Month: September 2016

FBI Director: “Hackers Poking Around in U.S. Voter Systems”

Dan Uff September 28, 2016 0

Washington (CNN): The FBI director is telling states to make sure they are on top of their voter registration systems, saying would-be hackers are "poking around."

While James Comey testified Wednesday to Congress that there haven't been any additional successful hacks, there have been scans and attempts that indicate "bad actors" are trying to see where they can get in.

"There have been a variety of scanning activities, which is a preamble for potential intrusion activities as well as some attempted intrusions at voter database registrations beyond those we knew about in July and August," Comey told a House committee during an FBI oversight hearing.

Comey was being asked about a warning the FBI sent to states in June, and two successful intrusions into voter registration databases in Illinois and Arizona.

The FBI has discovered attempted election-related hacks in more than a dozen states, mostly related to voter registration sites according to a law enforcement official. The belief is that Russia is behind those attempted hacks.

In no cases was information changed, nor were any actual voting systems at risk. Comey reiterated to Congress that those actual voting systems are not connected to the Internet and are decentralized, making broad hacking of the election nearly impossible.

Hacking attempts are also not a cause for panic. Voting registration databases have always been appealing targets for hackers, who can use personal information for financial crime. This cycle, there is a concern that Russian government-linked hackers are also looking to sow distrust in the US election system as a way to undermine Western power.

Without commenting on Russia's specific activity, Comey said the takeaway is for states to make sure they are secure.

"We are urging the states just to make sure that their deadbolts are thrown and their locks are on and to get the best information they can from (the Department of Homeland Security) just to make sure their systems are secure," Comey said.

"Because there's no doubt that some bad actors have been poking around."

On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said 18 states have requested cyberassistance from his department for voting systems.

CNN's Pamela Brown contributed to this report.

JD Power votes Apple Music as tops in customer satisfaction

Dan Uff September 28, 2016 0

Early Wednesday, J.D. Power and Associates published a report that claims Apple Music is the top-rated music service as compared to others such as Spotify and Google Play Music.

For Apple Music customers that were polled, 35% of the customers were "strongly committed" to the service. The other two music services (Spotify and Google Play Music) were tied at 30% each.

62% of Apple's listership cited compatibility with their devices as a reason for signing up. Apple Music is baked into iOS and macOS, and while it can also be used on Android and Windows, some features — like Siri voice commands — won't work away from Apple devices. Google Play Music is integrated into Android, but only 53% of its customers cited compatibility as a reason to join — one percentage point higher than Spotify, which is platform-independent.

Across all services though, J.D. Power noted that people who listened to exclusive content were more likely be satisfied, and/or recommend their service to others.

Blackberry to stop making its own phones

Dan Uff September 28, 2016 0

Early Wednesday, Blackberry issued a statement that said it will stop making its own phones and rely on partners to make them for the company starting sometime soon. The iconic phones will still have the same look and feel as they do now, but they will now be made by an Indonesian telecom company.

The reason for the move is two fold: 1) to cut costs, and 2) to focus all of its attention to software.

A once innovative cell phone company, Blackberry has slid since Apple had announced the iPhone back in 2007 and was a very late bloomer in getting touch-screen phones to the market.

 Maps

Apple adds Sao Paulo to its Maps apps

Dan Uff September 28, 2016 0

Apple has quietly added a second Brazilian city, Sao Paulo, to the list of places with public transit coverage in the native Maps apps for iOS and macOS.

Travelers can now use Maps to navigate the city's bus and rail systems. As usual, different routes are color-coded, and the app will offer multiple routes where available.

Until recently, the only Brazilian city with Maps transit coverage was Rio de Janeiro. Apple added support in May, just three months ahead of the 2016 Olympics.

Most of Apple's transit coverage is still limited to the U.S. and China. Only a relative handful of cities in other countries are supported, and most of the world lacks any access whatsoever.

The company has been slowly restoring transit options since debuting iOS 9 last year. They were stripped out in iOS 6 as a part of ditching reliance on Google Maps data — this initially resulted in some chaos, not only forcing people to turn to third-party apps for bus and train routes, but causing confusion as people occasionally ran into missing or mislabeled destinations.

Via: AppleInsider.com