Saturday, March 07, 2020


When my ethical hackers show up in new cars…
Hackers Can Clone Millions of Toyota, Hyundai, and Kia Keys
Over the past few years, owners of cars with keyless start systems have learned to worry about so-called relay attacks, in which hackers exploit radio-enabled keys to steal vehicles without leaving a trace. Now it turns out that many millions of other cars that use chip-enabled mechanical keys are also vulnerable to high-tech theft. A few cryptographic flaws combined with a little old-fashioned hot-wiring—or even a well-placed screwdriver—lets hackers clone those keys and drive away in seconds.




Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Don’t you feel safer knowing DHS is on the job?
Former DHS Acting Inspector General Indicted for Stealing Database with Personnel Information
The 16-count indictment includes charges of theft of proprietary software and intent to defraud the U.S. government.




Another one for the Disaster Recovery lecture. Imagine all evils.
India’s Yes Bank breakdown disrupts Walmart’s PhonePe among a dozen other services
Tens of millions of merchants and users in India are struggling to make online transactions and use several popular services after the nation’s central bank seized control of Yes Bank, the fourth largest lender in the country.
The emergency takeover of the private sector bank has taken off several financial startups that rely on it to facilitate services such as processing QR codes, point-of-sale terminals as well as transactions through popular UPI infrastructure.
Leading payments app PhonePe, owned by e-commerce giant Walmart, has been inaccessible to tens of millions of its users since Thursday evening (local time). The startup said in a statement that it was working to restore its services and has solved some of the issues for its merchant partners.
In a tweet, Nigam said the startup had multiple redundancies in place, but “never imagined [that] the bank itself would go totally dark like this. Lesson learnt in the hardest possible way.




Easy encryption. (Sorry FBI)
How to Encrypt and Decrypt Text Strings with JavaScript
A simple method for encrypting and decrypting text strings and passwords in JavaScript and Google Apps Script




There must be a reason… Oh, wait… Apparently there does not need to be a reason.
Trump Administration Orders Shiji to Sell Hotel Tech Firm StayNTouch
The Trump Administration on Friday demanded that Beijing Shiji Information Technology, whose international arm is known as Shiji Group, unwind its acquisition of StayNTouch, a maker of hotel operational software.
President Donald Trump said the acquisition of the U.S.-based startup might “threaten to impair the national security of the United States.” The order didn’t explain details of the threat.




Faster than the Coronavirus?
Live Facial Recognition Is Spreading Around the World
Today in the United States, this isn’t the norm. While it’s become common for law enforcement, from local police to the federal government, to use facial recognition, it’s often used retrospectively. That means instead of scanning everyone’s face whose face appears in a live video, they analyze an image of a suspect’s face from a crime scene and compare it against a mugshot database, or some other database of face images, to find out who it is.
But that reluctance to embrace live facial recognition is changing — it already has changed around the world. We’ve seen that in Surat, India. And Buenos Aires, Argentina, live facial recognition is already here.
Privacy advocates oppose live facial recognition, especially in body cameras worn by police. “Body cameras were promised to communities as a tool for officer accountability. They should not be twisted into surveillance systems to be used against communities,” the ACLU wrote on Twitter in response to OneZero’s story.


(Related)
India authorizes roll out of automated biometric facial recognition in police investigations
India’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is now allowed to use a biometric automated facial recognition system (AFRS) to identify suspects, bodies and missing people, writes the Times of India, after India’s Home Ministry officially informed the Rajya Sabha (India’s upper legislative house) about the decision.
The AFRS will only use police records and can only be accessed by police officers, the institution said insisting on the importance of ensuring citizens’ privacy. Implementation approval was confirmed in writing by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy. The NCRB sought in November to assure privacy advocates that the system will not violate the principle of consent, and will be subject to strict operational safeguards.




I’ll tell my niece and nephew, if they ever take those earbuds out.
Stream Music for Free With These 5 Little-Known Apps



No comments: