Should should social networking sites be allowed in the workplace?

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/111011-insider-social-networks-252988.html

This article discusses the current debate on whether social media websites like Facebook or LinkedIn should be allowed to be used in the workplace. For example, many companies believe that social websites are very distracting to have in the workplace, because it causes several of their employees to not be able to complete their work in a timely manner because they are always getting distracted. Also, many social networking sites can pose as a major security threat to some companies, because they are an easy source of viruses and spam which could filtrate into the company if their employees become infected by it. Although social networking sites can be bad for many companies they can also be put to good use for journalists and reporters as they can easily use the information from these websites to be able to better cover and write a story for their job. In my opinion, I believe that employees should not really be allowed to use social media sites while they are at work, because it causes a lot of distractions and it prevents many people from actually getting all of their work done.

Electronic boarding passes for airplanes

 

http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/travel/testing-e-boarding-passes.html

 

There is currently a new technological advanced that has been made in the airplane industry in regarding the use of electronic boarding passes instead of paper ones. For example, there are applications now available on smart phones that will allow individuals to be able to now use electronic boarding passes right from their cell phones. Over 75 different airports in the United States are now allowing its passengers to use electronic boarding passages for their flights. The way this works is that you will have your boarding pass sent to your smart phone via email or text message and then you will present the message containing a bar code that can be scanned by the airport security and again when you arrive at the gate. One advantage to using electronic boarding passes is that most people already are going to have their cellphones with them and so no they won’t have to worry about losing or misplacing their boarding passes anymore. Also, some disadvantages though are that your cellphone could die and therefore you would be unable to produce your electronic boarding pass to be scanned and e-boarding can only be used if there is only one person in your reservation. In my opinion, I believe that we should just stick with using paper boarding passes instead of electronic ones, because not everyone has smart phones and also there is no need to advance the technology to start using electronic boarding passes at airports anyways.

New Facebook security features

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20126280-245/facebook-account-hijacked-get-a-little-help-from-your-friends/

The article I found discussed the fact that Facebook has now just released new security features to help its users that are affected by computer hackers. Most of the time when a person’s Facebook account becomes hacked they are unable to gain access to their account, because most times the hacker will change their account password. These new security features will help them be able to gain access back into their Facebook account even after their password is changed. With this new feature you are able to select up to five of your Facebook friends that will actually help you gain access into your hacked account. For example, Facebook will send secret codes to the friends you have selected who will then give those codes to you so you will then have access to your account. In my opinion though, I believe that this new security feature will probably not be a very good idea, because you will then also have to be very trusting of those friends you selected that they are not going to give your Facebook code to anyone else and then you won’t be able to gain access into your account.

Ipad 2 security threat

 

http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/21/8430548-fridge-magnet-poses-security-threat-to-ipad-2

 

We all thought that the new Ipad 2 would be a pretty secure device, but it is actually harder to break into than many people thought it would be. It has been recently discovered that people can actually break into an Ipad 2 while the device is locked with a passcode. For example, someone can break into your Ipad 2 using an Apple Smart Cover or even a magnet from their refrigerator. While pressing the power button on your device a person can use a magnet to slide along the edge of the screen to unlock your Ipad. Now that they have unlocked your device that can see what app you were last using when you left your device and they can also view all of your apps on your device. The criminals are not going to be able to gain full access to your device but it just shows you that your Ipad isn’t as secure as you probably thought it was. At this point in time, Apple has found a solution to this problem, where the owner of the device must toggle off the unlock feature on the device so that an intruder cannot view all of their apps. This isn’t a major threat to Ipad 2 owners, but it just goes to  show you that nowadays we believe that all of our electronic devices are completely safe when really sometimes they are not.

New apps for parents to keep their children safe on the internet

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/07/protect-your-kids-with-these-cybersecurity-apps/?cmpid=cmty_email_Gigya_Protect_Your_Kids_With_These_Cybersecurity_Apps

 

Nowadays several parents are concerned with their children’s safety while they are using the internet. However, parents do not have to worry any longer, because there are now apps out there to help parents protect their children while on the computer. One new security app available for purchase to help prevent cyber attacks is called BullGuard Mobile Security. This app works to protect children on the internet by allowing parents to be able to monitor and access their children’s internet activity. This allows young children and teenagers to be a little more safe as there parents will now be able to monitor what they do while online to ensure that they are safe and are not victims of cyber bullying or other computer crimes. Also, there is another app called Glympse which allows parents to be able to view the location of their children at various times of day. The app basically works by using an interactive map that will coincide with their daily schedule to show where there children are located. Moreover, there is also an app that will allow parents to send an alert out about their children in the case that they happen to become kidnapped or go missing. This works by allowing users to upload a profile about there children to alert local community residents of their child’s disappearance. In my opinion, these apps are a great idea for parents to be able to keep their children safe and to prevent them becoming a victim to a horrific crime.

