaviour, the tool also sends and maintains a log of your mouse movements and the timings of when characters are added to or removed from your password.
"This log does not contain the actual characters you type, but it does indicate whether each character was among those predicted by Telepathwords," the project website said.
Telepathwords uses a log for research intended to increase its understanding of how users choose passwords and how to help them choose better passwords in the future.
Google's big YouTube goof-up
The comments section on YouTube is ackowledged to be a terrible place. Or, as humour site cracked.com puts it, "[It] is generally regarded as a black hole of intelligence in the space-time continuum of the internet."
YouTube comments broadly fall into four groups: a small number of comments on the actual video in question; comments and arguments about religion; homophobic insults, and spam. To combat this issue - and to increase usage of Google Plus - the search provider made it mandatory for YouTube commenters to sign in with their Google Plus accounts before posting. The idea was that people would be more civil if their comments were made without the mask of anonymity.
Unfortunately, the plan seems to have backfired. Believing that the link to a real name and persona would regulate behaviour, Google also relaxed limits on comment length and the posting of hyperlinks. The result: an explosion of spammy links, and ASCII (character) porn art.
"To compound the problem, Google greatly underestim
ated the ability of YouTube commenters to produce what qualifies as 'engaged conversation' while managing to be also disgusting, offensive, NSFW, irrelevant, or all of the above," writes Casey Johnston at Ars Technica.
Now Google is frantically working on algorithms that can detect ASCII porn, bad links and impersonation attempts. In this battle against obscenity and obnoxiousness, it looks that the YouTube comments troll is winning, and easily at that.
PayPal hackers plead guilty to cyberattack charges
A group of 13 defendants who had been charged in a cyberattack on PayPal's website pleaded guilty and admitted to the December 2010 attack over PayPal's suspension of WikiLeaks accounts.
The pleas took place in a California federal court on Thursday and were announced on Friday by the US Attorney's Office in San Francisco.
Following the release of a large amount of classified documents by WikiLeaks, PayPal suspended its accounts so that the anti-secrecy website could no longer receive donations. In retribution, the group Anonymous coordinated and executed denial-of-s
The pleas took place in a California federal court on Thursday and were announced on Friday by the US Attorney's Office in San Francisco.
Following the release of a large amount of classified documents by WikiLeaks, PayPal suspended its accounts so that the anti-secrecy website could no longer receive donations. In retribution, the group Anonymous coordinated and executed denial-of-s
ervice attacks against PayPal.
The group of defendants who pleaded guilty were composed of 11 men and two women. Ten of them pleaded to a felony charge, but will be allowed to change that to a misdemeanor next year if they do not violate terms of their agreement before sentencing, according to the US attorney's statement.
The three other defendants agreed to misdemeanor charges.
eBay's PayPal unit is a service that facilitates the electronic transfer of money between parties.
The group of defendants who pleaded guilty were composed of 11 men and two women. Ten of them pleaded to a felony charge, but will be allowed to change that to a misdemeanor next year if they do not violate terms of their agreement before sentencing, according to the US attorney's statement.
The three other defendants agreed to misdemeanor charges.
eBay's PayPal unit is a service that facilitates the electronic transfer of money between parties.
Aircel may launch 4G services in India next year
Aircel could become the second company to launch 4G services in India when it launches them in its established cities over the next 3-6 months, said a senior company executive.
The Chennai-based company will thus be competing with Reliance Industries-owned Reliance Jio Infocomm to be the second to launch such services after Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile phone operator. Airtel's services though haven't been a success, hurt mainly by quality issues.
Aircel's established service areas are primarily in South India. The company plans to offer LTE services in markets such as Chennai, where it has around 20% share, Anupam Vasudev, chief marketing officer, told ET.
He added that banks are willing to front the money required for capital expenses on the 4G rollout. With its promoters embroiled for the past three years in a CBI case of corruption and operations that were loss making, banks were reluctant to lend the company more money. However, Vasudev said Aircel has turned a new leaf with increased focus on profitability. "The focus is very clear that you need profitable growth. That has been our endeavor for the last one year. And we will have to continue doing this for another year before making any major investment."
