Zoom will offer proper end-to-end encryption to free vid-chat accounts – not just paid-up bods – once you verify your phone number…

Zoom today said it will make end-to-end (E2E) encryption available to all of its users, regardless of whether they pay for it or not. The videoconferencing overnight-sensation has walked back its initial plan to limit E2E cryptography to schools and paid-for accounts, after facing a storm of criticism for the restriction. It will, from next Read more about Zoom will offer proper end-to-end encryption to free vid-chat accounts – not just paid-up bods – once you verify your phone number…[…]

Steris, Medical Device Maker Threatens iFixit Over Ventilator Repair Project, publishing manuals

A popular website with a comprehensive database of repair manuals for ventilators and other medical devices has received a letter from a medical equipment company saying that its copyrights are being infringed. Kyle Wiens, CEO of the repair website iFixit—which posts guides on how to repair anything from sewing machines to video game consoles—shared the Read more about Steris, Medical Device Maker Threatens iFixit Over Ventilator Repair Project, publishing manuals[…]

Researchers taught a robot to suture by showing it surgery videos

Stitching a patient back together after surgery is a vital but monotonous task for medics, often requiring them to repeat the same simple movements over and over hundreds of times. But thanks to a collaborative effort between Intel and the University of California, Berkeley, tomorrow’s surgeons could offload that grunt work to robots — like Read more about Researchers taught a robot to suture by showing it surgery videos[…]

‘DeepFaceDrawing’ AI can turn simple sketches into detailed photo portraits

Researchers have found a way to turn simple line drawings into photo-realistic facial images. Developed by a team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, DeepFaceDrawing uses artificial intelligence to help “users with little training in drawing to produce high-quality images from rough or even incomplete freehand sketches.” This isn’t the first time we’ve Read more about ‘DeepFaceDrawing’ AI can turn simple sketches into detailed photo portraits[…]

Super secretive Russian disinfo operation discovered dating back to 2014

Social media research group Graphika published today a 120-page report [PDF] unmasking a new Russian information operation of which very little has been known so far. Codenamed Secondary Infektion, the group is different from the Internet Research Agency (IRA), the Sankt Petersburg company (troll farm) that has interfered in the US 2016 presidential election. Graphika Read more about Super secretive Russian disinfo operation discovered dating back to 2014[…]

From the crew behind the Sony Pictures hack comes Operation Interception: An aerospace cyber-attack thriller

Threat intel researchers have uncovered a phishing and malware campaign that targeted “a large European aerospace company” and which was run by the same North Koreans behind the hack of Sony Pictures. While there are quite a few European aerospace firms, Slovakian infosec biz ESET was more concerned with the phishing ‘n’ malware campaign it Read more about From the crew behind the Sony Pictures hack comes Operation Interception: An aerospace cyber-attack thriller[…]

Flushing toilets create clouds of virus-containing particles

Researchers used a computer simulation to show how a flushing toilet can create a cloud of virus-containing aerosol droplets that is large and widespread and lasts long enough that the droplets could be breathed in by others. With recent studies showing the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can survive in the human digestive tract and Read more about Flushing toilets create clouds of virus-containing particles[…]

Researchers Have Created a Tool That Can Perfectly Depixelate Faces

The typical approach to increasing the resolution of an image is to start with the low-res version and use intelligent algorithms to predict and add additional details and pixels in order to artificially generate a high-res version. But because a low-res version of an image can lack significant details, fine features are often lost in Read more about Researchers Have Created a Tool That Can Perfectly Depixelate Faces[…]

T-Mobile US outage finally ends after more than twelve hours (updated)

T-Mobile’s network is having an issue with voice and data service. There was a huge spike in outage reports on Down Detector starting at around 1 PM ET today, with many people across the US suggesting on that site and Twitter that they’re having problems. By around 3:30 PM ET, Down Detector had collected more Read more about T-Mobile US outage finally ends after more than twelve hours (updated)[…]

Apple Pay and the App Store are under EU antitrust investigation

The European Commission has launched two separate antitrust investigations into Apple, focused on the App Store and Apple Pay. The executive branch of the European Union said it would consider App Store rules that force developers to use its own payment and in-app purchase system. In a press release, the Commission referenced a complaint filed Read more about Apple Pay and the App Store are under EU antitrust investigation[…]

845GB of racy dating app records exposed to entire internet via leaky AWS buckets

Hundreds of thousands of sensitive dating app profiles – including images of “a graphic, sexual nature” – were exposed online for anyone stumbling across them to download. Word of the uncontrolled emission burst forth from vpnMentor this week, which claims it found a misconfigured AWS S3 bucket containing 845GB of private dating app records. Data Read more about 845GB of racy dating app records exposed to entire internet via leaky AWS buckets[…]

Polish President Says LGBT ‘Ideology’ Worse Than Communism

Polish President Andrzej Duda accused the LGBT rights movement Saturday of promoting a viewpoint more harmful than communism and said he agreed with another conservative politician who stated that “LGBT is not people, it’s an ideology.” Duda made his comments in the small southwestern town of Brzeg as he campaigns for reelection in Poland, a Read more about Polish President Says LGBT ‘Ideology’ Worse Than Communism[…]

Trillions of Words Analyzed, OpenAI Sets Loose AI Language Colossus – The API

Over the past few months, OpenAI has vacuumed an incredible amount of data into its artificial intelligence language systems. It sucked up Wikipedia, a huge swath of the rest of the internet and tons of books. This mass of text – trillions of words – was then analyzed and manipulated by a supercomputer to create what Read more about Trillions of Words Analyzed, OpenAI Sets Loose AI Language Colossus – The API[…]

Amazon Set to Face Antitrust Charges in European Union

European Union officials are preparing to bring antitrust charges against Amazon for abusing its dominance in internet commerce to box out smaller rivals, according to people with knowledge of the case. Nearly two years in the making, the case is one of the most aggressive attempts by a government to crimp the power of the Read more about Amazon Set to Face Antitrust Charges in European Union[…]

Internet Archive Ends Free Ebook Program Early due to money grubbing copyright enforcers suing them for being a library

Back in March, the Internet Archive launched its National Emergency Library, a program that made roughly 1.4 million books available to the public without the usual waitlists. But on Wednesday, the organization announced it was ending the program two weeks early after four major publishers decided to sue Internet Archive for copyright infringement. Internet Archive Read more about Internet Archive Ends Free Ebook Program Early due to money grubbing copyright enforcers suing them for being a library[…]

Spies Can Eavesdrop by Watching a Light Bulb’s Vibrations

The list of sophisticated eavesdropping techniques has grown steadily over years: wiretaps, hacked phones, bugs in the wall—even bouncing lasers off of a building’s glass to pick up conversations inside. Now add another tool for audio spies: Any light bulb in a room that might be visible from a window. Researchers from Israeli’s Ben-Gurion University Read more about Spies Can Eavesdrop by Watching a Light Bulb’s Vibrations[…]

Someone got so fed up with GE fridge DRM – yes, fridge DRM – they made a whole website on how to bypass it

Fed up with the DRM in a General Electric refrigerator that pushed the owner to buy expensive manufacturer-approved replacement water filters, an anonymous hacker went to the trouble of buying a domain name and setting up a website at gefiltergate.com to pen a screed about appliance digital rights restriction management (DRM) and how to bypass Read more about Someone got so fed up with GE fridge DRM – yes, fridge DRM – they made a whole website on how to bypass it[…]

Trump Administration Eliminates Transgender Health Protections

In an utterly heartless move, the Trump administration on Friday eliminated health care protections for transgender people during an ongoing global pandemic that has claimed more lives in the U.S. than in any other country. It did this by finalizing a rule under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which prohibits health programs Read more about Trump Administration Eliminates Transgender Health Protections[…]

Keepnet fires legal threats at bloggers for exposing their 876GB unsecured database with years of leaked credentials, backfires

UK-based infosec outfit Keepnet Labs left an 867GB database of previously compromised website login details accessible to world+dog earlier this year – then sent lawyers’ letters to bloggers in a bid to erase their reports of its blunder. A contractor left the Keepnet Elasticsearch database unsecured back in March after disabling a firewall, exposing around Read more about Keepnet fires legal threats at bloggers for exposing their 876GB unsecured database with years of leaked credentials, backfires[…]

Planet’s SkySats zoom in for a closer look at the Earth, get 50cm per pixel granularity

The remote-sensing firm Planet operates more than one hundred satellites that constantly orbit the earth, collecting imagery of the world’s entire landmass each day. Now, to offer more clarity to its customers, it has flown a handful of its satellites 50 km closer to the Earth. This literal zoom-in effort will allow the firm to Read more about Planet’s SkySats zoom in for a closer look at the Earth, get 50cm per pixel granularity[…]

Obscure Indian cyber firm spied on politicians, investors worldwide

New Delhi-based BellTroX InfoTech Services targeted government officials in Europe, gambling tycoons in the Bahamas, and well-known investors in the United States including private equity giant KKR and short seller Muddy Waters, according to three former employees, outside researchers, and a trail of online evidence. Aspects of BellTroX’s hacking spree aimed at American targets are Read more about Obscure Indian cyber firm spied on politicians, investors worldwide[…]

Hospital-busting hacker crew may be behind ransomware attack that made Honda halt car factories, say researchers

Japanese car maker Honda has been hit by ransomware that disrupted its production of vehicles and also affected internal communications, according to reports. The ransomware, of an as-yet unidentified strain, appeared to have spread through the multinational firm’s network. A Honda spokesman told the media it appeared to have “hit the company’s internal servers.” Some Read more about Hospital-busting hacker crew may be behind ransomware attack that made Honda halt car factories, say researchers[…]

WhatsApp was exposing users’ phone numbers in Google search

WhatsApp claims it fixed an issue that was showing users’ phone numbers in Google search results, TechCrunch reports. The change comes after security researcher Athul Jayaram revealed that phone numbers of WhatsApp users who used the Click to Chat feature were being indexed in search. Click to Chat allows users to create a link with Read more about WhatsApp was exposing users’ phone numbers in Google search[…]

From off-prem to just off: IBM Cloud goes down planet-wide so hard even the status page didn’t work – and outside of US business hours

IBM’s cloud has gone down hard across the world. We’d love to tell you just how hard the service has hit the dirt, but even the Big Blue status page is intermittently unavailable: IBM Cloud status page … Click to enlarge Your humble hack has an IBM Cloud account, and when attempting to login in Read more about From off-prem to just off: IBM Cloud goes down planet-wide so hard even the status page didn’t work – and outside of US business hours[…]