When Gadgets Betray Us: The Dark Side of Our Infatuation With New Technologies

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Basic Books, Mar 29, 2011 - Computers - 222 pages
Technology is evolving faster than we are. As our mobile phones, mp3 players, cars, and digital cameras become more and more complex, we understand less and less about how they actually work and what personal details these gadgets might reveal about us.

Robert Vamosi, an award-winning journalist and analyst who has been covering digital security issues for more than a decade, shows us the dark side of all that digital capability and convenience. Hotel-room TV remotes can be used to steal our account information and spy on what we've been watching, toll-booth transponders receive unencrypted EZ Pass or FasTrak info that can be stolen and cloned, and our cars monitor and store data about our driving habits that can be used in court against us.

When Gadgets Betray Us gives us a glimpse into the secret lives of our gadgets and helps us to better understand--and manage--these very real risks.

 

Contents

A False Sense of Security
1
CHAPTER TWO The Dark Side of Convenience
25
CHAPTER THREE Invisible Threats
51
CHAPTER FOUR
79
CHAPTER FIVE Me Im
105
CHAPTER SIX The Myth of Fingerprints
133
CHAPTER SEVEN Zeroes and Ones
157
CONCLUSION
185
Acknowledgments
193
Copyright

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About the author (2011)

Robert Vamosi is a senior analyst with the Mocana Corporation, a device security start up. He is also a contributing editor at PCWorld and a security blogger for Forbes.com. He lives in northern California.