Posts by Sir Runcible Spoon

Total WIPOut: IT chief finds his own job advertised

Re: "staff are meant to be protected against retaliation for cooperating"

What are you doing working in IT, then?

:) Looking for horse shoe nails.

Re: "staff are meant to be protected against retaliation for cooperating"

What put a bug up my arse, is that you decided that a theist would do the right thing, but an atheist would not, choosing the easy road instead.

I didn't say that, I merely said that on balance I thought an atheist might feel more pressure to not blow the whistle when taking into account the potential real-life impact. I in no way meant that as a slur on the character of atheists, just that I would understand if the prospect of retribution from authority figures was a bit more daunting.

I'm not a Christian, but then again I don't adhere to any kind of dogmatic approach to understanding my relationship with God. That is something between me and God and I have no expectation of it having any bearing on anyone else's beliefs whatsoever.

I've read a couple of Dawkins books, and he makes a good argument. As always I believe ultimate truth to be mutable (not facts, but what those facts mean) the best truths are the ones that help you grow and move on to another level of awareness. At that point old truths may need to be revised or even discarded if they no longer serve to help you progress.

I hold no permanent views, I am always open to new truths, yet it amazes me how much core information gets re-inforced over the years and how much 'stuff' becomes more and more irrelevant as time goes by. Peace.

Re: Really annoys me when....

One word: corruption.

Re: "staff are meant to be protected against retaliation for cooperating"

"so when you wake up to another cold morning with frost on your woolly hat, and decide its time to make that 200 mile walk south for the warmer weather for the winter you will think about your decision to blow that whistle on your boss who broke the rules to get his friend a lucrative contract...."

'A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once. It seems to me most strange that men should fear, seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come. <W.S.>'

"if you believe in a deity who is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction..<snip>..then you will be just fine if you blow the whistle on some wrong doing"

Not quite sure which belief system is being portrayed there, but it doesn't match the one I adhere to.

"but you expect the suspiciously absent space mage to protect you.....

wake up and smell the coffee...."

Not sure I expect anything of the sort, I'm pretty sure I didn't say anything of the sort in my post. You seem to be a bit upset by my post, you might want to consider the underlying cause of your anxiety and sort that out, you'd be happier I reckon.

For what it's worth, when I was faced with the choice of blowing the whistle or not, I found that it wasn't really a choice and the decision flowed naturally from my state of being. I suffered consequences, fortunately not so much that it ruined my life in the long term. Would I do it again? Of course. Would I do it differently? I certainly would.

Perhaps my good fortune was based on my faith that it was the right thing to do and that the Universe saw fit to shift me out of the blast radius before it destroyed me, who knows. I'm certainly grateful.

Let me state something for the record: There is no power on Earth that will make me throw my lot in with those who are seeking to make everyone else's life a misery - whether by action or inaction.

The coffee I have sat in front of me smells great by the way :)

Re: "staff are meant to be protected against retaliation for cooperating"

"People need ask themselves, is it worth the years its taken me to get to this point? Because they will fuck me over and unless I wish to whore myself out to the media, I wont have any protection no matter what the law says."

I suppose it depends on how principled a person you truly are whether you go ahead and blow that whistle.

No doubt that the world is a hostile place, but if it weren't for people focused on the good (and prepared to stand up and be counted) then it would a worse place than it already is.

Seems like a losing battle alright, however I don't see that as any reason to throw in the towel and bow my head in subjugation. If you believe in some higher power and the immortal soul etc. then that makes the decision a bit easier. For a devout atheist I expect the decision will be much harder and pragmatism would most likely prevail.

Data exfiltrators send info over PCs' power supply cables

Re: "...attackers could install malware..."

Infiltration is a separate risk from ex-filtration and so often treated separately.

In order to secure your data, it's usual to assume that miscreants already have access to the devices but have no easy way of getting the data out of the environment, so you limit the opportunities and closely monitor the ones you can't shut down completely (because they are needed for some reason).

To be honest, it would make more sense to infiltrate the system with a spy with an eidetic memory.

HTC Vive Pro virtually stripped. OK, we mean actually stripped. (It’s a VR headset, geddit?)

