Author: Robin Edgar

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

Issue with Cloudflare’s DNS service and crappy router shuts down half the web. Again.

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Scores of websites and services went down Friday afternoon due to problems with Cloudflare’s DNS service, sparking rampant speculation about the cause. After all, a global DDOS attack would totally fit the real-life apocalypse movie that 2020 is increasingly turning into. The outage, which started shortly after 5 p.m. ET, brought down popular sites and Read more about Issue with Cloudflare’s DNS service and crappy router shuts down half the web. Again.[…]

Solar+battery in one device sets new efficiency standard

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The drop in battery prices is enabling battery integration with renewable systems in two contexts. In one, the battery serves as a short-term power reservoir to smooth over short-term fluctuations in the output of renewable power. In the other, the battery holds the power for when renewable power production stops, as solar power does at Read more about Solar+battery in one device sets new efficiency standard[…]

United Arab Emirates’ Mars probe successfully launched and phones home

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The United Arab Emirates has successfully launched a Mars probe. The Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) aims to orbit the red planet with a probe named “Hope” that will gather data to help humanity build a proper Martian weather map, characterise the planet’s lower atmosphere and offer an explanation of why Mars is losing Hydrogen and Read more about United Arab Emirates’ Mars probe successfully launched and phones home[…]

Replacing lithium with sodium in batteries

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An international team of scientists from NUST MISIS, Russian Academy of Science and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf has found that instead of lithium (Li), sodium (Na) “stacked” in a special way can be used for battery production. Sodium batteries would be significantly cheaper and equivalently or even more capacious than existing lithium batteries. The results of Read more about Replacing lithium with sodium in batteries[…]

FYI Russia is totally hacking the West’s labs in search of COVID-19 vaccine files, say UK, US, Canada cyber-spies. So is China and Iran.

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Russian hackers at the state’s FSB spy agency have been caught breaking into Western institutions working on potential vaccines for the COVID-19 coronavirus in hope of stealing said research. That’s according to the British National Cyber Security Centre and America’s NSA today. The Kremlin-backed APT29 crew, also known by a variety of other names such Read more about FYI Russia is totally hacking the West’s labs in search of COVID-19 vaccine files, say UK, US, Canada cyber-spies. So is China and Iran.[…]

Secret Trump order gives CIA more powers to launch cyberattacks with less oversight

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The Central Intelligence Agency has conducted a series of covert cyber operations against Iran and other targets since winning a secret victory in 2018 when President Trump signed what amounts to a sweeping authorization for such activities, according to former U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the matter. The secret authorization, known as a presidential Read more about Secret Trump order gives CIA more powers to launch cyberattacks with less oversight[…]

Zoom fixed a vanity URL issue that could have led to phishing attacks

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Zoom says it has fixed a security issue that would have let hackers manipulate organizations’ custom URLs for the service and send legitimate-seeming meeting invitations. If a victim accepted the invitation and attended the meeting, the phony caller may have been able to inject malware into their device or carry out a phishing attack. Hackers Read more about Zoom fixed a vanity URL issue that could have led to phishing attacks[…]

Twitter says hack of key staff led to celebrity, politician, biz account hijack mega-spree

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Twitter has offered its initial analysis of the Wednesday mass hijacking of prominent twits’ accounts – and suggested it all kicked off after its staff fell for social engineering. Judging from leaked screenshots of Twitter’s internal systems circulating online and seen by El Reg, it appears one or more miscreants were able to gain direct Read more about Twitter says hack of key staff led to celebrity, politician, biz account hijack mega-spree[…]

Company that contributes majority of LibreOffice code complains ecosystem is ‘beyond utterly broken’ – no financial model for FOSS

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The companies that do most to develop and evolve the LibreOffice productivity suite, both for desktop and cloud, say the project’s business model is “beyond utterly broken” and that The Document Foundation (TDF), the charity that hosts the project, has to change its approach. The matter is a subject of intense debate within the board Read more about Company that contributes majority of LibreOffice code complains ecosystem is ‘beyond utterly broken’ – no financial model for FOSS[…]

E.U. Court Invalidates Data-Sharing Agreement With U.S.

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The European Union’s top court ruled Thursday that an agreement that allows big tech companies to transfer data to the United States is invalid, and that national regulators need to take tougher action to protect the privacy of users’ data. The ruling does not mean an immediate halt to all data transfers outside the EU, Read more about E.U. Court Invalidates Data-Sharing Agreement With U.S.[…]

Big tech’s reckoning starts with an antitrust committee

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On July 27th, the CEOs of Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Google — the “GAFA” companies — will testify in front of the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee. Getting those four people into the same room — even virtually — on the same day is something of a feat and it speaks to how seriously these companies Read more about Big tech’s reckoning starts with an antitrust committee[…]

So kind of SAP NetWeaver to hand out admin accounts to anyone who can reach it. You’ll want to patch this

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Dubbed RECON, aka Remotely Exploitable Code On NetWeaver, by its discoverers, security shop Onapsis, the bug in SAP’s NetWeaver AS JAVA (LM Configuration Wizard) allows a remote unathenticated hacker to take over a vulnerable NetWeaver-based system by creating admin accounts without any authorization. The bug, CVE-2020-6287, is a lack of proper authentication in NetWeaver. This Read more about So kind of SAP NetWeaver to hand out admin accounts to anyone who can reach it. You’ll want to patch this[…]

Google faces lawsuit over tracking in apps even when users opted out

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Google records what people are doing on hundreds of thousands of mobile apps even when they follow the company’s recommended settings for stopping such monitoring, a lawsuit seeking class action status alleged on Tuesday. The data privacy lawsuit is the second filed in as many months against Google by the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner Read more about Google faces lawsuit over tracking in apps even when users opted out[…]

