Recent Entries
Tech (100)
Serving the Technologist for more than a decade. IT news, reviews, and analysis.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 22, 2019, 12:47 p.m.
Argentina’s blackout and the storm-battered future of the grid
Blackout a reminder that the US grid itself isn't ready for extreme weather either.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 21, 2019, 10:40 p.m.
A tale of two cities: Why ransomware will just get worse
Deal or no deal, either way cities pay through the nose because of failed IT practices.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 21, 2019, 5 p.m.
Manufacturing memory means scribing silicon in a sea of sensors
"Industry 4.0" is already here for some companies—especially silicon foundries.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 20, 2019, 11 p.m.
Potent Firefox 0-day used to install undetected backdoors on Macs
So far, attacks are known only to target Mac users involved in cryptocurrency.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 20, 2019, 2:30 p.m.
The trick to saving human factory jobs might be teaming up with the machines
“It’s all about making humans better rather than replacing them."
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 20, 2019, 11 a.m.
Researchers think nation-sponsored hackers attacked rival espionage group
Like an episode of Spy vs. Spy, Russian-speaking Turla appears to hijack OilRig's network.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 19, 2019, 8:23 p.m.
Starry aims to bring its $50, 200Mbps broadband to 25 more US states
Starry buys 24GHz spectrum to serve apartment buildings, some single-family homes.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 19, 2019, 7:26 p.m.
Oracle issues emergency update to patch actively exploited WebLogic flaw
Oracle's WebLogic Java appserver hit with the third in a series of exploited RCEs.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 19, 2019, 2:30 p.m.
For the industrial Internet of Things, defense in depth is a requirement
The shift in how we make things brings with it a shift in how we secure things.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 18, 2019, 9:16 p.m.
Samsung asks users to please virus-scan their TVs
Samsung Support USA deleted its own virus-scanning recommendation.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 18, 2019, 8:53 p.m.
New vulnerabilities may let hackers remotely SACK Linux and FreeBSD systems
Nexflix researchers discovered 4 flaws that could wreak havoc in data centers.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 18, 2019, 2 p.m.
The revolution will be roboticized: How AI is driving “Industry 4.0”
IoT has arrived on the factory floor with the force of Kool-Aid Man exploding through walls.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 18, 2019, 2 p.m.
Cloudflare aims to make HTTPS certificates safe from BGP hijacking attacks
Free service prevents BGP hijackers from fraudulently obtaining browser-trusted certs.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 17, 2019, 10:56 p.m.
Federal bill would allow clean energy companies to structure like oil companies
In the meantime, IEA says value of subsidies for fossil fuels has increased.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 17, 2019, 9:44 p.m.
AT&T cuts another 1,800 jobs as it finishes fiber-Internet buildout
1,800 new job cuts in addition to 23,000 AT&T jobs cut since December 2017.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 17, 2019, 9:28 p.m.
Russia warns of “cyberwar” following report the US attacked its power grid
NYT reported on US efforts to insert malware into Russia's energy infrastructure.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 17, 2019, 7:10 p.m.
“We are very sorry”—Boeing division CEO apologizes for 737 Max deaths
Planes remain grounded as Boeing continues work on a software fix.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 15, 2019, 12:50 p.m.
Hackers behind dangerous oil and gas intrusions are probing US power grids
Group responsible for safety tampering Triconex malware has expanded, researchers say.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 14, 2019, 9:10 p.m.
Cable companies can save money now that DOCSIS 3.1 upgrade is mostly done
Broadband investment happens in cycles—despite what the FCC tells you.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 14, 2019, 4:25 p.m.
Target’s same-day deliveries might break my Amazon Prime addiction
I tried Target's new same-day delivery service—it was fantastic.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 13, 2019, 9:45 p.m.
Ajit Pai says NOAA and NASA are wrong about 5G harming weather forecasts
Pai tells Congress that NOAA warnings are based on bad data.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 13, 2019, 1:39 a.m.
If you haven’t patched Vim or NeoVim text editors, you really, really should
Sandbox escape in the ancient text editors lets attackers get a reverse shell.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 12, 2019, 11:01 p.m.
Group to fund and operate first hydrogen fuel ferry fleet in the US
Investment group is also exploring refueling infrastructure.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 12, 2019, 7:17 p.m.
Huawei cancels MateBook laptop launch because of US export ban
MateBook launch cancelled for this week—and may not happen at all.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 12, 2019, 6:58 p.m.
I’ll be passing on Google’s new 2fa for logins on iPhones and iPads. Here’s why
If using Android to log in to Google from an iPad sounds complicated... you're right.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 12, 2019, 4:58 p.m.
