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Let it never be said that PayPal's leadership team confines its ambitions to Earth. PayPal founder Elon Musk, who also created SpaceX, says he wants to live the final days of his life on Mars. But who wants to go to space if you can't buy stuff? That's why PayPal is now talking about how to create a payment system that can be used on any planet. It's apparently not a joke. PayPal President David Marcus wrote a blog post yesterday about the launch of "PayPal Galactic" (that link doesn't work yet), an initiative developed in concert with the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). An announcement will be made today at the SETI Institute with moon traveler Buzz Aldrin and John Spencer, founder and president of the Space Tourism Society. To show he's serious, Marcus tweeted a picture of himself with Aldrin. PayPal says its wants to answer these questions: What will our standard currency look like in a truly cash-free interplanetary society? How will the banking systems have to adapt? How will risk and fraud management systems need to evolve? What regulations will we have to conform with? How will our customer support need to develop? Why start now? "Space travel is opening up for 'the rest of us' thanks to Virgin Galactic, Space X and a host of other space tourism programs including the Space Hotel that hopes to be in orbit by 2016," Marcus wrote. "The enabling infrastructure pieces are starting to come together, and as we start planning to inhabit other planets, the practical realities of life still need to be addressed." The need for a payment system off Earth already exists, he contended, writing that "[a]stronauts inhabiting space stations today still need to pay for life's necessities-from their bills back on Earth to their entertainment, like music and e-books, while in space." That problem has already been solved, however. Astronauts on the International Space Station have had access to the Internet and World Wide Web

http://hassassociates-online.com/articles/2013/03/07/five-ways-to-manage-your-digital-reputation/ Reputation is the key word. In fact, online digital reputation has never been more important. While a few years ago much of our personal information was still considered private, today cyber security expose more information about our lives than ever before. While many people don't think much about having a "digital reputation," especially in purchasing products online, information about almost all adult worldwide can be found online. Based from the survey conducted by ORC International, results have shown more than 89% of consumers research articles online before making a buying decision, while, 87% of them agree that a favorable review has confirmed their decision to purchase. And while our real life reputation is largely defined by us through our interactions with others, our online digital reputation defines how people perceive us - without ever having a single conversation. The fact is, a digital reputation can be incorrect, it may present only partial information and it might even allow for slander and online attacks to define us for others. Translating your brand's personality onto the web can be tricky, so here is our list of five simple steps that can help you get started. 1: Match your offline and online personas: When you're creating a Facebook page or a Twitter account, it should match your brand's personality in the real world. Choose a design language (colors, shapes, textures, fonts) that represents your brand's image. Next, ask yourself which social media platform is best suited for communication between you and your customers. You may not need to create an account on each one of them. Selecting the one most actively used by your target audience will make it more manageable for you. 2: Groom your search results: Your customers will rarely move to the second page of the Google Search results to find what they are looking for. Set a dis

Reputation is the key word. In fact, online digital reputation has never been more important. While a few years ago much of our personal information was still considered private, today cyber security expose more information about our lives than ever before. While many people don't think much about having a "digital reputation," especially in purchasing products online, information about almost all adult worldwide can be found online. Based from the survey conducted by ORC International, results have shown more than 89% of consumers research articles online before making a buying decision, while, 87% of them agree that a favorable review has confirmed their decision to purchase. And while our real life reputation is largely defined by us through our interactions with others, our online digital reputation defines how people perceive us - without ever having a single conversation. The fact is, a digital reputation can be incorrect, it may present only partial information and it might even allow for slander and online attacks to define us for others. Translating your brand's personality onto the web can be tricky, so here is our list of five simple steps that can help you get started. 1: Match your offline and online personas: When you're creating a Facebook page or a Twitter account, it should match your brand's personality in the real world. Choose a design language (colors, shapes, textures, fonts) that represents your brand's image. Next, ask yourself which social media platform is best suited for communication between you and your customers. You may not need to create an account on each one of them. Selecting the one most actively used by your target audience will make it more manageable for you. 2: Groom your search results: Your customers will rarely move to the second page of the Google Search results to find what they are looking for. Set a distinct and clear name for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and other social networking site