Whiteboard coding interviews are ‘anti-women psychological stress examinations’

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People applying for software engineering positions at companies are often asked to solve problems on a whiteboard, under the watchful eye of an interviewer, as a way to assess technical problem solving skills. But recent research suggests that whiteboard technical tests – so daunting to job seekers that there are books on how to deal Read more about Whiteboard coding interviews are ‘anti-women psychological stress examinations’[…]

Privacy watchdogs from the UK, Australia team up, snap on gloves to probe AI-for-cops creeeps Clearview

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Following Canada’s lead earlier this week, privacy watchdogs in Britain and Australia today launched a joint investigation into how Clearview AI harvests and uses billions of images it scraped from the internet to train its facial-recognition algorithms. The startup boasted it had collected a database packed with more than three billion photos downloaded from people’s Read more about Privacy watchdogs from the UK, Australia team up, snap on gloves to probe AI-for-cops creeeps Clearview[…]

Guilty: Russian miscreant who hacked LinkedIn, Dropbox, Formspring, stole 200-million-plus account records

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The Russian hacker accused of raiding LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring, and obtaining data on 213 million user accounts, has been found guilty. On Friday, Yevgeniy Nikulin was convicted [PDF] by a San Francisco jury of committing computer intrusion, data theft, and other charges [PDF] relating to the databases he broke into and siphoned off in Read more about Guilty: Russian miscreant who hacked LinkedIn, Dropbox, Formspring, stole 200-million-plus account records[…]

Collabera hacked: IT staffing’n’services giant hit by ransomware, employee personal data stolen

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Hackers infiltrated Collabera, siphoned off at least some employees’ personal information, and infected the US-based IT consultancy giant’s systems with ransomware. We understand this swiped data included workers’ names, addresses, contact and social security numbers, dates of birth, employment benefits, and passport and immigration visa details. Basically, everything needed for identity theft. The recruitment’n’staffing biz, Read more about Collabera hacked: IT staffing’n’services giant hit by ransomware, employee personal data stolen[…]

Porsche Found a Way to 3D-Print Lightweight Pistons That Add Even More Horsepower

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With select bucket seats from the 911 and 718 as well as various classic car parts—including clutch release levers for the 959—already being produced using 3D printing, Porsche is more familiar with the technology than most. Now, the automaker is taking things even further, 3D printing entire pistons for its most powerful 991-gen 911, the Read more about Porsche Found a Way to 3D-Print Lightweight Pistons That Add Even More Horsepower[…]

GitHub starts week with 4 whole hours of downtime

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GitHub marked the start of the week with more than four hours of downtime, as GitHub Issues, Actions, Pages, Packages and API requests all reported “degraded performance.” A problem on the world’s most popular code repository and developer collaboration site was first reported around 05:00 UK time (04:00 UTC) this morning and was resolved at Read more about GitHub starts week with 4 whole hours of downtime[…]

Only 9% of visitors give GDPR consent to be tracked

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Most GDPR consent banner implementations are deliberately engineered to be difficult to use and are full of dark patterns that are illegal according to the law. I wanted to find out how many visitors would engage with a GDPR banner if it were implemented properly and how many would grant consent to their information being Read more about Only 9% of visitors give GDPR consent to be tracked[…]

JK Rowling joins 150 public figures warning over free speech and instant judgement

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They say they applaud a recent “needed reckoning” on racial justice, but argue it has fuelled stifling of open debate. The letter denounces “a vogue for public shaming and ostracism” and “a blinding moral certainty”. Several signatories have been attacked for comments that caused offence. “The free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of Read more about JK Rowling joins 150 public figures warning over free speech and instant judgement[…]

New study detects global atmosphere rings like a bell

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A ringing bell vibrates simultaneously at a low-pitched fundamental tone and at many higher-pitched overtones, producing a pleasant musical sound. A recent study, just published in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences by scientists at Kyoto University and the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, shows that the Earth’s entire atmosphere vibrates in an analogous manner, in a Read more about New study detects global atmosphere rings like a bell[…]

Detroit cops employed facial recognition algos that only misidentifies suspects 96 per cent of the time

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Cops in Detroit have admitted using facial-recognition technology that fails to accurately identify potential suspects a whopping 96 per cent of the time. The revelation was made by the American police force’s chief James Craig during a public hearing, this week. Craig was grilled over the wrongful arrest of Robert Williams, who was mistaken as Read more about Detroit cops employed facial recognition algos that only misidentifies suspects 96 per cent of the time[…]

Fraunhofer releases H.266/VVC which encodes video 50% smaller

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Fraunhofer HHI (together with partners from industry including Apple, Ericsson, Intel, Huawei, Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Sony) is celebrating the release and official adoption of the new global video coding standard H.266/Versatile Video Coding (VVC). This new standard offers improved compression, which reduces data requirements by around 50% of the bit rate relative to the previous Read more about Fraunhofer releases H.266/VVC which encodes video 50% smaller[…]

Research Libraries Tell Publishers To Drop Their Awful Lawsuit Against The Internet Archive

Posted on by Robin Edgar

I’ve seen a lot of people — including those who are supporting the publishers’ legal attack on the Internet Archive — insist that they “support libraries,” but that the Internet Archive’s Open Library and National Emergency Library are “not libraries.” First off, they’re wrong. But, more importantly, it’s good to see actual librarians now coming Read more about Research Libraries Tell Publishers To Drop Their Awful Lawsuit Against The Internet Archive[…]