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Unlike faces and fingerprints, a heart’s electrical activity is difficult to fake — it’s a unique and potentially ideal security tool. Bionym is taking advantage of this trustworthiness in its upcoming Nymi bracelet. The wristwear authenticates users through a combination of electrocardiograms and Bluetooth proximity detection; if Nymi recognizes your heart rhythm, it automatically logs you into nearby devices. The bracelet also recognizes gesture commands, and a future developer kit should extend the gadget’s usefulness beyond basic security for PCs and smartphones. It could unlock doors or make retail payments, for example. Nymi won’t ship until early 2014, but it’s already available for pre-order at a $79 early bird price.

Filed under: Wearables

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Via: The Verge

Source: Bionym

Nickelodeon released an iPad app with full episode streaming back in February, but now an update has opened things up to the iPhone and iPod touch as well. Version 1.1 also promises more music videos and less crashing, among other tweaks. However, if you have an agreeable cable or satellite provider, then the ability to watch video on-demand is the headliner. There are a few episodes available without logging in, but subscribers to DirecTV, Time Warner Cable, U-verse, FiOS, Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Hawaiian Telecom, Suddenlink and RCN will get the most mileage. Of course, if the kids (or, adult Big Time Rush fans, whatever works) prefer to watch their TV on TV, they may prefer the Xbox 360 app — like Windows 8 and other platforms, the current app brings mostly clips and other tidbits — that’s on the way. Variety indicates it will hit the console June 25th, but, despite its post-E3 launch, its Xbox One launch plans are “not determined.” There’s a quick video preview embedded after the break, or you can hit the source link below and grab the free app for yourself.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, HD, Mobile, Apple

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Source: iTunes, Variety

A lot has changed in the security realm since 2008 — remember Alicia Keys’ recent attempt to convince us her Twitter account was hacked, when we all know she still uses an iPhone even as BlackBerry’s Creative Director? Pranks aside, the consumer world alone has been overrun with mass data hackings — everyone from Evernote to Microsoft to Sony to RSA has felt the wrath. To combat all of this, Google is revamping its five-year security plan, which calls for a complex authentication code replacing the conventional password in due time; in other words, Google is going to make it harder to access your accounts when initially setting up a device, but hopes you’ll deal. Eric Sachs, group product manager for identity at Google, put it as such: “We will change sign-in to a once-per-device action and make it higher friction, not lower friction, for all users. We don’t mind making it painful for users to sign into their device if they only have to do it once.”

The documents also suggest that two-step verification may soon become less of an option, and more of a mandate. Sachs straight-up confesses that Google didn’t predict the current level of smartphone adoption back in 2008, but now realizes that utilizing mobile hardware and apps as friction points for logging in makes a lot more sense. A huge swath of Google users are already carrying around a product that could be used as a verification token, so the obvious solution is to make use of that. We’re also told that learnings from Android will be carried over to Chrome, and further into the world of web apps. No specific ETAs are given, but trust us — half a decade goes by quickly when you’re having fun.

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Via: ZDNet

Source: Google

New research from Google suggests what we all likely know to be true – your pet’s name followed by a few numbers just isn’t cutting it as a password these days. The company will be publishing a new research paper in the IEEE Security & Privacy Magazine this month, but Wired got a sneak peak, and it details a number of alternatives based on requiring physical devices, in combination with some other form of screen unlock to not only simplify the password process but also make it more secure.

Some of the possible systems they describe included embedded chips in smartphones, which is a pretty convenient method given that everyone will be carrying one anyway, and a slightly more unusual means of delivery via ring worn on the finger. I think I had a pinkie ring once when I was sixteen (it was a mistake), so personally I’d prefer something a little less flashy, but the idea is sound.

As a first step, however, they’re working with a YubiKey cryptographic card, programming it so that it can automatically log a user into their Google account on the web when inserted into a computer’s USB drive. It doesn’t require a software download or any install, just a slightly modified version of Chrome. Combined with Google’s authentication and authorization services, you can see how this would eliminate the need for complicated passwords and even potentially elaborate, “prove you’re a human” CAPTCHA processes that make logging into apps and websites a pain.

Others have tried similar systems, to strong effect. Blizzard uses the Battle.net Authenticator, which can be either a hardware device or a smartphone app for Android and iOS, to provide a temporary, secondary password to users that they can use in combination with their existing password as an added measure of protection. Likewise, Google users can enable two-step authentication, whereby a message gets sent to your phone containing a temp password in addition to your usual login credentials. The problem is that these methods are both still susceptible to phishing attempts, whereby a website masquerades as a legitimate one owned by the company which manages your account, in order to trick you into giving up your own info.

Physical device direct authentication has the benefit of not being susceptible to phishing attempts, and it also simplifies the process, meaning that it could work without an actual password for light security scenarios, and with a simple password in areas where you’re more concerned about your privacy. There’s still a risk of device theft or loss, but that’s easier to mitigate and track than malware based hacking attempts.

Online security has definitely taken steps to try to make consumers feel more protected with measures like two-step authentication, but that has also resulted in a much more cumbersome process than when we all used to just basically use our dog’s name or not even bother with a login at all. This new effort to push a hardware-based password alternative could return some of that bygone simplicity to the web, but it’ll require a considerable effort to gain widespread consumer traction. Google might have the reach and influence to do it, however, and Wired says that Google has created a universal protocol for device-based authentication that works completely independent of any of its own services, and only requires a web browser to support the standard. An open standard with Google’s backing could be just the recipe needed for the next evolution in online security.

With a hand-in-glove relationship with the world of business, it’s key that Microsoft ensures it can keep companies data safe. That’s what prompted Steve Ballmer to whip out his checkbook to snap up PhoneFactor, a multi-factor authentication company that uses smartphones instead of code-generating security tokens. With its new toy, Redmond plans to integrate the feature into its services like SharePoint, Azure and Office 365, letting users sign on with their own device as a key element of the signing in process.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Microsoft

Microsoft buys PhoneFactor, adds smartphone authentication to its cloud services originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 06:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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