The company has made a break even on operations half on account of higher revenue and half from lower cost, he said. "Cost has come down through network cost saving, negotiation with service vendors, controlling roaming costs," Vasudev said. Aircel had reduced its footprint in five service areas earlier where it was incurring losses due to vacant networks. It instead signed intra-circle roaming deals to lease out networks of RCom and Tata Teleservices where it did not have reach.
"We don't have scale. For use, it makes sense to kind of work with each other (competitors) because it helps utilize assets optimally. So we work with both Reliance and Tata DoCoMo." As such, from the days of being the company that advertised applications before most users had tried, or even heard of such a concept, the company is now more realistic about its customer base.
"In certain markets, the Apple ( iPhone) customer is not our customer." Vasudev said. Aircel thus developed a strategy to communicate the 'Aircel gives more' theme in all its offerings. In cities like Mumbai for example, Aircel can play truant on pricing. Unlike competitors, the Aircel network still remains idle, so it offers 12 hours of free calling between Aircel numbers from 5 am to 5 pm.
The Chennai-based company will thus be competing with Reliance Industries-owned Reliance Jio Infocomm to be the second to launch such services after Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile phone operator. Airtel's services though haven't been a success, hurt mainly by quality issues.
Aircel's established service areas are primarily in South India. The company plans to offer LTE services in markets such as Chennai, where it has around 20% share, Anupam Vasudev, chief marketing officer, told ET.
He added that banks are willing to front the money required for capital expenses on the 4G rollout. With its promoters embroiled for the past three years in a CBI case of corruption and operations that were loss making, banks were reluctant to lend the company more money. However, Vasudev said Aircel has turned a new leaf with increased focus on profitability. "The focus is very clear that you need profitable growth. That has been our endeavor for the last one year. And we will have to continue doing this for another year before making any major investment."
The company has made a break even on operations half on account of higher revenue and half from lower cost, he said. "Cost has come down through network cost saving, negotiation with service vendors, controlling roaming costs," Vasudev said. Aircel had reduced its footprint in five service areas earlier where it was incurring losses due to vacant networks. It instead signed intra-circle roaming deals to lease out networks of RCom and Tata Teleservices where it did not have reach.
"We don't have scale. For use, it makes sense to kind of work with each other (competitors) because it helps utilize assets optimally. So we work with both Reliance and Tata DoCoMo." As such, from the days of being the company that advertised applications before most users had tried, or even heard of such a concept, the company is now more realistic about its customer base.
"In certain markets, the Apple ( iPhone) customer is not our customer." Vasudev said. Aircel thus developed a strategy to communicate the 'Aircel gives more' theme in all its offerings. In cities like Mumbai for example, Aircel can play truant on pricing. Unlike competitors, the Aircel network still remains idle, so it offers 12 hours of free calling between Aircel numbers from 5 am to 5 pm.
Samsung patents 'transparent dual-side screen'
Samsung has reportedly patented a technology for a transparent touchscreen that would allow users to control the smartphone from both the sides.
This isn't the first time that techies have aimed at exploring the possibilities of having a transparent touch screen as seen recently with the introduction of Yotaphone that has a standard touchscreen on the front and e-paper display on the back.
However, Samsung's patent takes the technology to the next level as it explores the possibility of a transparent screen with front and rear visibility and touch controls.
The patent describes a phone that would have a single screen and look similar to today's phones, but the display would have a degree of transparency and users can control it without having to turn it over, Fox News reports.
Possible uses of the tech include tapping behind a folder of apps to open it up, and dragging icons around without the finger obscuring their positions or more secure ways of unlocking the phone and video controls being transferred to the rear of the movie, the report added.
