Posts by Ammendiable to persuasion..

Here's what an Intel Broadwell Xeon with a built-in FPGA looks like

Re: Wanna play? Get it with ARM today.

Not only does the Parrallela board come with an FPGA but it comes with a parallel fabric array of 16 or 64 processors which can in theory be scaled up to neighbors.

Mozilla burns Firefox on old Androids

Re: Tab Groups

"Does it not save and restore the tree automatically when you quit and launch Firefox?"

Yes it does, but this can become a nightmare scenario if you have lots of tabs and lots of windows open.

It was recommended to me to use BarTab Heavy in addition to Tree Style Tabs.

It unloads tabs for you and let's you treat them like bookmarks. Also, when restarting Firefox, only the active tab in each window is fetched. REALLY cuts down on bandwidth and thrashing.

Security real talk time: So what exactly do we mean by 'backdoor'?

DRM?!?

"A backdoor is a component of a security system, in which the component is active on a computer system without consent of the computer's owner, performs functions that subvert purposes disclosed to the computer's owner, and is under the control of an undisclosed actor."

So, does this mean DRM is a back door?

Blu-Ray comes to mind where inserting a media disc can insert or revoke decryption keys or even update the firmware without notification.

How about Amazon or Android where they can remotely remove media or software? [Google "Amazon" and the infamous 1984 incident.]

How about OSX and Windows, I the latest version of both which deleted software when updating to the latest version? [Windows 10, and El Capitan]

How about silent and/or mandatory updates that may not even require a reboot? [OSX, Windows, Android (play services), SIM cards and probably everything else now..]

How about software reporting back the contents of your hard drive? [Windows 95, I'm looking at you..]

How about apps under iOS and Android which get access to TCP/IP and cannot be sandboxed by from the network by design? [Why does a flashlight app on your phone get communication with the Internet whether it needs it or not?]

What exactly counts as a backdoor?

It seems that the one weasel phrase in there is "undisclosed actor".

Does this mean that the manufacturer (or its asignees) are exempt from the label?

Microsoft gets into the advanced intrusion sniffer game – but only for Windows 10

Hmmmm.

So THAT is why Microsoft has essentially set up a pen trace on every Windows 7, 8, and 10 system!

Thus even if they don't report back the _content_ of TCP/IP communications, Microsoft essentially has a social network communications graph for a large portion of the Internet, all being sent back to central services.

A machine is getting hammered by a packet flood? Microsoft can identity the actual compromised machines doing the sending, correlate with other machines involved in the flood and allow backtracking to the control nodes, and even report back on what installed software on these machines to pinpoint what executables and processes in question are responsible for the flood.

It's actual genius in its scope, turning all Windows machines plus Microsoft cloud services into a vast collective immune system.

..one which you have to pay to be protected from?!?!

Oops..

Maybe this thing, coupled with all the malware interacting on it will spontaneously synergistically awaken.

"Resistance is futile.. Your technology will be assimilated!"

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[MCP: End Of Line]

NSA boss reveals top 3 security nightmares that keep him awake at night

Re: One more thing to keep him awake at night

The psychological term for that is "projection".

If someone is worried about people gossiping about them, that's because that's what they do. If a business person is worried about folks stabbing him in the back, that's what he/she is doing. If our government is worried about cyber attacks, well..

Linux lads lambast sorry state of Skype service

Re: Loving the irony

Not really. For the past several years i managed an internet cafe where I managed to convince the owner to switch to Ubuntu from the highly insecure and timewise problematical Windows boxes (where no matter how I locked these puppies down still managed to alter their behaviour by the end of the week.)

[Disclaimer. I am not am expert, but am an enthusiast with far too much time under my belt with dealing with the stupidity of numerous operating environments and I WAS donating my time.]

Maintenance was a dream and I even themed the systems so they looked just like a Windows 7 system.

