Miscellaneous Tech News
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China accused of cyber-attack on Microsoft Exchange servers
The UK, US and EU have accused China of carrying out a major cyber-attack earlier this year.
The attack targeted Microsoft Exchange servers, affecting at least 30,000 organisations globally. Western security services believe it signals a shift from a targeted espionage campaign to a smash-and-grab raid, leading to concerns Chinese cyber-behaviour is escalating. The Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) has also been accused of wider espionage activity and a broader pattern of "reckless" behaviour. China has previously denied allegations of hacking and says it opposes all forms of cyber-crime. The unified call-out of Beijing shows the gravity with which this case has been taken. Western intelligence officials say aspects are markedly more serious than anything they have seen before. -
Apple under pressure over iPhone security after NSO spyware claims
Apple urged to work with rivals after alleged surveillance of journalists, activists.
Apple has come under pressure to collaborate with its Silicon Valley rivals to fend off the common threat of surveillance technology after a report alleged that NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware was used to target journalists and human rights activists. Amnesty International, which analyzed dozens of smartphones targeted by clients of NSO, said Apple’s marketing claims about its devices’ superior security and privacy had been “ripped apart” by the discovery of vulnerabilities in even the most recent versions of its iPhones and iOS software. -
Zoom offers app store with team-building games
Zoom is integrating third-party apps into its video conferences, as it looks to stay ahead in the post-pandemic world.
It hopes that the addition of apps will "make meetings more engaging, more productive and actually even more fun". Zoom is betting on a future of hybrid working, and hoping to maintain its 300 million daily meeting participants. Experts say it is also keen to compete with rivals such as Microsoft Teams. Zoom already has a marketplace that has 1,500 apps, but they need to be downloaded and added to meetings separately. At launch, 50 apps will be available, including meeting planning app Asana and Dot Collector, which allows for real-time feedback and polling. In an interview with the BBC, Zoom's product lead for Apps, Ross Mayfield, explained how he saw apps being used in Zoom: "Using apps for things like taking notes, whiteboarding, logging action items and managing your tasks to make you more productive." -
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Zoom offers app store with team-building games
Zoom is integrating third-party apps into its video conferences, as it looks to stay ahead in the post-pandemic world.
It hopes that the addition of apps will "make meetings more engaging, more productive and actually even more fun". Zoom is betting on a future of hybrid working, and hoping to maintain its 300 million daily meeting participants. Experts say it is also keen to compete with rivals such as Microsoft Teams. Zoom already has a marketplace that has 1,500 apps, but they need to be downloaded and added to meetings separately. At launch, 50 apps will be available, including meeting planning app Asana and Dot Collector, which allows for real-time feedback and polling. In an interview with the BBC, Zoom's product lead for Apps, Ross Mayfield, explained how he saw apps being used in Zoom: "Using apps for things like taking notes, whiteboarding, logging action items and managing your tasks to make you more productive."Why.... who really needs video games in their video conference software... I just put the VC on mute and play on my console/pc... DUH
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/cba-takes-25-percent-stake-in-two-nbn-retail-service-providers-567729
CBA is making a surprise play in the Australia broadband market, taking stakes in More Telecom and Tangerine and using its banking app to try to persuade customers to switch their provider.
(CBA = Commonwealth Bank of Australia)
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California sues Activision Blizzard over alleged harassment
One of the world's largest game companies is being taken to court over an alleged "frat boy" culture that discriminates against women.
Activision Blizzard is accused of unequal pay, promoting men over women, and widespread sexual harassment. California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) is taking legal action against the company, following a two-year investigation. ctivision called the action "disgraceful and unprofessional". And it called the DFEH "unaccountable state bureaucrats". -
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Akamai Edge DNS outage brings down Playstation Network, Steam, others
Contrary to popular belief, it's not always DNS... but it is today.
A massive Internet outage today has downdetector.com covered in warnings for popular websites and services such as the PlayStation Network, Steam, Fidelity Investments, Airbnb, FedEx, LastPass, UPS, Amazon, and others. The root cause of the outage appears to be a failure in Akamai's Edge DNS Service. Its system status page reports that Akamai is aware of "an emerging issue with the Edge DNS service"—one downgraded to "Minor Service Outage" with no further explanation as of press time. -
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@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Auto-updates, fixed it before the news story got out.
