Posts by ITMA

Hive to pull the plug on smart home gadgets by 2025

Re: Hives

HIVEs = a bad rash.

Quite appropriate.

Now I wonder how many hackers (black hat or state organised) are wondering how many homes they can do a "Steel Works" on:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-62072480

Hands up all those who did NOT see this coming

Well, what a surprise... NOT.

Simple solution - NEVER buy so called "home automation" or "security" products which rely on a subscription/or account on the manufacturer's (or anyone else's) systems just to bloody work.

They WILL dump you in the shit and not give a damn about the now useless hardware you are left with.

Microsoft rolls back default macro blocks in Office without telling anyone

Re: Typical Borkzilla

"Oh, a new idea ! Let's implement without thinking about its impact !"

Focussed f***ing Inbox!!!!

FBI and MI5 bosses: China cheats and steals at massive scale

Re: S IP mple gix

The fundamental issue with patents is, and has always been, the strength of them depends on your ability to defend them.

This comes down to one simple fact, especially when the USA is involved - how deep are your pockets.

The deeper your pockets (or someone else's pockets who is willing to help), the better the lawyers you can afford to keep the other side in court and/or buried in legal stuff until they run out of money.

Pentester says he broke into datacenter via hidden route running behind toilets

There was some gold rush era hotel in the US which boasted of it's massive walk in vault with a huge steel vault door.

Only problem - the floor of the walk in vault was very, very thin and laid over bare earth. In a town full of miners.

Go figure....

Re: You could always smuggle a USB stick out...

That would make your flash memory a "jobby stick".

Re: I've heard of a including a backdoor for system access...

Or you've had too much falling down water and your aim is severly impaired LOL.

Then it is a wet wall, wet floor, wet shoes and.... Well, start with the excuse that the "splashback" from the basins was horrendous.

Re: I've heard of a including a backdoor for system access...

Quite common in installations with BTW (back to wall) toilets and the (concealed) cistern hidden behind the rear wall of the cubicle.

You either need to have "maintenance" hatches in every cubicle, which can potentially be opened by unauthorised people to give access to nice hideaways for illicit materia/itemsl, bombs etc.

Or you have a maintenance "gang way" running behind all of the cubicles giving access to all the otherwise inaccessible cisterns, water and sewage services. And electrical control gear for those "no contact" proximity flush things.

The problem here seems to be that someone forgot about the security of the maintenance areas.

Re: False floors too

I have that in the flats where I live.

The delay between the holding magnets de-energising (fail safe rather than fail secure) when the door release is pressed and the magnets re-energising can be a little too long at times.

Result - the door can "bounce" off the door jam and the closer then doesn't close it back to within "grab" range of the magnets when they re-energise. Thus the door remains "unlocked".

Calls for bans on Chinese CCTV makers Hikvision, Dahua expand

But expensive in comparison.

I've known Axis since they did Twinax and Coax print servers for connecting parallel port page printers to IBM mainframes a long time ago.

Their network horn speakers are not bad - by why oh why do they not have "Logout" in their web UI????

Re: All Chinese CCTV systems connect back to China

Nope....

Links to evidence of what they claim.... that would be enough.

Re: Where do you draw the line

Precisely.

This "call", if enacted, would have as much effect on the use the Chinese state puts such technology to as an empty 500ml plastic bottle on a road has at stopping a 40 tonne truck. Absolutelty bugger all.

These politicians are doing it "to be seen be doing something" even though in practical terms it is utterly useless - pure political image.

And what have they done about the use of facial recognition and biometrics in this county? Strangely quiet on that one.. Especially when it comes to doing something in the one country they CAN do something. And they have done bugger all.

Strange that.

Re: All Chinese CCTV systems connect back to China

Same could be said of the USA... the overturning of Roe vs Wade for example.

Re: All Chinese CCTV systems connect back to China

Exactly the same logic...

Ban something not because of what it is but because of one particular use some power in another country chooses to put it to.

Re: All Chinese CCTV systems connect back to China

Then why not call for a ban on Toyota and Nissan pickup trucks, so beloved by middle eastern and African warlords as mobile gun platforms?

But they aren't, are they.

Unless it was in the news and I missed it...

Re: Don't even need to involve politics

"Hikvision cameras are a dumpster of bad software that nobody should be shipping"

You've never seen Foscam then..... LOL

Re: All Chinese CCTV systems connect back to China

The harsh reality is that it is THEIR country, not ours.

Things here in the UK are sufficiently falling apart that UK MPs should be concentrating on the issues here in the UK.

If UK MPs have the time to do this, then their are NOT doing their job here which, BTW, happens to be the one they are being paid to do.

Re: meh...

What ever one thinks of Hikvision's products, compared to a lot of crap that comes from China but still gets sold/imported to the UK, at least they are not downright electrically dangerous (as lot of said crap is).

So why are they targetting Hikvision but doing bugger all about all this other stuff? Quite a lot of which are fire hazards or potentially lethal.

Re: I've got zero faith in anything gov.uk says anymore...

"Eh? It's not gov.uk though is it, it's opposition parties & back benchers"

Doesn't matter which side of "The House" they sit on. They are there to run the UK for the good of the UK people, Not to look out for the interests or rights of citizens of some other country.

(Red) Ken Livingstone was (in)famous for that BITD.

Nope

Re: I've got zero faith in anything gov.uk says anymore...

And besides, they have far more pressing issues to deal with here in the UK.

So they should get off their over paid backsides and deal with those instead of wasting time on what China is doing with cameras.

Could it be because they think it will help distract from the utterly shite job they are doing here in the UK?

Re: All Chinese CCTV systems connect back to China

Let's be clear.

This suggested ban has ZERO to do with any imagined or real security issues with the products. It has everythng to do with a political argument about the uses that some the products are put to by one, admittedly very big, customer - the Chinese state.

If you don't think that is the case, pleae provide links to anything where it mentions "security issues with the products".

Why aren't there any calls to ban American products associated with firearms because the USA seems very reluctant to do anything about the serious issues they have with gun ownership/abuse/mass slaughtering of children over there?

Odd that....

Re: All Chinese CCTV systems connect back to China

Care to post some links to evidence supporting those claims?

And Microsoft et al don't?

Ah but they aren't Chinese are they and neither is the CIA.

Why not ban cars as they can be used to kill people. Or hammers.

There is a reason Hikvision are used by a great many people, companies and local authorities - because their products are pretty damned good at what they do.

This smacks of protectionism. I wonder how many "vested interests" are involved in the calling for this ban because their own products are crap in comparison?

FedEx signals 'zero mainframe, zero datacenter' operations by 2024

Re: This from the company...

"I wouldn't have been surprised if it recorded to a micro-cassette."

Don't fool yourself - it is wax cylinder ....

Re: This from the company...

UPS - the Useless Parcels Service.

FexEx - Fed up with their Excuses.

Yodel - sorry but I'm not prepared to use the sort of language needed to describe that dreadful company,

Re: "where it hopes to save an estimated $400 million annually"

And what, exactly, does FedEx think "the cloud" is beyond other people's datacentres...

And they still manage to lose packages and have others delayed "awaiting information for customs" which you've already given them.... multiple times.

What to do about inherent security flaws in critical infrastructure?

Re: it's not all bad

"Also I admit to being about 5 years out of date, but at that time I regarded most PLCs I came across as merely the best of a bad bunch".

Like most things, there are The Good, The Bad and The Bloody Atrocious. There is equipment I'm still having to keep going with PLCs 30+ years old in them (Specher + Schuh SESTEP 290).

And when first encountering them - especially if from more typical computing/microprocessor background - they are one of hell of culture shock. Their roots in mechanical relays make the way they work seem alien.

The "program scan cycle" takes some getting used to.

"Interesting factoid. The ATmega328 has a built-in watchdog that can be set to perform a reboot if the code locks up."

I think a lot of microcontrollers designed from the ground up as embedded controllers have had for donkeys years.

Re: it's not all bad

"Who said anything about Arduinos etc?"

You didn't. But I'm seeing them creeping in to be used as a "cheap" alternative to "proper" PLCs.

I'd hate to depend on a Raspberry Pi to run some critical process which, if it goes wrong, can be dangerous.

Re: Money

"One of the savings was flexible licensing with Office 365. Not using a license, remove it and you don't pay for it so you can just pay for ones being used."

Absolutely. The "month by month" may be slightly more expensive, but you can add and remove licences at will as staff join and leave. Very useful for interns and temporary staff.

Re: it's not all bad

I don't think you quite grasped the arugment I was making.

I also think that you miss the fact that, particularly with Pis, that they have (almost by definition) a whole raft of additional layers of software on Pi compared to (say) a Mitsubishi FX series. (such as the FX5). All of which can impact the overall reliability of it as a industrial controller.

As for "Big companies employ only the best and brightest? I think you're misguided".

Where did I state that?

I know small companies that (or think they do) employ the "best and brightest" who have a total lack of basic common sense. Don't even know the basics of using the correct rating fuse in a mains lead and think nothing of connecting a device, which has WiFi connectivity, to the internet (and controlled via an account on an external system) to turn the light inside it on and off using their personal phones. And then use that in an internal process.

Instead of just taking the bloody lamp out.

Re: We're doomed

"I know which choice our manglers would pick...."

They'd want it on their (personal) smartphones over the internet with the ability to "fiddle" with settings...

Re: it's not all bad

Have they?

I'd trust a proper dedicted PLC from a manufacturer who has been in the business decades than any of these abortions built around Rasperry Pis or Arduinos etc and programmed by people who THINK they know what they are doing.

The problem comes when connectivity gets involved and security is sacrificed for "convenience" aka LAZY buggers who want to do everything via their effing phones. And when IT/security says no they "squeem and squeem, stamp their feet and throw their toys out the pram" until they get their way.

Re: Money

It is more insidious than that.

IT seems to be one of those areas where everyone who has a 'puter at home or a smartphone suddenly thinks they are an expert when IT disagrees or objects with what they want.

