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Submission + - Brian Kantor, Internet and AMPRNet Pioneer, WB6CYT, SK

Submitted by Jeff Archambeault
Jeff Archambeault writes: Amateur Radio and computing worlds mourn the death of another pioneer.

From Phil Karn, KA9Q on the the 44Net mailing list:

I have very sad news. My good friend, Brian Kantor, WB6CYT

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-qRxpLrc/1/X4/i-qRxpLrc-X4.jpg,

suddenly passed away this week at his home in San Diego, California. Brian retired only two years ago after 47 years of service on the staff at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). Way back in the mid 1980s, Brian and I founded AMPRnet, the TCP/IP over amateur radio network. He continued to manage it until his passing.

Brian recently created and served as chair and CEO of Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), a charitable foundation funded by the sale of unused AMPRnet IPv4 addresses. ARDC promotes STEM education and amateur radio digital development through scholarships and by funding the development of open source hardware and software.

Brian will be sorely missed and impossible to replace. Memorial arrangements will be announced when known.

Brian Rogers, N1URO, author of URONode packet software added:

Brian was an interesting yet friendly character unlike anything you'd imagine for someone of his status. He invented things such as eMail (smtp) and usenet (nntp) along with half of the VPN services of ipip. In doing so, he not only helped the amateur community world wide but also the general public globally.

One would think that he wouldn't be an approachable type of person however nothing could be farther from the truth. He was very approachable and would try to offer anyone a hand if he could.

The world has no idea who they're going to miss as someone of his statue is simply irreplace-able!

73 de Jeff KC2SDS

Comment Gee, thanks! (Score 1) 94

by Jeff Archambeault (#57025014) Attached to: New York Orders Charter Out of State

After 12 years of trying to get cable service 5 power poles up my road via 3 diff companies (Adelphia, Time Warner, and now Spectrum), there was some hope this March. On a whim I called the # for Spectrum I just saw on TV, the CSR says "Oh yeah, we just opened up that service area to new orders and you are the first!". "Great, Let's do it!" I said. "2 weeks....blah blah blah". 3 weeks later, no return call, so I call... "Oh, your address is un-serviceable," they say. "Three weeks ago you said I was," I reply. Unfortunately it was on a weekend, got transferred to 2 other CSRs, the last of which attempted to be helpful as he could, but still no real answers. I just wanted them to keep to their word.

Off go complaints to the Attorney General's office and the NYS Rural Broadband Commission (especially appropriate, I thought, because Gov Cuomo announced that Phase 3 was 100% successful (how could it be, I still don't have this "broadband" they are speaking of)).

Got a phone call from the Rural Broadband Commission in May explaining that the TWC/Charter/Spectrum deal wasn't part of the Rural Broadband Initiative. Great. But if we are absolutely unservicable, by the end of the year, they will make a deal available from Hughesnet (which we currently have, at 1.5mbps at best...albeit gen3 if it's called that). Ok, not ideal, but something a _little_ better (same abysmal latency but theoretically faster, still not all-you-can-eat).

Then we get a visit from one of Charter's construction/survey dept reps in late May, sees what needs to be done, and says you'll have service in Dec/Jan. Woot!

I've been carrying around and bragging about 2 letters I got around June 6, in the same envelop. One from the Attorney General, saying Charter's response to my complaint is enclosed. Charter's letter says construction will be completed in Jan 2019, but the timeline is subject to change. Yay! I have it in writing!!!!

Yeah, right. Thanks. Heard the news yesterday on the radio, and immediately knew those letters were now null and void.

Submission + - Secure Apps Exposed to Hacking via Flaws in Underlying Programming Languages (bleepingcomputer.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Research presented this week at the Black Hat Europe 2017 security conference has revealed that several popular interpreted programming languages are affected by severe vulnerabilities that expose apps built on these languages to attacks. The author of this research is IOActive Senior Security Consultant Fernando Arnaboldi. The expert says he used an automated software testing technique named fuzzing to identify vulnerabilities in the interpreters of five of today's most popular programming languages: JavaScript, Perl, PHP, Python, and Ruby.

