Posts by JCitizen

Uber hits PANIC BUTTON after India threatens to BAN dial-a-car firm

Preferences

I'd much rather be driven by a robot any day!

Keylogger: Somebody STOP ME! Oh hang on, I just did

Re: QFX

It will pass some of the AKLT tests but not all of them. However IBM endpoint can take care of the rest. I might try the test kit on SpyShelter, I haven't used it in years. I use QFX when I'm not in an SSL session, or the browser is closed. Rapport cannot protect you, or doesn't claim to, then. There is still screen capture and/or video capture though. It would be nice to block that all the time; a good HIPS is all you can do to hopefully fill in the gaps in a blended defense.

Adobe finds, patches ANOTHER exploited Flash 0day

Flash

Seems like most sites play with any modern browser without the flash application installed. For those of us that have to have flash installed for other applications to work you should have version 16.0.0.296 for all types installed.

Many experts on Krebs on Security maintain it did not completely mitigate the vulnerability. It is causing a lot of confusion, but having EMET 5.1 is always a good thing to have on board. As far as flash goes, Chrome uses their own in house version, and the Chrome update addressed a pot load of vulnerabilities to that browser as well. All modern browsers newer and including IE-11 seem to play most flash videos without any special Adobe products in your programs folders. There are two applications:

1. flash for Internet Explorer - Active X

2. flash for non-IE browsers - Plug-in

As far as I know number two is only for FireFox; any corrections are welcome.

Symantec data centre security software has security holes

Ach! Geeze! Symantec!!!

We always advised against that company at everyplace I ever worked. Fortunately our CIO always listened.

Top senator blasts US Homeland Security for leaving cyber-drawbridge down

This is probably why he is outgoing...

HA!!

ALIEN fossils ON MARS: Curiosity snaps evidence of life

I'm completely open to the truth myself...

Because I am a Christian. I have no preconceived ideas about creation, because I strive for the truth, as much as is humanly possible. God works in mysterious ways, and I'm not qualified to judge it at all. The Bible is truth, it is just that the creation story is also just a representation of the truth, just like any parable written within. If wondering about creation were easy, there would be no need of faith!

ALIEN EARTH: Red sun's habitable world spotted 470 light years away

470 years is nothing...

What would be amazing is if these planets didn't end up like the earth, of whom very likely was struck by a mars or smaller size orbiting companion planet - which means we might actually be BEHIND this newly discovered planet by about 4.5 BEEELLION years! HA!

I welcome our new overlords! 3:)

NUKE HACK fears prompt S Korea cyber-war exercise

Re: I would hope ...

U.S. Star Wars program tests with actual existing "smart" interceptors have proven that they can change direction instantly and at high speed. We don't even have to speculate into the future, it is already here. The thrust of some of those things equals the weight of a battleship, so yes they could do that maneuver quite easily, but the movie was silly to suggest no computer control - as if alien worlds would have such clumsy computers matching our old Earth technology in a far flung galactic history.

New fear: ISIS killers use 'digital AK-47' malware to hunt victims

I say!

Citizen Lab has a rather nice ring to it! I'm not sure why? (nudge-nudge)

Re: Fake beard jihadi chic

Dear AC: yes they had a good anti-recidivism rate - because they also participated in the Jewish Pogroms. They weren't prejudiced, they just killed everybody.

Put me through to Buffy's room, please. Sony hackers leak stars' numbers, travel aliases

Funny how SONY..

an organization, that might as well be a card carrying member of the Yakuza mob, and found enough chutzpah to use computer science to spy on all of us - thanks to the MPAA in their back pockets - but were too stupid to realize that similar outside influence could not possibly finger them for attack as well! Pure languor on a large scale, I'd say!

Re: What got hacked exactly.

It has been my experience in the past that nation state bad actors do not change their colors much, as they are so arrogant they don't feel the need to act as smart as you and I, as geeks, would assume they would. It would not be unusual to assume they have learned their lessons in the past 5 years or so - but I wonder; because when you look at the notes left in a compromised network by the attackers, it is very difficult to write a comprehensive shit list to total fantasy. I'm saying reality bites, and the bad actors have no imagination to make it look like anyone else is truly at fault.

Chinese responsible for 85 per cent of website scams

Unfortunately there are still be...

enough of the old Apple users who were spoon fed the adage that Apple is invulnerable and nothing can possibly happen to you if you use an Apple device. Oh well!

Taxi app Uber plugs 'privacy-threatening' web security flaw

I'm not worried anyway!!!

