No hardware? Startup aims to revolutionize Internet
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California’s Nicira wants to create switch to software-based networking
U.S. startup Nicira is aiming to create software to replace the existing hardware that routes information on the Internet, a move that could revolutionalize the way digital information is accessed, according to Wired.
The Silicon Valley startup has partnered with Google to create a new breed of network that would exist only as software, a move that would make managing and modifying information on the Internet far easier.
Currently, engineers need physical switches and routers to manage networks, but the proposed change would shift management duties onto servers in a process called software-defined networking, or SDN. Nicira hopes to make creating and managing networks as easy as programming a computer, as opposed to the current labour-intensive process.
The company began from research conducted at Stanford University, a collaboration between Nicira’s co-founder and chief technology officer Martin Casado, Stanford professor Nick McKeown and Scott Shenker, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Nicira has been able to attract some major customers for its existing network virtualization products, including ATT, eBay and financial giant Fidelity. Ideally, the shift to SDN would eliminate network crashes, as the software drivers could be rerouted to another server station nearby. As such, it would create a more stable network and make physical damage to a network less critical to the overall operation.
RFID-blocking HuMn wallet raises nearly $300,000 on Kickstarter
An Oregon pair has designed a new, slim wallet that promises to protect e-security by blocking radio-frequency identification devices from skimming information off of cards, according to The Oregonian.
Ken Minn and Scott Hussa have designed the HuMn Wallet made of aluminum or carbon fibre, a minimalist design meant to reduce the bulk of a traditional wallet while upping security in an age when cards can be scanned from a distance and have important personal information stolen from them.
The wallet is comprised of two thin pieces of RFID-blocking material bound together by an elastic strap. The pair was able to finance their startup through $295,402 of Kickstarter donations, well above their intended goal of $66,000. (That seems to be a growing trend, following Pebble Technology’s Kickstarter fundraising effort, which has already raised an incredible $6.5-million, skyrocketing from its opening goal of just $100,000 — with 23 days still to go.)
Banking on nostalgia while reducing startup costs
Enterprising businesses are looking toward nostalgia-fueled buying practices in their new ventures, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Brands of a bygone era have many entrepreneurs snapping up dead or dying brands and rejuvenating them to suit contemporary tastes. Brands like National Premium Beer, Seafood Shanty restaurants and Boast polo shirts are getting new legs and should be back on consumers’ radar in the near future.
The advantage of reviving an old brand is that entrepreneurs don’t [...] Continue Reading…
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Corinna company to offer badge wallets with Radio Frequency Identification shields
CORINNA, Maine — With every advance in technology stands someone looking to take illegal advantage of it.
Some credit cards are now equipped with Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, which allows a card user to hold his credit card over a terminal to purchase an item without swiping the card.
Thieves have found a way of stealing that information when the card is in the person’s pocket or purse by using an electronic device called a “skimmer.”
Some wallet manufacturers have started selling products that will block the transmission of the cards so thieves can’t steal the information.
Michael Levesque, owner of the Corinna-based Perfect Fit USA, realized that there was nothing on the market available for police who have credit cards in their wallet. Perfect Fit makes wallets for law enforcement with a cutout for their badges.
Perfect Fit will begin offering wallets with RFID shielding by the end of the month, said Levesque.
Levesque said he was contacted by a government agency he regularly does business with and was asked to offer wallets and ID holders with the RFID-blocking fabric inside.
“They wanted us to have this material, so I found it,” said Levesque.
Perfect Fit specializes in wallets for law enforcement, fire departments and government agencies. They have 1,400 dies from departments all over the world that can be cut into the leather in order to fit a badge perfectly.
“We got three more today,” said Levesque with a laugh. “It’s a never-ending database.”
Adding the nickel-copper ripstop fabric that blocks the RFID transmission was a logical addition to his wallets.
“It’s a niche and we’re taking it one step further and being proactive on what’s going on out there as far as identity theft and just offering it to law enforcement,” said Levesque.
Perfect Fit will stick to making only badge wallets, he said, and not wallets for the general public.
“You can’t compete with China [in that category],” said Levesque.
U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, will visit the Corinna plant on Wednesday to view the new wallets for himself.
“We’re going to make him a wallet and it’s going to have a Perfect Fit badge in it,” said Levesque.
Perfect Fit offers 3,700 varieties of items, Levesque said, including belts, gloves and holders for flashlights, batons, handcuffs and radios.
He has had to add more staff in order to keep up with demand.
“We’re up 15 percent [in sales] for 2012 from last year,” said Levesque. “We’ve never gone the other way. We’ve had a couple years with only 2-3 percent growth, but this year is already stacking up to be [great] with new products.”
The Corinna facility employs 23 people, three of them added this year. The sales office is located in Goshen, N.Y.
