Targeting
those of us who regularly get email from the White House?
White
House Phishing Scam Impersonates President Trump, Vice President
Pence
A
recent report from security firm Inky highlights new phishing scams
making the rounds that appear to come from the White House. In other
times, these scams might be something of a clumsy sideshow. But in
these strange times, there appears to be enough suspension of
scrutiny for them to be finding targets.
In
addition to appearing sufficiently authoritative to take in a
significant number of victims, these new phishing scams are also
noteworthy in that Inky attributes them to Russian hackers.
… The
email is full of grammatical red flags right from the start, with a
title proclaiming “The White House Instruction for coronavirus.”
It also opens by announcing that “the quarantine will be prolonged
until August 2020”; there is no Federal quarantine order, only
recommendations that states and localities opt to follow as they see
fit. The email also errantly claims that the Federal tax filing
deadline has been extended to August 15, when the real extension is
only to July 15.
The
grammar, structure and factual errors are enough to indicate that
this is a likely phishing scam. However, it all might appear
plausible enough to those who trust in the legitimacy of the return
address and skim the email contents to get straight to the link.
Remember.
Now
More Than Ever You Need to Cover Phone And Laptop Cameras, Says
Security Expert
Most of us
have a camera built into our phone, tablet, laptop, or a desktop
webcam we use for work, study or virtual socialising.
Unfortunately,
this privilege can leave us vulnerable to an online attack known as
camfecting.
This is when hackers take control of your webcam remotely. They do
this by disabling the "on" light which usually indicates
the camera is active – so victims are none the wiser.
… When
your laptop is turned off its webcam can't be activated. However,
many of us keep our laptops in hibernation or sleep mode (which
are different ).
In this case, the device can be woken by a cybercriminal, and the
camera turned on. Even Mark Zuckerberg has admitted he covers
his webcam and
masks his microphone.
Only
exams? What about homework?
Students,
university clash over forced installation of remote exam monitoring
software on home PCs
Students
are protesting plans by the Australian National University (ANU) to
enforce the use of remote monitoring software on their home systems
for exams during the COVID-19 pandemic.
… Proctorio
is
at the heart of the controversy. The platform is touted as a
"comprehensive learning integrity platform" and a means to
"secure remote exams."
This
includes the verification of exam takers prior to an assessment
through the upload of biometric data and IDs; a remote "lockdown"
to prevent outside information from reaching a test taker during the
exam period; and the recording of a user's environment -- potentially
achieved by taking control of a machine's microphone and camera.
There
is government and then there is governing.
Facebook
and Google to face mandatory code of conduct to 'level playing field'
with traditional news media
The
Federal Government has ordered the competition watchdog to develop a
mandatory code of conduct to govern commercial dealings between tech
giants and news media companies.
Treasurer
Josh Frydenberg said a mandatory code would help "level the
playing field" by requiring
digital platforms such as Google and Facebook to pay news media
businesses for the content they produce.
"It's
only fair that those that generate content get paid for
it," Mr Frydenberg said.
The
Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had initially been tasked
with developing a voluntary code to
address the bargaining power imbalance between digital giants and
traditional media outlets.
However,
the ACCC has since advised the Government that reaching
a voluntary agreement over the crucial issue of payment for content
would be "unlikely".
The
right way…
Virtual
Conferences: A Guide to Best Practices
Virtual
Conferences: A Guide to Best Practices –
A community resource from the ACM [Association for Computing
Machinery] Presidential Task Force on
What
Conferences Can Do to Replace Face-to-Face Meetings Version 1.1 —
April 13, 2020
… We
hope that this guide will serve both as a basic orientation for
newcomers and as a repository of accumulated knowledge from the
community. As heavy users of online technologies and as researchers
responsible for developing them, the ACM community is especially
well-positioned to offer advice that we hope will be helpful to other
groups dealing with the same problems…”
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