If they try to "boof" me, they will find out too late my CCW permit. And if they try to tap my home, they will run into my "gang" and some nasty booby traps! HA! I say the honey pot is worth it to catch some scabby bastards!

Microsoft lets YOU kill POODLE in Protected Mode sites

Tested all browsers under x64 format..

All tests defeated POODLE - you make it look like Microsoft can take away the protection - this sounds ridiculous to me, because we are all dropping obsolete secure socket layer conventions without complete Microsoft overview. - Just say'n!

Net neutrality: Cisco, Intel, IBM warn FCC NOT to crack down on ISPs

Hmmm..

ARPA started the internet with our money....all of a sudden ISPs think they should profit immensely!...Hmm!, maybe the whole world is not in our bailiwick, but we in the US have a right to comment - I have commented to the FCC three times now - the 1st time the servers at the gubbamint crashed because the US gubbamint doesn't know how to craft a decent web site - but they claim they can regulate it - Humm? So then I have commented once by direct contact by a staff member at Chairman Wheeler's office, but that was not apparently enough so I have left a message to punctuate my displeasure at his office once more. We citizens need to get off our arse to defend our rights, otherwise they will be usurped by posers who claim to have our best "interests" at heart. As far as wireless, these bastards have very little right to take over OUR airwaves as WE definitely OWN that!! End discussion!

Sony Pictures MEGAHACK: Securobods pull out probes, analyse badness

Re: Proof the N.Koreans did it

HA! Good one Guido!

DNA survives fiery heat of re-entry on test rocket

Re: Andromeda Strain.

Or the old harbinger of doom - great comets in the sky. History is replete with plagues after such events - kinda makes you think a space virus could have floated down the atmosphere off cometary dust, and directly caused such calamities. Dust would not necessarily reach velocities that would burn up on the atmosphere, because it could have been going at almost the same speed of the earth as it entered the dust trail. This lower velocity would mean the dust could float down, without enough gravitational acceleration to burn up in the 1st place, and terminal velocity would quickly be reached. Most of the incidental dust orbiting with earth is going 38,000 mph and would burn up, but I'm assuming the comet would kick things in gear by adding some velocity to match the earths speed at 66,000 mph in orbital velocity. I don't see it as impossible at all.

SandWorm thrived thanks to botched MSFT patch says HP

If I were HP

I wouldn't throw rocks in a glass house - even if they are right. I've not been very impressed with HP software either!

Texas boffins put radio waves in a spin

Re: allow full-duplex operation of a phone on a single frequency

Well from the state that brought us Texas Instruments, who came close to beating Intel to world wide CPU dominance, I have confidence they'll work it out.

EFF: VPNs will crumble Verizon's creepy supercookie stalkers

Avast offers SecureLine VPN..

I thought that offer was a little excessive, but now I see why. Of course ALWIL Software would probably track you too, but no more than most cookies do out there anyway. I'd have to read their EULA to see how invasive they are.

Plasma-spaffing boffins plan spaceships driven by FRIKKIN' LASERS

Re: Fascinating concept

With today's tracking capability it is no problem to track the rocket engine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_9ac-w4DW8#t=40

The tests I saw used hot air blasted by the laser to power the jet. No fuel was needed except the electricity to power the laser. The laser can be based on the ground by a fixed point, and track the engine for thrust. Science like this may save huge amounts of fuel for the regular aircraft industry, as it could aid in liftoff, which is where most of the fuel is burned in the first place.

Virgin's SpaceShipTwo crashes in Mojave Desert during test flight

To add to that..

The US press is saying that it was pilot error and not part of the proper test procedure.

Pilot error...

(or co-pilot) The news has said. I'd never live that down if I survived the crash! :^(

Spooky ghost light reveals dead galaxies torn apart over 6bn years

Re: Now what we need here

Speculating on the chaos that would happen to the planetary orbits of such ejected stars is amusing. I imagine they bounced around like being on rubber bands, and some of them would be flung off as well! The tidal forces on the individual planets would be disastrous to say the least.

Popular Science site shrugs off malicious code infection

Apparently..

that type of "science" is not popular enough! HA!

Trips to Mars may be OFF: The SUN has changed in a way we've NEVER SEEN

Re: Nuclear

I was sure that a recent study with a new reaction chamber, was capable of a specific impulse that would make a NERVA system unnecessary. In fact, the propulsion was going to need almost as much energy to slow the space craft down as the original acceleration. I seem to recall it used a new microwave chamber to ionize the fuel, and got fantastic specific impulse figures!

