Cracking Your PIN Code: Easy as 1-2-3-4

By Lisa Scherzer | The Exchange

If you lost your ATM card on the street, how easy would it be for someone to correctly guess your PIN and proceed to clean out your savings account? Not long, according to data scientist, Nick Berry, founder of Data Genetics, a Seattle technology consultancy.

Berry analyzed passwords previously from released and exposed password tables and security breaches and filtered the results to just those that were exactly four digits long [0-9]. There are 10,000 possible combinations that the digits 0-9 can be arranged to form a four-digit code. Berry analyzed those to find which are the least and most predictable. He speculates that if users select a four-digit password for an online account or other web site, it’s not a stretch to use the same number for their four-digit bank PIN codes.

What he found, he says, was a “staggering lack of imagination” when it comes to selecting passwords. Nearly 11% of the 3.4 million four-digit passwords he analyzed are 1234. The second most popular PIN in is 1111 (6% of passwords), followed by 0000 (2%). (Last year SplashData compiled a list of the most common numerical and word-based passwords and found that the “password” and “123456″ topped the list.)

Berry says that a whopping 26.83% of all passwords could be guessed by attempting just 20 combinations of four-digit numbers (see first table). “It’s amazing how predictable people are,” he says.

We don’t like hard-to-remember numbers and “no one thinks their wallet will get stolen,” Berry says.

Days, months, years

Many of the commonly used passwords are, of course, dates: birthdays, anniversaries, the year you were born, etc. Indeed, using a year, starting with 19__ helps people remember their code, but it also increases its predictability, Berry says. His analysis shows that every single 19__ combination be found in the top 20% of the dataset.

“People use years, date of birth — it’s a monumentally stupid thing to do because if you lose your wallet, your driver’s license is in there. If someone finds it, they’ve got the date of birth on there. At least use a parent’s date of birth [as a password],” says Berry.

Keyboard patterns


Somewhat intriguing was #22 on the most common password list: 2580. It seems random, but if you look at a telephone keypad (or ATM keypad) you’ll see those numbers are straight down the middle — yet another sign we’re uncreative and lazy password makers.

The least predictable password

The least-used PIN is 8068, Berry found, with just 25 occurrences in the 3.4 million set, which equates to 0.000744%. (See the second table for the least popular passwords.) Why this set of numbers? Berry guesses, “It’s not repeating pattern, it’s not a birthday, it’s not the year Columbus discovered America, it’s not 1776.” At a certain point, these numbers at the bottom of the list are all kind of “the lowest of the low, they’re all noise,” he says.

A few other interesting tidbits from Berry:

-The most popular PIN code (1234) is more popular than the lowest 4,200 codes combined.

- People have even less imagination in choosing five-digit passwords — 28% use 12345.

- The fourth most popular seven-digit password is 8675309, the Tommy Tutone song.

-People love using couplets for their PINs: 4545, 1313, etc. And for some reason, they don’t like using pairs of numbers that have larger numerical gaps between them. Combinations like 45 and 67 occur much more frequently than 29 and 37.

- The 17th-most common 10-digit password is 3141592654 (for you non-math nerds, those are the first digits of Pi).

Cracking Your PIN Code: Easy as 1-2-3-4

The No. 1 Health Hazard Your Doc is Ignoring

By Lisa Collier Cool

 

 

America’s doctors are doing an appallingly poor job of treating high blood pressure, the world’s leading cause of death and disability, according to a shocking new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC reports that of the 67 million Americans with high blood pressure, 36 million don’t have their condition under control, even though the majority of them see a doctor at least twice a year, have health insurance, and take medication.

That’s alarming because high blood pressure is a stealthy assassin that ranks as a leading risk factor for stroke and heart disease—conditions that kill nearly 1,000 Americans a day. Uncontrolled high blood pressure can also lead to kidney failure, blindness, and memory loss.

11 Ways to Save Money On Healthcare

Deadly Medical Neglect

“The CDC report underscores a deadly failure of standard medical care: All too often, healthcare providers ignore or undertreat high blood pressure—putting patients’ health or lives at risk from this silent killer,” says Bradley Bale, MD, Medical Director of the Heart Health Program at Grace Clinic in Lubbock, Texas.

Dr. Bale’s research points to “therapeutic inertia” as a key reason why high blood pressure (140/90 or higher) often remains out of control even when patients seek medical care. In a paper published in Journal of the National Medical Association, he reports that doctors often give up if the first blood pressure medicine they prescribe doesn’t help.

In fact, in one retrospective study, only 13 percent of healthcare providers made medication adjustments in patients with uncontrolled high blood pressure. The researchers found that reducing “therapeutic inertia” by just 20 percent would result in improved blood pressure for up to 66 percent of the patients studied.

