Don’t take photos you don’t want people to see
According to E!Online, Scarlet Johansson is “fighting mad” over some nude pics of her that ended up online. Let me offer some simple security advice:
If you don’t want people to see something, don’t photograph it.
If you have a look at the pics (Links: photo1 photo2) you’ll note that she appears to have taken them herself using her mobile phone. While I certainly don’t have any inside knowledge of the case, my bet would be that the sender or recipient’s email account was compromised, not the phone itself. Of course for that to be the case, she would have had to email the images to someone, which bring us to my next bit of advice:
Don’t email photos that you don’t want people to see.
Of course there’s always the publicity angle. Leak nude pics of yourself. Benefit from the exposure, but deny intent. Then play up the victim angle, collect some sympathy votes, and keep the story alive. Ah, Hollywood.
Added 2011-09-20: I linked to the photos in the original article because of their relevance to the story — they showed her holding the camera herself. I did not copy the images to avoid a copyright infringement. It appears that they have been taken offline or access blocked.
Patch Tuesday
Microsoft issued 13 security bulletins that address 22 vulnerabilities. Out of these vulnerabilities, three are rated critical by Microsoft.
“The DNS vulnerability could result in a complete system compromise,” said Joshua Talbot, security intelligence manager, Symantec Security Response. “Because no user interaction is needed, a vulnerable service simply needs to be up and running for the vulnerability to be exploited.”
“Internet Explorer is affected by two critical vulnerabilities being patched, both of which can be exploited by a drive-by download,” Talbot added. “The fact that vulnerabilities such as these continue to be so common is one reason why web-based attacks are so prevalent. There is a very large attack surface.”
“We haven’t seen nearly this many low profile patches – ones that primarily result in information-disclosure or cause denial-of-service conditions – in quite some time,” Talbot concluded. “Half of all the vulnerabilities patched this month are of that type, which is rare.”
iPad a notebook killer?
As I sit here on my morning flight from Ottawa to London I’m contemplating my words of a year ago. I was wrong. The iPad is going to put a serious dent in the notebook market due to the convergence of multiple factors:
1) The iPad is beyond cool – it’s affordably cool. While the device may cost the same as netbooks and low-end laptops, consider the apps. $10 gets you Keynote — which last night flawlessly slurped in a .pptx from Microsoft PowerPoint. I put my final touches on today’s presentation and emailed myself both a .ppt and .pdf of the presentation.
2) As a device for mobile users, the iPad is light, has a battery life easily twice that of most laptops, and is virtually instant-on. The main drawback for writers is the on-screen keyboard, but with Bluetooth keyboard support the number of options continues to increase.
3) Mobile phone operators are slowly starting to provide affordable data plans for the iPad. In Canada they generally continue to screw their customers – the original $30 for 6GB iPhone plans are nowhere to be seen, but good deals will hopefully return as additional competitors enter the market.
4) Cloud computing is making remote access to virtual computers a cost-effective reality. With Citrix and Windows Remote Desktop clients available for the iPad, connecting to a remote computer with resources that far exceed that of any laptop is not only possible – it is about to become a commodity.
5) For many companies, the days of 3-year laptop refresh cycles are over as they seek all possible cost reductions. As a result, a new generation of workers are emerging: Those who are sick of lugging around heavy, old, and frustratingly slow laptops that have a negative impact on their productivity. (These same companies appear oblivious to the productivity losses and morale issues caused by their failure to provide decent tools to their employees, but let’s save that for another article.) Some workers now choose to use their own computer for work – and for many the iPad and virtual machine solution will be a winner. Some firms are embracing this, including updating their infrastructure to support corporate email on a variety of employee-owned devices.
In short, expect laptop sales to decline.
Apple seems to get this too — you won’t need a Mac or PC to set up, backup, or use your iPad or iPhone with this fall’s release of iOS 5.
Why successful people leave work early
I just came across this great article on Business Insider entitled, “Why Successful People Leave Work Early.” Too often our days turn into an email and telephone rat race with little real work getting done. This article is worth a read.
Android handsets leak personal data
According to the BBC, “Android phones are potentially leaking data that, if stolen, could be used to get the information they store online.” Researchers have discovered that the authentication tokens used to access Google services are sent in the clear and are subject to theft and unauthorized use.
Google has apparently made changes to fix part of the problem. Android users should update their phones as soon as possible.
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