How to Turn Your Smartphone into an Authentication Tool

Encap – An Alternative to SIM Based ID Solution 

For the purpose of online banking, users need to identify themselves and hence the password and Pin has been allotted to each user while indulging in online banking activity. Online banking prompts users in identifying themselves correctly and hence most of the banks begin with a password and PIN and also demands some kind of extra info into a key fob or a card reader.

In the present scenario, millions of customers have been using the digital banking service most of them through their mobiles. As per a recent study by Encap, it could cost $ 202,000 to make onetime password hardware though it could be reduced to $9,000 on switching to a software based solution.This trend was spotted by Encap and in 2006, two DnB Norway bank employees planned to form Encap as an alternative to SIM based ID solution.

 They build a system instead which used the mobile phone to identify the users and presently the company has around ten partners in Europe and branching out across the US. The issue is that, these authentication solutions had been created for enterprise wherein an enterprise grade technology is done to support around 15,000 users which now needs to be increased to hundreds of millions.

Solution Based on Three Things 

The difference with regards to the solution is based on three things - `something you have’, `something you know’ and `someone you are’.Encap captured the identity of a device, enabling customers to use it as `something they have’, which runs on any device irrespective of it being an Android or Apple and is independent from operators SIM cards.

It is then covered with a password or a PIN which is `something you know’. Biometric could also be used which is natively available on the device for instance, Touch ID which is `something you are’. It is much easier to operate, wherein on switching from fobs to Encap, the clients eradicate the customer support service, the no. of the phone calls on authentication that goes down to around five for every 10,000 users.

Rather than providing an app, the provision of API is also made available wherein customers could build in an app which means that customer could do anything needed within the app and would not be compelled to leave it to do any security functions.

Authentication – Security – App-Defender

Besides authentication, it is also related to security wherein a component known as app-defender is a security layer which protects the app against any malware. It is presumed that the application could be running in a hostile environment and should the malware make attempts to intrude or inject itself, it is shutdown like a barrier.

Encap also seems to be a digital signature and to change the device into a legal writing pen to sign documents, one would have to venture out in order to purchase expensive SIM based solutions. This can be replaced with a software component which enables user in generating cryptography keys directly on to their smartphones as well as tablets.

Consumers keen on using financial services could bank on Encap which is unique and helps users to protect themselves from security breaches and malicious hackers.

Hamburg Residents Take Revenge on Late-Night Revelers With Urine-Repellent Paint

New High Tech Paints on Late-Night Revellers

An area in German city of Hamburg which is well-known for its nightlife at St Pauli’s nightclub district,has their locals gearing up with a new high tech paints on late-night revellers who tend to urinate on public buildings. The problem of what is known as the `wild urinator’ or `Widlpinker’, is an obsession in Germany and they have been fighting back against the drunken revellers who tend to relieve themselves on street corners.

 These group of locals have come up with a solution that can send the spray bouncing right back on them, by modifying the area’s walls to `pee back’ on them.The matter has been taken up by a local interest group who has applied the special water repellent paint which is also utilised in shipbuilding process, on two especially frequented buildings in the vicinity of the renowned nightclub district area near the port.

 This was with the aim of deterring the `Wildpinkler’ as they are so called by the Germans. The attention of around 181,000 viewers was drawn when a video was posted on YouTube on its first day where Julia Staron who has organised the group, is portrayed putting up signs in German as well as in English which say `Hier nicht pinkeln! Wir pinkeln zurueck’ – Do not pee here! We pee back!

Paint Job – Direct Message to Perpetrators 

She has informed Reuters that the paint job sends a direct message back to the perpetrators that their wild urinating on the wall is not welcome and the paint protects the building as well as the residents and most importantly, it sends a signal that this behaviour is not on’. A neighbourhood association began repainting the walls along the popular Reeperhahn street with a water repellent paint and the offending urine then tends to bounce back off the wall and on to the shoes of the perpetrator.

The said paint is considered to be pretty expensive and according to Staron it could cost about 500 euros to paint a six square meter surface – 65 sq. feet, though it would be worth the effort which is already having a positive effect on newly protected walls all over. She further states that `on comparing the work involved for daily cleaning of the mess and the awful smell as well as all the collateral damage involved, it has definitely been well worth it’.

