Android owners are the least ready for mobile security threats, according to a new Gadgetology survey from Retrevo.

Some 39% say they haven’t taken any precautions to avoid someone from misusing information on their cell phone if it were lost or stolen. That compares to 30% of BlackBerry owners and 26% of iPhone owners who say the very same:

Much more than six in ten BlackBerry owners (62%) and iPhone owners (61%) say their mobile phones are protected via password, compared with 49% of Android owners who say the identical. A lot more than one-third of on the web adults (36%) say they have dropped their mobile telephone in a toilet or know a person who has accomplished so.

Geographic study from mobile ad network Jumptap shows California, Texas and Florida skew toward Android, although New England and Midwest states, including Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, swing toward iOS. Jumptap’s U.S. mobile map also shows that BlackBerry is dominant in a handful of states, including New York.

dailywireless.org

Even though the current trend in internet security suites is to sit quietly in the background and protect the user’s PC with the minimum of fuss and nuisance, we located that Panda Net Security would occasionally display a popup from the taskbar.

These messages, recognized as ‘Panda Bulletins’, can be turned off, but they are distracting.

The interface is straightforward and clear, with an emphasis on delivering crucial details rather than eye-pleasing graphics. This is 1 reason why Panda Internet Security 2012 feels much less method resource hungry than some of its flashier competitors.

Although we ran the initial scan, we identified our test PC was much much more responsive than when Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 was running, with CPU usage hovering around 28 to 30 per cent and peaking at 70 per cent.

The scan took one hour 52 minutes, and highlighted a number of tracking cookies that Kaspersky and G Information ignored. This is as considerably a case of over-zealousness on Panda’s portion as it is carelessness on the others’. The files identified were annoyances a finest, however Panda identified them as ‘Spyware programs’.

The Panda SafeBrowser is sandboxed browser that runs in VirtualBox and can be used to access potentially dangerous internet sites. A virtual keyboard is also included to aid thwart keylogging software when you’re typing in passwords.

We can’t assist but really feel that this addition is a bit redundant – if the antivirus scan, download scan and included firewall are doing their jobs then there ought to be no keylogging software program installed on your PC in the first place.

An over-cautious world wide web security package is much better than one that takes securing your PC for granted, and Panda Web Security 2012 works tough to offer you a feature-packed security suite.

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While waiting for Apple to fix the Jailbreakme.com 3.0 vulnerability, follow these four basic practices to avoid being bitten by malware.

Macworld

Well, that’s clever. Lookout Mobile Security posted on their blog today on a new type of malware targeting Android users via advertisements. The malware is dubbed GGTracker. What’s unique about this malware is that the app isn’t actually found in the Android Market but instead through in-app ads. Upon clicking the ad, you will be taken to a webpage mimicking the Android Market and from there entices you to install a “Battery Saving” app or an adult “Sexy Pics” app. Sneaky. Once either app is installed, the app will sign you up for premium SMS services like “Find Your Jersey Shore Name” (mine was The Salivation) which you may not notice til your next phone bill.

I know most people out there will say, “If you’re dumb enough to install an app from a webpage, blah, blah, blah..” that doesn’t really take into account all the thousands of new Android users who may not be aware of how this stuff works (or that malware even exists on their phone).

As always, Lookout’s wants you to know that you could prevent malware and trojans such as this by installing their mobile security app — or you could always disable the side-loading of apps in your phone’s settings. I don’t think Mom really cares to know what her crush’s name is via SMS.

[Via Lookout]

Android Phone Fans

Google Wallet lets smartphones with NFC (near-field communication) chips transmit data to special NFC readers for a financial transaction.

The Google Prepaid Card is a virtual card that you can fund with any of your existing credit cards — no Citi MasterCard required.

After you activate the Google Prepaid Card in Google Wallet, you’ll get $ 10 in your account.

You can then top up the card with additional funds from any of your plastic cards. You’ll pay no fees to top up your Google Prepaid Card at least until the end of 2011. Since the Google Prepaid Card is purely virtual, you won’t get an actual card in the mail.

