Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, June 9, 2018

SECTION B

SATURDAY, JUNE 9, 2018

AROUND SAN GABRIEL VALLEY

EVERYDAY THINGS YOU DIDN’T 
KNOW COULD BE HACKED By Dan Bova

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More and more, common items 
we regularly use are becoming 
connected, making things more 
convenient not only for us, but for 
hackers, too. Here’s how to protect 
your home—and your family.

SMART TVS hacked smart TV 
presents problems on many levels. 
A prankster could switch channels 
on you, order movies you don’t 
want, or blast the volume when 
you least expect it. On another 
level, a hacked TV can have a direct 
impact on your security and safety, 
according to Andrew Newman, 
CEO and founder of Reason 
Software Company. Hackers can 
mine your TV apps (Netflix, Hulu, 
etc.) for payment information and 
can use your TV as a gateway to 
get into other connected devices 
in your home. “Researchers have 
found that many manufacturers set 
the same default passwords for the 
same type of devices, and often users 
don’t change them. This means that 
if you have ten network-connected 
devices and at least one of them 
you didn’t take care of—the whole 
network is compromised.” Change 
your passwords every three to six 
months to protect yourself. 

THERMOSTATS While it’s 
cost-effective and handy to be 
able to control the temperature of 
your home while you’re out—say 
cranking up the AC when you’re 
headed home from the office—
smarthome systems are vulnerable, 
says Jason Hart, VP and CTO 
for Data Protection at Gemalto. 
“Hackers can control a thermostat 
and crank up the heat until the 
owner pays a ransom.”

BABY MONITORS are often 
connected to your WiFi network, 
because you want your mobile app 
to be able to connect to it at any time. 
That becomes a problem, because, 
as Eitan Bremler, co-founder and 
VP of product at Safe-T, explains, 
“Most people don’t change their 
baby monitor’s default password 
and make it visible to the Wi-Fi 
network, meaning that any hacker 
can scan for transmitting IPs and 
find it.” If and when that happens, 
that means hackers can tune in 
and watch your baby and you at 
any time of day. To ensure your 
monitor is not hacked, Bremler 
recommends doing the following: 
1. If the product supports it, make it 
invisible to Wi-Fi scans. 2. Change 
the default password to one of 
your own made up of a random 
sequence of letters, numbers, and 
characters. 

SMART CAMERAS

Before you snap that next picture, 
consider this: many popular smart 
cameras have vulnerability issues, 
says Vladimir Dashchenko, head 
of vulnerabilities research group, 
Kaspersky Lab ICS CERT. “These 
issues could allow attackers to 
remotely access video and audio 
feeds, disable the devices, and 
execute arbitrary code through 
the cloud.” What can you do about 
it? Use a home security solution 
to keep track of all the devices 
connected to your network, 
and regularly check for software 
updates and install them when 
prompted, he suggests. These are 
things you never knew about home 
safety.

PACEMAKERS Hacking your 
heart is a real thing! The FDA 
recalled 465,000 pacemakers in 
2017 for fear that security problems 
could lead to people with bad 
intentions changing the pace of 
someone’s heartbeat—possibly 
resulting in death. Health devices 
like pacemakers are susceptible 
to outside interference, giving 
rise to a very niche corner of the 
cybersecurity world, says Mike 
Kijewski, CEO of MedCrypt, 
which uses code to secure data and 
instructions in medical devices, 
and then monitors those devices in 
real time. 

VOICE-ACTIVATED 

SPEAKERS Even news of millions 
of so-called smart speakers being 
hacked right before 2017’s holiday 
season didn’t seem to slow down 
sales of Amazon’s Echo and Google 
Home. But if you have either, you 
should definitely take precautions 
against hackers. If these speakers 
are hacked, they could divulge 
sensitive information such as 
when you’ll be out of town or any 
upcoming doctor’s appointments, 
along with your credit card and 
bank account info, shares NBC.
com. Equally alarming, if it’s 
connected to your home security 
system, a hacker could simply turn 
it off and walk right through your 
front door. To keep yourself and 
your home safe, limit how much 
info you connect through these 
types of speakers and unplug it 
when you go on vacation.

