Networking vendor D-Link, which this week was sued by the U. S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over alleged security issues in its routers and IP cameras, blasted the FTC for insinuating potential security issues rather than pointing out specific instances where customer privacy was breached.
The FTC filed a complaint in the Northern District of California on Thursday which charged Taiwan-based D-Link and D-Link Systems, its Fountain Valley, Calif.-based U. S. subsidiary, with failing to take «reasonable steps to secure its routers and Internet Protocol (IP) cameras» and possibly compromising sensitive consumer information «including live video and audio feeds from D-Link IP cameras. »
According to the FTC, D-Link failed to take steps to address «well-known and easily preventable security flaws. » Among the alleged missteps were hard-coding the username «guest» and password «guest» into some products, allowing a software flaw that could let unauthorized users take control of routers, making a private key code for the D-Link software openly available on a public website for six months, and leaving users’ login credentials for the company’s mobile app unsecured.
[Related: FTC Files Complaint Against D-Link Over Router, Camera Security Issues ]
D-Link was unable to provide a company executive to discuss the FTC action, citing executive travel schedules related to CES 2017.
In a prepared statement, D-Link Systems said it rejects the FTC’s allegations and firmly believes it has «more than reasonable» security processes and procedures including procedures to address potential security issues, which the company said exist in all of its internet of things (IoT) devices.
The company also said the FTC did not allege any breach of a D-Link Systems device or actual instances of consumers suffering, but instead focused on the potential of being hacked.
The FTC charges against D-Link Systems are unwarranted, said William Brown, chief information security officer at D-Link Systems, in the statement.
«We will vigorously defend the security and integrity of our routers and IP cameras and are fully prepared to contest the complaint. Furthermore, we are continually working to address the overall security features of D-Link Systems’ products for their intended applications and to regularly inform consumers of the appropriate steps to take to secure devices.,» Brown said.
D-Link late Thursday posted an online FAQ to address specific allegations in the FTC complaint.
In the FAQ, the company said it maintains procedures to address the kind of potential security issues that exist in all IoT devices and said the FTC must allege that actual consumers were harmed or could suffer actual injuries.
D-Link’s response was what would be expected of a company facing allegations of delivering solutions which could impact the privacy of its customers, said Andrew Calore, vice president of BCI Computers, a West Warwick, R. I.-based solution provider who partners with D-Link to a limited extent.
With the average household having 14 connected devices and the increasing reliance on IoT, security flaws are to be expected, Calore told CRN.
«Nothing is perfect,» he said. «For a company like D-Link, it sounds like they made a reasonable response to the FTC action. »
However, Calore praised the FTC for raising the issue. Vendors, in general, are quick to promise certain features and capabilities but often slower to deliver them, he said.
«I agree the FTC should be involved,» he said. «Routers and cameras get put in your home, your private area. They should be safe. Otherwise, someone could do something like use your camera to see if you’re at home and then rob you. »
When talking with the IT director at a business customer, it is easy to talk about VPNs and firewalls to protect the business, Calore said. «But at home, users rely on their ISPs or on store-bought routers for security,» he said. «You can’t load antivirus on your baby monitors and cameras. «

© Source: http://www.crn.com/news/networking/300083333/d-link-calls-the-ftcs-router-and-ip-camera-security-allegations-baseless.htm
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Left to right: Defense Undersecretary for Intelligence Marcell Lettre II, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and United States Cyber Command and National Security Agency Director Admiral Michael Rogers testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the hacking attacks and propaganda campaigns leading up to the 2016 elections, US intelligence agencies said in a declassified report Friday.
What’s more, the Russian efforts had a very specific purpose: shake faith in US democracy and undermine Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. «We further assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect [Donald] Trump’s election chances when possible,» the report ( PDF ) says.
The use of email leaks to affect the US election was «unprecedented,» the report says, adding that Russia has used these techniques in influence campaigns before but not to this degree.
The report, which was issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, summarizes the findings from the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency.
«These activities demonstrated a significant escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope of effort compared to previous operations,» the report says.
It’s the fullest public account to date from the US intelligence community on Russia’s role in several hacks during the presidential campaign. It also resolves weeks of speculating about whether the three agencies reached the same conclusions. The report shows the CIA, FBI and NSA unified in the belief that Putin was directly involved in the influence campaign and aimed to boost Trump’s chances in the election.