Google made a point of saying that the wallet would be open to other banks and service providers, along with other mobile carriers and handset makers. It remains to be seen how this plays out.

C/Net has created a FAQ on Google Wallet security.

In many Asian countries, NFC can be used for boarding trains and buses and don’t require a manual PIN number entry for that function. Perhaps that too will be incorporated into Google Wallet or competitor Mobile payment systems such as ISIS (backed by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile), PayPal, or Apple.

Half a billion people worldwide will use their mobile devices as travel tickets on metros, subways and buses by 2015, according to new forecasts from Juniper Research. This is over five times the number generated last year but Juniper is expecting usage to spread widely from the current concentration in Japan and several European countries. Outside Japan, systems in operation typically use SMS or bar codes.

According to Mobile Ticketing for Transport Markets report author Howard Wilcox: “Whether by expansion of SMS and bar code delivery or by NFC, at Juniper we see convenience and choice for users as key advantages of mobile ticketing. It will be 2013 before large numbers of NFC enabled devices are in peoples’ pockets and our new report forecasts the impact on transaction volumes.”

Furthermore, mobile ticketing also has potential across train and air travel, the latter driven by mobile delivered bar coded boarding passes.

Whilst SMS ticketing has been in operation for several years in large cities in Scandinavia and Central & Eastern Europe such as Stockholm and Prague, Juniper believes that recent momentum in Near Field Communications (NFC) will only add to market growth. As metro authorities begin the transition to open contactless payment systems, NFC ticket usage is forecast to grow significantly beginning in 2013.

NFC vendors in Japan are closely related to mass-transit networks, like the Mobile Suica used on the JR East rail network. Their contactless IC card technology has become the de-facto standard method for mobile payments in Japan. You can recharge your credit from your phone.

Other NFC vendors mostly in Europe use contactless payment over mobile phones to pay for on- and off-street parking in specially demarcated areas. Contactless payment using NFC runs over the same chip and PIN network as normal credit and debit card transactions, there is a payment limit on single transactions and contactless cards can only be used a certain number of times before customers are asked for their PIN number.

A report issued last month by the Federal Reserve cited industry estimates that there were 70 million contact-less devices, including credit and debit cards, and 150,000 contact-less readers installed by merchants in the U.S.

dailywireless.org

As adoption of smartphones and tablets explodes, security will become a bigger issue. Mobile security was the topic of a panel discussion involving both AT&T and Verizon at this week’s RSA Conference.

View full post on Macworld

The first thing that stood out about PC Tools was that it had by far the biggest effect on our test machine’s boot times, increasing them by a good half a minute. In three different tests, it spiked a 38-second boot time to a whopping 2:10, 1:49 and 1:40 – quite a difference.

Luckily, that was the only major negative we encountered while using it. Its memory usage and CPU load were average, and its actual scanning was surprisingly fast. The first long initial scan took around half an hour, but dropped down to a mere 46 seconds for its follow-up run.

As with most tools here, it caught everything that was waiting for it on the drive, and didn’t clock up any false positives against its record while doing so.

Its feature set is a strong one, with one of the more reactive firewalls we saw in these products immediately kicking in. Unlike many, there are a few handy shortcuts you can use, including telling it what kind of network you’re on, and having the firewall settings auto-configured to match – very handy if you just want to get started.

In a similar vein, a gaming mode is both present and automated, kicking in whenever you go into full-screen mode.

Additional web security filters include spam filtering for Outlook and Thunderbird via toolbars, and plenty of online protection tools to watch out for any potentially dodgy websites and dangerous downloads.

It’s one of the cheaper antivirus solutions out there as well, at only £50 for a three-user license per year. It’s a pity about that initial sloth, but there’s little to complain about elsewhere in this strong internet security suite.

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BitDefender Total Security is another very solid product, with no particular specialities that push it above the herd, but no major weaknesses either.

It caught all the malware, it didn’t fall for any traps, and it did it very effectively indeed, with quick scans and reasonable CPU and memory loads.