Securobods RAGE over $600k Kickstarter Tor box components

Like the Chinese didn't put back doors in the chips anyway.

OOPs! There goes any resemblance to privacy!

What's happened since Beijing's hacker unit was exposed? Nothing

Boo fricken HOO!

I've been against all this since the "Patriot Act" was signed back in 2001, and I've been against everything they enacted since! Why? Because I knew it would be turned against us, and was totally unnecessary to keep us safe! Democratic Republics can be SO STUPID! When they turn into fraidy cats! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HOME OF THE BRAVE!!??

/rant off

Will we ever can the spam monster?

Re: I'm not worried about spam...

As far as I'm concerned Bill was right, but it took until 2013 or so. I never get any spam - just my junk mail box does, and even very few of them are exactly spam, just annoying emails from legitimate businesses. I check it every blue moon to see if any legitimate actionable emails need to be reclassified. I never get spam in my inbox in Windows Live.

X-Men boffins demo nanomagnets to replace transistors

Yeah, there was no in the rear with the gear in the 'Nam!

My computer science instructor was a punch card tech with one of the biggest central personnel computers in Vietnam, when his hooch got hit with a rocket. He said it landed right where his head normally would have been and blew up his wall locker. Even the nerds got shot at over there!

You dirty RAT! Hong Kong protesters infected by iOS, Android spyware

All your devices are belong to us!!

Honestly - does anyone here seriously think the PRC doesn't have back doors and/or circuit hijinks built right into the chip technology? A friend of mine (who shall remain anonymous) caught such a design at a lab in Malaysia of a die destined for China, when he/she started asking questions they hurried my friend out of the lab right straight away! How can any of us honestly confirm there isn't a Chinese ghost in the machine of any device sold all over the world - Chinese chips are everywhere! Is our governments actually checking on any of this? I doubt they even check devices made for critical departments of the Armed Forces!!

'This BITE MARK is a SMOKING GUN': Boffins probe ancient assault

Rare?

I'm sure it isn't an everyday thing to find such fossils, but maybe it would be more common if paleontologists did more volunteer work, instead of just paid work studies. I've probably worked for free at least 1/4 of my life probing, walking, and digging for anything interesting, and I and my buddies have found bullets not made since 1886 embedded in bones and other artifacts, fossils with sharks teeth embedded in bone of who knows what, in fact it isn't sure what animal bit what other animal, but I am lucky enough to live in a region where one of the largest shallow seas was existent in the CT boundary. We've also found paleolithic arrow heads, knives, and spear points embedded in antlers and bone from the period - these are not tools or such fabrications but obviously from chaotic happenstance - my buddy is a collector and doesn't want to sell them, so he does not share the booty with archaeologists. I've been trying to get him to keep notes and at least record the GPS coordinates so scientists can follow up with studies some time in the future! Perhaps these boffins need to get out more?

'Space bubbles' may have helped Taliban down 'copter in bloody Afghanistan battle

The news I got may have been inaccurate...

but I got mad as hell when I heard it, because everyone knows if you going to run an LMG out the back of a shithook you BETTER hookup the safety line!!! This should be muscle memory to everyone that is air-mobile - I know the heat of battle can rattle your cage, but I still don't see it as an excuse.

The biggest DOH! About the whole affair is that after ALL we learned in Vietnam, and we still don't send gunships with these missions! Ridiculous!

Big dinosaur wowed females with its ENORMOUS HOOTER

Dat gun wasn't even loaded!..

HAA-CHA-CHA-CHA-CHAAAA!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdYQvMYWP5k

SCREW YOU, Russia! NASA lobs $6.8bn at Boeing AND SpaceX to run space station taxis

Obummer promised we'd gain respect in the world..

Then he pulls so much stuff the US is in worse condition as to opinion world wide, that it is even worse than when "W" was in office! Then he makes a statement like that! Believe me, we in the US know full well how stupid our politicians are here, but we can't vote in any better because the choices is limited! Sorry - Republican Democracy is messy - it always has been - ask the Germans about the Weimar debacle. For those of you who may be confused the word "Republican" does not refer to a party but a concept of a Democratic Republic - not "Republicans" - Thank you very much!

Early result from Scots indyref vote? NAW, Jimmy - it's a SCAM

One thing for sure...

If it is a 'NO' vote the PM of the UK will be promising the world to Scotland for as much autonomy as he can lie his way through!

