Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology is a new concept to understand, and its rapidly growing in every industry. In future technology virtual currency is the next stage of evolution of money.

The words block and chain were used separately in Satoshi Nakamoto’s original paper in October 2008, and when the term moved into wider use it was originally block chain, before becoming a single word, blockchain, by 2016. In August 2014, the bitcoin blockchain file size reached 20 gigabytes in size.

Blockchain technology have already placed in few countries. Funding and registration in the transport department in Australia. Real Estate department is growing fast by using BlockChain Technology in Dubai. Whereas Internal bank payments using BlockChain Technology in Singapore.

Bitcoin:

Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks; managing transactions and the issuing of bitcoins is carried out collectively by the network. Bitcoin is open-source; its design is public, nobody owns or controls Bitcoin and everyone can take part. Through many of its unique properties, Bitcoin allows exciting uses that could not be covered by any previous payment system.

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and a payment system invented by an unidentified programmer, or group of programmers, under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin was introduced on 31 October 2008 to a cryptography mailing list, and released as open-source software in 2009. Currently Banks, Credit Cards are charging 7-10% average fee of transaction. But this is the benfit with Bitcoin Users get direct payment from anyone and anywhere in the world.

Technology:

Source: DUPress

As we know about Bitcoin is a Virtual currency and it soon to be include transfer of property and identity management. The public and private sectors will face new challenges, opportunities and responsibilities. Government sector is also coperation with Bitcoin technology to create innovative product and services.

Identity management is also the tranform in Blockchain technology. As we known there are many identities and documents were stolen in past years.

Identity Management forms:

• Passports
• Social Security numbers
• Driving License
• Tax Identification Number and more..

According to Forbes

• The Blockchain is a public ledger that records (providing ownership and time stamp) and validates every transaction made worldwide.
• What makes this network unique and secure is that all transactions are authorized and backed by thousands of computers (called miners), achieving consensus on each transaction.
• No one owns it (hence the term “decentralized”), and therefore it’s immutable and there’s no single point of attack for those attempting to “hack” or otherwise alter the records on the Blockchain registry.
• The technology enables peer to peer (P2P) transaction capabilities without any involvement of a central authority or a third party.

How it works?

Below graphic is showing cases.

32M Becomes First-Ever Company to Implant Micro-Chips in Employee

Biohacking could be a next big thing in this smart world.

Over two years ago, a hacker implanted a small NFC chip in his left hand right between his thumb and his pointer finger and hacked Android smartphones and bypassed almost all security measures, demonstrating the risks of Biohacking.

At the end of the same year, another hacker implanted a small NFC chip with the private key to his Bitcoin wallet under his skin, making him able to buy groceries or transfer money between bank accounts by just waving his hand.

And this is soon going to be a reality, at least in one tech company in Wisconsin.

Marketing solution provider Three Square Market (32M) has announced that it had partnered with Swedish biohacking firm BioHax International for offering implanted microchips to all their employees on 1st August, according to the company's website.

Although the programme is optional, the company wants at least more than 50 of its employees to undergo the Biohacking procedure.

Like previous bio hacks, the chips will be implanted underneath the skin between the thumb and forefinger, and will also use near-field communications (NFC) — the same technology that makes contactless credit cards and mobile payments possible — along with radio-frequency identification (RFID).

According to the company, the implanted chips would allow its employees to log into their office computers, pay for food and drink from office vending machines, open doors and use the copy machine, among other purposes.

The company CEO has also confirmed that 'there's no GPS tracking at all.'

"We foresee the use of RFID technology to drive everything from making purchases in our office break room market, opening doors, use of copy machines, logging into our office computers, unlocking phones, sharing business cards, storing medical/health information, and used as payment at other RFID terminals," 32M chief executive Todd Westby said.

"Eventually, this technology will become standardised allowing you to use this as your passport, public transit, all purchasing opportunities, etc."

Interested employees will be chipped at the 32M inaugural "chip party" on 1st August at the company's headquarters in River Falls, Wisconsin.

Three Square Market is considered as a leader in micro market technology, which designs mini-convenience stores using a self-checkout kiosk (vending machines), often found in large companies.

The company has more than 2,000 kiosks in nearly 20 different countries, and it operates over 6,000 kiosks in TurnKey Corrections, the firm's corrections industry business.

While the Biometric information and technology are experiencing an increase in popularity, it also raises widespread concerns around the safety and privacy of people adopting it.

Hackers could misuse the technology used to provide easiness to the public against the public itself, and one should not forget that with the advance in technology, the techniques used by cyber criminals also improves.

Windows 10 Will Now Let You Reset Forgotten Password Directly From the Lock Screen

Microsoft is making every effort to make its Windows 10 Fall Creators Update bigger than ever before by beefing up its security practices and hardening it against hackers and cyber attacks in its next release.

Microsoft is finally adding one of the much-requested features to Windows 10: Pin and Password recovery option directly from the lock screen.