It has a dedicated gaming mode for keeping resources under control, and is one of the few products that does a proper scan of your PC before even installing, just to make sure it’s safe.

The interface is somewhat unusual, initially looking like there aren’t many features, before revealing that they’re tucked away to help prioritise the ones that you actually use. Don’t need laptop mode? Flick a switch and it’ll never be shown again. Not a gamer? Say goodbye to the gaming mode.

Alternatively, if you want everything up front, you can just as easily switch into a more advanced user mode mode with all the options.

One excellent touch is that before you use the software, it offers to actually guide you through, with one tutorial for existing BitDefender users and another for complete newcomers.

In terms of features, it’s the standard loadout: firewall, parental controls, and a few extras for tuning up your PC and backing up files. The slightly cut down Internet Security 2011 edition loses the last couple of features, which is fine if you already have space to store your things, and costs slightly less.

There’s also a pure antivirus edition, which is one of the cheaper on the market. This misses out on the firewall and parental controls, but otherwise still offers everything you could need to stop malware in its tracks.

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The antivirus world’s other heavy hitter doesn’t put in quite as good a performance as this year’s Norton, but still serves up a very respectable performance across the board.

It suffered from the one of the longest boot-up times and the absolute highest CPU load during scans, but compensated by being by far the least memory-hungry program on test.

You might not want to play games while it’s running – and there’s no gaming mode provided – but for most apps it’ll be just fine.

In other areas, Internet Security proved a mid-level package. Its initial scan took a lengthy 17 minutes, which dropped down to just four minutes on a subsequent runthrough – roughly the same as Norton.

It caught 100 per cent of the malware on our test system without falling prey to any false positives, and on a purely aesthetic level, it features a much better interface that makes it easy to access exactly the features you want.

As with all major internet security suites, a capable software firewall is built in, and can be activated and then generally ignored until it spots something you should know about.

Bonus features on offer here include parental controls, file shredding, antispam and a gigabyte of free space (the Norton equivalent is only available in the 360 edition). The upgraded version, Total Protection, offers all these features, plus an encrypted vault to store files, home network defense and a more advanced version of McAfee’s SiteAdvisor for spotting bad links.

For most however, Internet Security will be all you need, and while it may not have come out the winner this year, it remains a strong performer.

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AVG is best known for its free antivirus, but this commercial version offers more than a few reasons to upgrade, including identity protection and a built-in firewall.

Still, install it and you could be forgiven for thinking it’s still trying to upsell you on a later version, because it’s more than a little eager to make sure you know everything it’s doing.

It adds a Gadget to the Windows Sidebar, its firewall is very noticeable, and it can feel like the smart kid at the front of the class going “Sir! Sir! I know, sir!” Still, it performs well enough for a pat on the head.

In tests, it was easily the fastest of the tools here on first scan, and an excellent performer on subsequent scans. It demands fairly high CPU usage, but barely affected rebooting times at all.

On the all-important virus test, it was a clean sweep for both actual malware and false-positives.

The only real weaknesses are the Link Scanner, which protects you from malicious sites and sending out dodgy links via Facebook, but only in internet Explorer and Firefox, and it’s not always clear exactly what its options will do for you – the Identity Protection component being particularly vague.

AVG is a strong contender, although for personal use, it must be noted that if it’s only the antivirus side of the package that you’re interested in, you can still download it for free. (For professional/corporate use, you need to pay up for the full package.)

The main things you miss out on if you opt for the free version are the firewall, anti-spam (which you probably won’t use since it’s clientside only), IM conversation scanning, and the Identity Protection component.

