Posts by VoiceOfTruth

Microsoft is building datacenter superclusters that span continents

And brings with it the spread of American spying

This should not be allowed by any country unless MS is firmly under local sovereignty. That means no access for the American regime.

Google sues 25 China-based scammers behind Lighthouse 'phishing for dummies' kit

Re: Also Google

I would think it would be easy for Google to find out who is running fake adverts on YouTube. Y'know. Look up who paid them to run the ads...

Also Google

How about the very obvious fake adverts on YouTube, y'know... scammers? Google makes money from this.

Brussels weighs banning China from major EU research scheme

Re: Amusing.

>> Almost all technologies can be used for both civil and military purposes.

Amen. Let's ban Boeing. Dual use.

Apple knits up $230 sock for your iPhone in time for Christmas

The bullshit these people come out with

>> The design of iPhone Pocket speaks to the bond between iPhone and its user

My toes curled up, reading this.

Attackers turned Citrix, Cisco 0-day exploits into custom-malware hellscape

Cisco

CISCO Complete Internet Security Compromise Operation.

Rip and replace, if you value your security.

UK asks cyberspies to probe whether Chinese buses can be switched off remotely

Re: Keep licking the American boot, Britons

That is correct.

So... where is the demand from government to remove these blatant security holes? I have not heard one government minister say: Cisco needs to be audited.

No rip and replace.

Re: Keep licking the American boot, Britons

You know exactly what I am referring to. But apparently Cisco gets a free pass from you. American security holes = good, apple pie, church going, let's grab some Winchesters, red white a blue holes. Chinese security holes = bad, reds under the bed, bad.

The extent of the blind eye being turned to Cisco is astonishing.

Keep licking the American boot, Britons

Meanwhile... Cisco and its collection of security holes gets a free pass. Not even a mention.

Battery trade war hits booming datacenter industry

China leads the world in battery technology

In tech and production.

The USA leads in having a felon president, racism, spite, and bankruptcies due to 'medical bills'.

Hitachi-owned GlobalLogic admits data stolen on 10k current and former staff

Keep collecting information

And keep leaking it. I'm waiting for the next real biggie.

Bonehead of the year award: organizations that left their systems exposed to the internet.

Cyber insurers paid out over twice as much for UK ransomware attacks last year

Re: I thought insurance was against something which *may* happen

If the companies left the front doors wide open, I agree. But where to draw the line? When major so-called internet security companies can't protect themselves, and don't even notice for months that they have been hacked, I would say computer security is a pipe dream.

There are many problems even with the idea of computer security. Applying the latest patches doesn't mean anything unless the patches themselves have been audited. The old adage of the latest version fixes old bugs and brings new ones is not a running joke, it is reality. Then we have seen several examples recently in The Reg of compromised packages being downloaded n thousand times. Nobody noticed, meaning more compromises waiting to happen. The whole software supply chain is built on sand using very thin bamboo sticks.

These forms of insurance do indeed socialise the costs, while the bosses give themselves bigger pay packets. Prices go up, we all pay. Some pay themselves a lot more than those on the coal face, they don't care.

ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok make very squishy jury members

This 'test' was totally flawed

It says nothing about the bias of the judge. This was based on the trial of a black defendant in North Carolina. The 'judge' probably found him guilty the second he saw him. North Carolina has a deserved reputation for being thoroughly racist.

One of the articles linked shows a contradiction. A snippet: "Jurors are imperfect. They have biases. They use mental shortcuts. They stop paying attention... what happens if we remove that human element?". But nothing about judges being imperfect or having biases or using mental shortcuts.

Just a minor bit of Googling backs up my feelings on this: "There is extensive evidence of systemic racial bias in North Carolina's justice system, particularly concerning the treatment of Black individuals."

If I was a black defendant in North Carolina, I would demand a jury trial, and not some good ol' boy who whistles Dixie in the bath tub.

In the past I wasn't so vehement about racial injustice, as it basically did not affect me. That was selfish of me and closing my eyes to the truth. North Carolina is one of the worst examples out there.

Microsoft's data sovereignty: Now with extra sovereignty!

Re: Not worth the virtual paper it is written on

Bullshit.

Re: UK data is where?

The UK does not count. It is owned by the USA.

Re: Not worth the virtual paper it is written on

Since when is US law valid in the EU?

Not worth the virtual paper it is written on

MS is an American company. America thinks and acts like it owns the world. The USA is not Europe's friend.

>> it couldn't guarantee that data will not be transmitted to the US government when it is legally required to do so

That is being generous. Let me reword it for you. MS effectively said it would break EU law to comply with US law. On that basis, MS should be considered to be a hostile state-backed actor.

Cybercrims plant destructive time bomb malware in industrial .NET extensions

I didn't see a breakdown for downloads of each package. On the surface, these numbers are indeed small. But if somebody is targeting PLCs, that is a much smaller but more specific target than, say, another web forum with a database backend. I would expect the numbers to be lower.

It also means those who downloaded these extensions most likely did not check them. Yet more cases of blindly trusting somebody else's code.

'Windows sucks,' former Microsoft engineer says, explains how to fix it

Re: Thumbs up

Suppose that core dump contains private or personal data. What guarantee (and I mean actual guarantee, not MS' word for it) that this could not somehow be used against you? Even if it could not be used, it could still be private. Private = if I share this, I know who I am sharing it with.

Re: Thumbs up

I agree entirely.

This quote from the article baffled me:

>> a reason why ditching telemetry as a whole isn't realistic.

Maybe I do not want MS to see any of my data. Not one bit of it. It's my data.

Re: If only there was an alternative OS

If you are going to suggest Linux, I would ask a question and make an observation:

Which Linux distro?

Certain Linux distros are so busy reinventing the wheel and adding ever more complexity that using them requires full time brain input. Linux is full of complex fluffiness, which just boggles the mind compared to how it used to be.

'Vibe coding' named Word of the Year. Developers everywhere faceplant

Grammar pedant here

>> Vibe coding

>> Technically two words — yes we know — it’s the compound verb

It's not. It is the gerund.

Cisco warns of 'new attack variant' battering firewalls under exploit for 6 months

It's time for some rewording

>> "advanced threat actor"

Yet ...

>> exploited multiple zero-day vulnerabilities

Multiple. Not one...

If $badguy is exploiting holes in Cisco equipment , that doesn't necessarily they are advanced. Perhaps they are more advanced than Cisco, but that is not the same thing.

Before pointing fingers elsewhere Cisco needs to hire some programmers who can find these holes - evidently their current crop is not very good at it. Cisco is a leaky bucket. How much more of this crap must they be allowed to inflict on customers? These are just the latest in a growing list of holes found in Cisco equipment. My prediction: they won't be the last.

Rust Foundation tries to stop maintainers corroding

Re: The irony

Rust does not yet have a formal language specification. We're just supposed to eat this soup called Rust because it's good for us. But the new Rust will be along shortly, like New Coke.

I don't doubt that it does certain things better than straight C. But there is too much hype around it, and the hypesters don't do it any favours.

Re: Burnout?

>> Zealotry

This. They are like evangelical Rustians, believe or you are condemned to hell forever. It's not friendly, it's not nice, it's not welcoming. It's the Rust way or you are wrong.

Perhaps the Rust Foundation should have thought of this earlier

Before trying to get everyone to rewrite working code in Rust. Imagine it: Joe rewrites some C code in Rust. A part of Rust he depended on is suddenly not being 'maintained'. Great. What then?

SonicWall fingers state-backed cyber crew for September firewall breach

How very convenient

State-backed actors always sounds better than somebody who perhaps got lucky.

I trust SonicWall as much as I trust their obvious insecurity.

Famed software engineer DJB tries Fil-C… and likes what he sees

Re: Not quite ...

This is a thoroughly misunderstood quote. It dates back to when craftsmen owned their tools, they weren't borrowing somebody else's. I don't expect every programmer to write their own compiler or language, so they do borrow somebody else's tools. Perhaps it is fairer today to say it is a poor programmer who blames the compiler or language.

M&S pegs cyberattack cleanup costs at £136M as profits slump

Re: zero sympathy

I don't quite agree with your swear words, but no problem at all with the sentiment.

It is true we do have very knowledgeable techies in this country. But they don't count. They don't have a voice. They are not 'big business' with high level government access.

UK judge delivers a 'damp squib' in Getty AI training case, no clear precedent set

Hmmm

I wonder how this plays out with copying software.

>> But Getty couldn't prove that any of that training had taken place in the UK, forcing it to drop its more general claim of copyright infringement

So if Joe in the UK so-called pirates some software, and is met with a claim of copyright infringement, if the claimant can't prove it was actually copied in the UK, what then?