Effective Idea – Prevailing Problem

Staron has also informed that her community group had come up with this notion on realizing that conventional method were not being very effective in this situation. She relates that they had tried to analyse the issue and come up with some solution and were interested especially in bringing about an effective idea which would be suitable with regards to this prevailing problem at St. Paulis’ famous red light and nightclub location.

For a long time public urination has been illegal though it could be some sort of illegal which makes one to do it more often at any public spot without any penalty imposed. Locals living near nightclubs in this popular location of St. Pauli’s neighbourhood have now invested in water resistant paint to resolve this issue that when the pee hits the paint, it apparently will splash back and the reveller would then have to walk around with urine all over them which would cause embarrassment for the crime committed by them.

Meet Randall Munroe Who Answers the Ungoogleable Questions

How much physical storage space is needed to store all the data of Google? 

May be you think that it is stupid question rather than excellent, but it’s totally depends on your mind and thinking process. But if you will search this question on Google, so you will find that this question is ungoogleable as there is no specific answer for this. But Randall Munroe, who is man behind popular web comic xkcd take a stand to answer ridiculous questions.

He started with well known datacenters of Google and look for the bills of power and building plan tp estimate the standard area data storage, which could be same in new centers he found. But it’s bit difficult to find out on Google, especially then when Google didn’t want. Well Google still posts its spending reports and recruitment ads in all over the world and still there are few people who love to take the photos of data centers and when they do that, so conveniently they have GPS data embedded and this is the favorite of Randall in recent times. According to Randall, he could search for more data because “Google is very strict about organizational stuff related to companies information”. Like; to order a pizza in city where Google have data centers and later asking them from where tech people order their pizzas and it can be help full to estimate the total number of employees, he says.

According to one of the physicist and one-time NASA roboticist, these calculations are pretty straightforward when he worked on his blog; what if he will regularly answers these types of question? This idea comes in his mind five years ago when in mid-physics lecture he thought that may be interesting equation written on blackboard is not interesting. But his students do care about his blog when recently Randall published his favorite question “what if answers online, for a million of people who still visit his blog xkcd regularly to fix their geeky humor.

The more he added that I wonder that what will happen if we will swim round a nuclear reactor’s waste cooling pool, where you will get the lower dose of radiations that could have both positive or negative effects. And if you will duck your head 5 to 10 feet from the waste level so in lower surface there will be no more radiation. So according to this theory, water above nuclear waste would be the lowest radiation in the world.

But while backing to original question, what is the punch card and it will equivalent to how much data of Google? Well Randall estimated that it will about 10 exabytes or it could be 5 exabytes more for offline storage, which is 3 times more than all words which a single human can spoke ever. A single punch card can contain 80 characters and you can fit maximum 2000 cards in a box which means you need to cover whole area of New England in the US (area which covers 6 states) by punch cards.

Sandisk Crammed 200GB into a Fingernail Sized MicroSD Card

It’s unbelievable, to store too much information such as; videos, images and important files in too small space, but it’s not possible as SanDisk announced world's first 200GB microSD card at Mobile World Conference. In present we all need more space on our device and due to that most of the time we prefer to use cloud-based synchronization and storage services such as; Apple iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive to make the backup of photos and videos and also to transfer them from smartphones or tablets to a personal computer.

There' is no such things to store too much information in too small space and this is why SanDisk, which is one of the world's leading and most popular storage manufacturer launch its premium 200GB Ultra microSD XC UHS-I card whereas; before one year company was released its earth-shattering 128GB microSD card. Its 200GB microSD card is the highest capacity microSD card with 56 per cent more storage than the 128GB microSD card.

This card is able to transfer more than, 200 photos in a minute with up limit of 90 megabytes per second whereas; it can hold 20 hours of full HD (1080p) resolution videos. These 200GB microSD cards probably have more storage space than you laptop and also more than your tablet or phone. When it comes to storage capacity, so SanDisk 200GB microSD card has more storage than 13-inch MacBook Air and all the other Windows ultrabooks. It has more storage than the best capacity of iPad Air 2 and iPhone.

