The Linkielist

Linking ideas with the world

After years of IBAN, only 1 NL bank has just figured out how to check the name with an account.

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The Rabobank has started warning users when the name doesn’t match an IBAN account. A trivial function that used to work before IBAN but apparently was so hard to implement that users have had to wait for years to get. If you put in the wrong number – then sorry, you were screwed! Now for Read more about After years of IBAN, only 1 NL bank has just figured out how to check the name with an account.[…]

Does your monitor unplug from HDMI when you turn it off and mess up your desktop? Monitordetectkiller is the solution!

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Remove Monitor Detection EDID override turn off disable monitor auto detect remove windows monitor autodetect The computer detects when a TV/monitor is ‘turned off’ or ‘switched’ to another input. Then when powered-on or switched back, it gives the wrong resolution or breaks your extended display to reflect the single monitor, there may even be crashes Read more about Does your monitor unplug from HDMI when you turn it off and mess up your desktop? Monitordetectkiller is the solution![…]

Data Breach Exposes Thousands of Job Seeker CVs Citing Top Secret Government Work

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Thousands of files containing the personal information and expertise of Americans with classified and up to Top Secret security clearances have been exposed by an unsecured Amazon server, potentially for most of the year. […] Thousands of files containing the personal information and expertise of Americans with classified and up to Top Secret security clearances Read more about Data Breach Exposes Thousands of Job Seeker CVs Citing Top Secret Government Work[…]

Facebook has mapped populations in 23 countries as it explores satellites to expand internet – it knows where you live!

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Facebook doesn’t only know what its 2 billion users “Like.” It now knows where millions of humans live, everywhere on Earth, to within 15 feet. The company has created a data map of the human population by combining government census numbers with information it’s obtained from space satellites, according to Janna Lewis, Facebook’s head of Read more about Facebook has mapped populations in 23 countries as it explores satellites to expand internet – it knows where you live![…]

Millions of Time Warner Cable Customer Records Exposed in Third-Party Data Leak

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Roughly four million records containing the personal details of Time Warner Cable (TWC) customers were discovered stored on an Amazon server without a password late last month. The files, more than 600GB in size, were discovered on August 24 by the Kromtech Security Center while its researchers were investigating an unrelated data breach at World Read more about Millions of Time Warner Cable Customer Records Exposed in Third-Party Data Leak[…]

Google Does No Evil – unless you criticise it!

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The story in the New York Times this week was unsettling: The New America Foundation, a major think tank, was getting rid of one of its teams of scholars, the Open Markets group. New America had warned its leader Barry Lynn that he was “imperiling the institution,” the Times reported, after he and his group Read more about Google Does No Evil – unless you criticise it![…]

Large diet study suggests it’s carbs, not fats, that are bad for your health

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A large, 18-country study may turn current nutritional thinking on its head. The new research suggests that it’s not the fat in your diet that’s raising your risk of premature death, it’s too many carbohydrates — especially the refined, processed kinds of carbs — that may be the real killer. The research also found that Read more about Large diet study suggests it’s carbs, not fats, that are bad for your health[…]

Uber riders can choose not to be tracked after they are dropped off

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In response to a chorus of complaints from its users, Uber is revamping privacy settings that it rolled out last fall. Beginning this week, Uber riders using the iOS version of the ride-hailing company’s app will find a new series of privacy prompts that includes the ability to deny Uber the right to track your Read more about Uber riders can choose not to be tracked after they are dropped off[…]

Experts excited by brain ‘wonder-drug’ – BBC News

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Scientists hope they have found a drug to stop all neurodegenerative brain diseases, including dementia.In 2013, a UK Medical Research Council team stopped brain cells dying in an animal for the first time, creating headline news around the world.But the compound used was unsuitable for people, as it caused organ damage.Now two drugs have been Read more about Experts excited by brain ‘wonder-drug’ – BBC News[…]

An A.I. Says There Are Six Main Kinds of Stories

Posted on by Robin Edgar

That’s what a group of researchers, from the University of Vermont and the University of Adelaide, set out to do. They collected computer-generated story arcs for nearly 2,000 works of fiction, classifying each into one of six core types of narratives (based on what happens to the protagonist): 1. Rags to Riches (rise) 2. Riches Read more about An A.I. Says There Are Six Main Kinds of Stories[…]