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It looks like a bugs life can be pretty busy now a days, especially when they continue to infestate the Android OS.  In addition to still bearing some SMS issues, it looks like 2.3 Gingerbread has found a new gaping whole in the software.  According to Xuxian Jiang, a security researcher at North Carolina State University, the Android 2.3 firmware has revealed a new bug, one that could possibly allow malicious sites and attackers alike to gain access to the content of your microSD card.  Jiang is also an assistant professor with the school and has stated in an advisory that pertinent and vital content like banking info, photos and voicemails could be extracted and routed to a remote server of choice.  In an email sent to eWeek, Jiange also adds that his findings were not particularly difficult to implement and only requires basic knowledge of JavaScript and Android. Read More…

Android 2.3 Shows Security Bug, Can Gain Access To Content On microSD Cards

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates

Trend Micro makes a proud boast after you have installed Titanium Maximum Security 2011 that you need ‘never click an update button ever again’, as Titanium automatically downloads and installs updates whenever they become available.

On opening the Tools section, we dived into the Parental Controls. There are three preset profiles, plus the option for creating a custom profile. We selected a profile for a child aged 13–17 years and found that pornographic material was supposed to be blocked, while intimate apparel/swimsuit material was perfectly OK.

These settings seem amazingly precise, yet we had no trouble Googling for photos of poledancers, which means that you are likely to be filled with a false sense of confidence.

There’s a browser toolbar to rate the safety of webpages, Secure Erase for permanently deleting data and the Trend Micro Free Tool Centre, which is like an app store for security software.

There is a variety of software on offer, including an option that allows Titanium Maximum customers to claim 10GB of online backup free from Humyo, part of Trend Micro.

Laptop users will appreciate the way that Titanium authenticates wireless hotspots and Wi-Fi networks. When you start using Titanium you create a password to protect your security settings. It can get a bit tedious keying in the password repeatedly; however, it comes into its own with the Micro Vault feature.

You can add files to the Micro Vault where they are protected by the same password. But in the event that your laptop is stolen, once you have informed Trend Micro of the theft, the Micro Vault is locked down remotely across the internet and no one can gain access to the files, even if they have the correct password.

If you are lucky enough to get your laptop back you can establish your identity with Trend Micro and unlock your files. It’s a clever idea that, in our eyes, is the key feature of this great security suite.

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You quickly get a feeling for Kaspersky’s approach with Internet Security 2011 when you look at the Safe Run section of the software.

This is where you will find a new feature called Safe Run for Websites which adds extra protection to sites that handle confidential data. This prevents malware from snooping on your data while you’re filling in passwords and account numbers.

This is a good idea, but it is spoilt by a warning that ‘the functionality of the x64 platform is limited’. Let’s face it, 64-bit software has taken off with Windows 7 and the security software developers need to keep up.

The other tool that caught our eye is a virtual keyboard. If you’re worried that there might be a keylogger installed on your laptop, then you fire up the virtual keyboard and use your mouse to click on the letters and digits. This is certain to beat the suspected problem, but it rather smacks of paranoia. Still, it shows that Kaspersky is certainly being innovative.

The footprint of this software is tiny and required about 40MB of memory. We like the desktop gadget that sits up in a corner of the screen watching like a guardian angel, but struggle with the idea that you can customise short-cuts to the parts of the software that you use most frequently. This can only save seconds.

We were more impressed by the parental controls, which work very successfully.

Perhaps the biggest issue with Kaspersky is the lack of user-friendliness. For example, you have to be prepared to venture into the Protection Centre and then into Application Control and then you’re faced with a whole new screen that will require you to pause and think. Do you want to use the default heuristic analysis to define unknown applications? It’s a good question, but not the sort of thing you want your parents to ask over the phone when they need some technical support.

Kaspersky has packed in features, but the software could be rather daunting for the casual user and we feel it is best suited for more technical types.

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Our first impressions of BullGuard Internet Security 10 were not very favourable. The software uses a simple white and red colour scheme and looks a bit dull.

Behind the scenes there have been some subtle changes in this latest version. In addition to the usual disk scanning, there is a new heuristic monitoring system called Behavioural Detection. This aims to catch any online nasties that manage to slip past your first line of defence.

Inspector is a new software vulnerability scanner tool. It checks the software on your laptop to see whether it requires an update to overcome any known security problems. In our case, it raised the alarm about outdated versions of Adobe AIR, Shockwave and Java software which was a good call.