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@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Not actually ahigh risk unless someone already has local access to the system. I mean serious exploit, yes. But first you need to be on the system.
"If an unprivileged local attacker creates, mounts, and deletes a deep directory structure whose total path length exceeds 1GB, and if the attacker open()s and read()s /proc/self/mountinfo, then" through a series of other maneuvers you can write to out of bounds memory.
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@jaredbusch said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Not actually ahigh risk unless someone already has local access to the system. I mean serious exploit, yes. But first you need to be on the system.
"If an unprivileged local attacker creates, mounts, and deletes a deep directory structure whose total path length exceeds 1GB, and if the attacker open()s and read()s /proc/self/mountinfo, then" through a series of other maneuvers you can write to out of bounds memory.
Yeah, I'd put it as moderate.
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Kaseya gets master decryptor to help customers still suffering from REvil attack
REvil ransomware struck as many as 1,500 networks, but a master key is now available.
Kaseya—the remote management software seller at the center of a ransomware operation that struck as many as 1,500 downstream networks—said it has obtained a decryptor that should successfully restore data encrypted during the Fourth of July weekend attack. Affiliates of REvil, one of the Internet’s most cutthroat ransomware groups, exploited a critical zero-day vulnerability in Miami, Florida-based Kaseya’s VSA remote management product. The vulnerability—which Kaseya was days away from patching—allowed the ransomware operators to compromise the networks of about 60 customers. From there, the extortionists infected as many as 1,500 networks that relied on the 60 customers for services. -
Zuckerberg wants Facebook to become online 'metaverse'
Mark Zuckerberg has laid out his vision to transform Facebook from a social media network into a “metaverse company” in the next five years.
A metaverse is an online world where people can game, work and communicate in a virtual environment, often using VR headsets. The Facebook CEO described it as “an embodied internet where instead of just viewing content - you are in it”. He told The Verge people shouldn't live through “small, glowing rectangles”. “That’s not really how people are made to interact,” he said, speaking of reliance on mobile phones. “A lot of the meetings that we have today, you’re looking at a grid of faces on a screen. That’s not how we process things either.” -
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UK worries Starlink and OneWeb may interfere with each other, plans new rules
Ofcom says complexity of giant satellite networks raises interference concerns.
A UK government agency is worried that OneWeb, SpaceX's Starlink, and similar low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite-broadband systems could block each others' signals. Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, proposed new rules today in a report that details its interference concerns. Ofcom also said it intends to amend satellite licenses already issued to SpaceX and OneWeb to require coordination of frequency use. Without new requirements, the risk of interference could prevent competition by shutting new players out of the market, Ofcom said. -
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
The windows Team must have their hands full with all this patching they must be doing lately.
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Instagram makes under-16s' accounts private by default
Instagram has made new under-16s' accounts private by default so only approved followers can see posts and "like" or comment.
Tests showed only one in five opted for a public account when the private setting was the default, it said. And existing account holders would be sent a notification "highlighting the benefits" of switching to private. But Instagram also said it was pushing ahead with new apps for under-13s, despite a backlash from some groups. "The reality is that they are already online and, with no foolproof way to stop people from misrepresenting their age, we want to build experiences designed specifically for them, managed by parents and guardians," parent company Facebook said. -
Ofcom appoints online safety head to take on big tech
Regulator Ofcom has announced Anna-Sophie Harling will be its online safety head, dealing with how the tech giants regulate harmful speech.
She will be in charge of implementing the Online Safety Bill, due to come into effect later this year if approved by Parliament. Ofcom will be able to fine tech firms that fail to remove offending content up to 10% of their global revenue. But one expert said this would require "bold leadership". Ms Harling is currently managing director for Europe at NewsGuard, which audits online publishers for accuracy. "I'm really excited to be joining Ofcom's online-safety team," she said. "Legislation will enable us to introduce meaningful transparency where it has been lacking and empower Ofcom to hold platforms to account. "I can't wait to get started." -
