Wednesday, March 20, 2019

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.)
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.)
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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