SAFER INTERNET TIPS TO SHARE- DTNS WEEKLY TECH UPDATE 9 Feb. 2017

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This week was Safer Internet Day but you know what? EVRY Day should be safer Internet day. So this week I'm going to share ALL the tips. Granted I bet I miss one or two, so send them along and I'll add them in next week's newsletter.

But first, my friends, the news of the week.

NEWS

Snap Inc filed its S-1 paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday, as part of an initial public offering that hopes to raise $3 billion. Non-voting Stock will be sold on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SNAP. Snap had $404 million in revenue in 2016, up almost 500% year over year with a loss of $514.6 million. Snap reports more than 161 million daily active users, mostly in North America, who visit the app 18 times a day on average. User growth slowed in Q4, around the time Instragram stories launched. Snap employed 1,859 people as of December 31 and is committed to using Google’s cloud infrastructure for five years, which may keep the company from expanding into China.

In an update to its S-1 IPO paperwork Wednesday, Snap Inc. disclosed it has a 5-year $1 billion deal with Amazon for cloud services. Snap also wrote that it may “invest in building our own infrastructure to better serve our customers.” http://venturebeat.com/2017/02/02/snap-files-to-raise-3-billion-in-much-hyped-ipo/ 

https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/02/snap-commits-2-billion-over-5-years-for-google-cloud-infrastructure/ 

https://www.recode.net/2017/2/9/14555202/snap-amazon-google-cloud-services-deal

Google officially launched Android Wear 2.0 Wednesday. The LG Watch Sport and the LG Watch Style are the flagship devices launching February 10. Several existing watches will get the update in the coming weeks. New features include standalone apps, Android Pay, and Google Assistant. Android Wear also features a keyboard that uses predictive text. 

https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/08/android-wear-2-0/ 

Twitter announced its monthly active users grew 4% in Q4 to 319 million. Revenue rose 1% to 717.2 million missing expectations of $740.1 million and marking its slowest revenue growth since going public. Twitter lost $167.1 million or 23 cents a share due to restructuring costs. Excluding items, Twitter earned 16 cents a share beating estimates of 12 cents a share. http://fortune.com/2017/02/09/twitter-q4-2016/ 

US Magistrate Judge Thomas Rueter in Philadelphia ruled Friday that Google must comply with an FBI search warrant seeking data stored on servers outside the US. Judge Rueter ruled that users had not privacy interest in data during retrieval, but only when the data was disclosed, therefore Google could not decline to transfer the data to the US in order to make it available to the FBI. This decision conflicts with a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in New York last year stating a US warrant did not apply to data stored by Microsoft in Ireland. Both cases involved warrants issued under the Stored Communications Act, a 1986 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-google-usa-warrant-idUSKBN15J0ON 

Researchers at Sudo Security group found 76 iOS apps had implemented TLS encryption in such a way that user info could be intercepted by a man-in-the-middle attack. The apps were noticed by Sudo’s bulk static analysis tool verify.ly then the vulnerability verified by Sudo president Will Strafach in the lab. Ars Technica independently verified several of the identified apps were vulnerable. 33 of the apps exposed low-risk “partially sensitive analytics data.” 24 exposed login credentials or session tokens though not associated with sensitive data. 19 exposed sensitive data including financial and medical credentials. The attacks are unlikely on secure WiFi or cellular connections but become more of a risk on open WiFi. https://arstechnica.com/security/2017/02/dozens-of-popular-ios-apps-vulnerable-to-intercept-of-tls-protected-data/ 

The US House of Representatives unanimously approved HR 387, the Email Privacy Act. The bill would require the government to obtain a warrant to obtain email records currently available by subpoena. The bill now goes to the Senate for deliberations and approval. A similar bill passed the House unanimously last year but was not approved by the Senate after Senator John Cornyn sought to add amendments to increase FBI surveillance capabilities." http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-emails-idUSKBN15L2N3 

The US FBI announced that starting in March it will no longer accept Freedom of Information Requests by email. The FBI suggests using faxes, written requests or the new eFOIPA website. The FBI will begin accepting requests through a Web form, though it says “not all requests can be fulfilled using the eFOIPA system.” http://www.dailydot.com/layer8/fbi-foia-records-requests-email-fax/ 

Meanwhile, The Information reports its sources say Google is in discussions to partner with Chinese gaming company Netease to launch a version of the Play Store in China. Google ceased operating in China seven years ago over concerns with restrictions on what can be published online and in app stores. https://www.techinasia.com/google-plans-relaunch-app-store-china-late 

