* Posts by BPontius

186 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Jul 2020

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Feds want devs to stop coding 'unforgivable' buffer overflow vulnerabilities

BPontius

Really?

Software security lecture from the Government that couldn't build a secure and reliable healthcare marketplace website. Lectured about security by a Federal Law Enforcement agency that has blatantly ignored and violated the very laws they have sworn to uphold. The FBI has been caught repeatedly abusing the FISA database, caught taking data and photos from State Drivers License computers for their facial recognition database without warrants or permissions. They helped and did their own hacking after 9/11 with the NSA in backdooring anything and everything they could get their hands on, inside and outside the U.S. While pushing for backdoors in encryption algorithms. Do you know what security is or means? Software engineering lecture from a Government that still uses ancient mainframes reliant on COBOL, secure only in their inability to connect to or run anything remotely modern, being 30+ years old. When the CISA allows months to years for a patch or update to be applied on systems that are vital to the nations ability to function and defend. I don't think they have any room to lecture anyone about security in any form!

Lots of "talk" about securing our nations borders, cyber, infrastructure...etc, but the Government can't manage to update or secure it's own systems. The State Department runs Windows XP, an OS that has not received security updates for 11 years. Real secure!!

"Bureaucrats ought to be spelled burro like they act." -Comedian Gallagher

You're going to do what to the feature? Microsoft defines what it means by 'deprecation'

BPontius

Re: Status quo.

Stop and then Disable "Connected User Experiences and Telemetry" and "Inventory and Compatibility Appraisal service" in Services, eliminating the vast majority of telemetry.

I think all you Linux zealots commenting at every article covering Windows should have their front doorways sealed with rebar enforced concrete. Yeah we get it, you hate Windows 10/11 so stop reading Windows articles and subjecting us to your hate. Stick with Linux related articles and leave Windows users alone!

BPontius

SMB 1.0 (originated for DOS networking 1986) has been depreciated for nearly 12 years (June 2013) yet Microsoft has not declared an End Of Life or remove it from Windows 11.

Microsoft's gibberish about depreciation reminds me of the NSA's definition of collected data when reporting to Congress about their data dragnet, "Data is not collected until it is looked at by an analyst.". So the NSA has petabytes of data that could sit for decades uncollected, because it was never "looked at". Microsoft uses depreciation as an excuse to cling to obsolete protocol and utilities because they are like hoarders, can't part with their junk. Windows 11 still has 'Simple TCPIP services' from UNIX and the early beginnings of the Internet ('60s), rarely needed today. PowerShell 2.0, Internet Information Services (IIS) reached end of life in 2023, Telnet all still linger in Windows 11, abandoned and forgotten.

Windows 10's demise nears, but Linux is forever

BPontius

Pretzel time

Out of the gate this articles author can't help but twist himself into a pretzel, an extreme O/S limbo contest.

Within the first full paragraph the author shows his lack of hands-on knowledge of Windows 11, going straight for the AI Recall feature. A feature requiring the Snapdragon AI neural processor, which a very small percentage of systems having it or users that own them. Then to compound his problem he states; "Today, anyone smart enough to use Windows, a very low bar indeed, can use desktop Linux.", in a stroke crushing Linux users down to the "very low bar indeed" of Windows users. Who's side is this guy on?

Justifying this he moves on to comparing Windows 11 to "that stinker" Vista with the insistence of sticking with the nearly 16 year old Windows 7 O/S, which will reach it's 16th year the week after Windows 10 is retired on Oct 14, 2025. Even moving to Linux he wants the look of Windows 7, the outdated functions and compatibility of Windows 7 in Linux. Clearly stating that Linux will run "on pretty much anything", later describing the cream of Linux hardware as "scrapheap PCs". Leading up to this he pushes gaming on Linux, gaming on the premium Linux rigs with 2 -4 GB of RAM, 20 - 100 GB of storage (hard drive) space at the eye popping resolution of 1024 x 768 of his "scrapheap PCs". Even with the low memory foot print of Linux, there are few games that will run respectably on those hardware specs. In the authors defense here, he does suggest moving to a gaming console (Playstation) for serious gaming, but it does not lessen his hurt on Linux.