DEFAULT PASSWORDS As 
many of these experts have noted, 
many connected devices come 
with a default password that are 
easy to figure out. How so? With a 
simple Google search. “It only took 
30 minutes to find passwords for 
most of the devices and some of 
them were found only through a 
Google search of the brand,” says 
Omer Shwartz, a Ph.D. student 
and member of the lab being run 
by Dr. Yossi Oren at Ben Gurion 
University’s Cyber Security 
Research Center. 

PICTURE FRAMES Those digital 
frames that let you change art with 
the swipe of your hand are perfect 
for proud grandparents—and 
hackers, too. Sara Haghdoosti from 
Mozilla shares that “if hacked, the 
frame’s ambient light sensors can 
help a thief know the comings and 
goings in your household.”

GARAGE DOOR OPENERS

 Opening and shutting your garage 
door with the click of a button is a 
convenience that has been around 
for decades. But if a smart version 
is hacked, it could clue a burglar 
into your daily habits, such as when 
you leave for work for the day and 
when you’re out of town. Again, 
make sure that you’ve updated its 
default password and change it on 
occasion. 

ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOODS 
Ambitious hackers can put a 
stranglehold on entire blocks. 
Jason Hart from Gemalto, 
says the hackers “use IoT 
devices to compromise Wi-Fi 
networks and access personal 
data and passwords—putting 
families throughout an entire 
neighborhood on the road to 
financial ruin that only begins with 
looting of bank accounts.”Cars As 
was reported by Wired, researchers 
at the Beijing-based security firm 
Qihoo 360 were able to unlock and 
start cars using a pair of gadgets 
they created with just $22 worth 
of materials, making it ridiculously 
easy for a thief to steal your car. If 
you own one of these 10 cars, it is 
much more likely to get stolen.

CELL PHONES Former Green 
Beret Sgt. Major Karl Erickson 
says that he carries his phone in 
a signal-proof case. “From my 
experience in the military, I know 
how easy it is for a bad guy to slip 
next to you while you’re standing 
on line at Starbucks and, in just a 
few seconds, clone your phone and 
know everything on it, including 
the credit card number you’re 
using to buy that latte.”

HOME WI-FI ROUTERS It’s not 
hard to imagine how much damage 
can be done via a hacked router, 
says Andrew Newman, CEO 
and founder of Reason Software 
Company. “Wi-Fi can lead to 
Google account access or identify 
theft. Depending on how ‘smart’ 
your home is, it can pose a real 
danger, like disclosing information 
about your family’s activities, and 
granting physical access to your 
house or car.” 

LANDLINE VOICEMAIL You 
might not have a landline at home 
anymore, but many businesses 
still have them. And when a new 
employee starts, they typically 
are given a default password like 
1234. And guess what? Most 
employees never change it. If 
you want to ensure no one is 
listening—or deleting—important 
messages, you’ll want to change 
your password ASAP. Drones 
According to a report on Hacker 
News, security researcher Jonathan 
Andersson revealed hardware he 
called Icarus, that could hijack 
drones mid-flight. While signal 
jamming devices are not new, 
Icarus is the first known hardware 
that allows the hacker to gain total 
control of the drone, including the 
ability to steal your pricey new toy.

REFRIGERATOR

Your fridge can be your worst 
enemy when it comes to your diet—
and when it comes to security. As 
we’ve seen, any device or appliance 
in your home that is connected can 
be a gateway into your entire home. 
Consumer Reports shares that 
Samsung smart fridges were wired 
in a way that left users’ Google log-
in credentials up for grabs. 