Couple that with a senior management who hold similar views and the outcome is deep, sticky, brown and very very smelly.

Oh - and THEN they call IT to come clean it up and wipe their backsides for them.

China rallies support for Kylin Linux in war on Windows

Re: @LDS - ChAOSIC thinking?

"big tech are actively poking a lot of holes in it"

Not as many as the bloody so-called "regulator", the ICO.

Re: ChAOSIC thinking?

"I'm not sure Windows is any better with all the 'telemetry' it sends back to Microsoft"

Or as Microsoft think of it - "Tell It To Me!"

Ad-tech firms grab email addresses from forms before they're even submitted

Re: GDPR?

A bit of an old thread but I thought worth adding this to it.

I encountered a problem with the RBS Mobile Banking App (Android). If I try to go to the "Manage my cards" section it DEMANDS I select one of the Google accounts on my phone. Something which you can't get past to get at the card management functions.

The brain dead morons who wrote the app bundled the Google Pay bits in with card management and ASSUMNED that anyone going into that part of the app MUST be wanting to setup/use Google Pay.

WRONG! VERY VERY WRONG!!!

I raised this as an official complaint with RBS and the official reply was "We've followed our complaints process and happen to disagree that this is a problem - fuck off".

So this is now a complaint against RBS directly with the FSA on the grounds that they demanding I supply them with data they do not need and have no right to before they will allow me access to the card management functions in the app despite them having nothing to do with Google Pay. Plus they have handled it in a really poxy way.

Oh I also complained about them ramming charity begging messages down my throat AFTER I had logged into the app WITHOUT my consent.

Firefox kills another tracking cookie workaround

Re: Sounds great

Oh to be see lucky as to be able to run XP as a VM under something more modern.

Unfortunately the hardware interfacing to the PLCs won't work in a VM.

Re: Sounds great

Yup and yup.

Plus plans in motion (at a speed which makes glacier watching seem like a fast moving spectator sport) on upgrading the PLCs to the current range of Mitsubishi units and the internal software translated.

It is the last XP machine we have - for this one purpose. Keeping our even more ancient (and increasingly decrpid) plant operational.

Re: Sounds great

"Ditto for the moron below you using XP"

Clearly you have no old custom made plant controlled by PLCs for which the Windows software - for uploading/downloading/modifying etc the PLC programming - does NOT run on anything newer than XP.

For those of us that do, the "moron" choice is throwing out plant with a very high replacement cost (mostly custom built) and stopping multiple production processes JUST so we can move off XP for one machine.

So who is the moron?

FabricScape: Microsoft warns of vuln in Service Fabric

Re: "Windows has been thoroughly vetted"

The Vet - Windows 11 has been well and truly neutered.

Google said to be taking steps to keep political campaign emails out of Gmail spam bin

Re: Hint to Google

"At least in these days zillions of channels and streaming services..."

And there is still bugger all worth watching at times....

You need to RTFM, but feel free to use your brain too

Re: Based upon personal experience....

"Nothing is foolproof because fools are so clever"..

You can make things foolproof. What you can't do is make them people proof.

Re: Based upon personal experience....

"I was brought up on IKEA-style instructions"

That might explain why you have 3 keys caps spare and two holes with no keys in them....

Re: Some even start with "remove equipment from box"

Was that when they tried them on users and found the users were trying to find the ON switch on the box?

Re: Some even start with "remove equipment from box"

I had that when working for Newcastle Education Authority.

Had several Advisory Teachers and Teacher Advisors (I never did find out what the difference is) try and tell a primary school head teacher how to do this over the phone.

They all FAILED.

Why? Because they assumed the head teacher knew what "Press SHIFT and BREAK" meant and repeatedly told her WHAT to do but competely FAILED to tell her HOW to do it.

When I calmly told her "With your left hand press and hold the left shift key. Now while keeping it held down use your right hand to press and release the BREAK key. Then release the SHIFT key".

Worked perfectly.

What was going wrong for everyone else?

They never anticipated that she was first of all pressing SHIFT THEN BREAK (one after the other) before being told to do them "together" at which time she was stabbing at both keys simultaneously and just happened to be releasing the SHIFT key a fraction of a second BEFORE the BREAK key. Which doesn't work.

Re: Documentation

"Press any key to continue?"

NO!!! Not the bloody RESET/ABORT key!!!

Re: Based upon personal experience....

Now there is your problem right there:

"PLEASE READ ALL THE WORDS..."

You're assuming that they CAN read and aren't just looking at the pictures...

Nothing says 2022 quite like this remote-controlled machine gun drone

Re: Cutting the cable

The Russians tried something like that during WW2 - training dogs to run under tanks at the appropriate moment in return for food.

Then they turned them into four-legged bombs.

Only problem was... They'd trained them to run under Russian tanks and that is the sound they recognised. So when "deployed" on real battlefieds they ran under the tanks they recongnised the sight/smell of which were NOT the German tanks (smelt totally different to the Russian ones).

I doubt the dogs "volunteered" to be bombs.

https://historyofyesterday.com/the-soviet-anti-tank-dog-7f00425652eb