Robotic lawnmower uses AI to dodge cats, toys

A couple of basic things are needed for AI/Cloud things

1. Does this thing depend on "the cloud" to run or start?

- If yes, what happens if the cloud is unavailable? Does it just sit there?

- If the connection to the cloud is lost when the device is mowing, does it stop or does it carry on in a straight line?

- Does it autorecover?

2. What happens if the company goes bust?

- Does the device become a big brick?

- Is the source code available for somebody else to at least attempt to take on the job of maintaining it?

3. No doubt there will be firmware updates. What happens if/when the update goes wrong?

- Is there some recovery mechanism to reset it back to default?

Linux vendors are getting into Ubuntu – and Snap

Re: It's not snap that bothers me...

It has ALWAYS been like this. Back around the year 2000, I often had to dig around rpmfind to get the exact version of a library to get something to work. Don't anybody say "it wasn't" or "I was holding it wrong" - I did my time patching and building kernels to get sound cards working. rpmfind existed because it was needed.

There have been efforts to fix it - LSB being one of them. I watched it with some hope, but it withered on the vine and became pointless. Flatpak, Snaps, exist because the Linux librarysphere is fluid. The number of dependencies for some software packages is gruesome. If I create some software today and link it, it might not work with tomorrow's update. Or, even worse, it might work on Debian but not on Ubuntu. Yeah, thanks for making my life difficult.

The BSDs are considerably better in this regard. There seems to be far less drama too.

Re: Lies, can lies, and statistics set But #1

>> Valve has already done way more...

Oh really? Still < 3%. https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/valve-survey-reveals-slight-retreat-steam-linux-share.

Is 3% worth the time and effort? Let's be honest, it's a mediocre figure. I would wager there are more people who use Linux than the Valve figures suggest. So your snide comment doesn't hold water.

VodafoneThree to offshore UK network jobs to India

Offshoring a key part of your telecommunications networks

Gold. Excellent. This really does make me laugh.

We offshored the printing of passports to France. Let's get Angola to print our banknotes.

We can just be consumers.

Google parent company spending like a drunken sailor as capex triples over 2 years

We will all be paying for this

- More adverts in general.

- More adverts which cost more with the costs factored in to whatever is being sold..

- More software products with the AI label slapped on it, and sold by subscription so pay month in month out whether you use it or not.

- More hardware with the AI label slapped on it. AI lightbulbs, with an AI app on your AI phone.

- AI firewalls to protect against AI-discovered security holes.

- AI dog collars, which detect if your dog wants to go out for a walk.

- AI fraud detection to prevent fraudsters using AI.

- AI products used by BIG COMPANY, with negligible benefits to us, but suddenly cost more.

- AI motor insurance, connected to the AI in your car, putting your premiums up as necessary (but never down).

- AI documentary evidence, of dubious provenance, being debated in court as to how reliable they are (or not).

- AI call handling which miraculously tell the truth: your call is not important to us, there's not more punters in the queue.

- AI predicted weather for tomorrow. For a small monthly fee.

Claude code will send your data to crims ... if they ask it nicely

Coming soon from all the AV and security vendors

AI web/host/gateway/network/mobile/email protect, with heuristics, to stop these security holes stone cold dead in their tracks. And a family pack for $10 a month more.

From companies that already can't stop viruses or malware. Or protect their own systems from being compromised for months without noticing.

If Claude or other AI is creating a security hole, then it seems logical not to use it rather than wait for the next exploit.

Suspected Chinese snoops weaponize unpatched Windows flaw to spy on European diplomats

Is Jessica Lyons job solely to concentrate on alleged Chinese cyber spies?

I would like to read one article from her about American cyber spies. Perhaps a good expose about how they were caught snooping on Angela Merkel, or something more up to date.

You see, when the article title is about spying on European diplomats and there is no mention of the USA doing the same, it makes me think Jessica Lyons is part of the CIA spying industrial complex.

Colorado launches lawyers at Trump admin over space base relocation

The pork barrel exists

And the good ol' boys down south want their share.

Invisible npm malware pulls a disappearing act – then nicks your tokens

Re: This is a bug in npmjs.org

>> The article stated that the packages hasd "no dependencies", but your explanation is clearly a dependency of a type that could be easily detected

Yes! The problem, according to the link (https://www.koi.ai/blog/phantomraven-npm-malware-hidden-in-invisible-dependencies) is that 'automated security system, these packages show "0 Dependencies."'

