Google maps 5 offers 3D vector maps, offline caching

Google's Andy Rubin gave attendees of the D: Dive Into Mobile event, as well as the entire internet, a look at the new Google Maps software while demonstrating a Motorola prototype tablet running a development version of Android Honeycomb. (Check out the video at the bottom of this story for a demonstration of both.)

The fifth iteration of Google Maps for Mobile will feature an overhauled visual style that is based on vector graphics rather than the flat, bitmap images of the current version. The upshot of this change in graphic architecture is that maps now require much less storage space and less bandwidth to download.

Overall performance of the Google Maps software should be improved, but more importantly, lighter map data requirements makes possible the offline caching of routes. This means that once a route is locked in, users will not need to maintain an internet connection for the duration of the trip, which will make Google Maps navigation much more useful for those of us who stray off of the cellular grid occasionally. Of course, altering the route or choosing a new destination will still require a connection, but small re-routes for a missed turn or two may not.

The other advantage of the vector map data is that Google Maps will now offer 3D building data for over 100 cities. These 3D landmarks can be tilted, rotated, panned and zoomed with multi-touch controls. It's a neat feature that may be useful for users who prefer to navigate visually, but we've always felt that 3D landmarks on maps are more eye candy than a useful navigation tool.

Google Maps for Mobile 5 will be available for download in the coming days. However, while compatible phones will benefit from the improved performance and possibly map data caching, features such as advanced multi-touch controls and 3D rendering may be restricted to handsets with the hardware to support them.

Fixing a Hole in the Web

It could take a year to patch up a flaw to a key Internet protocol.

Late last week, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) approved a fix to the protocol that guards most sensitive transactions and communications online. But experts expect it to take a year for the fix to be fully applied.

The patch repairs a flaw in the protocol that encrypts sensitive communications, including most banking and credit-card transactions. It repairs the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol, which has superseded the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol. TLS is built into Web browsers and Web servers and protects high-value information.

The current flaw, discovered by Marsh Ray and Steve Dispensa of a Kansas-based authentication company called Phone Factor, gives an attacker the ability to hijack the first moment of the encrypted conversation between a Web browser and a Web server. This allows the attacker to add a command of his own, which could be as serious as an order to withdraw money from the victim's account. One security researcher demonstrated the attack on Twitter, showing that the flaw could be used to command the server to reveal a user's password.

"The reason it's striking is that it's actually a TLS error, or at least arguably so," says Eric Rescorla, a security consultant at a company called RTFM and one of the authors of the draft fix to the protocol. Rescorla says the flaw shows how difficult it actually is to design security protocols for the Internet.

To make use of the flaw, an attacker would first have to set up a "man in the middle attack" and intercept traffic between the client and the server. This might be done by hijacking a particular server on the Internet, for example.

The Alchemist Review Online

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The Insecure Enterprise

With cyber criminals offering ‘fraud as a service’ and malware factories churning out malware designed to steal information, the threat perception for Indian enterprises has escalated to a new level, as organized crime syndicates take over from script kiddies

By Srikanth RP More from this author

• In February 2009, local newspapers reported that the Ministry of External Affairs was examining a security breach on its computer network, after some computers were found to be infected with spyware, which was sending copies of information to an external e-mail address
  
• In March 2009, Websense Security Labs discovered that the official website of Rajshri Productions, India, had been compromised and was infecting the
  
• machines of site visitors with malicious code

n December 2006, Kingfisher Airlines was hit by an online e-ticket fraud that cost the airline Rs 17 crore
CERT-In, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team’s website, reveals that a total of 4,475 Indian websites were defaced in the year 2008

• In August 2007, the website of one of India’s leading banks, Bank of India, was hacked, and was found to be distributing malware and Trojans to visitors. In the same month, Websense Security Labs discovered that the official site for Syndicate Bank was compromised with a malicious script

What do the above incidents tell us? The fact that even after following the best security mechanisms, all a hacker has to do is to find a single open door or a minor exploit for breaching a network. KK Mookhey, Principal Consultant, Network Intelligence India, rightly sums this up as an asymmetric warfare: “The attacker has to find only one loophole, while the defense has to plug all loopholes.” With multiple threats ranging from Zero day exploits, website vulnerabilities, unpatched software and an ever-growing insider threat, enterprises cannot afford to blink their eyes even for a moment.

Clearly, even as the Internet has leveled the playing field for Indian enterprises, it has also exposed the vulnerabilities of Indian enterprises to global hackers who do not differentiate between boundaries. For example, the Bank of India hacking incident was traced to an ISP in Russia.