Researchers discover “Fishwrap” influence campaign recycling old terror news
Over 215 social media accounts tied to effort to get followers through disinformation.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 12, 2019, 3:31 p.m.
Google Stadia in 4K might push you past your home-Internet data cap
At Google Stadia's recommended speed for 4K, you'd use 1TB in 65 hours.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 11, 2019, 6 p.m.
Researchers use Rowhammer bit flips to steal 2048-bit crypto key
RAMBleed side-channel attack works even when DRAM is protected by error-correcting code.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 10, 2019, 11:31 p.m.
As summer heats up, Calif. utility starts cutting power to prevent wildfires
New "public safety power shutoffs" will be more common due to climate change.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 8, 2019, 6:05 p.m.
The Catch-22 that broke the Internet
Google's big outage also blocked access to the tools Google needed to fix it.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 8, 2019, 5:05 p.m.
BGP mishap sends European mobile traffic through China Telecom for 2 hours
Improper leak to Chinese-government-owned telecom lasts up to two hours.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 7, 2019, 2:41 a.m.
Millions of machines affected by command execution flaw in Exim mail server
In some cases, it's trivial for remote attackers to execute commands with root privileges.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 6, 2019, 9:47 p.m.
Google confirms that advanced backdoor came preinstalled on Android devices
After Google successfully beat back Triada in 2017, its developers found a new way in.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 6, 2019, 8:16 p.m.
The clever cryptography behind Apple’s “Find My” feature
You can track down your stolen MacBook, but no one else can—not even Apple.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 6, 2019, 6:08 p.m.
YouTube’s anti-extremism crackdown targets journalist who documents extremism
News videos of a Holocaust denier and white supremacist removed by YouTube.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 5, 2019, 10:25 p.m.
YouTube bans neo-Nazi and Holocaust-denial videos in push against hate speech
White supremacists and others who promote discrimination will be banned.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 5, 2019, 8:54 p.m.
Warnings of world-wide worm attacks are the real deal, new exploit shows
Latest Metasploit module is being kept private, but time is running out.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 5, 2019, 8:26 p.m.
For 5G, AT&T and T-Mobile buy $1.8 billion worth of 24GHz spectrum across US
Verizon, US Cellular, and Starry also bought plenty in FCC's 5G auctions.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 5, 2019, 5:25 p.m.
Baltimore’s bill for ransomware: Over $18 million, so far
Mayor says Baltimore is "open for business," but city has lost millions from slowed payments.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 4, 2019, 8:45 p.m.
Verizon avoided a decade’s worth of taxes—a new law could make it pay up
Proposed law targets Verizon, which didn't pay tax levied by New Jersey towns.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 4, 2019, 8:20 p.m.
238 Google Play apps with >440 million installs made phones nearly unusable
Carefully concealed plugin bombarded users with ads during inopportune times.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 4, 2019, 6:13 p.m.
Baltimore ransomware perp pinky-swears he didn’t use NSA exploit
Twitter account shut down after final, expletive-laced warning to mayor.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 4, 2019, 2 p.m.
Ajit Pai works to cap funding for rural and poor people, gets GOP backing
FCC vote paves way for budget cap on all universal-service broadband programs.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 3, 2019, 10:08 p.m.
Microsoft says mandatory password changing is “ancient and obsolete”
Bucking a major trend, company no longer advises organizations enforce periodic changes.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on June 1, 2019, 11:50 a.m.
Cryptocurrency firms renew push to break free from SEC rules
Kik has started a crowdfunding campaign to support its legal battle.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 31, 2019, 9:15 p.m.
Power systems company to build world’s first 1 GW energy storage project in Utah
The project would combine renewable hydrogen and compressed air caverns.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 31, 2019, 6:48 p.m.
Microsoft practically begs Windows users to fix wormable BlueKeep flaw
With 1M computers still unpatched, company tries to prevent worldwide wormpocalypse.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 31, 2019, 12:58 a.m.
China’s saber-rattling on rare-earths trade has US officials looking for options
Coal runoff could be a solution; Pentagon wants funding for rare-earths independence.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 30, 2019, 9:45 p.m.
Advanced Linux backdoor found in the wild escaped AV detection
Fully developed HiddenWasp gives attackers full control of infected machines.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 30, 2019, 12:05 a.m.
Hackers actively exploit WordPress plugin flaw to send visitors to bad sites
If you're seeing more malicious redirects than usual, now you know why.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 28, 2019, 10:11 p.m.