It was adorable watching the contents of the Download folders to see what the fools (er customers) were trying to install.. Repeatability, I might add.. They never noticed they were not using Windows even though several times i noticed folks were trying to install IEXPLORER.EXE on repeat occasions. Steam and Flash were other popular installers, as well as software used to root or reset phones. It didn't help things that I eventually found the owner had a habit of giving out the admin password to anyone who asked. A behaviour I finally managed to cure. [Cue the LART]

This cafe was in an area visited by travelers from all around the world, and they would sit down and chat with their family in Germany and Brazil and such using Skype.

The main problem arose when Microsoft purchased Skype and the former universal standard stopped working so well... Followed by "not at all" and having the computers freeze up. (Probably a memory leak.)

Additionally the new and improved Skype installation DEB file download began requesting a #HUGE# additional installation of proprietary binaries from Microsoft's servers which was quite out of proportion to Skype installations of the past.

Seeing this is done as root and allowed Microsoft to put anything/anywhere, WITH the added benefit of it basically ceased to allow connections as Microsoft began updating their clients on Windows, was a fairly good reason to ban the thing from the computers as potential malware.

So the search was on for something that would not cause pain to user. Was cross platform. Was free. And preferably did not require a registration. Getting Grandma in France to use different software was bad enough, but walking her through an installation/registration is completely out of the question, especially if you don't have communication in the first place.

Firefox Helo seemed to be the best compromise at the time but nobody knew it was there. (And you couldn't call landlines nor use mobile devices.)

It's not that Linux guys don't want to use Microsoft products [this one doesn't] but that Microsoft purchased and ruined a perfectly good almost universally used standard (when they had their own) in order to reduce competition in the market.

Good job!

Oh yes. Before I disguised the computers with a Windows theme, I did notice American users were quite scared off by the Linux boxes but the foreign folks took it in stride. (And sometimes thanked me for not running Windows..)

I recommend appear.in

Allows group chats. Has a good business model. Is completely free. Doesn't require registration. Just requires a browser with NO plugins (as long as the browser is not made by Apple or Microsoft).

It does NOT use a social networking model. Does not use email or phone numbers.

It has a client for both iOS and Android users.

It uses WebRTC which is why you can't use it on Safari or Explorer/Edge..

Pretty awesome and original design!

Oh yes. Easy to use.

Google human-like robot brushes off beating by puny human – this is how Skynet starts

Re: The Two Faces of Tomorrow

I was thinking the same thing when watching the video. Both the robot in the video and the computer system in the book initially had no understanding of external agency. It's when they start to recognize that the outside world exists and makes plans to prevent interference from that realm that the problems arise.

Note that in the book, the computer didn't even understand what human's were. Out just started correlating that interference arose when the "shapes" were present and figured out how to interfere with the "shapes"

A very well crafted story that should be required reading for AI researchers.

Ransomware scum infect Tinseltown hospital, demand $3.6m

Re: Could it be... "Satan"?

"remote in"?!?!?

Eeeeeeeeeeek!!!!

Would putting a bag over my head help any?

Re: Um, I don't think this is an OS story

THAT is a VERY good point!

You just reminded me about ZFS. A write always forks off a new block from the pool.. So even deleting a file in the file system (not to mention overwriting a file) leaves the original data intact and you can regress the file system back in time to any earlier point.

That is until someone goes into the management console and frees up all the "wasted" dereferenced blocks and puts them back in the free pool..

But the spread of this malware *is* definitely an OS issue. That is, until we start designing operating systems where the idea of "root user" doesn't even exist, but I'm not smart enough to envision such a beast..

Perhaps Qubes is a good start?

Could it be... "Satan"?

Oh sorry. I meant "Microsoft".

I find it very significant that I cannot find any information regarding the type of machines attacked, except it seems to involve the patient records and that it was not a directed attack.

Not a directed attack.

So.. regular Windows malware demanding bitcoins and spreading through networks via the usual routes. And the large figures being demanded because of the large number of computers involved. Yes?

No info on whether the MRI, cat scanners, and x-ray machines are affected. These typically use Windows interfaces and cannot be upgraded as the software and hardware are a unit. They are linked to networks so they can store and recall their imaging data, but you will not find Internet Explorer and Outlook nor anything Facebook or Google on these devices. But still a little worrisome. Because the OS on these things really *CANT* be updated (nor do you want them to be based on Microsoft's track record.)