Intel ME controller chip can be disabled after all – for governments

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Security researchers at Moscow-based Positive Technologies have identified an undocumented configuration setting that disables Intel Management Engine 11, a CPU control mechanism that has been described as a security risk. Intel’s ME consists of a microcontroller that works with the Platform Controller Hub chip, in conjunction with integrated peripherals. It handles much of the data Read more about Intel ME controller chip can be disabled after all – for governments[…]

Smart home IoT stuff gives away a lot of your personal patterns

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Spying on the Smart Home: Privacy Attacks and Defenses on Encrypted IoT Traffic – reveals that even when data from devices is encrypted, the metadata can help identify both the device and what it is signaling. Some devices such as the Nest indoor camera directly communicate with identifiable domain names – in this case ‘dropcam.com.’ Read more about Smart home IoT stuff gives away a lot of your personal patterns[…]

Inside the Massive 711 Million Record Onliner Spambot Dump

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Last week I was contacted by someone alerting me to the presence of a spam list. A big one. That’s a bit of a relative term though because whilst I’ve loaded “big” spam lists into Have I been pwned (HIBP) before, the largest to date has been a mere 393m records and belonged to River Read more about Inside the Massive 711 Million Record Onliner Spambot Dump[…]

Hit App Sarahah Quietly Uploads Your Address Book

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Sarahah, a new app that lets people sign up to receive anonymized, candid messages, has been surging in popularity; somewhere north of 18 million people are estimated to have downloaded it from Apple and Google’s online stores, making it the No. 3 most downloaded free software title for iPhones and iPads. Sarahah bills itself as Read more about Hit App Sarahah Quietly Uploads Your Address Book[…]

‘Data is the new oil’: Your personal information is now the world’s most valuable commodity

Posted on by Robin Edgar

What “the big five” are selling — or not selling, as in the case of free services like Google or Facebook — is access. As we use their platforms, the corporate giants are collecting information about every aspect of our lives, our behaviour and our decision-making. All of that data gives them tremendous power. And Read more about ‘Data is the new oil’: Your personal information is now the world’s most valuable commodity[…]

AccuWeather caught sending user location data — even when location sharing is off

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Security researcher Will Strafach intercepted the traffic from an iPhone running the latest version of AccuWeather and its servers and found that even when the app didn’t have permission to access the device’s precise location, the app would send the Wi-Fi router name and its unique MAC address to the servers of data monetization firm Read more about AccuWeather caught sending user location data — even when location sharing is off[…]

Towards quantum communications in free-space seawater

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Here we experimentally demonstrate that polarization quantum states including general qubits of single photon and entangled states can survive well after travelling through seawater. We perform experiments with seawater collected over a range of 36 kilometers in the Yellow Sea. For single photons at 405 nm in a blue-green window, we obtain an average process Read more about Towards quantum communications in free-space seawater[…]

Pirate Bay Founders Ordered to Pay Music Labels $477,000

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Two founders of The Pirate Bay have been ordered by a court in Finland to pay record labels more than $477,000 in compensation. Fredrik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm were found liable for ongoing copyright breaches on the site. Neither appeared to mount a defense so both were found guilty in their absence. In November 2011, Read more about Pirate Bay Founders Ordered to Pay Music Labels $477,000[…]

Mini-antennas 100,000 x more efficient, could be used for brain interface machinery, anything tiny.

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Antennas receive information by resonating with EM waves, which they convert into electrical voltage. For such resonance to occur, a traditional antenna’s length must roughly match the wavelength of the EM wave it receives, meaning that the antenna must be relatively big. However, like a guitar string, an antenna can also resonate with acoustic waves. Read more about Mini-antennas 100,000 x more efficient, could be used for brain interface machinery, anything tiny.[…]

Sonos strongarms customers into giving up privacy, or hardware stops working. Here’s how to to Stop Your Sonos From Collecting (As Much) Personal Data

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Bad news, Sonos customers: to lay the groundwork for its upcoming voice assistant support, the company is asking users to agree to an updated privacy policy, one that includes both mandatory data collection rules and a mention about future device functionality. Should you disagree with said policy update, your device’s basic functions could stop working, Read more about Sonos strongarms customers into giving up privacy, or hardware stops working. Here’s how to to Stop Your Sonos From Collecting (As Much) Personal Data[…]

Amazons Macie detects data leaks in S3 buckets using AI

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Think of Macie as a data loss prevention agent, a DLPbot, that uses machine learning to understand a user’s pattern of access to data in S3 buckets. The buckets have permission levels and the data in a bucket can be ranked for sensitivity or risk, using items such as credit card numbers, and other sensitive Read more about Amazons Macie detects data leaks in S3 buckets using AI[…]