Friday 30 May 2014

Easy to Clear Outdated Links from Google

After a ruling from Europe's top court that Google should remove links to 'outdated information' about individuals at their request, the search giant has opened up an online form for those wanting to be forgotten.

According to the report in ZDNet, The decision on the  'right to be forgotten' was handed down earlier this month after Google appealed an order by the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) to remove links to articles about an individual published in a Spanish newspaper in 1998 by Spanish newspaper. The AEPD ruling came after a Spanish national found links to the articles, which contained details about a real-estate auction that was held to settle social security debts, after searching for his own name online. He requested they be removed, as he believed the articles contained information about him which was no longer relevant.

Remove Outdated Links from Google

Following the ruling, many other individuals have approached Google to remove links to information about them that they consider outdated. Now, the company has launched a form where individuals can make their 'right to be forgotten' requests online.

The form asks for a user's details, the links to the 'outdated information', and an explanation of why they should be removed. Anyone wanting to use the form will also need to provide a scan of their photo ID, to stop fraudulent attempts to remove information. "Google often receives fraudulent removal requests from people impersonating others, trying to harm competitors, or improperly seeking to suppress legal information," it says.

Google notes that the form is just its first try at working out the takedown mechanism, and it will be "working with data protection authorities" to develop it in future.

Also read: Google told to expand right to be forgotten

The company has published no timeline on when users can expect their requests to be dealt with. "We will assess each individual request and attempt to balance the privacy rights of the individual with the public’s right to know and distribute information. When evaluating your request, we will look at whether the results include outdated information about you, as well as whether there’s a public interest in the information—for example, information about financial scams, professional malpractice, criminal convictions, or public conduct of government officials," it says.

Unsurprisingly, the European Court of Justice's ruling was not met with enthusiasm by Google. At a recent annual shareholder meeting, Google's chairman Eric Schmidt told investors the case was "a collision between the right to be forgotten and the right to know".

Wednesday 21 May 2014

Encrypted Passwords were Taken from Ebay Network

Ebay advised its customers to change their passwords immediately as some encrypted passwords were taken from Ebay by hackers. Those passwords were among the data stolen by cyber criminals who raided its network three months ago.

The hackers, who carried out the attack between late February and early March, has taken some 145 million user records in what is poised to go down as one of the biggest cyber attack in the history, based on the number of accounts compromised.

Ebay Network Hacked

According to the report in Reuters, Amanda Miller, a spokeswoman from Ebay told Reuters late on Wednesday that those passwords were encrypted and that EBay had no reason to believe the hackers had broken the code that scrambled them.

"There is no evidence of impact on any eBay customers," Miller said. "We don't know that they decrypted the passwords because it would not be easy to do."

She said the hackers gained access to 145 million records of which they copied "a large part". Those records contained passwords as well as email addresses, birth dates, mailing addresses and other personal information, but not financial data such as credit card numbers.

Miller also said the company has hired FireEye Inc's Mandiant forensics division to help investigate the matter. Mandiant is known for publishing a February 2013 report that described what it said was a Shanghai-based hacking group linked to the Peoples Liberation Army.

EBay earlier said a large number of accounts may have been compromised, but declined to say how many. Security experts advised EBay customers to be on the alert for fraud, especially if they used the same passwords for other accounts.

"People need to stop reusing passwords and should change their affected passwords immediately across all the sites where they are used," said Trey Ford, global security strategist with cyber security firm Rapid7.

Michael Coates, director of product security with Shape Security, said there is a significant risk that the hackers would unscramble the passwords because typically companies only ask users to change passwords if they believe there is a reasonable chance attackers may be able to do so.

Still, eBay said it had not seen any indication of increased fraudulent activity on its flagship site and that there was no evidence its PayPal online payment service had been breached.

EBay Network Hacked


EBay said the hackers got in after obtaining login credentials for "a small number" of employees, allowing them to access eBay's corporate network. It discovered the breach in early May and immediately brought in security experts and law enforcement to investigate, Miller said.

"We worked aggressively and as quickly as possible to insure accurate and thorough disclosure of the nature and extent of the compromise," Miller said when asked why the company had not immediately notified users.

The breach could go down as the second-biggest in history at a U.S. company, based on the number records accessed by the hackers.Computer security experts say the biggest such breach was uncovered at software maker Adobe Systems Inc in October 2013, when hackers accessed about 152 million user accounts.

It would be larger than the one that Target Corp disclosed in December of last year, which included some 40 million payment card numbers and another 70 million customer records.

Wednesday 7 May 2014

Specifications of Samsung Galaxy Tab S

Samsung, the Korean technology giant is not stopping just yet. People along with rivals in the same category is now waiting for Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S, a brand new tablet from this technology giant, has lineup in the pipeline for the new release.

Samsung might have paid $120 million for its rival Apple on ruling on a patent infringement case. But they are not stopping and back stepping from manufacturing the best technological devices to give the best customer service that they are known for.


Specifications of Galaxy Tab S

There have been many rumors about the basic technology and new features that they are going to add in this new device. This AMOLED tablet range will be christened, Galaxy Tab S, and a built in fingerprint sensor into home button may be expected to see in this device version.

All sensor features of Galaxy S5 related to fingerprint can be expected in the tablet. These fatures include Samsung Apps Login, Paypal Payments, Fingerprint Unlock and Private Folder. There is news that Samsung is adding a new feature specially for this device which will be unique to this tab only.

A feature, Multi User Login is expected to be added in this tab, which will work with Android’s native multi-user functionality but enhances it further by allowing the user to log in by simply swiping a finger on the home button from the lock screen.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S will come in two display sizes, 10.5 inch and 8.4 inch, and will be the first ever device to feature WQXGA (2560x1600) AMOLED display. This display is used for power saving and long lasting battery life. Samsung have been using this technology since many years.

There is no news about the official launch of this Galaxy Tab S and when it will be available to the public.