Website Cookies Explained with Animation by UK Guardian Animations
What are cookies? Our animated guide to website cookies, the many functions they have, and how you can control them.
A cookie, also known as an HTTP cookie, is a small piece of data sent from a visited website and stored in a user's web browser while the user is browsing that website. Every time the user loads the website, the browser sends the cookie back to the server to notify the website of the web visitor's previous activity.
Security vulnerabilities may allow a cookie's data to be read by a hacker, used to gain access to user data, or used to gain access (with the user's credentials) to the website to which the cookie belongs.
Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of computer security vulnerability typically found in Web applications. XSS enables attackers to inject client-side script into Web pages viewed by other users. A cross-site scripting vulnerability may be used by attackers to bypass access controls such as the same origin policy. Cross-site scripting carried out on websites accounted for roughly 84% of all security vulnerabilities documented by Symantec as of 2007. The vulnerabilities effect may range from a minor nuisance to a significant security risk, depending on the sensitivity of the data handled by the vulnerable site and the nature of any security mitigation implemented by the site's owner.
While finding ways of injecting malicious scripts into web pages, an attacker can gain elevated access-privileges to sensitive page content, session cookies, and a variety of other information maintained by the browser on behalf of the user. Using this method, offenders can impersonate users and their sessions.
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF, sometimes pronounced sea-surf) is also known as a one-click attack or session riding or XSRF. The forgery is a type of malicious exploit of a website whereby unauthorized commands are transmitted from a user that the website trusts. Unlike cross-site scripting (XSS), which exploits the trust a user has for a particular site, CSRF exploits the trust that a site has in a user's browser.
The attack works by including a link or script in a page that accesses a site to which the user is known (or is supposed) to have been authenticated.
The Self Destructing Cookies extension for Firefox does not directly protect from CSRF, but can reduce the attack window, by deleting cookies as soon as they are no longer associated with an open tab.
Facebook Down Again on Wednesday, September 3, 2014 -- Third Time this Summer
Facebook suffered the third outage this summer for many desktop and mobile users Wednesday afternoon with the outage lasting about 20 minutes for many people. The social media website also suffered significant outages in early August and mid-June.
Facebook officials said they were investigating the problem, while the status page for Facebook developers did not show any anomalies, though the data appeared to have been last updated prior to the outage.
Bublcam for 360-Degree Video
Bublcam's 360 Degree Spherical Camera.
Bublcam's CEO Sean Ramsay stopped by the office to show off the current version of the device, available for preorder for $579. The camera’s price makes it more of a “prosumer” device than something like a GoPro. That means that Bublcam has to find markets willing to pay more for the advantages that come with being able to capture a complete 360 degree sphere of video.
National Weather Service Website Down
The National Weather Service official website was slow to respond Monday August 25, 2014 for most of the day. Services, such as the hourly forecast graphs, and text forecast discussions were inaccessible. Several internal links from forecast.weather.gov were inaccessible and produced an error page with the following messages ...
(1)
An error occurred while processing your request.
Reference #97.6fee32b8.1409001160.1d0386c2
(2)
An error occurred while processing your request.
Reference #97.6fee32b8.1409001298.1d03ea79
Access time average about 14 to 15 ms according to isitdownrightnow.com on August 25, 2014 at about 4:20 p.m. CDT.
Apparently a rogue or misconfigured app caused the interference with the National Weather Service website. The National Weather Service did not release any information about the the specific app that was causing the problem or any other details.
A message on Monday, August 25, 2014 read ...
TO - ALL CUSTOMERS SUBJECT - POINT FORECAST ISSUES . WE ARE PROVIDING NOTICE TO ALL THAT NIDS HAS IDENTIFIED AN ABUSING ANDROID APP THAT IS IMPACTING FORECAST.WEATHER.GOV. WE HAVE FORCED ALL SITES TO ZONES WHILE WE WORK WITH THE DEVELOPER. AKAMAI IS BEING ENGAGED TO BLOCK THE APPLICATION. WE CONTINUE TO WORK ON THIS ISSUE AND APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE AS WE WORK TO RESOLVE THIS ISSUE. . NIDS - KM
Then Tuesday, August 26, 2014 a message read ...
Last Update: Tue Aug 26 19:05:01 2014 GMT
NWS TOC Operational Status Message
Tue Aug 26 02:42:58 2014 GMT
NOXX01 KWBC 260240
TO - ALL CUSTOMERS
SUBJECT - POINT FORECAST ISSUES
.