Re: Cost analysis

You get over VR sickness within a couple of weeks. I certainly did and I'm extremely prone to motion sickness but now I can immediately turn off all comfort settings and just play (such as Omega Wipeout - and that's some insane shit right there. I lock my view to pilot (rather than cockpit) and it's still fine for me).

Re: Why all the flash?

@Lee D: You have heard of PSVR haven't you? You can find them in the UK for as little as £280 new.

If you already have a ps4 then you're good, if not then you can pick a new one up for about £230, even cheaper second hand of course.

German sauna drags punters to court over naked truth

Re: Stamp it out.

This IS The Register. Stories like this are what make El Reg special. It's all about balance

I don't know what was going on behind the scenes, but a couple of months ago there was a disturbance in the force, and El Reg started taking on overtones of unnerving nature. That all seems to have died down and normal service has resumed - would love to know what actually happened.

They're back! 'Feds only' encryption backdoors prepped in US by Dems

Re: There is God given right to privacy

To which the honest answer should be yes seeing as how, information wise, we are way beyond their wettest dreams already.

Can't disagree with that, but it might be useful to point out to someone what it was like before they were slowly boiled over the last 17 years, they might not actually realise.

Re: There is God given right to privacy

Next time anyone says that line I'm going to ask them if they approve of the methods used by the Stasi in East Germany during the cold war.

I don't know why you are so confident that they don't understand the issue.

Let us, for arguments sake, assume that they *do* know what the issue is. What can we surmise from this premise?

Well, let us first look to the intended consequences of the situation by first establishing a couple of parameters..

- There can be no back-door to encryption

- There is constant pressure to implement a back-door to encryption

- Most people are ignorant of the ramifications

- TPTB blame lack of ability to decrypt key devices for crime 'x'

All of this contributes to a dynamic state of fear in the population that has no resolution (much like the war on 'drugs' etc.).

Fear in the population makes them easier to control.

What was your question again?

"Key 1 is owned by you and is relatively unique"

You might want to revisit your information sources on the definition of one of those words ;)

zlasherbat ofn ipsicle clunderncntu

Re: There is no God given right to digital security

Pro-tip (from Bruce): Perform all your encryption activities on a 100% off-line device before transferring said files manually to your communication system for transmission.

Re: Criminal Defence

Considering the US is the country in which an accomplice burglar was convicted of murder and sentenced to 95 years after a police officer shot the other burglar dead when they were trying to escape.

I'm not excusing or condoning burglary, neither am I criticizing the Police officer who shot the suspect dead, but the courts thinking that it is logical to find the other burglar guilty of murder? That's bat-shit insane.

Re: Embarrassment of Advisors

"Let me guess: The Russians?"

I'm thinking somewhere warmer, where there are plenty of technical experts in the field of security.

'Housemate from hell' catches 24 new charges after alleged nightmare cyberstalking spree

Re: Need help with a cyberstalker

Whatever evidence you secure, ensure to get as accurate a time-stamp for it as possible (UTC).

Nasty

This guy sounds seriously psychologically disturbed to me.

Sorry spooks: Princeton boffins reckon they can hide DNS queries

Re: So, what would be the point of hiding the DNS query?

As far as we know ICR is a trawl-able database, especially for known dodgy end-points.

Re: So, what would be the point of hiding the DNS query?

@TRT. not in the UK they don't - they only need to look at your ICR. (Internet Connection Record)

Re: The diagram isn't clear. The .odns stub isn't attached to the ISPs DNS but to the client.

To originating computer, the IP address for l33th4xerr.org is 12.43.128.12

At which point the client presumably opens up a connection to 12.43.128.12 using port 443 with the data 'l33th4xerr.org' in the header.

So, what would be the point of hiding the DNS query?

Much better to run your own VPN server and DNS proxy remotely and connect to that.

It would make more sense to code the .odns tld details into the client side part, at which point this is just moving the trust model to odns from the ISP/whoever. i.e. no real difference to now.

Re: Missing the significance here

Yeah, since we now have ICR's in the UK all destination connections for web traffic is exposed, DNS snooping or not. However, I'm not sure ICR's track non-http/https connections - anyone know for sure?

Re: Oh Good Grief

The point here is that this solution is in *addition* to existing services, if you don't want to use it, don't.

