Author: Robin Edgar

Organisational Structures | Technology and Science | Military, IT and Lifestyle consultancy | Social, Broadcast & Cross Media | Flying aircraft

Want unemployment benefits in the US? You may have to submit to facial recognition with a little known company ID.me

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] Watkins, a self-described privacy advocate whose mother and grandmother shredded personal information when he was growing up, said he is unwilling to complete the identity verification process his state now requires, which includes having his face analyzed by a little-known company called ID.me. He sent a sharply worded letter to his state’s unemployment agency Read more about Want unemployment benefits in the US? You may have to submit to facial recognition with a little known company ID.me[…]

Litre of printer ink? That’ll be £2,410 please. One of the most expensive consumer liquids on the planet – 3rd party ink much cheaper, blocked by manufacturers…

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A Which? investigation has found that printer ink is one of the most expensive liquids consumers can purchase when bought from the big inkjet printer manufacturers – and people could save a small fortune by opting for third-party alternatives.  Which? research has uncovered that inkjet printer ink bought from the manufacturer could be up to Read more about Litre of printer ink? That’ll be £2,410 please. One of the most expensive consumer liquids on the planet – 3rd party ink much cheaper, blocked by manufacturers…[…]

Commission starts legal action against 23 EU countries over copyright rules they won’t implement that favour big tech over small business and forced censorship

Posted on by Robin Edgar

EU countries may be taken to court for their tardiness in enacting landmark EU copyright rules into national law, the European Commission said on Monday as it asked the group to explain the delays. The copyright rules, adopted two years ago, aim to ensure a level playing field between the European Union’s trillion-euro creative industries Read more about Commission starts legal action against 23 EU countries over copyright rules they won’t implement that favour big tech over small business and forced censorship[…]

You, too, can be a Windows domain controller and do whatever you like, with this trick which requires no authentication at all

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The security shortcoming can be exploited using the wonderfully named PetitPotam technique. It involves abusing Redmond’s MS-EFSRPC (Encrypting File System Remote Protocol) to take over a corporate Windows network. It seems ideal for penetration testers, and miscreants who have gained a foothold in a Windows network. Specifically, security researcher Gilles Lionel found it was possible Read more about You, too, can be a Windows domain controller and do whatever you like, with this trick which requires no authentication at all[…]

Russia’s Checkmate Light Tactical Fighter Is Officially Unveiled (Updated)

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The wraps have finally, officially, come off the mock-up of Russia’s new light fighter, the Sukhoi Checkmate, also known as the Light Tactical Aircraft, or LTS in Russian, with a formal unveiling at the opening of the MAKS international air show at Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, today. Observers who had been given a succession of tantalizing, Read more about Russia’s Checkmate Light Tactical Fighter Is Officially Unveiled (Updated)[…]

Japanese Police Arrest Man For Selling Modded Save Files For Single-Player Nintendo Game

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Japan’s onerous Unfair Competition Prevention Law has created what looks from here like a massive overreach on the criminalization of copyright laws. Past examples include Japanese journalism executives being arrested over a book that tells people how to back up their own DVDs, along with more high-profile cases in which arrests occurred over the selling Read more about Japanese Police Arrest Man For Selling Modded Save Files For Single-Player Nintendo Game[…]

Google fined €500m for not paying French publishers after copying their texts on search results

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Google was fined €500m ($590m, £425m) by the French Competition Authority on Tuesday for failing to negotiate fees with news publishers for using their content. In April last year, the regulator ruled the American search giant had to compensate French publishers for using snippets of their articles in Google News, citing European antitrust rules and Read more about Google fined €500m for not paying French publishers after copying their texts on search results[…]

Gmail to show your company logo in inbox if DMARC and BIMI authenticated

Posted on by Robin Edgar

After first announcing Gmail’s Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) pilot last year, today we’re announcing that over the coming weeks we’re rolling out Gmail’s general support of BIMI, an industry standard that aims to drive adoption of strong sender authentication for the entire email ecosystem […] BIMI enables organizations that authenticate their emails using Read more about Gmail to show your company logo in inbox if DMARC and BIMI authenticated[…]

Inside the Industry That Unmasks People at Scale: yup your mobile advertising ID isn’t anonymous either

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Tech companies have repeatedly reassured the public that trackers used to follow smartphone users through apps are anonymous or at least pseudonymous, not directly identifying the person using the phone. But what they don’t mention is that an entire overlooked industry exists to purposefully and explicitly shatter that anonymity. They do this by linking mobile Read more about Inside the Industry That Unmasks People at Scale: yup your mobile advertising ID isn’t anonymous either[…]

Fifteen Percent Of U.S. Air Force F-35s Don’t Have Working Engines

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A total of 46 F-35 stealth fighters are currently without functioning engines due to an ongoing problem with the heat-protective coating on their turbine rotor blades becoming worn out faster than was expected. With the engine maintenance center now facing a backlog on repair work, frontline F-35 fleets have been hit, with the U.S. Air Read more about Fifteen Percent Of U.S. Air Force F-35s Don’t Have Working Engines[…]

Using satellites to track tiny plastic particles and their concentration in the ocean

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Most data on microplastic concentrations comes from commercial and research ships that tow plankton nets—long, cone-shaped nets with very fine mesh designed for collecting marine microorganisms. But net trawling can sample only small areas and may be underestimating true plastic concentrations. Except in the North Atlantic and North Pacific gyres—large zones where ocean currents rotate, Read more about Using satellites to track tiny plastic particles and their concentration in the ocean[…]

