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Comment Re:Training Humans (Score 0) 54

FIRST home purchased had an old swamp cooler parked outside, with a dilapidated hummingbird feeder hanging over it.

Took it down, and a few days later, a couple of the darn things started "tap-tap" with their (I'm not sure if the beaks were shorter back then!) beaks.

The entire species has had us trained for > 40 yrs now.. ;)

Comment Re:Decentralize what? (Score 0) 18

"...should know better, but the person receiving it should be allowed to block communication from people they have never met without meeting in person to exchange codes first."

Spot on! Just because someone can peer into your living room does NOT mean you need permission to boot that person off your property. And if they are outside of your property, you do NOT need permission to take their view away!

Submission + - EPA Takes Emergency Action To Stop Use of Dangerous Pesticide (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: For the first time in 40 years, the Environmental Protection Agency has taken emergency action to stop the use of a pesticide linked to serious health risks for unborn babies. Tuesday’s emergency order applies to dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate, also known as DCPA, a weedkiller used on crops such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and onions. When pregnant farmworkers and others are exposed to the pesticide, their babies can experience changes to fetal thyroid hormone levels, which are linked to low birth weight, impaired brain development, decreased IQ and impaired motor skills later in life.

“DCPA is so dangerous that it needs to be removed from the market immediately,” Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said in a statement. “It’s EPA’s job to protect people from exposure to dangerous chemicals. In this case, pregnant women who may never even know they were exposed could give birth to babies that experience irreversible lifelong health problems.” The European Union banned DCPA in 2009. But the EPA has been slower to act, frustrating some environmental and public health advocates.

In an interview, Freedhoff said that EPA scientists have tried for years to get more information on health risks from the sole manufacturer of the pesticide, AMVAC Chemical. But she said the company refused to turn over the data, including a study on the effects of DCPA on thyroid development and function, until November 2023. “We did make some good-faith efforts to work with the company,” Freedhoff said. “But in the end, we didn’t think any of the measures proposed by the company would be implementable, enforceable or effective.”

Submission + - CrowdStrike Outage Cause By 5-Month-Old Extraneous Input Parameter (thecyberexpress.com)

Submitted by storagedude
storagedude writes: CrowdStrike’s root cause analysis (RCA) of the massive Windows BSOD outage released today details an extraneous input parameter field that went unnoticed for 5 months until it was called by a July 19 update, resulting in an out-of-bounds memory read error that crashed 8.5 million machines around the globe, according to a Cyber Express article.

One interesting new revelation in the root cause report is that the initial cause of the error occurred back in February when CrowdStrike released sensor version 7.11, which included a new Template Type for Windows interprocess communication (IPC) mechanisms. IPC Template Instances are delivered as Rapid Response Content to sensors via a corresponding Channel File numbered 291.

The new IPC Template Type defined 21 input parameter fields, but the integration code that invoked the Content Interpreter with Channel File 291’s Template Instances supplied only 20 input values to match against. The parameter count mismatch “evaded multiple layers of build validation and testing,” CrowdStrike said in the new 12-page report, due in part to the use of wildcard matching criteria for the 21st input during testing and in the initial IPC Template Instances.

On July 19, two additional IPC Template Instances were deployed, one of which introduced a non-wildcard matching criterion for the 21st input parameter.

“These new Template Instances resulted in a new version of Channel File 291 that would now require the sensor to inspect the 21st input parameter,” CrowdStrike said. “Until this channel file was delivered to sensors, no IPC Template Instances in previous channel versions had made use of the 21st input parameter field. The Content Validator evaluated the new Template Instances, but based its assessment on the expectation that the IPC Template Type would be provided with 21 inputs.

“Sensors that received the new version of Channel File 291 carrying the problematic content were exposed to a latent out-of-bounds read issue in the Content Interpreter. At the next IPC notification from the operating system, the new IPC Template Instances were evaluated, specifying a comparison against the 21st input value. The Content Interpreter expected only 20 values. Therefore, the attempt to access the 21st value produced an out-of-bounds memory read beyond the end of the input data array and resulted in a system crash.”

CrowdStrike pledged a half-dozen changes in the wake of the global outage:

-Validating the number of input fields in the Template Type at sensor compile time
-Correcting for a runtime array bounds check that was missing for Content Interpreter input fields on Channel File 291
-Template Type testing covering a wider variety of matching criteria
-Template Instance validation expanding to include testing within the Content Interpreter
-Staged deployment for template instances, including customer control over rollout

Submission + - Pakistani National Arrested for Plot to Assassinate Trump, Others. (go.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: While the criminal complaint does not mention Trump by name, multiple sources familiar with the case told ABC News one of the intended targets of the alleged plot was Trump.

After spending time in Iran, Asif Merchant flew from Pakistan to the U.S. to recruit hitmen to carry out the alleged plot, according to a detention memo. The person he contacted was a confidential informant working with the FBI, according to the criminal complaint.

Submission + - Google just lost a big antitrust trial. Now it has to face another. (yahoo.com)

Submitted by ZipNada
ZipNada writes: Starting in September, the tech giant will square off against federal prosecutors and a group of states claiming that Google abused its dominance of search advertising technology that is used to sell, buy, and broker advertising space online.

Prosecutors allege that since at least 2015 Google has thwarted meaningful competition and deterred innovation through its ownership of the entities and software that power the online advertising technology market.

Google owns most of the technology to buy, sell, and serve advertisements online.
Advertisers and publishers rely on Google’s suite of technologies — including its publisher ad server, DFT, also known as DoubleClick or GAM, and its ad exchange, ADX — to identify available opportunities for online ad placements and negotiate prices to buy and sell ads.

Google’s share of the US and global advertising markets — when measured either by revenue or impressions — exceeded 90% for "many years," according to the complaint.

Submission + - North Korean Group Infiltrated 100-plus Firms With Imposter IT pros (csoonline.com)

Submitted by snydeq
snydeq writes: The DPRK group’s attempts to exfiltrate data and install RMM tools by posing as US IT workers was discovered by CrowdStrike’s counter adversary team, which recently published a report on this and other findings. 'Famous Chollima was one of the more shocking cases we worked on this year,' said Adam Meyers, CrowdStrike’s SVP of counter adversary operations, who told his team after they found the first instance, 'Prove that we could find this malicious insider, which we think could be a foreign intelligence officer. ... That was on a Thursday. By Friday, this Australian guy who ran the effort came back to me and said, "Hey, we found 30 more victims."' CrowdStrike ultimately found that over 100 companies, most US-based technology entities, had hired Famous Chollima workers. CrowdStrike’s threat hunters discovered that after obtaining employee-level access to victim networks, the phony workers performed at minimal enough levels to keep their jobs while attempting to exfiltrate data using Git, SharePoint, and OneDrive and installing remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools RustDesk, AnyDesk, TinyPilot, VS Code Dev Tunnels, and Google Chrome Remote Desktop.

Submission + - Samsung Introduces solid-state battery for 600 mile range and 9 minute charge

Submitted by npetrov
npetrov writes: Samsung took part in the SNE Battery Day 2024 expo in Seoul this week to demonstrate its new battery technologies. The first batches from its pilot solid-state battery line have been delivered to EV makers, and they've been testing the cells for about six months now.

Links to stories: Reddit, NotebookCheck, PCmag

Samsung's oxide solid-state battery technology is rated for an energy density of about 500 Wh/kg, which is about double the density of mainstream EV batteries. Those have capacities that already allow more than 300 miles on a charge, so 600 miles of range in a similar footprint is not out of the question, but the issue is production costs.

Both Toyota and Samsung have vowed to begin mass solid-state battery production in 2027. Toyota, however, also advised that it will be installing them in premium electric cars under the Lexus brand first, so solid-state batteries won't reach mass market cars any time soon.

Submission + - Amazon, Microsoft, Google Remind Public of Their K-12 CS Education Philanthropy

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: After issuing mea culpas over diversity and compensation equity issues, tech companies began to promote their K-12 CS education philanthropy initiatives as corrective measures as they sought to deflect criticism and defeat shareholder calls for greater transparency into hiring and compensation practices. In 2016, for instance, Amazon argued it was already working with tech-backed nonprofits such as Code.org, the Anita Borg Institute, and Girls Who Code to increase women's and minorities' involvement in tech as it sought the SEC's permission to block a shareholder vote on a proposal on gender pay equality. As such, it wasn't terribly surprising to see the nation's tech giants again remind the public of their K-12 CS philanthropy efforts as they recently announced quarterly earnings.

In the Addressing Racial Injustice and Inequity section of its most recent 10-K Annual Report SEC filing, Microsoft boasted, "We also expanded our Technology Education and Learning Support ("TEALS") program to reach nearly 550 high schools across 21 racial equity expansion regions with the support of nearly 1,500 volunteers, 12% of whom identify as Black or African American."

An Amazon press release claimed the company is inspiring Girl Scouts to explore the future of STEM by awarding girls aged 7-and-up a co-branded Girl Scouts and Amazon patch for attending in-person or virtual Amazon warehouse tours. "As humanity looks to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for new ideas and discoveries," Amazon explained, "it is more important than ever to harness the unique insights, skills, and potential of girls. [..] That’s why Amazon partnered with Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) to host exclusive tours [of Amazon fulfillment centers] for troops around the nation to showcase the importance and diversity of careers in STEM."

Most recently, a press release celebrated the move of Google's Code Next high school program into a lab located in the newly-rehabbed Michigan Central Station, which has thus far enrolled approximately 100 students. "Google has called Michigan home for over 15 years with offices in Detroit and Ann Arbor. We’re dedicated to investing in the city and providing its students with the resources and inspiration they need to excel," said Shanika Hope, Director, Google Education and Social Impact. "We're excited to bring our Code Next program to Michigan Central, empowering Detroit's youth with computer science education to help them reach their full potential in the classroom and beyond."

