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Submission + - Why Cambridge University Library is safeguarding floppy disk knowledge (itbrew.com)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: Not all heroes wear capes. Some, like Leontien Talboom, rock bangs and suspenders while playing a real-life game of Operation on old floppy disks to preserve their content. When Talboom was a kid, she used floppy disks to save her fictional stories about Furbys, the popular robotic toy of the 90s, which she would write on her father’s old work laptop.

Today, Talboom, who is now a Cambridge University Library technical analyst, spends her time preserving knowledge about floppies while rescuing content from them as part of the library’s Future Nostalgia project. Why is Future Nostalgia’s work so important? There is limited time to image floppy disks (i.e., duplicate the data on them) because their material can degrade and oxidize over time.

“A lot of the ones that we have in our collection are dating from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s,” Talboom said. “So, we’re talking at least 30 years by, even getting very close to 50 years for some of them.”

Submission + - It takes less than $1k to access unencrypted satellite data: study (itbrew.com)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: Have you ever been tempted to spend less than $1,000 on satellite equipment—just so you can show how much sensitive data can be easily accessed?

Computer scientists from the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Maryland answered “yes” to that question. In a research paper published Oct. 13, they wrote that they can use satellites to access large amounts of sensitive and unencrypted traffic from a variety of sectors, including the telecommunication, retail, and even the military.

The setup. The researchers focused their study on geostationary (GEO) satellites, which orbit the Earth’s equator, receiving and amplifying signals from the ground. Hardware used to conduct the study included a Ku-Band satellite dish, a low-noise block downconverter to amplify weak signals, and a dish motor to enable automated movement for tracking purposes, among other materials. In total, the equipment ran the researchers just under $700, or roughly what you’d pay to rent a one-bedroom apartment in Wichita, Kansas.

Submission + - How the hacks in 'Hackers' hold up (itbrew.com)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: Hackers rollerbladed into theaters almost exactly 30 years ago. The 1995 movie features young, fashionable, rebellious techies (Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie, Matthew Lillard, and others) as they go up against a corrupt security officer (Fisher Stevens) framing them for an oil-tanker cyberattack.

Nathan Hunstable remembers watching Hackers shortly after its release, when he was a young teenager who had “zero interest in computers.” Now CISO at CEC Entertainment, owner of Chuck E. Cheese, Hunstable’s interest in computers has upped a bit.

We asked the CISO (who began his IT career as a movie-theater network admin) a simple question with a complex answer: How does Hackers—and its many hacks—hold up? Get your popcorn ready. Some security threats—like social engineering—never die.

Submission + - How USB-C Ended the Great Connector Wars (itbrew.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It's easy to forget the dark ages of peripheral connectivity. A twisted nest of proprietary connectors was the norm. Then, in 2014, a hero emerged: USB-C. It promised a reversible connector, high-speed data transfer, and enough power to charge a laptop. It was a revolution. This article from IT Brew breaks down the three waves of USB-C adoption, from its humble beginnings in the PC industry to its EU-mandated takeover of the mobile world. It's how a single connector brought order to the chaos and became the undisputed king of the hardware industry.

Submission + - Microsoft To Appoint a Deputy CISO for Europe (csoonline.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In a move designed to reassure European leaders of the company's commitment to the region, Microsoft earlier this week announced that it will be creating a new position: a Deputy CISO for Europe. In reaction to the news, one analyst quipped, “I was mostly surprised that they don’t already have one,” adding that Microsoft is not creating the role “because they really believe in it. It’s because they don’t want to lose that business. It’s that simple."

Submission + - JetBrains AI Assistant Panned In JetBrains Marketplace (infoworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: From the article:

Despite having been downloaded nearly 23 million times, the JetBrains AI Assistant has received bad reviews on the company’s JetBrains Marketplace website, prompting JetBrains to remove some of the reviews.

Unveiled in December 2023, the JetBrains AI Assistant rates only 2.3 stars out of a possible five stars on the company’s ratings system, with 851 total ratings as of May 1. “I’ve been a long-time user of JetBrains IDEs and generally appreciate the thoughtful tooling they offer,” reviewer Haso Keric wrote. “Unfortunately, the AI Assistant doesn’t live up to the same standard. It feels bolted on rather than integrated, and it quickly becomes more of a novelty than a productivity tool.”

Submission + - Chase CISO Condemns SaaS Security (csoonline.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: In an open letter to suppliers, Chase CISO Patrick Opet, took the industry to task for 'quietly enabling cyber attackers,' among a litany of other security sins. Sources quoted in this CSOonline article didn't disagree with what is generally agreed to be an accurate description of today's security challenges, but what Opet hoped to accomplish with this letter is unclear. One analyst described it as 'more of a call to discussion than a call to action.' Another pinned the lack of specificity on the likely involvement of Chase legal and other officials making edits that watered down the substance, so 'the essence of the letter is lost trying to protect themselves.'