More people are now being hacked on Facebook

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/business/article/More-youth-seeing-their-Facebook-email-hacked-2205162.php

The article I chose to write my blog about for this week dealt with the issue that in today’s society more and more people are now being hacked through Facebook and other social media websites. For example, most teenagers have had their Facebook accounts hacked by their close friends, while they left their account logged on when they were away from the computer. Most of the time other teenagers will hack other people’s account either because they think that it will be comical or it will embarrass the owner of that particular account. Also, often times these attacks will seem like a joke or prank, but sometimes they will actually hurt the victims feelings. This article also ties into the concept of knowing who you should trust will important information, such as your password. Moreover, many times people will be very trusting towards other people and will actually willingly hand over their passwords to someone else. This is very scary, because in the world we live in now there are several very vulnerable individuals that will not think twice before they give a way key information about themselves that can potentially be used against them.  On the same note, several people have also gotten hacked through their Facebook account email and have been victimized that way as well. For example, it is very easy for a hacker to obtain your email address from your Facebook profile, and then they would only have to find a way to be able to get your password to cause extensive damage.  Finding out another person’s password also isn’t very hard, because there are several password cracking programs that people can use right off the internet. In my opinion, I believe that Facebook should have more privacy and security settings that will protect its user’s emails from being attacked and hacked into. Also, I think that a good way to prevent yourself from becoming a victim of Facebook is to create a strong password, and more importantly you should never give your password out to any other individual, because you never know who you can and cannot trust.

Can model airplanes be used for terrorism?

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44724883/ns/us_news-security/

The article I have read this week discussed how model airplanes may now be used as a method for a terrorist attack. For example, a muslim man named  Rezwan Ferdaus from Boston was recently arrested and charged with planning a terrorist attack on the Pentagon and the nation’s capital. He was planning to use a remote-controlled airplane filled with plastic explosives commit these attacks. This would have caused a tremendous amount of damage to the Pentagon and capital, but luckily the FBI was able to track him down before he even was able to purchase the explosives.  The odd thing about the remote -controlled airplane, was that it was actually a  military-yet replica capable of traveling high speeds around 100 mph. As part of the attack, the airplane was also equipped with a GPS device. However, as Rezwan Ferdaus was making a transaction to buy the C-4 explosives he was captured by the FBI, who were disguised as al-Qaeda members. Also, several counterterrorism experts analyzed this specific attack and came to the conclusion that this model airplane would not have the power to cause a ton of harsh damage to the Pentagon. The aircraft was not big enough to carry enough explosives that could cause a major attack, and also the airplane would be very hard to fly, which would make it nearly impossible for it to cause a big enough explosion to pose as a real dangerous threat. They also concluded that the only chance the airplane had of causing extensive damage would be for it to actually have physical contact with a window on the Pentagon, because the building is already hardened and pretty secure from most types of explosive attacks. The only thing that can really be done to prevent another attack like this one, would be to monitor who is buying and selling these specific model airplanes. In my opinion, it is kind of scary to think that even model airplanes may be used to launch terrorist attacks. Now we really don’t know what terrorist will use to attack this country and it make you have sense of fear as of what may come in the future.

Should law enforcement need a warrant for location tracking

This particular article, discusses the current issue of whether the police and law enforcement agencies should be required to   obtain a warrant before they conduct any type of location-based tracking. For example, several members of the Constitution Project’s Library Committee believe that by using electronic and      digital techniques to track individuals is violating the Fourth Amendment rights, which protects you from unreasonable search and seizures. This has been a current issue, because the FBI has recently been using GPS tracking devices to monitor and run surveillance on dangerous criminals. Also, in today’s society many   people can easily be tracked down and monitored using the GPS   location devices found right on their phone. For many people, this has been a privacy concern, because they can easily be monitored no matter where they are, which could potentially reveal  personal and private information about that particular individual.      In my opinion, though I believe that law enforcement should not be required to obtain a search warrant before using GPS to track someone down, because this makes it so much faster and easier for them to track down and arrest dangerous criminals.

 

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9220185/Group_urges_U.S._to_require_warrants_for_location_based_tracking

Microsoft Security Scam

There has recently been a new cyber security scam that has affected many individuals that has caused many types of fraud and identity theft. For this particular scam, computer hackers would pose as Microsoft Security workers to gain access to peoples personal and private information. The hackers would perform their scam by calling their victims telling them that they have accidentally downloaded a computer virus from Microsoft and then they would offer a free security check to help fix their computer virus. This was when they convinced their victims into thinking that they were getting their computers fixed, which in return would make them more vulnerable to give away valuable information, such as credit card and social security numbers. Also, the computer hackers would then tell their victims to install malware apps that would allow them to be able to gain access to all of their personal information using a scanner to make their computer part of a botnet. Furthermore, several victims to this scam reported that the hackers were also able to gain remote access to their computer. In my opinion, this scam is a prime example that many computer users today are very vulnerable and gullible as they are easily taken advantage of and are convinced to give up valuable information. This just goes to show, that you can never be too trusting of anyone online posing to help you fix your computer. Also, to avoid becoming a victim to online scams such as this one, you should never reveal your credit card information or IP address to anyone over the phone or online until you definitely know that person can be trusted.

http://www.winknews.com/Local-Florida/2011-09-15/Criminals-posing-as-Microsoft-Security-Team#.TnQhxVfrfSg.email

Facebook Security and Privacy Issues

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,353121,00.html

Above I have posted a link to a cyber security article about the security risks and privacy issues people may encounter while using social media websites, such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc.. Many individuals that use Facebook feel safe and secure, because they have their profiles set to the privacy setting, which, therefore, they believe that nobody could access any or all of their personal information and data.  However, this is untrue because, whenever a user decides to download an application on Facebook, they are therefore allowing its developers to view all of their access information.  This causes a problem though:  Since it poses several privacy issues, all of Facebook’s users are having all of their information looked at and are now getting targeted based on that information.  Also, people are going to have a false sense of safety while using social networks, when really they are actually facing several security risks without even knowing it.  In my opinion on this topic, individuals using social media websites are being taken advantage of and are now going to be potential victims of cyber security crimes and computer viruses, and I believe that the best thing that people can do to stay protected is to not post any personal information out onto the web that can lead to potential endangerment.