Google Glass Patch Fixes Vulnerability Through QR Code

Google Glass

Lookout Security discovered a method by which hackers could take control over Google Glass by creating a malicious QR Code.

Google has patched a security vulnerability that could have left Glass users with some major issues.
Lookout Security discovered a flaw in Google Glass back in May that would allow a hacker to create a QR Code that -- once scanned by Glass -- could see all of the connections running through the glasses-mounted computer. A hacker could also deliver a payload over the Internet that would wreak havoc on Google Glass and possibly steal information.

In order to connect to Google Glass, the QR Code would direct a user to an access point that gives the hacker the ability to remotely control the eyewear.
In a video posted Wednesday on YouTube, Lookout Security described the vulnerability and commended Google for promptly fixing it last month.
Google Glass is currently in the hands of 10,000 "Explorers." The program is designed to work out the kinks in Glass and prepare the eyewear for a public launch. It's also designed to catch security flaws like this.

Hackers convince bank to send $15000 wire transfer with the help of Hacked Gmail account

It is time to enable the Google two-step authentication feature.  If the website is providing you additional security feature, it is always good to use that feature.  This news will help you to understand the risk of ignoring the additional security feature.

Cybercriminals hacked the Gmail account of a Dubai based Indian expatriate Anil Abraham and used the account to convince bank to transfer $15,000 from his bank account in India.

When Anil contacted the Bank, he was told by the Branch Manager that the Money was transferred at his request only via email.  The cybercriminals are reportedly send a signed document with the email to trick the Bank into transfer the money.

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According to Emirates247 report, the money was transferred to someone named Garry Albert Frazer to Westpac bank account in New Zealand.

Anil said whoever hacked into his email id had managed to steal fianancial information and managed to use those info to write email to Bank with forged signature.

I'm still wondering how bank allowed the cyber criminal to steal the money, they usually don't allow us to transfer money via email accounts without any personal verification.  As far as i know, Bank always careful when it comes to big amount of transfer - $15,000(nearly 90,0000 Rupees).

Though it is mistake of Bank, It is always good to enable security feature on your side.  Don't wait until your account get hacked,
Enable the Two-step authentication : http://www.google.com/landing/2step/

Google is Planning to wipe child porn from the Web

Google

The search giant is creating a database of images depicting child exploitation -- to be shared with tech companies, law enforcement, and charities -- in order to scrub the images from the Internet.

Photos and videos of child pornography on the Web have multiplied at an alarming rate over the past few years. In 2011, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said it received 17.3 million images and videos of suspected child abuse, which is four times more than 2007.

Google has announced that it wants to help curb this proliferation of child pornography. In fact, the Web giant plans to take it even a step further -- it wants to completely eradicate child porn from the Internet.

"Behind these images are real, vulnerable kids who are sexually victimized and victimized further through the distribution of their images," Google Giving director Jacquelline Fuller wrote in a blog post on Saturday. "It is critical that we take action as a community -- as concerned parents, guardians, teachers and companies -- to help combat this problem."

Google's plan is to build a database of child porn images that can be shared with other tech companies, law enforcement, and charities around the world. The database will let these groups swap information, collaborate, and remove the images from the Web.

Part of the technology behind this database comes from a technique Google already uses called "hashing," which tags images showing sexual abuse of children with a unique identification code. Computers can recognize the code and then locate, block, and report all duplicate images on the Web. Google plans to have the database up and running within a year.

Google has been working against child pornography since 2006 when it teamed up with other tech companies and joined the Technology Coalition, which looks at how technology can be used to end child exploitation. It has also donated millions to nonprofit organizations that work for the cause.

Other tech companies have also been active in battling child pornography on the Web. Microsoft helped develop the hashing technology for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's Photo DNA program and Facebook uses the technology across its network to ensure child pornography is not circulating through the site.

In addition to the upcoming database, Google also announced Saturday that it is donating $5 million to fight child pornography. The money will be split up between global child protection organizations like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Internet Watch Foundation, and Google's own Child Protection Technology Fund.

"We're in the business of making information widely available, but there's certain 'information' that should never be created or found," Fuller wrote. "We can do a lot to ensure it's not available online -- and that when people try to share this disgusting content they are caught and prosecuted."

Google said to deploy Wi-Fi blimps in Africa and Asia

High altitude platform control system.

The Web giant is reportedly creating airborne wireless networks to bring Internet access to some of the world's hard-to-reach regions.

How can the Internet be brought to areas that have no infrastructure for high-speed wireless? Beam the Wi-Fi networks down from flying objects, of course.

Google is reportedly working on creating wireless networks for more remote parts of the world, such as countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, with sky-bound balloons and blimps, according to Wired.

Dubbed "high-altitude platforms," these mechanisms will reportedly be able to connect roughly a billion more people to the Internet worldwide, according to Wired. The blimps signals are said to be able to reach people in areas that are hundreds of square miles.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google is going into the cellular business in Africa and Asia in an effort to connect more people to the Internet. Citing anonymous sources, the news source reported that the networks would be available outside of big cities, where service is spotty or not available.

Besides the Wi-Fi blimps, Google is reportedly also considering a satellite-based wireless system, along with testing other kinds of wireless frequencies, according to the Wall Street Journal. "There's not going to be one technology that will be the silver bullet," an anonymous source told the Journal.

It appears that Google has been working on high-altitude platforms for quite some time. In 2000, the company filed a patent application for a "High altitude platform control system," which involved creating an "aerospace vehicle" that could "improve the reliability of a communications system."

Also, Google isn't the only company that has been working on creating communication networks via blimps and balloons. Lockheed Martin and GlobeTel Communications have also been working on such inventions. And, the company Space Data already operates a network of high-altitude, balloon-borne transceivers known as SkySite Platforms, which serve as wireless towers.

Google beats Apple itunes with their new Music Service

Google Music Beta

Google launched a music streaming service Wednesday, taking its first stab at the growing industry with a new service linked to Google Play for Android. The All Access service costs $9.99 a month and you get a 30-day free trial. And it's launching Wednesday in U.S., with additional countries coming soon. If you sign up by June 30, you get it for $7.99 a month. The move puts Google in direct competition with music streaming companies like Pandora and Spotify, and also potentially with Apple, which has been inching in that direction. Just last week, for instance, word came that Apple had reached an iRadio deal with Universal Music, though it still needs deals with the other major labels. If Google launches an additional YouTube streaming service, the company could take advantage of the video-sharing network's position as a dominant, legal source of music, particularity for teens.