BNS Welcomes Interns from ISAP

BNSHosting welcomes our interns from International School of Asia and the Pacific (ISAP), Cagayan : Hanzel Catalan, Jefferson Biagtan, Justine Mae De Vera, Mariane Mejia, Sir Myke Albert Macutay Tejada, (ISAP Research Coordinator and CITE OJT Coordinator), and three of the 10 interns.

The interns will continue the Air quality sensor project and deploy 20 units in selected participating LGUs.

Interns-ISAP-2023
ISAP complete interns
ISAP complete interns (L-R) Angelica Allam, Carolyn Soriano, Samuel Jimenez, Roland-jay Ruz, Darlito Ortiz, Dave Lourence, Tugaoen, Lhex Duyao, Daryl Taniegra, Sir June Vergel Querol (Program Coordinator), Lerma Guiyab, Sir Myke Albert Tejada (Adviser), Prince Jack Real

BNSHosting.net Adds Starlink connection

BNSHosting.net expanded our redundancy by ordering  Starlink. This provides our Customers with More Reliable and High-Speed Internet Access.

In recent years, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service has been making waves in the world of telecommunications. With its low latency, high-speed, and global coverage capabilities, Starlink is poised to revolutionize the way we connect to the internet. And for businesses with data centers, adding a Starlink satellite to their existing infrastructure can have numerous benefits for their customers.

First and foremost, adding a Starlink satellite to an existing data center can greatly improve the reliability and availability of the internet connection for customers. With its global coverage and redundancy, Starlink can ensure that internet access remains uninterrupted even in the event of a local outage or disruption. This is especially critical for businesses that rely heavily on the internet to conduct their operations, such as e-commerce sites or financial institutions. By providing a more reliable connection, businesses can minimize the risk of downtime and ensure that their customers can always access their services.

Another key benefit of adding a Starlink satellite to a data center is the increased speed and bandwidth it can provide. Starlink’s high-speed internet can provide customers with faster access to data and applications, which can improve their productivity and efficiency. In addition, the increased bandwidth can enable businesses to expand their online offerings and provide customers with more comprehensive and feature-rich services.What Do You Know About Starlink? - Moniem-Tech

Perhaps one of the most significant benefits of Starlink is its low latency. Unlike traditional satellite internet services, which often suffer from high latency due to the time it takes for signals to travel to and from orbit, Starlink’s low-earth orbit satellites can provide latency as low as 20ms. This is a game-changer for businesses that require real-time data access or low-latency communication, such as online gaming or video conferencing. With Starlink, businesses can provide their customers with a seamless and responsive experience that rivals traditional wired connections.

Finally, adding a Starlink satellite to an existing data center can provide businesses with a competitive advantage. By offering faster, more reliable, and more feature-rich internet services, businesses can differentiate themselves from their competitors and attract more customers. In addition, the global coverage provided by Starlink can enable businesses to expand their reach and offer their services to customers in remote or underserved areas.

From increased reliability and availability to faster speeds and low latency, Starlink’s unique capabilities can help businesses improve their online offerings and differentiate themselves in a competitive market. As Starlink continues to expand its coverage and capabilities, we can expect to see more and more businesses take advantage of this innovative technology.

How to Stop SMS scams on your PHONE

The SMS scams are in the news lately.  Here is what you need to know. In Australia, SMS scams have caused as much as 381m in losses.

SMS scam costs
https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/scam-statistics

While the Telcos and Government grapple with what best to do to reduce this, there are something you can do to stop spam on your mobile phone. You can block these spams by tagging them!

how to block sms spam ios

For iPhone, all you need is in Settings

Got a spammy-looking message in your Messages inbox? As long as you have iOS 7 or later installed on your iPhone, the steps are pretty simple. Open the message, tap Contact, then tap the little “i” button that appears.

Next, you’ll see a (mostly blank) contact card for the spammer who sent you the message. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and tap “Block this caller.” C-ya, spammer.

For Android, it’s a little more complicated

The SMS-blocking situation for Android is a bit more complex than for iOS—although to be fair, it wasn’t possible to block text messages on the iPhone at all until iOS 7 came around.

While the “stock” Messaging app won’t let you block SMS spammers, there’s a plethora of apps on the Google Play store that’ll do the job…or used to, anyway.

Working in tandem with the standard Messaging app, third-party SMS-blocking apps (like SMS Filter or Mr. Number) let you create and manage what’s called a “blacklist”—that is, a list of phone numbers that you don’t want to hear from again. Other anti-spam apps, like Postman and Spam Blocker, will go ahead and flag suspected SMS spam.

But thanks to a new restriction in the latest version of Android—namely, that only one app at a time may tap into your SMS messages—many of these handy SMS spam-blocking apps have been rendered useless.

Now, it’s very possible that your particular Android phone hasn’t been updated to Android “KitKat” yet, in which case you’re free to shop around for a dedicated SMS blocking app.

how to block sms spam android

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/436450/how-to-stop-sms-spam-on-your-android-or-ios-phone.html

Australia’s OPTUS suffers data breach

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/29/optus-data-breach-everything-we-know-so-far-about-what-happenedThe AFP announce the first arrest linked to the Optus data breach. But it's not the original hacker — it's someone accused of exploiting leaked data - ABC News

What data was taken?

Optus says the stolen data includes names, email addresses, postal addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, and for a portion of the affected customers, identification numbers including passport numbers, driver’s licence numbers and Medicare numbers.

The dump of records released by the forum user contained all this information.

How common is this method of attack?

“Unfortunately, it can be pretty common,” Josh Lemon, a digital forensics and cyber incident expert at SANS Institute, said. But he said attackers tended to not target a single organisation. They usually scan across the internet looking for known vulnerabilities and exploiting those vulnerabilities all at once, he said.

“So for a threat actor to specifically just go after [one company] is a little bit unique in that sense.”

 

StarBucks Singapore suffers data breach

In an email sent to its members on Friday, Sep. 16, the coffee chain said that it had discovered “unauthorised activity online” and “some unauthorised access” to customer details, such as name, gender, date of birth, mobile number, email address and residential address.

Following this incident, Starbucks added that relevant authorities have been informed and that the firm is assisting them on this matter.

Starbucks S'pore suffers data breach involving 'unauthorised access' to customers' names & numbers

Source: Starbucks S’pore suffers data breach involving ‘unauthorised access’ to customers’ names & numbers (msn.com)

Learning from others’ mistakes: Love Bonito Case

Short story:
Home-grown fashion label Love, Bonito has been fined $24,000 over a 2019 data breach which saw personal information of more than 5,500 customers compromised. The root cause: The administrator account of a software used by Love, Bonito  was compromised. It was used to manage its e-commerce website. An unknown third party accessed and obtained customers’ personal data via this gap.

Countermeasure: Try to apply Access control list to sensitive parts of your webapp. So that even if the admin account was compromised, it could not log in from just anywhere. It had to be accessed from within specific locations. Also enable multi factor authentication.

Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/tech/tech-news/love-bonito-fined-24000-over-data-breach-involving-over-5500-customers