We are less sure about the Gaming option in the suite. This piece of software reins back on your security scans in order that your games will play smoothly. That sounds considerate, but is arguably a little unnecessary in these days of dual-core CPUs.

In fact, we found that BullGuard made very modest demands on our laptop and only required a footprint of 128MB of RAM. We feel that a scan should be allowed to run if it is necessary. Prioritising games over security strikes us as very shaky.

A better idea is the Password Protected settings where you require a password to change security settings for the Antivirus engine, Firewall and Spam filter. On the other hand, you might argue that if a villain is sat at your laptop keyboard, the issue of spam is the least of your worries.

The £45 licence fee covers three machines and includes 5GB of online data storage that can be expanded to 10GB for an extra £4. However, we draw the line at £16 for 25GB, £45 for 50GB or £103 for 100GB.

Bullguard offers a reasonable array of features, but there is very little to grab your attention and the aesthetic appeal of the software is non-existent.

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Mozilla Thursday issued patches for 13 bugs, 11 of which were rated ‘critical.’

View full post on Macworld

Firefox and Opera have both disabled support for HTML5 WebSockets in the latest builds of their respective browsers. The move comes on the heels of a protocol vulnerability that could leave thousands of sites harboring malicious code.

New in HTML5, the WebSocket protocol enables a key mechanism found in modern web apps, allowing servers to independently send data to a client browser without the need for page refreshes or complex JavaScript. The most immediate use for WebSockets are apps that rely on full-duplex communication channels, like web-based chat tools and other real-time sharing apps.

Unfortunately, flaws in the WebSockets protocol also make the current spec easy to exploit.

The vulnerability was discovered by Adam Barth, who has demonstrated that a serious attack against the protocol could poison caches that sit in between the browser and the internet. That means, for example, a common JavaScript file like a Google Analytics script, could be replaced on a cache with a malware file.

As Mozilla’s Hacks Blog notes, the exploit doesn’t just affect browsers implementing WebSockets, but also Flash and Java. As the blog post says, “to avoid a lot of malware showing up without being easily traceable, we need to fix the protocol.”

Details of the exploit can be found in Barth’s paper [PDF link] and a series of messages to the Internet Engineering Task Force mailing list. Fortunately there appears to be a solution, but it will require rewriting some of the WebSockets spec.

However, until that solution is implemented both Mozilla and Opera have disabled support for WebSockets. Mozilla expects other browser to follow suit, though so far Opera is the only other browser to disable support. WebSocket support isn’t just a feature in desktop browsers either, the recent Mobile Safari upgrade in iOS 4.2 added support for WebSockets.

So far neither Adobe, which makes the Flash Player plug-in, nor Oracle, which oversees Java, have addressed the issue.

If you’ve been experimenting with WebSockets, be aware that the as of Firefox 4 Beta 8 (due in the next few days), Mozilla will no longer support your code. Neither will Opera 11. We really don’t expect this to be a long-term issue, so if you want to continue testing apps based on the nascent protocol, you can re-enable the features by changing a hidden preference in Firefox and Opera.

Photo by Andy Butkaj/Flickr/CC

See Also:

• New Beta Release Gives Firefox a Shot of Jäger
• Mobile Safari Gets More HTML5 Love in iOS Update
• Chrome Gets New ‘Crankshaft’ Engine, Syncing, WebGL Support
• Chrome 8 Offers Built-in PDF Tools, Security Fixes

View full post on Webmonkey

Staying on track with its rapid-fire, six week release cycle for its web browser, Google has pushed out the final version of Chrome 8. The latest release packs in some 800 bug and security fixes, as well as a new inline PDF viewer.

If you’re using the stable, everyday version of Chrome, you should be automatically updated to Chrome 8. If you’re using another release, or would just like to give Chrome a try, head over the Google Chrome download page.

