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THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2015 technology Pentagon learns perils of social media exposure WASHINGTON: If so-called “cyber jihadists” want to and effective way for the US military to communicate institution that prides itself on its vast security and to its internal networks, something the military has launch another social media attack on America’s mili- with its own personnel and families about everything image of unrivalled global power. devoted vast resources to defending, analysts say. tary, they will have plenty of targets: the US Army alone from on-base social events to power outages. The hackers posted what officials said appeared to “It’s really not that difficult to gain access to some- lists more than 2,000 links to feeds on Facebook, “We are certainly looking at our systems and will be authentic, but unclassified, rosters of current and one else’s social media or e-mail account,” said Michael Twitter, YouTube and other accounts. refine them as needed,” said Warren. Although a review retired top brass, including some private email address- Smith, principal and chief operating officer of Kronos In the wake of Monday’s breach of US Central of the incident was under way, he said, there had been es. They also posted messages, including: “American Advisory, a private intelligence group focused on coun- Command’s Twitter and YouTube feeds by apparent no specific department-wide instructions issued since soldiers, we are coming, watch your back.” terterrorism. Smith said such incidents occurred often sympathizers of the Islamic State militant group, US Monday to strengthen security across social media. Unlike most high-profile accounts, the Twitter feeds at Twitter. officials updated passwords and some distributed tip- The Twitter and YouTube breach is far different than used by Central Command were not “verified,” which In 2013 hackers took control of the Associated Press sheets to help bolster online security. the one in 2008, when malware believed to have been would have added another layer of security and Twitter account and sent a false tweet about explosions But they showed no sign of shifting a social media crafted by a foreign intelligence service infiltrated required harder-to-break government email accounts in the White House that briefly sent US financial mar- strategy that has seen thousands of Facebook, Twitter Central Command’s internal computer systems. That to be set up, officials told Reuters. kets reeling. and other accounts blossom as the world’s most pow- attack was a dramatic illustration of the risks to military Still, it is unclear such steps would have prevented “Hacking a Twitter is about the equivalent of spray- erful military establishes an Internet presence that and defense-related networks critical to US security, the hack, which is being investigated by the FBI and the painting a subway car,” a former senior U.S. intelligence matches the global reach of its forces. and triggered a massive expansion of cyber-defense military. A source familiar with the inquiries said investi- official said. That large online profile carries unique risks for the efforts. gators were examining whether cyber attackers sent Senator Dan Coats, a member of the Senate Select military. “It’s their public face,” said Ben FitzGerald at the “phishing” messages that tricked Central Command Committee on Intelligence, said the incident highlight- Center for a New American Security think tank. “WATCH YOUR BACK” personnel into revealing shared logins and password ed cyber security risks. But he said the solution was bet- “So someone sitting in Baghdad isn’t going to nec- Monday’s hack also did not lead to any theft or dis- information. ter cooperation between the public and private sectors, essarily pick up the nuance that this is a non-military closure of classified information, officials said. But it President Barack Obama said Tuesday’s hack and not retrenchment from social media. network and not a significant hack. So they’re looking delivered a highly symbolic blow by compromising the others show “how much more work we need to do, “If the US military - or State Department, White silly and they’re looking weak.” social media accounts of the military command over- both public and private sector, to strengthen our cyber House, members of Congress - stayed off Twitter, The US Department of Defense has “thousands and seeing sensitive operations in Iraq and Syria during a security.” YouTube and other social media sites because of the thousands” of social media accounts, said Colonel Steve time of conflict. Still, hacking into Central Command’s Twitter feed is vulnerabilities inherent in those services, then the ter- Warren, a Pentagon spokesman. They are seen as a fast It was a reminder of the perils of social media for an far easier - and entirely different - than gaining access rorists win,” Coats said. — Reuters Facebook ‘likes’ reveal your true personality MIAMI: A computer program that analyzes researchers said. your Facebook “likes” may be a better The “myPersonality” app also allowed judge of your personality than your closest these users to invite friends and family to friends and family, according to a research. judge the users’ psychological traits by tak- The study in the Proceedings of the ing a short, 10-item personality test. National Academy of Sciences was led by More than 17,000 of the original group researchers at the University of Cambridge were judged by one family member or and Stanford University. friend for the analysis, and more than Through data analysis, computers can 14,000 were judged by two. be a better judge of people’s personalities The study showed that a computer and psychological traits, the authors said. could predict a user’s personality better “In the future, computers could be able to than a co-worker based on just 10 infer our psychological traits and react Facebook “likes,” or those “thumbs-up” indi- accordingly, leading to the emergence of cations that users click on when they see a emotionally-intelligent and socially skilled page or a group with which they agree. machines,” said lead author Wu Youyou, The computer was better than a friend from Cambridge’s Psychometrics Center. or roommate at predicting personality The findings also raise concerns about traits given just 70 Facebook likes; a parent privacy, leading the study authors to call or sibling with 150; and a spouse after 300. for policies that give users full control of The average Facebook user has “liked” their digital footprint. 227 pages, said the study. Co-author TOKYO: A computer monitor shows a feeling of dog during the a mock presentation of Anicall wearable device at the first Wearable Device The study used a sample of 86,220 vol- Michal Kosinski, a researcher at Stanford, Technology Expo. The device will be on sale in March. — AP unteers on Facebook who completed a said machines can sift though lots of data 100-item personality questionnaire using and not get bogged down in a few partic- an app called “myPersonality.” They also ularly memorable moments from a per- gave researchers access to their Facebook son’s life. Apple granted patent “likes.” The subjects’ self-reported personal- “Big Data and machine-learning pro- ity scores showed where they stood in vide accuracy that the human mind has a terms of openness, conscientiousness, hard time achieving, as humans tend to extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroti- give too much weight to one or two exam- for wearable cameras cism-the five major personality traits. ples, or lapse into non-rational ways of Researchers found that a person’s psycho- thinking,” he said. Previous research from logical profile could also be revealed by the University of Cambridge has shown NEW YORK: Apple Inc has been granted a patent JMP Securities analyst Alex Gauna, however, have endorsed the cameras. which pages they “liked.” For instance, lik- that Facebook “likes” could predict a range for a wearable camera that could possibly chal- said it was premature to assume that Apple Intellectual property blog Patently Apple ing “Salvador Dali” or “meditation” would of psychological and demographic charac- lenge action cameras made by GoPro Inc. would soon launch a wearable camera. reported earlier in the day that Apple’s patent, suggest a high degree of openness, the teristics. — AFP The patent, which cites specific weaknesses in “It does not seem to me that launching an which was filed by the company in 2012, incor- GoPro’s cameras, includes details about a camera action camera accessory is the most logical prod- porates some intellectual property from Eastman system that can be mounted on bike helmets or uct extension for Apple to pursue right now,” Kodak Co that the company acquired in scuba masks, Apple said in an application filed Gauna said. November 2013. With Tuesday’s decline, GoPro Smarten up your home with the US Patents and Trademark Office. Apple declined to comment, while GoPro was shares are now down 51 percent since their high (http://1.usa.gov/1wbah95) not immediately available for comment. “I think of $98.47 last October. Still, the stock is up 73 per- Shares of GoPro, whose cameras can be that it will have about the same impact on GoPro cent since its IPO last June. with Apple HomeKit mounted on helmets, surf boards, bikes and dog as the iPhone has had on camera makers and “We look at it as a buying opportunity at JMP, harnesses, fell as much as 15 percent. that impact is that there are fewer cameras sold because what we saw out of the Consumer LAS VEGAS: Apple didn’t attend last week’s its Cortana voice assistant. Of course, if mak- Apple’s newly patented camera system can but the number isn’t zero,” Wedbush Securities Electronics Show at Las Vegas last week is that gadget show but its presence was felt.

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