UK Spies Turn Phones Into Bugs In Tech War On Terror
December 5, 2015 | Security
British spies fighting Paris-style terror attacks deploy cyber-snooping technology that turns your smartphone into a mobile bug, privacy campaigners warned at a London trial into allegations the UK tramples on citizens' rights. The hacking technique, described as computer and network exploitation by Britain's Government Communications Headquarters, is so effective that having a smartphone is akin to "carrying around a bug with you", Ben Jaffey, a lawyer representing an advocacy group and not-for-profit Internet hosting services, said ...
The Latest Tool In Police Arsenals? DroneDefenders
October 27, 2015 | Security
The Battelle DroneDefender is a rifle made for electronic warfare, as first reported by Motherboard. The gun looks like a hodgepodge of science fiction props strapped together. Despite its appearance, it’s not made to fire any projectile. Instead, the DroneDefender works by jamming the communications of commercial drones, causing them to lose control and, ideally, land. The DroneDefender s weighs less than 10 pounds and can be mounted on any existing weapon with a picatinny rail—a fairly standard mount found on military rifles. The at...
Car Key Immobiliser Hack Revelations Blocked By UK Court
October 23, 2015 | Security
A High Court judge has blocked three security researchers from publishing details of how to crack a car immobilisation system. German car maker Volkswagen and French defence group Thales obtained the interim ruling after arguing that the information could be used by criminals. The technology is used by several car manufacturers. The academics had planned to present the information at a conference in August. The three researchers are Flavio Garcia, a computer science lecturer at the University of Birmingham, and Baris Ege and Roel Verd...
Facebook Will Warn You If It Thinks A Government Is Attacking Your Account
October 20, 2015 | Security
If you haven’t enabled two-factor authentication on Facebook, you should. If Facebook thinks someone has attempted to access your account, it will notify you. Now, those warnings may come if Facebook thinks the attacker is backed by a government. In a blog post from Facebook’s Chief Security Officer, the company has said that it’s expanding its monitoring of suspicious login requests to include possible government attacks. While it’s (hopefully) not very likely that most individuals will be targeted by a nation state, getting the spec...
What's In A Boarding Pass Barcode? A Lot
October 8, 2015 | Security
The next time you’re thinking of throwing away a used boarding pass with a barcode on it, consider tossing the boarding pass into a document shredder instead. Two-dimensional barcodes and QR codes can hold a great deal of information, and the codes printed on airline boarding passes may allow someone to discover more about you, your future travel plans, and your frequent flyer account. Earlier this year, a reader named Cory who said he began to get curious about the data stored inside a boarding pass barcode after a friend put a pictu...
Phones Can Be Hacked With One Text Message - Snowden
October 7, 2015 | Security
The world’s spying agencies have tools that allow them to take over smartphones with just a text message, according to Edward Snowden, and there is “very little” that their owners can do to stop it. The UK’s intelligence agency has a suite of tools that let it listen on phones and their owners, Snowden told the BBC’s Panorama in Moscow. All spies would need to do is send a special text message and they will be able to gain access to the camera and its microphones, the BBC reported Snowden as saying. The set of tools is called “Smurf S...
Man Arrested After Threats To Children
September 28, 2015 | Security
A Christchurch man was arrested on Sunday afternoon in relation to letters saying children would be harmed if money was not given. The man was charged with extortion and would appear in Christchurch District Court on Thursday, Canterbury detective senior sergeant Michael Ford said. Several Mt Pleasant families found the letters in their mailboxes in June and were advised of the arrest on Sunday. They told police they were relieved and that the situation had caused them, and the wider Mt Pleasant community, considerable stress. The Inv...
Serious Cyber Attacks Surge, GCSB Figures Show
September 14, 2015 | Security
The number of serious cyber attacks against New Zealand agencies and companies has surged, new figures from the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) show. Most attacks are aimed at government agencies, and can vary from defacing websites to more advanced efforts to gain long-term access to networks to steal information. Una Jagose, acting director of the GCSB, was set to reveal new details about the agency's activities, including the secret Cortex cyber-security programme, at a talk on Friday. But when protesters unfurled ...
The Dangers of Social Media - Predator Social Experiment
August 17, 2015 | Security
Do you trust your child or teen to make good decisions online? This video may have you doubting your answer. Social media is a great tool for people to connect, but the dangers are real if you do not take privacy seriously. As the parents of these children find out, the risks may not be apparent to young minds until it is too late. If you’re worried about your child, find out the truth about what they’re up to. Call us on 0800 747 633 or click here to contact us to see how we might be able to put your mind at ease.
Morepork Security By Spark - Danny Toresen Offers Advice
August 12, 2015 | Security
Spark rcently launched their new home security product - Morepork. They asked Danny Toresen for his advice on keeping the system safe, as well as guest's privacy. View the video below. Click here for more information. Call New Zealand's leading Private Investigators on 0800 747 633, or click here to email us now.