TechEye |  |
- Wi-fi networks can get sick
- Intel coming in the air tonight
- Apple patches dire bug
- Apple threatens over anti-gay bill
- Google tries to change distracted driving laws
| Posted: 26 Feb 2014 03:18 AM PST Researchers at the University of Liverpool have created a wi-fi virus which spreads through populated areas as efficiently as the common cold spreads between humans. The team designed and simulated an attack by a virus, it dubbed "Chameleon". It found it spread quickly between homes and businesses, but it was able to avoid detection and identify the points at which wi-fi access is least protected by encryption and passwords. Fortunately the wi-fi attack was just a computer simulation, but researchers from the University's School of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering and Electronics, found that "Chameleon" behaved like an airborne virus. This is partly because areas that are more densely populated have more APs in closer proximity to each other, which meant that the virus propagated more quickly, particularly across networks connectable within a 10-50 metre radius. Alan Marshall, Professor of Network Security at the University, said that when "Chameleon" attacked an AP it did not affect how it worked, but was able to collect and report the credentials of all other wi-fi users who connected to it. The virus then used this data to connect to and infect other users. When an APs was encrypted and password protected, the virus simply moved on to find those which weren't strongly protected. Coffee shops and airports became hotbeds of infection. Professor Marshall said that it was assumed that it was not possible to develop a virus that could attack wi-fi networks but the research demonstrated that this is possible and that it can spread quickly. |
| Intel coming in the air tonight Posted: 26 Feb 2014 03:16 AM PST Intel has come up with a new form of ultra-high-speed wireless tech which lets small base stations handle shedloads of data. The technology is based around Chipzilla’s modular antenna arrays. Intel has prototyped a chip-based antenna array that can sit in a milk-carton-sized cellular base station. If it works, and Intel claims that it does, the technology could turbocharge future wireless networks by using ultrahigh frequencies. The tech is a millimeter wave modular antenna array, and will be shown off today at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona, Spain. It takes ultrafast capabilities that Samsung and researchers at New York University demonstrated last year using benchtop-scale equipment and packs it into a box-sized gadget. Cities would be carpeted with such small stations with one every block or two—and be capable of handling huge amounts of data at short ranges. One cell could send and receive data at speeds of more than a gigabit per second over up to few hundred metres far more at shorter distances. It knocks the socks off 4G LTE which can only manage 75 megabits per second. Both the Intel and Samsung technologies could eventually use frequencies of 28 or 39 gigahertz or higher. These frequencies are known as millimeter wave and carry far more data than those used in mobile networks. The downside is that they are easily blocked by objects in the environment. Even rain can stuff them up. To get around the blockage problem, processors dynamically shape how a signal is combined among 64, 128, or even more antenna elements, controlling the direction in which a beam is sent from each antenna array, making changes in response to changing conditions. Intel says its version is more efficient than what has been seen so far. It can scale up the number of modular arrays as high as practical to increase transmission and reception sensitivity. If Chipzilla is right, the only barriers to the technology are regulatory not technological. |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2014 03:15 AM PST Fruity cargo cult Apple has no problem with viruses, it just pretends it does not have them and quietly pushes a fix to its users usually months afterwards. This time though Apple has made the unusual step of issuing a fix for a security flaw within days and telling people. Part of the problem is that the flaw was a big one and that it allows hackers to intercept data such as email. The security update for users of Apple's OS X computer operating software follows a fix issued for iPhones last week, meaning all Apple device users now have access to the patch. However, security analysts are wondering how the flaw could be in Apple software in the first place. The flaw was in the way iOS handles sessions, in what are known as secure sockets layer (SSL) or transport layer security. The flaw is such a basic software howler that it is a wonder it was not spotted. Researchers have said the bug could have been present for months. Some have suggested that the flaw might have been an intentional backdoor that Apple was operating in agreement with the NSA. Jobs’ Mob has to be seen to shut it down, or else ordinary hackers might use it. The bug let attackers with access to a mobile user's network, such as a shared unsecured wireless service offered by a cafe, to see or alter exchanges between the user and protected sites such as Google Gmail or Facebook. |
| Apple threatens over anti-gay bill Posted: 26 Feb 2014 03:13 AM PST Jobs' Mob has threatened the State of Arizona that if it brings in an anti-gay law it will take its glass manufacturing plant elsewhere. The Republican governor Jan Brewer had a cunning plan to save the world by allowing companies to discriminate against gays on religious grounds would be bad for business. Apparently, it is what Jesus would have wanted. The bill passed, but Brewer is facing pressure to drop it because it is illegal, "state-sanctioned discrimination" and proof that the state is almost as backward and retarded as Florida. Now Jobs' Mob and a few big-name firms issued letters and made phone calls to Brewer on Monday telling her the state would take a financial hit if the law passed. Apple was about to open a large new glass manufacturing plant in Mesa, in Arizona and has implied that it will not do so if the law goes ahead. After all there is nothing worse than having your chief executive banned from a local restaurant when he is visiting the plant. The Marriot hotel chain has said that the measure "would have profound negative impacts on the hospitality industry on the Arizona and on the state's overall economic climate for years to come". The state's two US Senators, John McCain and Jeff Flake, both Republican, also weighed in on Twitter, asking for a veto. Other Republican Arizona state lawmakers have changed sides, seeing that being anti-gay probably was not going to get them as many votes as they thought and will hack off their corporate sponsors. Apparently three state senators, who initially voted in favour of the measure, said in a letter to Brewer that the proposal had been mistakenly approved in haste and had already caused "immeasurable harm" to Arizona's national image. Brewer said she has plenty of time,to make a decision on whether or not to sign or veto the bill. She has until Friday. |
| Google tries to change distracted driving laws Posted: 26 Feb 2014 03:11 AM PST Google is leaning on politicans in at least three US states to stop proposed restrictions on driving with Google Glass. More than eight US states are considering regulation of Google Glass because they fear that drivers wearing the devices will pay more attention to their email than the road. But Google has enough cash to pay for lobbyists and apparently has done so in Illinois, Delaware and Missouri. Google claims it is unnecessary to restrict use of Google Glass behind the wheel although it did not say why. It has its work cut out for it. New York, Maryland and West Virginia are also planning such laws and Reuters says that they have not yet been contacted by Google. Last month in San Diego a woman's traffic ticket for wearing Google Glass behind the wheel was dismissed because there was no proof the device was operating at the time. Google seems to be telling legislators is that regulation would be premature because Google Glass is not yet widely available. But as Illinois state Senator Ira Silverstein, a Chicago Democrat who introduced a Google Glass restriction bill in December told Reuters that it was clear that the technology was going to hit the shops. Silverstein recently met with Google lobbyists trying to "kill" the bill. He thinks that it because Google does not want users put off by legal restrictions when they buy the gadget. After Silverstein introduced his bill, Google hired John Borovicka, a former political director for President Obama's former chief of staff and current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Borovicka's first job was to visit Silverstein to lobby against the legislation. Google is also fighting a ground swell of public opinion against using mobile phones and driving. Campaigns against distracted driving have gained significant traction in the United States after it was revealed last year over 3,000 people died due to crashes where texting or other activities were in play. |
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