Google Discovers Fraudulent Digital Certificate Issued for Its Domain

Santa wasn’t the only one sneaking around on Christmas Eve this year. Google says that someone was caught trying to use an unauthorized digital certificate issued in its name in an attempt to impersonate Google.com for a man-in-the-middle attack.

Google revealed in a blog post Thursday that its Chrome web browser detected the certificate being used late on the evening of Dec. 24 and immediately blocked it.
The unauthorized certificate was created after a Trusted Root certificate authority in Turkey, Turktrust, issued intermediate Certificate Authority certificates to two entities last year that should not have received them. Turktrust told Google that it issued the two CA certificates by mistake, inadvertently giving the two entities certificate authority status.

With CA status, the two entities could then generate digital certificates, like a trusted certificate authority, for any domain. These digital certificates could then be misused to intercept traffic intended for that domain in order to steal log-in credentials or read communication.
Google did not identify the two entities who were issued CA certificates, but Microsoft identified them in a blog post as *.EGO.GOV.TR, a Turkish government agency that operates buses and other public transportation in that country, and http://e-islam.kktcmerkezbankasi.org, a domain that does not currently resolve to anything.

The unauthorized Google.com certificate was generated under the *.EGO.GOV.TR certificate authority and was being used to man-in-the-middle traffic on the *.EGO.GOV.TR network. Google’s spokesman said the unauthorized Google certificate was created sometime in early December, fourteen months after Turktrust issued the CA certificate to *.EGO.GOV.TR.

The *.google.com certificate, a so-called wild-card certificate, would have allowed whoever was using it to intercept and read any communication that passed from users on the *.EGO.GOV.TR network to any google.com domain, including encrypted Gmail traffic.

Google engineers have updated Chrome’s revocation list to block any other unauthorized certificates that might have been issued by the two companies. Google also notified Microsoft and Mozilla so that they could update their browsers to block certificates from these companies. Mozilla said in a blog post that it was also suspending Turktrust from inclusion in its trusted root certificate list pending further investigation into how the mixup occurred.

This is at least the third time that a fraudulent certificate for Google has been issued. In 2011, a hacker was able to trick a certificate authority in Europe, Comodo Group, into issuing him fraudulent certificates for domains belonging to Google, Microsoft and Yahoo.

A couple of months later, intruders broke into the network of Dutch certificate authority DigiNotar and were able to issue themselves more than 200 fraudulent certificates, including one for Google.

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Apple said to be eyeing new display tech for next iPhone

Apple's use of the so-called "in-cell" touch technology in the iPhone 5 could be short-lived, according to a new report that claims the company is already eyeing alternatives for its next iPhone model.
Citing supply chain rumors, The China Times (translation) says Apple is currently evaluating technology called Touch On Display from Innolux, the company formerly named Chimei Innolux which Apple last year listed as one of its component suppliers.

The reason for the change, the report claims, is due to interference with the current in-cell technology where both the display and touch are embedded in the same panel. By comparison, the Touch On technology offers "good" touch sensitivity with minimal thickness, something that's become increasingly import as mobile phones get thinner.

Display technology has been a major feature of the iPhone since Apple's first model, which at 3.5-inches was considerably larger than most competing smartphones when it was released. Apple later increased the pixel density while keeping the 3.5-inch size, technology it called the Retina Display. That same technology ended up on the iPad and high-end versions of Apple's MacBook Pro notebooks.

The display continues to be one of the most expensive parts of the iPhone. A virtual teardown by IHS iSuppli in September estimated the combined display and touch screen to cost Apple $44, putting it well ahead of the components for wireless antennas, NAND flash memory, and the A-series processor.
Rumors have swirled in recent weeks that Apple is preparing an intermediary upgrade to the iPhone 5 for release as soon as this spring. Alleged shots of its rear casing cropped up last month on a French technology blog that's been known to get accurate shots of Apple components in the past. Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White this week said that he expects the company to roll out a "5S" model in May or June with "more color patterns and screen sizes," similar to what Apple offers on its latest iPod Touch models.

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Google protects Internet search recipe while agreeing to other changes to end antitrust probe

SAN FRANCISCO — Google has settled a U.S. government probe into its business practices without making any major concessions on how the company runs its Internet search engine, the world’s most influential gateway to digital information and commerce.
Thursday’s agreement with the Federal Trade Commission covers only some of the issues raised in a wide-ranging antitrust investigation that could have culminated in a regulatory crackdown that re-shapes Internet search, advertising and mobile computing.

But that didn’t happen, to the relief of Google and technology trade groups worried about overzealous regulation discouraging future innovation. The resolution disappointed consumer rights groups and Google rivals such as Microsoft Corp., which had lodged complaints with regulators in hopes of legal action that would split up or at least hobble the Internet’s most powerful company.
Google is still trying to settle a similar antitrust probe in Europe. A resolution to that case is expected to come within the next few weeks.

