Are you a person of interest ?

Nope, are you?

Keep your old phone like say a Nokia E63 no gps but is 3g and a so called smart phone .

Ops that whont work they the men in black sunny's and a trench coats can still find you cameras everywhere and face recognintion software .

Are you a person of interest ?

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Parents can buy and install an app upon their childrens mobile which lets them monitor where they are at all times via the internet. If the kids want to get up to mischief and turn the phone off they will have to explain themselves when they get home. Wives have and can monitor errant husbands visiting their mistresses via similar technology.

If you lead an innocent life why should you worry if people check up on you? It's because 90% of people have something to hide that they scream big brother and breaching human rights all the time. The Unions will fight against any monitoring because they know damn well that most of their members are up to all the fiddles going. Management love it, because they can say to a rep, why were you in the Kings Arms in Birmingham at 4pm last friday, when your diary says you visited Fred Bloggs Ltd in Manchester at the same time?

That is the truth of it all !!!

My old company trialed an iPhone app that allowed managers to track engineers. It was quite successful. You could view an online map that gave a position update at set intervals. No idea if they used it as I moved to a different group. This was 3 years ago so phone tracking apps are not new.

And yes if you don't want anyone to know, where you are or what you have been doing, it's best to switch you phone off forever and disconnect any computer or tablet from any connection to the internet. That is the only way to be totally safe.

Enjoy.

PS Your "friends" on Facebook can report to all their and your friends if they are with you and where!

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Just because you’re not paranoid, doesn't mean that they're not out to get you ...

Bit of a non-story there! just switch off & take the battery out solves that problem.

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One to watch out for...


Your phone may not be spying on you now - BUT it soon will be

Smash it with a hammer now, it's the only way to be sure

Eastern European governments' mobiles allegedly snooped on by state-sponsored hackers. Malware feared injected into gadgets during customs inspections.

You've seen these headlines. And according to Kaspersky Lab’s senior malware analyst Denis Maslennikov, there will be more of the same.

In March, Tibetan activists were hit by a highly targeted form of Android malware that accessed their contacts, call logs, text messages, location data, and other information. ...


Note also that there are readily available apps to deliberately report the position of a GPS enabled smartphone to a web server so that the phone (and you) can be tracked. There's also the various social media sites experimenting with tracking you so that you can be notified when 'friends' or 'things you might want to buy' are nearby.

And then there is the handset tracking that is a part of the mobile phone system operation to keep your phone connected to a base station for making quaint old fashioned phone calls. That data is recorded by the phone company and can be made available to others...


IT is what we make it...
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

I use BT supplied MK III black, pass through, Comtrend adapters. I am assured that the electricity meter acts as block on the signals that are transmitted across the network, so there is no chance of them leaking out on to the public wiring and my neighbours picking them up. I understand that the domestic wiring arrangements, particularly the phases used, are different in the USA. There are some up market powerline adapters that can be configured to use passwords between them, mine are just simple plug in and go ones, which is all that is needed in the UK.

As for WIFI I find it unnecessary in my lifestyle, and it has always been a pain in the butt to me. A friend of mine had a problem with a wifi router in the lounge and the computer in the daughters bedroom upstairs on the opposite side of the house. It had a wifi USB dongle in the back but regularly lost the internet. We tried shutting doors, opening doors, moving computers closer to windows for hours. The solution was to spend £3 and order a double length, double power, replacement screw in aerial from china for the router. What a lot of frigging about!

Wifi works well in line of sight, and if there is a strong enough signal. I will be meeting Bernie in a couple of months and I have no doubt whatsoever that he will have 2 or 3 of the latest gadgets with him, that will be doing the most amazing things in the local pub, like live Skype from America etc. and I will be genuinely very impressed as always at what modern technology can do. I just can't be bothered with it myself and don't need it. Genuine Good luck to those that can and do.

The devices may be a "matched pair" but I'd be interested to know what encryption they use. Somehow I doubt they would be as secure as a well set up WiFi router. Just much less noticeable.

I have no doubt that someone who knew what they were doing could hack them pretty easily.

From what I have read you are correct but of course you can only hack them if you are on the same circuit, but yes a determined neighbor would probably have more luck than with a strong WPA-2 Wi-Fi password.

