Ever gone shopping through a grocery mart or electronic
store and happen to find along the lines a picture of this?
Now you may be wondering what this picture does and why a
little note next to its side is telling you to “scan me for more details”. This is what we call a “quick response” code
or QR code. This nifty code is a two dimensional bar-code invented by the
Japanese corporation Denso Wave and is being popularized internationally, especially in the United States. QR codes can be found on billboards, posters,
products, and business cards. QR codes are different than your typical bar-code
that you find on price tags because with the use of a mobile device and a QR
code scanner/reader, scanning the QR code can direct your mobile device to a
website telling you more information about the product, reviews about the
product, promotions, discounts, or a video. One other unique thing about QR codes is that they can be scanned from any angle, which should be good news for anyone that does not want to stand up, kneel down, or pretend to be Spider-man crawling on the ceiling trying to scan a QR code. Go ahead and give it a try by scanning my QR code on this blog page.
Now that you are informed about the general idea of a QR
code, it is now time to tell you about the risks of scanning them. Most of the
time, scanning a QR code is harmless, but as this idea becomes popular, so does
the potential for hackers or people to set up malicious QR codes that would
direct your mobile device to websites that could obtain your personal information.
The difficult part is that you are unaware whether a QR code is safe or not just
by looking at it because its appearance can be customized and there are so far
no obvious signs that a QR code is malicious or not without scanning them first.
The best solution for this problem is to never scan a QR code, but what is the
fun with that. The alternative solution is to find a QR code scanner that
informs which website the code is redirecting you or can verify the website’s
reputation before it proceeds to the actual website. For more information about
protecting yourself against malicious QR codes, visit this mcAfee website.
So go out there, scan those bar-codes cautiously, and get the
answers that your curiosity is looking for.
I like you blog post, it was very informative about the history of QR codes. If I was someone new to QR codes, I would find this quite illuminating. I definitely agree that there are a number of risks that are associated with QR codes. I don't like how many guides to write qr codes want you to use url shorteners, mainly because those could be used to hide malicious websites.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think you should have provided a short guide to get your smartphone to scan qr codes. also, I think you should have tried to make your QR code on your website a bit more personal. there are some guides out there that explain how to add little images to your code without breaking the code.
I really like your blog's design and your QR code's design, very futuristic and spacey. And for your post on QR codes, it was definitely informative and addressed a point which I think many people gloss over, the risk of QR codes. Just like any technology out there, QR codes do have some risks which are almost unforeseeable. The idea that a QR code can link you to malicious software is disheartening and hopefully doesn't ruin QR codes in the future. They are a great technology which has barely begun to be used widely. I didn't know that McAfee has a site where you can check the QR code you are about to scan. That is really cool. Great post, as far as information and ideas.
ReplyDelete