Comment Thousands of slashdotters (Score 1, Interesting) 70
Would have voted "no" on this in the firehose. Guess that's why it didn't show up there.
Submission + - Cloud based Medical Marijuana Patient/Inventory/Sales system MJFreeway hacked
t0qer writes: Hello /. Been a few years since a submission.
I'm the IT director at a MMJ dispensary. The point of sales system we were using last week was hacked. Here is The Boston Globes Coverage on it.
This system was built on Drupal in 2010. I'm guessing the more they modified the drupal core, the more bugfixed versions behind they fell behind (not to mention the rest of the LAMP stack). They've lost all customer data, meaning there was no airgapped, off the net backups. What scares me about this breach is, I have about 30,000 patients in my database alone. If this company has 1000 more customers like me, even half of that is still 15 million people on a list of people that "Smoke pot" potentially floating out there on the net. I guess because we're "Medicinal" it's no better than someone knowing a person takes Xanax for their nerves.
I feel like this company is playing on the ignorance of the general public when it comes to these types of IT security issues. I don't think people get how serious this is.What should I do? Do we still have lawyers on this site? (oldcountrylawyer?)
I'm the IT director at a MMJ dispensary. The point of sales system we were using last week was hacked. Here is The Boston Globes Coverage on it.
This system was built on Drupal in 2010. I'm guessing the more they modified the drupal core, the more bugfixed versions behind they fell behind (not to mention the rest of the LAMP stack). They've lost all customer data, meaning there was no airgapped, off the net backups. What scares me about this breach is, I have about 30,000 patients in my database alone. If this company has 1000 more customers like me, even half of that is still 15 million people on a list of people that "Smoke pot" potentially floating out there on the net. I guess because we're "Medicinal" it's no better than someone knowing a person takes Xanax for their nerves.
I feel like this company is playing on the ignorance of the general public when it comes to these types of IT security issues. I don't think people get how serious this is.What should I do? Do we still have lawyers on this site? (oldcountrylawyer?)
Submission + - SpaceX Returns to flight, nails manding (cnn.com)
Applehu Akbar writes: SpaceX successfully launched a 10-satellite Iridium Next package, and then landed on a drone ship — this time from Vandenburg AFB in California. The launch had been delayed several days by this week's record rainfall and flooding.
Submission + - Ask Slashdot: What Is The Best Place To Suggest A New Open Source Software? 1
dryriver writes: Somebody I know has been searching up and down the internet for an open source software that can apply GPU pixel shaders (HLSL/GLSL/Cg/SweetFX) to a video and save the result out to a video file. He came up with nothing. So I said "Why not petition the open source community to create such a tool?" His reply was "Where exactly does one go to ask for a new open source software?" So that is my question: Where on the internet can one best go to request that a new open source software tool that does not exist yet be developed? Or do open source tools only come into existence when someone — a coder — starts to build a software, opens the source, and invites other coders to join the fray?
Submission + - California's bullet train is hurtling toward a multibillion-dollar overrun (latimes.com)
schwit1 writes: California’s bullet train could cost taxpayers 50% more than estimated — as much as $3.6 billion more. And that’s just for the first 118 miles through the Central Valley, which was supposed to be the easiest part of the route between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
A confidential Federal Railroad Administration risk analysis, obtained by the Times, projects that building bridges, viaducts, trenches and track from Merced to Shafter, just north of Bakersfield, could cost $9.5 billion to $10 billion, compared with the original budget of $6.4 billion.
The federal document outlines far-reaching management problems: significant delays in environmental planning, lags in processing invoices for federal grants and continuing failures to acquire needed property.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority originally anticipated completing the Central Valley track by this year, but the federal risk analysis estimates that that won’t happen until 2024, placing the project seven years behind schedule.
A confidential Federal Railroad Administration risk analysis, obtained by the Times, projects that building bridges, viaducts, trenches and track from Merced to Shafter, just north of Bakersfield, could cost $9.5 billion to $10 billion, compared with the original budget of $6.4 billion.
The federal document outlines far-reaching management problems: significant delays in environmental planning, lags in processing invoices for federal grants and continuing failures to acquire needed property.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority originally anticipated completing the Central Valley track by this year, but the federal risk analysis estimates that that won’t happen until 2024, placing the project seven years behind schedule.
Submission + - Congress Will Consider Proposal To Raise H-1B Minimum Wage To $100,000 (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes: President-elect Donald Trump is just a week away from taking office. From the start of his campaign, he has promised big changes to the US immigration system. For both Trump's advisers and members of Congress, the H-1B visa program, which allows many foreign workers to fill technology jobs, is a particular focus. One major change to that system is already under discussion: making it harder for companies to use H-1B workers to replace Americans by simply giving the foreign workers a raise. The "Protect and Grow American Jobs Act," introduced last week by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. and Scott Peters, D-Calif., would significantly raise the wages of workers who get H-1B visas. If the bill becomes law, the minimum wage paid to H-1B workers would rise to at least $100,000 annually, and be adjusted it for inflation. Right now, the minimum is $60,000. The sponsors say that would go a long way toward fixing some of the abuses of the H-1B program, which critics say is currently used to simply replace American workers with cheaper, foreign workers. In 2013, the top nine companies acquiring H-1B visas were technology outsourcing firms, according to an analysis by a critic of the H-1B program. (The 10th is Microsoft.) The thinking goes that if minimum H-1B salaries are brought closer to what high-skilled tech employment really pays, the economic incentive to use it as a worker-replacement program will drop off. "We need to ensure we can retain the world’s best and brightest talent," said Issa in a statement about the bill. "At the same time, we also need to make sure programs are not abused to allow companies to outsource and hire cheap foreign labor from abroad to replace American workers." The H-1B program offers 65,000 visas each fiscal year, with an additional 20,000 reserved for foreign workers who have advanced degrees from US colleges and universities. The visas are awarded by lottery each year. Last year, the government received more than 236,000 applications for those visas.
Comment You're far too generous (Score 4, Informative) 88
The game site does not need to know what your capabilities are. If you try to run it, and it doesn't work, you don't try again. It doesn't need to know *any* of the fonts or even font-families you have installed, it just needs to do what the web has always done; Present a list of fonts the site designer would like the browser to use, if they are available and the user allows it. No site needs to know even the simple small/med/large screen size, as that can all be (and usually is) handled entirely within the browser via CSS.
Give them even less info than you propose and it'll still be too much, generally speaking.
Give them even less info than you propose and it'll still be too much, generally speaking.
Submission + - Can Your Fingerprints be Stolen from a Photo?` (phys.org)
Tulsa_Time writes: Japan researchers warn of fingerprint theft from 'peace' sign...
Research by a team at Japan's National Institute of Informatics (NII) says so, raising alarm bells over the popular two-fingered pose. Fingerprint recognition technology is becoming widely available to verify identities, such as when logging on to smartphones, tablets and laptop computers.
But the proliferation of mobile devices with high-quality cameras and social media sites where photographs can be easily posted is raising the risk of personal information being leaked.
The NII researchers were able to copy fingerprints based on photos taken by a digital camera three metres (nine feet) away from the subject.
Research by a team at Japan's National Institute of Informatics (NII) says so, raising alarm bells over the popular two-fingered pose. Fingerprint recognition technology is becoming widely available to verify identities, such as when logging on to smartphones, tablets and laptop computers.
But the proliferation of mobile devices with high-quality cameras and social media sites where photographs can be easily posted is raising the risk of personal information being leaked.
The NII researchers were able to copy fingerprints based on photos taken by a digital camera three metres (nine feet) away from the subject.
Submission + - Microsoft Anti-Porn Workers Sue Over PTSD (thedailybeast.com)
An anonymous reader writes: When former Microsoft employees complained of the horrific pornography and murder films they had to watch for their jobs, the software giant told them to just take more smoke breaks, a new lawsuit alleges. Members of Microsoft’s Online Safety Team had “God-like” status, former employees Henry Soto and Greg Blauert allege in a lawsuit filed on Dec. 30. They “could literally view any customer’s communications at any time.” Specifically, they were asked to screen Microsoft users’ communications for child pornography and evidence of other crimes. But Big Brother didn’t offer a good health care plan, the Microsoft employees allege. After years of being made to watch the “most twisted” videos on the internet, employees said they suffered severe psychological distress, while the company allegedly refused to provide a specially trained therapist or to pay for therapy. The two former employees and their families are suing for damages from what they describe as permanent psychological injuries, for which they were denied worker’s compensation. “Microsoft applies industry-leading, cutting-edge technology to help detect and classify illegal images of child abuse and exploitation that are shared by users on Microsoft Services,” a Microsoft spokesperson wrote in an email. “Once verified by a specially trained employee, the company removes the image, reports it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and bans the users who shared the images from our services. We have put in place robust wellness programs to ensure the employees who handle this material have the resources and support they need.” But the former employees allege neglect at Microsoft’s hands.