The new, built-in PDF viewer means that when you click on a link to a PDF now, Chrome will no longer download the file to your PC. Instead, Chrome will offer a preview in the browser where you can view and search the document. Also, thanks to the sandboxing model, this decreases the chance of malicious code, malware or anything else bad being delivered through the PDF. Of course, if you then decide to download the file, Chrome won’t protect you from anything that might be lurking inside.

The PDF reader joins Flash in the list of things that Chrome manages for you. That means Google can push out updates and security fixes as needed to these components of its browser, rather than relying on users to update plug-ins themselves. You can disable the PDF viewer (or any other plug-in) by navigating to about:plugins inside Chrome.

Chrome 8 is also the first version capable of connecting to the Chrome Web Store. Although there’s nothing to see at the moment, Google is planning to release a store similar to the Android Marketplace or Apple’s App Store, but with a focus on web applications, Chrome extensions, and Chrome themes.

See Also:

• Chrome 8 Adds Google Instant to the URL Bar
• Chrome 7 Shows Off Hardware Acceleration, ‘Tabpose’
• Early Birds Will Dig Chrome Canary

View full post on Webmonkey

Software like Lookout is great for backing up your contacts and in case you lose your phone, but I bet you never thought it would make a great anti-theft device… As it so happens, one individual was thoughtful enough to install lookout on his phone, and it paid off big time. While making a quick stop at the store, the victim’s car was stolen.

Fortunately he left his phone in the car, and even more fortunate is the fact that he had Lookout installed. He promptly popped open his laptop, checked out where his phone was, called the cops, and within an hour the perp was arrested. Now, most people don’t leave their phone in their cars, but still this is a wonderful story and I’m very happy the car was returned and the thief put behind bars.

Continue reading after the break to watch the video report, and cheers to Lookout for a great product. .

Read More…

Lookout Mobile Security leads to arrest of car thief

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates

In a press release issued early this morning, Research In Motion confirmed what most folks out there already understood. When it comes to security on handheld devices Research In Motion, BlackBerry devices and now, their latest BlackBerry 6 OS rank as high as you can get when it comes to security. BlackBerry 6 is now FIPS 140-2 certified. In layman terms, it’s ok to load BlackBerry 6 onto President Obamas BlackBerry Bold 9700 as it’s been tested and approved to be secure. Although, by the time carriers approve it he may no longer be President.

"This FIPS certification will help extend the reach of BlackBerry 6 to users in a wide range of government agencies and other security-conscious organizations in the U.S.," said Scott Totzke, Vice President, BlackBerry Security Group at Research In Motion. "BlackBerry 6 offers an exceptional mobile experience for BlackBerry smartphone users on the most secure wireless platform in the industry."

Maybe now that it’s been FIPS certified we’ll see it roll out officially to more carriers and devices? Full press release is available after the break if you want to dig into the finer details.

read more

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. BlackBerry 6 earns FIPS Security Certification for U.S. Government Agencies

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Well, well, well… looks like Cyber Monday has hit, and with it comes some great deals. But what’s a better deal than “free”? Not a whole lot, and the guys over at iTag want to give you some good stuff for a zero-cost price tag. According to an email we received from the iTag team:

Well its all very exciting… Leaves are changing, a chill is in the air, football is peaking and basketball is back in action… All signs point to the arrival of the Holidays. And, as you can imagine, iTag wants to throw magic, holiday dust around, too!

We know you will be busy with friends and family during the Thanksgiving weekend. But, forget Black Friday! On CYBER MONDAY, November 29th, iTag will be giving FREE Premium Membership FOR LIFE to every single (naughty or nice) person that downloads iTag to their phone and registers for an iTag account. Mark this on your calendar and make sure to download iTag on Monday, November 29th. It is absolutely, no-strings-attached, FREE! So, why not? Tell your friends and family about this iTag thanksgiving promotion, too. You know how they say its better to give than receive? Well, we believe you should all receive.

We’re super geeked out about being your, your friends’ and your family’s phone guardians. Especially for FREE.

Happy Cyber Monday!

