Posts by Stuart Moore

Military infosec SNAFUs: What WhatsApp and bears in the woods can teach us

That's real spycraft, not just going through the motions.

That deserves one of these -->

Vote to turf out remainder of Nominet board looks inevitable after .uk registry ignores reform demands

Re: Shine a light

I'm a fan of 34sp.com - never had any problems, and dropped them an email thanking them for backing publicbenefit.uk to which the CEO replied.

Nominet chooses civil war over compromise by rejecting ex-BBC Trust chairman

move your domain

If you have a UK domain - move it to a registrar who is against this. If you can get your workplace to do so too.

Scottish National Party members found among list of names signed up to rival Alba Party after website whoopsie

Re: The Scottish People's Front.

The On The Side Of The Scottish People's party are delighted to announce we have joined with the Scottish People's Back party. The party will now be known as the Scottish People's BackSide party, or in Gaelic as Arse.

OVH flames scorched cloud customers with pledge to build data centre fire simulation lab

20x7

... is that because of a 4 hour lunch break?

I haven't bought new pants for years, why do I have to keep buying new PCs?

Re: When you say "pants",

In the doggie breathing hard sense

We know it's hard to get your kicks at work – just do it away from a wall switch powering anything important

Re: Uses of Radar

Surely that only happened if he had scrambled eggs too...

Nominet vows to freeze wages and prices, boost donations, and be more open. For many members, it’s too little, too late

Tell your Domain Registrar

I was delighted to find that my preferred domain registrar (34sp.com) have already signed, and sent them an email to say so. If your registrar has - congratulate them, will help them fight any pushback internally. If they haven't - email to ask why not, and why you shouldn't move to one that has?

DBA heroes don't always wear capes. Sometimes they just have a bunch of forgotten permissions

¿Qué?

45 million medical scans from hospitals all over the world left exposed online for anyone to view – some servers were laced with malware

Re: Security model is upside down so they can't implement SSO

Single sign on doesn't mean giving everyone access to everyone's records. It means that you have one authentication, which then gives you access to the things you have the right to access, whatever system they're in.

Working out what you have a right to access becomes more complicated, but it isn't impossible. One solution I heard is that every access should be audited and the patient themselves can review, along with reviews of suspicious events (e.g. doctors receptionist getting records of someone not registered at the surgery - there are valid reasons - emergency appointment when visiting relatives - but if one receptionist goes outside the statistical norms you can ask them what's going on).

This is a complex problem to solve, and making things too secure could end up with the patient getting incorrect treatment. However we should be honest about what the problem is.

Internet Archive to preserve Flash content for posterity with Ruffle emulator

Badger Badger Badger

https://archive.org/details/flash_badger - this needed preserving!

(Icon because - Mushroom Mushroom!)

What a Hancock-up: Excel spreadsheet blunder blamed after England under-reports 16,000 COVID-19 cases

I could almost forgive it...

... if this had happened in March when there was a rush on and things were having to be set up in a rush. But the fact that 6 months on no one has put in a better process... FFS

Ancient telly borked broadband for entire Welsh village

I suspect...

Spelt!

was intended to raise a rye smile. I couldn't prove it dough.

Ex-Apple engineer lifts lid on Uncle Sam's top-secret plan to turn customized iPod into 'Geiger counter'

To be fair, the current government don't believe in any of those things, so you might as well tell all...

Dido 'Queen of Carnage' Harding to lead UK's Institute for Health Protection because Test and Trace went so well

Depends what you're comparing the large scale agriculture to. You've chosen to compare to organic farming; you could alternatively compare it to what the land would be doing if it wasn't farmed at all, which is a valid comparison of you're comparing where we are now globally to decades ago.

Likewise you've carefully chosen the northern hemisphere for your deforestation stat, rather than globally, despite the atmosphere being global... could that be because looking globally doesn't match the outcome you want?

So you really didn't touch the settings at all, huh? Well, this print-out from my secret backup says otherwise

Re: Fear the

It seems Dabbsy is now an ex-columnist at The Register, according to https://mobile.twitter.com/alidabbs?lang=en

Unlucky for some, GitLab 13.0 is DevSecOps in a box, but will it play nicely with others?

Can report the same flaws apply to ultimate too...

It's a good product, and it is getting better. I like having the CI setup itself in source control. Some of the security analysis features are pretty good. There are a few nice features where just a little more work will make them really nice.

Not perfect, but worth a look

Easyjet hacked: 9 million people's data accessed plus 2,200 folks' credit card details grabbed

Re: Never store CC details

If they're doing it properly, then the credit card numbers will be passed to a CC processor, who will return a transaction number. If they want to refund the transaction, that's what they need. The CC processor will hold that link, but there are a small number of them and they can afford to do security a lot better (and understand that they need to do it).

Likewise for repeating credit card payments, saved cards etc. done properly it will be passed to the CC processor who will return a token. That token can only be used by that merchant - so if the token does get exposed you can't use it all over the place.

Of course, no guarantees that things are done properly, and it's very easy to e.g. turn on debug logging of all inputs without remembering there are some you definitely shouldn't be logging!

Xiaomi Mi 9 owners furious after dodgy Vodafone software patch bricked their mobes

Re: Android One

I'll second that. Just killed one with water, and bought another. Does all I want, SD card and headphone socket. Highly recommended.

What do you call megabucks Microsoft? No really, it's not a joke. El Reg needs you

Uptime363

Cloudflare outage caused by techie pulling out the wrong cables

Re: Cables with labels on

>> There's a reason the green on traffic lights has a lot of blue in it...

> And a reason it's always at the top (unless you're in some backwards country like the USA)

Not getting in a car with you, John Robson!

NASA mulls restoring Saturn V to service as SLS delays and costs mount

Sensible idea

Perhaps we can send Trump up to open his first space hotel?

Quick, show this article to the boss, before they ask you to spin your own crisis comms Power App in 2 days

Re: Wait a minute

But if the entire point is to facilitate people having to work from home, then the location is not necessary something that should be shared so widly

Download this update from mybrowser.microsoft.com. Oh, sorry, that was malware on a hijacked sub-domain. Oops

Others have found this

Went to a presentation by the authors of the appcheck tool, they showed the same demo - they've been able to take over http://connectme.microsoft.com/ - it seems MS just don't care.

RIP Katherine Johnson: The extraordinary NASA mathematician astronauts trusted over computers

Amazing woman

If you haven't seen Hidden Figures, watch it - it's a very watchable technical film.

Help! I'm trapped on Schrodinger's runaway train! Or am I..?

Re: just going to add

if I EVER see ANYONE looking remotely like Mr Dabs getting into or on my Train / Bus / Plane / Hotel - I am getting OFF ffs :o)

Mme Dabbs may have something to say about that!

What was Boeing through their heads? Emails show staff wouldn't put their families on a 737 Max over safety fears

Inconsistent with Boeing values

In that they actually we're thinking about the plane's safety not just the bottom line?

'Buyer's remorse' drove HP's legal crusade to go after Lynch, High Court told

Re: Slightly disappointed

I believe the British English equivalent is "Tally ho, mother how's your father"

Train-knackering software design blunder discovered after lightning sparked Thameslink megadelay

Re: and basically impossible to test for.

I wonder if the different software versions is a hint here. On the test track it has the old version, and the driver needed to do a manual reset... Fair enough. No one re-tested when the new version went out...

Today's budget for application improvements is brought to you by the letters "Y", "K" and the number "2"

Re: Generally true of Ye Olde Versions

Own up. Who was meant to make amanfrommars1 was y2k compliant, and just knocked off to the pub early?

Microsoft: Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, my PowerShell has gone RC

Re: Santa is not an elf!

Have you seen the vehicle he rides in? Rooftop work blatantly ignoring working at height regulations?! No way is he part of elf and safety.

In tribute to Galaxy Note 7, BBC iPlayer support goes up in flames for some Samsung TVs

Same happened to my samsung blu ray

My TV is relatively dumb (has Netflix but nothing else), I got a Samsung blu-ray to give me the smart functionality - a BD-H6500-ZF, bought April 2016. Same thing, they turned off my iPlayer despite me trying software updates. Samsung support said it was the BBCs fault. https://twitter.com/mrstumo/status/1192172108316581888?s=19

Ended up buying a Roku as the best of a bad bunch. Last time I buy a Samsung

It's Hipp to be square: What happened when SQLite creator met GitHub

Not sure that's fair...

git rerere is perfectly cromulent

Can't you hear me knocking? But I installed a smart knocker

Re: Well that was a waste...

Door open on power off + external fuse box = burglar's dream...