AKAMAI HAS INSTALLED FILTERS WHICH BLOCK
THE OFFENDING TRAFFIC. NIDS HAS VERIFIED THAT
THE TRAFFIC IS BEING BLOCKED. ALL SYSTEM ARE
NORMALIZED. WE APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE.
PLEASE NOTIFY THE TOC AT TOC.NWSTG-AT-NOAA.GOV
IF ANY FURTHER ISSUES ARE IDENTIFIED.
THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE.
NIDS - KM
There were no messages regarding the problem on the official Twitter or official Facebook for the National Weather Service as of 4:20 pm. CDT.
The NWS has suffered a series of telecommunications problems during the past two years. In April, several important local NWS websites went down during spring's first major tornado outbreak. In May 2014, warnings were not broadcast via the website and via automated channels when an EF-3 tornado touched down near Albany, New York.
On some occasions, the National Weather Service has turned to Facebook and Twitter to make announcements when the website is not working properly.
See also ...
http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/weather.gov.html
http://weather.gov
forecast.weather.gov
(1)
An error occurred while processing your request.
Reference #97.6fee32b8.1409001160.1d0386c2
(2)
An error occurred while processing your request.
Reference #97.6fee32b8.1409001298.1d03ea79
Access time average about 14 to 15 ms according to isitdownrightnow.com on August 25, 2014 at about 4:20 p.m. CDT.
Apparently a rogue or misconfigured app caused the interference with the National Weather Service website. The National Weather Service did not release any information about the the specific app that was causing the problem or any other details.
A message on Monday, August 25, 2014 read ...
TO - ALL CUSTOMERS SUBJECT - POINT FORECAST ISSUES . WE ARE PROVIDING NOTICE TO ALL THAT NIDS HAS IDENTIFIED AN ABUSING ANDROID APP THAT IS IMPACTING FORECAST.WEATHER.GOV. WE HAVE FORCED ALL SITES TO ZONES WHILE WE WORK WITH THE DEVELOPER. AKAMAI IS BEING ENGAGED TO BLOCK THE APPLICATION. WE CONTINUE TO WORK ON THIS ISSUE AND APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE AS WE WORK TO RESOLVE THIS ISSUE. . NIDS - KM
Then Tuesday, August 26, 2014 a message read ...
Last Update: Tue Aug 26 19:05:01 2014 GMT
NWS TOC Operational Status Message
Tue Aug 26 02:42:58 2014 GMT
NOXX01 KWBC 260240
TO - ALL CUSTOMERS
SUBJECT - POINT FORECAST ISSUES
.
AKAMAI HAS INSTALLED FILTERS WHICH BLOCK
THE OFFENDING TRAFFIC. NIDS HAS VERIFIED THAT
THE TRAFFIC IS BEING BLOCKED. ALL SYSTEM ARE
NORMALIZED. WE APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE.
PLEASE NOTIFY THE TOC AT TOC.NWSTG-AT-NOAA.GOV
IF ANY FURTHER ISSUES ARE IDENTIFIED.
THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE.
NIDS - KM
There were no messages regarding the problem on the official Twitter or official Facebook for the National Weather Service as of 4:20 pm. CDT.
The NWS has suffered a series of telecommunications problems during the past two years. In April, several important local NWS websites went down during spring's first major tornado outbreak. In May 2014, warnings were not broadcast via the website and via automated channels when an EF-3 tornado touched down near Albany, New York.
On some occasions, the National Weather Service has turned to Facebook and Twitter to make announcements when the website is not working properly.
See also ...
http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/weather.gov.html
http://weather.gov
forecast.weather.gov
TouchPico Android Projector
Kyle Russell talks to TouchJet about their new Android based pico projector that allows you to turn any smooth surface into a touch screen interface.
Deloitte: British Smartphone Users Downloading Few Apps
A Deloitte survey shows that 31% of British smartphone users do not download apps. What's next for the app economy?
Deloitte found that 90 percent of people never spend money on apps in Great Britain.
Nearly one in three people in the U.K. do not download any apps in a typical month, according to a report released by research firm Deloitte. Researchers at Deloitte report that people had found their ideal number of apps, which includes a few social media and music streaming apps.
Deloitte points out that the app market is not shrinking, but the app stats are falling because most smartphone users now are over 50 and have less interest in using apps.
Don't Call Police 9-1-1 for Facebook Outage: Yes it Happened When Facebook Was Down at 11:05 CDT on Friday, August 1, 2014
Facebook experienced an outage about 11:00 a.m. Friday, August 1, 2014. Facebook was sluggish and also put out a message that said ...
