Page 7 - Computeractive - January 2, 2018 UK

Passw o r d -sharingMPs‘pu t UK IN BRIEF

a t risko f a t tack’ OFFICE A PPS C OME T O
CHROMEBOOKS
Microsoft h as released its
MPs h ave b een w arned they defending F irst deal with letters a nd Office a pps o n C hromebooks
could be unwittingly h elping Secretary of State emails from (laptops that use t he Chrome
foreign h ackers access Damian G reen who constituents. W ill OS operating s ystem r ather
Government s ecrets after has b een a ccused of Quince, M P f or than Windows). They a re
admitting t hey s hare their having pornography Colchester, said he free on Chromebooks w ith a
work computer passwords. on a w ork c omputer. leaves his c omputer 10.1in s creen o r s maller. O n
It follows t weets from three The Mid unlocked so staff can larger devices, you’ll need
Conservative M Ps claiming Bedfordshire MP said it was use i t, adding: “Ultimately , I to pay f or an Office 3 65
their s taff r egularly used their “utterly preposterous” f or trust m y t eam”. subscription (from £ 5.99
login d etails. police officers t o a ssume t hat Security e xperts s lammed a m onth) in order to edit
The Information because the P C w as used by the M Ps’ “ cavalier” a ttitude documents. The apps are
Commissioner’s Office, which Green, he was r esponsible for to passwords. Australian available now o n G oogle’s
protects data-privacy in the U K, downloading t he porn. S he researcher Troy Hunt, w ho Play Store: www.snipca.
said it was m aking e nquiries. said that her s taff, including runs the w ebsite Have I B een com/26402.
Commons o fficials emailed interns, l ogged o n t o h er Pwned? ( https://haveibeen
MPs t o w arn them that such computer “every day”. S he pwned.com), said it shows “ a 300 D RIVERS BANNED
actions “put the e ntire added: “ A frequent shout fundamental l ack o f p rivacy FOR P HONE U SE
parliamentary network at risk”. when I m anage t o s it at my and s ecurity e ducation”. Nearly 300 d rivers were
The House o f C ommons desk m yself i s, ‘what i s t he Consultant Graham Cluley banned for u sing mobile
handbook s ays M Ps’ s taff m ust password?’” wrote o n h is blog (www . phones b etween March a nd
not share p asswords, b ut this Other M Ps also admitted snipca.com/26438): “It should August this y ear a fter tougher
does not appear to extend to sharing passwords, including worry us all i f t he very people laws were introduced. Th ese
MPs t hemselves. Conservative Nick Boles, w ho represents who a re tasked with doubled the p unishment to
MP Nadine D orries (pictured) Grantham and S tamford. He legislating o n i nternet privacy six p enalty p oints, which
was t he first to reveal she said he gives a ccess to four and s ecurity i ssues are p roving is enough t o d isqualify
shares her p assword. She w as members o f s taff s o t hey c an to be so utterly c lueless”. motorists with less than two
years’ experience. According
Google t ells you w hen p eeping t oms s py to figures released by the
DVLA, 1 5,752 drivers i n t otal
on your phone ( using r ainbow ‘ vomit’!) received s ix penalty p oints
for u sing a p hone between
March a nd August 2017, a n
Google has c laimed t o h ave lighting conditions and w ith increase from 15,237 in the
invented a s ystem that tells several h ead p oses, m aking i t same period in 2016.
you w hen n osey parkers a re “quick, r obust, and a ccurate”.
looking o ver y our s houlder They s ay it detects a g aze
at your phone. P owered by within two m illiseconds, T o m o rro w ’s
machine l earning, i t u ses a and i dentifies it as a s tranger
phone’s front-facing c amera within 47. I t a ppears to work w o r l d
to pick o ut faces t hat d on’t so quickly t hat e ven a p assing
belong t o t he owner. glance would b e d etected. RememberAmazon’s d rones?
Its c reators, G oogle The project i s e xperimental Two y ears ago the c ompany
researchers H ee Jung Ryu a nd at the m oment, and t here’s revealed plans to deliver
Florian Schroff, s ay it can no indication that Google will items by air. Th at they’re
protect y ou “from o nlookers i n add i t t o A ndroid. B ut it’s a not b uzzing a round a lready
a c rowded space such as the prime example o f t he is largely d own t o s afety
subway or an elevator”. company’s r esearch into how concerns. A mazon’s l atest
In a v ideo t hey p ublished artificial i ntelligence (AI) can plan t o r eassure n ervous
on Y o uTube ( www.snipca. be used on phones a nd tablets. authorities i s a p atent for a
com/26380), the c amera o n a Other A I f eatures i n drone that self-destructs
Google Pixel p hone detects t he phones i nclude tools t hat if it malfunctions. A fter it
stranger’s face, t hen f rames i t online v ideos. automatically d etect n umbers breaks up, e ach part looks
inside a r ed box ( see The researchers, who c all and a ddresses when you’re for s omewhere s afe t o l and
screenshot). It also adds the f eature an ‘electronic copying and p asting text, and - a t ree, p ond or park. What
rainbow ‘ vomit’, w hich i s a screen protector’, c laim i t suggesting pre-written replies could p ossibly g o w rong?
popular special effect i n works i n m any d ifferent to your emails.

20 December 2017 – 2 J anuary 2 018 7