Thursday, October 25, 2018

What would you expect? This is similar to writing a postcard (not a sealed letter) or chatting while in a crowd. Why wouldn’t everyone (especially US intelligence agencies) listen in?
When Trump Phones Friends, the Chinese and the Russians Listen and Learn
When President Trump calls old friends on one of his iPhones to gossip, gripe or solicit their latest take on how he is doing, American intelligence reports indicate that Chinese spies are often listening — and putting to use invaluable insights into how to best work the president and affect administration policy, current and former American officials said.
Mr. Trump’s aides have repeatedly warned him that his cellphone calls are not secure, and they have told him that Russian spies are routinely eavesdropping on the calls, as well. But aides say the voluble president, who has been pressured into using his secure White House landline more often these days, has still refused to give up his iPhones. White House officials say they can only hope he refrains from discussing classified information when he is on them.




I find it difficult to believe that every country on earth is not trying to replicate the successes of 2016. Perhaps their techniques are less detectable (thanks to Facebook et al describing what they are looking for)
Facebook, Twitter Can’t Find China Election Meddling Trump Claims
Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. haven’t detected Chinese meddling in the 2018 elections, company officials said, casting doubt on claims by President Donald Trump that the Asian nation is trying to interfere.
The social media giants have reported online disinformation campaigns ahead of the Nov. 6 elections that appear to originate from Russia and Iran. But officials from both companies said they haven’t found evidence so far of such activity from China.




Now we have to determine if this was accessed by a curious teenager or a Russian intelligence agency.
Catalin Cimpanu reports:
A Maryland consulting firm that handles political fundraisers for the Democratic Party has left fundraiser data and passwords to databases storing voter records exposed online via an unsecured network attached storage (NAS) device.
The exposed data was found last week by Bob Diachenko, Director of Cyber Risk Research at Hacken, a cyber-security research firm, during a cursory Shodan search.
Diachenko tracked down the exposed NAS to Rice Consulting, a consulting firm that claims to have raised over $4.32 million over the 2017 fundraiser season for Maryland Democrats.
Read more on ZDNet.
[From the ZDNet article:
The exposed data was found last week by Bob Diachenko, Director of Cyber Risk Research at Hacken, a cyber-security research firm, during a cursory Shodan search.
… The NAS, which was left exposed online without a password, contained detailed information on Rice Consulting clients, including in-depth details on thousands of past fundraisers.




No doubt the FBI will start screaming again.
Apple Just Killed The 'GrayKey' iPhone Passcode Hack
Uncloaked by Forbes in March, Atlanta-based Grayshift promised governments its GrayKey tech could crack the passcodes of the latest iOS models, right up to the iPhone X. From then on, Apple continued to invest in security in earnest, continually putting up barriers for Grayshift to jump over. Grayshift continued to grow, however, securing contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Secret Service.
Now, though, Apple has put up what may be an insurmountable wall. Multiple sources familiar with the GrayKey tech tell Forbes the device can no longer break the passcodes of any iPhone running iOS 12 or above. On those devices, GrayKey can only do what’s called a “partial extraction,” sources from the forensic community said. That means police using the tool can only draw out unencrypted files and some metadata, such as file sizes and folder structures.




I’ve posed a similar question to my students for the last two or three years. Isn’t the proper answer the option with the highest probability to save lives? A 50% chance to save one person beats a 10% chance to save 4 people.
People want self-driving cars to prioritize young lives over the elderly
Today, MIT released the results of a global survey on the moral and ethical decisions that autonomous vehicles should be programmed to make. The survey reveals that general preferences include prioritizing human lives over animals, younger and healthier people over the elderly and saving more lives over fewer lives. People also preferred to spare bystanders (who were obeying the law) over jaywalkers.


(Related)
Waymo explains what its self-driving cars should do when pulled over - Roadshow
Every new driver learns to pull over and stop when a police car blaring red-and-blues approaches. But how would an autonomous vehicle handle being pulled over by the cops? As reported by The Washington Post today, Waymo has a new guide (PDF) that explains what its self-driving Chrysler Pacifica Hybrids is supposed to do in those situations.




For my students considering a consulting firm. Ask for tuition assistance for that PhD!
Silicon Valley's dirty secret: Using a shadow workforce of contract employees to drive profits
  • This year at Google, contract workers outnumbered direct employees for the first time in the company's 20-year history.
  • This trend is on the rise as public companies look for ways to trim HR costs or hire in-demand skills in a tight labor market.
  • Some 57.3 million Americans, or 36% of the workforce, are now freelancing, reveals a 2017 report by Upwork.




I collect resources like this.
Art Institute of Chicago Is Latest Museum to Offer Open Access to Thousands of Images in Its Archive
Artnet: “The Art Institute of Chicago is now offering unrestricted access to thousands of images—44,313 to be exact—from its digital archive. The release is part of the museum’s website redesign and the images have been made available under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. The Art Institute has also enhanced the image viewing capabilities on the works, allowing them to be seen in far greater detail than before, for example. “Check out the paint strokes in Van Gogh’s The Bedroom, the charcoal details on Charles White’s Harvest Talk, or the synaesthetic richness of Georgia O’Keeffe’s Blue and Green Music,” wrote executive creative director Michael Neault a blog post. Neault says if you’re doing research, “you’ll appreciate how our collections search tool makes it easier to drill down and find exactly what you’re looking for.”…”
[Also something for my Architecture students:




Dilbert nails another one.


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