This does not give me a warm, fuzzy feeling about
Apple security.
Melbourne
teen hacked into Apple's secure computer network, court told
A Melbourne private schoolboy who repeatedly broke
into Apple’s secure computer systems is facing criminal charges
after the technology giant called in the FBI.
The teen, who cannot be named for legal reasons,
broke into Apple’s
mainframe from his suburban home on multiple occasions
over a year because he was such a fan of the company, according to
his lawyer.
The Children’s Court heard on Thursday that he
had downloaded 90gb of secure files and accessed customer accounts.
His offending from the age of 16 saw him develop
computerised tunnels and online bypassing systems to hide his
identity until a raid on his family home uncovered a litany of
hacking files and instructions all saved in a folder titled “hacky
hack hack”.
The teen’s defence lawyer said his client had
become so well known in the international hacking community that even
mentioning the case in detail could expose him to risk.
… “Two Apple laptops were seized and the
serial numbers matched the serial numbers of the devices which
accessed the internal systems,” a prosecutor said.
“A mobile phone and hard drive were also seized
and the IP address ... matched the intrusions into the organisation.
… Further analysis found that the schoolboy
successfully accessed “authorised keys” as part of his offending.
Authorised keys grant log-in access to users and
are said to be extremely secure.
He then used Whatsapp to communicate his offending
to others.
The ongoing access continued until Apple
eventually detected his presence and he was blocked.
Good that they have taken measures to identify
risk, have they trained anyone to deal with what they find?
More U.S.
states deploy technology to track election hacking attempts
A majority of U.S. states has adopted technology
that allows the federal government to see inside state computer
systems managing voter data or voting devices in order to root out
hackers.
… The rapid adoption of the so-called Albert
sensors, a $5,000 piece of hardware developed by the Center for
Internet Security www.cisecurity.org,
illustrates the broad concern shared by state government officials
ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, government cybersecurity experts
told Reuters.
… The 14 states that do not have a sensor
installed ahead of the 2018 midterm elections have either opted for
another solution, are planning to do so shortly or have refused the
offer because of concerns about federal government overreach. Those
14 states were not identified by officials.
“No means yes, that should be obvious.”
APNewsBreak:
Google clarifies location-tracking policy
Google has revised an erroneous
description on its website of how its “Location History”
setting works, clarifying that it continues to track users even if
they’ve disabled the setting.
The change came three days after an
Associated Press investigation revealed that several Google apps
and websites store user location even if users have turned off
Location History. Google has not changed its location-tracking
practice in that regard.
But its help page for the Location History setting
now states: “This setting does not affect other location services
on your device.” It also acknowledges that “some location data
may be saved as part of your activity on other services, like Search
and Maps.”
Previously, the page stated: “With Location
History off, the places you go are no longer stored.”
Summarized in a cute little infographic.
The average smartphone user these days has between
60 and 90 apps on their device. Most of these apps request some sort
of information about you and the device you are using. They may want
to know your name, your email address, or your real-world address.
But because smartphones are so powerful, they can also get quite a
bit more than that, such as your exact location. Some apps will even
request access to the device’s camera or microphone.
While all of this is done with the user’s
consent, you may be surprised at the level of access some apps have
to personal data. Did you know that 45 percent of the most popular
Android apps and 25 percent of the most popular iOS apps request
location tracking, for example? Or that 46 percent of popular
Android apps and 25 percent of popular iOS apps request permission to
access your device’s camera? Some Android apps even ask you to
give them access to your SMS messages and phone call logs.
Do you think they knew the request was coming?
A federal court in the District of Columbia has blocked EPIC’s efforts to obtain a secret “Predictive Analytics Report” in a FOIA case against the Department of Justice. The court sided with the agency which had withheld the report and claimed the “Presidential communications privilege.” Neither the Supreme Court nor the D.C. Circuit has never permitted a federal agency to invoke that privilege. EPIC sued the agency in 2017 to obtain records about “risk assessment” tools in the criminal justice system. These techniques are used to set bail, determine criminal sentences, and even contribute to determinations about guilt or innocence. Many criminal justice experts oppose their use. EPIC has pursued several FOIA cases to promote “algorithmic transparency,” passenger risk assessment, “future crime” prediction, and proprietary forensic analysis. The case is EPIC v. DOJ (Aug. 14, 2018 D.D.C.). EPIC is considering an appeal.
Perspective. Higher than I thought. I was
convinced that users went to social groups they already agreed with
and ignored any evidence to the contrary.
