Mobile and Secure.Com

When I installed Service Pack 1 for Vista yesterday I noticed that hardware that I had disabled in Device Manager had been re-enabled.

Both my Wi-Fi and webcam hardware were now enabled. I had set them both to disabled because I don’t use them when I’m at home and I don’t want any potential malware using them either.

So make sure that if you upgrade Vista to SP1 that you check device manager for any unwanted changes.

Asda (UK Wallmart) is offering PAYG mobile phones for a fiver, thus offering the paranoid among us a cheap way of making calls from a phone that is not traceable back to it’s owner - unless you were stupid enough to pay for it with a credit/debit card that is.

So if you need to make a couple of untraceable calls, pop into your nearest Asda store now.

“Are your mates too busy to join you for a beer because they say they need a night in? Is your wife working late again? Is your car where you left it?”

Well now you can answer all these questions without having to leave your computer. Just log on to the website and you can track the movements of people and objects with or without their knowledge.

Security researches have discovered a way of obtaining encryption keys for popular disk encryption systems including BitLocker and TrueCrypt by freezing the computer memory after gaining physical access.

You’ve heard of phishing, well Smishing is where you are sent an SMS text message telling you “thank you for signing up for service X and for your payment of £2. If you wish to cancel your subscription then log on to..” followed by a web site address that is designed to install malware on your computer or capture your personal details.

UK internet users face a ban if a proposal goes through to have their ISP detect if they are downloading copyrighted material. The ban is to be activated after the user receives two warnings followed by the detection of a further download of copyrighted material.

No information is available regarding how the detections will be carried out, how an ISP intends to prove that what is being downloaded is copyrighted and that the downloader does not own or have rights to access the download, or how false positives will be dealt with, or even how a user will be able to get back online if they have been falsely accused and banned.

What about users who share their internet connection or use a BT FON broadband router? If the downloading of copyrighted material is detected via your connection but it is not you that is doing the downloading, do you have a leg to stand on?

Nokia is launching a range of location-aware tools for series 60 and 40 phones that utilise GPS technology to pinpoint your location. This is then used to feed you location-specific services such as directions to nearby facilities, the route to the nearest Post Office or entered destination, or if any of your friends are in the same area as you.

Previously, mobile phone companies could only track your location and movements by monitoring which cell tower you were connected to as you roamed. With GPS, they can track your movements more precisely.

Big brother is watching you, and he’d like to tell you that McDonald’s (0.5km from your current location) has a special offer on Happy Meals at present.

You can share your Symbian S60v3 device’s 3G data connection with everyone by turning it into a WLAN Wi-Fi hotspot using JoikuSpot beta software.

The software is still in the beta stage so be warned as there doesn’t appear to be any mention of security in the White Paper. This implies that anyone within range can freely use your hotspot and internet connection.

USB memory sticks are getting cheaper at the lower end of the storage capacity range (4GB and under) as the latest models sport even larger capacities. So it’s tempting to buy a few of the cheaper sticks rather than one larger model. You could use one for storing your digital photos, another for documents, and a third for video clips.

To secure your data you can encrypt your files (PGP, WinZip) or encrypt the whole drive (Truecrypt) with a growing selection of third party products. Or you can even buy a stick that comes complete with built-in hardware encryption like the Kanguru Defender Pro. You even have a choice of colours.

If your mobile phone supports the microSD format then you could soon be having secure conversations with your friends with the use of a new technology developed by KoolSpan. The KoolSpan TrustChip™ offers 256bit AES end-to-end-voice encryption.