After a 19-month investigation, Google Inc. placated the FTC by signing a consent decree requiring the company to charge “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” prices to license hundreds of patents deemed essential to the operations of mobile phones, tablet computers, laptops and video game consoles.
The requirement is meant to ensure that Google doesn’t use patents acquired in last year’s $12.4 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility to thwart competition from mobile devices running on software other than Google’s Android system. The products vying against Android include Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad, Research in Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry and Microsoft’s Windows software.

Google also promised to exclude, upon request, snippets copied from other websites in capsules of key information shown in response to search requests. The company had insisted the practice is legal under the fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law. Nonetheless, even before the settlement, Google already had scaled back on the amount of cribbing, or “scraping,” of online content after business review site Yelp Inc. lodged one of the complaints that triggered the FTC investigation in 2011.

In another concession, Google pledged to adjust the online advertising system that generates most of its revenue so marketing campaigns can be more easily managed on rival networks.

Google, though, prevailed in the pivotal part of the investigation, which delved into complaints that the Internet search leader has been highlighting its own services on its influential results page while burying links to competing sites. For instance, requests for directions may turn up Google Maps first, queries for video might point to the company’s own site, YouTube, and searches for merchandise might route users to Google Shopping.

Although the FTC said it uncovered some obvious instances of bias in Google’s results during the investigation, the agency’s five commissioners unanimously concluded there wasn’t enough evidence to take legal action.

Google protects Internet search recipe while agreeing to other changes to end antitrust probe

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Jon Leibowitz speaks during a news conference at FTC in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, to announce that Google is agreeing to license certain patents to mobile phone rivals and stop a practice of including snippets from other websites in its search results as part of a settlement to end a 19-month investigation in the search leader’s business practices.


“Undoubtedly, Google took aggressive actions to gain advantage over rival search providers,” said Beth Wilkinson, a former federal prosecutor that the FTC hired to help steer the investigation. “However, the FTC’s mission is to protect competition, and not individual competitors.”

Two consumer rights groups lashed out at the FTC for letting Google off too easily.

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How To Run Java On Windows 8

Temporary Solution For Running Java SE Runtime Environment On All Version Of Windows 8,
Both x86 (32 bits)
&
x64 (64 bits) Systems

From past experience it seems that Java SE Runtime Environment Does Not Properly Works On Windows 8 Operating System. Here I will provide a simple solution that works.

First, Please Remote ALL Other Versions Of Java Installed On Your System Then Reboot Your System.

Second, Download Java SE Windows x86 Offline (jre-6u38-windows-i586.exe) For 32 Bits (x86)

Or
Download Sequentially, Both  Windows x86 Offline (jre-6u38-windows-i586.exe)  
&   
Windows x64 (jre-6u38-windows-x64.exe) 

For 64 Bits (x64 System)

Then Reboot Your Computer & That Should Work!

Please Note: 
DO NOT Update Java SE Runtime Environment Until There Is A Working, Stable Version For Windows 8.

Hope It Helps, Paid Technical Support Is Also Available For This & Many Other Issues

Visit www.NewYorkComputerTech.com

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U.N. summit votes to support Internet eavesdropping

A United Nations summit has adopted confidential recommendations proposed by China that will help network providers target BitTorrent uploaders, detect trading of copyrighted MP3 files, and, critics say, accelerate Internet censorship in repressive nations.

Approval by the U.N.'s International Telecommunications Union came despite objections from Germany, which warned the organization must "not standardize any technical means that would increase the exercise of control over telecommunications content, could be used to empower any censorship of content, or could impede the free flow of information and ideas."

The ITU adopted the confidential Y.2770 standard for deep packet inspection -- only members, not the public, currently have access to the document -- last month during a meeting in Dubai. A related ITU meeting in Dubai, which has drawn sharp criticism from the U.S. government and many Internet companies, began this week.

Because Y.2770 is confidential, many details remain opaque. But a document (PDF) posted by a Korean standards body describes how network operators will be able to identify "embedded digital watermarks in MP3 data," discover "copyright protected audio content," find "Jabber messages with Spanish text," or "identify uploading BitTorrent users." Jabber is also known as XMPP, an instant messaging protocol.
In a joint blog post, Alissa Cooper and Emma Llansó from the Center for Democracy and Technology say that the U.N. agency "barely acknowledges that DPI has privacy implications, let alone does it provide a thorough analysis of how the potential privacy threats associated with the technology might be mitigated."
DPI is, of course, deep packet inspection, a technology that serves many useful purposes, including fending off network attacks, detecting malware, and prioritizing critical applications over ones that are less time-sensitive. But it's controversial when used for legal and extra-legal government surveillance, and some network operators -- including Verizon Wireless -- have edged in this direction for advertising-related purposes as well.

