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Submission + - SPAM: Android now a more tasty target than Windows, says security firm

Submitted by troublemaker_23
troublemaker_23 writes: Google's Android mobile operating system now presents attackers with a bigger threat opportunity than even Windows PCs, in terms of shipments, usage, installed base and the number of vulnerable targets, it has been claimed. Security company Palo Alto Networks said this growing mobile threat had been foreseen as far back as 2006 before the release of the first iPhone.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Computer Virus disrupts major City's computer systems for second day (cbslocal.com)

Submitted by bobbied
bobbied writes: For the second day the City of Dallas battles a virus that has impacted many of the city's computer systems. The disruptions involves most of City Hall's computer systems including non-emergency police dispatch, but has not impacted 911 and emergency dispatch systems.

No word in this report about the specific of the virus being blamed.

Submission + - Bowing to Popularity, Apple Stores in China Accept Alipay (9to5mac.com)

Submitted by hackingbear
hackingbear writes: Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba has announced that its mobile wallet app Alipay is to be accepted in physical Apple Stores in the country. This would be the first time Apple has allowed retail store purchases to be made with a third-party mobile wallet app amid a push by the iPhone maker to revive growth in the world’s No.2 economy. Apple has had to work hard to promote Apple Pay in China due to the popularity of existing, local mobile wallet apps like WeChat Pat and Alipay. The company had already bowed to the inevitable in allowing local apps to be used for online payments. Other American brands like McDonald's and Starbucks have already started accepting Alipay and WeChat Pay in China for sometimes.

Submission + - US Solar Industry Losing Jobs As Subsidies End (greentechmedia.com)

Submitted by tomhath
tomhath writes: Solar installations were way up in 2016 as vendors and buyers rushed to complete installations before many subsidies ended. No surprise that there was a downturn in 2017.

Adjustments following the 2016 solar boom, angst surrounding the Section 201 Trade Case, and a slowdown in established solar markets all contributed to an overarching 3.8 percent cutback in solar jobs over the past year, according to The Solar Foundation's latest National Solar Jobs Census. Between 2016 and 2017 the industry lost 9,800 jobs

On a brighter note, the solar industry's diversity numbers aren't as bad as some other energy sectors:

Compared to the overall U.S. workforce, the solar industry has about half as many Black employees and 20 percent less women. The industry has higher numbers of Latino, Hispanic, and Asian employees.

The Solar Foundation notes that “solar is also more racially and gender diverse than comparable energy sectors, such as coal and oil and gas extraction."

Submission + - FCC Report Claims Broken Broadband Market Fixed By Killing Net Neutrali (vice.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The FCC has released a new report falsely claiming that the agency’s attack on net neutrality is already paying huge dividends when it comes to sector investment and competition. Unfortunately for the FCC, the data the agency is relying on to “prove” this claim comes from before current FCC boss Ajit Pai even took office and doesn’t remotely support that conclusion. The Trump FCC’s latest broadband deployment report [concludes] that “advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion." That claim comes despite the fact that this same data also shows that two thirds of U.S. homes lack access to 25 Mbps broadband from more than one ISP, resulting in numerous broadband monopolies in markets nationwide.

An accompanying press release goes on to claim that “steps taken last year have restored progress by removing barriers to infrastructure investment, promoting competition, and restoring the longstanding bipartisan light-touch regulatory framework for broadband that had been reversed by the Title II Order.” The FCC has repeatedly tried to claim that the FCC’s 2015 net neutrality rules devastated sector investment—despite the fact this is easily disproved by ISP earnings reports, SEC filings, and numerous CEO statements to investors. That hasn’t stopped this FCC from repeating this claim anyway, apparently hoping that repetition forges reality.

Submission + - SpaceX's Falcon Heavy Launches, Achieves Orbit. (cbsnews.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Orbit Achieved. The rocket lifted off at 3:45 p.m. EST from Kennedy Space Center's historic launch pad 39A. The launch, originally scheduled for 1:30 p.m., was delayed for several hours due to wind conditions.

Submission + - Over 7,400 Android Devices Infected by New Monero-Mining Botnet (bleepingcomputer.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A new botnet appeared over the weekend, and it's targeting Android devices by scanning for open debug ports so it can infect victims with malware that mines the Monero cryptocurrency. The botnet came to life on Saturday, February 3, and is targeting port 5555, which on devices running the Android OS is the port used by the operating system's native Android Debug Bridge (ADB), a debugging interface that grants access to some of the operating system's most sensitive features.

Only devices running the Android OS have been infected until now, such as smartphones, smart TVs, and TV top boxes, according to security researchers from Qihoo 360's Network Security Research Lab [Netlab] division, the ones who discovered the botnet, which the named ADB.miner. The botnet has been extremely aggressive and has grown each day, exhibiting a worm-like behavior, with infected devices scanning the Internet for other victims.