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@Bernie - Very interesting comment about the powerline adapters. I thought that they only used the electrical wiring within an individual premises. Are you suggesting that my next door neighbours on the same leg from the local sub-station could access them as well? There appears to be no security that the powerline adapters have other than to sync with each other on the same circuit.

What did you think stopped the signal getting past your meter box? To a device like that, the incoming mains feed is just an extension of your house wiring.

The devices may be a "matched pair" but I'd be interested to know what encryption they use. Somehow I doubt they would be as secure as a well set up WiFi router. Just much less noticeable.

I have no doubt that someone who knew what they were doing could hack them pretty easily.

T.A.

I agree with Chris about Wi-Fi we invented it and it's crap to easy to hack $80 and you can buy a divice that captures packets and bing go you have somebody's password never think your Wi-Fi is not crackable .I have a Wi-Fi routor but all my machines are wired to it

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Apparentely all modern powerline adapters come as a "matched pair" with inbuilt passwords that the user only need to alter if adding extras. But yes the actual data is available to all homes on the same feed from the main transformer.

I have to say "hating" Wi-Fi is a bit strange. While staying away I kept in touch 100% on Wi-Fi. Also while on holiday in the US once again I kept in touch 100% on Wi-Fi, no other way. To me Wi-Fi is one of the best advances in recent technology wouldn' want to be without it.

The customers Wi-Fi router DID have a hardware switch and it was OFF. That was the reason NOT to have them.

PS Everyone who uses the internet should have the best possible protection as ANY site can harbor nasties. Expect the unexpected.

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@Gary - It is well known that the vast majority of all internet virus infections come from porno sex sites which are usually hosted in Eastern Europe or the Far East. More people visit those sort of sites than anyone is prepared to admit. Hence the proposed law changes in the UK to make Internet users "opt in" to be able to visit them via their ISP.

That is the oft quoted assumption.
http://wxerfm.com/blogs/post/bolson/2012/may/04/guess-what-internet-sites-are-most-likely-give-you/

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@Bernie - Very interesting comment about the powerline adapters. I thought that they only used the electrical wiring within an individual premises. Are you suggesting that my next door neighbours on the same leg from the local sub-station could access them as well? There appears to be no security that the powerline adapters have other than to sync with each other on the same circuit.

I had thought about BT Fon but I hate WIFI with a passion and won't, and have no need, to use it. If I want to make an email or surf the web I'll wait until I get home, I simply don't need to be online 24/7 out of the house. I spend far too much time as it is on the Internet, I'm glad to get away from it at times, I don't need to be aware of world shattering news down the local high street, I can catch up with it on the 6 o'clock news.

By a WIFI switch I meant a physical on/off switch on the back of the router, not a software one, that obviously your clients weren't aware of. But as I said previously, I don't want to do you out of a job :-)

@Gary - It is well known that the vast majority of all internet virus infections come from porno sex sites which are usually hosted in Eastern Europe or the Far East. More people visit those sort of sites than anyone is prepared to admit. Hence the proposed law changes in the UK to make Internet users "opt in" to be able to visit them via their ISP.

If they want to surf dodgy porn sites, well that's their problem, and it will cost them to buy something better.

If by porn you mean celebrity gossip and music, then your statement is correct.

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That will stop the neighbours getting free internet :-)

As long as you use the powerline security, as anyone on the same phase and on the same side of the transformer could also see your adapters. Apparently it has happened!!

My last three BT home hubs have a secure Wi-Fi password set by default. So no real chance of the neighbors getting free Wi-Fi. Saying that I am part of the BT FON program so my router has a small part allocated to free BT Openzone Wi-Fi for any BT customers within range. Also gives me free Wi-Fi almost everywhere.

Possible reason for no "switch". One of the customers I do support work for has a shop in Covent Garden. The were having problems with their Wi-Fi. I was asked if I would have a look. So traveled from home to Covent Garden, checked the router, switched the Wi-Fi back on, traveled back home and charged the customer for two hours work. No one realised there was a switch!!