Linux has some of the same updating problems. More than once I've had a video driver update naff an entire system to the point were a re-install is the simpler option. Thankfully that's fairly fast usually.. Just keep your home directory on a separate partition.

This is very very ominous development.

What could someone do if they were so motivated?

Our civilization is in a very fragile state. One solar flare and we could be back at the beginning of the industrial revolution. Except without the 6 to 12 times a day mail delivery they had in cities like London back in the day. And none of our shipping would work as all the GPS and communications are all offline.

I think I heard that ships don't even know how to use an sextant nor use Morse code anymore.

https://medium.com/message/everything-is-broken-81e5f33a24e1#.hmr2yzlys

Now. Let's just add the phrase "Internet of Things" and go on from there shall we?

Happy faces everyone!!

Microsoft buys SwiftKey, Britain's 'stealthiest software startup'

Re: Intersting

"Microsoft are porting the Swype keyboard to IOS and Maldroid too..."

There is already Swype on iOS.. and they don't require you register on a web site to use their _purchased_ keyboard.

Swiftkey on iOS is "free" but requires a web registration to use.. so they can personalize your predictions or something.

Their privacy policy claims that they *definitely* don't read what you type on your device. Hmmmm...

I really wish that iOS and Android both would offer a security sandbox where an application needs to ask for TCP/IP as a permission, instead of getting it by default whether it needs it or not.

Am so not interested in this development.

Offers? Opera's board likes Qihoo, says shareholders should too

There is probably another reason they want Opera.. They don't care about the browser.

Check out Opera Max in the Android store..

It is essentially a man-in-the-middle interception of all unencrypted internet communications on your device.

Comms are funneled through Operas servers and compression ensues. They can also reduce some encrypted comms by informing the server site (such as YouTube) that less bandwidth is available.

They *sell* the free app on it's ability to compress your communications so you can listen to more music and watch more videos.

Because, all unencrypted comms go through their servers; you can turn OFF networking on an App by App basis.

Because it does this, and a rather slick control panel, you can immediately see what apps are chatting in the background. No device root needed. Very slick.

You also get a free VPN so, even if you are on public Wi-Fi no one can snoop on your comms. (I'm assuming Opera is not stupid and is encrypting their data stream between your phone and their servers of only for protecting their revenue stream from attacks such as ad replacement.)

It is a well behaved app, and does not have the ability to start on device boot, and every time you start it, you get a legal notice asking your permission to add it's certificate to your device.

http://www.opera.com/help/max/android

..interesting that it's not available for tablets..

I did notice on reading the legalese on installation, that all of it's servers for this behavior are US based.. not in the Netherlands. <grimace>

They also have a proper business strategy in selling the collected information to the phone carriers. They are also getting the app pre-installed on phones now including Samsung.

http://www.operasoftware.com/products/operators/opera-max

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2015/11/opera-max-100m-phones-2017/?utm_source=mainrss

Unfortunately it would be quite trivial to change the programs behavior to launch on device boot, and doing a proper man-in-the-middle attack (such as Apple recently found in their Apple Store for some ad blocking apps) on even encrypted communications.

I'm already rather uncomfortable with the servers being here in the US rather than in the Netherlands where data rights are a bit more stringent (I'm guessing it varies for each country), but if a Chinese company owned the servers.. Well..

Share and enjoy!

Terrible infections, bad practices, unclean kit – welcome to hospital IT

Re: Disinfection

To the individual who downvoted this post. I counter your downvote and offer the following response-

One of the biggest expenses among health care providers (I'm talking about the hospitals, clinics, and private practices that actually DO the *medical* care part of health care.. not the insurers..) is doing the paperwork.

Managing the sprawling vast, mind numbing, incomprehensible, Kafkaesque, bureaucracy set up by our "Health Care" industry (the insurers) costs the average hospital 25% of their expenses.

A quick google and here's a link from 1993:

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/05/us/study-links-paperwork-to-25-of-hospital-costs.html

There have been a rash of clinic and health care walk in locations which have opened up here in the us WHICH DO NOT TAKE INSURANCE AT ALL as it raises the cost of providing their health care significantly. I heard about this from NPR a few years back.

