Air Force hires civilian drone pilots for combat patrols; critics question legality

The Air Force has hired civilian defense contractors to fly MQ-9 Reaper drones to help track suspected militants and other targets in global hot spots, a previously undisclosed expansion in the privatization of once-exclusively military functions. Source: Air Force hires civilian drone pilots for combat patrols; critics question legality

Hilton hotels hit by cyber attack

US hotel chain Hilton revealed Tuesday that hackers infected some of its point-of-sale computer systems with malware crafted to steal credit card information. Hilton would not disclose whether data was taken, but advised anyone who used payment cards at Hilton Worldwide hotels between November 18 and December 5 of last year or April 21 and Read more about Hilton hotels hit by cyber attack[…]

samyk/magspoof · GitHub

Allows you to store all of your credit cards and magstripes in one device Works on traditional magstripe readers wirelessly (no NFC/RFID required) Can disable Chip-and-PIN (code not included) Correctly predicts Amex credit card numbers + expirations from previous card number (code not included) Supports all three magnetic stripe tracks, and even supports Track 1+2 Read more about samyk/magspoof · GitHub[…]

New IBM tech lets apps authenticate you without personal data

Identity Mixer is designed to protect users’ privacy by focusing just on the essentials of the proof. Thanks to a set of algorithms based on cryptography work done at IBM Research, the tool allows developers to build apps that can authenticate users’ identities using what’s known as a “zero-knowledge proof” that collects no personal data. Read more about New IBM tech lets apps authenticate you without personal data[…]

Satellite wars – an analysis of the arms race in space

Satellites are being weaponised, with the anti-satellite missles, manoevering satellites that can hit other objects and satellites that hack into feeds, giving false information to the receiver. Countriies have been holding on to a balance for ages, but in the last 10 or so years, countries have been gradually upping their game. Source: Satellite wars Read more about Satellite wars – an analysis of the arms race in space[…]

Corporate funding and ideological polarization about climate change

Turns out that companies have been writing information that makes US citizens not believe in climate change science. “The comprehensive data include all individual and organizational actors in the climate change countermovement (164 organizations), as well as all written and verbal texts produced by this network between 1993–2013 (40,785 texts, more than 39 million words). Read more about Corporate funding and ideological polarization about climate change[…]

How TV ads silently ping commands to phones: Sneaky SilverPush code reverse-engineered

Earlier this week the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) warned that an Indian firm called SilverPush has technology that allows adverts to ping inaudible commands to smartphones and tablets. Now someone has reverse-engineered the code and published it for everyone to check. SilverPush’s software kit can be baked into apps, and is designed to Read more about How TV ads silently ping commands to phones: Sneaky SilverPush code reverse-engineered[…]

NASA Orders SpaceX Crew Mission to International Space Station – glad I’m not one of those astronauts riding a rocket known mainly for exploding

NASA took a significant step Friday toward expanding research opportunities aboard the International Space Station with its first mission order from Hawthorne, California based-company SpaceX to launch astronauts from U.S. soil. Source: NASA Orders SpaceX Crew Mission to International Space Station | NASA

Study finds honesty varies significantly between countries

Beliefs about honesty seem to be driven by psychological features, such as self-projection. Surprisingly, people were more pessimistic about the honesty of people in their own country than of people in other countries. One explanation for this could be that people are more exposed to news stories about dishonesty taking place in their own country Read more about Study finds honesty varies significantly between countries[…]

NIST team proves ‘spooky action at a distance’ is really real

As described in a paper posted online and submitted to Physical Review Letters (PRL), researchers from NIST and several other institutions created pairs of identical light particles, or photons, and sent them to two different locations to be measured. Researchers showed the measured results not only were correlated, but also—by eliminating all other known options—that Read more about NIST team proves ‘spooky action at a distance’ is really real[…]

Massive Hack of 70 Million Prisoner Phone Calls Indicates Violations of Attorney-Client Privilege – calls recorded and searchable

The materials — leaked via SecureDrop by an anonymous hacker who believes that Securus is violating the constitutional rights of inmates — comprise over 70 million records of phone calls, placed by prisoners to at least 37 states, in addition to links to downloadable recordings of the calls. The calls span a nearly two-and-a-half year Read more about Massive Hack of 70 Million Prisoner Phone Calls Indicates Violations of Attorney-Client Privilege – calls recorded and searchable[…]

Here Are Ten Cheap Mods That Will Transform The Way Your Car Drives

Unless you went dumpster-diving outside SEMA or your uncle is Stacey David, you probably don’t have unlimited resources to throw at car modification. Thankfully, you friendly neighborhood Tavarish is here to help you frugal modders make your cars into something truly deserving of a voided warranty. Source: Here Are Ten Cheap Mods That Will Transform Read more about Here Are Ten Cheap Mods That Will Transform The Way Your Car Drives[…]

U.S. charges three for JPMorgan and other hacks, 10s of millions of customer records stolen, 100s of millions profit

U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday unveiled criminal charges against three men accused of running a sprawling computer hacking and fraud scheme that included a huge attack against JPMorgan Chase & Co and generated hundreds of millions of dollars of illegal profit. Source: U.S. charges three in huge cyberfraud targeting JPMorgan, others