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It's really a case of can we trust companies and users, not IT itself. It used to be that most routers were sold with the encryption turned off, leaving it up to the users to implement it, these days it is often turned on by default. However all WIFI capable routers which is pretty much all of them, come with the WIFI turned on by default. For people like me who don't want to sit in the garden with a laptop surfing the web, I have my desktop hardwired. And even though my computer is in a different room to the Router beside the phone jack, I don't have cables running around the house, I use powerline adapters. The first thing I do is to disable the WIFI, which usually means delving into many submenus and logging in as an Admin/Supervisor. Why can't they just have a simple WIFI on/off switch? That will stop the neighbours getting free internet :-)

Most new desktops and laptops today will come with a 3 month free trial of Norton Firewall/antivirus or similar, pretty much standard marketing "try before you buy" tactics. When 3 months later the user gets a message asking for £30-50 for an Annual licence, many decide not to bother, resulting in the protection either being invalidated or becoming out of date, leading to infections. The average user simply doesn't need industrial strength firewalls, the inbuilt OS one as in Windows is good enough. If they want to surf dodgy porn sites, well that's their problem, and it will cost them to buy something better. It's 5 minute job to download something like the Avast free antivirus version, which automatically updates itself every couple of days.

But all of this is assuming that the end user is a bit savvy, which sadly is not true of the majority of users. Yes you can trust IT, provided that companies sell kit safeguarded by default, and they make it easier for users to protect themselves. But I suppose the IT support industry would rather see themselves in work, so nothing much will change.

Is this the 'proprietary way' of abusing FLOSS?


Lots of router vulnerabilities, not many patches

... Routers from Linksys, Netgear and repeat offender D-Link are affected. Some of the vulnerabilities can be exploited to inject commands remotely. ...

...

Martin

that is why i spin my own router...

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Three contrasting examples:


No 'web snooping' bill while Lib Dems in government

Home Office plans to store details of Britons' online activity will not happen while the Liberal Democrats are in government, Nick Clegg has said. ...

... The prime minister's official spokesman said the reality was that technological change had not gone away and, while it was a sensitive issue, action was needed "to respond to those changes".

Mr Clegg said he would be willing to accept changes to take account of new technology - such as ensuring each mobile device had its own unique IP address.

But, he said: "What people have dubbed the snooper's charter - I have to be clear with you, that's not going to happen.

"In other words the idea that the government will pass a law which means there will be a record kept of every website you visit, who you communicate with on social media sites, that's not going to happen.

"It's certainly not going to happen with Liberal Democrats in government." ...


CISPA row: Slurped citizen data is ENORMO HACK TARGET

... the head of the security firm said the legislation could create several problems, not least of which was the equivalent of sticking a giant 'Hack Me' sign on the government's info stores.

The US cybersecurity bill, which passed through the US House of Representatives last week, would allow the US government to share "cyber threat intelligence" with private-sector entities. Crucially, the proposed law would also allow the firms to share their customers' web traffic information - among other things - with the Feds.

CISPA's critics also argue that the law would create a mechanism for private businesses to share intelligence with government, including private data, without judicial oversight. ...



Your phone may not be spying on you now - BUT it soon will be

... The AndroidOS-Chuli-A Trojan thrown against Tibetan protestors was "not that sophisticated for Android malware", according to Maslennikov, who explained that by targeting smartphones, spies could swipe contact information from the device and its SIM card that would be hard to obtain with other techniques.

Maslennikov described last month's Tibetan attack as a shape of things to come, rather than a one-off. Infiltration attempts using combinations of social engineering skills, zero-day vulnerabilities and exploits are more and more likely.

Meanwhile, the commercial FinFisher (AKA FinSpy) application, produced by Anglo-German firm Gamma International and marketed as a “lawful interception” suite, allows cops and spooks to infiltrate and monitor computers...


And then also there are the main IT players and still the old-school credit card and 'loyalty' cards players...

Do you know how they will have you spend your money?... And what else?


IT is what we make it,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Computer are tools, not a holy mantra. GIGO is as true today as it was 40 years ago. But the problem is that most company Directors have no computing knowledge at all, so believe what they are told by consultants. However there is now a move in addition to CEO's, to appoint CIO's to the board, who do basically know what they are doing. But the basic problem still remains.

Boards of Directors will say, why do we have our own in-house catering, why do we have our own Building Facilities Management (Bogs & Basins dept), why do we have our own Computer Support? Our core business is XYZ, we should be concentrating on that, and the rest can be contracted out to those that are specialists in it. As soon as the Bean counters agree that adopting that strategy will save on paper considerable money, it's a done deal.

What happens? They get ripped off by cowboys and don't even realise that they are, because they have let go their own internal expertise. Been there, seen it, done it, bought the Tee shirt, read the book, seen the film .....