Submission + - Mac and Windows Users Infected By Software Updates Delivered Over Hacked ISP (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Hackers delivered malware to Windows and Mac users by compromising their Internet service provider and then tampering with software updates delivered over unsecure connections, researchers said. The attack, researchers from security firm Volexity said, worked by hacking routers or similar types of device infrastructure of an unnamed ISP. The attackers then used their control of the devices to poison domain name system responses for legitimate hostnames providing updates for at least six different apps written for Windows or macOS. The apps affected were the 5KPlayer, Quick Heal, Rainmeter, Partition Wizard, and those from Corel and Sogou.

Because the update mechanisms didn’t use TLS or cryptographic signatures to authenticate the connections or downloaded software, the threat actors were able to use their control of the ISP infrastructure to successfully perform machine-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks that directed targeted users to hostile servers rather than the ones operated by the affected software makers. These redirections worked even when users employed non-encrypted public DNS services such as Google’s 8.8.8.8 or Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 rather than the authoritative DNS server provided by the ISP. “That is the fun/scary part—this was not the hack of the ISPs DNS servers,” Volexity CEO Steven Adair wrote in an online interview. “This was a compromise of network infrastructure for Internet traffic. The DNS queries, for example, would go to Google’s DNS servers destined for 8.8.8.8. The traffic was being intercepted to respond to the DNS queries with the IP address of the attacker’s servers.”

In other words, the DNS responses returned by any DNS server would be changed once it reached the infrastructure of the hacked ISP. The only way an end user could have thwarted the attack was to use DNS over HTTPS or DNS over TLS to ensure lookup results haven’t been tampered with or to avoid all use of apps that deliver unsigned updates over unencrypted connections. As an example, the 5KPlayer app uses an unsecure HTTP connection rather than an encrypted HTTPS one to check if an update is available and, if so, to download a configuration file named Youtube.config. StormBamboo, the name used in the industry to track the hacking group responsible, used DNS poisoning to deliver a malicious version of the Youtube.config file from a malicious server. This file, in turn, downloaded a next-stage payload that was disguised as a PNG image. In fact, it was an executable file that installed malware tracked under the names MACMA for macOS devices or POCOSTICK for Windows devices.

Submission + - Gamification Gets Drivers To Put Down Their Phones, Study Finds (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Distracted driving isn't only a result of drivers using their phones when they should be paying attention. But it is a significant cause of the problem, accounting for at least 13 percent of distracted driving deaths and rising to 1 in 5 for young drivers. Now, a study conducted with customers of the Progressive insurance company has tested different strategies to get those drivers to put their phones down in the car, and it found two that significantly reduced handheld use, with the effect persisting after the end of the study. The study recruited 1,653 customers already enrolled in its Progressive Snapshot program, which involves the use of a smartphone app that detects phone use while driving. Before the start of the trial, the participants all averaged more than 6.4 minutes per hour of handheld use while driving—Progressive says its safest customers have handheld usage of less than 1 minute per hour while driving. [...] Paying drivers on top of competitive gamification was the most effective way to get them to put down their phones. This group reduced its handheld usage by 27.6 percent, or 89 seconds/hour, compared to the control. That reduction was maintained at the same level throughout the post-intervention period for this arm.

Submission + - Did NASA Just Admit That Boeing's Starliner Is Doomed? (pjmedia.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Think of the space station docking ports as the most expensive and coveted parking spots on or above the Earth because that's exactly what they are. There are only a handful of them, reaching one costs tens of millions of dollars, and they're reserved months or even years in advance. And, needless to say, there's no possibility of double-parking. Every docking port needed by the next vehicle must first be vacated by the current one.

The dock currently occupied by Starliner is needed by a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule and its four astronauts set to fly the Crew-9 mission. Crew-9 is set for Aug. 18 and is scheduled to arrive at ISS a day or so later. (The exact details are sketchy.) Starliner has to be somewhere else by then, even if Wilmore and Williams aren't aboard it.

Before I get to the real news, understand that every delay in getting another capsule up to ISS has cascading effects down the line and that the station is nearing the end of its service life and will be deorbited in 2030.

This morning I learned that NASA is now considering bumping Crew-9 from Aug. 18 to Sept 24, which space journalist Eric Berger (the best in the business) called "a significant slip." The reason for the possible delay is a virtual confession that Wilmore and Williams will not be coming home on Starliner this week, next week, or ever.

Boeing needs the extra time to prepare Starliner for self-destruct.

Comment Takes work... (Score 0) 82

by muddysteel (#64213704) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How Can I Stop Security Firms From Harvesting My Data?
There are reasons for teams of professionals - direct employees and consultants - focusing on this topic. No one size fits, and if you do not understand a layered defense-in-depth, you are burned. Consider six rooms with six locked doors. How many barriers have to be figured out? Just one; the remainder are more of the same puzzle.

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