tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48480464309243936092024-03-24T00:09:44.965-07:00Cyber Security AgencyColly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.comBlogger4838125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-27542560774100664672017-06-19T14:37:00.001-07:002017-06-19T14:37:09.919-07:00Estonia Ranked Best In Europe Cyber Security<div id="attachment_1794" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="wp-image-1794 size-medium" src="https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Estonia-ranked-number-1-in-cyber-security-300x209.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="209" srcset="https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Estonia-ranked-number-1-in-cyber-security-300x209.jpg 300w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Estonia-ranked-number-1-in-cyber-security-768x536.jpg 768w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Estonia-ranked-number-1-in-cyber-security.jpg 1020w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
<p class="wp-caption-text">Estonia ranked number 1 in cybersecurity in Europe</p>
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<p>Estonia’s cyber security efforts have been ranked first in Europe and fifth in the rest of the world. The announcement for cyber excellence for Estonia was announced at the World Summit on Information Security Forum on Thursday. The country has largely been seen as a big innovator in the Internet-enabled government.</p>
<p>The International Telecommunication Union also announced the latest GCI (Global Security Index) where it called the cybersecurity commitment of Estonia and other countries commendable. They were referring especially to a series of cyber security attacks in 2007 which took down many Estonian websites.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.scmagazineuk.com/estonian-cyber-security-ranks-best-in-europe-fifth-in-the-world/article/669379/">Read more details</a></p>
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Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-8945138706293293202017-06-13T16:50:00.001-07:002017-06-13T16:50:14.504-07:00Palo Alto Will Colaborate With Girl Scouts For Cyber Security Badges<div id="attachment_1762" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="wp-image-1762 size-medium" src="https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/cybersecurity-girl-scout-badges-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/cybersecurity-girl-scout-badges-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/cybersecurity-girl-scout-badges-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/cybersecurity-girl-scout-badges.jpg 851w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
<p class="wp-caption-text">Palo Alto and Girl Scouts will provide girls with cyber security badges</p>
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<p>Palo Alto Networks, best known for being one of the best next generation of cyber security companies is joining up with the Girl Scouts of USA to deliver country’s first ever national girl scout cybersecurity badges for girls that are in the grade K-12.</p>
<p>These badges will be earned by girls and they will then display it on their uniforms to show their mastery on a given topic. The initiative will be led by cybersecurity experts and advisers from the Palo Alto Networks and GSUSA. The first series will see 18 cybersecurity badges being rolled out.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/palo-alto-networks-and-girl-scouts-of-the-usa-announce-collaboration-for-first-ever-national-cybersecurity-badges-300473336.html">Read more details</a></p>
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Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-53640432118069501412017-05-30T10:37:00.001-07:002017-05-30T10:37:49.063-07:00Cybersecurity businesses are getting busy, guess why?<div id="attachment_1724" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="wp-image-1724" src="https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/business-overcharge-cybersecurity-1024x683.jpeg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/business-overcharge-cybersecurity-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/business-overcharge-cybersecurity-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/business-overcharge-cybersecurity-768x513.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
<p class="wp-caption-text">are cybersecurity businesses taking advantage of the wannacry ransomware attack?</p>
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<p>If you haven’t heard already, last 2 weeks have been chaotic in the business world because of the Wannacry malware attack that took down as many as 200,000 machines in just a few days.</p>
<p>Now some cybersecurity companies are cashing on the attack by raising the prices of their services because right now the demand for cyber security is so high that it is almost impossible for businesses to not seek out help from professionals.</p>
<p>But do businesses really need to rely on cyber security companies or should they be more concerned about their own cybersecurity culture inside the business?</p>
<p><a href="http://billingsgazette.com/business/features/billings-cyber-security-businesses-getting-busier-in-the-wake-of/article_f86682d1-abaf-5f66-8358-b87362a7265e.html">read more details</a></p>
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Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-53056947477908468822017-05-17T10:15:00.001-07:002017-05-17T10:15:22.680-07:0011 Year old boy hacked cyber security professionals Bluetooth devices to control teddy bear<div id="attachment_1692" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="wp-image-1692" src="https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/robot-teddy-bear-hacking-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/robot-teddy-bear-hacking-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/robot-teddy-bear-hacking-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/robot-teddy-bear-hacking-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/robot-teddy-bear-hacking.jpg 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
<p class="wp-caption-text">11 year old boy took control of a robotic teddy bear</p>
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<p>An 11-year-old boy shocked an audience consisting of cyber security experts by hacking into their devices with Bluetooth to control a robot teddy bear. With this, he proved that interconnected smart toys can easily be weaponized.</p>
<p>Reuben Paul is just in 6th grade in an Austin, Texas-based school and his toy teddy bear is the reason why so many people were wowed that day.</p>
<p>Whatever he did, it does confirm that whether it’s a plane or a car, anything that is connected to the internet of things can be manipulated and easily hacked to use against its owner.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/17/boy-11-hacks-cyber-security-audience-to-give-lesson-on-weaponisation-of-toys">Read more details </a></p>
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Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-8001875501581888082017-05-08T13:05:00.001-07:002017-05-08T13:05:14.383-07:00Is AI The Future of cybersecurity<div id="attachment_1647" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="wp-image-1647" src="https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/AI-is-the-future-of-cybersecurity-1024x689.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="202" srcset="https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/AI-is-the-future-of-cybersecurity-1024x689.jpg 1024w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/AI-is-the-future-of-cybersecurity-300x202.jpg 300w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/AI-is-the-future-of-cybersecurity-768x517.jpg 768w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/AI-is-the-future-of-cybersecurity.jpg 1049w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
<p class="wp-caption-text">Artificial Intelligence is the future of cybersecurity</p>
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<p>As AI becomes more capable and intelligent, it could become the future of cyber security by fighting back automated and sophisticated social engineered cyber attacks. The same could be said in reverse.</p>
