Tech Family

Google apparently wants to get all the Street View dirt out in the open at once in the hope of putting the incident to bed instead of being needled by slowly emerging details. That would explain why it released the FCC's full report of its investigation into its unsavory data-collection ways. Although there's a decided stink around the company's handling of privacy in this case, apparently it did nothing illegal, and that's what Google wants to unders

Flight+ is a detailed and always up-to-date flight schedule that tracks thousands of airports and flights all over the world. It's a great companion for constant travelers who need to stay on top of departure and arrivals. The information it presents could be found elsewhere, but with Flight+, it's all packed into a clean and easy-to-navigate interface.

A flaw in Skype apparently allows users to learn the Internet protocol addresses of other users. Finding out that someone's snooped your IP address may not sound as alarming as finding out your Social Security number's been exposed, but the information could be used by a determined and talented hacker to build up more sophisticated attacks.

It's Tool Time!

The tool exploits a patched version of Skype 5.5. Skype's flaw lets anyone see another person's vCard and get that person's real user IP address and the IP address of the internal network card on that person's PC.
A vCard is a file format standard for electronic business cards.
More information about the target, such as the city and country where he or she is located, and the Internet service provider the target is using, can be obtained by going to a Whois service.
Whois is used to get information on registered users or assignees of domain names and IP address blocks, among other things.

Findings of the Research Team

The researchers stated that the flaw could let Voice over IP (VoIP) phone systems, including Skype, be exploited by third parties to ascertain users' identities, locations and digital files. The flaw can be exploited by a sophisticated hacker of high school age, they said.
Tracking Skype accounts and combining this with commercial geo-location services let the researchers construct a detailed account of a user's daily activities even if the user had not accessed Skype for 72 hours.
By repeatedly calling targets over Skype and terminating the calls regularly, perhaps hourly, attackers could find out the locations and movements of any Skype user over weeks or months without the targets' knowledge, the researchers said. They could discover which digital files targets downloaded by combining this attack with tracking targets' activities on popular peer-to-peer file sharing systems such as BitTorrent.
Linking data obtained from VoIP systems through the flaw to personal information from social media sites would let marketers create profiles on large numbers of people, the researchers said. They estimate it will cost a marketer only about US$500 a week to track 10,000 users.
The researchers notified both Skype and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), which purchased Skype last year, of their findings.

Hitting Gamers and Mobile Devices

Skype service is now available on the Windows Phone and the PlayStation Vita, and this may open up new areas of attack.
"The potential of abuse on these platforms needs to be carefully reviewed," Abrams warned. "The problem itself may well exist in other undiscovered areas, as programming logic errors are commonly repeated."

The Art of VoIP Self-Defense

The researchers suggested various tactics VoIP service providers can use to protect users.
One approach is for the designer of the VoIP signaling protocol to ensure that a user's IP address is not revealed to callers unless the user accepts the call. If a user blocks all calls from people not on their contact list then anyone not on that list won't be able to determine the user's IP address. The researchers recommend this solution for all VoIP applications. Think of this as Caller ID in reverse.
Users may also want to block people on their contact list from getting their IP address. To do this, the researchers suggested VoIP service providers pass all calls through relays. This will attach the IP address of the relay to the data. However, this solution increases VoIP traffic and slows P2P communication. 

Facebook may genuinely want to help facilitate organ donation through its new status update feature. However, the gesture is also likely to add more polish to the company's image, which is always a good thing just prior to an IPO. The initiative "presents a friendly face to investors -- retail investors, especially," said David Johnson of Strategic Vision. "It can only help drive up the price of Facebook's stock."

Social Media Driver

There is every reason to agree to think this initiative will meet, at a minimum, its stated goal of raising awareness, David Johnson, principal with Strategic Vision, told TechNewsWorld.
"People respond now to Facebook more than they do to traditional means of advertising. In most marketing campaigns -- including, increasingly, campaigns by not-for-profits -- a Facebook element is considered essential," he said.
The reason for this has been dissected, discussed and analyzed intensely over the years. Despite Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) attempts to dislodge Facebook from its perch as the premier social network, it is without a doubt the top site.
"Facebook is where people go to read news, to find out what is happening with friends and family, to do product research," Johnson said.

Getting Ready for an IPO

Of course, the question arises, what's in it for Facebook? It is hard to imagine Facebook's founders being so callous as to not appreciate the good such an initiative can do.
"Almost everyone has either known someone in their family or in their circle of friends who has needed an organ transplant," Johnson said.
It is equally difficult to imagine that the founders are unaware of what such an initiative could mean for Facebook as a public company, he added. Facebook is reportedly going to launch its IPOthis month.
The organ donation initiative, Johnson said, "presents a friendly face to investors -- retail investors, especially. It can only help drive up the price of Facebook's stock."