Saturday 12 December 2020

14. Data Security: Technology, Training and Rules

 Cybersecurity is always being improved and so are the ways to bypass it. But there is one vulnerability that is still being commonly used for malicious activity – human factor. If the user lets the malware get in the system, it's already too late and anti-virus software might not help. Phishing, spam mail and pop-ups saying "You have a virus! Quickly contact this completely legit company's tech support to remove all the viruses on your computer" from suspicious looking websites use this to achieve their goal.

 Those methods rely on naivety, unawareness and/or inexperience of the users who get targeted. It's usually elderly people, who get taken advantage of. Phishing mails try to get users to transfer money to them or get their bank card information so they can use it themselves. False virus pop-ups try to make you contact "tech support" that will tell you that your computer has all kinds of malware (which is a lie) to get you to give them remote access. After deceiving you into thinking your computer has malware they either make you buy some software package that will delete those (non-existent) viruses or lock your computer and demand ransom while threatening you with deleting important files. 

 Even though some anti-viruses can block unwanted pop-ups like that and e-mails like that are usually placed in spam folder, some might get through. I believe that the best protection from that kind of malicious activity is awareness. People should be aware that suspicious links and mail from unknown sources should be checked twice or thrice. Making a mandatory class that teaches about the dangers of surfing the net would certainly lessen the amount of users who fall into those traps in the future.

Saturday 5 December 2020

13. Different kind of IT

 Lately computer technology has been developing quite rapidly and it made our lives easier. From simplifying work to allowing us do something that couldn't been done before. But what about people with disabilities such as impaired hearing or vision or some physical limitations? They have a hard time using this technology due to their limitations. However, special technology is being developed that can not only help those people have the same accessibility as everyone else but improve their everyday life.

Live Transcribe

 One such example is Google's Live Transcribe that is designed to help people who are deaf or with hearing loss. Live Transcribe is an Android app that uses speech recognition and sound detection to caption conversations in up to 70 languages and sounds around you on your screen. It is also able to send notifications when it captures specific sounds such as fire alarm, sirens, baby noise or knocking on the door. I think this app is a great help for people with hearing problems. Not everyone knows sign language and deaf people can also get situational awareness from the sounds around them they wouldn't normally get without the app.


Source:
https://www.android.com/accessibility/live-transcribe/

14. Data Security: Technology, Training and Rules

 Cybersecurity is always being improved and so are the ways to bypass it. But there is one vulnerability that is still being commonly used f...