Trump, steamed over delays, pulls plug on electric carrier catapults
During USS Wasp visit, Trump declares EMALS catapult kaput, orders steam instead.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 28, 2019, 6:31 p.m.
Eternally Blue: Baltimore City leaders blame NSA for ransomware attack
Mayor and council president ask for federal disaster dollars to clean up IT toxic waste.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 27, 2019, 1 p.m.
Deepfakes are getting better—but they’re still easy to spot
“This means bigger problems for ordinary people.”
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 26, 2019, 3 p.m.
Australian rare-earth ore processor wants to build a plant in the US
Rare-earth minerals are mostly processed in China, but a new project could change that.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 26, 2019, 2:32 p.m.
Before Netscape: The forgotten Web browsers of the early 1990s
From the archives: Does anybody remember Erwise? Viola? Cello? Let's reminisce.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 25, 2019, 1:45 p.m.
Website for storing digital currencies hosted code with a sneaky backdoor
WalletGenerator.net and the mystery of the backdoored random number generator.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 24, 2019, 4:11 p.m.
Google bots shut down Baltimore officials’ ransomware-workaround Gmail accounts
Google automatically suspended accounts after detecting they were from same network.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 24, 2019, 1:20 a.m.
Fake cryptocurrency apps on Google Play try to profit on bitcoin price surge
Researchers uncover two purported wallets uploaded after bitcoin prices rise.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 23, 2019, 8:40 p.m.
Comcast does so much lobbying that it says disclosing it all is too hard
Shareholders say Comcast should stop being secretive about lobbying activity.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 23, 2019, 12:25 p.m.
Why a Windows flaw patched nine days ago is still spooking the Internet
Researchers warn dangerous BlueKeep vulnerability is almost sure to be exploited.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 23, 2019, 1:41 a.m.
Serial publisher of Windows 0-days drops exploits for 3 more unfixed flaws
SandboxEscaper has published 7 such exploits to date, 3 in the past 24 hours.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 22, 2019, 10:22 p.m.
Amazon made video games for its workers to reduce tedium of warehouse jobs
The games are voluntary and have been deployed at five Amazon warehouses.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 22, 2019, 4:19 p.m.
Democratic Party’s network security still lags behind GOP, researchers find
Personal data leaks, poor protection of logins, and other gaps still leave major parties vulnerable.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 21, 2019, 10:48 p.m.
WannaCry? Hundreds of US schools still haven’t patched servers
A dive into vulnerability data shows even big districts' servers still offering up SMB v. 1.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 21, 2019, 10:33 p.m.
Cable TV customer satisfaction falls even further behind streaming video
Pay-TV again ranks last in customer satisfaction among all US industries.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 21, 2019, 10:14 p.m.
A year after Hawaii’s Kīlauea eruptions, a nearby geothermal plant eyes restart
Operator hopes to send power back to the grid before the year is out.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 21, 2019, 4:27 p.m.
AT&T outclassed Verizon in hurricane response, and it wasn’t close, union says
Union: Verizon used un-credentialed contractors to restore service in Florida.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 20, 2019, 5:47 p.m.
Baltimore ransomware nightmare could last weeks more, with big consequences
Houses can't be sold, bills can't be paid while city networks are shuttered.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 20, 2019, 4:45 p.m.
Ajit Pai oks T-Mobile/Sprint merger, “requires” 5G rollout that’ll happen anyway
Consumer advocates protest loss of competition; DOJ could still block merger.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 19, 2019, 1:30 p.m.
Opera Reborn 3: No modern browser is perfect, but this may be as close as it gets
While not as innovative as its mobile brethren, new release closes the gap with Vivaldi.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 19, 2019, 1:15 p.m.
How tech companies are shaping the rules governing AI
Industry group urges EU policymakers not to draw "red lines" around specific uses of AI.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 18, 2019, 12:45 p.m.
33 Linksys router models leak full historic record of every device ever connected
Hard-to-fix flaw cause >25,000 routers to leak >756,000 unique MAC addresses.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 17, 2019, 11:13 p.m.
Hack on Stack Overflow exposes private data for ~250 users
Intruders who accessed production system remained undetected for at least five days.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 17, 2019, 7:40 p.m.
Slack patches vulnerability in Windows client that could be used to hijack files
Vulnerability could have been used to steal documents, add malware to them.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 16, 2019, 9:35 p.m.
These firms promise high-tech ransomware solutions—but typically just pay hackers
Two US data recovery firms offer help. ProPublica finds they paid ransoms and charged extra.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 16, 2019, 8:45 p.m.
