Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Sighted at Teterboro, closed Newark?
Drone sighting disrupts major US airport
A pilot told air traffic control that one of the drones came within 30ft (9m) of his aircraft.
He was flying at Teterboro Airport, a nearby private facility, but officials closed Newark International as a precaution.
… Speaking about Tuesday's drone scare in New Jersey, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) said in a statement: "At approximately 5pm, we received two reports from incoming flights into Newark that a drone was sighted at about 3,500ft above Teterboro, New Jersey.




Backgrounder.
Analyzing 2018 Attacks to Prepare for Those in 2019
A new report from Check Point discusses major cyber incidents from 2018. From these data points, Check Point's analysts look for current trends in malware and attacks, in order to prepare for 2019's future attacks.
According to Check Point's Cyber Attack Trends Analysis 2019 report, the major attack categories and incidents from 2018 include ransomware (such as attacks against the City of Atlanta and the Ukraine Energy Ministry); data breaches (such as those affecting Exactis, and Marriott Hotels); mobile malware (such as AdultSwine and Man in the Disk); cryptocurrency attacks (such as Jenkins Miner and RubyMiner); botnet attacks (such as those from IoTroop and attacks against Democrat candidates during the 2018 primary's season); and APT attacks (such as Big Bang and SiliVaccine).
"Indeed," says the report (PDF), "never does a day go by that we do not see organizations under constant attack from the ever-growing number of malware spreading at higher rates than ever."




Another perspective on the encryption debate?
Encryption efforts in Colorado challenge crime reporters, transparency
Colorado journalists on the crime beat are increasingly in the dark. More than two-dozen law enforcement agencies statewide have encrypted all of their radio communications, not just those related to surveillance or a special or sensitive operation. That means journalists and others can’t listen in using a scanner or smartphone app to learn about routine police calls.
Law enforcement officials say that’s basically the point. Scanner technology has become more accessible through smartphone apps, and encryption has become easier and less expensive. Officials say that encrypting all radio communications is good for police safety and effectiveness, because suspects sometimes use scanners to evade or target officers, and good for the privacy of crime victims, whose personal information and location can go out over the radio.
… “You can’t get out to cover something if you don’t know it’s happening, and journalists would be at the mercy of police public information officers. Do we want the first draft of history dictated by police PIOs?”
Definitely not. A national study published in 2017 found that police PIOs zealously try to control the narratives about their departments. That’s especially concerning in Colorado, where law enforcement officials have downplayed transparency implications by saying they will release information about breaking news on social media, in press releases, and in daily reports—as if those are reasonable substitutes for independent reporting.




Police officers probably will not mention this to passengers.
Ed Hasbrouck writes:
Passengers in a car stopped by police don’t have to identify themselves, according to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
That holds even in a state with a “stop and identify” law, and even if the initial stop of the car (for a traffic violation committed by the driver) was legal.
The opinion by a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit earlier this month in US v. Landeros is one of the most significant decisions to date interpreting and applying the widely-misunderstood 2004 US Supreme Court decision in Hiibel v. Nevada.
Read more on Papers, Please!




I agree, this is interesting.
The Evolution of Darknets
This is interesting:
… Instead of using websites on the darknet, merchants are now operating invite-only channels on widely available mobile messaging systems like Telegram.
… The other major change is the use of "dead drops" instead of the postal system which has proven vulnerable to tracking and interception. Now, goods are hidden in publicly accessible places like parks and the location is given to the customer on purchase. The customer then goes to the location and picks up the goods. This means that delivery becomes asynchronous for the merchant, he can hide a lot of product in different locations for future, not yet known, purchases. For the client the time to delivery is significantly shorter than waiting for a letter or parcel shipped by traditional means - he has the product in his hands in a matter of hours instead of days. Furthermore this method does not require for the customer to give any personally identifiable information to the merchant, which in turn doesn't have to safeguard it anymore. Less data means less risk for everyone.
The use of dead drops also significantly reduces the risk of the merchant to be discovered by tracking within the postal system. He does not have to visit any easily to surveil post office or letter box, instead the whole public space becomes his hiding territory.




A most interesting analysis.
Why India’s Smartphone Revolution Is a Double-edged Sword
… “To most Indians, the smartphone is their first camera, first TV, first video device, first Walkman, and first MP3 player. It may even be their first alarm clock and calculator,” according to Ravi Agrawal, managing editor of Foreign Policy and former CNN New Delhi bureau chief. That is the dramatic change this small device is bringing to hundreds of millions of Indians, as extremely low-cost smartphones and data plans increasingly become available.
Technology in India has traditionally been only available to the rich, to English speakers, and to city dwellers, Agrawal noted.
… In addition to breaking the financial barrier, smartphones have broken the language barrier. Most of the population doesn’t speak English, and English used to be a necessity for internet use. But “smartphones have changed all of that,” observed Agrawal. Now if you speak Hindi, Bengali, or one of India’s many other tongues, multilingual software enables you to type, search, and read online.
Even illiterate individuals — of whom there are nearly 300 million in India — can learn to use the device. With the Google Assistant, they can say in their own language, for example, “‘Show me the Taj Mahal,’ and up pops a video showing them this great wonder that they’ve all heard of but never seen,” notes Agrawal. So in some ways the smartphone is a great equalizer.
… Yet with all the apparent benefits, “there is so much that can go wrong,” said Agrawal. One problem is the proliferation of “fake news,” which he noted has sparked religiously-motivated lynchings and other violence.
India has also experienced more internet shutdowns than any other nation — Syria and Iraq follow — in which the government temporarily pulls the plug in the name of halting rumors that spark unrest.
… There’s also been an explosion in pornography, Agrawal notes. “The head of one of India’s biggest wireless companies told me that 70% of his company’s bandwidth is porn, believe it or not.”




