Posts by Pascal Monett

Intelligent Energy secures $7.5m to develop smartphone fuel cell

"the biggest limitation we have in achieving true connectivity"

Is not actually battery life - it is security at the hardware level.

Battery life (or lack of) is a nuisance, to be sure, but everywhere you can hope to get a connection, you generally have access to a wall socket or a USB charger. If you go out of range of either, there's a good chance you won't have connectivity either.

What we really need is secure-by-design IoT. Another thing would be IoT that is actually useful and not just for hipsters, but that can wait until security is baked in from the start.

UK court approves use of predictive coding for e-disclosure

"until an acceptable level of accuracy is reached"

More like an acceptable level of loss.

Yeah, 3 millions documents - and that's not pages - is a lot to review. Maybe we need to pare down the discovery process to allow for a restricted number of document submissions, instead of trying to find a way to skip analysing every one of them ?

Because if the 3 million are relevant, then what ?

Linode probe into 2015 crack finds fake 2FA creds flaw

Security Fail once again

"It's also created an “authentication microservice” that completely separates customer applications from customer credentials"

The question is : why didn't they start by that in the first place ? it cannot be because they just didn't think of it, right ? I mean, I'm not an InfoSec guru by a long shot, but it seems to me that such a configuration is a basic when talking about secure authentication, no ? You want a minimum of internet interaction until you're sure of who it is you're talking with.

In any case, good on them to have made the change. Shame that it had to be following a breach, and that they didn't put the money there in the first place.

D&D geeks were right – their old rule books ARE worth something now

What ?

You are asking me to mutilate my treasured AD&D collection so that you don't have to go through the trouble ?

Or am I supposed to believe that WoTC doesn't have some copies lying around to do the job ? Or original prints ? Or any sort of archive ?

My books are mine. I'll agree to digitizing them with a hand scanner if it helps, but no way I'm destroying them because you couldn't be arsed to preserve your own publications.

Microsoft hoses down Windows Server hardware support change fears

Microsoft still thinks it holds the PC market in its hands

Microsoft can keep pushing all it wants, at some point it is just going to push people away from Windows.

The upcoming generation barely knows Windows. Teens today are on Android or iOS, or wasting time on tablets that don't have Windows either. They are used to Gmail and Google Docs. In the next decade, they're not only going to enter the workplace, some of them will end up IT managers.

I'm betting that, come that day, they'll look at Microsoft licence costs, upgrade treadmill costs, service disruption and risk of data loss and they'll say "What the hell?" and move everything to Linux.

So keep pushing, Satya. Microsoft has always been the best reason to go to Linux, one day people will listen.

FBI says it helped mess up that iPhone – the one it wants Apple to crack

Re: longer passcodes?

Obligatory xkcd reference.

Clear and easy to understand.

Re:"On death doesn't the contents of account become owned by Apple?"

I should bloody well hope not, but thanks for the heads-up. One more reason for me not to post anything on "the Cloud".

Software, not wetware, now the cause of lousy Volvo drivers

Could we please stop this hands-free-everywhere nonsense ?

Convenience is a good thing, but not when it is tied to a platform as insecure as a mobile phone.

Oh well, I know I'm pissing in the wind, so I'll just wait for the inevitable massive phone hacks followed by a rash of stolen cars with insurances refusing to pay because car was not locked. That's when people will get the pitchforks out and cry about how they didn't know. Then they'll have learned a lesson.

Until next time, that is.

Ransomware scum add Joomla to their list

"a script injection [..] with the JavaScript files [..] carrying appended malicious scripts"

Once again, Firefox + NoScript stops an attack vector stone dead.

Man am I glad I use IE only for specific, known sites. Anyone know if this attack could work on Edge ?

Even Google is abandoning Google+

Replacing one ad-flinging, privacy-mining abomination with another one that does the same thing is not an improvement.

"Be careful from wild deadly animals"

And scores of grammar nazis have just keeled over from massive heart attacks. This from a developer for whom English is likely the native language. Oh well, it's a living language (meaning that it is defined by all the morons who don't know how to speak it).

By default I stay away from all privacy-mining social platforms, so I gave Google+ a miss as soon as I heard about it. I never missed it.

Comodo's 'security' kit installed a lame VNC server on PCs on the sly

Well whaddya know ?

With all the news about AV products revealing the stupendous stupidity that is lurking in their code, it would seem that Microsoft's Windows Firewall is actually not a bad product - provided you don't poke it full of holes with some so-called "security suite".

So Comodo joins the Symantec club of AV products I will never use. Another tear is shed on what Comodo used to be before it bloated itself beyond all usefulness. And life goes on.

519070 or blank: The PINs that can pwn 80k online security cams

Re: I wonder how many purchase orders for their products have been cancelled

Maybe none. Probably none, even, if the amount of people handing over their privacy to Facebook is any indication.

But seriously, this hack can only take place if the camera is connected to the network. That means all CCTV purchases are not at risk from the Internet. Of course, they are perfectly at risk from physical tampering, but if your threat is already that close, it's not the camera that will deter him.

As for me, I'm done even thinking about buying security cameras until an official rating has been created, implemented and can be verified stating that the hardware is secure and as tamper-proof as possible without any backdoors or root access or hardware-coded passwords.

I'm not holding my breath.

LISA Pathfinder drops its gravity-wave-finding golden boxes

@Ru'

Unless I made a mistake, a nanometer is apparently 0.00000000714 linguine.

At your service.

billionth-of-a-metre accuracy

Isn't that a nanometer ?

Nanometer accuracy a million clicks away ? In space ?

Count my mind boggled.

2016: The year IT sales will go sdrawkcaB

"new toys will be few and far between"

Good, we need a breather. And a decrease in the shrill shrieking of the hype machine will not be a disappointment.

Your anger is our energy, says Microsoft as it fixes Surface

"I read the blogs, I read the comments, I read social media, I read the forums"

Maybe if you spent less time reading, you'd spend more time making sure your product works ?

Okay, cheap shot, I agree. Hardware is finicky enough, add software and you can really find yourself in quite a bind, I'll easily admit that. But trying to do the "we're listening" act when you work at Microsoft, well, let's just say that it's going to be a while before that approach is taken seriously.

And really, guys, was it so hard to put one of your new Surfaces in sleep mode and test before shipping ? Or have you actually been in frantic mode on this issue since before release ?

China wants to bring home moon rocks in moon vacuum

Re: How do they get the vacuum in there?

Shouldn't be that difficult : bring the container to the Moon surface, open it and woosh!, air gone.

What will be a bit more difficult is preparing the vacuum examination chamber, but that will be on Earth and, therefor, a pump will be available.

ESA's Sentinel satellite to ride converted ICBM

Converting war tools into science tools

I can only applaud the Rockot program when it takes decommissioned ICBMs - the Armageddon's lance - and uses them to further Science and human understanding.

I do wonder what fuel they use though. I am under the notion that Soviet rockets used pretty nasty stuff. I wonder if that has changed.

The Nano-NAS market is now a femto-flop being eaten by the cloud

You say that as a Linux expert. In your case, I obviously agree.

Most people are not proficient with Linux. For those who still need NAS functionality, a dedicated vendor box is not all that expensive and has all the functionality required in a simple setup screen - no Linux knowledge needed.

Given that 99.9% of the population does not have the skills to tackle Linux on their own, NAS boxes are a good alternative.

Better than setting up yet another bug-ridden Windows box anyways.

Agreed on all counts

I have a Synology 4-bay NAS where I put 4 3TB disks (three WDs and 1 Seagate). Why 4 ? Because I wanted to use RAID-5.

I have ripped all my DVDs to it, so that my TV can access it for film viewing without hassle. I do not consider that replacing that with my Internet connection as an improvement. First, I'd be using up my bandwidth for something I already have locally. Second, I'd be limited to 10Mbps instead of 100Mbps on my LAN. Third, TCP is a lousy streaming support under 30Mbps. And I hate screen tearing when I watch a film.

Finally, I can watch a film whether or not I have Internet connectivity. I'll be damned if I have to depend on Internet to do stuff with MY data.

GitHub to devs: 'We ignored you but we never stopped caring'

Re: "back in the day there were many interesting websites written by authors"

Um, just out of curiosity, where are they now ?

Bomb hoax server hoster reportedly cuffed in France

Pushing it ? Why ?

If he's not actually logging anything useful, then why refuse to hand over the keys ?

If you witness a crime and have firsthand information on it, then refuse to tell the police when asked, you are bloody well complicit.

He has information that can help the police in bomb threats. I'm all for anonymity, but when lives are threatened fuck anonymity. I want the bastards caught and removed from civilization.

He hands over the keys to prove his innocence. When the kerfluffle is over, he changes keys.

You operate a site promising to look the other way, you takes your chances. He took them and it blew up in his face. Now he must face the consequences.

Metel malware pops bank, triggers 15 percent swing in Russian Ruble

Seems like banks are going to have to beef up at last

The entire banking industry has been surfing on security principles that date from last millennium.

Looks like a few hundred million are going to have to be removed from bonuses and go to actually securing hardware and transactions a lot more than they are now.

Maybe even ATMs will finally be upgraded from Windows XP Embedded to something secure, like a version of Linux.

In any case, I'm shedding no tears for them. This is a much-needed learning experience, and ATM security has been neglected for far too long.

Roses are red, violets are blue, Valentine's Day means DDoS for you

The scum obviously have no girlfriends

I understand the criminal approach of maximizing revenue : squeeze the victims that are most likely to pay without fuss.

I also think that paying them is a major mistake. Blackmailers will always come back to a victim who paid before. Unfortunately, that is not really an option for commercial sites, since they lack the means to change domain name or IP in a reasonable amount of time.

The only thing left is tracing the money, and that means paying, then waiting a long time before getting any hope of results.

What I don't understand is the betting sites. Betting has always been rather close to the criminal side of affairs - it seems to me that criminals are often behind those activities in the first place. So how is it that betting sites are targeted ? Shouldn't they be able to phone somebody and "get the message across" ?

Boffins' gravitational wave detection hat trick blows open astronomy

Re: I find gravity rather attractive

Oh yeah - she's got some wicked curves, doesn't she !

Uber, Taskrabbit, other Silicon Valley darlings urge Europe not to screw their business

47 sharing-economy outfits ask not to be limited by local laws

So that's 47 companies whose business model is :

- use poor schlubs to do someone else's job and skim your profits off of their work while claiming that they are not employed by you

- remain based outside of the country and claim that your revenue is not taxable because "Internet"

- avoid any and all liability by claiming that you have nothing to do with any issue that can arise since you are just a "facilitator"

In other words, 47 sleazebags who take the money and refuse all responsibility. They actually make Ebay look good again.

Putin's internet guru says 'nyet' to Windows, 'da' to desktop Linux

@Philip Clarke

Could you please explain how the US - or anyone, for that matter - can impose sanctions on open source software ?

Or do you think that deciding sanctions will magically make people in those countries not able to go to the web page and download the code ?

If security really had been a consideration then Moscow would never have started using Windows in the first place. In the days of the KGB, when it said nyet to something you didn't touch it unless you wanted to find out what the inside of Kremlin cell looked like up close.

Seems that Moscow is not so concerned about security that using Microsoft products becomes an issue. I do acknowledge that all this cloud malarkey and constant online transaction has become a security issue and that is why Moscow is now drawing the line. The bit about cheating and loss of trust is just a jab for old time's sake.

If that is the case, then Microsoft can promise all the discounts it wants, Moscow will move to Linux and nothing will stop that.

No, HMG, bulk data surveillance is NOT inevitable

There needs to be a debate

No there does not.

Not when there is a Constitution that guarantees individual privacy and freedom from unwarranted search, and bulk surveillance is - by definition - unwarranted search.

I find it curious to the extreme that nobody challenges the whole house of cards on those grounds - but then I remember that the media is controlled by those who are in charge, and they don't like questions like that.

School network manager wins £10,000 in NCC Group Cyber 10K challenge

Re: Shouldn't be needed

They tried that. It was called Windows Vista.

You might recall that it didn't work out all that well.

Heart Internet in 22-hour TITSUP after data centre power stuffup

Cloud, cloud, cloud, cloud

Chant until you believe again that nothing bad can happen anymore since you're on the cloud.

Shit happens, and when it does, Cloud means there's jack all you can do about it.

I can buy that it is a freak chain of circumstances. I can even imagine that there is no single one person that is responsible - neither the contractor, or local employees, maybe even the procedure was fine and Murphy's Law was just strolling through that day.

What I cannot buy is this insane, lemming-like attitude of "let's put all we got into The Cloud because everything will be all right and don't look at the invoice, ever."

No, something will go wrong and, as anyone with Internet access can find out, there is not one single Cloud provider that has not had problems staying online for whatever reason. So yeah, if you're going to put the one thing that makes your money - your website - on the Cloud, it's up to YOU to imagine where you might be if that cloud disappears for a while.

Instead of just drinking the cool-aid and looking at your shiny, 99.99% Uptime guarantee.

It's The Cloud. THERE IS NO GUARANTEE.

Bitcoin's governance bungles stain the blockchain's reputation

So, let me see . . .

Bitcoin's blockchain management is failing to support the high level of transactions that the fairy money scheme has generated, and that will tend to make makers of connected abominations not look at the blockchain functionality when shoving their insecure crap on ever connection that accepts the stuff.

I don't have any Bitcoins or any other fairy money, and IoT will stop at the moat around my house, so how exactly am I concerned about all this ?

Oh, right, all the other blithering idiots who buy into this unicorn scheme will be flooding my Internet with their useless, insecure drivel in quantities that will dwarf the useless, inane drivel from Twitter and Facebook. Yeah, that'll probably bug me a bit.

Until I finally get a working flamethrower, that is.

Let Europeans sue America for slurping their data – US Senate

Re: Too bad the United States can't demonstrate that it respects intra-border data privacy.

The only thing that the US has demonstrated is that it will stop at nothing to get the data it thinks it needs.

This stuff is just PR for the media.

The NSA couldn't care less - we have been repeatedly told that what it is doing is legal.

Bluetooth direct to the internet: What could possibly go wrong?

"networking security and server deployments are out of the scope of this exercise."

Well that's it then, we know for sure that all this IoT mania is just pie-in-the-sky thinking that is two hair widths from being as bad as a pyramid scheme.

Go on dreaming about unicorns in fairy land, guys, I'm sure you're having loads of fun with all that LSD.

Meanwhile, here in the dark, dank underground of the Real World, you try shovelling that crap at me and you'll get a kick in the head.

Boffins freeze brains, then thaw them – and they're in perfect order

It does however seem to strongly indicate that all the people who have been frozen up to now are well and truly dead and no amount of scientific advance will be able to repair their brain cells to a functional state.

Women devs – want your pull requests accepted? Just don't tell anyone you're a girl

Transparency doesn't matter

I can't believe how stupid we still are.

Code is code. It doesn't matter whose fingers typed it, or whether or not they were perfumed. What matters is that it works.

People (okay, MEN) who are capable of refusing working code on gender basis have no business heading a project and should go back to shovelling dirt and whistling to the sight of a well-shaped behind in a fitting dress because that's their level of intelligence.

Carly Fiorina makes like HP and splits – ex-CEO quits White House race

"she would fight against [..] "our bloated, inept government bureaucracy."

You mean, like fighting against those pig-headed nitwits who never change their opinion even when they have been publicly demonstrated to be wrong ?

Well if it takes one to know one, she's certainly on track to succeed in finding them.

TTIP: A locked room, no internet access, two hours, 300 pages and lots of typos

Typo tracking

I read about that technique in a Tom Clancy novel some years ago. At the time, I thought it was a pretty smart thing to do.