You may already be familiar with iTag. The app runs in the background and allows you to locate your device via GPS at any time for free users, but on a premium account, you can also backup and restore your contacts over the air, remotely lock or wipe your device, and get alerts if the SIM in your GSM phone is replaced. The service is very easy, safe and convenient, and this is a free lifetime membership, so you’ll be able to use these premium perks forever! Be sure to hit the break to see a video of iTag in action, and check out the app here. Don’t forget, you’ll have to register an account at itag.com.

Read More…

iTag giving away free premium lifetime memberships on Android security app for Cyber Monday

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates

Photo from TSA Blog

Hey, remember a few weeks ago, when we were safe enough on airplanes after everyone just had to go through a metal detector? Remember when the government didn’t require that we surrender our Fourth Amendment rights in order to get on board?

We at GeekDad don’t usually speak up on this sort of topic, but the TSA’s new security measures have prompted such universal outrage we suspect we won’t lose a lot of readers by joining the throng. We think it’s important to address how the new procedures affect families with children, particularly because many families will be traveling for Thanksgiving next week.

By now you’ve heard about the full-body scanner that creates an image of passengers’ naked bodies through their clothes. The TSA argues that this is not a violation of privacy because the agents who view the scans can’t see the passengers in real life, and so can’t associate one with the other, and because they can’t save copies of the scans. They continue to make these claims despite the many hundreds of scans that have made their way online, some of them paired up with regular photographs of the people in them (which we will not link to so as to avoid perpetuating the violation of their privacy). And you’ve doubtless heard about the alternative measure, should you opt out of the scan: a full-body pat-down by an agent that gets, shall we say, very personal.

It seems fairly clear that these measures violate the right of U.S. citizens, guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment, to protection from unreasonable searches. In fact, a former high-ranking TSA official named Mo McGowan — while attempting to defend the measures — admitted on Fox News that they do in fact violate Fourth Amendment rights. They compound the issue, should you attempt to refuse both the scan and the pat-down, by preventing you from leaving the security area and arresting you if you continue to refuse. Their logic for this is that anyone who would refuse to be checked at the time it’s about to happen is automatically even more suspect — yet another case where the government operates under the fallacy that privacy is only desired by those with something nefarious to hide. It should be noted that Israel, a country that has been dealing with terrorist threats on airplanes for longer than the U.S., and certainly is more likely to encounter one on any given day, doesn’t use full-body scans or pat-downs — they evaluate the people, not the stuff people are carrying. They scan bags and use metal detectors, of course, but mostly they use “soft” techniques, and they are extremely effective and quick.

Now, how do the new procedures affect families with children? There have been several stories of children undergoing traumatic pat-downs, either because their parents opted out of the scans or because the scan requires you to stand still for ten seconds, which many kids aren’t able to do (particularly in a stressful situation). The good news is that the TSA has modified their procedures for handling pat-downs of kids; the bad news is that they won’t reveal how they’ve modified them, because to do so would of course tip off the terrorists — never mind the fact that there’s nothing preventing people witnessing the pat-downs from talking to the press or blogging about them.

So what should you do? We recommend refusing the scan — not just because it’s invasive but because its potential health risks have not been adequately studied. The back-scatter technique bombards the human body with x-rays — and yes, they’re low intensity x-rays — but it’s not clear how much of the radiation is absorbed by the skin or what long-term effects might be. The fact that the pilots’ union urges its members to refuse the scans should send up a red flag to everyone.

The pat-downs of children under age twelve are supposed to be of the “standard” (i.e., less personal) variety, but that’s scant comfort for most parents. We strongly urge you to discuss with your kids what’s going to happen, before even leaving for the airport. Explain that a man or woman in a uniform will quickly use his or her hands to touch their bodies through their clothes, and that if they can be brave and stand still while it happens that will make it be over sooner. Explain, if your kids are old enough to understand, that this isn’t something you as parent(s) want to have happen, but that the government says it has to happen or you won’t be able to get on the airplane. You do have the right to ask the TSA agent to put on fresh gloves before patting you or your child down, and you should not feel bad about asking. If you have a child with special needs, and particularly one with sensory issues, it’s not totally clear what options you have — the TSA’s webpage on the subject doesn’t seem to have been updated to address what to do in light of the new procedures.

