A pair of security experts have found a vulnerability in the iPhone that allows a hacker to take control of an iPhone through a text-message attack.
Cybersecurity researchers Charlie Miller and Collin Mulliner explained the security hole at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas on Thursday. They said they informed Apple of the problem a month ago but the problem has not been patched, according to Forbes, which said Apple has declined to comment on the issue.
The iPhone, Miller and Mulliner said, can be controlled by an outside hacker through a series of mostly invisible SMS - short message service - bursts. That would give someone control over an iPhone user's phone, text messaging, Web browsing, microphone and camera functions. There is a similar flaw in Windows Mobile phones.
Should You Worry?
MyMobiSafe founder Eric Everson said it's highly unlikely they will be targeted. He said the attack would require hundreds of SMS texts (512 to be exact) to any phone. He said if any of the SMS messages are deleted before the attack is complete, then the hack will not be effective.
To be on the safe side, if you receive a text message with a square in it, turn off your iPhone or switch the device into airplane mode. (more)
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(just kidding :)UPDATE - "Less than 24 hours after a demonstration of this exploit, we've issued a free software update that eliminates the vulnerability from the iPhone." - Apple spokesman, Tom Neumayr. (more)
from the seller's Web site...
"Do personal Investigations Do Secret Surveillance Gather Evidence"
Thumbcorder (AJ-024TC) is the smallest real USB Flash Drive Spy Cam hands free Camcorder in the world with Built in 8Gb USB Flash Disk, Use it as a normal flash drive, spy pen camera in your pocketRecord with single switchJust slide the Switch to Rec. will start recording, just slide switch to off to stop recording that's all... it will record sound and video. Really very easy to use.View Recorded filesSimply connect the Thumbcorder to any USB port of your computer and view or copy the files to view. No need for any cable or extension.Also, you can use it as USB disk drive. (more)BTW, they plan to advertise this on television (USA Network).Why do I mention it?So you will know it when you see it.
A data breach at Internet domain administrator and host Network Solutions has compromised personal and financial data for more than 573,000 credit and debit cardholders. To add more pain to the breach, Network Solutions says it was PCI compliant at the time of the breach.
The PCI Security Council Weighs In...Just because a company has passed its compliance validation, it doesn't mean that the need for vigilance of security measures should stop, says PCI Security Standards Council General Manager Bob Russo. As for whether Network Solutions was PCI-compliant at the time of the breach, Russo notes, "Until a forensics investigation is completed, an organization can not comment accurately on its compliance status."(more)Effectiveness of any security measure is directly dependent upon the other security measures in place. Imagine your "wall of protection" as building blocks. One block is ineffective without the other blocks. Each block has its purpose and place... and you need every type of block to build a strong and effective wall.
The relationship is both symbiotic and synergistic.
According to the results of our recent poll (below), TSCM sweeps are a totally overlooked 'block' more than 80% of the time. Learn from the mistakes of others. Look at your wall, plug the holes.
In our latest poll, we asked our readership - mainly people with organizational security interests - "How often does your workplace conduct... "Bug Sweeps?"
17% responded that TSCM inspections are being conducted.
The frequency of these inspections are:
8% Monthly
3% Quarterly
3% Biannually
3% Yearly
3% "Don't know how often."
81% said, "They don't check."
No one indicated, "When problems arise," or "Other."
Security Directors: FREE Security White Paper - "Surreptitious Workplace Recording ...and what you can do about it."
Vietnam - Software that allows people to bug private phone calls or text messages is now offered for sale on many websites. A man who sold the software has been recently arrested in HCM City.Where does the spy software come from?According to IT experts, the software orginated in western countries. It is said that there are more than 200 companies trading spy phone software online, called Spy Mobile and Mobile Phone Spy, at a price of US$50-300. The service has become popular and for sale online like any other product...Nguyen Thanh Trung, representative of the Nam Truong Son Company, which supplies anti-virus software in Vietnam, said the company’s software Kaspersky Mobile Security was considered the most effective protection against spy software. “When this anti-tap software is installed, it will prevent unwanted software from being installed in mobile phones.” (more)
The New Hampshire Attorney General's office is planning to review a county investigation report regarding the wiretapping of civilian employees working in the Portsmouth Police Department's records office.In June, Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams sent a letter to Police Chief Michael Magnant indicating his office didn't find sufficient evidence to bring charges against any police employee responsible for installing a microphone recording device. At least one police department employee complained upon learning they were being recorded.The chief noted the device allowing a supervisor to monitor conversations from their computers in other parts of the police headquarters was outdated, and the department has since changed policies to prevent such concerns. (more)
Philippines - Broadcast journalist Cheche Lazaro entered a “not guilty” plea on the wiretapping charges filed against her by a ranking official of the Government Service Insurance System. (more) (background)
It seems the line between paranoia, spying and diplomacy is blurry in New Zealand.