Cooper and Llansó add: "Mandatory standards are a bad idea even when they are well designed. Forcing the world's technology companies to adopt standards developed in a body that fails to conduct rigorous privacy analysis could have dire global consequences for online trust and users' rights."
Germany had asked a European telecommunications body called CEPT, which includes 48 member nations, to "take a stand" against the ITU proposal, which was advanced by China's Fiberhome network provider. Germany's concerns about Y.2770, which is formally titled "Requirements for Deep Packet Inspection in Next Generation Networks," appear in a document (MS Word) made available by CEPT.
After discussions, CEPT decided that its member "countries consider that they cannot oppose" Y.2770, according to a report (MS Word) from its October meeting in Istanbul, meaning that no Europe-wide position would be taken against the ITU proposal.

ITU representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment this morning from CNET (we'll update the article if they do). But an ITU study group describes its mission as developing recommendations for "requirements, architectures, mechanisms, and functionalities" used in deep packet inspection: "This includes study on flexible and effective DPI mechanisms that allow network devices to look at the packet header and payload."

Another controversial section of Y.2770 is that it contemplates having network operators decrypt their customers' Internet traffic so it can be inspected.

A partial early draft (PDF) of Y.2770, called Y.dpireq at the time, that was made public in 2009 does not mention encryption, BitTorrent, or inspecting the contents of instant message communications.
One reason why deep packet inspection is so controversial is that it has been used by repressive regimes -- dozens of which are members of the ITU -- to conduct extensive surveillance against their own citizens.
A Wall Street Journal report last year described how Amesys, a unit of French technology firm Bull SA, helped Moammar Gadhafi spy on his people. Boeing's Narus unit was in talks with Libya about controlling Skype, censoring YouTube, and blocking proxy servers, the Journal reported. In August, The New York Times reported that malware known as FinSpy, sold by a British company called the Gamma Group, could activate computer cameras and microphones and had been linked to repressive governments including Turkmenistan, Brunei, and Bahrain.

This isn't the first time that an ITU proposal has been criticized for its implications for Internet censorship. In 2008, CNET disclosed that the ITU was quietly drafting technical standards, proposed by the Chinese government, to define methods of tracing the original source of Internet communications and potentially curbing the ability of users to remain anonymous.

A leaked document showed the trace-back mechanism was designed to be used by a government that "tries to identify the source of the negative articles" published by an anonymous author.


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Piers Morgan Wants to Eviscerate the 2nd Amendment

Michael Moore isn’t the only media figurehead openly calling for stricter gun control on the social media site Twitter today.

Not only does Piers Morgan apparently want to straight up take away people’s guns, but he has a multi-step plan for exactly how America should be disarmed.

The host of CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight went on an anti-gun Tweet rant following the mass shooting in a Connecticut school that left 28 people, including 20 children, dead earlier this morning.

“Only way forward for America is a national gun policy, same (much tougher) laws for everyone. No assault weapons for civilians, period,” Morgan wrote, before following it up by laying out a plan to disarm the American public. Morgan called for a “minimum 3 references” and “detailed vetting over 6-8 weeks.” He also claimed that no one under 25 should have a gun, and neither should “ANYONE with ANY mental health history whatsoever.” Morgan finishes by stating that “No American needs more than one firearm at home to protect themselves under 2nd Amendment.”

Morgan’s plan, while seemingly comprehensive, leaves many questions. If America were to “ban guns on anyone under 25,” then how would we have a military? Would we have to raise the age limit on joining the police force or becoming a soldier? Who is the person that Morgan suggests we get a reference from? Why would that make any difference? What are the guidelines for his “extensive social media checks”? What exactly constitutes a “mental health history”?

As Paul Joseph Watson reported, “Morgan is seemingly ignorant of the fact that the decision to ban handguns in Britain did nothing to lower gun crime. In the six years following the ban, gun crime more than doubled.” This isn’t the first fatal shooting Morgan has politicized to declare war on the 2nd Amendment; he previously cheered Bob Costas’ anti-gun sentiments following a professional football player’s murder-suicide and seized on the Aurora, Colorado theater shooting to fill his Twitter profile with pro-gun control mantras.

This isn’t the first time Morgan has advocated the trampling of people’s rights, either; evidence surfaced in 2009 that he was involved in a UK phone hacking scandal, publishing stories that were obtained through tapping phone lines when he worked for Rupert Murdoch in the 1990s.

Again, Connecticut is ranked 5th in the nation for gun laws, schools are already gun-free zones, and laws made to target gun crimes do nothing to stop criminals from getting guns and perpetrating those crimes if they so choose. The man who walked into a Connecticut elementary school and opened fire today certainly wasn’t concerned with whether or not he was following any laws.

When America declared its independence, the 2nd Amendment was instituted because British rule and its loyalists were trying to disarm patriot militias before the American revolution. That Amendment was instituted to keep this country free from tyrannical governments.

Is this irony lost on Morgan?

Alex Jones gave his own Twitter response to Morgan’s unconstitutional gun grabbing plan:

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