Before this the article criticizes the security of Windows, with the monthly security updates, requiring a TPM and of course waving off the need of antivirus software on Linux. There are currently 6,692 distinct vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel, version 6.13 has 228 vulnerabilities for the rc4 update, generating 60 new CVEs per week. With Linux wide spread deployment on servers alone, it would seem security would be of some concern. It is shown that a majority of Linux administrators and users do not install additional security after the initial install, scoffing at even the need for a TPM. Recommending the use of 20 year old PCs to run Linux, as if time has stood still. Reminds me of the NASA mentality of the O-rings and foam strikes. Their "it never hurt us before" mentality that costing 14 astronauts their lives. Linux DOES run critical systems in, banking, Government, Military and infrastructure, so lives are at stake with it's security, despite their casual attitude and arrogance in the default security of Linux.

Seems to me that the author only managed to crush and twist Linux to the "very low bar indeed" of Windows, his words. While trying painfully to boast the virtues of Linux in comparison. FAIL!!

Windows Insiders can now turn on Administrator Protection from settings

BPontius

Re: UAC?

You can get the same protection of the "Administrator Protections" w/o Windows Hello from changing the 'User Account Controls' in secpol.msc, under Computer Config\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options, scroll down to User Account Controls. Options include; hiding username, hiding last logon, prompt for credentials options...etc eliminating the UAC yes or no prompt and asking for credentials. Step by step instructions are plentiful via a Internet search.

If you are on Windows Home edition then you will need to find the registry edits for these settings.

BPontius

Basic User by default

Microsoft should have changed Windows setup decades ago to create a Basic User account FIRST, providing a notice that this will be the default user account. Then setup the administrator account requiring a different password than the default user account with the settings to require credentials when elevated rights are needed. Eliminating the need for this new setting and making the system more secure. Instead Microsoft is obsessed with hardware requirements to use TPM, Secure Boot and BitLocker which are all supported in Windows 10 negating their secure hardware nonsense. Microsoft's hardware requirements are to support their AI bloat and benefit their bottom line with the sale of new PCs. Ignoring the e-waste disaster they are creating!!

Intel sued again over struggling foundry business

BPontius

Greed and shareholders impatience

The Intel foundry is two quarters into operation and shareholders are expecting big profits, just pure greed!!

Microsoft won't let customers opt out of passkey push

BPontius

Then someone copies your fingerprint and highjacks your accounts, retina, facial recognition are all passwords that can be stolen. The oils and moisture from your finger is left on the fingerprint scanner and can be stolen. Biometrics are data points stored in your PC or the cloud and can be stolen, copied or changed just like passwords. Passkeys are just euphemisms, substitutions for passwords to give the illusion of being more secure.

There is no such thing as idiot or fool proof, unhackable security, pure fantasy.

NASA finds Orion heatshield cracks won't cook Artemis II crew

BPontius

Simulations and ground tests, with one actual space flight and NASA declares it sufficiently tested. Why do I feel I've seen this movie already? Oh that's right, Challenger and Columbia! The O-ring burn throughs never hurt us before and foam strikes have never caused critical damage before. So NASA will deem the heat shield on the Orion capsule safe in all circumstances. NASA is a broken and inflexible hierarchical culture that is going to kill more astronauts with their flawed safety mindset.

'Alarming' security bugs lay low in Linux's needrestart utility for 10 years

BPontius

20/20 vision is hard through rose colored glasses

Isn't "so many eyes on the code" supposed to prevent this, is that not the Linux security super power? The 33 year old rose colored glasses used to view Linux security needs a new prescription as the reality distorting lenes and utopic tinting is no longer protecting Linux users from seeing the harsh reality.

Will Windows Insiders find Recall lurking under the Christmas tree?

BPontius

Unless your system is a Copilot+ tablet or laptop released in the past 3 months or so, you have nothing to fear of Recall. In order to even load Recall onto a Windows 11 install you must have the neural processor, which the vast majority of Windows 11 systems DO NOT have. So relax!!

The US government wants developers to stop using C and C++

BPontius

From a Government with 67 departments, agencies and sub-agencies still reliant on Cobol, including U.S. Treasury, IRS, State Department, and NASA.. Not to mention 45 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia that also run Cobol. most of which crashed during the Covid pandemic with the surge of unemployment fillings. Transitioning platforms to another language will take decades in business alone. It could take Government centuries, if ever. The oldest being the 56 year old mainframe at the Treasury\IRS which runs the Individual Master File program key to processing tax returns and refunds, written in Cobol and assembly.

