Does not seem that Norsk Hydro is making much progress on their
ramsomware (?) attack. This is all that appears on their website.
HYDRO
Following an extensive cyber attack on Tuesday
March 19, Hydro has made progress in securing safe and stable
operations across the company.
For updated information about the situation, go to
Hydro’s Facebook pages:
(Related) Very few articles today. Almost all
are from yesterday. Strange.
Nordic
Metals Giant Restarts Some Systems After Ransomware Attack
… The company plans to restart some systems in
divisions that make finished metal, which should help it continue
deliveries to customers, according to a statement
on Wednesday. It has detected the “root cause” of the attack,
but didn’t know how long it would take to restore stable computer
systems.
… Hydro said yesterday that it didn’t know
the identity of the hackers and believes
the attack originated in the U.S.
(Related)
Nordic
metals firm Hydro restoring systems after cyber attack
… The Norwegian National Security Authority
(NSM), the state agency in charge of cybersecurity, said the attack
used a virus known as LockerGoga, a relatively new strain of
so-called ransomware, which encrypts computer files and demands
payment to unlock them.
The LockerGoga malware is not widely used by cyber
crime groups, cyber security researchers said, but has been linked to
an attack on French engineering consultancy Altran Technologies in
January.
Hydro said on Tuesday it did not plan to pay the
hackers to restore files and would instead seek to restore its
systems from backup servers.
“If you can’t police your content, we have a
rather extreme alternative.”
4chan,
Liveleak blocked by Australian internet providers
… Telstra
yesterday blocked access to 4chan,
8chan
and Voat, the blog Zerohedge and video hosting platform Liveleak.
"We understand this may inconvenience some
legitimate users of these sites, but these are extreme circumstances
and we feel this is the right thing to do," Telstra networks and
IT executive Nikos Katinakis said in a statement.
Not the outcome I would have predicted. Still, it
does point to a disconnect. I thought CEOs were responsible for
everything. Apparently not IT.
Stop the world. I want to get off.
Mark Sutton reports:
Bosses are more likely to receive a pay rise after their firm suffers a cybersecurity breach, according to a study by the UK’s Warwick Business School.
Researchers at Warwick Business School found that media reports of a cyber-attack led to a stock market “shock” as investors sold their shares, but this only lasted a few days.
Security breaches did have a lasting impact on the way firms were run, as they typically paid lower dividends and invested less in research and development up to five years after the attack.
Yet they were no more likely to fire their chief executive. On the contrary, bosses were more likely to receive an increase in total and incentive pay several years after a security breach.
Read more on ArabianIndustry.com.
A hint of things to come?
I miss the days when we used to say that baseball
was as American as apple pie. Nowadays, we can only say that about
surveillance, it seems.
Joe Cadillic writes:
I hope you enjoyed America’s favorite pastime because by the end of this year, nearly every Major League Baseball (MLB) team will be using facial recognition.
Last year, their were only nine MLB teams using CLEAR’s facial recognition to spy on fans. But all of that is about to change.
This year, the MLB has decided to go full-blown TSA and put facial recognition cameras in 23 stadiums which is just seven shy of the entire league.
According to a Business Wire article, the MLB plans to scan the faces of millions of baseball fans.
Read more on MassPrivateI.
[From
the Business Wire article:
This new partnership will leverage Tickets.com’s
API, allowing CLEAR members who link their CLEAR profile with their
MLB.com account to gain entry with just the tap of a finger or, in
the near future, facial recognition technology.
… CLEAR will also soon unveil new
biometric-powered concessions in the state of Washington, enabling
fans to pay for food, beer and validate legal age with just the tap
of a finger or blink of an eye.
Just a thought, but will the US need a l;aw like
this when The Wall fails to do the job?
New U.K.
Border Security Law: A Frightening Response to the Skripal Poisoning
With Brexit naturally dominating the parliamentary
agenda and media coverage in the U.K., the Counter-Terrorism
and Border Security Act 2019 passed into law last month with
barely a peep in the press.
… Two key elements of the border security
sections of the new Act are most concerning: new authority to stop
and search based on vaguely defined “hostile activity,” and the
absence of a “reasonable suspicion” standard for taking those
steps.
… The definition of what constitutes a
“hostile act” itself is extremely broad. A “hostile act” is
one that: (a) threatens national security, (b) threatens the economic
well-being of the United Kingdom in a way relevant to the interests
of national security, or (c) is a serious crime.