Submission + - Lesson from Blue Shield California Data Breach: Read the Manual (csoonline.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: Personal health information on 4.7 million Blue Shield California subscribers was unintentionally shared between Google Analytics and Google Ads between April 2021 and January 2025 due to a misconfiguration error. Security consultant and SANS Institute instructor Brandon Evans points to two lessons to take from this debacle:
  • read the documentation of any third party service you sign up for, to understand the security and privacy controls;
  • know what data is being collected from your organization, and what you don’t want shared.

Submission + - Vendors Slowly Patch Critical MegaRAC Flaw (networkworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: From the Network World article:

Weeks after BIOS developer AMI released an update fixing a critical vulnerability in its MegaRAC baseband management controller (BMC) firmware used in many enterprise servers and storage systems, OEM patches addressing the issue are slowly trickling out.

The latest vendor to release patches was Lenovo, which appears to have taken until April 17 to release its patch. And although Asus patches for four motherboard models appeared only this week, the exact time these were posted is unconfirmed; the dates on the updates range from March 12 to March 28.

Among the first to release a patch was Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), which on March 20 released an update for its HPE Cray XD670, used for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. Other OEMs known to use AMI’s MegaRAC BMC include AMD, Ampere Computing, ASRock, ARM, Fujitsu, Gigabyte, Huawei, Nvidia, Supermicro, and Qualcomm.

Submission + - Tariffs May Finally Make Recycling Rare Earth Elements Pay Off (networkworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: Computerworld reports that Western Digital and Microsoft are testing ways to recover precious materials from old servers. “A new advanced sorting ecosystem with an eco-friendly non-acid process not only recaptures essential rare earth elements but also extracts metals like gold, copper, aluminum, and steel, feeding them back into the US supply chain,” Western Digital said in a statement. This part isn't new. What's new is the math. Thanks to Trump's tariff war and 'moves by China to halt the export of bismuth, which might hold the key to future faster and more efficient semiconductors,' the few dollars' worth of materials in one server might be enough ROI to make it worthwhile. Gartner analyst Autumn Stanish is positive about the Western Digital news, but advises caution. 'This seems, based on the public information, far from the volume and scale to achieve the independence and carbon savings potential presented,' she said.

Submission + - Russia-linked APT29 Targets European Diplomats with Wine-Tasting Invites (csoonline.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: From the department of doing-your-research, the cyberespionage group also known as Cozy Bear, which is linked to Russia's foreign intelligence service, is targeting 'European diplomatic entities, including non-European countries’ embassies located in Europe,' according to a new report from Check Point. 'In this current wave of attacks, the threat actors impersonate a major European Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send out invitations to wine tasting events, prompting targets to click a web link leading to the deployment of a new backdoor called GRAPELOADER.'

Submission + - Vendors Vote to Radically Slash Website Certificate Duration (computerworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: In a move that will further overburden IT staff, members of the CA/Browser Forum voted to cut the lifespan of the web certificates to just 47 days by 2029. The changes, which have been debated over a year, were expected and will be phased in gradually. But Jon Nelson, a principal advisory director at Info-Tech Research Group, questioned the motives of the group: "They are doing this under the auspices of reducing risk, but I question if that is the real reason. Do the people making up this group have a conflict of interest in that this move could generate additional revenue for their companies?”

Submission + - Tech Professional Salaries Have Been Stagnant for 20 Years. Thanks Inflation! (dice.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: From the just-released Dice 2025 Tech Salary Report:

"A closer look at tech salaries over the last two decades reveals a complex picture of resilience. While overall tech salaries have risen steadily since 2005, reaching an average of $112,521 in 2024, the reality is more nuanced when accounting for inflation. Today's average tech salary, when adjusted for purchasing power, is similar to what professionals earned in 2005 ($112,521 versus inflation-adjusted $114,648) – suggesting that despite periodic surges, compensation in tech overall has effectively plateaued over nearly two decades.

"However, this flattening of purchasing power needs to be viewed in the context of broader economic trends. For one thing, the median U.S. household income has fared worse, rising from $58,000 in 2005 to $80,610 in 2023 – a gain that significantly trails inflation, as $58,000 adjusted to inflation is $95,403 in 2024. While tech professionals haven't seen real gains in purchasing power, they have at least maintained their position while many other sectors have experienced decline."

Submission + - The .io top level domain may be headed for extinction (computerworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: A move announced last week by the new Labour government in the UK could mean the estimated 1.6 million organizations that use .io domain names may have to eventually replace that ccTLD, according to a report in Computerworld. As part of a diplomatic deal, the UK will hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and in so doing will eliminate the region represented by the .io domain.

Submission + - A US Semiconductor Industry in Crisis Needs a Workforce that Doesn't Yet Exist (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The chipmaking industry is in a race to build and open manufacturing plants in the US and it’s not clear it will have the skilled workers it needs to successfully return. Rafts of people new to the tech industry have been drawn from various careers into the sprawling effort to find, train, and hire the workers needed for US fabrication plants. Despite efforts by manufacturers and schools to ramp up education and apprenticeship programs quickly and make chipmaking jobs ‘cool,’ the skills shortage continues to threaten the burgeoning effort to bring chip production back to the US.

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