We also urge you to discuss the matter with those around you while you wait in the long lines at security. Try to convince everyone you can to also opt out of the scan. If enough people in the line opt out, it’s quite possible (there have been several reports online of this occurring) the agents will simply send everyone through the metal detectors in lieu of the pat-downs, because doing that many pat-downs would slow the line considerably. Even if your rights are being violated anyway, you should still go ahead and exercise those rights you still have.

NOTE: The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those of every GeekDad contributor.

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In a recent worldwide survey, security firm Symantec discovered that two thirds of us have been victims of cybercrime. Norton Internet Security 2011 is Symantec’s latest version of the world famous security suite and is built to detect and eliminate any viruses, malware and other threats that attempt to infect your system, keeping you and your family safe when browsing the internet.

Internet Security automatically starts in the background when your laptop is booted, with no detrimental effect on performance and no prolonged boot times.

We copied some potentially hazardous files on to our laptop and Internet Security immediately found and removed them.

A firewall helps to prevent worms and other nasties from externally accessing your laptop, while email protection detects any dodgy attachments you might receive. Users of Microsoft Outlook also have access to an anti-spam filter.

Loading the Internet Security dashboard gives you access to a range of tools, including a drive scanner which checks for hidden viruses. Subsequent scans are quick, as only new and altered files are examined. Your applications can also be checked for possible threats and to see how much memory they are hogging.

Internet Security keeps you safe online by warning you of any potentially fraudulent websites, and detecting vulnerabilities in your web browser. An Identity Safe tool stores your personal details, credit/debit card information and passwords in a secure fashion and automatically fills in online forms.

Internet Security also has parental controls to prevent your kids seeing something they shouldn’t online.

Norton Internet Security 2011 is a sleek update of one of the world’s biggest security software suites. It runs quietly in the background, as security software should, and is no longer a massive system hog. Each copy comes with a year’s subscription to Norton updates, and 24/7 phone support.

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Webroot, an internet security firm founded in 1997, has just released its comprehensive Internet Security Complete 2011 suite for protecting your computer from online threats.

With its simple, friendly interface and generous online storage, it is well worth considering. Installation is quick and easy, and followed by an initial scan of your laptop’s hard drive. From this point on the software works in the background, informing you of any threats or attempts to access your network.

Updates are automatically downloaded and hazardous files are picked up instantly with a warning message. The dashboard is clean and simple and not as intimidating as Norton’s front end. Any problems are obvious thanks to the red and green colour coding.

You can run a scan at any time or schedule one for the future, although scans are performed automatically by default at unobtrusive times. You also have quick access to internet or phone support and can set up an account with Webroot which gives you access to a generous 10GB of online storage for backing up and synchronising your files with two other computers.

Webroot automatically adds a toolbar to your default internet browser, which allows you to store log-in and password information for your favourite websites. You can also store personal details and card information, which is then automatically entered into online forms.

For added security, all sites are checked out for potential threats before you access them and any attachments you receive are scanned before download.

However, there are no parental controls for keeping tabs on your childrens’ browsing habits.

Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 offers comprehensive protection for your laptop, both online and offl ine, and the sharing and syncing features are an added bonus. Only the omission of parental controls lets it down.

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Adobe released a Security Bulletin today regarding a critical vulnerability within certain versions of Adobe Flash Player and Reader products.

The exploit would allow attackers to gain control of the affected devices, so if you see you Android device start calling someone in Turkey, pull out the battery. As a side note, the Bulletin somewhat contradicts itself by saying “Adobe Flash Player 10.1.95.2 and earlier versions for Android” ARE affected, then later points out that “Adobe is not currently aware of attacks targeting Adobe Flash Player.”

Check out the full Security Bulletin Below.

Security Bulletin – Adobe Flash Player on Android!

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates