Fernando's Blog |
3/31/2017 3 Comments are smartwatches safe? (BLOG #9)Technology is advancing each year that we seem to begin to adapt with technological changes. Now most people in the United States own smartphones that use their phones cameras most of the time that seem to replace digital cameras that I can remember when digital cameras were used like 5-8 years ago. There was the time that computers were the only thing that the public can access to the internet. Now we have our smartphones, game systems, smart TV’s, printers, refrigerators, cameras, and USB Flash Drives that can access that can access the internet, so mostly everyone can easily access the internet. I heard from my professor for my intro to Networking class that in a few years there is going to be toasters and chairs that will have the ability to access the internet. It is unbelievable that some common items that we use in a daily basis can be upgraded with internet access. Instead of focusing on the future, we should see what kind of technological devices that are trending now for example smartwatches. I have never imagined that we are going to replace an ordinary watch for a smartwatch. A smartwatch is a mobile device with a touchscreen display, designed to be worn on the wrist. Smartwatches are popular among tech savvy consumers, which I don’t blame them for enjoying a device that can easily give you directions from point A to point B, can send emails or text messages, use voice search, get notifications from your favorite news cast, play music, shop, and book a flight. Although a smartwatch is a must have device, but there are some flaws that smartwatches can harm or endanger privacy to consumers. Companies find ways to collect and use personal health, location and purchasing data found on the wearable devices of their customers and workers. According to an article from ComputerWorld, “The broader privacy concern is that information collected from various [wearable] sources is increasingly being combined to create profiles from individual users and draw inferences about their future actions, preferences, etc." To be clearer about the invasion of privacy that companies cause from users is that smartwatches makes it seem that any personal information that is stored in the smartwatch can remain anonymous, but that is not the case most of the time. For example, the smartwatch has a health feature that it has monitor and record a user’s heartbeat and their current health, so if companies gather people’s health data from the smartwatches, it can possibly jeopardize a person’s employment if they have bad health. About some other ethical issue involving health concerns is the side effects that smartwatches can cause to users that we seem to not be aware of. Radiation that is released by these gadgets can cause reduced sperm counts, eye irritation, headaches, reduced appetite, nausea, mood swings and sleep disruption. According to an interview that was conducted to Dr. Pandey from regards to health concerns, “The Electro-Magnetic Radiation (EMR) and radio signals, which are released continuously by these gadgets, have become one of the most toxic forms of pollution and a major health concern. With the constant use of cell phones and electronic devices, which offer near constant connectivity, hazardous toxins are wreaking havoc on the human body slowly and surely”. I am not encouraging people not to buy a smartwatch, but I want inform everyone that it might cause health issues and invasion of privacy when you get your hands on one.
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Social media has pretty much consumes a good part of our life’s for more than over a decade by its ability to chat with our friends, family, and making new friends. Today, social media is easier to have access with our smartphones and even a smart watch can access social media. According to Business Insider, 25% of the time spent on mobile apps is attributed to social networking. Mostly everyone already has a social media account and constantly checks what their friends and family are up to twenty-four hours a day. Technically that is true half of the time, but it seems that the other half makes it fully true if the user keeps on getting notifications from their friends every post they make that the user can see what it’s happening 3 hours later. Social media will ask for your personal information so mostly everyone can see it displayed on your profile, that’s if you have your private settings so only your friends can see it. No one has a problem to expose their personal information on social media such as where they live, their full name, etc. I am going to use Facebook as a primary example to state my point. I had Facebook for many years and the only way to know more about someone is by reading what another user allows me to know about them. Today, it’s on a whole other level since mostly everyone gives you their current location. Users don’t mind doing these things, but they’re not aware of that they are exposing themselves too much on social media and are putting their privacy at risk. For example, some users tend to post pictures about their expensive jewelries, electronics, and stacks of money to show the world of their personal belongings. The most common one is users posting their current location and letting everyone know in social media that they will be gone from their home for a while and posting where they’re going. On Facebook, I see this all of the time and I ask myself that they have no idea that they’re giving away their privacy without them realizing it. At first, it does not seem like it’s a big deal, but if you think this through a little deeper, you will realize the seriousness of this privacy issue. There are people on social media that are lurking on other profiles to whether stalk someone or steal from them. The reason that posting pictures of your expensive things and money is dangerous because someone in interest can steal your home. It’s like allowing everyone into your home to see your stuff. The reason that posting your current location is dangerous is because some stranger can go to your current location and stalk you. It’s better if users do not overshare every piece of their daily life to protect their privacy. The most important thing to remember about anything you post online is that it is no longer yours and no longer private. Though your privacy settings protect your posts one day, the social platform can change those settings and your posts are now public. Therefore, it is a good idea not to post anything you don’t want public on social media. Keep that in mind the next time you share something online. Social media has pretty much consumes a good part of our life’s for more than over a decade by its ability to chat with our friends, family, and making new friends. Today, social media is easier to have access with our smartphones and even a smart watch can access social media. According to Business Insider, 25% of the time spent on mobile apps is attributed to social networking. Mostly everyone already has a social media account and constantly checks what their friends and family are up to twenty-four hours a day. Technically that is true half of the time, but it seems that the other half makes it fully true if the user keeps on getting notifications from their friends every post they make that the user can see what it’s happening 3 hours later. Social media will ask for your personal information so mostly everyone can see it displayed on your profile, that’s if you have your private settings so only your friends can see it. No one has a problem to expose their personal information on social media such as where they live, their full name, etc. I am going to use Facebook as a primary example to state my point. I had Facebook for many years and the only way to know more about someone is by reading what another user allows me to know about them. Today, it’s on a whole other level since mostly everyone gives you their current location. Users don’t mind doing these things, but they’re not aware of that they are exposing themselves too much on social media and are putting their privacy at risk. For example, some users tend to post pictures about their expensive jewelries, electronics, and stacks of money to show the world of their personal belongings. The most common one is users posting their current location and letting everyone know in social media that they will be gone from their home for a while and posting where they’re going. On Facebook, I see this all of the time and I ask myself that they have no idea that they’re giving away their privacy without them realizing it. At first, it does not seem like it’s a big deal, but if you think this through a little deeper, you will realize the seriousness of this privacy issue. There are people on social media that are lurking on other profiles to whether stalk someone or steal from them. The reason that posting pictures of your expensive things and money is dangerous because someone in interest can steal your home. It’s like allowing everyone into your home to see your stuff. The reason that posting your current location is dangerous is because some stranger can go to your current location and stalk you. It’s better if users do not overshare every piece of their daily life to protect their privacy. The most important thing to remember about anything you post online is that it is no longer yours and no longer private. Though your privacy settings protect your posts one day, the social platform can change those settings and your posts are now public. Therefore, it is a good idea not to post anything you don’t want public on social media. Keep that in mind the next time you share something online.
