Month: April 2019

Wannacry-slayer Marcus Hutchins pleads guilty to two counts of banking malware creation after being held for 2 years by US. Forced confession, maybe?

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Marcus Hutchins, the British security researcher who shot to fame after successfully halting the Wannacry ransomware epidemic, has pleaded guilty to crafting online bank-account-raiding malware. For nearly two years now, Hutchins, 24, has been under house arrest in the US after being collared at Las Vegas airport by FBI agents acting on a tip-off. The Read more about Wannacry-slayer Marcus Hutchins pleads guilty to two counts of banking malware creation after being held for 2 years by US. Forced confession, maybe?[…]

Hackers take control of top level domains to perform massive man in the middle attack

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The discovery of a new, sophisticated team of hackers spying on dozens of government targets is never good news. But one team of cyberspies has pulled off that scale of espionage with a rare and troubling trick, exploiting a weak link in the internet’s cybersecurity that experts have warned about for years: DNS hijacking, a Read more about Hackers take control of top level domains to perform massive man in the middle attack[…]

Facebook uploaded the contacts of 1.5m people without permission

Posted on by Robin Edgar

On Thursday, at just about the same time as the most highly anticipated government document of the decade was released in Washington D.C., Facebook updated a month-old blog post to note that actually a security incident impacted “millions” of Instagram users and not “tens of thousands” as they said at first. Last month, Facebook announced Read more about Facebook uploaded the contacts of 1.5m people without permission[…]

‘Millions’ of Instagram Passwords Were Exposed to Facebook Employees In Plaintext

Posted on by Robin Edgar

On Thursday, at just about the same time as the most highly anticipated government document of the decade was released in Washington D.C., Facebook updated a month-old blog post to note that actually a security incident impacted “millions” of Instagram users and not “tens of thousands” as they said at first. Last month, Facebook announced Read more about ‘Millions’ of Instagram Passwords Were Exposed to Facebook Employees In Plaintext[…]

3D-printed heart made using a human patient’s cells – CNN

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The process of printing the heart involved a biopsy of the fatty tissue that surrounds abdominal organs. Researchers separated the cells in the tissue from the rest of the contents, namely the extracellular matrix linking the cells. The cells were reprogrammed to become stem cells with the ability to differentiate into heart cells; the matrix Read more about 3D-printed heart made using a human patient’s cells – CNN[…]

Microsoft admits: Yes, miscreants leafed through some Hotmail, MSN, Outlook inboxes after support rep pwned

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Microsoft says miscreants accessed some of its customers’ webmail inboxes and account data after a support rep’s administrative account was hijacked. The Redmond software giant has sent Hotmail, MSN, and Outlook cloud users notifications that the unnamed customer support rep’s account was compromised by hackers who would have subsequently gained “limited access” to certain parts Read more about Microsoft admits: Yes, miscreants leafed through some Hotmail, MSN, Outlook inboxes after support rep pwned[…]

Internet Explorer exploit is trouble even if you never use the browser

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Finally stopped using Internet Explorer? Good! But, now it’s time to completely delete it from your computer, too. Security researcher John Page has discovered a new security flaw that allows hackers to steal Windows users’ data thanks to Internet Explorer. The craziest part: Windows users don’t ever even have to open the now-obsolete web browser Read more about Internet Explorer exploit is trouble even if you never use the browser[…]

Android TV: Everything You Need To Know

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Android TV is an operating system designed specifically for SmartTV purposes and is developed by Google. Android TV is basically a smart entertainment platform that comes built into a number of TVs (primarily from Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, etc..) but also in a number of streaming video players like Android TV Boxes and the most popular Read more about Android TV: Everything You Need To Know[…]

Research Findings May Lead to More Explainable AI | College of Computing

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Why did the frog cross the road? Well, a new artificial intelligent (AI) agent that can play the classic arcade game Frogger not only can tell you why it crossed the road, but it can justify its every move in everyday language. Developed by Georgia Tech, in collaboration with Cornell and the University of Kentucky, the Read more about Research Findings May Lead to More Explainable AI | College of Computing[…]

Pregnancy and parenting club Bounty fined £400,000 for shady data sharing practices of more than 14 million people

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The Information Commissioner’s Office has fined commercial pregnancy and parenting club Bounty some £400,000 for illegally sharing personal details of more than 14 million people. The organisation, which dishes out advice to expectant and inexperienced parents, has faced criticism over the tactics it uses to sign up new members and was the subject of a Read more about Pregnancy and parenting club Bounty fined £400,000 for shady data sharing practices of more than 14 million people[…]

Chinese stock photo pusher tries to claim copyright on Event Horizon pic, Chinese Flag

Posted on by Robin Edgar

China’s largest stock photo flinger has been forced to backtrack after it tried to put its own price tags on images of the first black hole and the Chinese flag. Visual China Group reportedly tried to hawk out the first-ever image of a supermassive black hole and its shadow, which was the painstaking work of Read more about Chinese stock photo pusher tries to claim copyright on Event Horizon pic, Chinese Flag[…]

Script kiddie Hackers publish personal data on thousands of US police officers and federal agents and have more in the pipeline

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A hacker group has breached several FBI-affiliated websites and uploaded their contents to the web, including dozens of files containing the personal information of thousands of federal agents and law enforcement officers, TechCrunch has learned. The hackers breached three sites associated with the FBI National Academy Association, a coalition of different chapters across the U.S. Read more about Script kiddie Hackers publish personal data on thousands of US police officers and federal agents and have more in the pipeline[…]

AI predicts hospital readmission rates from clinical notes

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Electronic health records store valuable information about hospital patients, but they’re often sparse and unstructured, making them difficult for potentially labor- and time-saving AI systems to parse. Fortunately, researchers at New York University and Princeton have developed a framework that evaluates clinical notes (i.e., descriptions of symptoms, reasons for diagnoses, and radiology results) and autonomously Read more about AI predicts hospital readmission rates from clinical notes[…]

Sonos finally blasted in complaint to UK privacy watchdog – lets hope they do something with it

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Sonos stands accused of seeking to obtain “excessive” amounts of personal data without valid consent in a complaint filed with the UK’s data watchdog. The complaint, lodged by tech lawyer George Gardiner in a personal capacity, challenges the Sonos privacy policy’s compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation and the UK’s implementation of that law. Read more about Sonos finally blasted in complaint to UK privacy watchdog – lets hope they do something with it[…]

Two out of three hotels accidentally leak guests’ personal data to third parties

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Two out of three hotel websites inadvertently leak guests’ booking details and personal data to third-party sites, including advertisers and analytics companies, according to research released by Symantec Corp on Wednesday. The study, which looked at more than 1,500 hotel websites in 54 countries that ranged from two-star to five-star properties, comes several months after Read more about Two out of three hotels accidentally leak guests’ personal data to third parties[…]

Increase Your Privacy in Windows 10 With ‘O&O ShutUp10’

Posted on by Robin Edgar

You might not even know what options you can tweak (or turn off) in your operating system, which is where the cleverly named O&O ShutUp10 application comes in to play. It’s a simple application that makes it incredibly easy to tweak various aspects of Windows 10 that are normally buried or otherwise inaccessible to regular people. Read more about Increase Your Privacy in Windows 10 With ‘O&O ShutUp10’[…]

Assange Charges Finally Reveal Why Chelsea Manning Is Sitting in Jail

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Charges announced by the Justice Department on Thursday against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange provide fresh insight into why federal prosecutors sought to question whistleblower Chelsea Manning last month before a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia. Manning, convicted in 2013 of leaking classified U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks, was jailed in early Read more about Assange Charges Finally Reveal Why Chelsea Manning Is Sitting in Jail[…]

EU Tells Internet Archive That Much Of Its Site Is ‘Terrorist Content’, shows how it will censor the internet with no recourse

Posted on by Robin Edgar

We’ve been trying to explain for the past few months just how absolutely insane the new EU Terrorist Content Regulation will be for the internet. Among many other bad provisions, the big one is that it would require content removal within one hour as long as any “competent authority” within the EU sends a notice Read more about EU Tells Internet Archive That Much Of Its Site Is ‘Terrorist Content’, shows how it will censor the internet with no recourse[…]

Serious flaws found in WPA3’s wifi Handshake

Posted on by Robin Edgar

because WPA2 is more than 14 years old, the Wi-Fi Alliance recently announced the new and more secure WPA3 protocol. One of the main advantages of WPA3 is that, thanks to its underlying Dragonfly handshake, it’s near impossible to crack the password of a network. Unfortunately, we found that even with WPA3, an attacker within Read more about Serious flaws found in WPA3’s wifi Handshake[…]

A Team At Amazon Is Listening To Recordings Captured By Alexa

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Seven people, described as having worked in Amazon’s voice review program, told Bloomberg that they sometimes listen to as many as 1,000 recordings per shift, and that the recordings are associated with the customer’s first name, their device’s serial number, and an account number. Among other clips, these employees and contractors said they’ve reviewed recordings Read more about A Team At Amazon Is Listening To Recordings Captured By Alexa[…]

Does Google meet its users’ expectations around consumer privacy? This news industry research says no

Posted on by Robin Edgar

While the ethics around data collection and consumer privacy have been questioned for years, it wasn’t until Facebook’s Cambridge Analytics scandal that people began to realize how frequently their personal data is shared, transferred, and monetized without their permission. Cambridge Analytica was by no means an isolated case. Last summer, an AP investigation found that Read more about Does Google meet its users’ expectations around consumer privacy? This news industry research says no[…]

Google and other tech giants are quietly buying up the most important part of the internet

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In February, the company announced its intention to move forward with the development of the Curie cable, a new undersea line stretching from California to Chile. It will be the first private intercontinental cable ever built by a major non-telecom company. And if you step back and just look at intracontinental cables, Google has fully financed Read more about Google and other tech giants are quietly buying up the most important part of the internet[…]

Toyota to give royalty-free access to hybrid-vehicle patents

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The pledge by one of the world’s biggest automakers to share its closely guarded patents, the second time it has opened up a technology, is aimed at driving industry uptake of hybrids and fending off the challenge of all-battery electric vehicles(EVs). Toyota said it would grant licenses on nearly 24,000 patents on technologies used in Read more about Toyota to give royalty-free access to hybrid-vehicle patents[…]

Unidentified satellites reveal the need for better space tracking

Posted on by Robin Edgar

On the afternoon of December 3rd, 2018, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from the southern coast of California, lofting the largest haul of individual satellites the vehicle had ever transported. At the time, it seemed like the mission was a slam dunk, with all 64 satellites deploying into space as designed. But nearly Read more about Unidentified satellites reveal the need for better space tracking[…]

Carbon Engineering receives $68m from energy companies to turn CO2 from air into fuel

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A technology that removes carbon dioxide from the air has received significant backing from major fossil fuel companies.British Columbia-based Carbon Engineering has shown that it can extract CO2 in a cost-effective way.It has now been boosted by $68m in new investment from Chevron, Occidental and coal giant BHP. […] The quest for technology for carbon Read more about Carbon Engineering receives $68m from energy companies to turn CO2 from air into fuel[…]