A Pilot Program by MasterCard is Moving Onto The Next Phase

A Pilot Program by MasterCard is Moving Onto The Next Phase

Instead of paying through classic PIN MasterCard allows users to authenticate and authorize payments using biometrics. A Pilot program is also moving into next stage by MasterCard.

The People in Netherlands and the US can only use the MasterCard's pilot program since it was launched last year in June. By using four new distinct techniques users are allowed to pay for goods.

About Innovative Payments Pilot Program,

In order to enter the program, either users can use MasterCard-issued wristbands or install a special MasterCard app on smartphones.

With the help of these tools, users can authorize the payments by any  of the 4 techniques as following:

• By measuring their cardiac rhythm (via the wristband).
• By Placing a finger on their phone's camera (fingerprint recognition).
• Taking a selfie (face recognition).
• By speaking a code (voice recognition).

MasterCard announced at the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona that "By this summer, the payments options and the pilot program will be expanded to more countries."

The countries list includes the following: (Spain, Italy, UK, Belgium, Finland, Denmark, France, Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and Norway).

Is Payment through Selfie-Approved Safe?

"The new biometrics-based payments service has been created in order to provide user data safe" said by MasterCard. According to the company "fingerprints, voice commands or no selfies are sent to the servers for storage. And it is transformed into ones and zeros by the mobile app,"

The code which is being sent to MasterCard's servers will be processed and analyzed for similarities to user's default biometrics. 

But some of the Security experts are not looking forward to verification systems of biometrics-based payment because if anyone changed the passwords and PINs then that can be compromised in a data breach, and it is very difficult to change the face and voice if the biometrics data has been lost.

Cardholders can authorize the transaction by holding up their phones as if taking a selfie and blinking if they purchase online from a merchant that needs identity verification; it ensure that a cardholder is an alive person, not just a photograph, instead entering a password or PIN.  

New Version of Bundestrojaner (Federal Trojan) Has Been Updated By The German Government

New Version of Bundestrojaner (Federal Trojan) Has Been Updated By The German Government

From the past months, the authorities have been working on the updated version of infamous Bundestrojaner (Federal Trojan) which can also be used against real-life targets and it is approved by the German government.

In german language meaning of Bundestrojaner is "Federal Trojan". The government created this malware and then used for their own citizens of their country.

The scandal of Bundestrojaner 2011

A German-based Chaos Computer Club (CCC) discovered that Bundestrojaner(Federal Trojan) in the year 2011, the time when this trojan was in middle of controversy.

By using the first version of this trojan police officers can easily opened  a backdoor on infected computers. A backdoor allows some actions like (record audio, video, taking screenshots and breaking a suspect's right to privacy ). Once when the backdoor is opened then it also enables to retrieve all the important information like user's password, access to digital data too apart from the copy of files from the system hard drive.

Tagesschau says in its report that "During the year 2008 on using the online surveillance programs several rules have been laid down by the German Constitutional Court like police can not engage in such activity without the consent of court"

Apple to appeal ruling to help prosecutors unlock encrypted iPhone citing customer security https://t.co/FogmBDhCBR pic.twitter.com/viEKq18WC5

— RT America (@RT_America) February 17, 2016

But there are disadvantages of that trojan also Researcher said that "because of an insecure update mechanism, any third-party can remotely access the trojan and use it for their own purpose it may be either malicious or legal."

If their is any threat to people's lives and health or any threat to national security also, then this malware will not be allowed to use. In that situation officers can only read the emails, wiretap telephone calls but can not access copying files from the harddrive, any kind of video or audio calls and not even passwords stealing.

According to the media scandal which occurred a month before "Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger(German Justice Minister) said that this government insecure malware has been used by them in legal investigations also."

The new version Bundestrojaner v2 comes back again after five years

After 5 years, with the approval of German Ministry of Interior, the Criminal Police of Germany's Federal again started to work with a new version of Bundestrojaner from this week. This trojan new version entered in 2015 autumn and police investigators need to obtain the court order for using it.

In order to develop his own(German Federal Criminal Police) surveillance malware, they purchased "FinFisher(a surveillance software)" which was created by German-British Elamann/Gamma company.