According to officials of SanDisk, “Our 200GB microSD card is designed for premium line of Android-based smartphones and tablets and we all know that these two devices have a microSD card slot to increase the storage capacity of device. It is expected this high capacity card will be great for those who love to capture their life movements in huge 4K-resolution or to store 4K-resolution videos as most of the high-end Android devices are supporting 4K-resolution videos and it will be another reason to capture the precious movements of life.

The good news is that it comes with temperature, shock, water, magnet and X-ray resistant capacity with an SD card adapter. If you have SanDisk's Memory Zone app on your Android device, so it will automatically transfer the photos and videos to the microSD card when storage will get tight on a smartphone or tablet. This card is perfect for dash-cams and home security systems as it has high-endurance capacity for lots of video recording. SanDisk’s 200GB microSD is designed to handle extreme temperatures and as well as low temperature freezing winters.

If your device has a capacity to take SDXC microSD card of 128GB, be positive because it can support the new one too. If you are planning to own 200GB microSD card, so you need to pay $399.99 and it will be available by the end of second quarter of 2014. It will come with two-year warranty, which will be available in the Europe, South Korea and US.

Zero Knowledge Proof

Zero Knowledge Proof- Protocol of Interactive Inputs

A zero knowledge proof, in cryptography is a system in which one prover or a party has the capability of proving to another party, that a given statement is true without the need of imparting any information besides the fact that the statement is true.

In other words, very informally, it means that a zero knowledge proof protocol enables a party known as a prover in convincing the verifier or the other party, with conviction that the statement is true, without revealing any information about his knowledge.

In the case of zero knowledge proofs of knowledge, the requirement of the protocol is interactive input from the verifier in the form of challenge or challenges like the responses from the prover which could convince the verifier only if the statement tends to be true, where the prover does not seem to have claimed knowledge which is clear in the case since the verifier could then record the execution of the protocol and also replay it to another party.

Zero Knowledge Concepts Proposed in 1980

If this tends to get accepted by the other party as proof, then the replaying party is aware of the secret information, it could mean that the protocol has leaked knowledge and it is not zero knowledge or it could be spurious which means it leads to a party accepting another party’s proof of knowledge and who does not have the actual possession of it.

The conception of `zero knowledge’ was proposed in 1980s by MIT researchers Shafi Goldwasser, Silvio Micali and Charles Rackoff who worked on problems that were connected to interactive proof system, a theoretical system wherein first party known as prover exchanged messages with second party known as verifier in order to convince the verifier on some mathematical statement as the truth,The specific concern raised was about the leakage of information.

 In the simple sense, zero knowledge proofs are evidence which yield nothing other than the validity of the assertion which is, a verifier has proof that gains conviction with regards tothe validity of the assertion and this is expressed by stating that anything which is feasibly computable from the point of zero knowledge proof could also be feasibly computable from the assertion point of view.

Basic Definitions/ Properties 

Some of the basic definition on variants comprise of universal and black-box simulations, consideration of auxiliary inputs, the level of similarity needed of the stimulation and restricting attention to honest verifiers. It is also a known fact, that zero knowledge proofs prevail for any NP-sets, if one way functions tend to exist resulting in a powerful tool in the design of cryptographic protocols since it compelsparties to behave as per a predetermined protocol which is, the protocol requires the parties to have zero knowledge proofs on the accuracy of their secret based activity without the need of any revelations. Three properties need to be fulfilled in the case of zero knowledge proof which is –

Completeness – When the statement is true, the honest verifier, the one who follows protocol in a proper manner, will be convinced of the fact by the honest prover.

Soundness – When the statement tends to be false, no cheating prover should convince the honest verifier stating that it is true, with the exception of some small probability.

Lastly, Zero knowledge – When the statement seems to be true, no cheating verifier gets to learn anything besides the fact and is formalized by showing that a cheating verifier has some simulate which provides only the statement to be proved could produce a transcript which is similar to an interaction between the honest prover and the cheating verifier