Twitter Threats

Here is a link for the article used in my last blog:  http://news.cnet.com/8301-19413_3-20086081-240/regulation-automation-and-cloud-computing/

Link to this blog:http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20086316-17/security-firm-warns-of-new-twitter-threat/



That twitter post is tricking people and leading them to sites filled with viruses and malware.  The poeple who buy in to the scam can lose money if they give too much personal information. Tweets are being sent out offering single mothers and teens to make thousands of dollars each day. People are apparently clicking on these tweets.A study found that only 43% of accounts on twitter were legitimate, while 57% were questionable.
Twitter is becoming a pretty powerful form of communication and people are using it for negative purposes and scamming people. Just like computer pop-ups people need to be very wary of hat they click on and never give personal information to an un-secure source.

Regulation, Automation, and Cloud Computing

This article touched upon how as automation becomes quicker it leaves less of a chance to react manually to situations that may cause a crisis. This lead the author to ponder cloud automation and how it can be leag and compliant with regulations. He is not sure how the conastant changing of and configurations of applications isnt breaking laws and regulations. Laws and regulations also change on a daily basis so it is nearly impossible for programmers to know which laws apply to which systems at any given time. He is not sure how this will affect cloud computing. The triggering automated triggering form one vendor in the cloud to another could also break regulations. He feels thta individuals can help limit laws being broken, but as a system it is much more complex. System thinking can help deal with IT compliance because it involves viewing problms of an overall system and fising them that way instead of one at a time.
The article was a little confusing, but the gist of it is that technology is moving faster the the regulations and laws governing it are.

Google Street View Got Private Information From Peoples Phones and PCs

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20082777-281/street-view-cars-grabbed-locations-of-phones-pcs/

Google street view collected the locations of millions of laptops, cell phones, and other wifi devices from around the world. Only locations of wi-fi access points was supposed to be collected. The information it collected from computers and other devices were made publicly available through Google.com. In April Apple came under fire of logging the location of its Iphone users. Google declined to address why and how the collection of the devices information was collected. Their API revealed where the device was located, a practice that can reveal personal information including home addresses and the addresses of restaurants frequently visited. It is not legal for Google to be collecting people's private information, and scary that they post it for the public to see. I am hoping that the Government will look into this problem and I would not be surprised to see a class action lawsuit be brought towards Google.

5 Things a Company Can Do to Boost Social Engineering Immunity

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/72891.html

Organizations IT departments don't pay too much attention to being very susceptible to social engineering hackers. This article gave some tips that organizations can use to reduce the chances that they will be hacked. The first is to identify targets and make a list. This step points out that areas of an organization with elevated access (help desk, call center) ar3e the most likely to be attacked ,because of their access to passwords, etc. and that they should be trained on what to look for to recognize an attack. The second step is to recognize and address user limitations. this involves building steps in a process that takes decisions about access out of the hands of support staff. The third step is to test the processes and evaluate what areas to fix. The fourth step is to build awareness by posting large signs in common workplaces(above the coffee machine). And the last step is to develop an IT plan going forward on how to protect form and build countermeasures to potential attacks. Companies are as susceptible to hacking as anyone, and being hacked can be very costly. The more aware people are of the potential problem, the better off a company will be.

4 Future Technology Waves That Will Change People's Lives

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/72831.html

This article touched on four different technologies that will change our lives in one way or another. The first technology is building off of existing video technology. It talked about how people don't necessarily want to be looking at the person they are talking to, and it would be useful to be able to display videos or pictures on the screen instead of the person looking at your face. The second technology talked about having communication between people's smart phones, the police, and security cameras to make society a safer place with the lack of funding for police and rising crimes. The third technology touched on how tablets are going to become more popular and their need for a more sensitive screen and using a stylus on them, and reducing people's needs for a keyboard. The last technology talked about how in the future batteries will be replaced with capacitors, and this will make electricity for electrical units cheaper and last longer. ll of the technologies that were touched on were logical, and would help society on the whole.

Combining Differant Technologies for More Interactive Running

http://gigaom.com/mobile/what-happens-when-you-marry-sports-sensors-and-social/

Technology will be used during the 2011 New York Marathon for both the IOS and android smartphones which will integrate data from RFID and GPS sensros to provide real time progress of the runners. The runners status will also be available through email and text if you wanted to track a particular runner (i.e. family memeber or friend). There are current phone apps which track statistics/trends that peopel can use daily to help them train or motivate themselves. If I ran to get into shape I'd definately find it helpful to gather data from my phone app to give me the ability to track my progress and set realisitc goals for myself.

Using Tablet PCs to Help with Autism

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_18478215

This article is about how companies are building apps for tablet PCs to help kids with Autism learn. Some children with autism find it easier to learn visually and a touchscreen allows them to use there fingers to guide, point to, and move objects on the screen. It also allows them to trace letters and numbers when they are learningto read and count. HP has invited developers to create apps to aid children with autism and allow people to download the apps for free. There are currentl;y apps available for the ipad and android tablets, but are not free. Another problem with a lot of the current apps are that they were built by teachers who lack the technical skills to make the apps as user friendly as the users would like. As more people buy tablets with touch features, hopefully more people/companies will create educational products to aid those in need.