148329044
submission
PuceBaboon writes:
Ars Technica is reporting that some owners of Western Digital "My Book" network connected disk drives are experiencing data loss on their devices. The as yet unverified problem appears to be an externally initiated factory-reset, resulting in a loss of all existing data.
At this early stage, Western Digital is warning users that they should disconnect their devices from the Internet to protect their data.
135919144
submission
PuceBaboon writes:
Many ordinary citizens in Japan have been finding their bank accounts up to $3,000 lighter over the past few days after thieves were able to transfer money to NTT Docomo's e-money service and then withdraw it.
Due to a lack of two-factor authentication, the thieves were apparently able to sign up people for the service without their knowledge, as the Docomo e-money application only required an email address, bank account number and PIN number.
The bank account PIN numbers were apparently obtained using reverse-brute-force attacks on several smaller, regional banks and the main Japan Post Office bank (a reverse brute-force attack is where the attacker uses a single, commonly used PIN and then cycles through a long list of account numbers, hoping for a match). Thus people who don't even use internet banking services, let alone e-money are finding their bank accounts have been targeted.
NTT Docomo has admitted that the first instances of this type of attack were seen in May of 2019, leaving many victims wondering how one of the largest corporations in Japan has managed to do exactly nothing to mitigate a known, critical problem in over 15 months.
The known losses total over $150,000 so far, but due to the Japanese system of using "account books" (where the account holder needs to go to a bank or an ATM to have the book updated) rather than sending regular, monthly statements, it may be some considerable time before the full losses are known.
135261501
submission
PuceBaboon writes:
This Cessna Caravan, automated by the company Xwing, is well on the way to becoming the first semi-autonomous cargo plane, as Wired.com reports:-
"...[The pilot's] role can’t be automated away entirely. In Xwing’s vision, pilots would be replaced by ground-based controllers, not unlike military drone operators, who would oversee the flight and adjust its autopilot at the direction of air traffic control. The goal is to automate away as much as possible—the taxi and takeoff, the landing, and avoiding collisions in between—but to keep a human in the loop. Instead of overseeing one flight a day, pilots could manage many in short succession—or, who knows, maybe even juggle a few aircraft at a time. The basic idea: more planes, fewer pilots."
See the video of the Cessna landing itself in Wired.com's original article.
133698831
submission
PuceBaboon writes:
Ars Technica is reporting a new attack on unprotected databases which, to date, has deleted all content from over 1,000 ElasticSearch and MongoDB databases across the 'net, leaving the calling-card "meow" in its place.
Most people are likely to find this a lot less amusing than a kitty video, so if you have a database instance on a cloud machine, now would be a good time to verify that it is password protected by something other than the default, install password..
61941703
submission
PuceBaboon writes:
The BBC is reporting that a Spanish firm, Gowex, which provides free Wi-Fi services in major cities world-wide, has filed for bankruptcy, following revelations that financial accounts filed over the past four years were "false". The company supplies services in London, Shanghai, New York and Buenos Aires, as well as Madrid. Other sources report that up to 90% of the company's reported revenue came from "undisclosed related parties" (in other words, from Gowex itself) and that the value of the company's share price was now effectively zero.
59805999
submission
PuceBaboon writes:
Earlier today (Thursday), police in Kawasaki, Japan, arrested a man for violation of the firearms control law. He was apparently in possession of five, 3D-printed handguns, two of which were reportedly capable of firing normal rounds (although no actual bullets were found). The suspect was arrested after releasing video of the guns online. Japan has very strict gun control laws and, whether or not the suspect actually appeared in the alleged video, he may just have signed himself up for some serious porridge.
50254763
submission
PuceBaboon writes:
If you were under the impression that Brin and Page invented the search engine while working out of a garage somewhere in Silicon Valley then think again. The first practical web-crawler with a searchable index, JumpStation, was running out of Stirling University, Scotland, twenty years ago this year, long before Google came into existence. In a tale all too typical of the U.K. tech industry through the years, JumpStation's creator, Jonathon Fletcher, was unable to find funding for his brainchild and commercial exploitation of the idea fell to others. Jonathon, who was a panel member at the ACM SIGIR conference in Dublin earlier this year is now quite serene about the missed opportunity, despite his frustration at the time. Meanwhile, Stirling University is quoted as "now looking at a way to mark" Jonathon's achievement.
50133249
submission
PuceBaboon writes:
Both Reuters and the BBC are carrying the story of an increase in radiation levels reported by Tepco for contaminated water leaking from storage tanks on site. When this leak was discovered almost two weeks ago, Tepco reported that the radiation level was 100-millisieverts. It now transpires that 100-millisieverts was the highest reading that the measuring equipment in use was capable of displaying. The latest readings (with upgraded equipment) are registering 1800-millisieverts which, according to both news sources, could prove fatal to anyone exposed to it for four hours.
Coincidentally (and somewhat ironically), today is earthquake disaster prevention day in Japan, with safety drills taking place nationwide.
49806837
submission
PuceBaboon writes:
The BBC is reporting that experts are casting doubt on the veracity of statements from both the Tokyo Electric Power Company and the Japanese government regarding the seriousness of the problems at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Not only are the constant leaks releasing radioactivity into the ocean (and thus into the food chain), but now there are also worries that the spent fuel rod storage pools may be even more unstable than first thought.
An external consultant warns, "The Japanese have a problem asking for help. It is a big mistake; they badly need it."
45966783
submission
PuceBaboon writes:
The BBC is reporting that the EU has voted to ban pesticides containing neonicotinoids for at least two years, in an effort to isolate the cause of CCD (colony collapse disorder; the alarming disappearance of bees over recent years). Despite intense lobbying by the chemical companies, a 3-million signature petition helped swing the vote in favour of the ban.
28197226
submission
PuceBaboon writes:
It's worth noting that, in addition to the main FreeBSD release covered here recently, PC-BSD has also released their "Isotope" edition, based on FreeBSD 9.0. Why would you be interested? Well, PC-BSD, while not the first, is certainly the most current version of FreeBSD aimed squarely at the desktop user. Pre-configured for the desktop and using a graphical installer, the 9.0 release includes KDE, GNOME, XFCE and LXDE desktop environments, an update manager, WiFi "quick connect", BootCamp support and auto-configuration for most common hardware. Live-CD, VirtualBox and VMware release images for 32 and 64 bit architectures also make it easier than ever before for users to test the release before committing to a full install. Check out the torrents (scroll down), main download page and the PC-BSD 9.0 manual pages.