Because Perfect Fit’s badge wallets are produced in the United States, it gives Levesque’s company a leg up on his competition in Massachusetts, which imports its wallets from India.
“We just have pieces and put them together. We’ll be able to ramp this up in a matter of a week or two,” said Levesque, referring to the RFID-shielding wallets. His [...] Continue Reading…
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Amazon's Security System Is Making It Easy To Use Stolen Credit Cards
Flickr / kodomut
Ben DeMeter
Even After The CARD Act, 0% APR Cards Still A Slippery Slope
Amazon Won’t Mind If You Use a Stolen Contactless Credit Card
Florida Tops Nation in Identity Theft
If you shop at Amazon frequently, you might want to consider changing your quick checkout phrase to “Please don’t use my household credit card to buy all the nice things.”
Why?
Well as it turns out, the world’s largest online retailer has a woefully underpowered security system.
With just a smart phone and a little know-how, a thief can steal your card information right out of your wallet and go on a fantasy shopping spree the likes of which have never been seen before.
Here’s how your credit and debit accounts could be at risk.
The story first broke with a blog post by the BBC’s Benjamin Cohen. In a video on the Channel 4 News site, the technology correspondent illustrated how smart phones can be used to read contactless credit cards through pockets and purses.
In this case, “contactless” refers to credit cards that contain RFID chips, which can transmit payments wirelessly through near-field communications (NFC) technology.
Consumers with contactless credit cards can simply hold the piece of plastic near an NFC reader to make a purchase.
While this makes your household credit card faster and more convenient to use, the technology also turns it into a perpetual personal information transmitter that’s susceptible to a high-tech type of fraud.
Using nothing more than a smart phone with a credit card processing app, Thomas Cannon of ViaForensics managed to lift the information from a contactless card in a matter of seconds.
As he told Channel 4, “All I did was I tap my phone over your wallet and using the wireless reader on the phone I was able to lift out the details from your card, [sic] that includes the long card number, the expiration date and your name. None of it was encrypted.”
Now, this data alone isn’t necessarily enough to turn [...] Continue Reading…
Article source: http://www.businessinsider.com/amazons-security-system-makes-it-easy-to-use-a-stolen-credit-card-2012-4
Mobile shopping: it's on the cards
Shopping with cash and cards could be a thing of the past. Photo: Getty Images
Technical difficulties won’t hold up the widespread advent of m-commerce for much longer, writes David Braue.
If you’re tired of juggling cash and coins at the checkout, help is on the way. Thanks to a raft of new services, the long-held promise of contactless payments – which let you make purchases in the real world using your mobile phone – is finally becoming a reality.
Thanks to determined development efforts and commitments by major financial providers, consumers are starting to warm to services such as the Commonwealth Bank’s Commbank Kaching, an iPhone app that mirrors eBay’s PayPal service by letting users make online payments to each other via email, Facebook or mobile SMS. Add near-field communication (NFC) features using a $54.95 iCarte case, and you can swipe your iPhone to make purchases at shops using point-of-sale equipment that supports the Mastercard PayPass service.
Kaching support would have been impossible without a major overhaul of the Commonwealth’s back-end systems, which has broadened the number of channels through which payments can be originated and completed. More than 110,000 customers have already downloaded the app, and an imminent Android version will boost the number further.
A screenshot of CBA’s Kaching app.
If you like the idea of being able to make purchases at shops with your mobile, you’re not alone: Juniper Research has predicted 2.5 billion mobile-wielding shoppers will be buying more than $170 billion worth of physical products by 2015.
Yet even if you’re keen now, you still have to wait [...] Continue Reading…
Article source: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/digital-life/hometech/mobile-shopping-its-on-the-cards-20120313-1ux9t.html
New Free Mobile App Alerts Users When Their Personal Data Has Been Compromised
AUSTIN, TX – March 14, 2012 – Today AllClear ID, the world’s first 100% free identity theft protection service for consumers, launched AllClear ID Mobile for iOS devices. The AllClear ID Mobile app alerts consumers when retailers, law enforcement and cyber security experts report that thieves have access to consumers’ bank accounts, credit cards and Social Security Numbers. The app also makes it simple and easy for consumers to discover and activate over twenty of the most powerful free identity protections available.
Cyber security experts regularly discover caches of stolen consumer data while pursuing cyber criminals. For the first time, consumers will have access to this information and be alerted directly through the AllClear ID Mobile app when their personal information has been compromised.
AllClear ID Mobile also offers the most comprehensive ID Protection Guide for those who want “do it yourself” identity protection. According to a newly released online survey of 1,941 U.S. adults ages 25 and older (conducted by Harris Interactive for AllClear ID), 88 percent of those surveyed are aware of free tools like annual credit reports. However, many remain unaware that there are over twenty additional free tools designed to help prevent identity theft including reducing junk mail, protecting your credit score, and determining if someone is using your child’s Social Security number for employment and loans.
