Author: Robin Edgar

Organisational Structures | Technology and Science | Military, IT and Lifestyle consultancy | Social, Broadcast & Cross Media | Flying aircraft

Hotels.com, Booking.com Expedia provider exposed data from 2013 for millions of guests on open AWS bucket

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Website Planet reports that Prestige Software, the company behind hotel reservation platforms for Hotels.com, Booking.com and Expedia, left data exposed for “millions” of guests on an Amazon Web Services S3 bucket. The 10 million-plus log files dated as far back as 2013 and included names, credit card details, ID numbers and reservation details. It’s not Read more about Hotels.com, Booking.com Expedia provider exposed data from 2013 for millions of guests on open AWS bucket[…]

UK Company House Demands Company Stop Using Name Which Includes an HTML Closing Tag

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A British software engineer came up with “a fun playful name” for his consulting business. He’d named it: “”> Unfortunately, this did not amuse the official registrar of companies in the United Kingdom (known as Companies House). The Guardian reports that the U.K. agency “has forced the company to change its name after it belatedly Read more about UK Company House Demands Company Stop Using Name Which Includes an HTML Closing Tag[…]

To Prevent Free, Frictionless Access To Human Knowledge, Publishers Want Librarians To Be Afraid, Very Afraid

Posted on by Robin Edgar

After many years of fierce resistance to open access, academic publishers have largely embraced — and extended — the idea, ensuring that their 35-40% profit margins live on. In the light of this subversion of the original hopes for open access, people have come up with other ways to provide free and frictionless access to Read more about To Prevent Free, Frictionless Access To Human Knowledge, Publishers Want Librarians To Be Afraid, Very Afraid[…]

Nasal spray might prevent COVID-19 infections – it does in ferrets

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Many hopes for a return to a semi-normal life after COVID-19 revolve around vaccines, but those injections have limits — they’re harder to deploy in low-income and rural areas where there’s no guarantee of easy distribution. Science may offer a more accessible alternative, though. Columbia University researchers have developed a nasal spray that has successfully Read more about Nasal spray might prevent COVID-19 infections – it does in ferrets[…]

Android v 7.1.1 and lower Won’t Support Many Secure Certificates in 2021

Posted on by Robin Edgar

One of the world’s top certificate authorities warns that phones running versions of Android prior to 7.1.1 Nougat will be cut off from large portions of the secure web starting in 2021, Android Police reported Saturday. The Mozilla-partnered nonprofit Let’s Encrypt said that its partnership with fellow certificate authority IdenTrust will expire on Sept. 1, Read more about Android v 7.1.1 and lower Won’t Support Many Secure Certificates in 2021[…]

AST & Science wants to launch 243 mobile broadband satellites into space used by the A Train – and NASA’s quite worried about crashes into scientific craft

Posted on by Robin Edgar

AST & Science, a Texas-based company, has applied for approval to build SpaceMobile, which claims to be the “first and only space-based cellular broadband network to be accessible by standard smartphones.” Its proposed network is under review by the FCC. However, NASA reckons it will heighten the risk of contact between spacecraft within a region Read more about AST & Science wants to launch 243 mobile broadband satellites into space used by the A Train – and NASA’s quite worried about crashes into scientific craft[…]

Uncle Sam’s legal eagles hope to get their claws on $1bn in Bitcoin ‘stolen by hacker’ from dark-web souk Silk Road

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The US Department of Justice on Thursday filed a legal request to formally take control of more than $1bn in Bitcoin (BTC) generated from the sales of illicit goods at Silk Road. It is believed the crypto-coins were stolen from the dark-web market at some point, and now the Feds want to take ownership of Read more about Uncle Sam’s legal eagles hope to get their claws on $1bn in Bitcoin ‘stolen by hacker’ from dark-web souk Silk Road[…]

Network driver issue shaves 12 more hours off Microsoft’s ‘365’ infrastructure, and yeah, it was Exchange Online again