Submission + - Hamas 'Honey Trap' Dupes Israeli Soldiers (securityweek.com)
wiredmikey writes: The smartphones of dozens of Israeli soldiers were hacked by Hamas militants pretending to be attractive young women online, an Israeli military official said Wednesday. Using fake profiles on Facebook with alluring photos, Hamas members contacted the soldiers via groups on the social network, luring them into long chats, the official told journalists on condition of anonymity.
Dozens of the predominantly lower-ranked soldiers were convinced enough by the honey trap to download fake applications which enabled Hamas to take control of their phones, according to the official.
Dozens of the predominantly lower-ranked soldiers were convinced enough by the honey trap to download fake applications which enabled Hamas to take control of their phones, according to the official.
Submission + - Why You Shouldn't Trust Geek Squad (networkworld.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The Orange County Weekly reports that Best Buy's "Geek Squad" repair technicians routinely search devices brought in for repair for files that could earn them $500 reward as FBI informants. This revelation came out in a court case, United States of America v. Mark A. Rettenmaier. Rettenmaier is a prominent Orange County physician and surgeon who took his laptop to the Mission Viejo Best Buy in November 2011 after he was unable to start it. According to court records, Geek Squad technician John "Trey" Westphal found an image of "a fully nude, white prepubescent female on her hands and knees on a bed, with a brown choker-type collar around her neck." Westphal notified his boss, who was also an FBI informant, who alerted another FBI informant — as well as the FBI itself. The FBI has pretty much guaranteed the case will be thrown out by its behavior, this illegal search aside. According to Rettenmaier's defense attorney, agents conducted two additional searches of the computer without obtaining necessary warrants, lied to trick a federal magistrate judge into authorizing a search warrant for his home, then tried to cover up their misdeeds by initially hiding records. Plus, the file was found in the unallocated "trash" space, meaning it could only be retrieved by "carving" with sophisticated forensics tools. Carving (or file carving) is defined as searching for files or other kinds of objects based on content, rather than on metadata. It's used to recover old files that have been deleted or damaged. To prove child pornography, you have to prove the possessor knew what he had was indeed child porn. There has been a court case where files found on unallocated space did not constitute knowing possession because it's impossible to determine who put the file there and how, since it's not accessible to the user under normal circumstances.
Comment I too have identified a new organ (Score 2) 112
It's called the "gut." Previously this organ was believed to be a series of smaller independent organs and tissues, but I've decided otherwise. Where's my Nobel Prize.
Comment Re:Remember this when they decide fake news... (Score 4, Insightful) 159
There's zero chance that an "image detection algorithm" flagged that statue. Zero.
Submission + - Researchers Send Information Using a Single Particle of Light (vice.com)
An anonymous reader writes: According to research published Thursday in Science, physicists at Princeton University have designed a device that allows a single electron to pass its quantum information to a photon in what could be a big breakthrough for silicon-based quantum computers. The device designed by the Princeton researchers is the result of five years of research and works by trapping an electron and a photon within a device built by HRL laboratories, which is owned by Boeing and General Motors. It is a semi-conductor chip made from layers of silicon and silicon-germanium, materials that are inexpensive and already widely deployed in consumer electronics. Across the top of this wafer of silicon layers were laid a number of nanowires, each smaller than the width of a human hair, which were used to deliver energy to the chip. This energy allowed the researchers to trap an electron in between the silicon layers of the chip in microstructures known as quantum dots. The researchers settled on photons as the medium of exchange between electrons since they are less sensitive to disruption from their environment and could potentially be used to carry quantum information between quantum chips, rather than within the circuits on a single quantum chip. The ability to scale up this device would mean that photons could be used to pass quantum information from electron to electron in order to form the circuits for a quantum computer.
Submission + - Google Develops Image Upscaling Algorithm Using Machine Learning (thestack.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Google Research has developed a new image upscaling technique called Rapid and Accurate Image Super Resolution (RAISR), which uses low and high resolution versions of photos in a standard image set to establish templated paths for upward scaling of an image. This effectively uses historical logic, instead of pixel interpolation, to infer what the image would look like if it had been taken at a higher resolution. It's notable that neither the initial paper nor the supplementary examples feature human faces. It could be argued that using AI-driven techniques to reconstruct images raises some questions about whether upscaled,machine-driven digital enhancements are a legal risk, compared to the far greater expense of upgrading low-res CCTV networks with the necessary resolution, bandwidth and storage to obtain good quality video evidence.
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The only possible interpretation of any research whatever in the `social sciences' is: some do, some don't. -- Ernest Rutherford