14% of
Americans have changed their mind about an issue because of something
they saw on social media
“For most Americans, exposure to different
content and ideas on social media has not caused them to
change their opinions. But a small share of the public – 14% –
say they have changed their views about a political or social issue
in the past year because of something they saw on social media,
according to a Pew
Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted May 29-June 11.
Although it’s unclear what issues people changed their views about,
within the past year a variety of social and political issues –
from the #MeToo movement to #BlackLivesMatter and #MAGA – have been
discussed on social media. Certain groups, particularly
young men, are more likely than others to say they’ve modified
their views because of social media. Around three-in-ten
men ages 18 to 29 (29%) say their views on a political or social
issue changed in the past year due to social media. This is roughly
twice the share saying this among all Americans and more than double
the shares among men and women ages 30 and older (12% and 11%,
respectively). There are also differences by race and ethnicity,
according to the new survey. Around one-in-five black (19%) and
Hispanic (22%) Americans say their views changed due to social media,
compared with 11% of whites. Social media prompted views to change
more among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (17%) than
among Republicans and Republican leaners (9%). Within these party
groups, there are also some differences by gender, at least among
Democrats. Men who are Democrats or lean Democratic (21%) are more
likely than their female counterparts (14%) to say they’ve changed
their minds. However, equal shares of Republican and
Republican-leaning men and women say the same (9% each)…”
Perspective. What would change their minds? Will
this delay self-driving trucks?
Nearly half
of Americans don't want a self-driving car: survey
Fewer Americans are embracing self-driving car
technology following high-profile incidents involving Uber and Tesla
vehicles, according to a new study from Cox Automotive.
Consumers’ interest in automatic braking and
other autonomous features is high, but drivers view self-driving cars
as less safe compared to a similar survey conducted two years ago.
Forty-nine percent of respondents said they would never own a
fully-autonomous car, known in the industry as a Level 5 vehicle.
Two years ago, 30 percent said they would never buy one.
Meanwhile, a majority of people (63 percent)
believed in 2016 that roadways would be safer if all vehicles were
fully autonomous. That number has dropped to 45 percent.
(Related) Would better (any) laws help?
3 Practical
Tools To Help Regulators Develop Better Laws And Policies
Berkman Klein Center, Harvard University. 3
Practical Tools To Help Regulators Develop Better Laws And Policies a
Policy Paper on Autonomous Vehicles, July 2018.
“Regulators and policymakers are driving efforts
to deliver the benefits of
automated vehicles (AVs) to the public as soon as possible,
while minimizing their potential challenges. However, there are
still many open questions regarding the best approach to achieving
this objective. Key stakeholders—including regulators,
policymakers, industry, citizens, and academia—have not yet reached
a consensus on the approaches regulators should take in developing
robust public policies for the governance of AVs. Understanding the
types of regulatory challenges for AVs and using new practical tools
or using traditional tools in a different way, would help with this
problem of developing better AV policies and regulations. This
policy paper analyzes several categories of regulatory challenges
surrounding AVs and introduces three practical tools (Legal
Interfaces, Law Labs, and Structured Dialogues) that can be utilized
by policymakers and regulators in developing effective AV policies.”
An interesting question.
Why Didn’t
Those F-15s Shoot Down That Stolen Commercial Airliner In Seattle?
When a rogue
civilian airliner took off from Seattle-Tacoma International
Airport last Friday, the military responded with a multifaceted,
coordinated effort between two F-15
Eagle pilots, said officials at North American Aerospace Defense
Command and the Defense Department.
But days after the incident, it remains unclear
why military officials and the F-15 pilots agreed not to shoot down
the aircraft, given concerns the pilot might deliberately crash it
into a populated area.
Dilbert’s creator finds humor in Trump. Perhaps
more of us should have? After all, there was a lot that was not
funny.
Joke's on
Brennan for failing to find humor in Trump's remark, 'Dilbert'
cartoonist says
Imagine a scenario in which a top intelligence
officer places the U.S. at risk all because he couldn't discern when
the president was joking. It almost sounds like the plot for a comic
strip.
Well, that's exactly what happened in the case of
former CIA Director John Brennan, according to Scott Adams, creator
of the popular “Dilbert” strip.
In a Twitter message Thursday, Adams slammed
Brennan, asserting that the former CIA chief in 2016 didn't realize
that President Trump was joking when the then-candidate urged Russia
to find Hillary Clinton's missing emails.
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