Apple’s iPhone as a Crypto Wallet? Maybe So

4GHadmin | 25 June 2019

Even the most tuned-out of us will be aware of how Bitcoin seemingly went out with a whimper after arriving on the digital cryptocurrency scene with a bang a few years back. The same could be said for the hype about cryptocurrency as a whole, but of course now it’s made something of resurgence. Now it seems the acceptance of a global currency that’s not bound by the constraints of the world bank and international currency norms is an actual large-scale possibility, and no doubt we’re going to see a rush on bitcoin mining flare up again too.

Whether or not you believe in the validity of cryptocurrencies and if they’ll ever gain a foothold in the world of e-commerce and beyond is one thing, but it would seem that Apple is forecasting it’s going to do that to at least some extent. To cut right to it, it seems that they’re preparing to let iPhone users turn their devices into hardware wallets that will allow them to store and use bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for mobile purchases of pretty much everything.

The bulk of us here at 4GoodHosting are like the staff you’d find at any leading Canadian web hosting provider in that we take a keen interest in any major shift in the web world landscape, and if cryptocurrency is now to gain traction like it was predicted to then that definitely qualifies. That and the fact that iPhone users likely make a good half of the majority of those of you, and so let’s look at what can we read into the possibility of iPhones becoming crypto wallets.

iOS 13 – WITH CryptoKit

At the recent Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) a few weeks back, Apple’s new CryptoKit for iOS 13 was on display. What it will do is allow developers to easily create hashes for digital signatures and public and private keys that can be stored and managed by Apple’s Secure Enclave. The keys will represent cryptocurrencies, which iPhone owners can then exchange as a form of payment through an app.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Apple is going down the cryptocurrency path, but if it is it would be following HTC and Samsung. Both these competitors have already announced their intention to create native cold storage wallets available with their smartphones. HTC’s Exodus 1 smartphone is supposedly going to be able to natively store bitcoin or Ether cryptocurrencies, and Samsung’s Galaxy 10 – expected in February – is likely going to do the same.

Demand Will be There

Seems the number of people using digital wallets for all types of currencies is expected to jump from 2.3 billion this year to nearly 4 billion next year, and it’s estimated that half of the world’s population will be paying with cryptocurrencies at least some of the time by the year 2024. Along with this wallet transaction values should go up by more than 80% to more than $9 trillion a year.

Needless to say, that’s a significant chunk of change.

The real issue here is the challenge that already-existing NFC-based contactless wallets, like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, will face when wallets based on QR codes become more of the norm. QR codes are already being used by merchants to access cryptocurrency wallets for payment.

Further, as of now, Apple’s CryptoKit doesn’t include all of the cryptography algorithms needed to complete Bitcoin transactions. That’s likely to change, and sooner rather than later.

Unique Hardware Opportunity

Apple’s CryptoKit means users are just a few steps away from turning their iPhones into a hardware wallet, and what it also does is put Apple’s developers in the driver’s seat when it comes to blockchain or crypto-based apps and the hardware required for them. The belief is that they’ll be able to provide a more secure crypto wallet than anything else out there right now from a mobile phone standpoint, and that’s because they’re able to build on the existing biometrics capabilities of iPhones and iPads.

Which is good, as big-time outlets like Starbucks and Whole Foods have all already announced programs to accept bitcoin other cryptocurrency for payments. You’ll be able to wave a QR code on your smartphone in front of a register scanner to pay. That QR code, enabled by an app, will represent how much currency you have at your disposal in your crypto wallet.

Further, because CryptoKit enables a second layer of security through encryption for iOS applications with private and public keys, it can repel other issues related to hardware hacking like SIM jacking , which is a malicious attack where the hackers assume control of a person’s digital finances.

It’s certainly an interesting time to be following these developments in the world of cryptocurrencies, but one has to wonder if it’s for real this time and not a whole lot of flash and little substance as was the case a few years ago when Bitcoin was ‘the next big thing.’ In fairness though, this is bigger than one type of cryptocurrency in particular, and it’s more about having the systems and hardware in place to enable its proliferation should it become a viable payment method.

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Domain Registrations So Far for 2019 Indicating Explosion of Online Businesses

4GHadmin | 18 June 2019

When Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web nearly 20 years, it’s very likely that he had at least some envisioning of exactly how pivotal it would be in revolutionizing the world of information dissemination. Whether or not he foresaw just how integral it would be become to the worlds of business and commerce might not be so easy to assume, but of course here we are today in the middle of 2019 and it’s as clear as ever that businesses – any business – that doesn’t have a strong online presence is going to be at a MAJOR disadvantage.

While we’re obviously in the business of being a reputable Canadian web hosting provider, here at 4GoodHosting just because we’re in ‘the biz’ doesn’t mean that we’re any less sensitive to the demands of what it takes to have good, strong Internet marketing. After all, nowadays well over half of all business is generated – either directly (online purchasing) or indirectly (direct referral) – via the web.

That of course won’t come as a surprise to anyone, or it shouldn’t. It’s summertime now, so let’s say you’re in the market to buy an air conditioner for your often-too-hot condo. Do you start comparing products and prices with visits to retailers in person? Of course not, you may end up buying that product in person, but you’re going to do your researching and comparison online. We could go on further about all of this, but likely enough said.

However, as if we didn’t need any more convincing of this – it appears that the first half of 2019 has seen more domain registrations overall worldwide than during the entire year 2018. Talk about an explosion!

351M+ & Counting

That’s right, the number of domain name registrations for the first quarter of 2019 reached 351.8 million across all top-level domains (TLDs). All in comparison to the 4th quarter of 2018 which closed with a total of 348.7 million domain registrations for the entire year. For those not as swift with numbers in their head as others (myself included), that’s an increase of 3.1 million, and just so far this year. With the trend being that domain name registrations have grown by 5.4 per cent year over year, they’re on pace to pretty much obliterate that standard pace.

Popular Choices

Not surprisingly, it’s been the .com and .net domain extensions that are being snapped up most enthusiastically. Between the two there was 154.8 million domain name registrations over the first quarter of 2019, an increase of 1.8 million domain name registrations (1.2%) for the same period of 2018. This also works out to a combined increase of 6.5 million domain name registrations (4.4%) year over year.

As March 31, 2019 came to an end, no less than 141 million something .com domain names were registered, while .net domain names totalled 13.8 million domain name. Between both of them there were only 153 million new domain registrations through the end of 2018.

Country-Specifics Domain

Now China may identify itself as a Communist country (and indeed the way it represses digital communications via the Internet is regime-ish, but that’s a topic for another day), but there’s not debate that the inner workings of it are decidedly capitalist / commerce-oriented. 5 billion people makes for one heck of an expensive labour force AND consumer base. As such it’s no surprise that the largest number of country-code TLDs registered for 2019 so far have been for .cn domains.

The exact number of them? A whopping 156.8 million!

The ccTLD that comes in second, however, is almost certainly going to come as a surprise. The Tokelau Islands are found in the South Pacific, and have a population of about 1,500 people. It has to come as a shock that 22.5 million .tk domains have been registered so far in 2019! I’ll be inclined to look into why this is, and perhaps I’ll share what I’ve dug up in a future blog post here.

Back on topic though, the rest of the ccTLDs came in as follows:

  • .de (Germany) 16.2 million
  • .uk (Great Britain) 12.0 million
  • .tw (Taiwan) 5.9 million
  • .nl (Netherlands) 5.9 million
  • .ru (Russia) 5.8 million
  • .br (Brazil) 4.0 million
  • .eu (European union) 3.7 million
  • .fr (France) 3.3 million

Seriously though, what’s the deal with Tokelau? I’ve spend the last 5 minutes scouring the web and nothing to explain why 22.5 million domains have been registered for an island nation of 1,500 people.

Decline in gTLD Domain Registrations

A gTLD is a generic top-level domain and, in contrast to the explosion of the types of domain registrations pointed out above, registrations of these types of domains have actually decreased their pace so far this years as compared to the same period of 2018.

Total domain registrations for new gTLDs were 23 million in the first quarter of 2019. Registrations for these types of domains have decreased by 3.4%, compared to last quarter of 2018, where they numbered approximately 23.8 million.

Anyways, the long and short of this is that more and more businesses, ventures, and individuals are getting onboard given the proven-effective nature of making you, your business, you art – whatever it may be – explicitly visible to the entire world.

As the expression goes – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

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Google is Blocking Ad Blockers in Chrome: Paid Web Browsers the Future

4GHadmin | 11 June 2019

Many people lament the fact that the Internet can’t be an unimpeded digital information source and not have commercial interests to the extent it does. It would be nice if it was a fountain of knowledge that exists for everyone’s own information gathering exclusively, but living in the world we do when there’s a buck to be made somewhere the opportunity will be taken. It’s especially frustrating for people who aren’t big consumers and have never clicked on a link or purchased very little online.

Google has recently moved to limit Chrome’s ad-blocking capabilities, and no doubt many of you using an ad-blocker will have already noticed this. Google also announced that this feature will not apply for Google’s paid G Suite Enterprise subscribers. Here at 4GoodHosting, we’re a Canadian web hosting provider who keeps our thumbs on the pulse of the digital world and the prospect of ad-free internet browsing only via paid web browsers would be a pretty big deal for nearly all of us who source information online.

According to a recent study, as many as 40% of people browsing the web from laptops use an ad blocker. That’s a big group of people that aren’t viewing Google’s ads. So why’s this happening, and what’s the underlying current here?

Beyond Blocked Blockers

It’s been reported in the news how Chrome users – and developers of Chrome-friendly, ad-blocker extensions – are none too pleased with Google’s proposed changes to the Chrome Extensions platform. We have to go back to when Google announced Manifest V3, which constituted a set of proposed changes to Google Chrome’s Extensions platform.

In it, specific changes to Chrome’s webRequest API were proposed with an eye to limiting the blocking version of it and this potentially would remove blocking options from most events and creating them as observational only. Content blockers would now use a different API instead, known as a ‘declarativeNetRequest.’ The Manifest concluded that this new API is “more performant and offers better privacy guarantees to users.”

The reality is though that Google’s Manifest V3 changes will prevent Chrome’s ad-blocker extensions from using the webRequest API as it normally, but it will also force them to use a new API (declarativeNetRequest). One that isn’t compatible with how existing popular adblocker extensions function and making them ineffective.

It’s fairly clear to see that Google is being receptive to the concerns of paying advertisers in ensuring the delivery of their ads to site visitors, and they’re not going to be supportive of ad blockers from now own.

A recent industry publishing had a statement from a spokesperson at Google regarding these changes in Chrome – “Chrome supports the use and development of ad blockers. We’re actively working with the developer community to get feedback and iterate on the design of a privacy-preserving content filtering system that limits the amount of sensitive browser data shared with third parties.”

They then added further, “for managed environments like businesses, we offer administration features at no charge.”

For now, Google is still intending to block ad blockers in Chrome, while people who are subscribed to their G Suite Enterprise-level of services will enjoy ad-free viewing.

Pay to Play Soon?

In the past it was that Chrome could be an ad-free browsing experience at no additional cost. Now it seems you’ll have to subscribe to premium G Suite services, and the highest, most expensive version of it. How much? It’s $25 per user, per month, and that’s no small change for any type of online monthly service.

It’s not difficult to figure out what’s Google’s interest in doing this. They can increase the amount of revenue generated from users viewing ads if non-Enterprise subscribing users, based in large part because most people won’t pay for G Suite and more of them will see ads they’ll click through.

Keep in mind that Google’s competitors like Microsoft Edge and Firefox are still fine with supporting ad blockers, so it’s fair to assume they’ll be people who’ll abandon Chrome for another browser. Even if they think Chrome is superior, as there are many people who simply can’t stand ads and particularly if they’re researching for work or academic purposes and time is of the issue.

Google’s G Suite’s low and mid-tier subscribers will still be seeing ads too, it’s only the 25-a-month subscribers who’ll be enjoying ad-free browsing. G Suite Basic is $6 dollars per user per month and G Suite Business is $12 per user month.

Any of you planning to jump ship if your ad blocker is rendered useless?

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3 Million Malwares Across Android Last Year in N. America

4GHadmin | 03 June 2019

Just a few weeks back we were sharing with you how WhatsApp was recommending users reinstall their app because of it being hacked. Hopefully those of you that use it have already done so, and if you have then you’re probably good to go with instant messaging for the foreseeable future. It turns out however that the problem of hacks, infection, malware and more is a lot more extensive than just one app and one operating system.

A quality Canadian web hosting provider is going to be one that appreciates the full extent of just how much digital connectiveness is important to people, and here at 4GoodHosting we have a front row seat to see the way mobile web browsing has pulled away from desktop in as far as being the means of choice for people. It all points to one well-understood reality; we’re turning to our mobile devices for more and more of everything that we do during the day.

A good many of us (myself included) have Android phones, and that’s why recent news from Quick Heal Security Labs is really undeniable when it comes to highlighting the extent of the cyber-attack problem for Android users in nor. And that is that apparently over 3 million malware were detected on Android OS in 2018.

Big Number, Big Problem

We can paint a picture of the severity of this best by sharing some numbers:

  • 3,059 malware infections per day, working out to 2 every minute across the country for Android devices
  • 1,786 adware infections per day, equally 1 per minute
  • 4,670 PUAs per day, and that’s 3 per minute

Yes, there’s an awful lot of smartphones out there, and a good many of them are going to have an Android OS. Those numbers are still fairly staggering though, and it really does put the problem in some perspective. And what’s interesting is that despite the rapid rise in cyberattacks on mobile devices, cyber security experts say device owners aren’t taking this as seriously as they should be.

Serious Business

Experts state that there will be a significant rise in mobile-focused malware and banking trojans, and another major mobile-based threat expected to be coming more to the forefront involves malicious code being introduced into clean-owned applications post update. Further, it would seem that this is more likely to take place once the download count reaches a certain landmark with the Google Play Store, according to the same report from Quick Heal.

Earlier this year a test was performed to check the efficiency of Android antivirus apps from Google Play. 250 apps were tested, and the results weren’t agreeable – more than two thirds failed to come back with a malware-block rate of 30% or better. Also turned out to be true that less than 1 in 10 of the apps tested were not able to defend against all the 2,000 malicious apps.

Not All Antiviruses the Same

There is no shortage of cheap and free antivirus apps accessible for consumers these days, but the reality is that only a few of those provide sufficiently powerful shielding against cyber threats. It’s important to validate the effectiveness of any you might be considering. There’s plenty of information on the web about them and quality reviews from knowledgeable people, so we’ll stay away from that topic here today and look at the most prevalent of these Android malwares being seen.

Top Android Malware for 2018

It seems the most common infection was with one called Android.Agent.GEN14722, which made its way into some 100,000 smartphones around the world last year. That’s just for the year though, overall and looking at it long-term, another two called Android.Agent.A1a92 and Android.Gmobi.A are the most prevalent malware found on mobile devices worldwide.

Other notables:

  • Umpay.GEN14924 at 25% of the total amount
  • MobileTrack.Gen7151 at 10%
  • Smreg.DA at 8%
  • Agent.DC6fb8 at 8%
  • Airpush.J at 7%

There were also function predispositions and focuses seen with these malware. Many aim to attack social media accounts for malicious purposes (like the Spyware bug that WhatsApp had recently), while others are geared to be invisible after installation and then display full-screen ads to users and earn revenue.

There’s also the FakeApp trick, which increases the number of sponsored app download counts and reviews. That’s clearly not as evil, but still something that people won’t be welcoming of in the slightest. Lastly, some activate by means of PDF attachments sent via phishing emails to launch malware on the device.

Be Proactive in Protecting Yourself

As mentioned, the right anti-malware for Android mobile devices is becoming more and more of a necessity, and especially so as it’s unlikely we’re going to see a decrease in the number of these malware threats that are emerging. This is especially true as each Android phone has a camera, speaker and a location tracker that quickly collects data from every place the consumer goes. When users are not aware about having this malware, the way they go about their day-to-day just the same as always puts their online privacy and sensitive data at risk.

AV apps that come from genuine security vendors are your best choice, as they regularly release updated versions to protect the users from the latest threats. These may come at a cost, but if you’ve got an understanding of just how pervasive this problem is then you should be okay with paying a little something for the security of your phone.

And yes, iOS is not immune to these problems either, although it may be true that the numbers attached to it might not be so massive as they seem to be for Android.

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