Your air fryer might be snitching on you to China

BPontius

Useless options

I fail to see the need for any kitchen appliance to be "smart" or have any need to be connected to the Internet. Ovens have timers that can be set to start at a certain time, you could put a timer on a crockpot to start slow cooking if needed before you get home. What could you possibly need cooked in an air fryer that requires a long cook time, that couldn't be done in an oven or in person? Plan ahead and cook the day before and warm it up.

All this IoT is unsecured and only makes it easier for hackers to gain access to your home, network, and devices. Finding an appliance timed to start at a specified time can tell criminals when your home is unoccupied. Home security cameras are too easily accessed, a visit to shodan.io will show you how accessible it all is.

IPv6 may already be irrelevant – but so is moving off IPv4, argues APNIC's chief scientist

BPontius

I am puzzled as to how this pseudoscientist uses only domain names without IP addresses, the domain names are only for human readability and by themselves give no destination or routing information for a router. We have been out of IPv4 addresses years, for Asia-Pacific since 2011, Latin American and Caribbean since 2014, America since 2015, African since 2017 and Europe, Middle East and Asia ran out in 2019, the only IPv4 addresses available are through web hosting services.

The main reason for the slow migration to IPv6 has been the lack of IPv6 capable routers and the expense of replacement. especially in the U.S since profits come before all else they are in no rush to upgrade.

The IPv6 address space and subnet size is mind boggling huge, a standard size /64 subnet assigned to an ISP is 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 IP addresses. Even four subnet sizes down at /48 gives 281,474,976,710,656 IP addresses. The total size of the IPv4 address space is 4,294,967,296.

Intel hits back at China's accusations it bakes in NSA backdoors

BPontius

China has quite a pair to accuse anyone of backdooring or tampering, when they monitor\control every aspect of life using those very techniques. NSA went on a hacking spree after 9/11 and I have no doubt much of that is still very active. With the FBI playing catch up. I have read reports that the NSA has broken most of the common encryption used on the Web\Internet, all this "going dark" nonsense from the NSA and FBI is pure fiction. Since the NSA has an active part in developing, approving and controlling encryption algorithms\protocols with NIST and have been caught multiple times sneaking in their own doctored versions, not a unreasonable conclusion.

Smart TVs are spying on everyone

BPontius

Re: I just want a display with an HDMI lead. Nothing more. If I can't get that, then I won't.

So you don't have locks on your doors, curtains or shades on your windows, a cover or tape on your webcam, password on your PC and cell phone, take no precautions in protecting your banking or financial information, have no interest in protecting your medical records, let anyone read your diary, make all your travels and activities public on social media....etc. We all have something to hide!

Intel thinks it's got a final microcode fix for recalcitrant Raptor Lake processors

BPontius

Not a hiccup

This November will mark two years of running a 13th gen i7 without any issues. Installed the 129 patch with the current BIOS version with no noticeable difference in performance.

US proposes ban on Chinese, Russian connected car tech over security fears

BPontius

Safeguards?

The U.S Government talking out of both ends, again! This phony posturing of "safeguards" for cars on U.S roads, when they have most likely already compelled car companies to their jurisdiction with National Security Letters. Don't believe a word of it!!

Some US Kaspersky customers find their security software replaced by 'UltraAV'

BPontius

Disappointing

Disappointing Kaspersky would pawn off users to a unknown AV. Kaspersky being banned from Government systems by computer illiterate bureaucrats who don't bother to read the legislation they pass into law, based on rumor and speculation from Kaspersky employees with zero or limited knowledge of company dealings. Multiple Governments and state intelligence agencies have scrutinized Kaspersky AV products and none have found any indications of spying. Given Kaspersky's reputation in the AV community, I find it all but impossible to believe they would jeopardize their reputation and risk the entire companies existence with spying. Do people really believe Putin would somehow rescue Kaspersky or even admit to it if they were caught spying for the Government? Yeah, like VP Harris with the border crisis.

Japan to put a small red Swedish house on the Moon

BPontius

Just plain stupid!!

Adding to the space pollution because "everyone is doing it" the is worst rationalization! So where is the line of acceptability with "everyone is doing it" mentality? Should littering, water and air pollution be allowed since the planet is already polluted and cluttered? Robbery, shoplifting, vandalism, computer hacking, identify theft and shootings are all happening quite regularly now days. Do we accept these actions as okay because "everyone is doing it"?

