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Home security systems can be costly, complicated and oftentimes require time-consuming installation. A new system seeks to get rid of these inconveniences by letting users wirelessly monitor their homes.

With the Scout system, users can watch over their home for free from a smartphone, tablet or computer via Wi-Fi, or pay for professional monitoring. The sleek palm-sized device, which has sensors, can easily be transported to another location, according to Scout’s official website. Each system comes with a “base station,” which plugs directly into an Internet router, and communicates with the sensors wirelessly.

Users are able to control and monitor their system remotely, with alerts…
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Evernote implemented a service-wide password reset Saturday after the company discovered suspicious activity on its network.

The note-taking service issued a statement on its site, saying that no stored user content or financial data was changed or lost, but that hackers gained personal information including usernames, passwords and email addresses.

Though they were accessed, passwords stolen in the breach are protected by one-way encryption. The encryption makes it more difficult for hackers to crack the content, but Evernote users are still vulnerable.

Users will be prompted to change their passwords the next time they log in, and the change affects all other Evernote apps. Th…
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An exposé of its methods and technology may not have deterred a group targeting U.S. corporate secrets.

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#SuryaRay #Surya Change root and account passwords and rotate SSH keys, company advises. http://dlvr.it/2zyx5z @suryaray

#SuryaRay #Surya Mark Zuckerberg likes to expound on the “Hacker Way” as the ethos of his social networking company, but Facebook recently encountered some hackers of a more unfriendly nature. Facebook revealed on Friday that it was the target of a malicious attack last month. In a blog post, Facebook stated that the threat was contained and that it found no evidence that Facebook user data was compromised.

Here’s an excerpt from the blog post (emphasis Facebook’s):

Last month, Facebook Security discovered that our systems had been targeted in a sophisticated attack. This attack occurred when a handful of employees visited a mobile developer website that was compromised. The compromised website hosted an exploit which then allowed malware to be installed on these employee laptops. The laptops were fully-patched and running up-to-date anti-virus software. As soon as we discovered the presence of the malware, we remediated all infected machines, informed law enforcement, and began a significant investigation that continues to this day.

We have found no evidence that Facebook user data was compromised.

As part of our ongoing investigation, we are working continuously and closely with our own internal engineering teams, with security teams at other companies, and with law enforcement authorities to learn everything we can about the attack, and how to prevent similar incidents in the future.

The blog post went on to say that the malware exploited a previously unknown, or “zero day,” vulnerability in its Java sandbox software to plant itself in multiple employees’ PCs. Facebook’s security team traced the attack to a suspicious domain, and then informed Java overlord Orcale, which then provided a patch on Feb. 1 to fix the vulnerability.

Facebook added that it wasn’t the only company targeted the attack it was one of the first to identify it. The social network said it is working closely with law enforcement and the other targeted companies, but so far the hacker groups hasn’t been identified.

Note Facebook didn’t say for certain that no user data was stolen. It only said it found no evidence of data being compromised. Nor did Facebook provide any details on what data the hackers had access to. We’ll update you as we learn more.

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* Facebook’s IPO filing: ideas and implications
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#SuryaRay #Surya Scout is a wireless security system that starts at $120 and is completely removable. The handsomely-designed units can protect windows and doors in your home and you can program reactions to various events including and up to calling the police. I’ve seen a number of home alarm systems come and go over the years and this one, at least, has that Nest quality that we all know and love. The units come in three different finishes – white, black, and the afore-mentioned wood trim – and each installation is customizable online. Service over Wi-Fi is free and the system will send alerts and even dial the police for you on your connected phone. However, the units also contain a 3G radio that can be activated for $10 a month and which will connect to a monitoring service that, in turn, will call the police, you, or a loved one. A team at Sandbox Industries created Scout after playing with open source hardware. “Home security is such an outdated industry,” said Lindsay Cohen, a VP at Sandbox. “We chose home security because existing systems are extremely expensive, use outdated equipment and are inflexible for consumers,” she said. “You can’t move systems from house to house, existing companies lock you into 3 year contracts and setup often involves landlines and technicians. Overall, home security is just a giant headache.” The system came about when the team at Sandbox began playing with sensing technology. “Over the summer of 2012, we were working extensively with motion tracking technology (Kinect, PIR, Sonar), capacitive touch sensing, biometrics and other open source sensors. We realized that what we could create, for the price we could create it for, was far and beyond what was being offered by current security companies. We felt that this was a huge opportunity to bring home security into today’s high tech world.” “We’re excited to get Scout into production as a first foray into hardware startups. In addition to continuing to pursue our software ventures, we see hardware as a potentially promising arena for Sandbox,” she said. The units won’t be available until August and they’re running a pre-order campaign right now that will expire this month. It’s a clever and handsome way to protect your home from potential miscreants, to be sure, and the groovy design and bulbous motion-sensors will match your 60s-era Dalek decor. http://dlvr.it/2xhRHj @suryaray

