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e partially free and not free mobile apps for android who s responsibility is it to verify these apps often it is up to the consumer gaming has changed a lot over the past 25 years and classic games are being redeveloped to work with android one example is remakes of an old konami game called frogger it is a two dimensional arcade game where players have to guide animal characters across a set of obstacles which can either be highways or rivers i found one of these made for android and offered for free right away the installer started prompting for me to grant the game permissions to see incoming and outgoing call information i agreed to this latter the game wanted me to allow access to contacts but i would not so it went into a cycle of asking over and over i would still like to get more clarification about how critical the permissions are this makes me wonder if these games are really free in terms of what the consumer has to share with agencies that are developing and distributing a game in order to use it js online sources bibliography http www androidcentral com look application permissions november 19 2015 n3tweb week 9 usb flash drives and power strips could compromise a network i recently read about a hacking device disguised as a power strip i decided to research this more to find out if these things are really in circulation who is making them and why the fake power strip called power pwn was built as part of a government funded cyber security program these types of projects are not uncommon idaho national labs was working on a way to miniaturize malware so that it could fit on an embedded device that would not be able to run larger more conventional programs the power strip is now quite well known and for a while researchers could purchase these for more than 1000 each the more benign reason for having one would be to use it against existing network security features to see how a network would hold up to this type of hacking a more common technique has been deploying malware loaded onto a lost usb flash drive usb flash drives are extremely common inexpensive and not uniquely identifiable some basic types of malware will rely on the windows auto play feature to infect a host pc more advanced programs can be hidden in the controller firmware on the drive this means that if someone were suspicions of the drive and checking its contents for files they would not find any in the mass storage section of the drive this is why people are advised not to take any usb drives they might find lying about and then plug them into their own or their employer s computers online sources bibliography http www darkreading com attacks breaches the plc as an ics scada hacking tool d d id 1141180 http www zdnet com article power pwn this darpa funded power strip will hack your network november 12 2015 november 12 2015 n3tweb week 8 what were the concerns with clear service in portland i remember when clear wire clear internet service was launched in the portland area several years ago i had considered using this as my isp when i spoke with their representatives in person they mentioned that quality of service could vary based on distance from the cell towers as i would realize latter it probably would have been reliable because of my proximity to two towers i never switched to using their service as of 2014 clear is owned by sprint using the service requires purchasing a sprint branded device i am not sure the exact reasons why clear did not gain enough popularity and demand as compared to other isp in addition to the variations in reliability of service there may have also been some security concerns according to an article from windowssecurity com there are valid security concerns with cellular internet service anyone with a substantial radio receiver can capture the signals that are in the air this data would be from both the towers and nearby wireless devices vulnerability is also in the core network this relates to the wired portion of the cell tower and base station at some point the towers feed into a cable medium in order to connect customers to the existing phone system and internet cellular carriers are becoming more aware of these concerns many smart phones have the means to connect to free or unsecured wireless internet access points according to windowssecurity com internet access through a phone or tablet s cellular radio is generally a more private connection than using public wi fi js online sources bibliography http www windowsecurity com articles tutorials misc_network_security security issues when connecting computers cellular networks html november 5 2015 n3tweb week 7 secure browser review continued from previous reading it seems that some governments actually distribute malware intended to mine information about their citizens online activity finfisher was mentioned as one of these programs it was estimated that more than 30 countries are using this already this is a type of spyware which has the potential to infect a computer through fake updates it can then capture personal information and sometimes every keystroke free expression is not a guaranteed right in every country so the norms are obviously different however over the past few decades anonymous web browsing and the associated technology may have been accelerated by activists and individuals who were trying to evade this kind of surveillance one of the ways that people have sought anonymous browsing is by using a tor browser i cautiously installed a free tor browser recently to see what it was and if it had noticeable conflicts with other programs in a windows environment the disclaimer indicates tor does not protect all of your internet traffic when you run it for a previous posting i installed more than one software firewall in windows 7 and this did harm system performance even though the product did not provide an obvious disclaimer tor seems to have adequate documentation the distributor is very clear that tor is only one piece of obfuscating a whole computer system this installed easily on windows 7 it seems to work slower than well known browsers such as chrome and internet explorer there seems to remain some unanswered questions about this product what were the techniques used to make this browser better than others that offer similar capability it seems that this type of browser was intended to bypass some internet monitoring but wouldn t those who are monitoring their citizens know about this browser as a comparison to this i also installed the latest version of opera this browser is promoted as a simple and safe way to get around the web this browser installs faster and opens pages faster than tor it is not as advanced with respect to anonymous browsing but seems more like chome or firefox i found right away with opera that many pages needed a newer version of adobe flash so another 60 100mb download is actually needed before opera was as functional as other browsers i also found some sites that claim that governments and others are cracking the encryption process used by tor who is breaking the encryption and why has become a theme in some articles with all of the publicity it makes me suspect that tor and similar products could become mainstream in the same way that retailers such as fry s electronics have offered computers in the past with linux pre installed instead of windows online sources bibliography 1 https www washingtonpost com news the switch wp 2015 10 16 spyware sold to governments still spreading despite hacks against vendors tid magnet 2 http www opera com october 30 2015 october 30 2015 n3tweb week 6 when to allow exceptions with a software firewall recently a program asked for permission to communicate through windows firewall in some ways its reassuring to know windows firewall is an effective barrier this firewall should always be on because it provides a reliable filter to sort out valid network traffic from invalid potentially hazardous traffic it was not clear why some programs required this exception and most do not however this is not always a cause for alarm checking online i found many articles about how to allow programs through windows firewall the allowed programs dialog box shows a list which is automatically populated with installed programs it seems that these details are related to what programs are listed in add remove programs control panel overall this feature in windows firewall is user friendly it provides a way of quickly selecting which programs can bypass the firewall this should only be enabled for a trusted program as comparison i tried using zone alarm free firewall for windows this can be downloaded from http www zonealarm com software free firewall this product was easy to find however to install this program pop up blocker had to be set to allow a new window to open or it would not download the file the installation was simple but the process of giving programs access through this firewall is more complex to do this requires using the advanced settings option it would seem that there are other products which are more advanced than windows firewall but it is more challenging to adjust the required permissions js online sources bibliography 1 http www dummies com how to content how to allow programs through the windows 7 firewa html 2 http www pcmag com article2 0 2817 2422144 00 asp october 22 2015 n3tweb week 5 windows remote desktop compared to real vnc windows remote desktop is part of the windows os remote desktop usually has noticeably less delay then alternative remote access programs with remote desktop the user will establish a login session on the system they are connecting to this requires that the user has a valid user name and password for the system they are accessing from this login process there is some assurance that access to an administrator account can t be easily breached by a non administrator at the end of the remote session windows is left logged out anyone who needs to access the system after this will also need to login vnc follows an older model of remote login software vnc has both server and client components that need to be installed on each system where it will be used once a system is accessed the remote user will see only what is on the screen of the system they logged into they can then interact through a window vnc opens on their own local system vnc can be used to access the desktop of an open system or a system where login is required vnc cannot bypass the windows login process and the remote user will need to login at that point vnc is cross platform and does not integrate as closely with windows video drivers this is one of the causes of delays but it does not always mean vnc will use more system resources than remote desktop the data that vnc sends through the network is mostly repetitive images of the desktop of the client system security concerns because vnc does not force a login it can lead to a situation where a non administrator is accessing a windows system where the primary user is logged in as administrator password policies are not enforced in vnc a client system can be easily configured to require no password at all for access there are some settings that can be used to increase the security of systems with vnc one of these is a setting which only allows desktop viewing but not interacting with the system if this is enabled then remote users can only watch what is displayed on the system online sources bibliography http blog codinghorror com vnc vs remote desktop http www ehow com list_7211347_vnc security issues html october 15 2015 n3tweb week 4 is there a difference between client side and server side in order to better understand the difference between client side and server side i needed to recall where this concept came from with respect to the internet in some cases this refers to client side scripting and server side scripting client side scripting is when source code is transferred to the end user s computer and then run by a browser a scripting language like javascript or activex needs to be enabled in the browser sometimes this is disabled by default for security reasons server side scripting refers to a server side environment where scripts are run on the web server users will connect to the server and initiate the process through their browser but the scripts will not be run by the local browser this is better suited for situations where the user is looking up data stored on the server there are similarities and difference between client side attack and server side attack sometimes both will target applications the difference is that with client side the target is applications or data on the users client computer with server side the target is located on a web server one security concern with browsers has been vulnerability in client side javascript a client side attack that uses javascript is also referred to as cross site scripting or xss sql injection would likely occur on the server side where a webpage is regulating access to a database on the web server online sources bibliography 1 http www sqa org uk e learning clientside01cd page_18 htm 2 https media blackhat com bh us 11 sullivan bh_us_11_sullivan_server_side_wp pdf october 9 2015 october 9 2015 n3tweb week 3 many free browsers available online are they secure below shows just a subset of all available web browsers browser supported os google chrome windows mac os x and linux mozilla firefox windows mac os x and linux internet explorer 32 and 64 bit windows safari mac os x windows no longer updated opera windows mac os x and linux edge available with windows 10 1 chrome firefox opera edge and explorer have had continuous support with frequent new updates however concern over vulnerability in these mass market browsers has led to the availability of other products these products such as aviator are offered as more secure alternatives many of these browsers have a back story about where they originated and the various phases of their development the choice of what browser to use is left up to the consumer like most users i have tried several of the popular browsers and i often choose chrome over the others because it is cross platform the functionality and settings of chrome for windows is almost the same as chrome for android another layer to this is the growing interest in online anonymity for some security is not a matter of using one os in place of another or one browser in place of another according to articles i found online some believe security and anonymous communication require a complex process of using tor ified browsers and layers of encryption 2 a recent tor cartogram illustration shows just how complex this is getting based on my own experience i would not force employees to use one browser over another this policy would not have a lasting security benefit instead i would promote a layered approach that involves common sense such as using an anti virus...