I wonder if I could convince Nils to give a guest
lecture to my Ethical Hackers?
Police
Drone Can Be Hacked With Tech Worth $40
While drones are being used by cops, border
security forces, military and even first responders to an emergency,
one researcher has shown that one government-ready drone model can be
hacked from over a mile away to be taken control of by a malicious
hacker, WIRED
reports.
… Rodday discovered that the drone’s
telemetry module was fitted with an Xbee radio chip. The Wi-Fi
connection used between the telemetry module and the user’s
application is WEP or ‘Wired-Equivalent Privacy” encryption, a
legacy protocol that can be infiltrated in seconds by any proficient
hacker. With this alone, an attacker in the Wi-Fi range to break
that connection could potentially send a “deauth” command to boot
the drone operator off the network and take over.
(Related) A word to my Ethical Hackers: “Be
vewy, vewy careful.”
Tara Seals reports:
Announcing what it calls “the first cyber bug bounty program in the history of the federal government,” the Department of Defense is inviting hackers to test the department’s cybersecurity profile.
The Hack the Pentagon initiative is a pilot program that will use commercial sector crowdsourcing to uncover vulnerabilities and probe around for flaws on the department’s public webpages. According to a list published by the Defense Department, it currently manages 488 websites, which are devoted to everything from the 111th Attack Wing and other military units to the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program.
Read more on InfoSecurity
Magazine.
Quickly remedied. Still, you have to wonder about
the initial confusion.
Facebook
Exec Sprung From Brazilian Jail
A Brazilian judge on Wednesday ordered the release
of Facebook Regional Vice President Diego Dzodan, one day after
Brazilian police placed him under arrest for WhatsApp's
failure to produce messages the government believed relevant to a
drug ring investigation. Judge Ruy Pinheiro concluded the exec's
detainment amounted to coercion, according to press reports.
Judge Marcel Maia ordered the arrest on Tuesday,
after WhatsApp failed to comply with requests by police and the court
to produce messages created in the app.
… This isn't the first time WhatsApp has been
in hot water in Brazil where, according to The Guardian,
it's been the most popular app download for the past two years, and
is used by about half of the country's 200 million people. In
December, the app was shut down for 48 hours for twice failing to
comply with court orders for information.
… "Much like the Apple case, they're in a
situation where because they've created such a secure device, they
cannot give law enforcement what they're asking for," she told
TechNewsWorld.
"It's not even an issue of conflict of laws,"
Butler said. "It's an impossibility."
Conflicts between law enforcement and high-tech
companies are going to increase in the future because of encryption,
she added.
“It's all there in black and white (or bits and
bytes) as plain as a large team of lawyers can make it.”
You know those Terms & Conditions you always
click “I agree” to without reading? Well, they can come back to
bite you if you sue. Katherine Proctor reports:
Facing claims that it violates users’ privacy by storing biometric face-recognition data, Facebook called one of its software engineers to the witness stand on Wednesday in Federal Court.
In a 2015 class action, lead plaintiff Carlo Licata accused Facebook of holding the largest privately held stash of such data in the world, in violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act of 2008.
At Wednesday’s evidentiary hearing, Facebook called on software engineer Joachim De Lombaert to testify about the source code for the site’s registration process, in which users agree to Facebook’s terms and conditions.
Read more on Courthouse
News.
[From
the article:
U.S. District James Donato asked whether users who
registered from cellphones were required to check such a box, and De
Lombaert said they were not.
Did he get immunity in exchange for ratting out
Hillary? Would he need it if he did nothing wrong – or does
everyone in Washington demand immunity before talking to anyone?
Justice
Dept. grants immunity to staffer who set up Clinton email server
The Justice Department has granted immunity to a
former State Department staffer, who worked on Hillary Clinton’s
private email server, as part of a criminal investigation into the
possible mishandling of classified information, according to a senior
law enforcement official.
… As part of the inquiry, law enforcement
officials will look at the potential damage had the classified
information in the emails been exposed. The Clinton campaign has
described the probe as a security review. But current and former
officials in the FBI and at the Justice Department have said
investigators are trying to determine whether a crime was committed.
“There was wrongdoing,” said a former senior
law enforcement official. “But was it criminal wrongdoing?”
[Perhaps it was good old
“We don't have to follow the rules like second class citizens
doing.” Bob]
This should liven up the debate. Do you think
this would work in Denver? Call for a ride and some guy in Hell's
Angels leathers shows up?
As Ola and
Uber join the fray, are bike taxis the next big thing in India?
Uber and Ola, the two biggest ride-sharing
companies in India, have simultaneously launched motorcycle taxis in
the country, starting with the southern Indian city of Bengaluru.
Aimed at commuters looking for short-distance and
affordable trips, this will
be the cheapest service offered by both Uber and Ola. The
simultaneous launch suggests a new focus on affordable forms of
transport in India, in the absence of integrated public transport
systems and last-mile connectivity in most cities. Two wheelers also
constitute the largest number of vehicles
in the country.
UberMOTO will be priced at a base fare of Rs 15,
followed by rate of Rs 3 per kilometre and Rs per minute. Uber is
also giving away free rides worth Rs 100 to first-time users. Ola
Bike has an introductory fare of Rs 2 per kilometre and Rs 1 per
minute. While UberMOTO's minimum fare is Rs 15, it is Rs 30 for Ola
Bike.
(Related) ...and they will bring me pizza! (My
favorite pizzeria does not deliver)
Uber's
GrubHub killer is finally in the US — here's the inside story on
its big bet on food
… For the first time, the company has broken a
product out into its own standalone app. On Tuesday, the company
launched
its long-awaited UberEats
app in the US, kicking it off in Los Angeles. Availability will
roll out in the rest of the country throughout the month.
While it had been just a lunch service, the new
app will allow instant lunch or dinner deliveries for select dishes
or full-menu options from restaurants. Once you place your order, a
specially trained Uber driver carrying lunch bags to keep the food
warm or cold will deliver it while you track their progress on your
screen.
The Future? If everyone had a peer to peer
connection, would we need ISPs?
GoTenna,
the startup that lets you text without cell signal, raises $7.5M and
launches with REI
… GoTenna
… has created a lightweight device (1.8 ounces) that uses Bluetooth
technology to pair with your smartphone and then generates long-range
radiowaves to connect with other goTenna devices. That means you can
send text messages and share your location (via pre-downloaded maps)
even when you don’t have a cell connection.
Perspective. Let's hope this does not become a
trend. Are they saying the fines collected won't pay for more
courts?
You Won't
Be Arrested For Public Drinking, Urination in Manhattan: NYPD, DA
The NYPD will no longer arrest people for minor
infractions such as drinking alcohol in public, urinating or
littering in Manhattan, city officials announced Tuesday.
Beginning March 7, police will have the discretion
to determine if someone is a public safety risk before arresting them
in a move the Manhattan District Attorney's Office — which will
also no longer prosecute low-level offenses — said will remove
10,000 cases each year from the courts and help reduce its backlog.
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