17 MARCH 2019

12 TECHTALKS Sunday, 17 March 2019
Daily Tribune
Criminals
shift to
formjacking,
stealing
millions
Facial recognition
in US airports
By Gene Beatrice A. Micaller
Should we be alarmed?
To name a few, JFK, Los Angeles and
San Francisco airports are just three of
the 20 airports where the US government
decided to install a facial recognition
software.
According to recent reports, the
software, in compliance with an executive
order inked by President Donald Trump,
will be deployed to the top 20 airports
of the United States by 2021 to identify
every international passenger as well as
American citizens.
Facial recognition software is an
advanced technology that has the
capability to verify an individual’s identity
from a digital image sourced from a video.
It works through a comparison of selected
facial facets from a given image within the
databases.
Today, facial recognition software is
widely used in different forms of devices, be
it a mobile phone, computers and tablets.
The US envisions to integrate its
program of protecting its nation
from terrorist activities.
However, the United States Department
of Homeland Security wants this to be
implemented across all states the soonest
even though they still lack proper vetting
and regulatory safeguards.
“By partnering with airports and
airlines to provide a secure stand-alone
system that works quickly and reliably,
which they will integrate into their
boarding process, CBP (US Customs and
Border Protection) does not have to rebuild
everything from the ground up as we drive
innovation across the travel experience,” a
spokesman told BuzzFeed News.
FACIAL recognition.
With the plans on installing the
software, the US envisions to integrate
its program of protecting its nation from
terrorist activities with the fight against
threats from foreign nationals.
The US has the busiest airports in the
world with Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta
International Airport, Los Angeles Airport
(LAX) and O’Hare International Airport
with the highest volume of flight annually.
But, what’s the dilemma? Accuracy.
For some experts, the technology is not
yet one hundred percent ready to be used by
a mass audience. One Technology director
Patrick Hunter said the software is known
for false positives where the technology
inaccurately “thinks” it got a match.
“In this context, someone’s profile
stored on an unknown number of systems
with unknown data attached to it can lead
to some worrying, albeit rare, scenarios
where you could be mistakenly identified
as a criminal,” he added.
But aside from the accuracy, invasion
of privacy is what worries most citizens.
With the amount of data that will be
collected by the US government, it merely
implies that a person’s private data will be
exposed as well.
Cyber criminals are doubling down on alternative
methods such as formjacking to make money after
“opportunities” from ransomware and cryptojacking have
diminished, a recent Internet Security Threat Report
(ISTR) Volume 24 by cyber security firm Symatec said.
Symantec’s ISTR provides an overview of the threat
landscape, including insights into global threat activity,
cyber criminal trends and motivations for attackers. The
report analyzes data from Symantec’s Global Intelligence
Network, the largest civilian threat intelligence network in
the world, which records events from 123 million attack
sensors worldwide, blocks 142 million threats daily and
monitors threat activities in more than 157 countries.
Globe Telecom launches Globe Future
Makers (GFM) 2019, in collaboration with
The Spark Project, as it takes its position
as an accelerator for social innovators in
the country’s start-up community.
Introduced in 2017, Globe Future Makers
(GFM) is the social innovation program
of Globe which aims to help build the
ecosystem of support for startups which are
using technology to solve the Philippines’
most challenging social problems.
“In promoting digital transformation,
we want to encourage as many businesses
as possible to use technology for social
good. Globe Future Makers offers a unique
opportunity for our small enterprises
using digital technology to scale up and
test if their businesses are replicable
in global markets. We encourage social
innovators and start-ups to participate in
GFM 2019,” said Yoly Crisanto, Globe chief
sustainability officer and SVP for corporate
communications.
She added, “We want to strengthen
New get-rich quick scheme
The report explained
formjacking attacks are
simple — essentially virtual
ATM skimming where cyber
criminals inject malicious
code into retailers’ websites
to steal shoppers’ payment
card details. On average,
more than 4,800
unique websites are
compromised with
formjacking code every month.
Symantec blocked more than
3.7 million formjacking attacks
on endpoints in 2018, with
nearly a third of all detections
occurring during the busiest
online shopping period of the
year — November and December.
While a number of well-known
retailers’ online payment websites,
including Ticketmaster and British
Airways, were compromised with
formjacking code in recent months,
Symantec’s research reveals small
and medium-sized retailers are,
by and large, the most widely
compromised.
By conservative estimates,
cyber criminals may have collected
the Filipino start-up community and use
technologies of the future.” Crisanto noted
that local start-ups are emerging in the
technology space but many have yet to
reach the level of complexity of start-ups
in other countries.
GFM 2019 is open to Philippine-based
individuals, groups or organizations with
solutions that use technology such as a
tens of millions of dollars last year, stealing consumers’ financial
and personal information through credit card fraud and sales on the
dark web. Just 10 credit cards stolen from each compromised website
could result in a yield of up to $2.2 million each month as a single
credit card can fetch up to $45 in underground selling forums. With
more than 380,000 credit cards stolen, the British Airways attack
alone may have allowed criminals to net more than $17 million.
Globe seeks tech use vs social ills
When cash is no longer king
HACKER attacks are
simple — essentially virtual
ATM skimming — where cyber
criminals inject malicious
code into retailers’ websites
to steal shoppers’ payment
card details.
device, platform, hardware or software to
achieve wide-scale positive impact.