GitLab reset --hard bad1dea: Biz U-turns, unbans office political chat, will vet customers

Re: Wrong command

Possibly git revert bad1dea

Astronaut Tim Peake reminds everyone about the time Excel mangled his contact list on stage at Microsoft AI event

Re: A Simple Leading Question

Amanfrommars1 - what you get when you save an AI in Excel and it rounds everything up?

Clutching at its Perl 6, developer community ponders language name with less baggage

The Register runs on Perl?

I thought The Register ran on beer...

Trump attacks and appeals 'fundamentally misconceived' Twitter block decision

Re: Insanity

Please please also Trump the last...

Subcontractor's track record under spotlight as London Mayoral e-counting costs spiral

Re: Costs a lot

Monster raving loonies in charge? Sounds better than the current situation...

NPM Inc settles union-busting complaints on third try – after CEO trolled for ordering internal mole hunt

So tempting...

To send them a Playmobil vulture and mole...

Home Office cops an earful for emergency network feck-ups - £3bn overbudget and 3 years late

Re: Shambolic

Unless the fire brigade and ambulance are attending a fire caused by a substation issue, which also means power to the area has been cut...

You assume these are all independent events. I can think of several scenarios where they're not

Autonomy was a 'pure-play software company', testifies former HP chief exec Léo Apotheker

Great reporting

Love that this hearing is getting the detailed coverage it deserves. Well done Gareth and El Reg

'Occult' text from Buffy The Vampire Slayer ep actually just story about new bus lane in Dublin

Re: Dross?

I have also recently started a re-watch, and I'd agree it holds up well - far fewer jokes that now make you cringe than many other shows of the time. The first season is ok but the second is noticeably better when they've had a chance to work out what works.

We also decided to get the box set of Angel (spin off from season 3, I think) and watch them in parallel with the overlaps... Less convinced by Angel so far but it's not bad. Somewhere online there's a suggested watching order so that you don't get continuity out of order.

My 2019 resolution? Not to buy any of THIS rubbish

Re: Hospitality sector had it coming

Our mortgage broker definitely found me a deal I wouldn't have found myself, probably saving thousands over the length of the mortgage, as well as explaining things like the way rates are calculated (e.g. your rate won't improve unless you can get your deposit above this level...).

Total cost to me? Zero! They did it based on commission from the building society (but still it was better than any rate I could find publicly). So as far as I'm concerned it was a win. The same person has also helped several friends and family too.

This was Nick at www.privatepremierfinance.co.uk - I hope the mods won't mind me posting that here.

Boeing 737 pilots battled confused safety system that plunged aircraft to their deaths – black box

Re: Computer knows best?

Is there a valid case for an autopilot to have a height of zero feet? I'd have thought that should be a case of the autopilot refusing to engage. So not sure I'd call that just human error. Well, the programmer is human too I suppose...

Peers to HMRC: Digital tax reforms 3 days after Brexit? Hold your horses, how 'bout 3 years...

Radio 4 moneybox

There was a Radio 4 Moneybox episode about this a few weeks ago, should be still there in the podcast. Most accurate thing was when this was all described as making tax difficult.

It sounds like the original plans might have been useful with extra detail, but now they're watered down to uselessness someone is insisting on going on to save face... Bloody politicans

Bright spark dev irons out light interference

Re: I'm pleased he eventually found the cause of the problem

I'm glad he didn't need to resort to forgery

ZX Spectrum reboot latest: Some Vega+s arrive, Sky pulls plug, Clive drops ball

Re: What we need

It's debates like the above that make me wish I wasn't (slightly) too young to have had them in real time. More of this kind of thing!

Visa fingers 'very rare' data centre switch glitch for payment meltdown

Re: VISA Crimes

I recently got a metrobank debit card for a trip abroad, and it made life a lot easier. No fee for transactions abroad, and they're a mastercard debit. I like having one each of visa and mastercard, with different banks, just in case this happens.

HTC U12+: Like a Pixel without the pratfalls, or eye-watering price tag

No Headphone Jack, No Sale

You forgot to mention, but there's no headphone jack (according to https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/new-product/mobile-phone/htc-u12-plus-3664388/ )

Shame as there does appear to be an SD card (had to look at https://www.engadget.com/2018/05/22/htc-leaks-flagship-u12-plus/?guccounter=1 to find that!)