<p>With AI becoming more powerful and accessible, even cyber criminals could use to create a wave of cyber attacks such as data hacks, thefts, and penetrations. So experts believe our best defense against such attacks would be to use AI.</p>
<p>Even today in some large corporations with big cybersecurity budgets are using AI to defend against sophisticated attacks. This points out to a viable future of AI in cyber security which isn’t too far behind now.</p>
<p><a href="https://hbr.org/2017/05/ai-is-the-future-of-cybersecurity-for-better-and-for-worse">Read more details</a></p>
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Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-56571409655877964082017-04-27T09:23:00.001-07:002017-04-27T09:23:33.961-07:00New Buy Only American Rule Could Seriously Hurt Pentagon Tech Buying<div id="attachment_1606" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="wp-image-1606" src="https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Chinese-tried-to-hack-U.S-Missiles.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="192" srcset="https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Chinese-tried-to-hack-U.S-Missiles.jpg 945w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Chinese-tried-to-hack-U.S-Missiles-300x192.jpg 300w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Chinese-tried-to-hack-U.S-Missiles-768x492.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
<p class="wp-caption-text">Cybersecurity firm has enough evidence to believe Chinese hackers tried to hack US-built missiles</p>
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<p>Ex-officials from the Pentagon are warning that newly tightened ‘Buy American’ rules that ask the government to buy U.S made only products could seriously hurt the military’s ability to buy technology which is often not necessarily made in America.</p>
<p>The issue was raised at the house hearing about Pentagon’s IT operations. The hearing took place one week after President Donald Trump revealed his Buy American and Hire American order.</p>
<p>This could seriously limit the ability to get the best weapon systems for the warfighters. The hearing mostly agreed on the fact that it could seriously hamper technology buying at the Pentagon.</p>
<p><a href="http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/330752-former-officials-say-tightened-buy-american-provisions-could-hurt">Read more details </a></p>
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Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-39510163780427219432017-04-17T07:45:00.001-07:002017-04-17T07:45:34.092-07:00Argus Cyber Security Shocks The World After They Successfully Hack A Car<div id="attachment_1562" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="wp-image-1562" src="https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cyber-security-for-cars.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cyber-security-for-cars.jpg 982w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cyber-security-for-cars-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cyber-security-for-cars-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
<p class="wp-caption-text">cyber security for cars is in question</p>
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<p>Argus Cyber Security is well known in the automotive industry. The company revealed that it was able to successfully hack into a car’s internal system through the internet communication system by using a simple device that is installed by insurance companies that track driving patterns. This device is specially added in the car for enabling in-car Wi-Fi.</p>
<p>Argus Cyber Security disabled the fuel pump as soon as it hacked into the car. The fuel pump only goes off in an event of an accident. Although Argus did not reveal which vehicle it hacked successfully, it did raise a lot of questions when it comes to the security of cars.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.pymnts.com/news/security-and-risk/2017/argus-cyber-security-hacks-car-using-dongle-device-cybercrime-bluetooth-data-transmitter-israeli/">Read more details </a></p>
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Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-87844024794258402542017-03-30T08:05:00.001-07:002017-03-30T08:05:25.134-07:00What is the best defence against ransomware?<div class="mceTemp">
<div id="attachment_1511" class="wp-caption alignright" style="margin-left: 2em; width: 942px"><img class="wp-image-1511" src="https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ING_52643_00384.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ING_52643_00384.jpg 932w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ING_52643_00384-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cybersecurityportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ING_52643_00384-768x513.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />protect yourself against ransomware</div>
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<p>Ransomware has quickly become one of the most damaging and powerful malicious software that is responsible for downtime in systems of a business. Ransomware is so dangerous that if you become a victim of it, there is no way out of it until you have paid the ransom.</p>
<p>The only way to save your system from ransomware is to <a href="http://kb.winzip.com/kb/entry/12/">backup your data</a>. Here are a couple of ways how you can secure your system from getting infected with ransomware in the first place:</p>
<p>You have to make sure that you have backup administrator accounts made on every system in your business or home. This is because hackers are aware that people are backing up their data and they are now mostly targeting backups first before going for the actual data. This can only be done if they get access to administrative rights on the system.</p>
<p>You need to have some sort of <a href="http://searchcloudprovider.techtarget.com/definition/cloud-services">cloud service</a> to help upload and manage different versions of your backup data. You should ideally back up your important data one file at a time because it takes time to get data file by file. If a folder is uploaded, anyone can simply get access and quickly download all the files.</p>
<p>To fully prevent your system from getting ransomware infection, you must be able to put up preventative methods in place. This includes as mentioned above, regular backups of your data on different systems and administrative accounts. Also, back up your data off the system on an external drive to double up your preventative measures.</p>
<p>With these security measures in place, even if ransomware somehow locks your data, you’ll always have a backup to restore.</p>
<p>Moreover, most ransomware makes their way into your system through the internet. If you regularly browse random websites on the internet, make sure you never click on things that you are not familiar with.</p>
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Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-23660694972824282332017-03-22T08:22:00.007-07:002017-03-22T08:22:30.202-07:00How Mignon Clyburn, the FCC’s Lone Democrat, Is Fighting to Save Net Neutrality<p>As President Trump's Republican Federal Communications Commission chief <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/net-neutrality-advocates-blast-trumps-new-fcc-boss-ajit-pai">Ajit Pai</a> moves to roll back a variety of Obama-era initiatives, the agency's sole remaining Democrat, Mignon Clyburn, is mounting a vigorous defense of the FCC's pro-consumer policies.</p>
<p>With Republicans now in charge of the FCC, Clyburn faces the unfamiliar situation of being in the minority at an agency where she spent years working with her Democratic colleagues to craft <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/fcc-chairman-tom-wheeler-net-neutrality-champion-says-hell-step-down">the most progressive FCC policies in a generation</a>, including newly-threatened rules protecting <a href="https://t.co/77TvWpsw9f" target="_blank">net neutrality</a>, the principle that all internet content should be equally accessible to consumers.</p>