Which is nuts. It is just as easy to flag this as "This package has external dependencies. BEWARE".

There is also an obvious problem here: because the dependency package is fetched individually per install rather than stored for download, security scanners cannot easily detect that it is malware. Pseudo logic: if $clientip is in @knownsecurityscanners { send benign file } else { send malware }.

The packages should be marked as having external dependencies. Then it is in the hands of the people who download it.

There's a lot of this sort of thing out there

People blindly installing a package or whatever, without any checking what it actually does. Because the 'community' checks it, doesn't it. Except, no, the community frequently does not check it.

>> Instead, it's dynamically retrieved during installation, leaving no obvious trace in the source files.

>> PhantomRaven demonstrates how sophisticated attackers are getting at exploiting blind spots in traditional security tooling

I'd argue that some people just install things without checking. That will always be the case. It also makes a good case for outbound firewall rules, default to block, which would show a bit more of what is going on. Years ago, I read some uninformed advice who wrote you don't need to block outbound traffic because you have that 'under your control'. Nice.

Next up, .vimrc files using curl or git to install a load of nice-looking themes. But how many people check what it actually being downloaded?

Some people seem to equate 'developer' with being somehow a bit more clever. Some are, but there's a lot of 'copy from Stack Overflow' developers out there. See here: https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/29/postmark_mcp_server_code_hijacked/.

Trump and Xi ease trade tensions, but Nvidia still can't sell Blackwell in China

Re: The USA can do without Canada

No other market is remotely large enough.

The USA can do without Canada

It can't do without China. That is a fact.

Equinix revealed as occupant of £3.9B UK datacenter campus

Re: Literacy

We will read in years to come how Equinix somehow pays less tax than your local shoe shop. All legally, above board.

Smile! Uncle Sam wants to scan your face on the way in – and out

Re: I'm not planning to visit the United Hell Holes any time soon

A polite opinion: it's not just the extremists in charge, it's that so many people voted for and continue to support them. It does not reflect well on the USA as a whole.

Dame Emma Thompson gives the 'AI revolution' both barrels

Use a typewriter

Or use software not connected to AI. Is it that hard (at the moment)?

India to dethrone US for dev numbers as AI reshapes coding, says GitHub

Very dubious numbers

>> Dev numbers... However, today, the United States remains in the lead.

I doubt that. Very much. A quick search on Google tells me China is "...the largest software developer base in the world."

Firewalls and VPNs are so complex now, they can actually make you less secure

League tables for vendors

I recently floated the idea of having league tables for vulnerabilities. Not just words from the vendors themselves, but actual numbers based on how often they are compromised.

Nobody would ever get hired for buying Cisco. Cisco should be considered a threat to national security, and be ripped out immediately. But that might leave the American regime with less ways to get in where it wants.

OpenAI tells Trump to build more power plants or China wins the AI arms race

Re: I wonder what the prize is for winning this race is.

If the end goal is to provide nuclear power for AI, then this is indeed just a great big pile of debt. China has motives for building nuclear power other than providing billionaires with cheap power.

Of course, OpenAI wants the US tax payer to underwrite the costs. Socialise the costs, walk away with the profits.

Re: A New New deal ?

Yes, it's another instance of uncapitalist socialism at work in the USA. The USA pretends it is capitalists, but really it is not. With the utterly mind-boggling sums handed out to 'private' companies with no risk to said private companies, endless subsidies for farmers, and so on, the USA is not a symbol of capitalism. The same receivers of this largesse are the first to peer down their noses at 'lazy' people burdened with healthcare costs. They just need to put their back into it, and it will be A OK.

The USA is an oligarchy.

Think tank decries science friction between countries, demands global cooperation

I think a little rewording is necesary

>> However, evidence points to a growing rift between the US and China that looks set to split the globe into two parallel ecosystems.

The US is trying to split the world. It wants to be top dog, and it doesn't care if it beggars the rest of the world to do it. It has already tried luring top European talent. It is already imposing conditions on other countries for using technology if so much as an American nut and bolt makes up part of it. As you refer to here:

>> The Trump administration has no qualms in leaning on other nations and using sanctions including tariffs, even against allies, if they don't toe the President's line

sed s/administration/regime/