Hackers could create havoc with global air traffic

LAS VEGAS — Air traffic control software used around the world could be exploited by hackers to unleash squadrons of ghost planes to befuddle those entrusted to keep the skies safe, a security researcher said Friday. Cyprus-based Andrei Costin demonstrated his findings at a Black Hat gathering of cyber defenders in Las Vegas. “This is for information only,” Costin said as he outlined how someone with modest tech skills and about $2,000 worth of electronics could vex air traffic controllers or even stalk celebrities traveling in private jets. “Everything you do is at your own risk.”  Costin’s target was an ADS-B system in place for aircraft to communicate with one another and with air traffic control systems at airports.The system, which has been rolled out internationally in recent years in a multi-billion dollar upgrade, was designed to better track aircraft so airport traffic can flow more efficiently. A perilous flaw is that the system is not designed to verify who is actually sending a message, meaning that those with malicious intent can impersonate aircraft either as pranks or to cause mayhem, according to Costin. “There is no provision to make sure a message is genuine,” he said.“It is basically an inviting opportunity for any attacker with medium technical knowledge.” Air traffic controllers faced with a signal from a fake airplane resort to cross-checking flight plans, putting relevant portions of air space off limits while they work. “Imagine you inject a million planes; you don’t have that many people to cross-check,” Costin said. “You can do a human resource version of a denial of service attack on an airport.” Denial of service attacks commonly used by hackers involve overwhelming websites with so many simultaneous online requests that they crash or slow to the point of being useless. Aviation agencies are adept at identifying and locating “rogue transmitters” on the ground, but not at countering signals from drones or other robotic aircraft becoming more common and available, according to the researcher. Another danger in the new-generation air traffic control system, according to Costin, is that position, velocity and other information broadcast by aircraft isn’t encrypted and can be snatched from the air. “Basically, you can buy or build yourself a device to capture this information from airplanes,” Costin said. He listed potential abuses including paparazzi being able to track private jets carrying celebrities or other famous people. Costin showed how a friend was able to identify a plane broadcasting the identification numbers of Air Force One, the military jet used by the U.S. president, and plot it on a map on an iPad. “It can be a very profitable business model for criminals to invest a small amount of money in radios, place them around the world” and then sell jet tracking services or information about flights, the independent researcher said. “If it was Air Force One, why does Air Force One show itself?” Costin wondered aloud. “It is a very high profile target and you don’t want everyone to know it is flying over your house.” There are websites with databases matching aircraft registration numbers with listed owners. Source: Sam Daily Times

Read More........→December 16, 2012

Samsung to launch a Facebook-like Social network next year

Are you fed of with facebook , twitter or Google ? If yes then it can be a good News for you all. After Google and Microsoft’s venture into social networking space, now Samsung seems to be working on a social networking service. A recent report from The Korean Times, states that Samsung Electronics is expected to launch a Facebook-like social networking site by early next year.The new social network according to the reports would be accessible on a wide range of devices, including laptops, cameras, televisions etc. To allow users to access the social networking service from any device and at any time, Samsung also plans to integrate the service with Amazon’s cloud computing platform. When asked about the rumors of the upcoming social network, Samsung claimed that the company is just launching an update for Family Story – a social networking service focused on photo sharing, and storing families’ special moments, accessible on a limited number of Samsung smartphones and Web-connected televisions, since February 2012. “By the end of the year, we will have a polished and finished version of Family Story that will be offered first to Samsung device users for free. The new service will become available in the first quarter of next year at the earliest. The eventual goal is to expand our social media service across different devices from different companies across different mobile platforms. That includes cameras, televisions and blue-ray players,”Samsung stated. Source: Ananta Tech, Reference-Image: flickr.com

Read More........→November 16, 2012

Google opens year-long Web Lab exhibition at the Science Museum

A SERIES OF ‘INTERACTIVE CHROME EXPERIMENTS’ HAVE TAKEN UP RESIDENCE IN A BASEMENT GALLERY AT THE SCIENCE MUSEUM. Google hopes that the exhibition will “bring the extraordinary workings of the internet to life and inspire the next generation of computer scientists and enthusiasts. “ Visitors to the Science Museum will be able to play with five demonstrations, while online participants will be able to visit chromeweblab.com and interact with the same installations. The Science Museum claims the exhibition will be its first that is truly 24-hour, as online users will continue to be able to operate the exhibits overnight when the museum is closed. The five experiments are Universal Orchestra, an internet-powered eight-piece robotic orchestra; Sketchbots, where custom-built robots take photographs of users and then sketch them in sand; Data Tracer, which maps where the world’s online information is physically stored; Teleporter, which uses web-enabled periscopes to view pre-determined locations around the world; and Lab Tag Explorer, which shows where exhibition visotrs, both online and in the gallery, are from and what they have in common. Each Web Lab experiment uses a modern web technology to explore a particular idea in computer science, but Google is not explaining the different techniques involved. Instead, it hopes that their effects will inspire children to find out more. Google’s Steve Vranakis, Creative Director of Web Lab said that, “The internet powers our lives everyday, allows us to explore the globe and lets us communicate with friends the world over. Until now, all this magic has remained locked behind our screens. Web Lab changes all that. We’ve worked with the Science Museum to create experiments that will demonstrate the power of the Internet to everyone who visits.”Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum, added that the exhibition “reinforces the museum’s role in helping to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers”. Web Lab is free and open, both in London and online, until Summer 2013.Source: Sam Daily Times

