Cisco’s internet phones—which sit on thousands of desks around the world—have been shown to be easily hacked and turned into remote spying devices. The official announcement comes two whole weeks after Cisco first found out about the problem. More »
Following a sudden surge of hotel room break-ins after the discovery of a simple door lock hack, lock firm Onity is chipping in to replace affected hotel door locks. Onity is currently working with Marriott, InterContinental Hotel Group, and Hyatt hotels to replace the insecure door locks in their hotels, and are planning to cover at least some of the cost.
The vulnerability in the hotel room door locks was first discovered back in July during the Black Hat security conference. The hack involves hooking up a $50 device into the data port under the lock and using the device to hack the lock’s firmware. Back in August, Onity stated that it wouldn’t pay to replace the locks, but instead offered a free plug to block the data port.
Onity’s locks are implemented on over 4 million hotel room doors around the world, and the company has agreed to pay at least a fraction of the costs of replacing the door locks with updated and more secure options. Onity and their clients have come up with written agreements for reimbursement of the door locks.
The total cost of replacing the locks hasn’t been disclosed, although Onity charges $11 for every new circuit board it installs in the locks, and a $10 charge is assessed for every lock that Onity performs an on-site firmware upgrade on. Essentially, if all 4 million hotel door locks were replaced and updated with new firmware, the total cost would be around $84 million.
[via Forbes]
Hackable hotel room locks to be replaced by manufacturer is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Typically, when we think of hacks, our minds conjure images of compromised security systems, personal computers or server farms, but printers? According to Neil Smith, a researcher from the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team, unauthorized access to those devices could be a very real threat — if you happen to own a Samsung model. Discovered and submitted to the agency this past Monday, the exploit unearthed by Smith takes advantage of an “SNMP backdoor” : an internet protocol that allows for remote network administrative control without authentication. The vulnerability — which would give hackers access to data sent to the printer, as well as control over it (think: ceaseless printing!) — affects most units released before November of this year. For its part, Samsung’s promised a patch will be forthcoming. But, in the meantime, if you want to avoid exposing any personal data or the possibility of a seemingly possessed printer, it’s best you steer clear of rogue WiFi connections.
Update: CNET has published a statement from Samsung outlining the update schedule for affected printers. Firmware that fixes the issue will be available for all “current” models by November 30th, and for “all other models” by the end of the year. The company also recommends disabling SNMPv1.2 or switching to SNMPv3 mode until the updates are released.
Filed under: Peripherals, Software, Samsung
Earlier this year a team of researchers announced that it was possible to hack the keycard systems used in millions of hotel rooms using $50 worth of parts. Now a recent spate of hotel break-ins is being attributed to the attack. More »
While it was discovered that Google’s latest Nexus 4 smartphone does, in fact, have an LTE chip on the inside, the phone’s radios don’t cover the wide deployment of most LTE bands, resulting in unhappy users who yearn for faster downloads while on the go. However, a simple tweak has been discovered that allows Canadian users to take advantage of LTE on the Nexus 4.
Some hackers on the XDA Developers forum ended up finding a workaround that allows the Nexus 4 to use LTE in Canada using TELUS and Rogers networks. It turns out the Nexus 4 features unofficial support for LTE Band 4, which runs at 1700MHz and 2100MHz. However, it won’t work in the US, since most of the major carriers use alternate bands.
Then again, AT&T is licensed to operate on Band 4, and AT&T has said in the past that they plan to utilize Band 4 for its LTE networks, but there’s zero word on when and where that will happen. So far, users have had no luck trying to get LTE to work in AT&T’s network and other US carriers. It seems hackers and tweakers will have a hard time with this one.
However, T-Mobile plans to launch LTE on Band 4 within the year, and T-Mobile also happens to be the only carrier to partner with Google on the launch of the Nexus 4. What does this mean? Well, It’s still unlikely we’ll see official LTE support for the Nexus 4 on certain networks. Google doesn’t intend for the Nexus 4 to be an LTE device, and despite the simple tweak to enable LTE in Canada, the phone still doesn’t have all the necessary hardware for a reliable LTE experience.