Falk Garbsch(a CCC expert) told to Deutsche Welle that "A wider range of opportunities could be opened for the hackers because trojan can easily install software on targeted system,"

Image Source: RT

Jaq's Salt Water Charger Powers Up Phones

 

MyFC Unveiled its Jaq – Fuel Cell Charger

A portable power bank which tends to use salt as well as water for recharging smartphones has been put up on show at the Mobile World Congress tech show in Barcelona.Swedish start-up MyFC unveiled its cool technology called Jaq at the CES on Jan 6. It is said that the device is small enough to be slipped into the back pocket and is fuel cell charger.

 It utilises saltwater and oxygen in converting chemical energy into electricity. The Jaq cell charger comprises of colourful rubber sleeve together with a credit card-sized `power card’ containing saltwater. It tends to work by causing detached chemical reaction between the saltwater – fuel and oxygen – oxidant wherein hydrogen molecules from the water tends to enter the fuel cell at the anode.

A chemical reaction shreds the hydrogen molecules of their electrons and the positively charged hydrogen ions are then capable of moving through the electrolyte where the negatively charged hydrogen electron delivers the current via the external circuit. Oxygen, in the meantime, enters the fuel cell at the cathode where the oxygen molecules mingle with the hydrogen electrons returning from the electrical circuit and the hydrogen ions that have been delivered through the electrolyte

Each Power Card Used Only Once

The outcome of the reaction tends to produce electricity and water which the device connects and utilises to charge the phone through a Micro-USB cable. It is said that one power card can generate 1,800 mAH amount of electricity which would be adequate in charging an iPhone 6S completely though each power card could be used only once.

The charger comprises of a credit card shaped `power card’ and a hollowed out port which is about the size of a smartphone. The card contained saltwater that tends to fuel electricity producing chemical reaction when one slips the card into the port.

To obtain electricity to the battery of the phone one needs to plug the phone into the port with a standard cable.The Jaq charger does not require plugging in, since it tends to utilise disposable cartridges in generating power. Chris Foxx of BBC had asked Bjorn Westerholm the company’s chief executive if it was better for the environment than using the normal battery based power banks.

World’s Smallest Charger

It is the world’s smallest charger of its type and the device has got its European unveiling offers up speedy phone charging without the need of plugging it in a socket. It is owing to Jaq powering itself with the help of its own PowerCard that is made of water and salt.

When this is stuck in the charger, some chemical magic hydrogen is created and the charge takes place. It tends to charge a phone just the same time a normal power outlet does. Though the chemical reaction and hydrogen may sound a bit dangerous, MyFC undertakes the responsibility that the chemical reaction seems to be completely safe and that it is also environmental friendly.

The MyFC Jaq seems to be compatible with all phones as well as tablets inclusive of iOS and would be made available in white, black and purple. Though the release date is not yet out, MyFC has put the Jaq up for pre-order wherein one can sign up to have PowerCards sent to them on a subscription basis.

John McAfee offers to Unlock Killer's iPhone for FBI

John McAfee to Break the Encryption on iPhone of Killer Syed Farook

John McAfee the creator of anti-virus software has stated that he would break the encryption on iPhone which tends to belong to San Bernardino killer Syed Farook. He made the offer in an article to FBI which was published by Business Insider. Apple had declined to abide with the court order asking it to unlock the device in-between opinion on whether the firm should be compelled in doing so.

Mr McAfee stated that he together with his team would undertake the task `with no charge’. The offer came up while Mr McAfee continued his campaign as a US presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party. He had claimed in his article that it would take them around three weeks. Graham Cluley, security expert had informed BBC that he was doubtful about Mr McAfee’s claim.

He stated that the iPhone is notoriously difficult to hack when compared to the other devices. Mr Cluley, for instance, had doubts on Mr McAfee’s idea that he could use `social engineering’ to work out the pass-code on the locked iPhone of Farook. It is a procedure wherein the hackers attempt to find out login identifications by deceiving people in disclosing them.

Back Door – iPhones Susceptible to Hacking

Mr Cluley said that `in a nutshell, dead men tell no tales. Good luck to Mr AcAfee trying to socially engineer a corpse in revealing its pass-code’ He added that the FBI is not interested anyway, they want to set a pattern that there should not be locks, they cannot break’. Mr McAfee, in his article had said that he was keen in unlocking the device since he did not want Apple to be forced in implementing a `back door’, a method wherein security services could access data on encrypted devices.

Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple had earlier commented in a statement that the firm did not want to co-operate. He discussed that introducing a back door would make all the iPhones susceptible to hacking by the criminals. Mr McAfee is of the belief that there would be a possibility of retrieving data from the phone by other means, but did not give much details regarding the same.

Tech Firms Support Apple

Those comprising of the Australian Children’s eSafety Commissioners, who had spoken to tech website ZDNet had stated that Apple would not essentially need to introduce a back door. However, the firm is only being asked to provide access to a single device. Other tech firms have supported Apple’s following a few days of debate on how it ought to respond to the request of FBI.

Sundar Pichai, Google boss had expressed his support for Mr Cook and recently chief executive of Twitter Jack Dorsey had added his approval through a tweet. Facebook had mentioned in a statement that it condemned terrorism and had solidarity with the victims of terror, though would tend to continue its policy of opposing requests of diminishing security.

It stated that they would continue to fight aggressively against the necessities for companies in weakening the security of their systems and these demands would develop chilling pattern as well as obstruct the efforts of the company in securing their products.

The Smartphone That You Can Bend

ReFlex – Bendable Smartphone – Get Direction/Read/Play Games

Recently, researchers from the Human Media Lab at Queen’s University in Canada have revealed a lightweight model atthe Tangible Embedded and Embodied Interaction conference in The Netherlands. It is called ReFlex which is built to bend as well as vibrate providing users with an improved sense of third dimension on their phones while they tend to get directions, read or play games. The phone’s basic hardware comprises of a 720p display which has been developed by LG together with a small phone processor running Android 4.4 `KitKat’.

Users could bend it like a stem or tend to stretch it like a rubber band. Having a bendable phone, users could rapidly thumb through books; feel for highlighted passages or for dog eared pages. Moreover, the flexible phone could also help drivers in keeping their eyes on the road enabling the possibility of `feel’ turn-by-turn directions. With games like Angry Birds, players could also bend their screens stretching out a slingshot with vibrations which could make the phone seem like recoiling rubber band.

However, the most amazing feature of the latest bendy model is that it is basically shatterproof. The secret behind the phone which is quite durable and lightweight is that the screen is plastic and not made of glass.

Android Device Stronger to Bend to 40 Degrees

The trade-off could be a deal-breaker in smartphone industry which has been dominated by glass screens. The phone tends to use off-the-shelf parts meaning a leap to market would not be a big jump. Professor Roel Vertegaal leading the team behind the phone comments that it is technology twelve years in the making. He further added that the phone is mass produceable as it is today.

Vertegaal whose academic research had been sponsored by the Canadian government and Canadian touch tech company, Immersion Corporation will not be building a consumer phone. He states that he will leave it to the Samsung’s and the LG’s of the world. According to his estimates it would take around three to five years in bringing the tech to the market.

The LG OLED display in the phone seems to be the same tech in bendable TVs and for $100, these LG smartphone screens could cost $25 more than a typical glass screen though would make the latest Android device much stronger to bend up to 40 degrees. The phone tends to be more flexible towards the centre with semi-rigid ends, where the 1,280 x 720-pixel display has a bit inferior resolution than an iPhone 6 at 1,334 x 750 pixels.

Flexible OLED Display

ReFlex seems to utilise a Flexible OLED display from LG alike to some of the rollable screens shown recently at CES this year which enables the user to bend it as desired. It is the first flexible phone with the combination of bend input with standard multi-touch abilities which means that one could use touch interaction such as a typical smartphone and also interact with definite apps on bending the phone.

Vertegaal has mentioned that when this smartphone is bent down towards the right, pages tend to flip through the fingers from right to left just like a book. With more extreme bends it would speed up the page flips and users can feel the sensation of the page moving through their fingertips through a detailed vibration of the phone. This would enable eyes-free navigation for the user, thus making it easy to keep track of where they are in a document.

Top PC Monitoring Software 2016

PC monitoring has become a necessity, especially in the organizations where there are a large number of employees with digital privileges. There’s no possible way for you as an employer to keep an eye on each and every individual, and this is exactly what employees take advantage of. They waste their time at work doing mundane activities like watching random videos, chatting with people, checking their social networking profiles, etc. This of course affects the overall performance of the company, which just isn’t acceptable in a competitive market. This is where PC monitoring software can really come in handy as it lets you keep tabs on how employees are using their computer and internet privileges at work. If you’re an employee who’s looking to get rid of the headache related to employees wasting time at work, we’ve got just the software lined up for you. Take a look and pick the one that best suits your needs.