Except that here, if you can spot that sort of thing in less than 25 seconds per document, you are giving away the plot. And if there are that many typos, then it seems obvious that, to leak the document properly, all you have to do is correct them and they'll never find out who leaked it.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. This whole thing positively reeks of vested interests, backroom deals and brown envelopes. And this is something that a democracy is supposed to accept ?

Humbug.

Norks stabilise non-threatening space speck ... for about five minutes

Well, so much for the loitering nuke theory

It was an interesting theory, but even if that satellite is a nuke - and nothing says it is - it is all but useless now.

Why does the VR industry think 2016 is its year? It's the hardware, stupid

"we've come a hell of a long way"

Well, as far as bells and whistles are concerned, yes, VR looks a lot better than it used to. It's still not "reality" though, and anyone who thinks that they'll play a Gears Of War in VR is in for a bit of disappointment.

As far as needing a bucket after a short while is concerned, we haven't gotten much further though, as said gamer will likely discover rather quickly.

SCO's last arguments in 'Who owns Linux?' case vs. IBM knocked out

"The end [..] looks to be near"

This is a case of "I'll believe it when I see the body".

The cancerous, leeching parasite has dragged itself back from the brink way too many times for me to trust this at face value.

If the Lizard Men are controlling the White House, they're doing it from SCO HQ.

Australian astroboffins reveal hundreds of hidden galaxies

Maybe, maybe not. This is the Universe we're talking about, and this news proves that we are far from knowing all about it.

And just think, if the Milky Way was hiding a few hundred galaxies, maybe those could be hiding a few thousand more.

In any case, thank God for scientists painstakingly going over endless reams of data again and again in order to extract the very last ounce of data.

Well done, boffins and boffinettes. I salute you.

Bitcoiners are just like everybody else: They use rubbish passwords

"[..] demonstrates again that brain wallets are not secure and no one should use them."

The very first phrase in the Bitcoin wiki on this subject is : "A brainwallet refers to the concept of storing Bitcoins in one's own mind by memorization of a passphrase. As long as the passphrase is not recorded anywhere, the Bitcoins can be thought of as existing nowhere except in the mind of the holder. If a brainwallet is forgotten or the person dies or is permanently incapacitated, the Bitcoins are lost forever. ".

My first reaction to that was Hoy Cow, how more useless can you get ?

If someone steals my Visa, I can have it blocked. If I lose my account password, I can go to the bank, prove I'm myself and get another one. If I lose my Internet access, I can go to the bank. With real money, there is always a fallback option.

This ? A knock on the head and your "money" is gone forever.

And you can't even light a cigar with it. Pff.

Re: "how long is this piece of string"

Hey ! That's a great idea for a password ! At least as good as horse battery staple.

Moscow raids could signal end of global Dyre bank trojan menace

"Dyre's domination. Image: IBM"

I know it's called Big Blue, but for Christ sake could somebody put some red in there ?

17 shades of blue does not a readable graphic make.

Flash flushed as Google orders almost all ads to adopt HTML5

I think that any ad with a size over 80Kb should be banned. The html in the pages I read rarely goes over 20Kb, having 4 times that for ads should be largely enough.

I would welcome a browser extension that only downloads 80kb of ads and not a byte more. If all the ads in the page can't fit in, too bad.

That would kill almost all flash thingies in one stroke.

GSMA outlines thoroughly sensible IoT security rules

"do it right, or we won't connect your stuff"

Now THAT is the right kind of approach. No molly-cuddling, no pretty please, no endless collection of second chances.

Where security is concerned, I totally subscribe to that. Enough with the kindergarden view of connecting things to the Internet.

I hope the words will be followed by actions.

The Mad Men's monster is losing the botnet fight: Fewer humans are seeing web ads

Well then it hasn't been done properly. No matter, we'll just keep blocking them until they sort it out.

Given that it's directly linked to the famous bottom line, it'll hit home one day.