Interesting Idea - Add Duress Code to prevent forced unlocking of devices

From the Article:

A key observation from these cases is that the police can compel you to hand over a fingerprint, but cannot order you to tell the police which finger is used to unlock the device. This would be tantamount to ordering you to provide a passcode.

In the short term, Apple and Google can take steps to alleviate this threat by adding duress codes into their access control mechanisms. For instance, scanning anything but your right index finger might force a password-only lock.

In the long term, we need to rethink deploying deniability as a set of strategies for helping users evade coercion in general. What is similarly important is that all devices must have some sort of deniability baked-in, full stop





For more details:
http://www.mit.edu/~specter/articles/17/deniability1.html

FREE book - Security Engineering , 2nd edition by Ross Anderson

This book is 4 years old but , contains a lot of good information.



Download it here
https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/book.html

Your Mobile Device knows more about you than you know about yourself so, do you wipe it carefully before getting rid of it?

Information stored on Mobile devices can include can information

• Where you live, work, and places you frequently visit
• The contact details for everyone in your address book and applications, including family, friends, and coworkers
• Call history, including inbound, outbound, and missed calls
• SMS (texting), voice, and multimedia messages
• Chat sessions within applications like secure chat, games, and social media
• Location history based on GPS coordinates or cell tower history
• Web browsing history, search history, cookies, and cached pages
• Personal photos, videos, audio recordings, and emails
• Stored passwords and access to personal accounts, such as your online bank or email
• Access to photos, files, or information stored in the Cloud
• Any health-related information, including your age, heart rate, blood pressure, or diet

How do you get rid of this before disposing?

Check Below

https://securingthehuman.sans.org/newsletters/ouch/issues/OUCH-201612_en.pdf

Few Security Tutorials from Varonis - Good for end users

There are 7 short and simple videos

1. Internet Security Basics
2. How to choose a good password
3. How to know when to trust a website
4. Why we need all those software updates
5. How to protect your phone from hackers
6. How to protect your home from the Internet of Things (IoT)
7. 5 ways to protect yourself online

Check it here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYEr6kVanyrPu1qZ5g6iOr0v4ImpOOCSH

Don't forget to upgade Google chrome - 12 high severity flaws have been fixed

My  Philosophy

1.  If you don't patch your PC then it is bad
2.  If you don't patch your Browser then it is worse.

For banking and other important activities. Use a different browser in  a new Private window and NEVER use that browser to access any other sites.





For More info:
https://threatpost.com/google-fixes-12-high-severity-flaws-in-chrome-browser/122223/

Tracking you with audio signals your phone can hear, but you can’t???

The technology, called ultrasonic cross-device tracking, embeds high-frequency tones. 

These ultrasound “beacons” emit their audio sequences with speakers, and almost any device microphone—like those accessed by an app on a smartphone or tablet—can detect the signal and start to put together a picture of what ads you’ve seen, what sites you’ve perused, and even where you’ve been

For More Info:
http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/11/how-to-block-the-ultrasonic-signals-you-didnt-know-were-tracking-you/

Do you have an android phone - You might be vulnerable to Drammer.(deterministic Rowhammer)

It is a DRAM related vulnerability
and 
There is a  partial fix for the flaw (CVE-2016-6728)


From the article:

The name Drammer is short for deterministic Rowhammer

The vulnerability, dubbed Drammer, could give an attacker root access to millions of Android handsets including Nexus, Samsung, LG and Motorola.

The attack method employs an existing PC-based hack known as Rowhammer, a technique that targets rows of cells of memory in DRAM devices to induce cells to flip from one state to another.

“Drammer is the first Android root exploit that relies on no software vulnerability and is an instance of the Flip Feng Shui exploitation technique,” 

The Android Security team said it would issue a partial fix for the flaw (CVE-2016-6728) with its November security bulletin. However researchers point out, Google’s patch will make it much harder for an attacker to launch a Drammer attack, it does not eradicate it. “We hope to see a more sophisticated fix soon,” according to researchers.

For more details:
https://threatpost.com/rowhammer-vulnerability-comes-to-android/121480/