They take cash, check, or credit card much as most dentists do here in the great states of 'Murica. If they take insurance, they have to add a whole division of paper pushers and phone monkeys to manage the mess, and reimbursement for their work may come 6 months to a year down the line. IF they get their payments at all.

Also. Because the hospitals often get reimbursed for only part of what they ask for, they inflate their prices routinely so they will get enough to actually cover their costs. But if I go into a hospital and offer to pay cash if I'm uninsured, the hospital will charge me the same hyper-inflated price they bill the insurance providers due to legal reasons; but, unlike the insurance folks, I do not have the leverage to pay only part of the bill without it going into collection and affecting my permanent credit record.

This is why, when I went into an emergency room to get a contact removed several years back (total 6 minutes spent on my care versus an hour and a half of waiting in a completely empty facility), I got a call from my insurance provider (mine is state run) asking me to verify details of my treatment that day. I was floored to find out that the hospital had submitted a bill of over $2,000 DOLLARS to my insurance for those 6 or so minutes. [The reason for that was the ER was empty that morning and the hospital MUST cover costs in some manner to keep the doors open.]

This fact *alone*, [Let's ignore the profit based insurance companies which take their cut of monies flooding through their systems and redistributing it mostly upwards to obscenely paid executives, CEO's, and lobbying efforts in Washington DC to keep this whole lurching horror running,] is reason for a dramatic change.

When the 2012 London Olympics was held I watched the opening ceremonies as I usually do.. However, I now search out a video stream days after the fact, from other places in the world (BBC and Australia are good places) as I'm fed up with the stupidity of overpaid announcers and cuts to the program for advertisements and sensibility reasons.

You guys in Europe have no idea how bad TV has gotten here.. I mean, the Olympics are not broadcast live or anything where you have to cut things out if you are going to extol the virtues of McDonalds or Nike.

In the US, they cut out your "Poppies" remembrance segment out of the closing ceremonies completely except for the last few bars of music in coming back from an important advertisement.

http://gawker.com/5934199/here-are-the-closing-ceremony-performances-from-the-who-muse-and-ray-davies-that-nbc-didnt-broadcast/

I was also not shocked to see the part of the performance where your NIH was praised by the stadium announcer saying something along the lines of "..our wonderful socialized medical system" (sorry, I'm paraphrasing here) and this part ended up being discussed briefly on FOX news over here.

Yes. There were things in your program that were completely indigestible to the minds of some here in the US.

It's shameful.

Unfortunately completely unreported here in the US mainstream news, was the fact that anyone attending those Olympics, whether local, or foreign born, were treated by that same NIH while they were in London if they had a medical problem. Not only the athletes mind you, but the spectators! And they payed the same almost non-existent cost that you folks do.

The opposite is NOT the case.

Micheal Moore made the film "Sicko" a few years back where he pointed out that friends and family from Canada (another Communist nation according to Fox) simply must buy special medical insurance before visiting these great grain swept fields of the US because if (deity forbid) they have an injury or a health problem HERE, they can be put into bankruptcy.

We do have one (actually two) socialist medical system(s) here in the US. It's the Veterans Administration system here in the great states..

A quick google gives this:

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2006/08/va_hospitals_vs.html

..the second socialistic medical program here in the US is the one the Senate, Congress, and the President get after working here in our government!

It beats the alternative as spelled out in Sicko, where they have camera footage of a hospital dumping a patient out of a cab in front of some building (still wearing their medical gown) because the insurance system would no longer pay for their upkeep at the hospital.

Sicko. Go watch it. Still pertinent.

I thank you for your time in viewing this rant.

Ps. A discussion from one of your own (sorry about the source. Make sure you have AdBlock or alternatives up..), about the NIH controversy:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2180227/London-2012-Olympics-Some-Americans-left-baffled-tribute-NHS-Mary-Poppins-Opening-Ceremony.html

Pps. I sure wish we had Weekly Wipe over here..