The time delay between announcing the rbeak in and players being alerted that their private information may have been stolen has caused a huge outrage in the Playstation Network community. A lawsuit has been filed against Sony for their handling of the Playstation Network breach, and millions of players are scrambling to secure their identity. Passwords on websites will have to be changed, and victims must now be extra cautious to avoid falling victim to scammers who now have their name and mailing address. With their private information out, scammers might be able to hack into websites such as Facebook which might be using the same password as the player’s Playstation Network account. Worst of all, even in cases where the password is different, the information available on the Playstation Network could possibly be used by hackers and identity thieves to guess a person’s security question.

The worst news is the possible theft of credit card information. While Sony has stated that credit card information does not appear to have been touched, there is still a large enough risk that people are crying foul. Players have been advised to cancel their credit cards and examine their bills very carefully for any unathorised spending. There are laws in place to protect victims of credit card fraud, but only if the individual who suffers reports the crime to the bank in due time.

Sony has now promised to have Playstation Network back up in the next week or so, and have hired a professional security company to test the new Playstation Network security systems which they have built from the ground up. With some luck, this will never happen again….

Cracking your knuckles causes arthritis: FALSE. No harm done.

If you swallow gum, It will stay in your system for years: FALSE. Out and into the toilet within 1-2 days.

If you swallow gum, a gum tree will grow in your stomach: FALSE. Hard to believe, really.

If you keep making that weird face, your face will stay that way: FALSE. Really?

If you cross your eyes too much, they will stay that way: RARELY TRUE. It can happen, and has happened.

Watching TV is bad for your brain: FALSE. It actually develops the brain at a fairly good rate.

Reading in bad light is bad for your eyes: FALSE. Actually strengthens the eyes.

Natural fruit juice is as healthy as the fruit itself: FALSE. More fructose, which can lead to pancreas complications.

Buying a fake Christmas tree saves one real tree: FALSE. The same number of trees will be cut down regardless.

Buying a fake Christmas tree is better for the environment: FALSE. Most fake trees wear out within 5-9 years, and are not biodegradable like real trees.

Taking a plane trip is safer than taking a car trip: TRUE. There are WAY more car related deaths than plane crashes.

Thanksgiving never happened: POSSIBLY TRUE. There is no proof whether or not it really happened.

Trick or treating is illegal for anyone over the age of 12: FALSE. Yet another rumor.

Flies live for less than a day: PARTIALLY TRUE. It all depends on the species of fly. Common house flies live for only several hours.

Planes do not have reverse: TRUE. They can only go backwards with the help of those special little carts that push them.

Chocolate is poisonous to dogs: TRUE. Only in large amounts, however.

Remember to leave responses in the comment section!

-CL

Why was it Implemented?

DRM was created to combat piracy. It was intended to create havoc amongst digital pirates; however, so far this has not worked as intended. Instead of causing problems for hackers, consumers who actually purchased the product (s)  were the ones who suffered. In some cases the DRM was so strict that individuals could only install the software a select number of times.

After you passed the install limitation threshold, you could no longer install your software without having to call tech support. Then you would have to explain to them why you need to install more copies of the software, and they would (hopefully) allow it. DRM can also be used in digital music, which often leads to more annoyances. Instead of being able to listen to your music on your computer, your music player, phone; etc, you might be limited to just being able to use it on certain devices. And if you are like most people who buy digital music, you want the ability to use it wherever you want.

Cause and Effect

Ironically, DRM has probably hurt the businesses that use it more than it helps them. This is due to consumers either abandoning DRM content altogether, or because they have decided to pirate the content themselves. Thus, companies make less money. With any luck, this will encourage companies that once employed DRM in their digital content to abandon it altogether. Apple’s iTunes store appears to be heading down this road. At one time, the vast majority of the music on iTunes came with DRM installed; however, now more new songs appear to be DRM free. Amazon’s music store appears to be free of DRM music as well.

Always Crackable

The general consensus is that anything that is encoded with DRM can be cracked. And this appears to be true. No matter how complex the DRM is, individuals always seem to find a way to break the DRM codes. It may take a few days, but so far this has always been the case.

With time, DRM will almost certainly fail. There are just too many people who are opposed to it, and in the end, a business wants to make a profit. And they can not do that when they use DRM.

The appearance of the first cases of computer crimes date from the 1960s, which were nothing other than crimes where the offender manipulated, sabotage, spying or pursued abuse of computers and systems. Since 1980, there was an increase in criminal actions, which began to reflect on, for example, handling boxes banking, telecommunications abuses, piracy program and child pornography.
[edit]

According to Guimarães and Furlaneto Neto, computer crime can be classified as pure virtual, mixed and common.