3/10/2017 3 Comments the dangers of webcams (blog #7)Today, laptops and computer monitors have built in webcams. Webcams are convenient for online face to face communication with our families and friends, which Skype is our resource that we rely on for online communication. It is common now that companies are using webcams to communicate with employees and employers by conducting job interviews and an online conference. Even though, people have been using webcams for more over a decade, now it has been revolutionized that it is required to own a webcam since companies, schools, and families from long distance tend to communicate by using a webcam. What I am curious about is that when I go to school, I see people using their laptops and I see a small paper or sticker covering their webcam. When I was in community college, I saw the same thing from other students and now it has become a common thing to do. I heard that the reason for covering their webcam is that other people might access their webcam and begin watching them. To be more specific, people are concerned that hackers, FBI, and the U.S. Government are constantly getting access to webcams to spy on someone in front of their webcam. Mostly everyone that owns a computer with a built-in webcam are concerned about their privacy and are fearful about someone watching them, so in order to protect their privacy, they cover their webcams. There has been reports from victims that there were occasions that they have been stalked from their webcam. Victims of webcam hacks have seen images and videos of themselves regularly in different states of undress or in compromising situations – uploaded to websites. On top of this, there have been multiple instances of hackers using these unlawful techniques to spy on people they know. Hackers tend to have many techniques on how to hack someone’s webcam. The most common malware that hackers rely on is Remote Access Trojan (RAT). RAT is a malware program that includes a back door for administrative control over the target computer. RATs are usually downloaded invisibly with a user-requested program such as a game or sent as an email attachment. This gives the opportunity for hackers to hide in the application and wait for the chance to begin hacking the webcams. As for the FBI, the FBI has long been able to activate a computer’s camera without triggering the ‘recording light’ to let the owner know the webcam is on. According to an article from Daily Mail, “The FBI team use the same technique as ratters, by infecting the computer with a malicious software – ‘malware – through phishing”. By sending an email with a link, which could be to a website, an image or a video, the user is tricked into downloading a small piece of software onto their machine. It is shocking that even the FBI has the nerve to spy on people and breaking their privacy rights. After researching about who is hacking into webcams to spy on users, I can say that I don’t blame people that cover their webcams to avoid from being spied on also this is a concern about our privacy. The cyberworld is a mysterious place that there is not knowing what people are doing, so you have to be prepared for the unexpected.
3/2/2017 2 Comments tracking down online scammersEvery day, people buy stuff online such as clothes, phones, videogames, TV’s, watches, iPAD’s, etc.. . When we buy stuff online, we expect to have a great experience and have a good satisfaction with our purchases. We expect that our products are well sealed and the product/s are going to be delivered on the day it is promised or sooner. The most visited websites that we use to buy stuff online is Amazon and eBay. Although, Amazon sells products based on their stocks from their warehouse, there are people that use Amazon that sell their stuff. eBay is perfectly known as a website that people and private businesses all over in the United States that sell their stuff. Customers online are attracted by the good quality of the items and their low price compared to retail price. Although, shopping online is recommended by any rather than going to retails stores and pay double for the same item, there is a serious issue that haunts online customers which they fall victims of being scammed by sellers. eBay has a negative reputation from customers that report from being scammed. Scammers like to target new members to take advantage of their unfamiliarity with how eBay or PayPal works. New members can be easily tricked into thinking there is a special Web site they should make payments through, which is in fact a fake site set up by a scammer or they may be tricked more easily into using a fake escrow company. The complaints are generally that eBay fails to respond when a claim is made. Fraud committed by eBay includes selling counterfeit merchandise, shill bidding, shipping different items, knowingly selling stolen goods, selling bootleg merchandise, and PayPal fraud. The most common scams that are happening are electronics. People that are buying smartphones from the internet are likely getting scammed by the buyer, which the buyer gives a customer a similar phone that looks like the actual phone that has similar functions and less GB’s, but the customer is paying full price. Shill bidding is the practice of attempting to increase the final selling price of an auction item by entering a phony bid on one's own product. In society sellers are known for scamming buyers off from their money, but sellers are not the only ones that scam people. Some buyers tend to have the ability to scam sellers as well. There are certain ways that a buyer can scam a targeted seller. On eBay, a potential buyer will contact you and offer to make an immediate payment if you settle the transaction outside of eBay. The transaction will go smoothly, until they contact you afterwards and complain of a defective product, false advertisement or dishonest eBay listing. They will blackmail you into paying them or else they’ll contact eBay and get you banned. The reason that scammers want to buy that product outside of eBay is because if the seller complains to eBay that the buyer scammed him or her, eBay cannot do anything about it because the transaction was not done in their system. Therefore, if you are shopping online or selling an item, you should be aware that there are scammers that are waiting to take advantage of you or anybody else. Thus, everyone has the free will to take the risk and buy something that the price is too good to be true, but keep your eyes peeled and don’t become involved in scamming people.
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Fernando MadrigalHello, my name is Fernando Madrigal and I am a Junior at CSUMB. My major is Computer Science with my concentration in Network and Security. I recently transferred from Hartnell Community College last fall. Archives
May 2017
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