Posts by Cipher

Galileo can't do the fandango: Two Euro GPS nav sats sent into WRONG ORBIT

Skynet...

...determined the optimal orbits for its needs and made corrections.

Not really very live at all from London - It's the Vulture News videocast

Good stuff...

...well done.

Primetime precrime? Minority Report TV series 'being developed'

Re: Cancelled after 1 series

Agree with credas here, many good/books ideas suffer this fate. They make a good start, but don't know when to wrap it up. Person of Interest is a good example, the first season was very good. Then it became a repeating script - our two heroes in a jam, oh, they escaped, repeated ad nauseum...

US Copyright Office rules that monkeys CAN'T claim copyright over their selfies

Enough Monkey Business...

...waiting for a law firm to announce they specialise in Simian Law.

Obama's healthcare.gov savior says: 'No suits please, we're techies'

Direction from the White House?

This will be the impediment he can't solve.

what the customer wanted

Microsoft refuses to nip 'Windows 9' unzip lip slip

Re: Apple's Yawn and Windows Apology

Yes, telling wasn't it. Always go slow and preview a post such as this would be good advice methinks...

The Register to boldly go where no Vulture has gone before: The Weekend

Beer as RF block...

I had no idea that beer had RF blocking properties. Now with a citable (and reputable)source, an addition to the IT tool box should be an easy sell to management...

'Chinese crims' snatch 4.5 MILLION patient files from US hospitals

Re: Many years ago...

Just had a peek at my old dog tags and yes, it is my SSN on there. Check yours...

Re: Many years ago...

As one of those Americans I would have to say that 45 years ago the ID theft problem was much different than it is today. There was no Interwebz to look things up on...

An SSN wasn't normally connected to a bank account, drivers license or medical records. In those days the law specified a very narrow range of uses...

Absolutely. The statement that begins with "Importantly" gives a clear indication of what their worry is, it isn't their customers...

Nuke regulator hacked three times in three years

Re: The mind boggles.

" in what was dubbed a 'credential harvesting campaign', "

Maybe this is phase one: build a list of known user ids. Infect the user's internet facing machine, and see what else they can do from there...

Time to ditch HTTP – govt malware injection kit thrust into spotlight

Re: Missing information

Good point, if your data is what they're after root is moot...

Chrome update to raise alarms over deceptive download bundles

@credas

You did read the editor's note, and did see the link to the article they wrote that goes into to the affair, right? Further, any software that has optional addons are clearly indicated and a note on how to avoid it is always mentioned. Point of fact is their downloads are either the tested one they host, or a direct link to the author's site, none of the dodgy 3rd party sites this el reg article is warning about.

Doing a web search of their safety will give you an idea what different security sites think of them, all extremely positive. In 10 years, I have never even heard a whisper of a problem with them, and I have no ownership position there...

Windows users could do a lot worse than use Major Geeks, they really do check everything they list...

Merger-hungry Comcast and Time Warner withdraw from FCC commissioner's dinner event

A shame...

Probably inevitable, but this merger is a mistake. More choice of broadband is needed, not MegaISP being the only choice for large regions...

Govt control? Hah! It's IMPOSSIBLE to have a successful command economy

Challenge the basic premise...

...that someone, somewhere has the right to remove an individual's right to private property fairly earned.

Make no mistake about it, Socialism is about exactly that: someone who deems themself to be our betters wants the power to control every facet of our lives to fit their superior ideology. If we would only listen, if we could only understand that they know better what is good for us all. The arrogance of the political class knows few bounds...

Nonsense, people have a natural right to determine their own destinies, even if they make the "wrong" choices. We are not children who must submit to the discipline of Ivory Tower idiots seeking to remake the world in their own image...

Canadian ISP Shaw falls over with 'routing' sickness

Minnesota...

...has launched its invasion of Canada. Phase one: kill Command and Control...

MPs to gaze upon biometric data industry's ID-gobbling tech

Let's get it over with...

Barcoded subcutaneous implants for everyone. Makes 2 factor authentication easy and ubiquitous.

No more credit cards, passwords, all solved... Authorization at a hand wave...

I welcome this Brave New World and our Digital Overlords. Everything will be perfect Comrades...

Yosemite Siri? Apple might plonk chatty assistant on your desktop - report

This sounds so wrong...

"users would have to perform as certain gesture on a touch sensitive part of the computer"

Has anybody thought of Siri's emotional well being in all this?

CryptoWall! crooks! 'turn! to! Yahoo! ads! to! spread! ransomware!'

No troubles when using...

Elinks browser.

Just saying...

Stephen Hawking biopic: Big on romance, not so much with the science?

Thanks el Reg...

...I can skip this flick now and not worry that I missed any science. Soap Operas are not my area of interest...

eBay bans CD sales of metal band Burzum, citing offensive material

eBay in cohoots with Burzum? Diabolical Plot?

For a cut of the profits. Tell someone they can't have something, what's the first thing they do?

They go out and get it!

Clever lads...

Crypto Daddy Phil Zimmerman says surveillance society is DOOMED

Re: He talks a good talk

Of course this doesn't mention the intercepted and modified kit going thru public carriers in the USA.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-nsa-intercepts-computer-deliveries/

John Q. needs to realize that...

...the massive data slurping has nothing to do with stopping terorism. Even with advance knowledge, two amateurs in Boston slipped right past them. Terrorists are quite aware by now of the tools being used, many have undoubtedly gone low tech to communicate. Human assets in the field are what is required to stop them, not PRISM.

Data collection serves two purposes, an ad driven revenue source for the likes of Google, and political control/repression capability for the likes of the 5 Eyes.