Sorry, something went wrong.
We're working on getting this fixed as soon as we can.
Go Back
Facebook © 2014 · Help
Before the "Sorry" message, the displayed web page said "Service Unavailable"
Sgt. Burton Brink, PIO CV Station (La Crescenta), an officer from Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department used Facebook's social media competitor Twitter on Friday to remind people that 9-1-1 is for law enforcement issues. Facebook users called 9-1-1 for help to report that the social media website was down.
A message posted by a Facebook developer said the site "is currently experiencing an issue that is affecting all API and web surfaces. Our engineers detected the issue quickly and are working to resolve it ASAP. We'll update shortly."
Facebook gradually returned to 100 percent by about 12:00 p.m. CDT Friday.
Facebook also recently experienced an outage on Friday, July 4, 2014. People could see the Facebook page, but couldn't update their status.
You can always check the Status of common Internet services here ...
Digital-Lifestyle STATUSES ...
Sorry, something went wrong.
We're working on getting this fixed as soon as we can.
Go Back
Facebook © 2014 · Help
Before the "Sorry" message, the displayed web page said "Service Unavailable"
Sgt. Burton Brink, PIO CV Station (La Crescenta), an officer from Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department used Facebook's social media competitor Twitter on Friday to remind people that 9-1-1 is for law enforcement issues. Facebook users called 9-1-1 for help to report that the social media website was down.
#Facebook is not a Law Enforcement issue, please don't call us about it being down, we don't know when FB will be back up!
— Sgt. Brink (@LASDBrink) August 1, 2014
A message posted by a Facebook developer said the site "is currently experiencing an issue that is affecting all API and web surfaces. Our engineers detected the issue quickly and are working to resolve it ASAP. We'll update shortly."
Facebook gradually returned to 100 percent by about 12:00 p.m. CDT Friday.
Facebook also recently experienced an outage on Friday, July 4, 2014. People could see the Facebook page, but couldn't update their status.
You can always check the Status of common Internet services here ...
Digital-Lifestyle STATUSES ...
Facebook Cover Photo Suddenly Repositions to the Wrong Position; Won't Crop or Position Properly
On Wednesday, July 30 2014 a Facebook cover photo for a Fan Page suddenly moved without any notice or editing of the page. The photo was "pushed down" so the cropping was in the improper position. Instead of showing police cars on the street, the cover photo showed the tree canopy above the police cars.
Using the repositioning command did not work. Even though in editing mode the directional cursor would allow re-positioning of the photo in a manner that appeared as though the positioning was fixed.
Re-uploading the photo did not correct the problem.
The only correction was to re-size and/or crop the photo in Photoshop, and upload the new version.
The bug was only occurring on one Facebook Page (http://www.Facebook.com/ArlingtonHeightsCrime)
The bug was not occurring on any other pages.
Using the repositioning command did not work. Even though in editing mode the directional cursor would allow re-positioning of the photo in a manner that appeared as though the positioning was fixed.
Re-uploading the photo did not correct the problem.
The only correction was to re-size and/or crop the photo in Photoshop, and upload the new version.
The bug was only occurring on one Facebook Page (http://www.Facebook.com/ArlingtonHeightsCrime)
The bug was not occurring on any other pages.
Twitter Stock Surge Sparked by Earnings; Uptick in Growth Rate of Users
Twitter’s user base is growing at a steady pace as its second-quarter revenue topped analysts’ estimates, sending its shares soaring more than 20 percent. Estimize CEO Leigh Drogan and Bloomberg's Cory Johnson take a look at the numbers on "Street Smart." (Source: Bloomberg)
Sequentially, Twitter's users continue to grow (124% increase). There are about 211 million users on mobile -- the app-installed mobile market.
The effect of media is happening in Twitter, according to Bloomberg's Cory Johnson.
Comparing Methods of OKCupid and Facebook Profile Manipulation
OKCupid, the dating site owned by billionaire Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp, is the latest Internet company to say it conducts psychological experiments on users. Cory Johnson reports on “Bloomberg West.”
Cory John explains that OKCupid manipulated profiles to attempt to get more business and interaction. Edits included removing photos or removing certain text. OKCupid's messing with the profile, such as removing a photo caused a 44 percent higher initial response, caused conversations to go deeper, and caused contact details to be exchanged faster.
OkCupid is a free friendship, dating and social networking website that features member-created quizzes and multiple-choice questions. OKCupid supports multiple modes of communication, including instant messages and emails. In 2007 OkCupid was listed in Time magazine's "Top 10" dating websites
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