Securing Safety

I’m sure many of you have read about the recent Twitter security breach, infamously dubbed on the web as “Twittergate”. Many articles were written afterwards about how simple it was for the hacker to breach the Twitter employee’s account and gain access to sensitive information. From the readings, it was clear that the victim had a tendency to use the same password for all of their accounts (i.e., email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). This is a typical mistake that’s made but it’s understandable as to why people do use this method. Let’s face it, we have so many different logins for all of our activities, ranging from email to Facebook to online banking. It can get hard to remember all of those passwords and not many people are too keen on writing them down. What they do is prefer to use one password that they know they’ll remember (i.e., spouse’s name, child’s birthday, etc.) and this can leave them extremely vulnerable.

I won’t go into the depths of online safety because I don’t have the merits to tell you the most advanced ways to protect yourself. I also won’t go into the obvious dos and don’ts (i.e., don’t leave your passwords lying around on your desk, etc.) because I feel that’s redundant. Besides, I know my readers are smarter than that ; ) However, I do want to mention a few things that hopefully may help you create a stronger password. At work, our passwords must have one upper case letter, one lower case letter, one number, and one special character. So for example, if you got married in Rome in 2001 and you will never forget that date (hopefully for both you and your spouse’s sake!) and you want to use that as your password because it’s something you will remember easily then use the tip I mentioned above. Instead of having a password like Rome2001, use the combination of different characters to make it difficult to guess your password. Something like r0Me200! would be much harder to guess than Rome2001.

Although these “tricky” passwords are much harder to crack than regular ones, they can still be cracked (for those that watched National Treasure, you’ll recall the password hack scene). If someone is really determined to commit a crime, they can easily have keylogging software installed on people’s computers who aren’t too savvy. Keylogging is nothing new and is one of the easiest ways to get your information hijacked. Most people aren’t smart enough to NOT click on certain links, thereby leaving them vulnerable to attacks. So even with the most difficult password to crack, you can still be compromised. So what then, is our savior on the web?

There’s a safer way to generate passwords rather than resorting to letters, numbers, or characters. The answer? Images. As brilliant as many of you think I am, I will not take credit as the pioneer of this concept. I read about a company a year ago (their name escapes me at the moment) who was working on this as a means to counter online identity theft. The concept is simple yet brilliant. When creating any kind of account, you would be presented with 9 images, 3 of them being your password. You could even load 3 of your own images to personalize it. So if my 3 images were a Ferrari Enzo, a Real Madrid team emblem, and a can of coke, then those would be my unique login. Since there is no typing, this is not vulnerable to keylogging. Also, these would appear on different parts of the screen for added security. The screenshot below shows how difficult it would be to hack into this account.



Of course the password is only as good as the person creating it. If I choose images of three things that are easily guessable then I’ve defeated the purpose. So if I’m a professed lover of soccer, ice cream, and Adidas and numerous people know this, then these wouldn’t be the best things to use as my password. The concept is to have a password that not even your spouse would be able to figure out.

With the amount of identity theft and fraud that goes on, both here in the States and internationally, I’m hoping that websites, namely those that carry confidential information (i.e., online banking and e-commerce), will adopt this sooner than later. Someone shouldn’t have to be worried about being a victim every time they make a purchase. By giving people a sense of security, the web can take on a whole new shape that can truly be magnitudes beyond what we’ve imagined.

Creating the Super Car

Being on the road a lot, both on my daily commute and from road trips, I witness a lot of bad drivers. I don’t mean just drivers that drive fast because technically a fast driver is not a bad driver. If the highways are clear and you know what you’re doing, by all means, put the pedal to the metal. What I constitute as a bad driver is someone who weaves through traffic without using signals, changes lanes constantly, doesn’t stay within their lane, or drives dangerously close to the car in front of it. I don’t know how many auto casualties there are every year but I’m sure it’s a significant amount. What if there was a way to make cars smarter, creating an added level of skill not all drivers posses? That would decrease the number of accidents significantly.

Auto manufacturers are already leading the charge with making their models smarter to make for safer driving. Both Mercedes and Volvo have already incorporated some of the key features I will outline. The 2009 Mercedes E350 has been dubbed “The World’s Smartest Car” with its many features. Top on that list would be the car’s ability to sense when it is only a short distance behind the car in front of it, allowing it to apply a hard brake when it feels an accident is imminent. That’s pretty impressive, especially on local roads because studies show that 75% of accidents happen at 20 MPH or less. The Volvo XC60 also has the same feature, making it an accident preventive vehicle. But this feature only concentrates on one aspect I mentioned: preventing cars from driving at extremely close distances. How can the others be incorporated into cars to truly create the world’s smartest car?

Similar to Neilsen chips on a TV, a similar chip can be created to monitor cars. Neilsen chips can see how many people watched a certain program on a certain day at a certain hour. Using that basic structure, a smart chip can be created to monitor a driver’s behavior. Let’s look at the key areas of focus for creating a smart car: 1) weaving through traffic without indicators, 2) not staying within the lane, and 3) constantly lane changing.

Weaving through traffic - I think this is the number one culprit for car crashes. Usually when a car is weaving through traffic, it is also speeding. A car going fast while moving in different directions is definitely a recipe for a car crash as controlling becomes significantly harder. Sensors can be added to corners of the front bumpers to monitor if the driver is changing lanes without the use of an indicator. Just like how the Neilsen ratings get recorded, the chips can record the data of a car and can issue tickets without cops having to chase down the law breakers. Reality is, cops aren’t around to catch every bad driver so this would be their aid to help really crack down. In addition to safer driving conditions, another byproduct would be fewer expenses to pay cops and all the costs associated with hiring cops (cars, gas, etc.).

Not staying within the lane - Often, accidents occur when a car is driving outside of its lane as it is ambiguous as to what the driver is trying to do. A siren-like noise can be used to alert that driver that they are driving out of their lane. The noise would have to be so loud that it gets the driver’s attention because they might be driving out of lane due to sleepiness.

In addition to the security precautions I mentioned, there are others that can be applied to create for safer roads. Cars can have sensors in both the front and rear bumpers to recognize vehicles or even people so that cars never come into contact with another object. Tires can be created to be more advanced and take into the natural elements for enhanced performance. If it rains or snows causing slippery roads, tires should have a back-up source to help deploy the proper brakes needed in those circumstances. Brakes can also be more advanced to recognize when cars are skidding or spinning out of control so they can apply a hard lock on the brakes, bringing the car to a complete halt.

Although cars have been around for almost 200 years, there are still plenty of places for advancement, mainly with safety as a primary concern. I’m sure there are several other features cars can have to make them safer but these are the ones that I feel need the most urgent addressing. As technology continues to advance, I’m sure an automaker, whether Japanese or German, will come through with a breakthrough in automobiles that will forever revolutionize the automobile as we know it. Hopefully, that day will be sooner than later.