For my Disaster Recovery lecture.
Tonga facing 'absolute disaster' after internet cable blackout
Tonga's ability to communicate with the rest of the world has severely been restricted after a submarine cable broke, cutting off the Pacific island kingdom from almost all mobile phone and Internet services.
… "There's no Facebook, which is how the Tongan diaspora communicate with each other, businesses can't get orders out, airlines can't take bookings for passengers or freight."
While the authorities look into the cause and struggle to find a solution to the disruption, which began on Sunday, they have turned to a small, locally operated satellite connection as back-up.
… Officials said it could take up to two weeks to fix the problem.




Also useful in my Data Management class.
New on LLRX – 10 x 10: 100 Insightful KM Resources
Via LLRX – 10 x 10: 100 Insightful KM Resources – KM expert Stan Garfield shares ten categories of KM resources, each with ten links to useful sources of knowledge about the field. The ten resources in each category are recommended starting points for those who want to learn more about KM. Each category heading is linked to a more extensive list for greater exploration.




The future? Probably not for my 11 mile round trip to school, but I could see a Leadville to Denver hop.
Boeing’s passenger air vehicle prototype rises into the sky for its first test flight
Boeing says it has successfully completed the first test flight of a prototype for its autonomous passenger air vehicle, which could start carrying riders as early as next year.
The test was executed on Tuesday at an airport in Manassas, Va., near the headquarters of Aurora Flight Sciences, the Boeing subsidiary that’s been developing the electric-powered, vertical takeoff-and-landing aircraft, also known as an eVTOL craft.
… The craft is 30 feet long and 28 feet wide, with eight rotors for vertical lift and a tail rotor to facilitate forward flight. It’s designed to fly in full autonomous mode with a maximum range of 50 miles.
“This is what revolution looks like, and it’s because of autonomy,” said John Langford, president and CEO of Aurora Flight Sciences. “Certifiable autonomy is going to make quiet, clean and safe urban air mobility possible.”




Confusing. Surely they aren’t saying they found another chemical that does exactly what the patented chemical does. This is about a process that extracts a drug.
A.I. finds non-infringing ways to copy drugs pharma spends billions developing
Drug companies spend billions developing and protecting their trademark pharmaceuticals. Could artificial intelligence be about to shake things up? In a breakthrough development, researchers have demonstrated an A.I. which can find new methods for producing existing drugs in a way that doesn’t infringe on existing patents.
… As exciting as the work is, however, don’t expect this to be anything that brings down the world of big pharma — if that’s what you’re hoping for. Chematica, which was bought by pharma giant Merck in 2017, is more likely to be used to help these companies better protect their intellectual property.
[In our latest] paper we tackled three blockbuster drugs, very heavily guarded by patents — and yet a ‘stupid’ computer managed to find synthetic bypasses,” Grzybowski said. “Now, what if your competitors were to use such a tool? Could they bust your patents? Should you also use the tool? What if they come up with a better version? These sorts of question might point to an arms race in developing similar and competing software solutions.”




Resources for research. Marcus Zillman does great lists.
New on LLRX – Deep Web Research and Discovery Resources 2019
Via LLRXDeep Web Research and Discovery Resources 2019 – How big is the Deep Web? It is estimated to comprise 7,500 terabytes – although an exact size is not known, and the figures vary widely on this question. The magnitude, complexity and siloed nature of the Deep Web is a challenge for researchers. You cannot turn to one specific guide or one search engine to effectively access the vast range of information, data, files and communications that comprise it. The ubiquitous search engines index, manage and deliver results from the Surface web. These search results include links, data, information, reports, news, subject matter content and a large volume of advertising that is optimized to increase traffic to specific sites and support marketing and revenue focused objectives. On the other hand, the Deep Web – which is often misconstrued as a repository of dark and disreputable information [Note – it is not the Dark Web], has grown tremendously beyond that characterization to include significant content on a wide range of subject matters covering a broad swath of files and formats, databases, pay-walled content as well as communications and web traffic that is not otherwise accessible through the surface Web. This comprehensive multifaceted guide by Marcus Zillman providers you with an abundance of resources to learn about, search, apply appropriate privacy protections, and maximize your time and efforts to conduct effective and actionable research within the Deep Web.




A link for the toolkit.
Cheatography
Over 4,000 Free Cheat Sheets, Revision Aids and Quick References!


No comments: