2G Network is vulnerable. Your Phone can now be hacked

This piece of information suffused the Internet on December 29^th, 2011. Karsten Nohl, head of Security Research Labs in Germany says that GSM network is vulnerable to a new hack. The hack would allow a fraudsters to make calls and send messages without hinting the phone owner about it. A hacked prepaid user would soon realize this seeing the change in balance money whereas a hacked postpaid user will realize this after seeing the phone bill. 

Worse is the fact that none of the Indian network provider provides high end security to encrypt phone conversation.

How is it done?

A computer and two antenna is all that required to do the trick. A mobile phone catches the strongest tower (and hence the nearest) in a region. The computer and antenna system can pretend to be a tower and fool your phone. Once the link is established between your phone and the fake tower (the system), outgoing calls can now be extracted since the fake tower is not encrypted. Therefore a fraudsters can listen to all your outgoing calls.

Image: gizmodo.com

How to prevent the hack?

Prevention can be provided by the network provider. System software of network provider needs an update to withstand such attacks. A user can at most switch to 3G Network to be secure or rely on network provider for an update to the system software. Some phones may even warn the user before the phone connects to an unencrypted network; in that case the user must go by the warning and follow on screen instruction to prevent the phone from connecting to the fake tower.

Earth like planet found, but can we live there??

On December 5^th 2011, NASA announced that it has discovered two earth like planets through its Kepler telescope. Through this article I discuss the very basic and first hand question of this discovery. 

WHAT??

Two earth like planets named Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f in a different solar system. Thus they are exoplanets, meaning planet in a different solar system.

HOW??

They were discovered by kepler telescope. The assertion that they are ‘earth like’ was made by comparing the mass of these two planets with that of the earth.   Mass like that earth or lower then earth imply that the gravitation is also similar to the earth and hence the atmosphere is bound to the surface of the exoplanet whereas mass greater than earth imply that the gravitation pull is not similar to the earth and thus the presence of atmosphere is probably nil.

WHY??

The finding is important since mankind needs an alternative place for living in future, an answer to the rapidly growing population and fast depletion of resources. To ascertain more about the two new planets the scientist are now busy finding its density. Density equivalent to or similar to that of earth would give evidence of the presence of water in the named exoplanets.  Visiting the planet is something we cannot think of right now, it is unimaginably far.

The Kepler science team says that the best of Kepler telescope is yet to be delivered and researched and something more interesting and fruitful is in store for the future.

You can watch interesting videos and read more at CSMONITOR and NASA's official site

Source: CSMONITOR & NASA