Cybersecurity

According to a NYT article Mr. Zhao and Ms. Zheng with the help of an assistant professor, Pedro Lopes crated a bracelet that jams the microphones of smart speakers. http://sandlab.cs.uchicago.edu/jammer/ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/14/technology/alexa-jamming-bracelet-privacy-armor.html?fbclid=IwAR0ufTn7GTjQCsm6J07J9lYyFlJRlJjZRkv-1jymgkoxCHRxSL-JNo0mfHM

Some of us may not realize the kind of control we have over our home wi-fi. There are a pros and cons to all of the features that wi-fi offers. I will do my best to explained some of them below. I won't drag on before saying that to have secure Wi-Fi you should have the settings in bullet points here functioning: Enable Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 ( WPA2 ). Use Advanced Encryption Standard ( AES ). If it does not say AES it is probably using AES. Pre-shared Key (PSK) With this enabled your data is encrypted behind a password using AES which is the most modern and trusted encryption standard in use today. However if you're curious (like me) about some of the other features I will do my best to explain a few of the more interesting ones below. The first question is about hiding the SSID using the settings in your wireless access point (AP) or router. Does that make your wi-fi more secure? The accurate answer is 'no' but the friendlier answer is 'that...

How good do you believe you are at managing your passwords? Do you reuse the same password on multiple webpages? Do you use a password manager? An extra layer of security might be to use a stateless password manager. Stateless is the term used to describe a system that does not rely on the states of other entities to accomplish it's given tasks. Thus a stateless password manager is self-contained. There is no password database, thus your passwords are not stored remotely. One password manager that accomplishes these features is called Less Pass . I am impressed with the features this concept has to offer. Supporting articles: https://www.secjuice.com/eternal-password-riddle/

I am not a tinfoil hat type person per-se' however I was intrigued by a fashion trend that interrupts surveillance technology. The first article of clothing one can buy is a pair of sunglasses which reflect infrared (IR) back at an IR camera's sensors. Essentially masking one's face from the surveillance camera. https://www.reflectacles.com/#home The second are shirts, dresses, and jackets that are printed with old/fake license plates. These articles of clothing feed garbage data into license plate reading cameras. https://adversarialfashion.com/ reference material: The Seattle Times Special sunglasses, license-plate dresses: How to be anonymous in the age of surveillance