“This is the first and only app to organize the most powerful free protections in one place, making it easy for people to discover and activate the ones they care most about,” said Bo Holland, CEO of AllClear ID. “Whenever you have five minutes of downtime, you can use your phone to activate another protection and share it with your friends and family.”
Consumers are often given the advice to protect their identities for free, which sounds easy enough until you start looking for the right tools and resources. In reality it is time consuming, confusing and sometimes overwhelming. AllClear ID is committed to empowering consumers with the necessary tools to protect themselves from identity theft in the easiest and most efficient ways possible. With AllClear ID Mobile, consumers now have everything they need to keep themselves and their families safe – all just an arm’s length away.
Unique features of AllClear ID Mobile include:
· AllClear Fraud Detection: Cyber security researchers identify stolen information including credit cards, bank login credentials and Social Security numbers. Through AllClear ID, consumers will be securely alerted when their private information is discovered
· AllClear Alerts: Advanced technology sends fast, secure alerts by phone so consumers can be quickly notified if their identities are at risk
· AllClear ID Protections: Includes credit card and Social Security monitoring, as well as child ID theft reports
· ID Protection Guide: Allows consumers to discover the entire range of free identity protections available and [...] Continue Reading…
AllClear ID Puts Identity Theft Protection in the Hands of Consumers with Free Mobile App
AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Today AllClear
ID, the world’s first 100% free identity theft protection service
for consumers, launched AllClear
ID Mobile for iOS devices. The AllClear ID Mobile app alerts
consumers when retailers, law enforcement and cyber security experts
report that thieves have access to consumers’ bank accounts, credit
cards and Social Security Numbers. The app also makes it simple and easy
for consumers to discover and activate over twenty of the most powerful
free identity protections available.
Cyber security experts regularly discover caches of stolen consumer data
while pursuing cyber criminals. For the first time, consumers will have
access to this information and be alerted directly through the AllClear
ID Mobile app when their personal information has been compromised.
AllClear ID Mobile also offers the most comprehensive ID Protection
Guide for those who want “do it yourself” identity protection. According
to a newly released online survey of 1,941 U.S. adults ages 25 and older
(conducted by Harris Interactive for AllClear ID), 88 percent of those
surveyed are aware of free tools like annual credit reports. However,
many remain unaware that there are over twenty additional free tools
designed to help prevent identity theft including reducing junk mail,
protecting your credit score, and determining if someone is using your
child’s Social Security number for employment and loans.
“This is the first and only app to organize the most powerful free
protections in one place, making it easy for people to discover and
activate the ones they care most about,” said Bo Holland, CEO of
AllClear ID. “Whenever you have five minutes of downtime, you can use
your phone to activate another protection and share it with your friends
and family.”
Consumers are often given the advice to protect their identities for
free, [...] Continue Reading…
Article source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/allclear-id-puts-identity-theft-130000534.html
Protect Yourself With An RFID-Blocking Wallet
RFIDs are showing up in everything from your cards to your passports, offering easy identification but also a greater chance of identity theft. Although plenty of RFID-blocking wallets exist, none are quite as thin and pocketable as the HuMn.
The HuMn wallet is essentially a plate with a band to keep your cash and cards in a small space, but in addition to its minimal carrying functions it also blocks any RFID skimming. They start you off with two plates, but you can add on more if you want at any time.
Currently the HuMn wallet is available on a more-than-funded Kickstarter project that’s basically now a pre-order page. You’ll probably have to wait a little while to get yours, but a modest investment will get you one of these thin and protective cash carriers as soon as they’re ready.
The HuMn Wallet ($US49) [Kickstarter via Uncrate]
Article source: http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2012/03/protect-yourself-with-an-rfid-blocking-wallet/
The HuMn Wallet Is an RFID-Blocking Wallet That Won't Look Like a Lump in Your Pocket [Stuff We Like]
RFIDs are showing up in everything from your cards to your passports, offering easy identification but also a greater chance of identity theft. Although plenty of RFID-blocking wallets exist, none are quite as thin and pocketable as the HuMn. The HuMn wallet is essentially a plate with a band to keep your cash and cards in a small space, but in addition to its minimal carrying functions it also blocks any RFID skimming. They start you off with two plates, but you can add on more if you want at any time. Currently the HuMn wallet is available on a more-than-funded Kickstarter project that’s basically now a pre-order page. You’ll probably have to wait a little while to get yours, but a modest investment will get you one of these thin and protective cash carriers as soon as they’re ready. The HuMn Wallet ($49) | Kickstarter via Uncrate
Article source: http://lifehacker.com/5890047/the-humn-wallet-is-an-rfid+blocking-wallet-that-wont-look-like-a-lump-in-your-pocket