Proof-of-concept code released for zero-click critical IPv6 Windows hole

BPontius

I have run Windows 11 with IPv6 disabled with out any issues online. When running IPv6 I disable tunneling and all it's related services, too risky in allowing hackers easy access into your system.

Microsoft sends Windows Control Panel to tech graveyard

BPontius

Re: You all know why.

I have receipts showing I paid for it. A nerd has a passion for knowledge and understanding, being a slave to improving and enriching yourself is not a bad thing. We (the people, populous) have been "the product" long before Windows 10, back to the earliest civilizations and Governments the people were "the product", we have always been the cash cows, beta testers, gunnie pigs to leaders and heads of State. Microsoft's data collecting a flea fart in a hurricane! Our economies and societies are giant spying machines collecting everything you do, say, read, watch, listen to, eat, buy, everywhere you go, where and how you spend your money, how much money you have, how much debt you have...etc. Own a cell phone, Alexis or other assistant, tablet, your car newer than 2000 with GPS, WiFi and memory that stores and transmits your travels, everywhere you go is recorded on video. Even before 9/11 there was telemetry and data collecting, since 9/11 it has sky rocketed. All the breaches, hacks, leaks, thefts, your information on the Dark Web, with criminals and cartels...etc. We are already PWNED!

Boeing's Starliner proves better at torching cash than reaching orbit

BPontius

Send the StarLiner home empty, on a steep re-entry over the Ocean, stop wasting millions on this fiasco Boeing, end it already!!

US claims TikTok shipped personal data to China – very personal data

BPontius

Only domestic spying allowed?

U.S social media companies and Government participate in the same data collecting activities, this collecting of "very personal" information could be (and probably is) performed on any\all of the social media platforms. The NSA and FBI employ dragnet data collecting operations, the FBI has zero room to accuse TikTok or China of violating personal information when they were caught in the act of stealing drivers license data and photos from multiple states without a warrant(s) or permissions of the individuals. The FBI has been abusing the FISA database for years, agents using it for illegal activities that would easily land any citizen or hacker in Federal prison. Yet none of the agents are prosecuted or lost their jobs.

NSA has had employees violate the conditions of the laws granting them rights of spying, with none losing their jobs or being prosecuted. Multiple employees stealing classified information on USB thumb drives, while stating they cannot block the use or access of thumb drives. It has been possible to block USB access on Windows for years before the large leaks plaguing the NSA occurred. Both of these agencies are fed personal data on U.S citizens from all social media platforms, phone apps...etc., phone and PC location data is commonly collected and sold, probably just given or fed directly to the U.S Government.

So only foreign Governments are in violation of U.S laws when stealing very personal information, but no laws are applicable to employees of intelligence and law enforcement agencies tasked with supposedly protecting the very same data of U.S citizens when they willfully violate those same laws. The laughable comments made to Snowden by senators and agencies alike, told to come back to the U.S and defend his leak of classified information. Yet, by Federal Statute you are not allowed to offer or submit to the court any defense or explanation of actions in an espionage case. The push to backdoor or ban encryption on the Internet is directly tied to both agencies wanting unfettered access to all the very personal information on the Internet. But that is to protect the country from terrorist attacks, right. Don't you believe it!!

Firms skip security reviews of major app updates about half the time

BPontius

Budget Security

When companies stop doing security on the cheap, finding it cheaper to pay for lawsuits, fines and outages than to spend the money on security up front. Followed by the worn out PR rhetoric of how important their customers privacy and information is to them and the false promises of a secure future. If customers privacy and data was so important they would show it by implementing security from the outset instead of doing damage control afterwards. The blatant disregard for the security of customer information is found in regular storage their data in clear text on network accessible systems. It should be a no brainer to encrypt financial data, credit card information, personally identifiable information, but in majority of cases is left in clear text on unsecured systems\networks for easy theft.

30 years into the Internet being a marketplace, 23 years since 9/11 and the data hoarding created by it's perceived need to collect more data about users than all the companies and Governments can even begin to process in multiple lifetime. Yet in all that time we have failed learn, let alone implement many of the basic tenants of computer, network and cyber security. Securing the U.S infrastructure has been an on going Government farce since the Reagan Administration, yet we continue to implement remote automation with insecure IoT, hardware, software and without even basic security practices.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." We have repeatedly proven our insanity!!!

