Day: February 25, 2024

Vietnam to collect biometrics – even DNA – for new ID cards. Centralised databases never leak.

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The Vietnamese government will begin collecting biometric information from its citizens for identification purposes beginning in July this year. Prime minister Pham Minh Chinh instructed the nation’s Ministry of Public Security to collect the data in the form of iris scans, voice samples and actual DNA, in accordance with amendments to Vietnam’s Law on Citizen Read more about Vietnam to collect biometrics – even DNA – for new ID cards. Centralised databases never leak.[…]

‘No one understands outsourcing the management of .nl domains to Amazon’

Posted on by Robin Edgar

At the beginning of February, SIDN was in the news after announcing that it wanted to outsource part of its services to Amazon Web Services, the American web giant. According to SIDN, the reason for the outsourcing was that implementation on its own servers had become too expensive and too labor-intensive. Van Eeten: ‘SIDN has Read more about ‘No one understands outsourcing the management of .nl domains to Amazon’[…]

Wyze says camera breach let 13,000 customers briefly see into other people’s homes

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Last week, co-founder David Crosby said that “so far” the company had identified 14 people who were able to briefly see into a stranger’s property because they were shown an image from someone else’s Wyze camera. Now we’re being told that number of affected customers has ballooned to 13,000. The revelation came from an email Read more about Wyze says camera breach let 13,000 customers briefly see into other people’s homes[…]

Chinese and US researchers show new side channel can reproduce fingerprints by listening to swiping sounds on screen

Posted on by Robin Edgar

An interesting new attack on biometric security has been outlined by a group of researchers from China and the US. PrintListener: Uncovering the Vulnerability of Fingerprint Authentication via the Finger Friction Sound [PDF] proposes a side-channel attack on the sophisticated Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). The attack leverages the sound characteristics of a user’s finger Read more about Chinese and US researchers show new side channel can reproduce fingerprints by listening to swiping sounds on screen[…]

Four-day week made permanent for most UK firms in world’s biggest trial

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Of the 61 organisations that took part in a six-month UK pilot in 2022, 54 (89%) are still operating the policy a year later, and 31 (51%) have made the change permanent. More than half (55%) of project managers and CEOs said a four-day week – in which staff worked 100% of their output in Read more about Four-day week made permanent for most UK firms in world’s biggest trial[…]

Varda Space, Rocket Lab nail first-of-its-kind spacecraft landing in Utah, bring back space grown drugs

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A spacecraft containing pharmaceutical drugs that were grown on orbit has finally returned to Earth today after more than eight months in space. Varda Space Industries’ in-space manufacturing capsule, called Winnebago-1, landed in the Utah desert at around 4:40 p.m. EST. Inside the capsule are crystals of the drug ritonavir, which is used to treat Read more about Varda Space, Rocket Lab nail first-of-its-kind spacecraft landing in Utah, bring back space grown drugs[…]

Universal Antivenom for Snake Bites Might Soon Be a Reality

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] a team of scientists says they’ve created a lab-made antibody geared to counteract toxic bites from a wide variety of snakes. In early tests with mice, the uber-antivenom appeared to work as intended. Snake antivenom is typically derived from the antibodies of horses or other animals that produce a strong immune response to snake Read more about Universal Antivenom for Snake Bites Might Soon Be a Reality[…]

Video generation models as world simulators by OpenAI Sora

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] Our largest model, Sora, is capable of generating a minute of high fidelity video. Our results suggest that scaling video generation models is a promising path towards building general purpose simulators of the physical world. This technical report focuses on (1) our method for turning visual data of all types into a unified representation Read more about Video generation models as world simulators by OpenAI Sora[…]

Canadian college M&M Vending machines secretly scanning faces – revealed by error message

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] The scandal started when a student using the alias SquidKid47 posted an image on Reddit showing a campus vending machine error message, “Invenda.Vending.FacialRecognitionApp.exe,” displayed after the machine failed to launch a facial recognition application that nobody expected to be part of the process of using a vending machine. Enlarge / Reddit post shows error Read more about Canadian college M&M Vending machines secretly scanning faces – revealed by error message[…]

iOS and Android users face scans used to break into bank accounts

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] GoldPickaxe and GoldPickaxe.iOS target Android and iOS respectively, tricking users into performing biometric verification checks that are ultimately used to bypass the same checks employed by legitimate banking apps in Vietnam and Thailand – the geographic focus of these ongoing attacks. The iOS version is believed only to be targeting users in Thailand, masquerading Read more about iOS and Android users face scans used to break into bank accounts[…]