However, if you prefer to make it more costly for tptb to snoop on you then it's nice to have options.

Azure needs extra security controls before it's fit for government use, says Australia

Considering that MS staff will have access to the data stored there, perhaps additional measures are required to ensure confidentiality etc.

Re: "additional configuration and security controls"

MS initially designed this for the US government market, it's not surprising that it doesn't necessarily meet more stringent requirements of other governments.

Cisco mess from 2017 becomes tool for state-sponsored infrastructure attacks and defacements

Re: Question

I'm glad that was the first question, exactly what I was going to ask, although ISP switches are, by necessity, on the internet (although their management IP's should not be).

El Reg is slightly behind the curve on reporting this as I saw it on RT yesterday (I know the vultures are at their watering holes at the weekend ;)) - RT did report that this hit a number of ISP's - I can't imagine why any ISP would have to rely on such an install process in the first place, not withstanding that their management IP's are exposed.

Amazon and eBay agree to expose potential VAT evaders for UK tax man

Re: It is not just lost VAT ...

"Amazon doesn't need a bank account... just a debit card/credit card. "

Ummm, you did know that those debit/credit cards are typically associated with bank accounts, don't you?

2001: A Space Odyssey has haunted pop culture with anxiety about rogue AIs for half a century

They clearly copied the idea of using The Blue Danube from the docking music in Elite.

One solution to wreck privacy-hating websites: Flood them with bogus info using browser tools

You'd think that, having bought a washing machine, you would be more likely to start getting adverts for detergent and fabric softeners etc., rather than assuming you are some kind of washing machine collector!

Uber self-driving car death riddle: Was LIDAR blind spot to blame?

Re: "...a [Lidar] blind spot low to the ground all around the car."

Exactly how much will depend on how high above the roof it is.

Also whether it is pointing downwards or not.

Cambridge Analytica 'privatised colonising operation', not a 'legitimate business', says whistleblower

Re: Re : "described Wylie as a charlatan"

"as soon as you resort to name calling in a public forum or debate then you've already kinda' lost the argument."

Or just getting started on the character assassination.

Microsoft's Windows 7 Meltdown fixes from January, February made PCs MORE INSECURE

Re: From the desk of /dev/null

To be fair to JJ that's probably a first :)

Did the FBI engineer its iPhone encryption court showdown with Apple to force a precedent? Yes and no, say DoJ auditors

#thinkofthesneakypoliticians

Re: AC

Apple didn't refuse to hand over data to the FBI, they refused to create specific code to hack into that iPhone - something Apple complained that they could not be compelled to do (it being tantamount to slavery or soemthing).

Not really. If the company can show that they don't have access to the data (ie the keys are only known to the two people in the conversation) then they can't be compelled to crack the encryption.

However, if someone has stored files (encrypted or otherwise) on systems owned by a US company, anywhere in the World, then they can get those now. Well, according to US global law anyways :/

UK.gov unveils cyber security export strategy – only thing missing is the strategy

Re: Just two things

Some of us do consider all the various facets as they relate to securing assets. The many layered onion and all that - all of which is to slow down an attacker, get visibility of the breach earlier etc. so that you can take measures to stop it and then plug the gap.

No such thing as a perfect system, but you can make it like molasses. What annoys me is when someone wants to remove one of the layers because it doesn't offer enough 'benefit', even though the effort required isn't massive to implement - and all because it's 'non-standard'*.

*There is the counter-argument that non-standard implementations can lead to fragmentation of effort and understanding, thus leaving gaping holes in your processes and maintenance, so I would never suggest non-standard unless there is a team to handle all the little foibles and retain knowledge etc.

Fleeing Facebook app users realise what they agreed to in apps years ago – total slurpage

Re: 618MB later...

" I'm not sufficiently familiar with the API to know quite what is passed when users agree certain permissions for apps etc, but I rather doubt the detail of information seen here would be part of the deal. "

Basically everything..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Platform

If you've shared it with facebook & friends, developers can access it.

Re: Sorry, I've got to say it...

"My data? They're welcome to it. It's worth nothing to me"

"Do I care what data they get off me? No, not really. Calls from my phone to people? Fair enough. Is it any use to them? Really, probably not other than to profile me a bit better."