Kaspersky challenges US government to put up or shut up about Kremlin ties

BPontius

You can get full paths and determine files hashes from PowerShell or even the command prompt using a host of third-party software. All Anti-Virus Suites upload files for analysis and are capable of pilfering through the users hard drives, even Windows Defender uploads unknown files for analysis. You can get user names and even their SIDs from the command prompt, a novice script kiddie could get this information you are so sure is exclusive to Kaspersky and Bitdefender.

So much for green Google ... Emissions up 48% since 2019

BPontius

How much longer is this farce going to continue? Stop this nonsense and accept the fact we live in a carbon based world, it is chemically and physically impossible to avoid carbon emissions! Mining, processing, manufacturing and producing products will generate carbon emissions and no amount of new math or fudging of the data will change that. The other insane notion is everyone can be forced into electric cars, but ignore the fact there is insufficient infrastructure and we are simply trading the exhaust of carbon emissions for the exhaust of tons more e-waste that is going to poison and pollute the planet in far worse ways than CO2, methane or water vapor. Since there are no big profits in reclamation or recycling of e-waste there is very little hope of solving the problem (we struggle to recycle more than 30% of paper and plastic), so we'll give our rose colored glasses a good polish and carry on with business as usual.

'Skeleton Key' attack unlocks the worst of AI, says Microsoft

BPontius

Just Google search the information you're interested in! Why are people wasting time essentially social engineering an AI chatbot for information easily available in a simple web search? I hear tell there is a three pound organ inside the human skull that can create amazing things like Saturn V rockets, GPS and sneakers with lights in them. Too bad it is in severe atrophy these days.

From network security to nyet work in perpetuity: What's up with the Kaspersky US ban?

BPontius

Hard to find anyways

Good luck trying to find Kaspersky software, few stores even online sell it anymore. It is rare anymore to see it in Anti-virus suite rankings. I used Kaspersky for years, dropped them last year because of their virtual hardware acceleration feature required disabling a lot of Windows 11 security and virtualization. Too bad they are a good anti-virus brand.

Microsoft admits to problems upgrading Windows 11 Pro to Enterprise

BPontius

Privacy is a Unicorn, it does not exist!! Even if you never use a computer or the Internet your information is being collected, sold and traded by nearly every company, agency and activity you do in society. No O/S, browser, VPN, ad blockers, search engine will protect your data or prevent it being collected. Your driving is captured on video, license plate readers, GPS from your phone, car, laptop...etc even walking. All banking including your paycheck(s) is photographed, logged, tracked, collected...etc. Even before 9/11 the Postal Service started photographing every piece of mail and now all shippers do this. Our whole economy and society is a giant spying machine, Microsoft and Windows barely scratch the surface!

BPontius

Upgraded to Windows Enterprise back before Windows 11. I am not a business and told the company I bought the upgrade through as much, a non issue. It is a pricier upgrade but well worth it, saving me from the forced Microsoft Account during install, ads and all the other nonsense Microsoft is pulling with Windows 10/11 now. I have had few issues with Windows 11, there was a bit of a learning curve with the Settings menus and the initial lack of Task Manager not accessible from right-clicking on the taskbar. But it Windows 11 was much more stable than Windows 10 upon release.

The Start menu is a big dislike since Windows 8.x, would use a third-party app to revert to Windows 7 style menu but they always seem to cause issues. Personally would like Microsoft to complete the Control Panel to Settings migration already, will be 10 years July of 2025. But SMBv1 and NetBIOS lingers on in Windows 11 with NetBIOS still active by default for 37 years since it was first implemented in OS/2 and Windows 3.1. Microsoft declaring SMBv1 insecure for over 20 years, yet leaving it in Windows versions time and again. Yet Microsoft touting security in Windows 11, while insecure legacy protocols and apps continue live on in "Turn Windows Features on or off".

Disenchanted Windows user? Pop open a fresh can of Linux Lite

BPontius

Would pop open an over-priced can of Apple Mac first, second and third. Then move back to Windows.

Linux is no kind of substitute or replacement for Windows, too fragmented. Maybe if Linux consolidated into a unified, standardized system, with the varied specialties of the many distros being feature add-ons to a base OS, it might become a candidate for a Windows replacement. But that isn't going to happen.