Crime pure virtual – include any unlawful conduct, which alert the hardware or software of a computer, ie, both the physical and the virtual part of the microcomputer.

Cybercrime mixed – would be using the Internet for the illegal conduct, and the goal is different from the previously mentioned. For example, illegal transactions in securities accounts.

Cybercrime common – you use the Internet only as a means of meeting a crime that falls within the Penal Code, for example, distribution of child pornography by various means such as messengers, e-mail, torrent or any other form of sharing data.

The computer is called a criminal – commonly – hacker, and this can be classified into two types: internal and external. Internal are those individuals who improperly accessing sensitive information of a higher level. Are usually company employees or servants. The external is the one who has access and uses a computer or external networks, emphasizing that no connection to the organization that attacks.
[edit] Security

The problem of computer security can be broken down into several different aspects, being more relevant as follows:

Authentication – is a key aspect of security. In many cases, before making sense any kind of communication or any mechanism for ensuring other aspects of security, it must first ensure that the contracting parties are who they claim to be. Authentication is the process by which the entity is validated by a user.

Confidentiality – brings together the strands of security that limits access to information only to authorized entities (previously certified), whether human users, machines or processes.

Integrity – ensures that the information being stored or processed is authentic, that is, that is not corrupted.

Computer crime, e-crime, hi-tech crime and electronic crime generally refers to any activity where a computer or computer network is used as a tool, a base attack or as a crime. These categories are not exclusive and many others can be described as such, since some characteristics above. Additionally although the terms electronic crime or cybercrime are more properly used to describe criminal activities that make use of computers or computer networks, these terms are also used to describe traditional crimes such as fraud, theft, blackmail, forgery and appropriation hijacking, in which computers or computer networks are used to facilitate illegal activities.

According Furlaneto and Guimarães Neto, Computer Crime means “any illegal conduct, unethical, or unauthorized involving automatic processing of data and / or data transmission. This category of crime has some characteristics, including: Transnational – it is not restricted to just one region of the globe – universality – it is a mass phenomenon and not an elite – and ubiquity – that is, is present in the private sector and public.

Crime by computer can cause damage both personal and business. The injuries are obtained when sending messages containing derogatory, false or staff person’s name, using only the data of e-mails, the operating bank accounts in order to make transactions, drafts or even paying bills, the use of data from credit card to make purchases and the dissemination of photos or images with intent to cause damage.

Companies also suffer these intrusions on your data and confidential information. The crimes not only cause financial damage but also damage business, as organizations have to do again the maintenance of machinery damaged.

We can categorize these crimes into two basic types: crimes committed using computer as a tool in committing the offense and those that the crime is committed against the computer itself, the object is damaged or harmed in any way. Generally computer crimes can be defined as any criminal activity involving the use of technological infrastructure of computing, including illegal access (unauthorized access), illegal interception (by using techniques of non-public transmission of data computer, to, from or out of the computer system), obstruction of data (damage to computer data, data deterioration, alteration or suppression of computer data), systems interference (interfering in computer systems as the input data transmission, deletion, deterioration, alteration or suppression of computer data), misuse of equipment, IP spoofing and phishing.

Smoking

Smoking is probably the most common bad habit in the world, and also one of the most difficult to kick. Smoking can have a negative impact on your social life, not just on your health. With that in mind, there are a lot of ways to give up. There are a lot of gums and patches that you can buy to help you to resist the addiction, but there are also more extreme ways to give up smoking. You can get specific acupuncture designed to prevent cigarette cravings, which work very effectively, but they can lead to illness for a short period after the acupuncture begins.

Nail Biting

Nail Biting mightn’t seem like a bad habit with negative health impacts, but it does have a lot of them. Not only does it look disgusting, it also damages future nail growth and it can damage the skin under and around the nails. It can also damage your teeth, and nail fibres aren’t exactly healthy for digestion. Luckily, preventing yourself from biting your nails isn’t too difficult. I know a number of people who put on a small coat of Vaseline on their nails each morning, so not only do they look silly if they have lumps of Vaseline in their mouth, they also get a horrible taste in their mouth each time they bite their nails.

Knuckle Cracking

Knuckle cracking is quite a common, well known bad habit, and can have serious health impacts in later life. It is a well known cause behind arthritis. It’s also a habit that is performed subconsciously, which can make it very difficult to stop. A great way to prevent this is to wear gloves, as you are far more likely to notice your hands touching when the glove fibres rub off each other.

Hopefully this article will have helped people with some or all of these bad habits, and made other people more aware of them. Look out for a possible follow up article in the future, if I can think of more bad habits and more ways to solve them.