The original implementation of Android's face unlock feature was a mess. It took too long to unlock (when it worked), brought up a huge interface that overpowered the lock screen, and maybe most egregiously, was able to be "hacked" by someone holding up a picture of your mug.
Our smartphones are full of personally-identifiable information. So much of what we do with these devices is tracked and recorded to make our experience more streamlined and personalized. For many users, that's a fair trade — but for privacy-minded folks, it's a raw deal.
I think it's safe to assume that most of us appreciate a little privacy and security when it comes to our mobile devices, which is exactly why we have lock screens that require unique passwords, patterns, or PINs. Although someone can discretely peer over your shoulder to see what your password is, it's much more difficult for them to duplicate your face to unlock the device.
Leaving your Wi-Fi radio "on" allows your smartphone to auto-connect to trusted wireless networks in lieu of using cellular data, but it also consumes battery power while it's constantly network hunting.
At first, it seemed like a clever art installation housed on the web, but now we're not so sure... the Newstweek hack may indeed be legit.
While Wi-Fi networks can be set up by smart IT people, that doesn't mean the users of the system are similarly tech-savvy. We'll demonstrate how an evil twin attack can steal Wi-Fi passwords by kicking a user off their trusted network while creating a nearly identical fake one. This forces the victim to connect to the fake network and supply the Wi-Fi password to regain internet access.
Smartphones are like high tech buckets that collect our personal information through constant use. This has some obvious benefits, like getting a more personalized experience with our devices. On the other hand, this data is a tempting target for bad actors looking to make a buck at the expense of your privacy.
While it may not sound scary right off the bat, Blue Coat Systems now has an intermediate certificate authority. If you don't know what a certificate authority (CA) is, or who Blue Coat is, who cares, right? But you should... whether you use Mac or Windows.
In general, the fingerprint scanner in Samsung's 2015 flagship phones is quick and accurate, but when you get that "No Match" message while trying to unlock your phone, it can be incredibly annoying. To help curb these issues, I'll go over three tips for speeding up the unlocking process that should work wonders on your Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+, or Note 5.
There have been concerns with how much personal information Google tracks and all the things they know about us. Of course, that's what makes Google services so useful, they can use that information to cater to each of us individually. So yes, it serves a purpose, but it's not great for personal data security.
Learn how to kickbox from the trusted folks at Expert Village. Strap on your gloves and get in shape with some simple tips and workouts. This video is a culmination of moves that you can learn individually as well.
If left unattended, a hacker with a USB Rubber Ducky and physical access to the computer can infiltrate even the most secure computer. Such attacks often go undetected without the use of a tool like USBRip, which can provide you with assurance that your device hasn't been compromised.
Get ready for more software testing. Just two days after the official release of iOS 12.1, Apple seeded public software testers iOS 12.1.1 — one day after developers received the update. While the rest of the iOS world is just getting to know all of the cool, new 12.1 features, testers are now sinking their teeth into what the next iteration of iOS has to offer.
Google recently rolled out a new Smart Lock option labeled "On-body detection" for Android Lollipop via an update to Google Play Services. As I'm sure you can gather from the name, this new function keeps your phone or tablet unlocked using the built-in accelerometer to determine whether or not your device is being carried on your body, allowing you to set it down and walk away carefree knowing that's it's locked again.
Without an available browser, it is challenging to enjoy media on your Nvidia Shield outside of the apps on the Play Store. It is because of this limitation that file transferring is vital, as only then can you enjoy your movies and music.
Smartphones are more like computers than actual telephones. Unfortunately, thieves, hackers, and other bad actors know this and are always looking to make money off your personal data. Thankfully, your Galaxy S20, S20+, or S20 Ultra has tools to combat these threats — as long as you know where to look.
Whether we like it or not, our personal information and smartphones are tied together at the hip. The former needs the latter to deliver a personalized experience that matches our individual needs. This personal data, however, makes your phone a prime target for thieves of all sorts to turn your privacy into illicit profit.
Apple just rolled out the of iOS 14.5 to developers and beta testers, and one of the headlining features is the ability to keep your iPhone unlocked when your Apple Watch is nearby. As these things tend to go, Android has actually had this same feature for years, though it isn't quite as polished.
Apple wastes no time with betas. Right on the heels of the official release of iOS 12.1, Apple released the first beta for iOS 12.1.1 to developers on Wednesday, Oct. 31. The update comes just one day after iOS 12.1, which itself was in beta development for 43 days this year. The denotation for 12.1.1 indicates it's a minor update over 12.1, and there are only a few things in its release notes.
Smartphones are great at keeping us busy with games, social media, and messaging apps, but there has been a recent push for them to also help keep us safe (and I'm not talking about from hackers, though that is equally important).