Having a detailed profile of you and your contacts allows them to manipulate you in ways that you probably haven't even thought of. In fact, it probably has happened and you are so happy in your ignorance that you haven't noticed.

Also, just because you value yourself so much less than you should doesn't mean that everyone else should follow suit.

Heaven help you if you ever actually do anything interesting enough to create an enemy* that wants to do you harm.

It's quite clear that most people aren't imaginative enough to grasp just how much they *do* have to hide, and why. In my world view people who think 'I have nothing to hide therefore I have nothing to fear' are exhibiting a slave mentality and by undermining the efforts of others who don't want to be slaves they are actively acting against our best interests.

In a more polarized world (if we aren't there already) such behavior could potentially be construed as the actions of an enemy and so attract negative attention. At which point you have made enemies of people who can find out everything about you. Are you afraid yet? I expect not somehow, but you should be.

*In a personal sense, rather than just in the powerful vs. proles sense.

Uber's disturbing fatal self-driving car crash, a new common sense challenge for AI, and Facebook's evil algorithms

Re: Shouldn't lidar work *better* in the dark?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MFuSMz1zh0

'Let the world see your life as something that you treasure - get yourself seen!' - Quite.

Riding a motorbike made me realise just how invisible we can be, even when lights are on, reflective jackets etc.. - if you don't ride like every other road user is liable to kill you at a moments notice you will end up as a statistic. This also goes for when you are a pedestrian or a car driver or a cyclist etc.

Re: I'd wonder why the womàn pushing her bike started to cross at all, with a dirty great,

Rights of way are often superseded by instantaneous risk analysis.

For example, the aggregate lorry flying through the junction at 30mph against the flow of traffic caused me to relinquish my right of way in favour of not being squashed like a bug.

Facebook's inflection point: Now everyone knows this greedy mass surveillance operation for what it is

Re: Banksters 2.0

"What if people also shun US firms who shit all over privacy....???"

We can but dream my AC friend :)

Re: if its all about the social validation and dopamine kick

@Charles 9 - If they didn't stink so much, I'd probably still be smoking.

Having said that, the pictures on the side of the boxes that showed someone with half their face missing did actually have an effect on me that led to giving up. Dying is one thing, having half your face eaten away by cancer is something else - people can face death because there are, literally, no personal consequences (allegedly). Being alive but in constant pain and disfigured etc. is a lot harder to rationalise away.

Re: Facebook idiot count

"Sorry, but there was no way I was going to quit a highly lucrative job because; "I don't like Facebook"."

Ever heard of constructive dismissal?

Principles are easy when they don't cost you anything, you only really know if you will stick to them when there is a price to pay for keeping them.

Hint: If you are afraid to lose something - it controls you.

Guns, audio and eye-tracking: VR nearly ready for prime time

Re: re "no mention of PSVR"

PSVR stacks up pretty well against the competition, according to people who've compared all of them.

I use it almost every day. The biggest niggle with psvr is the move controller tracking, some games do well, others not - but even the best isn't a match for the oculus or htc tracking. Headset tracking is ok though.

Whilst there are mixed reviews about the benefits of the Pro over OG Ps4 for psvr, I use a Pro and some games do use the extra horsepower - it's worth it unless you already have a ps4.

As a 'pick up and play' kind of system, it's more than good enough and streets ahead of any kind of mobile based VR.

Nausea is an issue for every system, but even though I suffer from terrible motion sickness I can now play pretty much any game without any comfort settings and have no issues at all, just takes a few weeks to get your VR legs, that's all. In fact, it's helped me with my real-life motion sickness too :)

Re: Eye tracking

The mouse pointer thing sounds interesting, I'm assuming that would help when using an ultra-wide monitor? I spend quite a bit of time moving the mouse across sometimes, plus I often lose track of it!

Reflection of a QR code on PoS scanner used to own mobile payments

Re: All your payment tokens are mine

Was it? Shit, now I look a proper tool :)

Re: All your payment tokens are mine

But then people would have thought he was Russian, and well, you know where that leads!

El Reg deep dive: Everything you need to know about UK.gov's pr0n block

Re: Cybergumble

Bandersnatch isn't a cat, is it?