Chrome Will Start Blocking All Remaining NPAPI Plugins In January

Starting in January 2015, Google’s Chrome browser will block all old-school Netscape Plug-In API (NPAPI) plugins. This doesn’t come as a huge surprise, given that Google started its efforts to remove NPAPI plugins more than a year ago.

Over the last year, Google went from recommending that developers move away from this old architecture to actively blocking almost all NPAPI plugins. There was, however, always a whitelist that allowed some of the most popular NPAPI plugins like Microsoft’s Silverlight, Unity and Google’s own Google Earth plugin to continue to run in the browser. Starting in January, even that’s going away and all of these plugins will be blocked by default.

Other plugins that will be affected by this move include the Google Talk and Facebook plugins. Most of the whitelisted plugins saw their usage decline since Chrome started the deprecation program, but according to Google’s own data, Silverlight still remains popular with 11% of Chrome users launching it at least once per month. Most of that usage is probably from Netflix users, but now that Netflix is slowly moving away from Silverlight, too, the impact will likely be less than those numbers suggest.

Enterprises, which may still run some mission-critical NPAPI plugins, will be able to bypass these restrictions for the time being. Come September 2015, however, Google will completely remove support for these plugins from Chrome.

Source:Techcrunch 

Now e-cigarettes can give you malware

Better for your lungs, worse for your hard drives, e-cigarettes can potentially infect a computer if plugged in to charge

E-cigarettes may be better for your health than normal ones, but spare a thought for your poor computer – electronic cigrettes have become the latest vector for malicious software, according to online reports.

Many e-cigarettes can be charged over USB, either with a special cable, or by plugging the cigarette itself directly into a USB port. That might be a USB port plugged into a wall socket or the port on a computer – but, if so, that means that a cheap e-cigarette from an untrustworthy supplier gains physical access to a device.

A report on social news site Reddit suggests that at least one “vaper” has suffered the downside of trusting their cigarette manufacturer. “One particular executive had a malware infection on his computer from which the source could not be determined,” the user writes. “After all traditional means of infection were covered, IT started looking into other possibilities.

“The made in China e-cigarette had malware hardcoded into the charger, and when plugged into a computer’s USB port the malware phoned home and infected the system.”

Rik Ferguson, a security consultant for Trend Micro, says the story is entirely plausible. “Production line malware has been around for a few years, infecting photo frames, MP3 players and more,” he says. In 2008, for instance, a photo frame produced by Samsung shipped with malware on the product’s install disc.

Even more concerning is a recent proof-of-concept attack called “BadUSB”, which involves reprogramming USB devices at the hardware level. “Very widely spread USB controller chips, including those in thumb drives, have no protection from such reprogramming,” says Berlin-based firm SRLabs, which released the code.

Combine the two, says Ferguson, “and a very strong case can be made for enterprises disabling USB ports, or at least using device management to allow only authorised devices.

“For consumers it’s a case of running up-to-date anti-malware for the production line stuff and only using trusted devices to counter the threat.”

Dave Goss, of London’s Vape Emporium, says that vapers can remain safe by buying from respected manufacturers such as Aspire, KangerTech and Innokin, and by checking for “scratch checkers” on the box, which mark out authentic goods from counterfeits.

“Any electrical device that uses a USB charger could be targeted in this way, and just about every one of these electrical devices will come from China,” he adds.

In early November, figures obtained by the Press Association revealed that e-cigarettes and related equipment, such as chargers, were involved in more than 100 fires in less than two years...

EU, South Korea join forces to develop 5G technology

The European Union and South Korea are expected to unveil a new partnership today which focuses on the development of 5G networks.

According to draft documents viewed by the Wall Street Journal, South Korea and the European Union will set up a joint research group for 5G system development, the creation of technology standards and radio frequency preparation to ensure 5G technology can be accommodated in the future.

The joining of forces will be overseen by two major groups: Europe's 5G PPP and the South Korean 5G Forum. Overall, the group's target is to play a dominant role in setting a "global consensus" and vision by the end of next year.

According to the EU, while one hour of high-definition footage can be downloaded on 4G networks in approximately six minutes, 5G technology would cut this time down to only six seconds or less. It is hoped that speeds of up to 1Gbps can be achieved, and mobile 3D images, Ultra-HD, hologram transmission and "cutting edge" social networking services will be supported.

A report released by network monitor OpenSignal suggested that as of February 2014, there are 76 countries with LTE currently active -- but coverage and user experience varies. South Korea -- which has a mobile penetration rate of over 100 percent -- is the best performer, with the average user experiencing LTE 91 percent of the time. The EU is no longer a top dog in terms of communications technology, and 4G is patchy at best across the bloc. Unless the EU catches up, economic growth is likely to suffer, something EU businesses have criticized for years.

In January, the South Korean government said it plans to be the first entity to introduce 5G networking technology to the masses, and hopes the technology will be ready for launch by December 2020. Local firms, including the country's three major telecommunications firms and technology giants such as Samsung and LG have long been in talks with the government, and $1.49 billion in total is expected to be invested within 5G through 2020.

The plans announced earlier this year also stipulate partnerships with the U.S., China and Europe in order to establish standards and avoid future patent disputes.

In 2013, South Korean technology giant Samsung claimed it has made breakthroughs in the development of next-generation networking technology, and was able to transmit data at a speed of 1Gps through the 28 gigahertz (GHz) band.