Major crypto scammer sentenced to 15 years in prison

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The mastermind behind what the government says is one of the largest cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes prosecuted in the US has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. While crypto scams have been getting increasingly common, Swedish citizen Roger Nils-Jonas Karlsson defrauded thousands of victims and stole tens of millions of dollars over a period that Read more about Major crypto scammer sentenced to 15 years in prison[…]

Report shines light on REvil’s depressingly simple tactics: Phishing, credential-stuffing RDP servers… the usual

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Palo Alto Networks’ global threat intelligence team, Unit 42, has detailed the tactics ransomware group REvil has employed to great impact so far this year – along with an estimation of the multimillion-dollar payouts it’s receiving. […] The group, which provides what security wonks have come to term “Ransomware as a Service” or RAAS, has Read more about Report shines light on REvil’s depressingly simple tactics: Phishing, credential-stuffing RDP servers… the usual[…]

Three-dozen US states plus DC sue Google over Play Store’s revenue cut, payment system, and more

Posted on by Robin Edgar

As expected, Google is facing a fresh legal assault regarding its Play Store, the 30 per cent cut it took from developers’ revenues via the software souk, and other rules and restrictions. In an antitrust lawsuit [PDF] filed in a federal district court in San Francisco on Wednesday, 36 US states and commonwealths, plus Washington Read more about Three-dozen US states plus DC sue Google over Play Store’s revenue cut, payment system, and more[…]

OnePlus Admits to Throttling OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro for battery life

Posted on by Robin Edgar

After a recent investigation by Anandtech pointed out that a number of popular apps were experiencing sluggish performance on the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro, OnePlus has now admitted to throttling hundreds of popular apps to help “reduce power consumption.” Anandtech’s Andrei Frumusanu noticed that a number of popular browsers, including Google Chrome, performed Read more about OnePlus Admits to Throttling OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro for battery life[…]

This Crowdsourced Ransomware Payment Tracker Shows How Much Cybercriminals Have Heisted

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Ransomware attacks are on the rise, but quantifying the scope of the problem can be tricky when only the most high-profile cases make headlines. Enter Ransomwhere, […] Jack Cable, a security architect at the cybersecurity consulting firm Krebs Stamos Group, launched the site on Thursday. […] The way it works is Ransomwhere keeps a running Read more about This Crowdsourced Ransomware Payment Tracker Shows How Much Cybercriminals Have Heisted[…]

Iran’s Train System Hacked, Khamenei’s phone nr posted on station msg boards as help line

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Cyberattacks reportedly disrupted Iran’s railway system on Friday, causing “unprecedented chaos” at stations throughout the country, according to state media. The hackers, whoever they are, also reportedly trolled the nation’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, posting his phone number as “the number to call for information” on multiple train station message boards, Reuters reports. According to Read more about Iran’s Train System Hacked, Khamenei’s phone nr posted on station msg boards as help line[…]

Samsung Washing Machine App Requires Access to Your Contacts and Location

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A series of Samsung apps that allow customers to control their internet-connected appliances require access to all the phone’s contacts and, in some cases, the phone call app, phone’s location, and camera. Customers have been furious about this for years. On Wednesday, a Reddit user complained that their washing machine app, the Samsung Smart Washer, Read more about Samsung Washing Machine App Requires Access to Your Contacts and Location[…]

Richard Branson becomes first billionaire in space

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The rocket ship launched the 70-year-old and his crew from Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert. Tropical storms had delayed the launch before setting off at around 3.30pm. Branson – known as ‘Astronaut 001’ – soared into space in his blue spacesuit aboard Virgin Space Ship Unity, a 62ft rocket-powered space plane nestled between Read more about Richard Branson becomes first billionaire in space[…]

HOTAS, HOSAS, Dual Joysticks, Omnithrottle, Space and Flight sim controllers

Posted on by Robin Edgar

What are these terms and how do they work in terms of control schemes? In this world you generally get what you pay for – if it’s cheap, then it’s probably plasticky and nasty. If it’s expensive, then it’s probably high quality. Saitek and Logitech have equipment running from low to midrange. Thrustmaster from mid Read more about HOTAS, HOSAS, Dual Joysticks, Omnithrottle, Space and Flight sim controllers[…]

Report: Russian Cyber Spies Recently Hacked the RNC

Posted on by Robin Edgar

According to a new investigation from Bloomberg, cyber spies connected to the Russian government recently hacked into the Republican National Committee—though the RNC has denied that their systems were breached in this way. According to Bloomberg, the hacker group known as “Cozy Bear”—thought to be connected to Russia’s intelligence service, the SVR—conducted the intrusion, though Read more about Report: Russian Cyber Spies Recently Hacked the RNC[…]

DRM Strikes Again: Ubisoft Makes Its Own Game Unplayable By Shutting Down DRM Server

Posted on by Robin Edgar

DRM has shown time after time to be of almost no hindrance whatsoever for those seeking to pirate video games, but has done an excellent job of hindering those who actually bought the game in playing what they’ve bought. Ubisoft, in particular, has had issues with this over the years, with DRM servers failing and Read more about DRM Strikes Again: Ubisoft Makes Its Own Game Unplayable By Shutting Down DRM Server[…]

Researchers retrofit microscopes to take 3D images of cells in real-time

Posted on by Robin Edgar

There’s a limit to what you can learn about cells from 2D pictures, but creating 3D images is a time-intensive process. Now, scientists from UT Southwestern have developed a new “simple and cost-effective” device capable of capturing multi-angle photos that can be retrofitted onto existing lab microscopes. The team say their solution — which involves Read more about Researchers retrofit microscopes to take 3D images of cells in real-time[…]