An Often Ignored, But Dangerous Blood Pressure Problem

The CDC report doesn’t even mention another 67 million Americans who have a dangerous blood pressure condition called prehypertension, defined as systolic blood pressure (the top number) between 120 and 139, or diastolic pressure (the bottom number) between 80 and 89. If one number is in this range and the other is lower, you still have prehypertension.

“If your blood pressure is in this range, there’s a very good chance that you’ve been told it’s fine,” reports Dr. Bale.

Actually, prehypertension raises stroke risk by 55 percent and more than triples the risk of heart attacks. It’s important to get your blood pressure under control once it exceeds 120/80, rather than waiting until it hits 140/90, the level defined as hypertension, emphasizes Dr. Bale.

Warning Signs of Heart Attack

What Should Doctors Be Doing to Stop a Silent Killer?

If your blood pressure is 120/80 or above, it’s important for your healthcare provider to find out why you have abnormal blood pressure, says Dr. Bale. “The most common—and often overlooked–cause of elevated blood pressure is insulin resistance (IR), which is also the root cause of type 2 diabetes.”

As I reported recently, insulin resistance also raises risk for Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. About 140 million Americans have this blood sugar disorder, in which the body produces insulin, but doesn’t use it correctly. IR is most likely to strike people who are overweight (or have a large waist) and sedentary.

Another surprising cause of high blood is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a sleep disorder that affects 18 million Americans, 90 percent of who are undiagnosed. This condition is marked by bouts of interrupted breathing during sleep, which strains the heart and blood vessels due to sudden drops in oxygen. Symptoms include loud snoring, unexplained daytime drowsiness, and difficulty paying attention.

What can you do to prevent high blood pressure?

Make sure to get your blood pressure numbers. As I reported previously, it’s important to take blood pressure readings in both arms. A difference in systolic blood pressure (the top number) between arms could indicated narrowed blood vessels in one side of the body, which may lead to cardiovascular disease.

There are many steps to take to either reduce hypertension or prehypertension, or to prevent it:

• Maintain a healthy weight. If you’re overweight, shedding even a few pounds can reduce your blood pressure.


• If you smoke, take steps to kick the habit. Abstaining from tobacco cuts risk for many diseases, as well as high blood pressure. Even secondhand smoke can raise your blood pressure, so avoid smoky environments.


• Exercise regularly. Physical activity lowers your heart rate, so your heart doesn’t have to work as hard with each contraction—or put as much pressure on your arteries.


• If you drink alcohol, limit yourself to no more than one drink a day if you are female, or two drinks a day if you are male.


• Eat a healthy diet that is low in sodium and high in fruits, vegetable and potassium. Potassium-rich foods include winter squash, sweet potatoes, potatoes, broccoli, cantaloupe, bananas, white beans, lentils, milk, yogurt, halibut, salmon, chicken, tuna and pork tenderloin, as well as pistachios and raisins.

The No. 1 Health Hazard Your Doc is Ignoring

White kids at higher fracture risk than others

 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Mirroring the results of research in adults, a new study shows that white children are at a higher risk of breaking a bone than children of other races.

The researchers say that genetics might have something to do with the differences, but it’s also possible that environmental factors – such as participation in sports – could play a role.

“What looks like a racial disparity may actually reflect a difference in exposure to physical activities with higher risk for fractures, such as competitive, organized sports,” said Dr. Leticia Manning Ryan, a professor at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., who did not participate in the research.

Earlier studies have shown that white women are more likely to suffer a fracture than black women (see Reuters Health report of May 3, 2005).

Tishya Wren, the lead author of the study and professor at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, said her study stemmed from a larger research program looking at children’s bone health.

The study included 1,470 girls and boys aged six to 17 years old, whose bone density and broken bones were tracked for six years.

“When I separated our data by race…we noticed this very interesting relationship, which hasn’t really been recognized (in children) before,” Wren said.

She and her colleagues found that 22 percent of the white kids had had a fracture, while only 12 percent of the other children had experienced a fracture.

White boys appeared to be the most at risk. By the end of the study, about 28 percent had had a fracture, compared to about 18 percent of white girls, 12 percent of non-white boys and six percent of non-white girls.

Most of the fractures occurred while the kids were playing sports, and Wren’s group found that lower body fat and more participation in sports were tied to an increased risk of fracture.

For instance, playing sports more than four days per week was tied to a 35 percent increased risk of having a fracture, the group reports in The Journal of Pediatrics.

After the researchers took into account risk factors, such as how many sports the kids played and their body type, they still found that white children had about a two-fold risk of fracturing a bone.

“We think some of it must be related to a genetic type of effect,” Wren told Reuters Health. “We also think there might be something inherent in the bone itself that’s causing it to be more susceptible to fracture.”

SOCIOECONOMICS MAY PLAY A ROLE

Still, Ryan noted, it’s possible that the study didn’t fully capture how much exposure kids had to high-risk activities, because the researchers didn’t examine the children’s socioeconomic status.

Ryan said other studies have shown that more children from wealthier families are more likely to play organized sports.

“I would use caution in definitively stating that these findings reflect a racial disparity without incorporating socioeconomic status,” she told Reuters Health.

Wren said that until the contributors to the increased risk of broken bones are nailed down, it is important to use the findings to keep parents and doctors aware of the risks.

She said she would not tell parents to avoid sports to reduce kids’ risks, because other studies have found that kids with higher body mass and less dense bone – signs indicative of being inactive – are at a greater risk of having a fracture from low-impact injuries.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/VgWgH8 The Journal of Pediatrics, online September 12, 2012.

White kids at higher fracture risk than others

Stunt Nation - Flying high with Wing Suit Man Andreas Matischak

Stunt Nation – Flying high with Wing Suit Man Andreas Matischak

 Fishbowl Worldwide Stunt Nation

Andreas Matischak lands in the Stunt Nation House to discuss BASE jumping and wing suit flying with host Sal Masekela.

Stunt Nation - Flying high with Wing Suit Man Andreas Matischak

2C-I or 'Smiles': The New Killer Drug Every Parent Should Know About

By Piper Weiss, Shine Staff | Healthy Living 

 

Smiles, a new drug popular with teens, has been linked to recent overdoses. (photo via wdaz.com)Witnesses described the 17-year-old boy as “shaking, growling, foaming at the mouth.”According to police reports, Elijah Stai was at a McDonald’s with his friend when he began to feel ill. Soon after, he “started to smash his head against the ground” and began acting “possessed,” according to a witness. Two hours later, he had stopped breathing.

The Grand Forks, North Dakota teenager’s fatal overdose has been blamed on a drug called 2C-I. The night before Stai’s overdose, another area teen, Christian Bjerk, 18, was found face down on a sidewalk. His death was also linked to the drug.

2C-I–known by its eerie street name “Smiles”–has become a serious problem in the Grand Forks area, according to local police. Overdoses of the drug have also be reported in Indiana and Minnesota. But if the internet is any indication, Smiles is on the rise all over the country.

DEA cracks down on new versions of hard drugs

“At the moment I am completely and fully submerged, if you can’t tell by my eyes, in a psychedelic world known as 2C-I,” says a man who appears to be in his late teens or early 20s on a YouTube video posted back in October. His pupils are dilated. He struggles to formulate a description of what he’s feeling-it’s hard to tell if its because his experience is profound or if his speech skills are simply blunted. He’s one of dozens of users providing Youtube “reports” of their experiences on the synthetic drug.

Smile’s effects have been called a combination of MDMA and LSD, only far more potent. Users have reported a speedy charge along with intense visual and aural hallucinations that can last anywhere from hours to days.

“At first I’d think something was extremely beautiful and then it look really strange,” another user says in a recorded online account.”I looked at my girlfriend’s face for a minute and it was pitch black…the black started dripping out of her eye.”

Because the drug is relatively new–it first surfaced around 2003 in European party scenes and only recently made its way to the states–the most readily accessible information about 2C-I comes from user accounts, many of which detail frightening experiences.

Elijah Stai’s fatal overdose has prompted a crackdown on the drug in North Dakota.

On an internet forum one user describes the high as a “roller coaster ride through hell,” while another warns “do not drive on this drug,” after recounting his own failed attempt on the roadway.

Over the past few years, synthetic drugs like K-2, Spice and Bath Salts, have become increasing popular with teenagers and young adults. Their ingredients are relatively easy to obtain and order online and until recently, they weren’t classified as illegal substances. But as they come under legal scrutiny, one by one, they’ve triggered a domino effect of newer, altered, and more potent versions.

“I think [the drugs] just keep changing to try to circumvent the law,” Lindsay Wold, a detective with the Grand Forks police department, told Yahoo Shine. “Anytime we try to figure something out, it changes.” Since July, her department has launched an awareness campaign in an effort to crack down on 2C-I’s growing popularity with teens and young adults in the area. While reports of overdoses have spiked, Wold says it’s difficult to measure it’s growth in numbers.

The horrifying side effects of Bath Salts drug

According data obtained by the American Association of Poison Control, half of those exposed to 2C-I in 2011 were teenagers. That statistic was before two fatalities and multiple overdoses were linked to the drug in North Dakota.

“The unfortunate thing is if kids who are overdosing on 2C-I go in to the hospital with a physical problem, a lot of times they can’t test for it so it doesn’t show up as a drug overdose,” says Wold.

The fact that 2C-I is untraceable in tests makes it more of a challenge for doctors to treat. It also contributes to drug’s growing popularity among high school and college-age kids.

“Synthetic drugs don’t generally show up on drug tests and that’s made it popular with young adults, as well as people entering the military, college athletes, or anyone who gets tested for drugs,” Barbara Carreno, a spokesperson for the Drug Enforcement Agency, tells Shine.

2C-I may be undetected in drug tests, but it’s effects are evident in emergency rooms.

According to James Mowry, the director of Indiana’s Poison Control Center, 2-CI overdoses–on the rise in the state–and have been known to cause seizures, kidney failure, and fatally high blood pressure.

“They do something that is called ‘uncoupling.” Mowry told an Indianapolis news station this month. “Basically, their muscles get to the point they cannot uncontract, so they sort of get rigid and then your temperature goes up really high and if you don’t treat them really aggressively, those people usually end up dying.”

Officials are taking aggressive measures to address this new national drug problem. In July, the DEA announced Operation Log Jam, the first nationwide coordinated US Law enforcement strike specifically targeting designer synthetic drugs. That same month, 2C-I was classified as a Schedule 1 subtance, making possession and distribution of the drug illegal. Those caught distributing even a small amount are facing serious criminal charges. Stai’s friend, who allegedly obtained the drug that caused his overdose, has been charged with third degree murder.

While the drug’s potential for overdose is apparent, the specific cases of fatalities are confounding. According to one site designed as a “fact sheet” for users, the dosage of the drug, which also comes as a liquid or a pill, is difficult to measure in powder form. When users snort the drug they could end up taking more than they realize, prompting an overdose. But in the case of Stai, the powder wasn’t snorted, but melted into a chocolate bar and eaten.

Some speculate those “hobby chemists”–making the drug using powders shipped from China, acetone and plant-based materials–are to blame for concocting particularly strong or toxic batches.

“Anybody with a little money to front can import chemicals, mix, and sell it,” says Carreno. “Many of these types of drugs were originally designed for research to be used on animals, not people.” In fact, 2C-I was first synthesized by Alexander Shulgin, a psychopharmacologist and scientific researcher. He’s responsible for identifying the chemical make-up of the so-called “2C” family, a group of hyper-potent psychedelic synthetics. In 2011, 2C-E, a twin sister drug to 2C-I, was blamed for the death of a Minnesota teenager and the overdose of 11 others.

Because of his medical research, Shulgin has unintentionally become a godfather of the synthetic drug movement, and his work has been reprinted and reduced to plain language on drug-related web forums.

“Drugs used to take longer to get around but now with the internet they can spread by word of mouth online,” says Carreno. If drugs like Smiles are as viral as an internet meme, they have a similarly brief life-span. Already, a newer, re-booted version of the drug is cropping up on the other side of the planet, and by early accounts it’s terrifying.

The new drug called 25b-Nbome, is a derivative of 2C-I, that’s sold in tab form. This past month, the drug has been linked to the non-fatal overdoses of two young adults in Perth, Australia. It’s also be blamed for the death of a young man in the same area, who died after repeatedly slamming his body into trees and power line poles while high on the drug.

“Overdose on these drugs is a reality… and can obviously result in dire consequences,” a Perth police department official warned.

It isn’t obvious to everyone. “I can’t recommend for anyone to go out and use this legally,” says one alleged 2C-I user in a YouTube video with 12,000 views, “but why not?”

2C-I or 'Smiles': The New Killer Drug Every Parent Should Know About

Manning, Brown help Giants rout Panthers 36-7

CHARLOTTE, N.C.  – Eli Manning didn’t need a fourth-quarter comeback Thursday night.

 

 

The two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback, running backAndre Brown and the rest of the New York Giants finished off the Carolina Panthers way before that.

Brown ran for a career-high 113 yards and two touchdowns in his first NFL start to help the Giants rout the Panthers 36-7.

Four days after rallying from 14 points down to beat Tampa Bay, the Giants dominated the first half, scoring on their first four possessions to build a 20-0 lead.

The defending champion Giants (2-1) were without three starters but it hardly mattered.

Brown – waived by five different teams – including the Panthers – since coming into the league as a fourth-round draft pick in 2009 – got his chance Thursday night when Ahmad Bradshaw sat out with a neck injury.

Brown said he thought about getting cut by the Panthers before the game – and it inspired him.

”I was walking into the stadium and I have to go by the spot where I parked my car,” Brown said. ”I felt a little fire, no doubt. I’m so happy to come out here. It really humbled me. It really shows that everything is not guaranteed. You know, I’m just going to ride this wave. Hopefully, it’s a long wave.”

Ramses Barden is hoping to ride that same wave.

Barden caught nine passes for a career-high 138 yards in his first NFL start. He played in place of Hakeem Nicks.

Of course it helps that the guy throwing you the ball is named Manning. He completed 27 of 35 passes for 288 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.