The researcher created his own fuzzing framework named XDiFF that broke down programming languages per each of its core functions and fuzzed each one for abnormalities. His work exposed severe flaws in all five languages, such as a hidden flaw in PHP constant names that can be abused to perform remote code execution, and undocumented Python methods that lead to OS code execution. Arnaboldi argues that attackers can exploit these flaws even in the most secure applications built on top of these programming languages.
Privacy

Credit Karma To Launch Free ID Monitoring Following Equifax Hack (reuters.com) 24

Posted by msmash from the some-relief dept.
Credit Karma is launching a new free service that will alert customers if their identity data has been compromised in hacks, the San Francisco-based fintech company said on Friday in the wake of massive breach at credit monitoring agency Equifax. From a report: The new ID monitoring service is being tested and will be available in October, the company said on Friday. Similar to services offered by Symantec-owned LifeLock, CreditKarma will keep track of data breaches and tell customers if they are one of the victims. Customers can then check to use the company's credit monitoring services and flag suspicious activities. The company said it was accelerating the launch of the new service in response to the large data breach at Equifax, where thieves may have stolen personal information of 143 million Americans.
Security

Warning: 'MetalKettle' Repository For Kodi Becomes Vulnerable After GitHub Takeover (betanews.com) 28

Posted by BeauHD from the public-service-announcement dept.
BrianFagioli shares a report from BetaNews: Unfortunately, there can apparently be security issues with repositories when they shut down. For example, when the metalkettle repo ended, the developer deleted its entry on GitHub. This in itself is not a cause for concern, but unfortunately, GitHub's allowance of project names to be recycled is. You see, someone re-registered the metalkettle name, making it possible for nefarious people to potentially serve up malware to Kodi users. The warning came from the metalkettle developer over on Twitter. He warns that devices with the repository installed could be in danger from a security standpoint. If a user was to search that repo, and the new owner of the GitHub name was to share malware, the user could assume it is safe and install it. We do not know 100 percent if the person that re-registered the metalkettle name on GitHub is planning anything evil, but it is better to be safe than sorry. If you still have the repository installed, you should remove it immediately. Not to mention, if you know someone using Kodi, such as a friend or family member, you should warn them too.

Submission + - Chinese Scientists Developed Dental Cavity Vaccine (nature.com)

Submitted by hackingbear
hackingbear writes: Dental caries is one of the most common global chronic diseases affecting all ages of the population, scientists at Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences developed low side effects and high protective efficiency against caries using flagellin-rPAc fusion protein, KFD2-rPAc, a promising vaccine candidate. In rat challenge models, KFD2-rPAc induces a robust rPAc-specific IgA response, and confers efficient prophylactic and therapeutic efficiency against caries as does KF-rPAc, while the flagellin-specific inflammatory antibody responses are highly reduced.

Comment Interact Model One (Score 1) 857

by Jeff Archambeault (#54244785) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What Was Your First Home Computer?

Saved up the $500 from my first summer job after my freshman year in high school in '80. Just looked it up on oldcomputers.net and learned more than I knew. Installed the RS232 card by unplugging the 8080, plugging it into the card, and plugging the card into the empty processor socket. Game controllers were funky...digital direction and an analog knob at the top of the stick. BASIC was a little like the CoCo, especially the graphics (x,y,color,something...or was it x,y,fg,bg?), but different enough to find it painful to convert. I think it overheated due to the very solid metal box the mainboard was contained in. Was forgotten when family for a ][e in '83. WHEE!!!

Submission + - Uber's autonomous vehicle testing has stopped, for now

Submitted by 93 Escort Wagon
93 Escort Wagon writes: San Francisco bicyclists can breathe a sigh of relief, now that Uber has suspended testing of its autonomous fleet in the city. The company announced the decision after the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended the registration of the vehicles involved in the testing.

Uber remains "100 percent committed to California and will be redoubling our efforts to develop workable statewide rules."

Comment Re:HAM (Score 1) 840

by Jeff Archambeault (#35034466) Attached to: Egypt Shuts Off All Internet Access

Funny... I just got my /28 block in 44-land yesterday. Semi-isolated, 1200bps packet node running for months using linux native AX25 and FBB PBBS.

My choice in such a situation would be to roll-out wifi mesh/bridges. Sure, mesh routing needs work, but it'll work in a pinch. Its an area where amateur radio can help do research for trickle-down consumer networking that can help make the "net neutrality" issue go away.

Look me up on QRZ

73 de Jeff KC2SDS

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