Strong encryption, easily implemented, everywhere is a large part of the solution. Open source, audited tools for everyone, for all email, would be a good start...

New twist in China Apple hardware ban riddle: THE TRUTH at last?

China's not so subtle way of saying...

Play ball, have access to this market.

Twitter can trigger psychosis in users

Going out on limb here...

"Twitter can trigger psychosis in predisposed users, according to a team of doctors from the Universitätsmedizin hospital in Berlin."

I'm betting "Anything" can trigger psychosis in predisposed users, including reading studies from teams of doctors...

Edward Snowden's not a one-off: US.gov hunts new secret doc leaker

Re: Somebody got a universal translator handy?

Russell 6:

With the Putin vs. The West playing out as it is, I just hope some Shadow Recruit can stop a possible Russian Operation Lamentations. Some truth to the line that the Russians would be crushed, but would recover. The West might not be able to...

Re: insidious Marxism

They, the alphabets, seem to be devoted whistlblower hunters, just inneffectual at it...

CryptoLocker victims offered free key to unlock ransomed files

Rabbit80 posted:

"Links to the decryptcryptolocker site give a 403 - forbidden error."

They hace been h@Xor3d!!

HUMAN RACE PERIL: Not nukes, it'll be AI that kills us off, warns Musk

Re: @Cipher I don't buy it

vladamir:

Yes, calmer now, thanks...

Re: I don't buy it

No Vladimir, it was this remark by the OP that prompted my reply:

" Ah, terminator movies. Category: Fiction, country of origin: USA relevance therefore zero to discussions of AI becoming ..."

Clear now?

Re: I don't buy it

Gratuitous anti American remarks seem to be all the rage these days.

Phillip K. Dick anyone?

NSA leaker Thomas Drake says Oz security reforms are 'scary'

What if...

...the massive data sucking was a self preservation action on the part of the alphabet agencies?

Funding threatened? Dig up everything on Senator X and let him/her know that you have the goods on them. Friendly administration needs a bit of dirt on a political enemy, happy to help.

China: Our approved vendor list – Kaspersky, Symantec are not on it

Re: Magic 8 ball says

Or something close to that. Good new fashioned Chinese, ahem, Capitalism...

What I doubt is any NSA related reason for the move. The stuff the NSA is interested in likely does not reside on internet facing machines...

It's War: Internet of things firms butt heads over talking-fridge tech standards

OMG!!

My toaster has been h@X0red...

Facebook goes down, people dial 911

Re: What can I say?

DropBear scribbled for posterity:

" Nothing to do with FB - it's just that moronic 'murrican entitlement. "

And no other country has morons who feel entitled, eh?

Sigh...

BOFH: The Great Backup BACKDOWN

Thank You

@ Simon Travaglia,

Thanks. I miss the original BOFH, this is great stuff...

CIA super-spy so sorry spies spied on Senate's torture scrutiny PCs

The data is missing because...

...Lois Lerner's IT staff works on the CIA machines as well...

Retailers shot up by PoS scraping brute force cannon

Hesitant to upgrade because of costs?

I suppose when increased insurance premiums, bank costs and loss of sales due to deteriorating customer good will exceed upgrade costs they will make the change.

Is management so short sighted they don't see that this is a "pay now or pay later" situation?

AVG stung as search revenue from freebie scanners dries up

Re: Linux

Absolutely agree. A good hosts file, a distro like Mint, and Grandma should be good to go.

For my Windows machines I use MSE, Malwarebytes active, and do weekly passive scans with a few products. I have SpywareBlaster installed for a bit more passive protection.

virustotal.com is good to evaluate websites and software before installing as well...

It is my experience that most users self-inflict the damage they see via P2P/pron/to good to be true offers, there is no substitute for good comon sense...

Thirteen Astonishing True Facts You Never Knew About SCREWS

Why no mention of...

...the definitive book on the matter: The Screwtape Letters...

Android busted for carrying Fake ID: OS doesn't check who really made that 'Adobe' plugin

Like the guy who had a problem and decided to solve it using regex.

Then he had 2 problems...

Senate introduces USA FREEDOM Act to curb NSA spying excesses

Re: Not to worry.. there's a backdoor...

This exactly what the CIA has done for decades. Their charter prohibits their ops inside the USA, so they worked out a reciprocity deal with the Brits long ago...

Philip K Dick 'Nazi alternate history' story made into TV series

All these comments...

...and not a mention of one of the great alternate history writers, Harry Turtledove.

That said, hard to imagine a better scifi writer than PKD...

Indian techies-in-training face down MAN-EATING LEOPARD - and WIN

Fluffy Rules...

...Usenet.

Meow baby...

Microsoft bakes a bigger Pi to cook Windows slabs

Re: Huh?

Hplasm wrote:

" Included in boxes of cereals (serials?) next..."

Didn't AOL already try this? Worked out well for them...

Google Maps community competition falls foul of Indian regulations

Re: Secret?

Good point. If the community at large knows the locations of these bases, wouldn't it be safe to assume that any interested party knows them as well. Did the Five Eyes, Russia, China, Pakistan, hell did any major player NOT know these locations before Google asked the locals to put them on the map?

No doubt that there are roads leading up to these bases, where one encounters a gate with armed guards. Big tipoff to anyone with more than a few working brain cells...

BEST BATTERY EVER: All lithium, all the time, plus a dash of carbon nano-stuff

So very close...

...but they need to be working with dilithium crystals. Chief Engineer Scott should join this team immediately...

Google to feed machines with evidence of human physical weaknesses – and that's a good thing

This line of thinking isn't so new...

http://drhelen.blogspot.com/2009/07/maybe-youre-better-off-not-having.html

Just take the pain pill, oldtimer...