Read More........→September 23, 2012

Google deploying planes over cities for 3D maps

A three-dimensional view of the Cliff House in San Francisco on Google Earth. -AP

Deccan Chronicle, Reuters, San Francisco: Google is deploying a fleet of small, camera-equipped airplanes above several cities, the Internet search company's latest step in its ambitious and sometimes controversial plan to create a digital map of the world. Google plans to release the first three-dimensional maps for several cities by the end of the year, the company said at a news conference at its San Francisco offices on Wednesday. Google declined to name the cities, but it showed a demonstration of a 3D map of San Francisco, in which a user can navigate around an aerial view of the city. "We're trying to create the illusion that you're just flying over the city, almost as if you were in your own personal helicopter," said Peter Birch, a product manager for Google Earth. Google's head of engineering for its maps product, Brian McClendon, said the company was using a fleet of airplanes owned and operated by contractors and flying exclusively for Google. Asked about potential privacy implications, McClendon said the privacy issues were similar to all aerial imagery and that the type of 45-degree-angle pictures that the planes take have been used for a long time. Google has used airplanes to collect aerial photos in the past, such as following the 2010 San Bruno, California gas-line explosion, but the latest effort marks the first time the company will deploy the planes in a systemic manner to build a standard feature in one of its products. By the end of the year, Google said it expects to have 3D map coverage for metropolitan areas with a combined population of 300 million people. The first 3D cityscape will be available within weeks. Google has for years operated a fleet of camera-equipped cars that crisscross the globe taking panoramic pictures of streets for its popular mapping service. The cars have raised privacy concerns in some countries. In 2010, Google acknowledged that the so-called Street View cars had been inadvertently collecting emails, passwords and other personal data from people's home wireless networks. Collecting the WiFi data was unrelated to the Google Maps project, and was done instead so that Google could collect data on WiFi hotspots that can be used to provide separate location-based services. The forthcoming 3D city maps will be part of the Google Earth software app available for mobile devices such as smartphones based on Google's Android software and Apple's iOS software. The company also announced a version of Google maps for Android smartphones that allows users to access certain maps without an Internet connection. Shares of Google finished on Wednesday's regular session up 1.8 per cent at $580.57. Google's announcement comes a week before Apple Inc's developer conference in San Francisco, as competition between the two tech giants continues to heat up, particularly in the fast-growing mobile market. Apple is planning to replace Google Maps as the built-in mapping service on its iPhone and iPad later this year with technology that it has created in-house, according to media reports. Apple could show off its new mapping software at next week's conference. Google's McClendon said the company would continue to make Google maps services available as widely as possible, on "all platforms." In what appeared to be a veiled jab at Apple, he said the integration with Google's search engine provides a mapping serving that is far more useful than a product that simply uses a 'geocoder' - technology that uses geographic coordinates to create a digital map. Apple began to use its own geocoder technology for the Google-based maps on its smartphones late last year. Google said on Wednesday that there are currently 1 billion monthly active users of Google maps services and that the Street View cars have driven more than 5 million miles (8 million km) Photographing streets all over the world. Asked if Google had any plans to use unmanned aerial drones to gather photos for its 3D cityscapes, McClendon said it was an interesting question, but noted that drones were still being evaluated by the Federal Aviation Administration. "That's a larger can of worms that we're not going to get into here," he said. Source: Deccan Chronicle

Read More........→August 17, 2012

Google Maps to feature canals and rivers

Google has embarked on a project to map towpaths in England and Wales, as part of a plan to get more people on to rivers and canals. Later this year, Google Maps will be updated to enable users to plan journeys that include bridges, locks and the 2,000 miles of canal and river paths across England and Wales. The project is being launched today with the Canal and River Trust, which begins its stewardship of the nation's waterways next month. It takes over from British Waterways and the Waterways Trustin England and Wales to become responsible for the nation's third largest collection of listed structures, as well hundreds of important wildlife habitats. Tony Hales, the chairman of the trust, said: "We are delighted that these exciting partners have come on board as we launch. This is a huge vote of confidence in the Canal and River Trust and recognition of the important role it will play as the guardian of one of the nation's environmental treasures." Ed Parsons, a geospatial technologist at Google UK, said of the project: "Canal towpaths offer green routes through our towns and cities, and by working with the Canal and River Trust we're adding towpaths to Google Maps and encouraging people to discover their local waterway."Source: Sam Daily Times

Read More........→July 21, 2012