Hasta La Gadget!

If you didn’t already have enough potential app privacy leaks to worry about, here’s one more — Android Police discovered that Skype’s Android client leaves your personal data wide open to assault. The publication reports that the app has SQLite3 databases where all your info and chat logs are stored, and that Skype forgot to encrypt the files or enforce permissions, which seems to be a decision akin to leaving keys hanging out of the door.

Basically, that means a rogue app could grab all your data and phone home — an app much like Skypwned. That’s a test program Android Police built to prove the vulnerability exists, and boy, oh boy does it work — despite only asking for basic Android storage and phone permissions, it instantly displayed our full name, phone number, email addresses and a list of all our contacts without requiring so much as a username to figure it out. Android Police says Skype is investigating the issue now, but if you want to give the VoIP company an extra little push we’re sure it couldn’t hurt.

Skype for Android vulnerable to hack that compromises personal info originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Apr 2011 22:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Inside an old 4GB PATA hard drive. Photo Walknboston / Flickr

If you yank one of Toshiba’s new Self Erasing Drives from a computer and try to use it in another machine, then it can instantly wipe sensitive data, leaving a thief with little more than an empty chunk of glass and silicon.

The SED performs a cryptographic erase on itself. Unlike a regular erase which overwrites data several times to obliterate it, a crypto erase actually just nukes the crypto keys. Data on the dive is encrypted using a 256-bit AES algorithm, and is unencrypted on the fly during normal use. Once the drive detects that it isn’t in its usual machine, it destroys its keys, making the data impossible to decipher.

This is the same tech used in smartphones to perform remote wipes.

The SED can be configured in several ways. The first I have described above. The user can also choose to have certain sections erased on every reboot, have part or all of the drive zapped if an unauthorized host tries to connect, or wipe the drive after x incorrect password attempts.

The drives will come in sizes up to 640GB, and will be ideal for laptop use, or in machines to which many people have physical access. The next version of OS X — 10.7 Lion — should have something similar, but having it built into the drive itself seems like the best idea of all, especially if you travel to and from the U.S and don’t trust the border guards (hint: never trust border guards).

MKxx61GSYG Series Hard Disk Drive [Toshiba via Computer world]

See Also:

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Hey, guess what? Adobe has found yet another serious security flaw in Flash. We can already hear the iOS fanboys warming up their commenting fingers. The vulnerability affects all platforms, including Android, though only attacks on Windows have been seen in the wild so far. Just like last month’s exploit, this one is spreading via malicious .swf files embedded in Office documents, only this time it’s Word instead of Excel being targeted (a hacker’s gotta keep it fresh, after all). Once again Reader and Acrobat are also vulnerable, but attacks can be thwarted using Reader’s Protected Mode. When exactly Adobe plans on plugging this hole is anyone’s guess, so when a deposed Nigerian prince tells you about the fabulous sum of money he’d like you to transfer, you’ll have yet another reason not to open the Office attachments in his email.

Adobe finds another ‘critical’ flaw in Flash, Steve Jobs smiles smugly originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Back in 2005, we reported on a little something called the Prism 200, which allowed its holder to essentially see what folks were doing on the other side of a wall. Since then, we’ve seen plenty of devices that boast the same claims, but it wasn’t until recently that the makers of the Prism 200 created a device that can actually see inside those walls. Looking something akin to an old school punch clock, Cambridge Consultants’ Sprint in-wall radar imaging system provides 3D renderings of items embedded in walls, floors, and even ceilings. Where as existing X-ray systems require access to both sides of a wall, Sprint’s radar setup allows users to see what’s going on inside without dual access. As you might imagine, Cambridge is pushing this thing as a security tool, allowing for detection of bombs, drugs, dead bodies — you know, the usual bad guy stuff. Sprint is currently undergoing testing. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Sprint radar imaging system peeps inside walls, floors to detect bombs, tell-tale hearts

Sprint radar imaging system peeps inside walls, floors to detect bombs, tell-tale hearts originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 13:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With this pink tactical pen, you can invite your girlfriends to a slumber party, and then pay them back for fooling with your boyfriend

Tactical pens: Who knew? This sweet-looking, $23 ball-pen can be used to sign checks and faxes, and craft long letters, just like any other pen. But once the cap is screwed back on, you can flip it around and come out fighting.

The pens come from Schrade, are made from CNC-machined 6061 aluminum, and can be had in two designs. On features a heart motif stamped on the outside, presumably reminding you which vital organ you should be aiming for. The other is a much more practical fluted design, with four blood gutters running down the shaft.

Of course, you don’t really need to buy a tactical pen to get all “tactical” on someone’s ass. Anyone who has watched Scorsese’s awesome Casino will already know this, having watched the unforgettable scene where Joe Pesci goes crazy on that idiot in the casino bar, and almost kills him with his own pen. Clearly a true “tactical” master can turn anything into a tool.

Still, if it makes you feel tough to carry around a weapon, you’ll find them — appropriately — at the Knife Center. This may sound like a cool-sounding place to shop, but for every Kung Fu Sword there’s a pair of nose-hair scissors. And what on Earth are “baby scissors”?

The pink death-dealing pen is available now.

Schrade (Pink Hearts) Aluminum Tactical Pen [Knife Center via Book of Joe]

See Also:

• Gypsy Dagger Belt Buckle: 'The Best Defence is the One They Don't …
• Unbreakable Fighting Umbrella Splits Watermelons, Defends …
• British Police to Get Superhero-Style Weapons