Microsoft leads attack on search traffic thieves
Microsoft on Thursday announced it worked with police in Europe and the United States to disrupt a "dangerous" army of virus-infected computers used to hijack searches at Google, Bing and Yahoo.
Microsoft's digital crimes unit teamed with Europol's European cybercrime centre, the FBI and tech industry allies to tackle a "Sirefef botnet" that commandeers search results and routes queries to websites rigged to infect computers with malicious code, steal information or make money from bogus online ad "clicks."
The botnet, or network of machines infected with a virus that lets hackers take command, is also referred to as ZeroAccess and is believed to have spread across nearly two million computers around the world.
Microsoft estimated the bogus online ad billing and stolen traffic cost advertisers about $2.7 million monthly.
"ZeroAccess targets all major search engines and browsers, including Google, Bing and Yahoo," Microsoft digital crimes unit assistant general counsel Richard Domingues Boscovich said in a blog post.
"ZeroAccess is one of the most robust and durable botnets in operation today, and was built to be resilient to disruption efforts, relying on a peer-to-peer infrastructure that allows cybercriminals to remotely control the botnet from tens of thousands of different computers," he continued.
People's computers typically become infected with ZeroAccess as a result of visiting websites booby-trapped with the malicious software, he said.
Due to the sophistication of the hacker network, Microsoft expected the legal and technical actions taken would significantly disrupt the operation but not wipe it out.
Efforts are being made to get word to people whose computers are infected, and Microsoft is providing virus removal information online at support.microsoft.com/botnets.
Microsoft's digital crimes unit teamed with Europol's European cybercrime centre, the FBI and tech industry allies to tackle a "Sirefef botnet" that commandeers search results and routes queries to websites rigged to infect computers with malicious code, steal information or make money from bogus online ad "clicks."
The botnet, or network of machines infected with a virus that lets hackers take command, is also referred to as ZeroAccess and is believed to have spread across nearly two million computers around the world.
Microsoft estimated the bogus online ad billing and stolen traffic cost advertisers about $2.7 million monthly.
"ZeroAccess targets all major search engines and browsers, including Google, Bing and Yahoo," Microsoft digital crimes unit assistant general counsel Richard Domingues Boscovich said in a blog post.
"ZeroAccess is one of the most robust and durable botnets in operation today, and was built to be resilient to disruption efforts, relying on a peer-to-peer infrastructure that allows cybercriminals to remotely control the botnet from tens of thousands of different computers," he continued.
People's computers typically become infected with ZeroAccess as a result of visiting websites booby-trapped with the malicious software, he said.
Due to the sophistication of the hacker network, Microsoft expected the legal and technical actions taken would significantly disrupt the operation but not wipe it out.
Efforts are being made to get word to people whose computers are infected, and Microsoft is providing virus removal information online at support.microsoft.com/botnets.
Google to launch Android-based rival to Apple TV: Report
Google is speculated to be working on a Nexus TV that with run on Android and stream videos from YouTube along with offering a selection of video games.
Sources said that the device which will stream videos from service like Netflix and Hulu will be ready for the launch by the first half of 2014.
According to The Verge, speculations about the Google-made Android set-top box started cropping up in July this year, when sources said that the box included a Kinect-like motion sensor and could be controlled with an Android smartphone.
The recent speculations point to a purpose-built touchpad remote could be included with the set-top box.
The report said that the device will not support live broadcast, and with an Android set-top box, Google would be pursuing a similar strategy as Amazon, which is rumored to have a set-top box of its own set for next year.
Sources said that the device which will stream videos from service like Netflix and Hulu will be ready for the launch by the first half of 2014.
According to The Verge, speculations about the Google-made Android set-top box started cropping up in July this year, when sources said that the box included a Kinect-like motion sensor and could be controlled with an Android smartphone.
The recent speculations point to a purpose-built touchpad remote could be included with the set-top box.
The report said that the device will not support live broadcast, and with an Android set-top box, Google would be pursuing a similar strategy as Amazon, which is rumored to have a set-top box of its own set for next year.
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