Utility equipment sparked massive California wildfire, investigators say
PG&E makes its way through bankruptcy, now utility is responsible for 85 deaths.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 16, 2019, 5:38 p.m.
Trump tries to shut Huawei out of US market with executive order
Trump moves could stop Huawei from buying US tech or from selling to US firms.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 16, 2019, 5:23 p.m.
Hackers abuse ASUS cloud service to install backdoor on users’ PCs
Computer-maker's WebStorage software tied to malware attack from the BlackTech Group.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 15, 2019, 7:29 p.m.
Google warns Bluetooth Titan security keys can be hijacked by nearby hackers
Attackers can connect their own device to Bluetooth-enabled keys used for 2fa.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 15, 2019, 5:28 p.m.
Ajit Pai’s robocall plan lets carriers charge for new call-blocking tools
Pai urges carriers to block robocalls by default, but FCC isn't requiring it.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 15, 2019, 11 a.m.
The radio-navigation planes use to land safely is insecure and can be hacked
Radios that sell for $600 can spoof signals planes use to find runways.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 14, 2019, 9:48 p.m.
Microsoft warns wormable Windows bug could lead to another WannaCry
Company takes the unusual step of patching RDP bug in Windows 2003 and XP.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 14, 2019, 9:06 p.m.
5G networks will likely interfere with US weather satellites, Navy warns
FCC auctions 24GHz spectrum despite likely interference with weather satellites.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 14, 2019, 6:15 p.m.
Third-largest coal producer in the US files for bankruptcy
The company staved off bankruptcy for years but continued to face lean markets.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 14, 2019, 3:27 p.m.
Disney takes full control of Hulu as Comcast steps aside
But Disney's minimum $27.5 billion payment to Comcast will happen later.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 14, 2019, 3 a.m.
WhatsApp vulnerability exploited to infect phones with Israeli spyware
Attacks used messenger's call function. Targets didn't have to answer to be infected.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 13, 2019, 7:31 p.m.
Bluetooth harvester signals hacking group’s growing interest in mobile
ScarCruft's new interest in mobile devices suggests the group's continuing evolution.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 13, 2019, 4:04 p.m.
Amazon to employees: Quit your job, we’ll help you start a delivery business
Another effort to reduce shipping times, especially for Prime subscribers.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 12, 2019, 2 p.m.
Ubuntu 19.04: The Disco Dingo arrives and will really make your IT dept. happy
Even for non-enterprise users, 19.04 offers a faster, more polished desktop.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 10, 2019, 6:02 p.m.
FCC says carriers failed Florida after hurricane—but lets them off the hook
FCC finds "voluntary" commitment didn't work, proposes new... voluntary commitment.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 10, 2019, 12:50 a.m.
Feds charge Chinese national in 2015 breach of health insurer Anthem
Breach using spear phishing and backdoors exposed data for 78.8 million people.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 9, 2019, 9:39 p.m.
Open source bug poses threat to sites running multiple CMSes
Drupal, Joomla, and Typo3 all bitten by bug in PharStreamWrapper.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 9, 2019, 6:39 p.m.
SpaceX broadband testing to ramp up with launch of dozens of satellites
Demo satellites launch next week; "satellites for actual service" later in 2019.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 9, 2019, 5:47 p.m.
Drones used missiles with knife warhead to take out single terrorist targets
Hellfire missile has spring-loaded blades created to minimize collateral damage.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 9, 2019, 3:36 p.m.
Hackers breached 3 US antivirus companies, researchers reveal
Source code, network access being sold online by "Fxmsp" collective.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 8, 2019, 9:14 p.m.
Unless you want your payment card data skimmed, avoid these commerce sites
A skimming campaign continues to infect sites with malicious JavaScript.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 8, 2019, 4:31 p.m.
“RobbinHood” ransomware takes down Baltimore city government networks
A year after 911 system hit, most of city's networks are down.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 7, 2019, 6:08 p.m.
Charter squeezes more money out of Internet users with new cancellation policy
No more prorated final bills: Charter/Spectrum makes it more expensive to cancel.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 7, 2019, 5:43 p.m.
After a few misfires, Army’s newest pistol program is slow on the draw
Video: Army says program is on track but cuts 2020 budget for pistols from Sig Sauer.
From Biz & IT – Ars Technica on May 7, 2019, 7:14 a.m.
Stolen NSA hacking tools were used in the wild 14 months before Shadow Brokers leak
Already criticized for not protecting its exploit arsenal, the NSA has a new lapse.