… The wide definition of “hostile act”
becomes much more problematic due to the absence of any requirement
for a border officer to have “reasonable suspicion,” a standard
that applies to the bulk of search powers under U.K. law. Indeed,
under Schedule 3, paragraph 1(4) “an examining officer may exercise
the powers … whether or
not there are grounds for suspecting that a person is or has been
engaged in hostile activity.”
Perspective. Not using those services, I missed
this entirely. (Good for me.)
https://www.axios.com/another-trump-facebook-election-2020-5bb5ae11-23e4-42d9-8bc3-6cfa3289f970.html
Another
Trump Facebook election
While Democrats' campaign launches have sucked up
national attention, President Trump's re-election campaign has
quietly spent nearly twice as much as the entire Democratic field
combined on Facebook and Google ads, according to data from Facebook
and Google's political ad transparency reports, aggregated
by Bully Pulpit Interactive.
Why it
matters: Political advertising strategists say that
this level of ad spend on digital platforms this early in the
campaign season is unprecedented.
Perspective. Their strategy is not like Amazon’s.
AI-Powered,
Self-Driving Robots Are Taking On a Bigger Role at Walmart Stores
… Walmart recently revealed it's bringing
self-driving robots powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to its
stores to handle the mundane task of floor cleaning.
This often-overlooked chore would typically take
Walmart associates (what the retailer calls its employees) about two
hours per day, on average. Multiply that by more than 11,000 stores
worldwide and that's a lot of time cleaning floors.
… In late 2017, Walmart began using
similar technology from tech start-up Bossa Nova to scan shelves
for out-of-stock items, incorrect prices, and wrong or missing
labels. The device, which is only 2 feet high, has a telescoping
tower that reaches more than 6 feet, allowing it to capture data from
even the highest shelves.
Last year, the company launched
a pilot test of a system called the Alphabot, which was developed
especially for Walmart by start-up Alert Innovation. The device
brings items from storage to associates assembling orders for grocery
delivery, so they don't have to walk through the store searching for
items.
Good government is careful to avoid even the
appearance of manipulation.
… Last week, the FCC was forced
to admit in court that its Electronic Comment Filing System
(ECFS) was never designed to keep track of where comments originate.
… In response to allegations that millions of
comments submitted to the FCC about net neutrality in 2017 were
fabricated—using the names and home addresses of Americans without
their consent—the New York Times is actively
seeking access to the FCC’s internal logs under the Freedom of
Information Act. Its reporters have specifically asked the FCC to
turn over records that contain every comment and the IP addresses
from which they originated. But the commission is fighting back.
A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon
you’re talking real money! Is that still true?
Google hit
with €1.5 billion antitrust fine by EU
… In a press conference
this morning, EU antitrust commissioner Margrethe Vestager said that
the tech giant had abused its dominant position by forcing customers
of its AdSense business to sign contracts stating they would not
accept advertising from rival search engines. Said Vestager: “The
misconduct lasted over 10 years and denied other companies the
possibility to compete on the merits and to innovate.”
… With the new penalty,
Google’s total EU antitrust bill now stands at €8.2 billion ($9.3
billion). Today’s fine was lower than the previous two as Google
actively worked with the European Commission to change its AdSense
policies after the EU announced
its case in 2016.
Something to toss into the debate.
Fear the
Economic Singularity
… Let’s
say that technology keeps gradually replacing humans in the
workforce. Eventually, what if technology existed that allowed
entire companies to operate autonomously – completely without human
intervention? After all, we are seeing steady movement in that
direction as we engineers develop technology that surpasses human
abilities one job at a time. Is the logical projection of that trend
the company that has no human employees at all, only owners?
But, our giant robotic
corporations of the future will still need humans for at least one
role: customers. If our imaginary Fortune 500 automated AI monolith
dominates the flat-screen TV market, there will still need to be
folks who want (and can afford) flat screen TVs. But, if technology
has eliminated all the jobs, it isn’t clear where most folks will
come up with the cash to buy them.
A tool for my traveling students? (I suspect
browsers like this are in response to the FBI’s insistence that
they need to crack encryption.)
https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/20/opera-adds-unlimited-vpn-service-to-its-android-browser-for-free/
Opera adds
unlimited VPN service to its Android browser for free
… Opera 51 for Android enables users to
establish a private connection between their mobile device and a
remote VPN server using 256-bit encryption. Users can pick a server
of their choice from a range of locations. Unlike some VPN apps,
Opera’s offering does not require users to open an account to use
the service.
Free is good!
Free Cone
Day is March 20th!
Celebrate the first day of spring with a free
small vanilla DQ® Cone! At participating locations.
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