The report also talks about «Guccifer 2.0,» an online persona claiming to be a lone Romanian hacker who hacked the Democratic National Committee. Documents leaked by Guccifer 2.0 were traced by intelligence officials to the Russian intelligence agency called the GRU, the report says. The agencies believe the GRU «relayed» emails and documents it stole from the DNC and «senior democratic officials» to WikiLeaks.
The declassified version of the report doesn’t contain much supporting evidence, however. Its authors acknowledge that fact, saying the spy agencies need to protect their sources.
The classified version was shared with President Barack Obama on Thursday and with Trump on Friday morning.
Trump has challenged the idea that it’s possible to even know whether Russia was behind the hacking attacks that stole emails and documents from the Democratic National Committee and other key Democratic party organizations and leaders.
After being briefed on the classified report Friday, Trump called the meeting «constructive» but didn’t say Russia was conclusively behind the influence campaign.
Russia has denied claims it interfered with the election. The Russian embassy didn’t respond to a request for comment.

© Source: https://www.cnet.com/news/russia-putin-influence-us-election-donald-trump-intelligence-agencies/
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By
Chris Martin | 06 Jan 17
See full specs
UK Price TBC ($999)
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Although it’s been around for a good while, the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 has some new competition from Lenovo. At CES 2017 we took a look at the firm’s latest 2-in-1 hybrid laptop tablet so here’s our Lenovo Miix 720 hands-on review which features a Quad HD+ screen and Intel’s latest Kaby Lake processor. See also: Best 2-in-1 laptops 2017.
The market for Windows devices might have become a little more boring in recent years but Lenovo has done it’s best to excite with the Miix 720 describing it as “an all-purpose digital vehicle with state-of-the-art components that not so much blur as altogether eradicate the lines separating today’s work hard, play hard mentality.”
The Miix 720 was unveiled in Las Vegas with a hoard of other new laptops and will have a price starting at $999 (around £800 converted) which includes the keyboard. That’s a little more than the Surface Pro 4 but the Miix 720 has up to date specs and features.
Release date wise, the Lenovo Miix 720 will hit shelves in April – that’s fine but watch out for a possible Surface Pro 5 by or around that time.
Not much has changed when it comes to design and build compared with the Miix 700 Lenovo launched back in 2015 at IFA. The device is extremely similar to the Surface Pro 4 in concept and you could understandably say Lenovo is copying Microsoft here.
Whether or not it’s a clone, the Surface Pro 4 (and previous models) is a fantastic piece of technology so it’s a compliment to Microsoft that so many have tried to emulate it. After all, the Miix 720, like others, is a Windows machine so that’s good for Microsoft and competition is good for development.
With the Surface range, Microsoft set a high standard for build quality and Lenovo has impressively matched it with the Miix 720. The device is great looking and the metal alloys chassis is both light and strong.
As you’d expect, the backlit keyboard attaches and detaches as you please very easily with magnets (just the right strength) and like the Surface Pro 4 can be set at an angle if you don’t like typing on it completely flat.
See also: Surface Pro 3 vs Surface Pro 4 comparison .
At the back you’ve got the kickstand which holds the device up when on a flat surface (or potentially your legs but that’s pretty awkward). As with the Miix 700, the 720 has a stylish watch strap style hinge which we really like – it can adjust up to 150 degrees so you get the right viewing angle.
Portability is the idea here and the Lenovo Miix 720 14.6mm and 1.1kg when the tablet and keyboard are together. The tablet itself weighs 780g which is similar to the Pro 4.
The Miix 720 will be available in two colours: Champagne and Iron Grey.
The screen remains at 12in, slightly smaller that Microsoft’s rival, but the resolution has jumped up from 2160×1440 to 2880×1920. That’s better than the 2736×1824 resolution of the Surface Pro 4.
We doubt anyone will be disappointed with the crisp Quad HD+ display – it’s bright, colourful and responsive.
Many users, particularly designers and illustrators, will also want to make use of the optional Active Pen 2 stylus ($59, available in February). This now has a click button on top and twice the sensitivity of the original thanks to an impressive 4,096 levels of pressure.
It might be a bit more expensive than the Pro 4 but as well as the higher resolution scree, the Miix 720 comes powered by Intel’s latest 7th-gen Core i7 processors in the highest-spec model. The Kaby Lake range of chips is new for 2017 and you can expect top-notch performance. To go with the processor is Intel HD Integrated Graphics 620 which can support 4K video.