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Traditionally a night for fireworks, 5 November saw some sort of detonation within the Microsoft 365 infrastructure in the form of a borked update or, as the company delicately put it: “an issue wherein some users may be unable to access their mailboxes through Exchange Online via all connection methods.” There was good news, however, Read more about Network driver issue shaves 12 more hours off Microsoft’s ‘365’ infrastructure, and yeah, it was Exchange Online again[…]

Police Will Pilot a Program to Live-Stream Amazon Ring Cameras

Posted on by Robin Edgar

This is not a drill. Red alert: The police surveillance center in Jackson, Mississippi, will be conducting a 45-day pilot program to live stream the Amazon Ring cameras of participating residents. Since Ring first made a splash in the private security camera market, we’ve been warning of its potential to undermine the civil liberties of its Read more about Police Will Pilot a Program to Live-Stream Amazon Ring Cameras[…]

Carbon footprint for ‘training GPT-3’ AI same as driving to the moon and back

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Training OpenAI’s giant GPT-3 text-generating model is akin to driving a car to the Moon and back, computer scientists reckon. More specifically, they estimated teaching the neural super-network in a Microsoft data center using Nvidia GPUs required roughly 190,000 kWh, which using the average carbon intensity of America would have produced 85,000 kg of CO2 Read more about Carbon footprint for ‘training GPT-3’ AI same as driving to the moon and back[…]

Supermarket giant Iceland sends chicken nugget into space to mark 50th anniversary

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Supermarket chain Iceland has launched a chicken nugget into space to celebrate its 50th anniversary of trading. The breaded snack was launched into the stratosphere from a location close to the company’s head office in Deeside, North Wales, as part a joint venture with Sent Into Space, a team of experts in the field of Read more about Supermarket giant Iceland sends chicken nugget into space to mark 50th anniversary[…]

‘Sleeping giant’ Arctic methane deposits starting to release, scientists find

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Scientists have found evidence that frozen methane deposits in the Arctic Ocean – known as the “sleeping giants of the carbon cycle” – have started to be released over a large area of the continental slope off the East Siberian coast, the Guardian can reveal. High levels of the potent greenhouse gas have been detected Read more about ‘Sleeping giant’ Arctic methane deposits starting to release, scientists find[…]

X.Org is now pretty much an ex-org: Maintainer declares the open-source windowing system largely abandoned

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Red Hat’s Adam Jackson, project owner for the X.Org graphical and windowing system still widely used on Linux, said the project has been abandoned “to the extent that that means using it to actually control the display, and not just keep X apps running.” Jackson’s post confirms suspicions raised a week ago by Intel engineer Read more about X.Org is now pretty much an ex-org: Maintainer declares the open-source windowing system largely abandoned[…]

AI has cracked a key mathematical puzzle for understanding our world – Partial Differential Equations

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Unless you’re a physicist or an engineer, there really isn’t much reason for you to know about partial differential equations. I know. After years of poring over them in undergrad while studying mechanical engineering, I’ve never used them since in the real world. But partial differential equations, or PDEs, are also kind of magical. They’re Read more about AI has cracked a key mathematical puzzle for understanding our world – Partial Differential Equations[…]

Unusual molecule found in atmosphere on Saturn’s moon Titan, precursor to life

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is the only moon in our solar system that has a thick atmosphere. It’s four times denser than Earth’s. And now, scientists have discovered a molecule in it that has never been found in any other atmosphere. The particle is called cyclopropenylidene, or C3H2, and it’s made of carbon and hydrogen. Read more about Unusual molecule found in atmosphere on Saturn’s moon Titan, precursor to life[…]

Artificial intelligence model detects asymptomatic Covid-19 infections through cellphone-recorded coughs

Posted on by Robin Edgar

MIT researchers have now found that people who are asymptomatic may differ from healthy individuals in the way that they cough. These differences are not decipherable to the human ear. But it turns out that they can be picked up by artificial intelligence. In a paper published recently in the IEEE Journal of Engineering in Read more about Artificial intelligence model detects asymptomatic Covid-19 infections through cellphone-recorded coughs[…]

Daycares in Finland Built a ‘Forest Floor’, And It Changed Children’s Immune Systems