<p>During a wide-ranging interview with Motherboard this week, Clyburn vowed to continue fighting to advance net neutrality, as well as her other signature priorities, including <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/fcc-lifeline-program-modernized">expanding affordable broadband access</a> for low-income and underserved communities, and addressing what she calls the "extreme market failure" that forces prison inmates and their families to pay <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/fcc-official-most-americans-dont-care-about-prison-phone-exploitation">wildly exorbitant phone rates</a> just to stay in touch with their loved ones.</p>
<p>"I'm no longer in the majority, but my mission and my objectives are the same," said Clyburn. "I came here almost eight years ago to ensure that the voices that have not been traditionally heard will have a person representing them. And as long as I'm here, I'll be a voice for those who deserve one."</p>
<p>Clyburn, a 55-year-old South Carolina native who earlier in her career <a href="http://www.psc.sc.gov/commissioners/Pages/clyburn.aspx" target="_blank">spent more than a decade</a> serving on her home state's Public Service Commission, was appointed to the FCC by former President Obama in 2009. Since then, Clyburn has built a reputation as a passionate advocate for the public interest and a tireless champion of policies designed to close the nation's "<a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/systemic-racial-discrimination-worsens-the-us-digital-divide-study-says">digital divide</a>" between those who enjoy internet access and those who lack it.</p>
<p>"Mignon Clyburn is fast achieving heroic status, her voice ringing out in defense of consumer and citizen rights," former FCC commissioner Michael Copps, who now serves as a special adviser at DC-based public interest group Common Cause, told Motherboard. "Whether the issue is protecting the open internet, safeguarding our right to online privacy, or championing broadband for every American, Commissioner Clyburn leads the way."</p>
<p>"I know because I worked alongside her at the FCC and have watched her since," Copps added. "We should all be grateful for her dedicated service."</p>
<p>Clyburn is well aware that she has limited tools at her disposal to resist the Republican effort to roll back many of the FCC's consumer protections. Trump's pick to lead the agency, former Verizon lawyer Ajit Pai, has broad latitude to set the FCC's agenda. That's one reason why Clyburn <a href="https://twitter.com/MClyburnFCC" target="_blank">has taken to Twitter</a> to rally grassroots support for her public interest philosophy using the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ConsumersFirst?src=hash" target="_blank"><i>#ConsumersFirst</i></a>.</p>
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<p>"Mignon Clyburn's passion for ensuring that communications networks are open, universally accessible and affordable is unmatched," said Gigi Sohn, a top counselor to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. "In every action she has taken since she joined the FCC in 2009, the public interest has come first."</p>
<p>For Clyburn, affordable broadband access is not a luxury item like cable television—as some <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/republican-fcc-commissioner-you-dont-need-the-internet">conservative Republicans have suggested</a>—but a necessity of modern life that's essential for economic growth, free speech and citizen empowerment.</p>
<p>"Not having access to the internet is very disabling, it's crippling honestly, for anyone who needs to know what's happening in their community and wants to improve their lives," Clyburn told Motherboard. "If you are unable to have access to the most empowering, liberating, and open platform of our time, meaning the internet, then you will increasingly be behind the information eightball."</p>
<p>Last year, Clyburn <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/fcc-lifeline-program-modernized">led the FCC's push</a> to modernize the agency's Reagan-era Lifeline phone-subsidy program to include broadband access for low-income people, in a move hailed by public interest advocates as a much-needed step toward closing the digital divide. But new FCC Chairman Pai has <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/trumps-new-fcc-chief-just-opened-the-floodgates-for-zero-rating?utm_source=mbtwitter">already begun chipping away</a> at Lifeline by informing nine telecom companies that they won't be able to offer affordable broadband service to low-income people under the program.</p>
<p>Pai's action drew a strong rebuke from Clyburn, who has pledged to continue fighting Republican attempts to undermine the Lifeline program. "Taking steps to ensure that the digital and opportunities divide is closed, has always been a top priority for me," she said at a <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/342676246/Clyburn-Remarks-at-Mmtc-Digital-Equity" target="_blank">telecom policy event this week</a>. "That will never change. But what I hope will change, is for affordable communications to be a priority for us all."<br /></p>
<p>"We should not stand silent as consumer protections 'go gentle into that good night.'"</p>
<p>In 2015, Clyburn joined her Democratic colleagues, former FCC Chairman <a href="https://t.co/hGq2GlMaBT" target="_blank">Tom Wheeler</a> and former FCC Commissioner <a href="https://t.co/0AIaLTgtbz" target="_blank">Jessica Rosenworcel</a>, in approving the agency's landmark Open Internet order, which established strong rules <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/net-neutrality-appeals-court">protecting net neutrality</a> by barring internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking legal internet content or creating online fast lanes.</p>
<p>The FCC's net neutrality safeguards are now under threat from agency chief Ajit Pai, who has <a href="https://t.co/8tbd24o7jZ" target="_blank">made no secret of his intention</a> to torpedo the rules. (He recently called the FCC's net neutrality policy "<a href="http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/28/14761510/fcc-chairman-ajit-pai-says-net-neutrality-was-a-mistake" target="_blank">a mistake</a>.") Last month, Pai took the first step toward rolling back the rules by <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/it-begins-trumps-fcc-launches-attack-on-net-neutrality-transparency-rules?utm_source=mbtwitter">voting to eliminate</a> open internet transparency protections for millions of consumers.</p>
<p>In response to that setback, Clyburn vowed to fight to preserve the FCC's net neutrality policy. "This represents yet another in a series of steps being taken to jettison pro-consumer initiatives, and we should not stand silent as consumer protections 'go gentle into that good night,'" she said at the agency's <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/it-begins-trumps-fcc-launches-attack-on-net-neutrality-transparency-rules?utm_source=mbtwitter">February open meeting</a>, quoting the Welsh poet <a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/01/24/dylan-thomas-do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/" target="_blank">Dylan Thomas</a>.</p>
<p>Net neutrality is an essential safeguard for free speech in the digital age, in order to protect the First Amendment rights of journalists, political organizers and everyday citizens from government pressure on ISPs to stifle online freedom of expression, according to Clyburn. (Public interest advocates say that's <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/heres-why-net-neutrality-is-essential-in-trumps-america?utm_source=mbtwitter">particularly true under President Trump</a>, who has launched <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/does-trumps-fcc-chief-ajit-pai-think-the-press-is-the-enemy-he-wont-say?utm_source=mbtwitter">multiple attacks on the press</a>, including calling news organizations "the enemy" of the American people.)</p>
<p>Clyburn knows what's she talking about—after all, she used to be a journalist herself. Clyburn launched her career in the mid-1980's working for <i>The Coastal Times</i>, a weekly newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina, where she would eventually hold the roles of editor, general manager, and publisher during more than a decade in journalism.</p>
<p>"I take pride in our nation's respect for its media as a necessary check and balance on all of us," Clyburn told Motherboard. "And I would not have been a part, even a small part, of the media landscape if I did not respect what the media stands for and what its sole purpose is in a fully functional democracy."</p>
<p>"I will continue to press forward to ensure that inmates and their families receive just, reasonable, and fair phone rates."</p>
<p>Perhaps no issue is <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/fcc-official-most-americans-dont-care-about-prison-phone-exploitation">more closely identified</a> with Clyburn than inmate calling reform. Incarcerated people in state and federal correctional facilities nationwide have <a href="http://time.com/4048328/fcc-prison-calls/" target="_blank">long faced astronomical calling rates</a>—in some cases more than $20 for a 15-minute call, according to Clyburn—thanks to what criminal justice reform advocates call "usurious" practices by two companies, Securus Technologies and Global Tel*Link, that control the $1.2 billion prison phone market.</p>
<p>"The inmate calling regime is the greatest and most distressing form of injustice I have witnessed in my 18 years as an industry regulator," Clyburn <a href="http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db0308/DOC-343813A1.pdf" target="_blank">testified before Congress</a> earlier this month.</p>
<p>Last October, the FCC <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/fcc-votes-to-cap-egregious-prison-phone-charges">approved caps</a> on inmate calling rates of 11 cents to 22 cents per minute on both interstate and in-state calls from prisons. (The agency <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-adopts-sustainable-affordable-inmate-calling-rates" target="_blank">later revised</a> those caps to 13 cents to 31 cents per minute.) Securus and Global Tel*Link promptly sued the FCC, objecting to the rate caps. Securus CEO Richard Smith <a href="http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/03/prison-phone-company-says-price-cap-enforcement-will-cause-jail-unrest/" target="_blank">went so far as to claim</a> that the rate caps would cause "jail unrest."</p>
<p>The case is currently pending in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. Last month, in one of FCC Chairman's Pai's first actions, the agency dismayed prison reform advocates by announcing that it would <a href="http://src.bna.com/lRc" target="_blank">no longer defend</a> the in-state rate caps. Pai has long argued that the in-state caps exceed the FCC's legal authority. Thus, it now falls to third-party advocates to defend the caps.</p>
<p>But Clyburn is not giving up on her years-long quest to ease the burden of exorbitant prison phone rates on incarcerated people and their loved ones. "Regardless of how the court rules, I will continue to press forward to ensure that inmates and their families receive just, reasonable, and fair phone rates," said Clyburn. "Justice demands it, and so do I."</p>
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from How Mignon Clyburn, the FCC’s Lone Democrat, Is Fighting to Save Net Neutrality
Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-33178246014823750292017-03-22T08:22:00.005-07:002017-03-22T08:22:29.598-07:00Google Street View Cars Are Mapping Methane Leaks in US Cities<p>Contrary to what Scott Pruitt <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/epa-head-scott-pruitt-doesnt-think-co2-contributes-to-climate-change-hes-wrong">thinks</a>, carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to climate change. But it's not the most potent greenhouse gas. That's methane. And <a href="https://www.edf.org/energy/methaneleakage" target="_blank">small leaks</a> of it are spilling out of gas lines all over the country.</p>
<p>Finding the leaks, however, is another problem. So researchers from Colorado State University (CSU), in partnership with Google Earth Outreach, have equipped Google Street View cars with infrared methane detectors to find leaks in cities around the country so they can be repared.Their project is described in a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b06095" target="_blank">new paper</a> published in <i>Environmental Science and Technology</i>.</p>
<p>Methane is emitted from natural gas, and has 80 times the warming power of carbon over a 20 year timeframe. Gas line leaks in cities are particularly pernicious, because they lie underground and can go unnoticed for decades. If <a href="https://www.edf.org/energy/methaneleakage" target="_blank">only</a> 8 percent of the largest leaks in the US were fixed, methane emissions would fall nationwide by 30 percent. But most utility companies and local governments don't have the resources and time to find them.</p>
<p>"That's where we come in," said Joe von Fischer, lead researcher and biologist at CSU in a statement. "Our goal is to make it faster, cheaper and easier to find and measure methane leaks from natural gas lines to help accelerate crucial repairs."</p>
<p>The Google Street View cars "see" methane plumes in real time using an infrared laser methane analyzer. Methane shows up like fog clouds in the infrared spectrum. The four equipped cars currently underway have already mapped 11 cities, including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Staten Island, NYC. Boston and Staten Island, with their old corrosive pipelines, were the most flatulent.</p>
<p>It's interesting that the project is using greenhouse gas emitting vehicles to find leaks of greenhouse gas emissions, but at least they're making use of cars already out on the road and not new ones.</p>
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from Google Street View Cars Are Mapping Methane Leaks in US Cities
Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-40384381993870507852017-03-22T08:22:00.003-07:002017-03-22T08:22:29.095-07:00The Fight to Protect This Swath of Wilderness Is Going to Canada’s Supreme CourtColly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-3362572765210562802017-03-22T08:22:00.001-07:002017-03-22T08:22:28.328-07:00Congrats if You Wanted the New 'Power Rangers' Movie to Be a Young Adult Saga<p>Let me sing a few praises for the Power Rangers movie. Not the new one, <i>Power Rangers</i>, but the first feature film from 1995, released during the original craze and directed by Bryan Spicer, who also directed the 1997 movie based on <i>McHale's Navy</i>. It has six karate kids fighting a giant puppet dinosaur skeleton. It has a mightily winking subplot about parents turning into consumer zombies because of a gooey toy their kids have made a fad. And it has Australian actress Gabrielle Fitzpatrick dressed up like Jill of the Jungle before turning into an owl.</p>
<p>It's not a very good movie, but it knew who was sitting in the theater: kids who wanted to see television's rainbow warriors fight slime robots on the big screen, and parents dragged along with them. Children's fare diced up with coy remarks and exposed skin like the glamorous mermaids in the original Peter Pan productions. By comparison, I have no idea who 2017's <i>Power Rangers</i> movie is intended for.</p>
<p>It has been more than 10,000 years since the evil Rita Repulsa was free. Defeated by the same asteroid that doomed the dinosaurs, which was summoned by Zordon (a nude Bryan Cranston) in desperation, the space witch was a corpse floatin' in the ocean for millions of years before being unceremoniously caught in a fish net. As Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks) relaunches her campaign to destroy the universe, a breakfast club led by disgraced quarterback Jason (Dacre Montgomery) and mineral nerd Billy (RJ Cyler) discover magical stones that give them superpowers and color coordination. The rest is a young adult MadLib, limitless teen angst with all the nouns and adverbs filled in with "the pit," "morph" and "Putties." Most of the film is spent in a literal hole or looking at photos stuck to a fridge.</p>
<p>Everyone has a contemporary personal issue and about four minutes to talk about it.</p>
<p><i>Power Rangers</i> is a little bit <i>Transformers</i>, but it's a lot a bit <i>Twilight</i>. They've relocated Angel Grove from the rollerskating California to the husked out Pacific Northwest, a better bittersweet setting for airing anxieties about the future, broken homes and a passing cameo by sexuality. Everyone has a contemporary personal issue and about four minutes to talk about it. Played straight, it would have been a droll two hours mimicking a genre <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/lionsgate-slash-ascendant-budget-as-877141" target="_blank">that until recently was money in the bank</a>. The funniest fucking thing in the world is that not everyone got the memo.</p>
<p>Elizabeth Banks seems to be acting out of protest; her Rita Repulsa is from a better movie. She treats the role as anyone who was told their name is "Rita Repulsa" would, like they're in a karate movie for children. Instead of playing to the high school confidential tone like most of the film, she's constantly yelling about gold and Krispy Kreme (the donut shop plays a pivotal role in the film).</p>
<p>In the same sequence where the Rangers sit around a campfire and talk about their insecurities and which parents among the dead and dying they miss the most, we also jump to Repulsa looting a jewelry store. She barges in with a staff made out of teeth, eats several necklaces and gives a cop a googly eyed stare that befits her better than it did Jared Leto in <i>Suicide Squad</i>. By the time it's a free-for-all between melty goop monsters and robot dinosaurs, she's the only one who doesn't feel completely out of place in weekday afternoon wackyland.</p>
<p>It's a square peg movie. The original, millennial consumer base of the 90s series won't appreciate waiting through two hours for a victorious Megazord instead of 18 minutes. The tweenage consumer base for young adult cinema has better, more dystopian places to be. The kids, the main audience for Power Rangers until now, don't even get scraps.</p>
<p>Bring back sweaty actors doing karate in foam costumes.</p>
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from Congrats if You Wanted the New 'Power Rangers' Movie to Be a Young Adult Saga
Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-80948119291677096672017-03-22T05:52:00.003-07:002017-03-22T05:52:29.522-07:00Is the dark really making me sad?Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-21214987163640533222017-03-22T05:52:00.001-07:002017-03-22T05:52:28.801-07:00Red-light camera grace period goes from 0.1 to 0.3 seconds, Chicago to lose $17MColly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-67953725017859652012017-03-21T19:12:00.001-07:002017-03-21T19:12:07.350-07:00Amid boycott, Google changes ad policy to give advertisers more controlColly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-53017109352260080062017-03-21T09:42:00.019-07:002017-03-21T09:42:30.432-07:00A Court Will Decide if a GIF Can Be Considered a ‘Deadly Weapon'<p>On Monday, a suspect faced federal charges in a Dallas County court for allegedly sending a strobing GIF that triggered a seizure in Kurt Eichenwald, a Newsweek writer with epilepsy, late last year.</p>
<p>Light-induced seizures have been fought with lawsuits and TV bans in the past. But like something out of <i>Black Mirror</i>, they've had their day in what's likely the first criminal trial over a seizure induced via the internet.</p>
<p>The case has similarities with previous complaints over videos, often with bright flashing lights, that triggered seizures. For example, a scene from a 1997 episode of <i>Pok</i><i>é</i><i>mon</i>, in which Pikachu launches a lightning attack, <a href="https://kotaku.com/5757570/the-banned-pokemon-episode-that-gave-children-seizures" target="_blank">reportedly</a> hospitalized some 685 children.</p>
<p>Eichenwald, who has been <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15430924" target="_blank">vocal</a> about his <a href="http://media.npr.org/documents/2007/oct/neurologist.pdf" target="_blank">epilepsy</a> in the past, <a href="https://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8192819/rivello-complaint.0.pdf" target="_blank">allegedly</a> suffered an eight-minute seizure in December after opening a tweet containing the flashing GIF and a message that read: "you deserve a seizure for your posts." Eichenwald's wife found him and called 911. The FBI later arrested one John Rivello, who has been <a href="http://fox6now.com/2017/03/20/assault-charge-filed-after-tweet-sent-to-journalist-with-epilepsy/" target="_blank">charged</a> with cyberstalking and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.</p>
<p>"The implications I think are very simple, that several law enforcement authorities will not tolerate people attacking journalists even if they're using new technological tools like a Twitter message," Eichenwald's lawyer, Steven Lieberman, told Motherboard.</p>
<p><b>Read more:</b> <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/so-how-exactly-does-a-gif-cause-a-seizure"><b>So How Exactly Does a GIF Cause a Seizure?</b></a></p>
<p>Cases like this have strong implications for the roughly <a href="http://www.epilepsy.com/article/2014/3/shedding-light-photosensitivity-one-epilepsys-most-complex-conditions" target="_blank">10,000 people</a> with photosensitive epilepsy in the US. For this small percentage of the 2.7 million total Americans who suffer epilepsy, innocent-seeming everyday activities can pose a danger.</p>
<p>"There are potential environmental threats everywhere: theaters, dance clubs, rock concerts, the Internet, the street and at home," <a href="http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/epilepsy-statistics" target="_blank">warns</a> the nonprofit Epilepsy Foundation. Certain light colors and speeds may be more <a href="http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/ask/curiosities/curiosities-can-flashing-lights-really-cause-seizures/article_b43256c2-a0db-11e1-a8df-0019bb2963f4.html" target="_blank">harmful</a> than others.</p>
<p>Lawsuits have plagued video game creators since at least 1991, when Douglas L. Webster, a Michigan lawyer, <a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1991-01-25/news/9101250649_1_photosensitive-nintendo-epileptic" target="_blank">sued</a> Nintendo after a 15-year-old girl had a seizure. And in 2004, Nintendo was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2004/apr/18/theobserver.observerbusiness6" target="_blank">accused</a> of knowing that its games caused seizures.</p>
<p>Eichenwald's case has been met with some skepticism, given the journalist's <a href="https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/10/kurt-eichenwalds-deception-and-newsweeks-ostrich-s.html" target="_blank">track record</a> of somewhat misleading reporting. Some have questioned why his wife would take the time to tweet as her husband was having a seizure.</p>
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<p>Part of the doubt may come from sheer surprise that just a GIF could put someone in danger. Though counterintuitive, studies have <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1528-1167.2005.31405.x/full" target="_blank">chronicled</a> light's effect on this small portion of those with epilepsy.</p>
<p>Eichenwald's case has less to do with expression and more to do with any physical harm he suffered.</p>
<p>"This doesn't even get in the door of the First Amendment," Danielle Citron, a legal scholar at the University of Maryland, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/seizure-inducing-tweet-leads-to-a-new-kind-of-prosecution-for-a-new-kind-of-crime/2017/03/18/c5915468-0c10-11e7-b77c-0047d15a24e0_story.html?utm_term=.55189bac00a0" target="_blank">told the <i>Washington Post</i></a>. "It doesn't have expressive value… It doesn't express someone's autonomy of views and opinions."</p>
<p>The video, to the prosecution, was far from accidental. "It's very clear that he knew he had epilepsy," Lieberman said. "Here they saw a special vulnerability and they exploited it."</p>
<p>Videos like the one that Rivello allegedly sent Eichenwald are easy to find on the internet; Eichenwald <a href="https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/842754912249434112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">claimed</a> that he had been sent at least 40 last year.</p>
<p>In 2008, the Epilepsy Foundation had to shut down a forum after <a href="https://archive.wired.com/politics/security/news/2008/03/epilepsy" target="_blank">trolls</a> posted seizure-inducing imagery. RyAnne Fultz, who suffers from a type of epilepsy that is triggered by patterns, clicked the wrong link. Bright flashing colors filled the screen. "It was a spike of pain in my head," she told <i>Wired</i> at the time. "And the lockup, that only happens with really bad ones. I don't think I've had a seizure like that in about a year," she said.</p>
<p>Some countries have made special protections. Eighteen people reported seizures from an animation of the 2012 London Olympics logo, prompting the United Kingdom to <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6728071.stm" target="_blank">adopt</a> television guidelines. Japan created similar <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/20/world/after-flashing-causes-seizures-japan-re-evaluates-tv-cartoons.html" target="_blank">guidelines</a> following the Pokemon incident.</p>
<p>On Monday, a grand jury referral increased Rivello's <a href="http://fox6now.com/2017/03/20/assault-charge-filed-after-tweet-sent-to-journalist-with-epilepsy/" target="_blank">charges</a>, accusing him of assault with "a deadly weapon, to wit: a tweet and a graphics interchange format (GIF) and an electronic device and hands during the commission of the assault."</p>
<p><i>Editor's Note: Here is a tool to <a href="http://trace.umd.edu/peat" target="_blank">test your GIF</a> for sensitivity.</i></p>
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from A Court Will Decide if a GIF Can Be Considered a ‘Deadly Weapon'
Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-15383071552068783972017-03-21T09:42:00.017-07:002017-03-21T09:42:29.519-07:00GitHub Uses Broken Cryptography, But It Has a Plan<p>In February, Google shocked the cryptography community by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2017/02/23/google-sha-1-hack-why-it-matters/#7e91e3434c8c" target="_blank">effectively breaking</a> the stalwart SHA-1 hashing algorithm, making hypothetical concerns about the security of SHA-1 concrete for the first time.<br />
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While most folks have <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/over-a-quarter-of-the-encrypted-web-is-about-to-be-broken">moved on from SHA-1 already</a>, there's one place on the web that has the algorithm at its core: GitHub, the nerve centre of every open source project from <a href="https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin" target="_blank">bitcoin</a>, to government-owned <a href="https://github.com/electionsquebec" target="_blank">elections software</a>, to the weekend projects of most DIY-minded developers. So, yeah, not good.</p>
<p>Thankfully, on Monday GitHub implemented a system that automatically detects when someone is trying to use an SHA-1 hack, and rejects it.</p>
<p>GitHub stores user data as "objects" that all have a unique SHA-1 hash, which the site uses as ID to keep track of them. This was more or less fine, because SHA-1 is designed so that it is <i>extremely</i> unlikely for two hashes to ever be identical—what's known as a "collision." Google demonstrated a highly specialized method for generating an SHA-1 collision in February, opening the possibility for someone to replace innocent code on GitHub with malicious code, using an identical SHA-1 hash.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://github.com/blog/2338-sha-1-collision-detection-on-github-com" target="_blank">a company blog post</a>, Google's method of generating an SHA-1 collision "[leaves] a pattern in the bytes" that GitHub can detect. If the alarm bells go off, then GitHub will automatically abort the operation, the blog states.</p>
<p>If all of this seems like a big old bandaid to you, that's because it is. But, according to the blog, GitHub is looking for a more permanent solution.</p>
<p>"The Git project is also developing a plan to transition away from SHA-1 to another, more secure hash algorithm, while minimizing the disruption to existing repository data," the blog states. "As that work matures, we plan to support it on GitHub."</p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pluspluspodcast/id1210989400?mt=2" target="_blank"><b><i>Subscribe to pluspluspodcast</i></b></a> <b><i>, Motherboard's new show about the people and machines that are building our future.</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>Correction: </i></b><i>An earlier version of this article had the headline "GitHub Uses Broken Encryption, But It Has a Plan." SHA-1 is a cryptographic algorithm, not an encryption tool. This article's headline has been updated to reflect this, and Motherboard regrets the error. </i><br /></p>
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from GitHub Uses Broken Cryptography, But It Has a Plan
Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-70303927798280296782017-03-21T09:42:00.015-07:002017-03-21T09:42:28.806-07:00The EFF’s Eva Galperin Keeps Activists Safe OnlineColly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-32497529999839230652017-03-21T09:42:00.013-07:002017-03-21T09:42:28.217-07:00Watch Live: Sci-Fi Author Kim Stanley Robinson on Climate Change And Staying Afloat in a Drowned New YorkColly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-78981523356774863422017-03-21T09:42:00.011-07:002017-03-21T09:42:27.656-07:00Don’t Worry About ‘Cyber Pearl Harbor,’ But Hackers Are Already Targeting Our Critical Infrastructure<p>In the last few years, several government officials have made a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/12/world/panetta-warns-of-dire-threat-of-cyberattack.html" target="_blank">series</a> of <a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0616-goldberg-china-cyber-hack-20150616-column.html" target="_blank">alarmist</a> <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/15/were-headed-at-a-cyber-pearl-harbor-says-adm-james-stavridis.html" target="_blank">claims</a>, warning that the United States would soon be hit a "Cyber Pearl Harbor." That analogy indicates a theoretical cyber attack that shuts down the power grid, or causes real world, physical damage by hitting critical infrastructure like a nuclear power plant or a reservoir. It's definitely a scary scenario, and one that's fueled <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FdvWuSl7eY" target="_blank">some</a> Hollywood <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIfRmIm1vzg" target="_blank">flicks</a>.</p>
<p>But according to cybersecurity experts that actually work on industrial control systems, or ICS, we shouldn't worry about a "Cyber Pearl Harbor" so much. Yet, there are real threats to critical infrastructure that are being wrongly ignored and underestimated.</p>
<p><b>Read more:</b> <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/how-drones-could-help-hackers-shut-down-power-plants"><b>How Drones Could Help Hackers Shut Down Power Plants</b></a></p>
<p>For example, infrastructure cyber defenders are not taking the threat of targeted malware seriously enough, according to Robert Lee, the founder of security firm Dragos and a former Air Force cyberwarfare officer.</p>
<p>"We don't have grid-ending stuff going on. It's not like all this stuff is going to fail, it's not like a random piece of malware in a power system or water system or even a nuclear system is going to cause anything bad to happen. It might impact operations, and it's not good. But it's not life ending and it's not a safety issue at all," Lee told Motherboard in a phone call. </p>
<p>"But at the same time we do have obviously targeted efforts by adversaries that are seemingly increasing year on year and we can at least show that there's dozens of them that we found and that speaks to the level of needing to do better," Lee added.<br /></p>
<p>"It's not life ending and it's not a safety issue at all."</p>
<p>Lee and his team looked at real world malware targeting ICS and found a dozen cases where hackers sent malware to critical infrastructure facilities, malware that was tailored to compromise them, as opposed to <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/why-we-should-be-worried-about-ancient-viruses-infecting-power-plants">random old malware that somehow finds its way to ICS networks</a>.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://dragos.com/blog/mimics/" target="_blank">an upcoming paper</a> that Lee is previewing at an infrastructure hacking <a href="https://www.sans.org/event/ics-security-summit-2017" target="_blank">conference</a> on Tuesday, he will reveal two new malware samples and campaigns found targeting ICS facilities. One used a PDF of a document about nuclear material management, which was laced with malware; and the second one pretends to be legitimate software to target Siemens programmable logic controllers, or PLCs, essentially the computers that control how industrial control systems operate. The malicious Siemens malware infected 10 sites across the world, mostly in the United States but also Europe and China, according to Lee.</p>
<p>It's important to note that these two kinds of malware don't appear to have the goal of manipulating how the target's industrial system work, but are likely espionage efforts.</p>
<p>Lee, <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/hacking-infrastructure-unknown-risks">who last year warned that the ICS world is woefully ignorant of the actual risks of hacking infrastructure</a>, is just trying to raise awareness of real world threats that are already out there.</p>
<p>"No, it's not raining," Lee said, "but that doesn't mean we shouldn't build the roof."</p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pluspluspodcast/id1210989400?mt=2" target="_blank"><b><i>Subscribe to pluspluspodcast</i></b></a><b><i>, Motherboard's new show about the people and machines that are building our future.</i></b></p>
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from Don’t Worry About ‘Cyber Pearl Harbor,’ But Hackers Are Already Targeting Our Critical Infrastructure
Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-31319310731747275062017-03-21T09:42:00.009-07:002017-03-21T09:42:27.071-07:00Trump FCC Honcho Ajit Pai: I Love the Press! (Kinda, Sorta)<p>Now that wasn't so tough, was it?</p>
<p>President Trump's newly-installed Federal Communications Commission chief <a href="https://t.co/EtutKaTe1S" target="_blank">Ajit Pai</a> does <i>not</i> believe that news organizations are "the enemy of the American people," as Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/business/trump-calls-the-news-media-the-enemy-of-the-people.html" target="_blank">recently claimed</a>.</p>
<p>Pai clarified his stance on the matter in a tight-lipped letter to Sen. Bill Nelson, the Florida Democrat, after the FCC honcho <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/does-trumps-fcc-chief-ajit-pai-think-the-press-is-the-enemy-he-wont-say?utm_source=mbtwitter">annoyed lawmakers</a> during a recent Capitol Hill hearing in which Pai refused to say under oath whether he agreed with Trump's incendiary assertion.</p>
<p>Pai's evasion alarmed free speech advocates, who questioned why it was so difficult for the nation's top media regulator to clearly and unequivocally state whether he agreed with Trump's rhetorical <i>jihad</i> against news organizations. (Pai justified his non-answer by saying he didn't want to "wade into the larger political debates.")</p>
<p>In response, a group of Democratic senators <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/senate-democrats-press-trumps-fcc-boss-over-enemy-of-the-people-testimony?utm_source=mbtwitter">sent Pai a letter</a> demanding that he answer several questions about his First Amendment views, including: "Do you believe the media is the 'enemy' of the American people?"</p>
<p>Pai's answer, <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/342487016/Nelson-Pai-Letter" target="_blank">contained in a letter</a> to Sen. Nelson released Monday, was short and sweet. "No."</p>
<p>But Pai couldn't just leave it at that, and felt compelled to offer an odd caveat to his response. "I should note that at the hearing, I was asked if I agreed with the President that the media was the 'enemy' of the people," Pai said. "However, the President has made clear that he was referring to 'fake news.'"</p>
<p>A FCC spokesperson told Motherboard on Monday that Pai was referring to Trump's recent comments at the Conservative Political Action Conference, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/02/24/fact-checking-president-trumps-cpac-speech/?utm_term=.ad8b16985687" target="_blank">in which the president said</a>: "The dishonest media did not explain that I called the fake news the enemy of the people. The fake news. They dropped off the word 'fake.' And all of a sudden the story became the media is the enemy."</p>
<p>But Trump's statement was <i>itself</i> misleading. It's worth noting that the full text of Trump's <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/832708293516632065" target="_blank">tweet</a>, issued before CPAC, was: "The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!"</p>
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<p>As Glenn Kessler of <i>The Washington Post</i> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/02/24/fact-checking-president-trumps-cpac-speech/?utm_term=.ad8b16985687" target="_blank">pointed out</a>: "Trump listed five mainstream media organizations—the New York Times, NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN—as the 'FAKE NEWS media' and declared that they are the enemy of the American people. By listing major media organizations as the enemy, Trump was clearly making a statement about the broader news media."</p>
<p>It's unclear whether Pai believes that the "failing" <i>New York Times</i>, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, and CNN—five of the most prominent news organizations in the country—are "fake news." The FCC spokesperson declined to comment on <i>that</i> question.</p>
<p>If this entire episode strikes you as juvenile, dear reader, you are not alone. It is inexplicable why it is so difficult for Pai to answer a simple question without some sort of equivocation or qualification. Last month, Trump announced that he had <a href="https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-343800A1.pdf" target="_blank">renominated</a> Pai for a second five-year term at the agency.</p>
<p>In any event, Pai clearly wants to move on. "As Chairman of the FCC, I take my oath to defend and protect the Constitution seriously," Pai wrote in his letter. "And the preservation of the First Amendment is the foundation of that commitment."</p>
<p>Good to know.</p>
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from Trump FCC Honcho Ajit Pai: I Love the Press! (Kinda, Sorta)
Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-56903329209280854882017-03-21T09:42:00.007-07:002017-03-21T09:42:26.317-07:00This Black Hole Ripped Up a Star Then Pummelled It With Its Own RemainsColly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-67294831802461717112017-03-21T09:42:00.005-07:002017-03-21T09:42:25.668-07:00Hackers: We Will Remotely Wipe iPhones Unless Apple Pays Ransom<p>A hacker or group of hackers is apparently trying to extort Apple over alleged access to a large cache of iCloud and other Apple email accounts.</p>
<p>The hackers, who identified themselves as 'Turkish Crime Family', demanded $75,000 in Bitcoin or Ethereum, another increasingly popular crypto-currency, or $100,000 worth of iTunes gift cards in exchange for deleting the alleged cache of data.</p>
<p>"I just want my money and thought this would be an interesting report that a lot of Apple customers would be interested in reading and hearing," one of the hackers told Motherboard.</p>
<p>The hackers provided screenshots of alleged emails between the group and members of Apple's security team. One also gave Motherboard access to an email account allegedly used to communicate with Apple.</p>
<p>"Are you willing to share a sample of the data set?" an unnamed member of Apple's security team wrote to the hackers a week ago, according to one of the emails stored in the account. (According to the email headers, the return-path of the email is to an address with the @apple.com domain).</p>
<p>The hackers also uploaded a YouTube video of them allegedly logging into some of the stolen accounts. The hacker appears to access an elderly woman's iCloud account, which includes backed-up photos, and the ability to remotely wipe the device.</p>
<p>"We firstly kindly request you to remove the video that you have uploaded on your YouTube channel as it's seeking unwanted attention, second of all we would like you to know that we do not reward cyber criminals for breaking the law," a message allegedly from a member of Apple's security team reads. (Motherboard only saw a screenshot of this message, and not the original). The alleged Apple team member then says archived communications with the hacker will be sent to the authorities.</p>
<p><b>Read more: <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/this-is-apples-mysterious-iphone-calibration-machine">This Is Apple's Mysterious 'iPhone Calibration Machine'</a></b></p>
<p>Now, the hackers are threatening to reset a number of the iCloud accounts and remotely wipe victim's Apple devices on April 7, unless Apple pays the requested amount.</p>
<p>According to one of the emails in the accessed account, the hackers claim to have access to over 300 million Apple email accounts, including those use @icloud and @me domains. However, the hackers appear to be inconsistent in their story; one of the hackers then claimed they had 559 million accounts in all. The hackers did not provide Motherboard with any of the supposedly stolen iCloud accounts to verify this claim, except those shown in the video.</p>
<p>By reading other emails included in the account, it appears the hackers have approached multiple media outlets. This may be in an attempt to put pressure on Apple; hackers <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/how-a-hacker-is-gaming-the-media-to-extort-his-victims">sometimes feed information to reporters</a> in order to help extortion efforts.</p>
<p>Apple did not respond to multiple requests for comment.</p>
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from Hackers: We Will Remotely Wipe iPhones Unless Apple Pays Ransom
Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-17110302594285713002017-03-21T09:42:00.003-07:002017-03-21T09:42:25.090-07:00Meet the Republican Mayor Fighting for Renewable Energy in LouisianaColly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4848046430924393609.post-31478054670177795582017-03-21T09:42:00.001-07:002017-03-21T09:42:24.403-07:00Facebook Is the Latest Port of Call for Soccer Fans Who Pirate Live Streams<p>Soccer being illegally streamed has been around for so long that I've heard Premier League games commentated on in every language imaginable. Though there's a new form of online piracy that no one seems to be talking about, which is odd, as it has a global audience of 1.86 billion people.<br /></p>
<p>Facebook introduced Facebook Live, the social network's live streaming service, at the beginning of 2016, beginning the slow but inevitable transition of the company into <a href="http://mashable.com/2016/06/15/facebook-video-five-years/#9h2JeeHissqt" target="_blank">an all-video platform</a>. In that time, the service has been used to stream just about everything from <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/20/12989946/facebook-live-presidential-debate-abc-news-stream" target="_blank">presidential debates</a> to relationship spats involving famous sports stars that you <a href="http://extra.ie/entertainment/celebrity/novak-djokovic-wife-awkward" target="_blank">were probably not meant to see.</a></p>
<p>One of the side effects of Facebook Live is piracy. A quick Google search of "facebook live streaming soccer" will return you results for a plethora of Facebook pages that host live streams of soccer matches. It's pretty trivial to set up your own , with a number of apps and gadgets out there that will <a href="https://iag.me/socialmedia/broadcast-computer-facebook-live/" target="_blank">capture footage</a> from your computer to stream live on Facebook, in the same way that someone captures footage of a video game to stream on Twitch.</p>
<p>A big part of why streaming has caught on—particularly in the United Kingdom—is the eye-wateringly high price packages consumers are paying. In 2015, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/31357409" target="_blank">Sky and BT paid a combined £5.136 billion (more than $7.8 billion at the time)</a> for Premier League TV rights for the next three seasons. The cheapest <a href="http://uk.pcmag.com/sky-sports/82506/feature/how-much-is-sky-sports-and-how-to-get-it-best-prices-and-dea" target="_blank">Sky Sports package</a> is currently <i>£</i>27.50 (about $34) per month, which still only gets you one sports channel. As seen with the proliferation of illegal streams, many fans simply <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/oct/26/football-fans-stream-sky-bt-sport-live-viewers" target="_blank">cannot afford to pay</a> these prices any more.</p>
<p>But what is Facebook doing to combat the expanding chaos of illegal streaming? In April 2016, Product Manager Analisa Tamayo Keef <a href="https://media.fb.com/2016/04/12/introducing-rights-manager/" target="_blank">discussed their Rights Manager tools</a> on their Facebook blog: "We check every Facebook Live video stream against files in the Rights Manager reference library, and if a match surfaces, we'll interrupt that live video."</p>
<p>That software being used is <a href="https://www.audiblemagic.com/" target="_blank">Audible Magic</a>, used to check for content recognition, and giving rights holders online reporting tools for submitting copyright and trademark infringement reports. Think of it as fingerprint scanning but for audio.</p>
<p>I asked Mike Edwards, General Manager for Audible Magic, on how this applies to live sport: "<i>Live presents technical issues. It is possible to recognize live TV, but if you are looking at audio, it isn't that good for recognizing live streaming of sports.</i>" He continued: "<i>The reason being that there may be one feed from either Sky or BT, but that feed will be fed to several different hundred broadcasters—all that have different commentaries and all have their own different soundtrack.</i>"</p>
<p>But even audio and video fingerprint recognition on recorded content found on YouTube has its flaws, as people have developed tricks to bypass these barriers using pitch shifting, rotating the video, or minimizing the copyrighted <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwSM5GSi4c4" target="_blank">part of the video</a> so it goes unnoticed.</p>
<p>Within Keef's blog post, she also mentions that Facebook was adding additional resources to address copyright issues, allowing rights holders to report videos while live. </p>
<p>The Premier League did not reply to a Motherboard request for comment.</p>
<p>All of this is not to say that Facebook is opposed to the idea of streaming soccer. The company recently announced <a href="https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/03/10/mls-univision-announce-deal-broadcast-games-english-facebook-live" target="_blank">22 matches from the MLS</a> will stream on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/UnivisionDeportes/" target="_blank">Univision Deportes</a> Facebook page, including fan Q&A and polling features that engage directly with the Facebook-specific commentators. In August 2016, Manchester United and Wayne Rooney streamed a charity soccer match between the club and Everton <i>—</i>the first match to be broadcast over Facebook in the UK. Elsewhere in the world, Univision announced that 46 games of Liga MX (the highest division in Mexican soccer) <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/13/univision-liga-mx-soccer-stream-facebook-live/" target="_blank">would be broadcast on the social network</a>, though the financial terms of this have not been announced. And the February 17 match between Granada and Real Betis was the first of what will be a <a href="http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/02/20/la-liga-show-regular-fixtures-facebook-live-part-broadcast-innovation" target="_blank">weekly live stream</a> of the Friday night fixture in Spain's top flight division.</p>
<p>This is not only the case with soccer, as <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-mlb-idUSKBN1602MY" target="_blank">Major League Baseball</a> is reportedly in talks with Facebook to stream one game per week during its upcoming season.</p>
<p>Will the Premier League follow suit? As US soccer executives attempt to expand the reach of the growing MLS, building on a relationship with Facebook makes sense. However, the sheer amount of money that BT and Sky Sports have invested in the Premier League means such a relationship seems unlikely in the near future.</p>
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from Facebook Is the Latest Port of Call for Soccer Fans Who Pirate Live Streams
Colly Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06580213330788299041noreply@blogger.com0