Currently, Netlab has detected ADB.miner scans coming from nearly 7,400 unique IP addresses, based on public data collected by Netlab's Scanmon system. Most IP addresses scanning for other devices (meaning they are already infected) are located in China (~40%) and South Korea (~30%). Yiming told Bleeping Computer that the botnet has mostly infected "TV-related" devices, rather than smartphones.

Submission + - Eurpoean Privacy Protection getting huge and massive - like its German name

Submitted by Qbertino
Qbertino writes: Due to sustained NGO, grassroots and political initiatives and raised privacy protection awareness around european members of parliament, large parts of Europe are about to get a notable boost in privacy protection for regular citizens. It's called General Data Protection Regulation.

"Datenschutzgrundverordnung", DSGVO for short, is the German name to a new Eurozone-wide set of laws being introduced in Q2 of 2018. A solid and very detailed implementation of rules that will require companies in general and internet companies in particular to follow a tracable and continuosly documented set of SOPs that ensure 100% complinace with new data protection directives that put the protection of the consumer at the center and close loopholes where in recent years to many corporations have let to much slide on the side of privacy protection.

Finaclial penalties for not complying will be raised significantly aswell — up to 20 Million Euros or 4% of global revenue for megacorps. Ouch. Experts predict an onslaught of lawsuits for any company to lazy to care and follow through, and consulting and perperation efforts are popping up left, right and center with first-movers and privacy-aware companies struggling to match the requirements ASAP that will come in May 2018.

Some U.S. links for anyone doing business in Europe here and here. Perpare for incoming says me.

Submission + - Senator Warns YouTube Algorithm May Be Open To Manipulation By 'Bad Actors' (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The top-ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee has warned that YouTube’s powerful recommendation algorithm may be “optimizing for outrageous, salacious and often fraudulent content” or susceptible to “manipulation by bad actors, including foreign intelligence entities." Senator Mark Warner, of Virginia, made the stark warning after an investigation by the Guardian found that the Google-owned video platform was systematically promoting divisive and conspiratorial videos that were damaging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the months leading up to the 2016 election.

“Companies like YouTube have immense power and influence in shaping the media and content that users see,” Warner said. “I’ve been increasingly concerned that the recommendation engine algorithms behind platforms like YouTube are, at best, intrinsically flawed in optimising for outrageous, salacious and often fraudulent content.” He added: “At worst, they can be highly susceptible to gaming and manipulation by bad actors, including foreign intelligence entities.”

Submission + - MIT Startup Battle Brewing Over Optical A.I. Chips (xconomy.com)

Submitted by gthuang88
gthuang88 writes: MIT spinouts Lightmatter and Lightelligence are competing head to head in a battle over photonic chips for A.I. applications. The rivalry came about when a team that won the MIT $100K business competition and published a key Nature Photonics paper split into two factions. The startups just raised $21 million between them, with Chinese investors backing one and U.S. venture capitalists backing the other. With competitive tensions running high between the countries, particularly in A.I., the race might have global implications. Though the technology is early, it could eventually impact the broader electronics industry.

Submission + - Alert about Inbound Ballistic Missle Sends Hawaii into Panic (nytimes.com)

Submitted by Cludge
Cludge writes: The New York Times reports that Saturday morning, residents of Hawaii received a terrifiying cellphone alert:

“BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL”

Thankfully, the message, sent by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, was in error. But it took nearly 40 minutes before the agency revoked the message, sparking widespread outrage and condemnation.

From the article: "Within moments of the alert, people flocked to shelters, crowding highways in scenes of terror and helplessness."

“What happened today is totally inexcusable,” Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii said. “The whole state was terrified. There needs to be tough and quick accountability and a fixed process.”

Submission + - Somebody's had better days at work (chicagotribune.com)

Submitted by flopwich
flopwich writes: Somebody sent out a false emergency alert to all cell phones in Hawaii saying, "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL" Authorities vow to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Submission + - SPAM: Scientists Think They've Discovered Lava Tubes Leading to The Moon's Polar Ice

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Small pits in a large crater on the Moon's North Pole could be "skylights" leading down to an underground network of lava tubes – tubes holding hidden water on Earth's nearest neighbour, according to new research.

There's no lava in them now of course, though that's originally how the tubes formed in the Moon's fiery past. But they could indicate easy access to a water source if we ever decide to develop a Moon base sometime in the future.

Despite the Moon's dry and dusty appearance, scientists think it contains a lot of water trapped as frozen ice. What these new observations carried out by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) show is that it might be much more accessible than we thought.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: suggest technology for elderly with Parkinson's disease? (dailycaring.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: My elderly monther-in-law misses her computer. Her mind is okay, but she cannot use a computer because of her Parkinson's disease. I am not all that impressed with Amazon Echo. Seems you can ask the Echo for the time of day, or the weather outside, but it will not do anything useful — like send an email. A voice controlled PC would be great, even if it only did a few simple tasks. Is there such a thing?

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