Yes, the next big update of Windows 10, among other features, will allow you to recover your forgotten pin and password, allowing you to reset your Windows password directly from the lock screen.


In Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, you will see "Reset password" or "I forgot my PIN" options on the login screen along with the sign-in box, mspoweruser confirmed.

Once you click on the option, Windows 10 will take you to the OOBE where Cortana will help you reset your password, after you successfully verify your identity using either your secondary email, your phone number, or Microsoft Authenticator.

A verification code will be sent to the option you chose, and once you entered and verified your identity, you will be able to reset the password and regain access to your computer directly from the login screen.

The tech giant is currently testing this new feature in its Windows 10 Insiders build 16237, making it much easier for them to recover their Microsoft Accounts.

You can use this option if you have either activated the Windows Hello authentication system or have a PIN to secure your account.

With the launch of Windows 10 Creator Update (also known as RedStone 3), which is expected to release sometime between September and October 2017, the company has already planned to:

• Remove the 30-year-old SMB v1 file sharing protocol.
• Build AI-powered antivirus software.
• Build its EMET anti-exploit tool into the kernel of the operating system.
• Support three different flavours of the Linux OS – Ubuntu, Fedora, and SUSE – directly through their Windows Store.
• Add new anti-ransomware feature, called Controlled Folder Access, as part of its Windows Defender.

Besides this new upgrade, Windows 10 Fall Update also includes improvements to Acrylic Material translucency effects, Task Manager, Mixed Reality headset and much more.

You can check out the complete list here.

Awesome! WhatsApp Now Lets You Send Files of Any Format

Have you ever felt like wishing of sending any type of file immediately to your friends and office colleagues on WhatsApp directly, instead of just contacts, images or documents?

Well, now you can…

The latest version of WhatsApp for Android and iOS now allows users to send and receive any type of files, whether it’s .mp3, .avi, .php, zip files, or even APKs.

The company last month rolled out this feature to its beta users for Android, and now after being tested successfully, the feature is being released to all WhatsApp users in the latest public update for iOS and Android.

The ability to send any file types also works on the WhatsApp-Web client.

And of course, there’s a file-size limit:

• Android users can send files up to 100MB
• iOS users can send files up to 128MB
• While WhatsApp-web users can only send up to 64MB

To send any file format you just need to select ‘Document’ from ‘Attach.’

Additionally, the latest update of the app will allow you to select photos and videos straight from the camera screen.

WhatsApp is continuously updating its app to provide an exceptional experience to its over one billion users while keeping security in mind.

Last year, the popular messaging app launched video calling feature, end-to-end encryption, and two-step verification to all of its users.

The next app update will possibly include emoji search, which is currently being tested by WhatsApp beta users.

Google Silently Adds 'Panic Detection Mode" to Android 7.1 – How It's Useful

How often do you click the 'back' or the ‘Home’ button on your mobile device to exit an application immediately?

I believe, several times in a single day because a large number of apps do not have an exit button to directly force-close them instead of going back and back and back until they exit.

Sometimes Android users expect the back button to take them back to the back page, but sometimes they really want to exit the app immediately.

Often this has severe usability implications when a majority of users are already dealing with their low-performance mobile devices and believe that clicking back button multiple times would kill the app and save memory, but it doesn't.

Google has now addressed this issue and silently included a feature within Android 7.1 Nougat that allows users to exit from apps by pressing the 'back' key successively within 0.3 seconds for over four times.

Dubbed "Panic Detection Mode," the feature runs in the background of Android operating system and detects panic in situations when a user repeatedly presses the back button on their smartphone to exit an app and allows the operating system to override the application and send the user safely back to the home screen.

While Google did not publicly make any announcement about the panic detection mode feature, XDA Developers yesterday unearthed the feature within the source code of Android 7.1 Nougat.

Since then a number of media outlets described Android 7.1 Nougat Panic Detection Mode as a security feature that protects Android devices from malicious applications.

It has been reported as a new security feature that looks for the number of times a user presses the back button within a certain amount of time and allows users to exit from the apps that go rogue and try to take control of user's device.

But the feature seems to be developed by Google engineers keeping usability as a priority, instead of security in mind.

Because activating panic detection mode neither automatically detects a malicious app and report back to Google, nor it behaves differently for a legitimate app.

However, it can help Android users in some cases to kill rogue app instantly; but again it’s up to users if they are able to identify malicious apps themselves and want to remove them manually.

So, this feature is also useful if a malicious application takes control over the display and prevents you from backing out of it.

The 'panic detection mode' feature is currently limited to the devices running Android 7.1 Nougat, and not available for all the Android users, XDA Developers pointed out. The feature also needs to be manually enabled by the user.

Google fights enough to keep its Android operating system safe and secure, but malware and viruses still make their ways into its platform, especially through malicious appseven on Google's own Play Store.