The Lenovo Miix 720 tablet supports up to 16GB of RAM. That’s the same as the Surface Pro 4 but it pushes forward with faster DDR4 DRAM. The internal storage capacity maxxes out at 1TB.
What we don’t know, sadly, is what specs you’ll get for the starting price of $999. We imagine it will be something similar to the Pro 4 which starts at 4GB RAM, 128GB storage and a Core m3 processor.
The device has a 1Mp front camera with infrared, allowing users to log via Windows Hello face recognition. It also has a 5Mp rear camera should you need it.
Ports are an area that has changed a bit since the Miix 700. This time around the 720 has a USB-C port, which is also a high-speed Thunderbolt 3 port to connect external peripherals like displays and storage devices. Other ports include a USB 3.0 port, one USB 2.0 port, a Micro-SD slot and an audio combo jack. Wireless connectivity includes 11.ac Wi-Fi with 2×2 MIMO and Bluetooth 4.1.
Last but not least is battery life and Lenovo claims you’ll get up to eight hours of juice from the Miix 720 based on MobileMark 2014. You can handily charge devices like your phone from the tablet should you need to.
You’ll get a choice of Windows 10 Home or Pro and the Miix 720 comes pre-loaded with software such as Lenovo PhotoMaster 2.0, Dropbox and McAfee LiveSafe.
There’s no doubt that the Lenovo Miix 720 is an impressive Surface Pro 4 rival. It might be a bit more expensive but includes the keyboard and has the latest specs including faster DDR4 memory and Intel’s new 7th-gen Kaby Lake processor. We’d like to know what the base price gets you and there’s also the complication of the upcoming Surface Pro 5.
Price comparision from , and manufacturers
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PC maker CyberPower used CES 2017 to show off some sweet gaming rigs.
First up was a new version of its Pro Streamer. This is a dual PC designed for the convenience of the Twitch-erati, who need one PC to play on and another to stream. CyberPower also fixed a big peeve we had with the last version: Now, each PC has its own power supply, so you don’t have to turn on both PCs when you only want to use one.
CyberPower showcased the Syber, its first in-house PC. One especially neat feature: Its motherboard can be flipped 180 degrees. You’d want to do that to take advantage of a clever lighting strategy, where LEDs inside the case bounce their light off the glass side panel, creating a fancy look for cheap.
The mystery PC came via AMD: CyberPower’s first Ryzen-based system. Inside, we found two Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 cards in SLI. Outside, we couldn’t get CyberPower to tell us when this PC would ship, or for how much.

© Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/3155427/computers/cyberpower-showed-some-sweet-gaming-pcs-at-ces.html
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Honda has developed a self-balancing technology for motorbikes that keeps them upright. The system, which is still in the prototype stage, could reduce the number of motorcycle accidents in slow-moving traffic.
Called Riding Assist, it involved the bike making tiny adjustments of its front wheel, moving back and forth sometimes almost imperceptibly, to keep the bike balanced.
Balancing on two wheels isn’t new. Companies like Japan’s Murata Manufacturing and others have made small two-wheeled robots that can balance, but they rely on a gyroscope. Honda’s technology doesn’t, which makes it a step more advanced than others.
Honda said it avoided using gyroscopes because they add weight to the bike and alter the riding experience.
At CES in Las Vegas, the company demonstrated a bike with the system. The bike was remotely controlled and drove itself out onto the center of the Honda booth without a rider and without falling over.
A rider then took a seat on the bike and it continued to stay upright while he lifted his feet onto the bike’s footrests.
Honda says the technology could make riding in slow moving traffic more pleasurable because it frees the rider from having to keep the bike balanced by constantly moving his or her body.
Honda’s Riding Assist prototype motorcycle on display at CES in Las Vegas on January 6, 2017.
The company hasn’t said when it might appear on production bikes but it hinted that adding it to production bikes doesn’t require a huge amount of effort. The prototype at CES had the front part changed up to the new technology, but everything from around the handlebars back was a regular production bike.
The system borrows balance technology from Honda’s prototype Uni-Cub, a personal transporter that has an innovative wheel that can travel in any direction without turning. The rider sits on the Uni-Cub and the device keeps itself upright. The Uni-Cub in turn is based on robotics work Honda first started when it was developing the Asimo humanoid robot.

© Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/3155441/car-tech/hondas-amazing-riding-assist-motorcycle-wont-fall-over.html
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