PARTINGSHOTS
130 OCTOBER 2019|COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE 380
Zygote
Witheveryone from theUSCustomsandBorderPatroltoPizzaHutmisusingyourdata,
it’s easytoworry. Theremedy, saysZygote,istopicturethePMasafluffykitten
Hut Rewards, who declare:
“Webelieve there has been
unauthorised access of Hut
Rewards accounts due to athird
party obtaining emails and
passwords from unsecure
websites in the hope that users
have used the same email and
password combination. We
recommend that you change
your Hut Rewards password as
soon as possible.”
In an admission that has
rocked the fast-food community,
it transpires that criminal gangs
have been using stolen reward
points to order extra slices of
pizza. Pizza Hut has reassured
devastated consumers that,
“Wewill be reinstating your
lost slices, and continuing to
investigateasapriority”.Would
you like parmesan with that?
SELFABUSE
It’s no secret that Google gives
preferential treatment to its own
apps, allowing them to pass
through spam filters used by the
likes of Gmail, Google Photos,
Google Ads, Google Analytics,
Google Drive,Google Forms and
Google Calendar.This loophole is
being exploited by rogues and
vagabonds to target spam,
phishing pages and malware at
Google-hungry users without
triggering Google’s own defences.
Forexample,acriminal can
schedule events in Google
Calendar,notify hordes of Gmail
users, and automatically generate
waves of reminders that include
malicious links to fake sites.
Google Photos can be used to
implant spam, bogus offers and
fakenewsimages.Evenseemingly
secure services such as Google
Analytics are now tools forthe
crooks, with innocent-looking
websitestatistics delivered as
PDF files that are riddled with
malicious and dangerous links. In
fact, any Google add-on that can
integratewith Gmail is not only a
target forabuse,but is given a
helping hand by Google’s own
self-promotion algorithms.
LIGHT FINGERED
How many programmers does it
take to change alight bulb? The
answer appears to be all of them.
General Electric has launched a
range of smart LED bulbs, which
arecompatiblewithanyBluetooth
or Google Assistant device.
To change the default setting,
Zygotewould expect to see a
reset button or one of those little
reset holes where you insert the
tip of aballpoint pen. But General
Electric has opted forasoft reset,
whichneedsavideotoexplainthe
process, and Zygoteishappyto
save you the trouble of watching
it with the following synopsis.
First, turn off the light for
exactly five seconds. Now turn it
on forexactly eight seconds, off
forexactly two seconds, on for
two seconds, off fortwo seconds,
on foranother two seconds, off
forafurther two seconds, on
again foranother two seconds
and off foranother two seconds.
Ready? Not quite. Switch the
light bulb back on forexactly
eight seconds, not two,but eight.
All done? Well, no.Finally,switch
off fortwo seconds, then back on
again and wait forthree flashes
to confirm asuccessful reset. If
you don’t see three flashes, then
start all over again, preferably
with astopwatch and acandle.
CATASTROPHE
ThePTI party wasfounded by
Imran Khan, cricketing maestro
and current prime minister of
Pakistan. Arecent party press
conference from the north-west
province was live-streamed on
Facebook by his official social
media department, and featured
aspeech delivered by Shaukat
Yousafzai, minister forHealth
and Information. Due to an
inexplicable technical fault, a
Facebook cat-filter was applied to
the minister,who appeared on
the nation’s screens with pink
pussy ears, aperkyblack nose
and long feline whiskers. His
approvalrating around the
country immediately shot up,
and Zygotestrongly recommends
this strategy forthe new Prime
Minister and his entire cabinet.
CEPTICTANK
Citizens of the United Kingdom
and Northern Ireland are allowed
to visit the United States on a
90-dayvisa, applied foronline.
During the statevisit to these
shores by President Donald
Trump in June,heauthorised his
government to add new
conditions forBritish visa
applicants. These include handing
over full details of social media
accounts that have been used in
thepastfiveyears,includingemail
addresses, usernames and URLs
forthe likes of Twitter,Facebook,
Instagram, Tumblr and LinkedIn.
What could possibly go wrong?
Quitealot could go wrong, as
it turns out. The US Customs and
Border Patrol has admitted that
the week before these new visa
conditions were imposed, a
Border Patrol subcontractor
leaked the entire database of
licence plateand traveller images,
documentation, personal details,
border and checkpoint data. They
refusedtonamethesubcontractor
forsecurity reasons, but admitted
that cloned data had been hacked
and the whole lot is now in the
hands of the Dark Web.
Zygotecan reveal that the US
government statement was
issued on aWord document, and
asingle editing click revealed the
word ‘Perceptics’,which is the
nameofthecompanythatsupplies
number-platerecognition
systems and suffered the data
breach. So much forsecurity.
PIZZATHEACTION
PizzaHut runs an online loyalty
scheme that clocks up reward
points based on the amount of
carbohydratecustomers order.
Zygotewould not dream of
accusing Pizza Hut of running an
insecure system and putting
customers’ dietary data in
jeopardy,but human nature
dictates that some customers
use the same passwords for
multiple online accounts with
different organisations.
And that is undoubtedly what
has happened in the case of Pizza