Windows 11 24H2 might call time on that old NAS under the stairs

BPontius

Microsoft forcing millions to upgrade hardware to run Windows 11 is calling out vendors to update or patch their hardware, when the same could be done for Windows 11. Microsoft could allow the hundreds of CPUs they have deemed unsupported for Windows 11, best call yourself out Microsoft.

Microsoft has been saying how insecure SMBv1 is since the '90s, ten years ago they FINALLY disabled it by default in Windows 10, but it still lingers on in Windows 11. Same with old versions of PowerShell, IIS, old insecure utilities: FTP, Telnet, Simple TCP services. legacy Media Player, took them 6 years to finally kill IE after ending development in 2016 and it is only recently been removed from Windows 11. Was well into Windows 10 before Remote Registry was disabled by default, there are still remote shares and remote registry keys set in SecPol\Local Security Policy and gpedit\Local Group Policy in Security Settings\Local Policy\Security Options.

Have a strange concept of secure\security Microsoft!!

America's enemies targeting US critical infrastructure should be 'wake-up call'

BPontius

Snooze alarm!

This wake up call was over 30 years ago! President Reagan saw the dangers after seeing the movie War Games in 1983, spending years and millions trying to get infrastructure, Government and Military to toughen security. This was still in the days of ARPANET before anything like the Internet we know today. Now we've added IoT, A.I and lots of remote automation, making it even easier to gain access to these systems. After 9/11 the NSA went on a hacking spree, backdooring and tapping into infrastructure (phone switches, PCs, routers, PLCs...etc.), networks and companies inside and outside the U.S.

Teenagers have successfully hacked into water, sewer and phone systems, even Government and Military. China has been hacking and stealing information from the U.S for years, hardly news! We are long past a wake up call, the war is well underway so start fighting!!!!

End-to-end encryption may be the bane of cops, but they can't close that Pandora's Box

BPontius

Anterior motives

Don't know about the U.K, but I believe the inability to intercept criminals is just a cover-story in the U.S. The real reason they want to backdoor or get rid of encryption is to be able to do more spying and monitoring of citizens, leaders, protesters, political groups, special interest...etc. Naive of law enforcement to believe that eliminating or even backdooring encryption (pure fantasy), that criminals would not move to one-time pads or some obscure custom encryption as well as alternative means of communication. The U.S Government claims their data collecting is helping to stop future terrorist attacks, yet the proven methodology of investigating is only collect and keep relevant information. Quite the opposite of their method of hoarding Petabytes, Exabytes or Zettabytes of data and trying to find something,

But as the NSA told Congress; "The data is not collected until an analyst looks at it.". So the fact that they have huge quantities of data in data centers, it has not been collected. They could still have data from 2003 when they spliced into AT&T's trunk lines still uncollected. Insane!!

Microsoft, Google do a victory lap around passkeys

BPontius

Faulty theory

Passwords are compromised due to the use of weak passwords. Also it is my guess that using PINs that are typically half the digit count of a password (6-8 numerical digits instead of 10 - 16 mixed characters for a password) is a glaring security risk. At work they still require the regular changing of passwords which results in weak passwords being used, regularly encouraging the use of the same passwords for the multiple programs & systems requiring access. In theory using biometrics is a safe alternative, but what happens when your eye, face or fingerprint scan has been compromised due to the lax security practices common through out all sectors. Common in reported security breaches and hacks finding unencrypted personal information, banking and credit card information, usernames, business and trade secrets...etc stored on public facing servers or misconfigured databases.

There are more and more remote ways be invented and discovered in the remote intercepting keystrokes and data flow a PC. Keystrokes and voice through vibrations of light bulbs, lamps or windows, even RF signals from wireless keyboards and mice, power supply EMF variations. Planting a virus on a system can enable the transmission of data to a laptop, or to a server. With the common use of closed circuit cameras and the lax security of most video security systems (Shodan.io a search engine for such things), information can be transmitted off site. A cell phone or a web camera from another PC\laptop implanted with a virus can be used to see, hear or intercept data out side the office or home, through invisible screen refresh\blinking, hard drive light(s), Bluetooth and Wi-Fi data encapsulation, re-direction. Passwords are just the tip of the iceberg!!

Clock is ticking for NASA to fix bucket of issues before next Artemis mission

BPontius

Broken

NASA is a broken, obsolete organization that needs to be eliminated. They proved over and over during the Shuttle program that they had the mindset that the shuttle was safe and reliable, seeing the O-ring burn throughs as harmless. Then the external tank debris as "...well it never hurt us before", ignoring glaring and basic safety protocol violations and shutting down engineers when it interfered with their launch schedule. The SLS program will fall victim to the same false sense of safe and reliable space flight, costing untold number of lives.