#SuryaRay #Surya Startup Nok Nok Labs has developed a security protocol that asks end users to substitute stronger authentication tools such as fingerprints and voice recognition for the usual user names and passwords.

Named after the classic knock-knock joke, Nok Nok Labs wants to revolutionize online identity authentication with tools that already exist on user devices, such as a camera, a touch screen and a microphone, said Phillip Dunkelberger, Nok Nok’s CEO and founder of encryption company PGP Corp., which Symantec Corp. acquired in 2010. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nok Nok has taken on $15 million from DCM and Onset Ventures.

Usernames and passwords have existed since the mainframe era, and authentication hasn’t changed much over the years, Dunkelberger said. Nok Nok wants to help clients ensure that end users are who they say they are. It’s not perfectly secure, Dunkelberger said, but it is considerably more secure than a text password. Companies can sign up for the protocol, which will ask individual users if they would like to use existing verification methods on their devices instead of a password.

The protocol is free. Next month Nok Nok will come out with a client to keep track of user inventory, enrollment and provisioning, Dunkelberger said.

The security protocol could come in handy as more companies allow employees to access data on public clouds from their mobile devices. If the employee accidentally leaves a tablet on an airplane, the person who finds it would have a hard time replicating the owner’s voice or fingerprint. That could prevent a security breach.

Security experts say it’s not about getting to a  level of perfect security, an impossibility.  The realistic goal is to minimize risk as much as possible. People find it hard to remember and multiple passwords and user names so they get sloppy — they share and duplicate passwords —  and that leads to risk.  Nok Nok’s tools could be one way to alleviate it.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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#SuryaRay #Surya Site reveals what fixes are—but doesn’t mention payout, individual hacker info. http://dlvr.it/2wnTYd @suryaray

#SuryaRay #Surya The best way to keep mobile apps safe is to secure the services they connect to. http://dlvr.it/2w0lQJ @suryaray

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Your bank calls you to verify your recent $750 bill at an out-of-state Taco Bell, but you haven’t left town in weeks. You quickly contest the charge and request a new credit card, but when you check your wallet the compromised card is still there. You try to think of shady ATMs or recent cashiers, but nothing comes to mind. Nothing, except the online purchase you made while browsing the Internet at your local coffee shop.

The number of free public Wi-Fi hotspots is growing, but not every hotspot can provide the protection of a private home network. Your notebook, tablet or smartphone’s default settings and firewalls may not be enough to keep you safe from prying eyes while on…
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Shortly after a hacker attack compromised the accounts of some 250,000 users, Twitter is looking into enhancing its users’ security by adding two-level authentication, _The Guardian_ reports.

The news comes from a Twitter job posting. The company is looking for a software engineer that would “design and develop user-facing security features, such as multifactor authentication and fraudulent login detection.”

The job posting itself does not mean that Twitter will launch the feature soon (or ever), but given the number of high-profile hacker attacks on Twitter users in the past couple of users, it would probably be a wise move.

SEE ALSO: 5 Password Generators for Maximum Online Securi…
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#SuryaRay #Surya Website breaches can be devastating to your business—here’s how to prevent them. http://dlvr.it/2v5HLj @suryaray

#SuryaRay #Surya Website breaches can be devastating to your business—here’s how to prevent them. http://dlvr.it/2v5Fks @suryaray

#SuryaRay #Surya Twitter is sending out emails to 250,000 users it says may have had their accounts compromised in the last week as the site experienced “unusual access patterns that led to us identifying unauthorized access attempts to Twitter user data.” Twitter tells TechCrunch that this is “not related” to the widespread, but intermittent, outage the site saw yesterday. http://dlvr.it/2tXbQt @suryaray

#SuryaRay #Surya Mobile malware may be trendy, but PC malware is still the big problem. http://dlvr.it/2tNVpH @suryaray