Mobistealth

Mobistealth comes with a slew of awesome features that really puts you in control of your employees’ digital activities. It records every single keystroke typed by the employees during work hours, allowing you to know exactly what they are up to on their computer. Furthermore, there is a screenshot feature that takes pictures on regular basis. That’s not all though as Mobistealth also offers Skype logs. It’s no secret that Skype is a go-to platform for workplace chats, so having an eye on it certainly helps. Apart from the aforementioned features, this tool also comes with Facebook, Yahoo and Gmail chat logging, enabling you to see what’s being conversed. It even empowers you to keep tabs on the emails exchanged via Yahoo, Gmail, and Hotmail accounts. All of Mobistealth’s features are pretty important and if you’re on the hunt of a powerful monitoring software, then this one comes highly recommended.

Spyrix Personal Monitor

Spyrix Personal Monitor is another brilliant monitoring software. It is not as feature-rich as Mobistealth, primarily because its developers have put more of an effort on key logging. It can give you information regarding the passwords, created files, started applications, system logon, system log off, and so much more. Other than that, it provides you with the option of monitoring browsing activity, which is also a great help. With the help of this feature, you can see what sites your employees are visiting, and if you see too many random URLs there, then it is a pretty good sign that they have their priorities all wrong.

All in One Keylogger

As the name suggests, this tool also focuses more on key logging. The best part about this software is that it’s not very complicated. It is designed with the convenience of not so tech savvy people in mind. Even if you don’t possess knowledge about monitoring tools, you will still be able to operate All In One Keylogger without a hitch. All features of this software are presented upfront so that the users can see what’s on offer and then avail them without a problem. Some important features in this tool include key logging, web browser logging, multi-language support, website blocking, and so much more. If you are not good with technology but are really interested in deploying an employee monitoring solution in your workplace, then you should give All in One Keylogger a shot.

Hacktivist Group Anonymous Leaks Cincinnati Police Department Data

Hacktivist Group Anonymous Leaks Cincinnati Police Department Data

The details for 52 officers and employees of the Police Department of Cincinnati has been leaked by the Hacktivist group of Anonymous hacker following the shooting of a black man who was believed to be unarmed.

Because of the unnecessary death of Paul Gatson, they blamed the Police department who was shot and killed on Feb 17, 2016. When the officers were trying to arrest him at that time, he was shot numerous times by police officers. Before that, he was stumbling out of pickup truck and also crashed a telephone pole.

Because of Paul Gatson's death it sparked the data leak of 52 officers and employees of police department. Police officers also showed the two videos of this incident to justified their own action, but all are in vain and the things have escalated after the New York Daily News pointing out the similar case a day earlier, where the suspect (Christopher Laugle, a white)pointed out a fake guns at one of the officers called in to investigate an assault, but they peacefully arrested him.

Anonymous member said in video that 

"How does one man point a fake pistol at a cop and live while another man doesn't, but is killed execution style?" 

In order to spread the message of its operation #OpAnonVerdict.

Police officers said that "they are not aware that the gun was fake, when the Christopher Laugle(a suspect) pointed it towards one of the officers. And he was arrested peacefully and released on the $2,000 bail also."

The Anonymous hacker (Anon Verdict group) released the leaked data by them publicly on the following:

• First on PasteBin.
• Via Quick Leak service also.

But the leaked data doesn't contain any "private" data or information. It contains the information like (social media profile links, email addresses, the names of their family members, phone numbers, officers' names and home addresses). Eliot Isaac(chief of police) was the first name on the data dump with complete with his phone number and addresses of his known family members. Now the fear is that "the leaked data information can be used for retribution."

Steve Saunders(Cincinnati.com, police Lt) said that "Actually the group didn't hack any of the servers it was all the data which can also be searched via internet searches."

Masked man in the youtube video clip said that 

"We have been sitting idle from far too long and letting the gang known as the Thin Blue Line murder citizens of US. Well, we have a message to not only the Cincinnati Police Department but to every law enforcement officer. When you murder a human being when you have other choices of containing your suspect available, we will make your officers' information public record."

Anonymous states they will continue to release further data, 

"We will data dump as many officers as we see fit for each situation. We will not only release the officers' information who murdered the citizen but we will release those that have stood by in the department that did not speak up. Thin Blue Line, your game is over. You lost."

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