If a supposedly technically advanced organization responsible for human space cannot spot the deference between fiberglass elevator doors and hardened blast doors, that to me is a big red flag.

Kaspersky hits back at claims its AI helped Russia develop military drone systems

BPontius

Re: Well at least...

They have been accused, mostly by the U.S Government but nobody has found (or published) evidence of it. The Belgium, German, French, European Union Governments and British Intelligence investigated Kaspersky's anti-virus software after the U.S Government banned it. They were unable to find any evidence of the software spying. Most of the dis-trust is based on a NSA employee having NSA secret hacking tools on his personal laptop at home, after installing a infected and illegal copy of M/S Office the Kaspersky Anti-virus software on his system uploaded the NSA hacking tools to their mainframe for analysis. Kaspersky stated they deleted the programs, but due to their mainframe already having state hackers inside it is speculated that the hacking tools were stolen.

According to the Snowden leaks Kaspersky was the only anti-virus suite the NSA was unable to hack to spy on people after 9/11. I have not found reports of if or when they succeeded in doing so. Personally I believe it is all based on cold war paranoia and fearmongering. Ran Kaspersky software on my system for years after 9/11, only switched due to their hardware virtualization requiring the disabling of Windows 11 virtualization and security.

Australia’s spies and cops want ‘accountable encryption’ - aka access to backdoors

BPontius

Not any kind of solution

Backdooring encryption is fools gold. Criminals will move to one-time pads, custom encryption algorithms, alternate forms of communication. There are already an abundance of hacks, thefts and leaks from criminals due to over automation, IoT and shoddy security practices, intentionally introducing a weakness into main stream encryption is plain stupid!!

Microsoft dusts off ancient MS-DOS 4.0 code for release on GitHub

BPontius

Ancient!

This stuff is ancient 8/16 bit code useless on modern systems, even within a VM it is all but useless to do anything with. Leave it in the past!

Watchdog tells Dutch govt: 'Do not use Facebook if there is uncertainty about privacy'

BPontius

Have more privacy using smoke signals, billboards, gossip grapevine, graffiti, radio & television ads, shouting out your windows...etc. Am I being too subtle?

Europol now latest cops to beg Big Tech to ditch E2EE

BPontius

Untrustworthy and Flawed methodology

Yeah I'm sure if they get backdoors it will only be used for finding law breakers. Just like the FISA database has only been used for terrorism, just like warrantless spying and hacking lead to the FBI helping themselves to drivers license information and photos, or maybe like the numerous NSA employees caught spying on ex-wives and girlfriends, the IRS using FISA to target political protester and activists. It would inevitably lead to corporations being shared the backdoor to help spy for the Government and the abuses that would lead too. Government, Law Enforcement and Corporations have proven repeatedly they cannot be trusted.

Sure they backdoor all the major forms of encryption to find criminals, then the criminals move to one-time pads and less public forms of communication. It wasn't Internet chat or radio traffic that found Bin Laden, it was an eyes on informant. It wasn't FISA or Government spying that caught the Boston Marathon bombers, it was cell phone pictures and video from the public and company surveillance. Even many of the 9/11 terrorists were known to NSA and FBI and on watch list(s), but it failed to stop them mainly because the law forbid the FBI and NSA to communicate even within their organization. The Governments collect everything mentality violates the very foundation of investigating methodology, finding and keeping only the information that furthers the investigation. All extra and unneeded information is discarded. The Government collecting vast quantities of information, then searching through it without any clear crime, person or information they required to even identify the crime they are searching for.

96% of US hospital websites share visitor info with Meta, Google, data brokers

BPontius

Re: FOR PROFIT IS THE PROBLEM

It is the Dunning-Kruger Effect, most believe they are the exception and over estimate their abilities and knowledge. It isn't a matter of intelligence, but not having the skills or knowledge at the level you think you have. So there is no way for them to realize how incompetent they are. So even a panel of people judging potential leaders, would have the same bias of overestimating the skills of the applicants. Like the book "The Peter Principle", rise to your level of incompetence. Most people rise to or above their level of incompetence by making others believe they have the qualifications they don't actually have. (i.e: politics, management)

Want to keep Windows 10 secure? This is how much Microsoft will charge you

BPontius

I should think Microsoft could afford to support Windows 10 for a while longer. With profits of $72 billion in 2023 and nearly $81 billion in cash (a company valued at over $3 trillion), they could support Windows 10 for a few more years. Instead of gouging users with this support scam! Maybe invest some of that cash into recycling and reclamation of the increased e-waste they will be causing over the next several years with the millions of hardware upgrades needed to switch to Windows 11.