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Playing through the greenery and litter of a mini forest’s undergrowth for just one month may be enough to change a child’s immune system, according to a small new experiment. When daycare workers in Finland rolled out a lawn, planted forest undergrowth such as dwarf heather and blueberries, and allowed children to care for crops Read more about Daycares in Finland Built a ‘Forest Floor’, And It Changed Children’s Immune Systems[…]

Brave browser first to nix CNAME deception, the sneaky DNS trick used by marketers to duck privacy controls

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The Brave web browser will soon block CNAME cloaking, a technique used by online marketers to defy privacy controls designed to prevent the use of third-party cookies. The browser security model makes a distinction between first-party domains – those being visited – and third-party domains – from the suppliers of things like image assets or Read more about Brave browser first to nix CNAME deception, the sneaky DNS trick used by marketers to duck privacy controls[…]

Physical Security Blueprints of Many Companies Leaked in Hack of Swedish Firm Gunnebo

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In March 2020, KrebsOnSecurity alerted Swedish security giant Gunnebo Group that hackers had broken into its network and sold the access to a criminal group which specializes in deploying ransomware. In August, Gunnebo said it had successfully thwarted a ransomware attack, but this week it emerged that the intruders stole and published online tens of Read more about Physical Security Blueprints of Many Companies Leaked in Hack of Swedish Firm Gunnebo[…]

In a first, researchers extract secret key used to encrypt Intel CPU code

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Researchers have extracted the secret key that encrypts updates to an assortment of Intel CPUs, a feat that could have wide-ranging consequences for the way the chips are used and, possibly, the way they’re secured. The key makes it possible to decrypt the microcode updates Intel provides to fix security vulnerabilities and other types of Read more about In a first, researchers extract secret key used to encrypt Intel CPU code[…]

Another eBay exec pleads guilty after couple stalked, harassed for daring to criticize the internet tat bazaar – pig corpese involved

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Philip Cooke, 55, oversaw eBay’s security operations in Europe and Asia and was a former police captain in Santa Clara, California. He pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses. Cooke, based in San Jose, was just one of seven employees, including one manager, accused of targeting a Read more about Another eBay exec pleads guilty after couple stalked, harassed for daring to criticize the internet tat bazaar – pig corpese involved[…]

NASA Discovers a Rare Metal Asteroid Worth $10,000 Quadrillion

Posted on by Robin Edgar

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a rare, heavy and immensely valuable asteroid called “16 Psyche” in the Solar System’s main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Asteroid Psyche is located at roughly 230 million miles (370 million kilometers) from Earth and measures 140 miles (226 kilometers) across, about the size of West Virginia. What Read more about NASA Discovers a Rare Metal Asteroid Worth $10,000 Quadrillion[…]

NSA: foreign spies used one of our crypto backdoors – we learnt some lessons but we lost them

Posted on by Robin Edgar

It’s said the NSA drew up a report on what it learned after a foreign government exploited a weak encryption scheme, championed by the US spying agency, in Juniper firewall software. However, curiously enough, the NSA has been unable to find a copy of that report. On Wednesday, Reuters reporter Joseph Menn published an account Read more about NSA: foreign spies used one of our crypto backdoors – we learnt some lessons but we lost them[…]

Researchers develop new atomic layer deposition process

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A new way to deposit thin layers of atoms as a coating onto a substrate material at near room temperatures has been invented at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the University of Alabama System. UAH postdoctoral research associate Dr. Moonhyung Jang got the idea to use an ultrasonic atomization technology Read more about Researchers develop new atomic layer deposition process[…]

Water on the Moon: Research unveils its type and abundance – boosting exploration plans

Posted on by Robin Edgar

“Water” has since been detected inside the minerals in lunar rocks. Water ice has also been discovered to be mixed in with lunar dust grains in cold, permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles. But scientists haven’t been sure how much of this water is present as “molecular water”—made up of two parts hydrogen and Read more about Water on the Moon: Research unveils its type and abundance – boosting exploration plans[…]