According to Sir Clive Woodward, spying is a fact of rugby life (and he would know) and few understand this better than New Zealand.Hardly a tour goes by without the Kiwi camp escalating tensions with claims of spying - and this year's Tri-Nations seems no exception.New Zealand take their 'game secrets' so seriously that they've a constant security protocol, they have food and nutrition specialists and a truckload of personal security specialists.Ahead of their Bloemfontein game, the All Blacks have allegedly again demanded exclusive use of facilities in Pretoria, where they have set up a 'bug-free' training camp. (more)
T-shirts that can snap photos or carpets that are able to report a buildup of dust may one day be possible, thanks to the creation of a fiber that can detect images. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created a polymer fiber that can detect the angle, intensity, phase, and wavelength of light hitting it, information that can be used to re-create a picture of an object without a lens.”Once you have the phase and amplitude of a wave, you can then figure out what the object was that the wave emanated from,” says Yoel Fink, director of MIT’s Photonic Bandgap Fibers and Devices Group. (more) (more) (video profile of Yoel Fink)
Maryland's acting transportation chief, citing concerns about privacy, has pulled back an internal proposal to use listening devices on its buses and trains for recording conversations of passengers and employees.
The Maryland Transit Administration had been considering adopting a system that would allow it to conduct audio surveillance similar to that in several other large U.S. cities (San Francisco, for one.)...
The MTA asked the attorney general to clarify whether Maryland's Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act would require the MTA to obtain the consent of passengers before recording their conversations.
If consent is required, the MTA asked whether posting a sign informing riders they were under audio surveillance would be sufficient notice. (more) (video)
The movie "G-Force" stars a squad of U.S. government-trained guinea pig spies on a mission to thwart an evil billionaire from taking over the world.
While the plot is pure Hollywood, nature is full of critters great and small that humanity has harnessed for espionage, protection and moral support.
• Dolphins
• Sea Lions• Fish• Sharks
• Dogs
• Penguin
• Insects• Robot Chicken (just kidding)(more)
P.S. - Could "G-Force" be based on a real rodent spy case? (Click here.)
• In South London, the newly refurbished Stockwell Park High School has nearly 100 CCTV cameras on the premises, with another 100 due to be installed. Not only are the general areas monitored but classrooms also have cameras... the school plans to use the cameras to resolve disputes about bullying or if claims are made against teachers.• A primary school in the UK is using closed circuit television in toilets in a bid to catch vandals... "The pupils of the school saw that there was available space on the security system operating in the school and asked whether TV cameras could be installed just to cover the sink areas in order to prevent further vandalism to the toilets," said Principal, Len Holman. (more)
... Why is it so hard to know other people's minds?
Or, better yet, why is it so easy?
MIT neuroscientist Rebecca Saxe is trying to reconcile these two questions. She is studying the part of our brain called the right temporoprietal junction that is almost entirely specialized to think about and judge other people's thoughts.
Between age 3 and 5 children learn that people can have false beliefs, but only by age 7 have they developed the ability to apply moral judgments to other people's thoughts. 
It takes a while for the TPJ to develop, but by adulthood it lights up brightly in brain scanners when moral judgments run hot.
But Saxe's lab, using a machine called a transcranial magnetic stimulator, which applies an electromagnetic pulse to a targeted point in the brain, can temporarily disable the function in the TPJ and change what people think about someone else's actions.
Think of the possibilities for trial lawyers, spymasters and advertisers. The Pentagon has called Saxe, but she is not taking its calls. (more)
Should You Worry? 