Microsoft released build number 15031 of Windows 10 Creators Update for PC Wednesday. A content overlay mode will allow apps with video to continue to play on top  even when you switch focus to other apps. Dynamic Lock locks your PC if your Bluetooth-paired phone is not near for more than 30 seconds. There’s a new share icon that’s an arrow not a circle.   http://venturebeat.com/2017/02/08/microsoft-releases-new-windows-10-preview-with-compact-overlay-dynamic-lock-and-improved-game-bar/ 

YouTube has begun allowing channels with more than 10,000 subscribers to stream live video from the YouTube mobile app. In addition the Super Chat feature that lets users pay to elevate their chat comments is out of beta and available in 20 countries to channels in with more than 1,000 subscribers https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/07/youtube-opens-mobile-live-streams-to-those-with-10k-fans-paid-super-chat-exits-beta/ 

Vizio agreed to settle a lawsuit with the US Federal Trade Commission and the state of New Jersey for $2.2 million. Starting in 2014, Vizio began tracking what shows were watched alongside IP addresses, MAC addresses, and nearby wi-fi networks, then a third party matched that data with sex, age, income level and more and sold for advertising use. Vizio agreed to delete all collected data, stop tracking, and get express permission before collecting and sharing any new information. https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/06/vizio-settles-for-2-2-million-in-ftc-suit-over-snooping-on-consumers-viewing-habits/ 

NASA Aircraft engineer Mark Moore published a white paper in 2010 about electric aircrafts that could take off and land like helicopters  but smaller and quieter. It was another page in the long storied research into vertical takeoff and landing, or VTOL going all the way back to the Ryan X-13 Vertijet in 1957. Moore’s research caught the eye of Google co-founder Larry Page who started and financed Zee Aero and Kitty Hawk to develop the technology. Why all the setup? Mark Moore has left his 30-year job at NASA to become director of engineering for aviation at Uber. He’ll work on the flying car project called Uber Elevate, announced last October. Back then Uber said it didn’t want to build VTOLs itself but work to make it possible to do so. Moore will work with manufacturers and other stakeholders to explore use cases. http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/6/14520972/uber-hires-nasa-mark-moore-engineer-flying-car 

IDC’s 2016 smartphone shipment estimates show Oppo rose 122.2 percent to become the number one smartphone shipper in China-- the world’s largest smartphone market. Huawei held on to the number 2 spot followed by Vivo. China's BBK owns Oppo and Vivo, thus grabbing a third of the Chinese market. Apple’s market share fell 23.2% to number 4 and last year’s leader, Xiaomi, fell 36%, to fifth place. https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/05/oppo-topped-chinas-smartphone-market-in-2016/ 

Karnataka , India’s state minister for information technology, Priyank Kharge, told Bloomberg that Wistron will begin assembling Apple’s iPhones in Bangalore by the end of April. Apple has been seeking approval to open retail stores in India. India requires single-brand retailers to source 30 percent of components from within India. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-03/apple-set-to-begin-making-iphones-in-india-by-april-s-end 

The NBA and Take- Two Interactive announced plans Thursday to create a professional videogame league. NBA franchises will be able to form and manage teams to compete playing the NBA 2K videogame. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver expects about half of teams to participate in the first year with all 30 teams eventually joining. https://www.wsj.com/articles/nba-take-two-to-create-professional-videogame-league-1486616461 

CLOSER LOOK - STAY SAFE ONLINE

Most of you know what you are supposed to do to stay safe online. I get that. First of all, it's always good to be reminded of the things you know. It helps us not forget. Trust me, I apply this to myself. Writing this column is partially self-interest in reminding myself that these things are important.

The other reason I'm writing these up for you is for sharing with friends and family. That's why I have formatted it as an easy to cut and paste list of bullet points. Mix and match, share with your friends. And like I said, if you think we should have included another one, send it along to us and we'll mention some of them next week. 

TIPS FOR SAFER INTERNET

Keep Security Software Current - Particularly turn on automatic updates where possible.

Use a firewall. Maybe your router has one, but make sure!

Make your password strong and long. Use special characters where allowed and mix in capital letters.

Turn on Two-Factor authentication where available.

USE A UNIQUE PASSWORD for each account

Write down passwords and lock them up for safe keeping, or use a password manager. (You can ignore this if you have perfect memory or don't mind using password recovery a lot)

Customize privacy settings on the services you use. Don't just go with the defaults. Then only share the info you must to make a service work.

Delete suspicious emails. DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINKS!

Don’t open attachments! (Obviously you'll need to sometimes but be VERY careful about which ones you do)

Be careful when visiting unfamiliar websites. Don't say yes and don't click on things you don't fully understand.

Be wary of entering personal or sensitive info online anywhere.

Limit your business on open WiFi. Use a trusted VPN if you need to do sensitive stuff like financial operations.

Make sure shopping sites are secured with https before spending money on them.

Back up your data!

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