25 Worst Passwords of 2014: Is Yours on The Leak List?

'123456' and 'password' tops among 3.3 million leaked passwords compiled by SplashData

If your password is on the list below you had better change it.

Among the 25 most common passwords among 3.3 million that were leaked online last year, the top two were once again "123456" and "password," according to a company that provides password management software.

SplashData, based in Los Gatos, Calif., said the top two passwords this year were the same as in 2013. The company  has compiled the list annually since 2011.

New additions to the Top 25 for 2014 include: baseball, dragon, football, mustang, access, master, michael, superman, 696969 and batman.

Common passwords are much easier for cybercriminals to guess. That makes users vulnerable to having accounts such as email and online banking hijacked and their identities stolen.

Sensitive data such as passwords are often posted online by hackers who steal them during attacks on websites and corporate networks. This year, most of the passwords came from users in North America and Western Europe.

Based on its analysis, SplashData recommends that when crafting your password:

• Don't use keyboard patterns e.g. "qwertyuiop" from the top row of letters
• Don't use a favourite sport – baseball and football were both in the Top 10, with hockey, soccer and golf in the Top 100.
• Don't use your birthday or birth year. People in their early 20s seemed to be especially guilty of this, with the years 1989 to 1992 all in the top 100.
• Don't use common names – michael, jennifer, thomas, jordan, hunter, michelle, charlie, andrew and daniel were all in the Top 50.

Here's the entire list:

1. 123456
2. password
3. 12345
4. 12345678
5. qwerty
6. 1234567890
7. 1234 
8. baseball
9. dragon 
10. football
11. 1234567 
12. monkey 
13. letmein 
14. abc123 
15. 111111 
16. mustang
17. access 
18. shadow
19. master 
20. michael
21. superman 
22. 696969 
23. 123123 
24. batman 
25. trustno1

This Article was originally published on CBC NEWS. See it here

The US is in danger of losing its Technological Edge

Today the world is inundated with advanced technology. It would be nearly impossible to go 24 hours without interacting with it in some form or another. For decades, the U.S. has harnessed technology in an innovative fashion to address the issues and challenges it faces around the world. This process has helped drive the country’s economic growth. At our core, we create technologies that empower people and organizations, and in ways that were previously unimaginable.

Unfortunately, we’re beginning to lose our edge. Looking back 50 years, you’ll find that R&D spending accounted for just about 12 percent of the total U.S. budget. Now, that has dropped to a bit more than three percent. To put that into perspective, a recent Bloomberg study pinpointed the most innovative countries in the world. When looking at R&D Intensity, here are the results:

1. South Korea
2. Israel
3. Finland
4. Sweden
5. Japan
6. Denmark
7. Germany
8. Switzerland
9. Austria
10. Slovenia

Even though the United States was ranked sixth overall — already no longer in the top five — it didn’t make the top ten when it came to the R&D evaluation. It came in eleventh! Keep in mind R&D is quite frequently the catalyst of future technology innovations.

While that is concerning, another study found that China is emerging as a serious contributor to global technology development. The supporting data found that 67 percent agree or strongly agree that over the next 5 to 10 years China will be a source of major innovation in specific tech sectors, including electronics and software. In that same survey, 76 percent agree or strongly agree that China will be a disruptive force in the global technology market within the next 5 to 10 years.

When you examine China’s tech sector, you can’t help but be impressed by the rate in which it improved in the last few years. On the other side, 49 percent of those surveyed see the emerging tech centers in the U.S. as little or no threat! Only 8 percent felt they were a significant threat. Whatever happened to good old American ingenuity?

That is a dramatic change. The social, economic influence and security issues this creates are huge. Even the U.S. Pentagon expressed concern over the U.S. losing its military technological superiority to rivals. An article published last year clearly stated the U.S. is no longer the technology leader in military gear. Now add to that the statement before the House Armed Services Committee made by U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work who said that “bold action” is necessary if the U.S. is to keep the lead in technology. Technology innovation and creative application of those new technologies are an increasing part of global competitiveness and a country’s security and influence, as well as global power. Looking out over the next three to five years, several technologies are poised to enter the accelerated advancement and adoption state of their evolution during the same window of time.

The U.S. does not know how to be viewed as anything but first when it comes to technology. Addressing this decline has to rapidly become a national priority driven by the leaders in the U.S. government and industry. The U.S. has no time to waste, given the rapid pace of technological advancement and the continued growth in competition. A technology renaissance is needed now if the U.S. is to retain its technological dominance.

The next era of rapid technology advancement is at hand. Unlike other similar events, this one will be fueled by multiple technologies all entering into their rapid advancement and adoption stage of evolution in the same period of time. The United States had better get to work and work collectively to address this competitive challenge or we will all fail together and fall further behind for sure.

This story was originally published on ExtremeTech. See it here

Myo Armband Makes Hands-Free Motion Control Real

Gesture-controlled computing is well on its way to transitioning from fantasy to reality.

It's most often accomplished via vision sensors that watch you or your hands and track your movement (think Microsoft Kinect for Xbox). Myo, however, is a gesture controlled armband that reads forearm muscle movement to interpret a wide range of intentions.

With its matte-black rubber covering, zigzag bands and block-like contact and sensor modules, Myo, which was designed by Thalmic labs, looks less like an interface-control device than one of Batman’s nifty “toys.” (You can get it in white, too, but why would you?)

With it wrapped firmly around your forearm, you can use it to control a presentation, play music in iTunes, control Netflix and even steer a Bluetooth-based toy. At least that's the promise. In practice, Myo fulfills the first task with ease, but — not always through fault of its own — proved more challenging on others.

Read more http://mashable.com/2015/05/24/myo-review/

Protecting your children from their digital footprint

Parents love posting videos and photos of their families online, but we all have that one friend who won't stop sharing photos of their children. Beyond being plain annoying, there are reasons behind why limiting and safely sharing are better options. As personal information becomes increasingly accessible online, it is important to think about what you share.

The content shared online becomes a digital footprint, basically it's a digital trail of where you've been and who you've been with. The information can be actively left behind by sharing personal images and posts. Alternatively, when other people share photos or posts of you they are passively contributing to your digital footprint. This could include pictures parents' post of their child, which can become risky. So here's some common problems and how to avoid them.

What are the risks?

Over-sharing photos of your children can create problems. Firstly, without your child's permission, is it really fair to put their images on the internet? Online information has a level of permanency, and certain posts can resurface when your kids become teenagers. Creating your child's digital footprint before they have given consent can cause issues as your kids get older.

Read more http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2015/05/25/4241945.htm