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Submission + - Millions of PC Motherboards Were Sold With a Firmware Backdoor (eclypsium.com) 1

Submitted by rastos1
rastos1 writes: Wired reports: Researchers at firmware-focused cybersecurity company Eclypsium revealed today that they’ve discovered a hidden mechanism in the firmware of motherboards sold by the Taiwanese manufacturer Gigabyte, whose components are commonly used in gaming PCs and other high-performance computers. Whenever a computer with the affected Gigabyte motherboard restarts, Eclypsium found, code within the motherboard’s firmware invisibly initiates an updater program that runs on the computer and in turn downloads and executes another piece of software.

Eclypsium:
- Eclypsium automated heuristics detected firmware on Gigabyte systems that drops an executable Windows binary that is executed during the Windows startup process.
- This executable binary insecurely downloads and executes additional payloads from the Internet.

List of affected motherboards is here: https://eclypsium.com/wp-conte...

Submission + - SPAM: UK Universities Forced to End 7 Joint Ventures With Chinese Defense Companies

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Imperial College will shut down two major research centres sponsored by Chinese aerospace and defence companies amid a crackdown on academic collaborations with China, the Guardian has learned.

The Avic Centre for Structural Design and Manufacturing is a long-running partnership with China’s leading civilian and military aviation supplier, which has provided more than £6m to research cutting-edge aerospace materials. The second centre is run jointly with Biam, a subsidiary of another state-owned aerospace and defence company, which has contributed £4.5m for projects on high-performance batteries, jet engine components and impact-resistant aircraft windshields. The centres’ stated goals are to advance civilian aerospace technologies, but critics have repeatedly warned that the research could also advance China’s military ambitions.

Now Imperial has confirmed the two centres will be shut by the end of the year after the rejection of two licence applications to the government’s Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU), which oversees the sharing of sensitive research with international partners. The closures follow a warning in July by the heads of MI5 and the FBI of the espionage threat posed by China to UK universities, and highlight the government’s hardening attitude on the issue.

“You can say with a high degree of confidence that this decision has been taken because the government is of the view that continuing licensing would enable the military development in China, which is viewed as a threat to security,” said Sam Armstrong, director of communications at the Henry Jackson Society thinktank. “The government has made it clear to universities that there is an overall shift in the weather such that these collaborations are no longer possible.”
Link to Original Source

Comment Re:Yeah, that's what the term means. (Score 1) 63

while in principle I agree, in practice humans have proven to be easily exploitable.

Our main problem lies in our adrenal response. We are rational human beings until literally our emotions get the better of us. Once our stress response kicks in our rational processes stop and our fight-or-flight instinct takes over, our brain believes our stress is due to a life threating situation, and the mechanisms for our preservation kick in automatically and it's worked since the first animals some millions of years ago, so it's very much ingrained.
Except it's not a predator stalking you it's just the peak stress of signing an important contract. In a contract signing, fight would be signing and fleeing would be not signing, as there is no physical danger you are much more likely to sign than not. Like student loan terms, or loan shark terms... when you think 'how can anyone agree to THOSE terms?' this is how.
Compounded to this is the problem that our brain NEVER stops learning, each thing you repeat (yes, each and every thing) our brain rewires itself to make that connections easier. (like learning to walk, talk, drive, dance, type, smoke, take drugs, ignore the stomach full signal, ...) so every time that action gets easier to get to in the future. it's like a path, the first time you cut out the path, the second you killed the grass in the path, the third you put pavers, you get to the end easier and easier each time... so every time our thoughts processes get put on hold for our adrenaline it becomes easier and easier, so we become easier to irritate, easier to anger, easier to emit snap judgements (without thought processes... see?)

And it's quite hard not to be constantly mildly stressed right now anywhere in the world (gee i wonder why?)

Comment Re:can anyone explain the silver thing? (Score 1) 178

by Tensor (#61023092) Attached to: Reddit Trading Frenzy Fades as Yellen Summons Agencies
it's easier for news outlets to repeat that silver nonsense rather than going to /r/wallstreetbets and reading for themselves.

there are absolutely no mentions of silver in any post before the supposed "small investor silver rally" and all mentions after it are "wtf, no one is buying silver, no one is massively naked shorting silver ergo we don't care"

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