Well I guess the climate fearmongers will have gotten one prediction correct, there will be world wide crop failure and disease because all our water and soil will be contaminated with heavy metals and toxic chemicals from the e-waste after forcing everyone to electric cars.. Leaving vast areas of land desolate from strip mining, large holes mined deep into the Earth filling with toxic waste water, sink holes from the mining tunnels collapsing after flooding and development of the land above. But hey who cares, we'll have cleaned the atmosphere of CO2!!

Rancher faces prison for trying to breed absolute unit of a sheep

BPontius

It could take years to investigate, pre-trial hearings and get to trial, this 80 year old guy will likely be dead before it gets to trial or any sentence is handed down.

What will be the impact of resurrecting the wholly mammoth by using modern day elephants DNA? Suppose they succeed and the wholly mammoth and modern day elephants breed. Is that not the same endangerment of the species? We have no idea what the temperament of a wholly mammoth is, modern day foods could it eat, it's interaction with man or other species...etc. Seeing the same pattern as what they are prosecuting this man for..

Kremlin accuses America of plotting cyberattack on Russian voting systems

BPontius

Cozy Bear

All the dis-information spread during the Trump campaign and Presidency was orchestrated and spread by a group in Russia. Cozy Bear was run by the Russian FSB and has been linked to hacking the DNC in 2015, also hacking the State Department. There is a two part documentary and an excellent book about it. Putin will win, the outcome is hardly a mystery!

Grab a helmet because retired ISS batteries are hurtling back to Earth

BPontius

Helmet Shelmet!

At the velocity this debris will be traveling a helmet offers zero protection. Take a look at shuttle radiator damage from paint chips many less than .5 mm in size, Note one of the holes was from a .3mm piece of plastic circuit board. The width of a human hair is .12mm, so the 1.6mm paint chip is the size of 13 human hairs. I would guess the debris surviving the re-entry of this battery pallet will be considerably larger.

https://hvit.jsc.nasa.gov/impact-images/space-shuttle.cfm

HP print rental service seeks more users to become subscription addicts

BPontius

Their printers are the problem

The ink service is nice, it is HP's printers that need work. Had their LaserJet M139we multifunction printer, which HP's own setup software couldn't detect with a USB cable and couldn't stay connected for the required online telemetry. Constantly resetting and reconnecting cables and power to make it detect the printer or get it back online. After about a two years it now has error codes I can not resolve, door open and paper jam, resolve one and the other comes up. Bought a small HP laser printer to replace it, but this will be my last HP printer. Called their tech support for a printer several years ago I could not get the setup software to detect, after remoting into my system I watched the tech looking through the default printer drivers that come with Windows for a few minutes. Then told me she couldn't find the "advanced drivers", still don't know what those are and I should call the PC's manufacturer. After repeatedly telling her I built my system and I am the OEM, she then referred me to Microsoft because Windows is broken. "Broken" the technical term for; I don't know what I'm doing. Just tell me you don't know instead of some B.S story.

Year of Linux on the desktop creeps closer as market share rises a little

BPontius

Even if you had never used a computer or gotten online, your information would sill be collected, stolen, sold and traded. Have you signed up for a shopping discount membership\card, a membership, magazine\newspaper subscription, use debit\credit cards for purchases, own a car, own a home and/or land, rent a condo\apartment\storage unit, purchased home & car insurance, are a registered voter, have a drivers license (the FBI was caught stealing drivers license pictures and data for facial recognition), health\dental insurance, buy\take prescription drugs, have a bank account(s), employed, get mail (all mail is photographed), have a phone, pay water, sewer, power and cable\satellite, file income tax...etc? There are few activities that don't involve your personal data, our whole society and economy is a giant spying and data collecting monster. Moving to Linux will not curb the data collecting from websites, advertising, search engines, social media...etc. Privacy is a Unicorn, pure fantasy!!!

Sweet dreams

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