12 12 - 25 June 2019 Email us your security questions [email protected]
QShould we worry
about hidden
spy cameras
while travelling?
Joel North,FacebookAThe headlines
about hidden
cameras spying
onpeoplerenting
accommodation provethat
secret surveillance is not
just something you see inFlipboard hack forces users
to reset passwords
The newsaggregation
service Flipboard has
suffered a security
breach that gave hackers
unauthorised access to its internal
systemsfor more than nine months.
Flipboard has notified all affected
users and, as a precautionary
measure, hasreset the passwords of
everyone who uses the service.
Flipboard has more than 145 million
monthly active users, but hasn’tyet
disclosed theexact number of
accounts involved in the breach.The
datastolen included sensitive
information such as usernames, email
addresses and encrypted passwords.
“We’restill in the process of
determining thetotal number,” the
company said. “We do know that not
all accountswere compromised.We
have notfound anyevidence the
unauthorized person accessedthe movies – it’s happening in
real life. In April, a family
discovered that their
activities were being live-
streamed through acamera
hiddenin the living-room
smoke alarm of their rented
cottage in Ireland– one of
several recent examplesof
suchactivity.
Staying secure needn’t
involve hightech
andexpensive
countermeasures- basic kit and
common sense goa
longway towards
keeping your digital
gear andinformation
safe so you are free
to enjoy your holiday.
Toensure there are
nohiddencameras in your
hotel room orrental
apartment, you can travel
with asmall GPS-tracking
tool (readily available
online) that incorporates
a radio-frequencyscanner,
light-emitting diodes
anda red glass.
This tool lets you
find any sources that
emit electromagnetic
waves (as most
wirelessbugs and
cameras do) andto
lookfor hidden
cameras. Acamera
lensreflects lightsignificantlybetter than
othersurfaces do, so if you
point light fromthe diodes
at what appears to bea
camera, andlooktowardit
through the red glass,
you’ll see abright red dot.
You can also use your
mobile phone to spot
cameras that use infrared
illumination, because
cameras in mobile phones
can detect infrared
emissions. Bear in mind,
however, that the infrared
filters in somephones,
suchas iPhones, are too
strongfor this trick.News about the latest threats and advice from security experts
Stay Safe OnlineSECURITY ALERT! |What’s been bothering us this fortnight
Security Helpdesk|Your questions answered by security specialiststhird-party account(s) connectedto
users’ Flipboard accounts.”
The good newsis that the majority of
thestolen passwords between June 2018
and March/April 2019were protected
with astrong password-hashing
algorithm called Bcrypt, which is
consideredvery hardto crack.
bit.ly/flipboardMalware-ridden laptop sells
forover a million
A laptop laden with some of the most
infamousexamples of malware has sold
for $1.3m (£1.03m) in an online art
auction. ‘ThePersistence of Chaos’,
a piecebyartist Guo O Dong, is a 10.2in
Samsung Netbook from 2008 that’s
been infected with six differentstrains of
malware believed to have collectively
caused $95bn in damageto systems
across theworld.
The malware on the “world’s most
dangerous” laptop includes ILOVEYOU,a
virus that originated in the Philippines in2000; MyDoom, allegedly a Russian
emailworm from 2004, which is said
to be one of thefastest spreading
virusesever; andWannaCry, which
crippled the NHS and many other
public and private organisations
around theworld in 2017.
“Malware is one of the most tangible
waysthat the internet can jump out of
your monitor and biteyou,” said Guo.
He emphasised that all the ports on
the machine have been disabledto
prevent the malware from spreading.
bit.ly/laptopSecret surveillance is not just
something you see in the moviesTHIS ISSUE’S EXPERT:
Marco Preuss,
securityresearcherat
Kaspersky Lab
(www.kaspersky.co.uk)