It appears that Google also has plans for wider implementation of the 'panic detection mode' feature in the upcoming version of its Android OS and would most likely make it enabled by default in the future releases.

What is the hype around Firewall as a Service?

Admit it. Who would not want their firewall maintenance grunt work to go away?

For more than 20 years, companies either managed their edge firewall appliances or had service providers rack-and-stack appliances in their data centers and did it for them.

This was called a managed firewall — an appliance wrapped with a managed service, often from a carrier or managed security service provider (MSSP).

The provider assumed the management of the firewall box, its software, and even its policy and management from the over-burdened IT team. But customers ended up paying for the inefficiency of dealing with appliances (i.e. “grunt work”) because the problem just shifted to the provider. A new architecture was needed - a transformation from an appliance form factor to a true cloud service.

In a 2016 Hype Cycle for Infrastructure Protection report, Gartner analyst Jeremy D'Hoinne initiated the emerging category of Firewall as a Service (FWaaS).

He defined FWaaS as “...a firewall delivered as a cloud-based service or hybrid solution (that is, cloud plus on-premises appliances). The promise of FWaaS is to provide simpler and more flexible architecture by leveraging centralized policy management, multiple enterprise firewall features and traffic tunneling to partially or fully move security inspections to a cloud infrastructure”

Recently, in the 2017 Magic Quadrant for Unified Threat Management (SMB Multifunction Firewalls), the analysts reference a Gartner client survey indicating 14% of respondents were likely (8%) or very likely (6%) to consider moving all the firewall security functions to FWaaS.

FWaaS isn't merely packaging of legacy appliances into a managed service. It is challenging the decades-old concept of the appliance as the primary form factor to deliver network security capabilities.

What is an FWaaS?

FWaaS offers a single logical firewall that is available anywhere, seamlessly scales to address any traffic workload, enforces unified policy, and self-maintained by a cloud provider.

Let’s look at these elements in more detail.

• Single, global firewall instance — One firewall instance for the entire global organization is radically different than the current architecture that places a network security stack at each location, a regional hub or a datacenter.

With FWaaS every organizational resource (data center, branch, cloud infrastructure or a mobile user) plugs into the FWaaS global service and leverages all of its security capabilities (application control, URL filtering, IPS, etc).

• Seamlessly scales to address inspection workload — FWaaS provides the necessary compute resources to perform all security processing on all traffic regardless of source or destination.

IT teams no longer need complex sizing processes to determine the appliance capacity needed to plan for today’s business requirements and future growth.

For example, the increase in SSL traffic volume pressures appliance processing capacity and can force unplanned. FWaaS can scale to accommodate these needs without disrupting the customer’s business operations.

• Enforcing a unified policy — A single firewall, by design, has a single security policy. While legacy appliance vendors created centralized management consoles to ease managing distributed appliances, IT must still consider the individual firewalls instances per location and often customize policies to the locations’ unique attributes.

In heterogenous firewall environments (often created due to M&A) security policy is hard to configure and enforce increasing exposure to hackers and web-borne threats. Contrast that with a single cloud-based firewall that uniformly applies the security policy on all traffic, for all locations and users.

• Self-maintained — One of the most painful aspects of firewall management is maintaining the software through patches and upgrades. It is a risky process that could impact business connectivity and security.

Many IT teams tend to skip or completely avoid software upgrades, leaving enterprise exposed. Because the cloud-based firewall software is maintained by the FWaaS provider and is shared by all customers, the firewall is kept up to date by quickly fixing vulnerabilities and bugs, and rapidly evolving with new features and capabilities that the customers can immediately access.

FWaaS is bringing genuine relief to overburdened IT teams within enterprises and service providers. Instead of wasting cycles on sizing, deploying, patching, upgrading and configuring numerous edge devices, work can now shift to delivering true security value to the business through early detection and fast mitigation of true risk.

FWaaS Providers

FWaaS is not a mere concept. It has been deployed in production deployments and by several vendors.

Cato Networks is a provider of the Cato Cloud, built from the ground up to deliver Firewall as a Service.

Cato provides an optimized, global SD-WAN, ensuring resilient connectivity to its FWaaS in from all regions of the world. Cato can completely eliminate edge firewalls by inspecting both WAN and Internet-bound traffic. The Cato Cloud FWaaS further extends to mobile users and cloud datacenters.

Zscaler provides FWaaS for Internet-bound traffic from remote branches and mobile users. To secure WAN traffic, customers must rely on other means.

Palo Alto Networks recently announced a similar service. It uses its next generation firewall within a cloud service to protect users, whether in remote locations or mobile, accessing the Internet.

FWaaS is a viable alternative for IT teams that waste time and money to sustain their distributed edge firewall environments — the so-called appliance sprawl.

With FWaaS, they can now reduce the operational and capital expense of upgrading and refreshing appliances as well as the attack surface resulting from delayed patches and unmitigated vulnerabilities.

By simplifying the network security architecture, FWaaS makes IT more productive and the business secure.