Yet another major ISP is using your cable modem to offer free WiFi hotspots

Several Internet Service Providers in the United States use subscribers’ cable modems to broadcast free WiFi hotspots to other customers in the area. While notes about this practice are always buried somewhere in terms and conditions or other notices, subscribers are often unaware of this practice. And as might be expected, they’re often taken aback when they learn for the first time that their Internet connections are being used to provide strangers with free WiFi.

Earlier this year, Comcast subscribers in Minnesota were surprised to learn that their modems were broadcasting free WiFi to anyone and everyone nearby who might be a Comcast customer. While ISPs claim these free WiFi networks are secure and completely separate from consumers’ home Internet service, the continued threat from hackers who find new ways to steal our data is a concern that might still weighs heavy.

Now, customers are being reminded once again that Cablevision will also use its customers’ home Internet modems to broadcast free WiFi hotspots.

As reported by LightReading, Cablevision confirmed during its recent earnings call that it is upgrading its Optimum Online modems in order to add free WiFi hotspot functionality. Once the upgrades are complete,

Cablevision says it will offer more than 1 million WiFi hotspots across the country.
It should be noted that Optimum Online subscribers will have the ability to disable the free public hotspot feature on their modems.

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How To Install Windows 10 Technical Preview In A Sandbox

If you love Windows and just can’t wait for the final public release of Windows 10 then don’t worry Windows 10 Technical Preview is here and available to download and install at your leisure. Microsoft made the OS available for download recently and it’s available free of charge.

If you want to get up close and personal with the latest version of Windows then you have a couple options. First up, if you have an old PC that isn’t doing very much then you could install Windows 10 from a flash drive. That may not be the best solution. We think it would be better to run the new OS inside a “sandbox,” a virtual machine. This way it won’t affect your system in any way and it’ll be more convenient than rummaging around for that old PC.

To install Windows 10 Technical preview doesn’t take too long, the whole process takes approximately 30 (depending on the speed of your PC).

This is a quick guide on how to install what you need in a few steps:

1: Start off by navigating Microsoft’s website and download the Windows 10 Technical Preview ISO file. Just simply click through the “Get Started” and “Join Now” screens, then scroll down and choose the appropriate language and version (32- or 64-bit).

2: Download and install Oracle VM VirtualBox, the free virtualization tool which is going to make it possible for you to run Windows 10 inside Windows.

3: Run VirtualBox, then click the New icon. In the Create Virtual Machine dialog box, type ‘Windows 10,’ then click the version selector and choose Windows 8.1 You must ensure that you match the ISO to what you downloaded, either 32 or 64 bit, to what version is listed for 8.1.

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How to leak sensitive data from an isolated computer (air-gap) to a near by mobile phone - AirHopper

Tomorrow at MALCON 2014, security researcher Mordechai Guri with guidance of Prof. Yuval Elovici from the cyber security labs at Ben Gurion University in Israel will present a breakthrough method (“AirHopper) for leaking data from an isolated computer to a mobile phone without the presence of a network. In highly secure facilities the assumption today is that data can not leak outside of an isolated internal network. It is called air-gap security. The common policy in such secure organizations is to leave your mobile phone in some locker when you enter the facility and then pick it up when you go out. We at the cyber security labs challenged this assumption and found a way to leak data from a computer inside the organization to a remote a mobile phone without using Wifi or Bluetooth. “Such technique can be used potentially by people and organizations with malicious intentions and we want to start a discussion on how to mitigate this newly presented risk.” said Dudu Mimran CTO of the cyber security labs. - See more at: http://cyber.bgu.ac.il/content/how-leak-sensitive-data-isolated-computer-air-gap-near-mobile-phone-airhopper#sthash.kYL7nazK.dpuf

 Tomorrow at MALCON 2014, security researcher Mordechai Guri with guidance of Prof. Yuval Elovici from the cyber security labs at Ben Gurion University in Israel will present a breakthrough method (“AirHopper) for leaking data from an isolated computer to a mobile phone without the presence of a network. In highly secure facilities the assumption today is that data can not leak outside of an isolated internal network. It is called air-gap security. The common policy in such secure organizations is to leave your mobile phone in some locker when you enter the facility and then pick it up when you go out. We at the cyber security labs challenged this assumption and found a way to leak data from a computer inside the organization to a remote a mobile phone without using Wifi or Bluetooth. “Such technique can be used potentially by people and organizations with malicious intentions and we want to start a discussion on how to mitigate this newly presented risk.” said Dudu Mimran CTO of the cyber security labs.

The following video demonstrates AirHopper:

The main idea behind the research is to use radio frequencies in order to transmit the secret data from the computer to the mobile phone. Mobile phones usually come equipped with FM radio receivers and it is already known that software can intentionally create radio emissions from a video display unit. Yes, from the computer screen. Still, this is the first time that a mobile phone is considered in an attack model as the intended receiver of maliciously crafted radio signals emitted from the screen of the isolated computer. AirHopper demonstrates how textual and binary data can be exfiltrated from physically a isolated computer to mobile phones at a distance of 1-7 meters, with effective bandwidth of 13-60 Bps (Bytes per second). Enough to steal a secret password.
The full paper will be published here tomorrow following the conference presentation so stay tuned. Journalists and media can contact cyber-labs@bgu.ac.il for an early peek to the research results and more info. Follow the story on twitter @cyberlabsbgu #airhopper.
The team of cyber security labs @ Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israe
- See more at: http://cyber.bgu.ac.il/content/how-leak-sensitive-data-isolated-computer-air-gap-near-mobile-phone-airhopper#sthash.kYL7nazK.dpuf

 The following video demonstrates AirHopper:

http://youtu.be/2OzTWiGl1rM

The main idea behind the research is to use radio frequencies in order to transmit the secret data from the computer to the mobile phone. Mobile phones usually come equipped with FM radio receivers and it is already known that software can intentionally create radio emissions from a video display unit. Yes, from the computer screen. Still, this is the first time that a mobile phone is considered in an attack model as the intended receiver of maliciously crafted radio signals emitted from the screen of the isolated computer. AirHopper demonstrates how textual and binary data can be exfiltrated from physically a isolated computer to mobile phones at a distance of 1-7 meters, with effective bandwidth of 13-60 Bps (Bytes per second). Enough to steal a secret password.

The full paper will be published here tomorrow following the conference presentation so stay tuned. Journalists and media can contact cyber-labs@bgu.ac.il for an early peek to the research results and more info. Follow the story on twitter @cyberlabsbgu #airhopper.

The team of cyber security labs @ Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel

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