A low tunnel is a kind of mini-greenhouse for your garden. Growing vegetables in a low tunnel requires proper ventilation. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to provide the right ventilation for your low tunnel, keeping your plants happy and healthy.
Garlic is great for spicing up your meals (and keeping vampires away!) and fall is a great time to grow it. In this video tutorial, you'll learn how to grow garlic in your garden. Get some garlic bulbs from a seed catalog, nursery or organic grower, and you'll soon have a garlic crop to be proud of.
Come the fall, your garden is probably going to be looking pretty spare. But it doesn't have to be that way. There are vegetables that will thrive in the fall. In this Growing Wisdom gardening tutorial, you'll learn how to grow vegetables in the cooler months.
Autumn leaves may be beautiful, but they can also be incredibly annoying as they pile up around your garden. But there are things you can do with autumn leaves, like mulching them, composting them and turning them into a living fence. In this episode of Growing Wisdom, Dave Epstein walks you through how to make a leaf fence.
A macOS computer can reveal a lot of information about the owner, including which Wi-Fi network they have permission to access. With an Arduino-based attack, we'll use a five-dollar setup to inject a rogue Wi-Fi network and steal the list of trusted Wi-Fi networks, allowing us to see where the computer has been.
When you want to install a new tool or game on your iPhone, you go straight to the App Store to do so — but it's not the only place you can get apps from. Some developers use back alleys to get their apps to you, while others can trick you into installing them without giving it much thought. This can lead to malicious software running on your iPhone, software you'll want to get rid of asap.
We've already seen the visual changes that Android 5.0 Lollipop has brought to the table, but Google spent just as much time altering things under the hood. Awesome new functionality and hardware capabilities have been added left and right, and with the OS already out now, it's high time we had a look at some of these tweaks.
Hello, everyone. Stealth is a large part of any successful hack; if we don't get noticed, we're much less likely to be caught. In these next few articles, we'll be building a shell based on keeping us hidden from a firewall. There are many ways to stay hidden from a firewall, but we'll only be incorporating a couple into our shell. This article will outline and explain these evasion concepts and techniques.
Malware often disguises itself inside of seemingly non-malicious files, such as installer packages, where it can then gain root access to your computer to track activity or steal your information.
While we now know that iCloud was not exploited by hackers to steal private celebrity photos, Apple did admit that guessed (aka brute-forced) passwords and/or iCloud security questions were to blame for the breach.
Biometrics have a major flaw: they don't work well with personal protective equipment. Whether it's a mask obscuring facial recognition or gloves blocking the fingerprint scanner, it's a lot harder to unlock your phone when you're wearing the proper PPE. Thankfully, there are a few ways to speed things up.
A lot of people still trust their web browsers to remember every online account password for them. If you're one of those users, you need to adopt a more secure way of managing passwords, because browser-stored passwords are hacker gold mines. With a USB Rubber Ducky and physical access to your computer, they can have a screenshot of all your credentials in their inbox in less than 60 seconds.
The last update to iOS 12 featured more emoji, Group FaceTime, eSIM functionality, real-time depth control for new iPhones, and a few other interesting tidbits and fixes. Now, in the latest for iPhones, iOS 12.1.1, Apple brought back a few things that were removed or made more difficult to access in previous updates, and it even has a few new features to offer, albeit small ones.
The fatal crash of Air France Flight 447 is one of the most tragic accidents in avionic history — while it also serves as a stark reminder of what can go wrong when humans rely too much on driverless vehicles.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney was so fearful of attacks, he had his heart defibrillator re-calibrated to block incoming wireless signals so that highly skilled hackers couldn't send him into cardiac arrest.
The ability to browse the web in coffee shops, libraries, airports, and practically anywhere else you can imagine is more than convenient, but convenience has risks. Using public Wi-Fi allows others to spy on you easily. Even your own internet service provider can see every website you've ever visited. Don't fall into the trap of protecting your identity, data, and devices after it's too late.
If you just got a new iPhone, chances are you picked up the iPhone 11, successor to the iPhone XR, the most popular device in Apple's 2018 series. Since the XR did so well, it was predicted that the iPhone 11 would too, and so far, it has lived up to that prediction, beating the 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max in sales in 2019.
By far the most significant development for AR in the coming months and years — the development that will drive AR adoption — will be our reliance upon the AR cloud.
When traversing the web, you'll regularly come across websites that require you to create an account. With the majority of these accounts, protection is limited to a simple password. Despite this, many people are still using weak passwords such "123456." For these reasons, you really need a password manager, and our research has shown that LastPass is still your best bet.
One major problem in previous iOS versions is that there was no way to keep messages in sync between an iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and Mac. If you deleted a message in the Mac app, it would not be deleted on your iPhone, and vice versa. Apple finally fixed this issue in iOS 11.4 by storing all of the messages in iCloud, not on individual devices.