SELF-DRIVING CARS As if the 
very idea of a car with no human 
driver isn’t scary enough, Damien 
Scott, the chief commercial officer 
at self-driving startup Renovo, 
told the Financial Times that self-
driving cars could, indeed, turn 
into everyone’s worst nightmares. 
If these cars are hacked, it, “allows 
a malicious remote attacker, who 
can conceal their identity and 
location, to gain direct control 
over a compromised vehicle’s 
throttle, brake and steering.” In 
the same article, he noted the 
need for industry-wide efforts 
to make hacking autonomous 
vehicles impossible. Reprinted by 
permission from rd.com

BARGER QUESTIONS ELECTION IRREGULARITIES

Supervisor Kathryn Barger questioned L.A. County 
Registrar Dean C. Logan after learning that 118,522 voters’ 
names were accidentally left off rosters due to a printing 
error during yesterday’s primary election. 

 Logan said he would look into the problem to determine 
the reason for the printing error, but Barger, who reported 
that a number of voters had called her office and used social 
media to report issues and concerns, questioned Logan as 
to why effective quality assurance processes were not in 
place around the printed rosters. 

 “It is imperative that we understand what happened and 
how to prevent it in the future,” Barger said. “Our elections 
represent the cornerstone of our democratic process, 
and it is unfortunate that this incident may erode public 
confidence in our system. A thorough and comprehensive 
investigation is only the first step we must take to begin 
rebuilding the public trust.” 

 Although voters whose names are missing were 
encouraged to file provisional ballots which would be 
verified later, the Registrar estimates about 2.3 percent of 
the county’s 5.1 million registered voters and 35 percent of 
the county’s 4,357 precincts were affected by the error. 

JOCKEY KYLE FREY AND THE RIDE OF A LIFETIME


By Joan Schmidt

This Saturday, Bob and I will be glued to the TV for 
the Belmont Stakes. For the second time in four years 
trainer Bob Baffert has a chance at the Triple Crown with 
JUSTIFY (4-5), ridden by the great Mike Smith. Another 
Santa Anita Connection- Doug O’Neill is sending out 
jockey Kyle Frey on BLENDED CITIZEN (15-1). Kyle 
is ecstatic and very grateful to Doug O’Neill, the Young 
Family (Steve, Heather and son Jason), Greg Hall, and 
Brooke Hubbord for the ride of a lifetime!

 At Clockers Corner I caught up with Kyle this A.M. 
The 26 year old was born and raised in Tracy, CA and 
“From the day I was born”, wanted to be a jockey. His 
grandfather, jockey Paul Frey, was 4th in the Kentucky 
Derby. Kyle began riding Hunter Jumpers at about nine 
years old at his dad’s girlfriend’s ranch. 

 At about 17 or 18, he began “walking hots”. (After a 
horse has worked out, it is “walked” to cool down.) Steve 
Miyadi signed a provisional jockey license so Kyle could work out horses. (“Gallop”-Exercise, done daily; “Breezing”-
Done weekly, ridden fast, as though in a race.) Kyle was at Golden Gate Fields for about six months, galloping horses. 
Went to Emerald Down, WA for a few months, then back to Golden Gate Fields, and got his Jockey’s License.) 

Kyle’s first win was on Terina (35-1 odds!) which was very exciting! He has been racing for eight years with 645 wins. 
From Golden Gate Field, he went to Parx Track in Philadelphia and won the Eclipse Apprentice Award in 2011. He 
went back and forth between the two tracks. After fracturing his femur, Kyle returned back West for good.

 It’s not all fame and glory for these horsemen. There’s a lot of hard work and sacrifice. They are at the track by 5AM 
to work out horses. If there are races that day, they may just stay and hang out at the jockey room. Most must work out 
extensively to stay in shape. Kyle goes to Foothill Physique, as does Mike Smith, Drayden Van Dyke, Ruben Fuentes 
and Asa Espinosa. It’s no wonder most are in bed by 9:30. Good luck to Kyle on Saturday and all future races.

Jan Greteman626.975.4033Jan@JanGreteman.comJanGreteman.com#01943630Judy Webb-Martin626.688.2273Judy.Webb-Martin@podley.com#00541631 
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