Entries must be beyond the ideation
and conceptual stage, with a solution
that has been working for at least two
years and a functional product or service
with actual users. It must also address
any of the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals.
By using credit cards and digital wallets, a consumer may be entitled to some warranties when a
product they bought has some defects
Sure, paying with cash provides ease and convenience to consumers, not to mention it is universally accepted. But, here come credit
cards and digital wallets joining the scene. Cash may be the king, but cashless payment is the descendant to the throne.
During the latter part of February, Dan Wolbert, Visa country manager for the Philippines, said the company sees a lot of
opportunities in the country when it comes to digital transactions which resulted to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) raising
the cashless transactions in the country by 20 percent.
Visa is the leading global company that provides payment solutions worldwide through its advanced and innovative
technologies. The company serves a different kind of industry such as consumers, businesses, banks and governments.
“We are well aware of the numbers from the central bank in terms of electronification of payments.
Given what that overall opportunity, there’s just tremendous cash conversion,” Wolbert said.
With the emergence of various digital wallets in the country such as PayMaya, GCash, Coins.
ph, PayPal and GrabPay to name a few, consumers are left with a question: Is the world
ditching cash?
More and more consumers are opting to transact through digital wallets rather
than physical money. Why? Well, there’s a lot on the list.
By using credit cards and digital wallets, a consumer may be entitled
to some warranties when a product they bought has some defects.
Moreover, when properly used, credit card providers will increase
credit standing thus, improving your credit worthiness.
But what consumers unconsciously want from credit
cards is the fact that they can buy something now
and pay later.
Credit cards are also easy to use
because they are accepted as payment
to almost every part of the world.
Just with one swipe and
you’re done with your
transactions.
GBAMicaller
MAN in front of a facial ID screen at Dulles Airport.
Everyone slowly becoming Netflix’s prey
With its reasonable streaming fee,
easy-to-navigate website, plus the fact that
a maximum of four devices can stream
simultaneously, admit it, we’re all hooked
to Netflix.
Can you imagine? Four people can watch
movies, series, documentaries or concerts all
at the same time in high-definition screens
by just paying a maximum of P550.
Netflix opened its door to the public
in 1997, which was conceived with the
NETFLIX top-rating movies and TV series.
primary business in subscription-based
streaming OTT service, a type of content
providers that bypass telecommunications,
multichannel television and broadcast
television to give viewers a content with
the use of the internet.
As of today, the company has 139
million subscribers/viewers all over the
world.
One of the many top-rating movies
and TV series of Netflix are the Sandra
A WOMAN makes a purchase with her smartphone
at an open-air market in China's eastern
Shandong Province.
Bullock-starred Bird Box, revolutionary Black
Mirror, the overwhelming 13 Reasons Why
and the petrifying Haunting of Hill House and
a lot more.
And if you’re a K-drama zealot, Netflix
won’t abandon you especially with the
introduction of its newest top-rated series:
Kingdom.
But independent of the quality and
timely-themed films, why are the public’s
eyes all gazing to their screens watching
Netflix shows?
According to research,
there are metrics on
how an individual adapt
to innovation such as
Netflix. These are relative
advantage, compatibility,
complexity, trialability
and observability.
And most of these
you can observe on
Netflix’s website.
The relative advantage
could serve as the most
reliable metric. It tries to
measure how innovation is
better as compared to its
apparent competitors. To
make it simple, a change
should save people from
wasting more money, time
and effort.
Teledyne’s new 5 Mpixel,
CMOS image sensor
Teledyne e2v, a Teledyne Technologies
company and innovator of vision solutions,
announces the expansion of its Emerald
family of CMOS image sensors with a new five
megapixel device.
The Emerald 5M is designed for machine
vision, Automated Optical Inspection
(AOI), and factory automation
applications that require higher
resolution images of objects in
motion, with no distortion.
Available in both monochrome
and color, this sensor has
a small 1/1.8 inch optical
format, containing a 2.8 μm,
low-noise, global shutter pixel
and arranged in a 2,560 x 1,936 array.
The device can also stream video at 50 fps at 10
bits, over a four wire, MIPI CSI-2 interface.
The Emerald 5M is designed to enable fast,
wide-range operation and includes powerful
unique patented features and region of interest
modes. The sensor is optimized for machine
vision applications and includes 5° Chief
Ray Angle compensation and is offered in a
ruggedized CLGA package or miniaturized
organic fan-out package that is only 1.19 mm
thick.
CMOS image sensor.
The Emerald 5M also provides flexibility to
R&D engineers with its global shutter and MIPI
CSI-2 interface, which allows it to utilize the
latest Image Signal Processors (ISP) available
for mobile applications. The sensor’s embedded
digital functionalities (multi region of interest,
subsampling, auto exposure at first
frame, single frame HDR
and on-chip statistics) help
reduce processor load and
hasten time-to-market.
Key features:
Global shutter CMOS pixel (2.8
μm x 2.8 μm)
1/1.8” optical format
MIPI CSI-2 interface, up to 4 wires
Package options: CLGA or fan-out
organic package
Color Filter Array options: monochrome
or color Bayer
On-chip functionalities: multi ROI,
subsampling, single frame exposure, single
frame HDR
This latest 5 megapixel device is a member
of the expanding Emerald family of sensors,
which are now available in resolutions of 2,
8.9, 12, 16 and 67 megapixels.