[via Android Community]
Nexus 4 LTE enabled using simple hack is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
A third-party developer has managed to hook up his Xbox 360 Kinect motion sensor to his Google TV box in order to control it with arm and hand gestures. The best part is that the developer released the app and source code on Github that lets anyone with a bit of coding know-how to try the hack out for themselves.
The developer calls it Gesture TV, but don’t expect this to be a replacement for your Google TV remote, though. It’s mostly made for experimental purposes, since a few key features of the Google TV remote control aren’t supported yet. Plus, the app must run on a PC, so you’ll have to have your PC up and running with your TV in order to make it work.
Then again, the project shows what’s when developers can get a hold of remote control APIs for various TV platforms. Gesture TV is based on Anymote, which is Google’s remote control protocol, and it’s also used on other apps like Chromeremote. From the video, the gesture control runs pretty smooth for the most part, with just few minor hiccups.
The developer notes that there are two modes to the gesture control in the app. There’s pointer mode, which allows you to move the pointer around the screen using one hand, while keeping your other hand at your side, and then there’s gesture mode, which is activated when you hold up one hand and then the other. You can do things like swipe down to go home or swipe left to go back.
[via GigaOM]
Kinect gesture control comes to Google TV via hack is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
4G LTE might be a thing of beauty for mobile users who love a good and fast internet connection while on the road, but according to a document filed with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a laptop and a software-defined radio unit costing about $650 is all it takes to take down a 4G network within a reasonably-size radius.
It turns out that every mobile phone grid is vulnerable to this technique, including FirstNet, which is the emergency communications network that was designed and implemented after 9/11, but 4G networks are said to be especially vulnerable to the hack. The authors of the document say that “it’s relatively easy to do” by anyone with basic communications engineering skills, and if you were to spend just a bit more on a cheap power amplifier, you could take down a region as large as the state of New York.
If 4G LTE networks were to be compromised, existing 3G and 2G networks would still operate, but seeing how these older network technologies are gradually being phased out, there soon won’t be a backup for a downed 4G network. Of course, any radio frequency can be “jammed” if a transmitter sends a signal at the same frequency with enough power, but knowing that it can happen to a 4G LTE network across an entire state is a little disconcerting.
While the authors say that anyone could do this, it would require technical knowledge of the complexity of the LTE standard. However, those standards are actually openly published, which means that “any communications engineer would be able to figure this stuff out.” And all they would need is less than $1,000 to make it happen. Both Qualcomm and Ericsson, which are companies heavily invested in LTE networks, have yet to comment on the matter.
[via Technology Review]
4G LTE networks vulnerable to easy takedown hack is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
You might think you’ve got the most badass stroller at the playground, but it’s got nothing on Xandon Frogget’s creation which adds motors and a wireless steering system using a Wiimote controller. And thanks to an onboard Kinect sensor, his toddler can even drive it without the risk of crashing into anything. More »
There’s no doubt that Barnes & Noble in love with the paper-like interface of the Nook HD+. Not all of its new owners are quite so taken with the retro chic, with the proof being XDA-Developers member verygreen’s early root for the Android tablet (and possibly its HD cousin). The preliminary code is enough to offer a glimpse of a more digital interface as well as teasers of a CyanogenMod port and booting from SD cards. Before racing to use the instructions at the source, be aware that the root’s usefulness may vary wildly in the near future — as of this writing, a familiar defense mechanism dating back to the Nook Color has kicked in that rejects the root and restores itself to factory stock after eight failed boot attempts. That there’s a root at all will nonetheless be a comfort in the long run to those who like the idea of a budget tablet without the enforced nostalgia for dead trees.
Continue reading Barnes & Noble Nook HD+ tentatively rooted for the paper UI-phobic (video)
Filed under: Tablets
Barnes & Noble Nook HD+ tentatively rooted for the paper UI-phobic (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Nov 2012 18:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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