Nearly one-third of the world's computers could be infected with malware, suggests a report released last week by the Anti-Phishing Working Group. Malicious apps invaded 32.77 percent of the world's computers, a more than 4 percent jump from the previous quarter's 28.39 percent, the report estimates. The increase in infected computers has come hand-in-hand with a jump in the appearance of malware samples, said Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs, the research arm of Panda Security, one of the sponsors of the APWG report. "The creation of malware samples is skyrocketing," Corrons told TechNewsWorld. "It has doubled from the last quarter to the first quarter of this year." In the last quarter of 2013, some 80,000 malware samples a day were discovered by Panda researchers. In the first quarter of 2014, that number jumped to 160,000. Hiding in Numbers By far, most of the new malware strains (71.85 percent) and malware infections (79.70 percent) are Trojans. Less than a quarter of new malware strains (22.70 percent) and malware infections (12.77 percent) are viruses and worms. "At the end of the day, malware is created to steal information," Carrons explained. "Trojans are the most suitable malware to do that." The primary motivation behind creating so many new malware strains is to avoid detection by antivirus programs. Those programs use signatures to identify malicious software. Since each new bad app strain contains a new signature, constantly introducing new strains extends the time a malicious app can remain virulent.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-alderman/dont-get-spoofed-by-rogue_b_3574710.html When caller ID first arrived on the scene it seemed like a godsend to many people: Now you could easily identify who was on the line and ignore unwanted calls, whether from telemarketers, an ex-boyfriend or an unfriendly collection agency. But as often happens, unscrupulous individuals soon began manipulating the technology to defraud people by pretending to be someone else. Their scheme is called "caller ID spoofing" and disturbingly, it's perfectly legal in many cases. Here's how caller ID spoofing works and what precautions you should take to avoid being victimized: For a very low cost, businesses and individuals can use widely available caller ID spoofing software to generate calls which alter the telephone number and/or name that appear on the recipient's caller ID screen. Police, private investigators and collection agencies have used legal spoofing services for many years. Others who might have a legitimate reason to hide their identity when making a call include domestic violence victims and doctors returning patient calls who don't wish to release their private telephone numbers. Beyond that, the lines of legality begin to blur. The Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009 prohibits anyone from transmitting misleading or inaccurate caller ID information with the intent to defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value. Violators can be penalized up to $10,000 for each infraction. Unfortunately, such penalties haven't dissuaded many scammers. One common caller ID scam involves spoofers pretending to represent a bank, government agency, insurer, credit card company or other organization with which you do business. They count on you being reassured after recognizing the company's name on your screen. Related Articles: http://hass-associates-daffy.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Under the pretext of warning about an urgent situation (breached account, late payment,

http://hassassociates-online.com/articles/sqli/ SQL injection is a tactic used in attacking a database or a server via its front-end (e.g. website). Through putting parts of SQL statements in an entry field of the website, hackers can try and get the site to run the newly-created malicious command to the database itself, for instance, dumping its contents to a remote server under the control of the attacker. This type of attack takes advantage of logical or structural loopholes in the source code through issuing a wrong or unexpected user input, resulting in a messed up execution. The 'injection' of code is to exploit a vulnerability of a website or a software. For example, SQL commands to alter or harvest information on the database would be put on the web entry form and run on the database.

Book a flight online, perform an internet banking transaction or make an appointment with your doctor and, in the not-too-distant future, the 'Internet of Services' (IoS) will come into play. A paradigm shift in the way ICT systems and applications are designed, implemented, deployed and consumed, IoS promises many opportunities but also throws up big challenges - not least ensuring security and privacy, issues currently being tackled by EU-funded researchers. IoS is a vision of the future internet in which information, data and software applications - and the tools to develop them - are always accessible, whether locally stored on your own device, in the cloud, or arriving in real time from sensors. Whereas traditional software applications are designed largely to be used in isolation, IoS brings down the barriers, thereby lowering costs and stimulating innovation. Building on the success of cloud computing, IoS applications are built by composing services that are distributed over the network and aggregated and consumed at run-time in a demand-driven, flexible way. This new approach to software will make the development of applications and services easier - so that new and innovative services, not possible today, can be offered. It is likely to make a huge contribution to the EU's strategy to make Europe's software sector more competitive. You might want to read: http://hassbiggerprice.wordpress.com/tag/hass-associates-online-cyber-review-scam-du-jour-theyre-creative/ IoS services can be designed and implemented by producers, deployed by providers, aggregated by intermediaries and used by consumers. Anybody who wants to develop applications can use the resources in the Internet of Services to develop them, with little upfront investment and the possibility to build upon other people's efforts. In many ways IoS solves the challenges of interoperability and inefficiency that can plague traditional software systems, but it can also create new vulnerabilities. Ho

The website Songsrpeople.com looks a lot like other amateur-video sites. It is wallpapered with clips featuring "the most insane amusement park ever" and "your girlfriend's six friends." The site draws tens of thousands of visitors a month, according to audience measurement firms. It also has ads for national brands, including Target Corp., Amazon.com Inc. and State Farm. But Web-security investigators at a firm called White Ops contend that most of the site's visitors aren't people. Rather, they are computer-generated visitors, or "bots," designed to fool advertisers into paying for the traffic, says White Ops, which has blacklisted the site-and thousands more like it-so that ads from clients such as Zipcar don't land there. An anonymous representative for Songsrpeople declined to discuss the site's traffic but in an email called the White Ops methodology into question. State Farm said it was looking into the matter while Target declined to comment and Amazon didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Authorities and Internet-security experts say tens of thousands of dubious websites are popping up across the Internet. Their phony Web traffic is often fueled by "botnets," zombie armies of hijacked PCs that are controlled from unknown locations around the world, according to Internet security experts. The sites take advantage of the simple truth that advertisers pay to be seen. This creates an incentive for fraudsters to erect sites with phony traffic, collecting payments-often through middlemen and sometimes directly from advertisers. "When you walk into this world, you walk with eyes wide open," said Brian Harrington, chief marketing officer at Zipcar, which ran a recent ad campaign, assisted by White Ops to filter out bogus traffic. "You know stuff is not real." At their most sophisticated, botnets can mimic the behavior of online consumers, clicking from one site to the next, pausing at ads, watching videos, and even putting items in shopp