Tag Archive for: Worst

The internet in Iran among the worst worldwide for connectivity

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The internet in Iran is among the worst worldwide and the cause might be the government’s censorship boost.

Blocked websites, daily disruptions, slower speeds, and filtering saturation of IP addresses—that’s the grim scenario depicted by the Tehran Electronic Commerce Association (TECA).

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Major Wireless Router Brands Ranked Worst To Best

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TP-Link is a networking company, first and foremost. A glance at their website puts their routers, mesh Wi-Fi, and switches front and center, a focus that lands them at the top spot on our list. As with most companies, they have branched out into some smart home products, but the majority of their catalog remains in the networking category, and their wide array of options highlights that dedication to the router space.

TP-Link’s routers are greatly varied in their capabilities and design. Their gaming options, like the Archer AXE300, feature the high-performance specs PC gamers demand, such as dual 10 GB wired ports, Wi-Fi 6E, VPN client support, and ultra-high speeds. Their Deco line is a more cylindrical approach than comparable products from other brands, with a more stable base and a modern design that provides 3,300 square feet of mesh Wi-Fi coverage. They even offer a few Wi-Fi 7 options like the impressive Archer BE800, although the average user still has a while before that’s something to consider.

Overall, TP-Link’s routers are comparable to the best on the market but offered at a lower cost. Their Tether app is also lauded as a fantastic and easy-to-use setup assistant. The HomeShield security option is, like many of its competitors, another subscription-based suite of software, but a basic version of it is provided for free.

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CES 2023 FAIL: Worst in Show for Security and Privacy

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The Consumer Electronics Show wrapped up yesterday. But some vendors faced stiff criticism over their privacy and security stances.

Here are just two lowlights, as selected by iFixit, Repair.org, PIRG, SecuRepairs, the EFF, Consumer Reports, and JerryRigEverything. But you can bet there are many others that have been rushed to market without a thought for the security or privacy of their soon-to-be owners.

This is the way. In today’s SB Blogwatch, we feel fabulous.

Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: 2001 remade by Pixar.

This Happened in Vegas — it Should Stay in Vegas

What’s the craic? Tatum Hunter hunts for danger—“It’s 2023, and tech is still pushing unsafe products”:

“Tough questions on safety”
Tech products often hit the market with giant safety and privacy flaws. At the same time, CES, a giant annual consumer electronics exhibition in Las Vegas, brings a flood of new gadgets. It might be pouring gas on a fire.
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The CES show floor buzzed with thousands of companies slinging health wearables, smart TVs, autonomous vehicles and other gadgets that rely on data from our bodies or homes. … But almost none directly address how they treat customer’s data … or their approach to safety and security.
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Media tend not to ask tough questions on safety at CES, and companies tend not to volunteer the information. [Yet] cybercrime … often relies on hastily shipped products.

So who “won” the dubious honor? Thomas Claburn lists the key pair—“Technology has the potential to make life better. This isn’t it”:

“Not created with security in mind”
As the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show winds down, it’s once again time for the Worst in Show Awards, an enumeration of … “terribly, awfully bad” … tech products as determined by various technology advocates. … And this year’s CES vendors delivered.
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Cindy Cohn, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, flagged the Withings U-Scan pee reading smart toilet puck. … The company proclaims, “It provides an immediate snapshot of the body’s balance by monitoring and detecting a large variety of biomarkers found in…

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Australia worst in the world for mobile app threats

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Australia is the country with the highest percentage of mobile app threats detected, according to new research.

Endpoint-to-cloud security provider Lookout has released the latest results of its Lookout App Threats Map, a threat intelligence index based on analysis of more than 160 million applications across the globe. 

 

The latest data reveal that, globally, Australians are the population most exposed to mobile app threats on a per-device basis, and iPhone users are significantly more likely to download a risky application than an Android user.

“Australians may have become complacent when it comes to downloading applications to their phones, at a time when risks are higher than ever,” says Don Tan, Senior director of Asia Pacific and Japan, Lookout. 

“Across the nation they’ve been using their phones to check in, order food and more – this common usage of phones has perhaps bred a complacency about the applications they’re downloading. But they need to become more vigilant than ever.”

The Lookout App Threats Map is derived from anonymous telemetry data extracted from the Lookout Security Graph. The Security Graph analyses telemetry data from more than 200 million devices and 160 million apps, ingesting and analysing more than four million URLs every day. By leveraging artificial intelligence, Lookout protects customers against phishing, app, device and network threats in a manner that respects user privacy. The use of machine learning on data enables Lookout MES to automatically detect threats before they’ve been seen.     

Lookout Mobile Endpoint Security creates a fingerprint of each mobile device and compares this with data from more than 185 countries to continuously monitor and protect against mobile risks. The map’s current data covers the period from February 2021 to March 2022.

“Crimes targeting smartphone users can seem low-risk and invisible until we see Australia on a map, coloured in red, with the highest number of application threats compared to its global counterparts. That’s when it starts to become very real,” says Tan.

“People across Australia need to become more vigilant when downloading applications, or this…

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