James Bond's metal-toothed nemesis Richard Kiel dies at 74

Talk about an icon!!!!

I put him up there with the likes of Ted Cassidy, and Robert Maillet. RIP Richard Kiel - may your performances live in movie history forever!

US! govt! ordered! Yahoo! to! hand! over! user! data! or! pay! $250k! fine! PER! DAY!

I used to concider Yahoo! as the scourge of the email giants..

but now, I may have to reconsider! I have to use it for my research groups anyway!

'Duck face' selfie in SPAAAACE: Rosetta's snap with bird comet

DuckDuckGo!!!!

git 'em Rosetta!!

Troll or thief? User claims Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto dox sabotage

Let's face it..

The powers that be don't like Bitcoin because it cuts out the middle man, and gubbamints everywhere don't like it because it cuts them out too! Long live Bitcoin! Or whatever succeeds it! HA!

Hawking: Higgs boson in a BIG particle punisher could DESTROY UNIVERSE

Me thinks the Earth will be destroyed by a gamma burster....

.....EOL

DREADNOUGHTUS: The 65-TON DINO that could crumple up a T-Rex like a paper cup

Re: Dreadnoughtexceptafloodus surely?

@ bunbury - I wouldn't call it predator proof - but when you see what happens to lions, tigers, and bears that think they'er bigger than their britches - any good herbivore can kick it's arse any day! Only the sick or the slow get eaten, even in these times.

Re: Long neck?

If it had a short neck it would be so badly out of balance, it would be dragging its tail so bad it would scrape it off, and it would have to sit on it every time it stopped. I'm pretty sure they are guessing pretty close at the estimation. Besides, there aren't too many variations in sauropods or other basic dinosaur designs.

Mac security packages range from peachy to rancid – antivirus tests

Re: Macs only need a HIPS..

He says this isn't a problem because Apple updates everything including his applications automatically. So any vulnerabilities are patched - hopefully before zero day.

I've tested Rapport..

on Windows, and it is the only solution that passes all of the AKLT tests with flying colors! So I call BS on people that say it doesn't workl - but I digress on Macs, because I have no idea if an anti-keylogger test application is available for Macs. On windows, all of my clients use it from XP to Window 8, and from old Pentiums to the latest Intel i7 processors, with nary a hiccup - I don't know what people are talking about performance hits - most of my clients machines are the fastest Windows machines I've seen of their type. I'd sooner believe you have a malware infection that is fighting the protections of the Rapport utility. Maybe you should check the console to see if any attempts were made to modify the browser.

Macs only need a HIPS..

vulnerabilities are rare enough in Macs, I would say a good file cleaner(if there is such a thing for Macs), and Rapport for Safari are good enough. The few malware that could end run such a system are covered in the Apple store as downloads for malicious file removers, when and if they rarely come up. I'm not saying Macs are like an Army tank, it is just that it takes less effort to secure them. But then it has taken less effort to secure new versions of Windows too. Just don't run as administrator! And of course anyone should be using a good password manager by now. The only difference with Windows is so many of the applications put holes in the system, you really need to keep up with the applications patches. My brother tells me this isn't a problem with Macs - if the app comes from the Apple store it already auto updates. Feel free to flame me, I am OS agnostic.

If you just want to keep Windows malware out of your email to protect others, then Clam X AV is good enough there, I suspect. No one should trust email now days - even coming from trusted contacts! Some Mac heads tell me they don't trust the built in firewall, so I'm sure there are good 3rd party versions out there that Apple will tolerate. Online Armor is one of my favorite Windows firewalls, I'm not sure what will run on a Mac that comes close to that kind of lock down.

Cyber-hoodlum tripped, fell, landed in Obama's Healthcare.gov server

They've got their heads in the sand..

of they think that pitiful excuse for a secure site hasn't been totally compromised by now. The entire IT security industry has been joking about it since it went up!

Experimental hypersonic SUPERMISSILE destroyed 4 SECONDS after US launched it

Only reasoning..

if you can call it reasoning, I can see for this "aero spike" engine that powers this thing, is to eventually put in on interceptors so we have a human being making the decision instead of a brainless ICBM. Once the pilot reaches the target he can push the button or not. I think this is better than using a missile triad concept, but who am I?

It really has more use as a new way to get passengers all over the world in record time, and less fuel. Plus it uses hydrogen, if I remember correctly, and that is better than smelly JP6 in the stratosphere any day.

Researcher details how malware gives AV the slip

Re: Isn't this already known?

deleted by author for repetition.