Tools Toys and Technology

About the Tools You Use and the Toys That Make Life Interesting

Tools Toys and Technology - About the Tools You Use and the Toys That Make Life Interesting

Breakin at VUDU Exposes Private Customer Information

We’ve said it many times … it’s important (no CRITICAL) that you not use the same password on all Websites. The reason for that just reared its ugly head yesterday in an email I received from the streaming movie service, VUDU.

Here’s part of that message:

We want to let you know that there was a break-in at the VUDU offices on March 24, 2013, and a number of items were stolen, including hard drives.

Our investigation thus far indicates that these hard drives contained customer information, including names, email addresses, postal addresses, phone numbers, account activity, dates of birth and the last four digits of some credit card numbers.

While the stolen hard drives included VUDU account passwords, those passwords were encrypted. We believe it would be difficult to break the password encryption, but we can’t rule out that possibility given the circumstances of this theft. So we think it’s best to be proactive and ask that you be proactive as well. … If you use your VUDU password on any other sites, we strongly recommend that you change it on those sites as well.

We usually think of sensitive information being garnered from externally hacked systems. Here’s a case where the bad guys brazenly broke into VUDU offices and ripped the hard drives right out of their computers, thereby gaining access to everything on that hard drives.

You can be sure they had just one thing in mind … to pilfer all of VUDU’s customer information they had on file, including usernames and passwords. The common thing to do next is to try to log on to other accounts using the same username and password, including email services, online banking systems, online merchants like Amazon, and everywhere else where they think they might be able to rip you off and profit from your confidential information.

Are you still using the same password for multiple Websites?

You have been warned!

 

Phone Phishing … Your Computer Has a Virus

I first heard of this some time ago. I thought this was ancient history, but today I actually got “the phone call.” The caller asks for me by name…

I’m calling from Windows Service Center.

… he says with a strong Indian accent.

We’ve had a report that your computer has serious virus problems.

He proceeds to instruct me to look at my keyboard and navigate my computer. The goal: to have me hand over remote control of my computer to “fix” the problem.

I told him to … Well, never mind what I told him.

THIS IS A SCAM OF THE WORST SORT

No legitimate company will cold call you and offer to “fix” your computer right then and there. NEVER allow someone who you don’t know, through a phone call you did not initiate, to take over control of your computer. It may be hard to imagine that criminals — and that’s exactly what they are — could be so brazen to actually call you up and install nasty malware on you computer, while you sit right there and help them do it. But it’s going on.

Be suspicious always. They ARE out to get you.

I didn’t record my call, but here’s an interesting Youtube description of how the call would proceed, IF YOU WERE TO BE SO GULLIBLE AS TO FALL FOR THIS.

For more information on this particular scam, see these reports:

Be careful out there in the wild. It’s a scary world.

Fake Facebook Message – Phishing Attempt

Got this in my email this morning, supposedly from Facebook … NOT!

Don’t fall for this one. If you have doubts whether a message is legit, hover over a link and check the URL at the bottom of your browser. Don’t click anything that you are not 100% sure is legitimate. Even the unsubscribe link is bogus.

[CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW]

Bogus IRS email

I just got this email this morning with the rather serious-looking subject line:

“IRS notification of your tax appeal status”

Then it gets even worse…

Dear Chief Account Officer,

Hereby you are notified that your Income Tax Refund Appeal id#5499970 has been REJECTED. If you believe the IRS did not properly estimate your case due to a misunderstanding of the facts, be prepared to provide additional information. You can obtain the rejection details and re-submit your appeal by using the instructions in the attachment.

Internal Revenue Service

Oh, yes … the “attachment.” The attached file is disguised to look like a web page, but it is actually an attached file. Click on it and … who knows. You can count on malware of some sort.

Be careful out there in a computer world where attacks on your security and privacy are common place. While this email is pretty obviously bogus to anyone who is looking carefully, it is tax season. Hence, this one could get you, if you were seriously concerned about the message.

Roku 3 is here

If you’ve been reading my streaming TV posts, you know that my favorite set-top streaming receiver is Roku. Now they’ve given me (and you) another reason to love Roku.

Roku 3 hits the streets this week as the new high-end representative to the Roku product line. They’ve changed the look of the palm-size box a little, giving it rounded sides. But it goes far beyond appearance changes in both hardware and user interface.

Hardware Changes

Changes in the hardware include:

  1. Upgraded processor – makes it faster in navigating programming and features
  2. Upgraded dual-band WiFi – for extended range and increased speed
  3. New remote with headphone jack – Headphone jack? Yes, now you can enjoy your favorite streaming programs in bed, without disturbing your partner.
  4. Supports new video file formats – H264 and MKV may not mean much to you, and they don’t have to. Suffice it to say, the Roku 3 can play significantly upgraded video standards.
  5. Upgraded audio – supports 7.1 channel surround sound.

Retained hardware features from the previous top-of-the-line 2XS include: the 10/100 base-T ethernet connection for wired Internet performance, a USB port, and Bluetooth. Roke 3 has done away with the A/V connections, relying totally on HDMI for connection to your HD TV.

User Interface Changes

Your biggest pleasure will come when you fire up the new Roku 3. The good news for Roku has always been its plethora of TV and movie content. But when you’ve got that much stuff (over 750 channels and growing all the time), how do you find what you want?

That’s gotten a whole lot easier, thanks to the new user interface (UI), which shows you 9 channels at a time on a single screen. Clicking an advance arrow takes you to a new page of content. You can easily tell a channel you’ve already added by the check mark in the corner of the channel. A two-panel design makes it easier to browse genres, with a list of genre names on the left and the channel content grid on the right.

The Roku 3 is a significant upgrade in what I already consider to be the top streaming set-top box out there. I’m sure there is one in my future.

Read More about Roku 3

 

CES 2013

Copyright © 2013, Richard Beaty

CES 2013

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the ultimate fantasyland for techies. It happens every January in that other ultimate fantasyland, Las Vegas.

CES features the latest and greatest “stuff” … things that were recently introduced … will be introduced in the near future … may be introduced sometime but not anytime soon … and some stuff that may never, ever see the light of day.

Continue reading →

IE Still Struggling for “Love”

Commentary

Let me be clear. I like Microsoft products, at least for the most part. So I don’t run around routinely dissing Microsoft. I even like Windows 8 … kind of. But I do have problems with Internet Explorer.

The Microsoft Internet Explorer browser has had a long and tainted past. It’s improved (I guess), but it still has its problems. It is still pretty dysfunctional when it comes to accepted HTML 5 functionality.

I teach a class on WordPress, for instance, and during one class things just weren’t working the way they should. I just couldn’t work it out. Then I tried Google’s Chrome browser and low and behold, everything just worked.

Microsoft is working on their IE image with the following ad, which clearly recognizes they have an image problem that they are trying to correct. Now if they’d spend as much effort fixing the browser as to do trying to fix their image, they might have something.