Posts made by mlnews

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Reminders on rise as WhatsApp update deadline looms

Users yet to accept new terms and conditions for the messaging platform WhatsApp will start to get "persistent" reminders after the 15 May deadline.
The changes relate primarily to the way businesses interact with customers. Since they were announced, in January, there has been concern about the prospect of increased data sharing with WhatsApp's parent company, Facebook, but this will not be changing. Most of the app's two billion users had already accepted, the company said. Those who do not will start to lose functionality - beginning with being unable to see chat lists and ending with not receiving video calls and messages - but no accounts will be deleted.

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Windows 10 Update Fail: New AMD Driver Reportedly Causes Boot Issues

Small Computer System "Interference"
An issue with the AMD SCSIAdapter driver appears to be causing Windows 10 boot issues on certain hardware configurations, ComputerBase reports. The problem apparently being most commonly encountered on Gigabyte motherboards. People have complained of these problems on the ComputerBase forums, Microsoft Answers, and the /r/AMD subreddit. The issues seemed to start after the Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. - SCSIAdapter - 9.3.0.221 driver was pushed via Windows Update. So far it seems the boot issues are mostly affecting Gigabyte Aorus motherboards that use the X570 chipset. The only way to fix the issue, at least at the moment, is to roll back the driver update and prevent Windows Update from installing it again.

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Jerusalem violence: Rockets fired from Gaza after major clashes

Rockets have been fired towards Jerusalem from Gaza, amid spiralling tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.
No injuries were reported, though Israel's parliament was evacuated as sirens sounded. Gaza's Hamas rulers had threatened to strike after hundreds of Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli police on Monday. The past few days have seen the worst violence in the city for years. More than 300 Palestinians were wounded in the confrontations with Israeli police outside the Al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem.

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Game of Thrones actress sues Marilyn Manson alleging abuse

Game of Thrones actress Esmé Bianco has sued singer Marilyn Manson, alleging sexual assault and battery.
The lawsuit claims Mr Manson coerced the British actress with "drugs, force, and threats of force". The plaintiff also alleges the singer and his manager broke trafficking laws by luring her from London to the US with empty promises of work. The artist has rejected multiple allegations of abuse against him as "horrible distortions of reality". He has been dropped by his record label and booking agent since the claims surfaced.

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An ambitious plan to tackle ransomware faces long odds

Heavyweight task force proposes framework to tackle a major cybersecurity problem.
Schools, hospitals, the City of Atlanta. Garmin, Acer, the Washington, DC, police. At this point no one is safe from the scourge of ransomware. Over the past few years, skyrocketing ransom demands and indiscriminate targeting have escalated, with no relief in sight. Today a recently formed public-private partnership is taking the first steps toward a coordinated response. The comprehensive framework, overseen by the Institute for Security and Technology's Ransomware Task Force, proposes a more aggressive public-private response to ransomware, rather than the historically piecemeal approach. Launched in December, the task force counts Amazon Web Services, Cisco, and Microsoft among its members, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the United Kingdom National Crime agency. Drawing from the recommendations of cybersecurity firms, incident responders, nonprofits, government agencies, and academics, the report calls on the public and private sector to improve defenses, develop response plans, strengthen and expand international law enforcement collaboration, and regulate cryptocurrencies.

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Google owner sees record profits as lockdown boom continues

Google owner Alphabet saw its earnings soar in the first quarter as people stuck at home in the pandemic used more of its services.
Net profit jumped by 162% to a record $17.9bn in the three months to March as advertising revenue swelled by a third. It comes as the tech giant faces increased scrutiny over its power and the pandemic has people turning to the internet more than ever. The firm credited "elevated consumer activity online" for its results. "Over the last year, people have turned to Google Search and many online services to stay informed, connected and entertained," said Alphabet and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai. Analysts had expected a good performance as economies around the world have continued to reopen, prompting more spending on online advertising.

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Cyber-attack hackers threaten to share US police informant data

Washington DC's Metropolitan Police Department has said its computer network has been breached in a targeted cyber-attack, US media report.
A ransomware group called Babuk is reportedly threatening to release sensitive data on police informants if it is not contacted within three days. The FBI is investigating the extent of the breach, US media reported, citing the Washington DC police department. Ransomware is used to scramble computer networks and steal information. Attackers target companies or organisations and can lock their systems, then demand large sums of money in return for ending the hack.

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Comcast touts 4Gbps cable uploads in lab test, still limits users to 35Mbps

Lab test produces 4Gbps upload speeds but actual uploads are still 3 to 35Mbps.
Comcast today offered the latest hint of a future in which its cable customers won't be limited to 35Mbps upload speeds. Announcing a recent lab test, Comcast said its research team "deliver[ed] upstream and downstream throughputs of greater than 4Gbps" and that "future optimization" will allow "even greater capacity." This was "the first-ever live lab test" of a Broadcom "system-on-chip (SOC) device that will pave the way for Comcast to deliver multigigabit upload and download speeds over its hybrid-fiber coaxial (HFC) network," Comcast said. It won't require installation of more cables because the "technology works using the same types of connections already installed in hundreds of millions of homes worldwide," Comcast said.

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LeBron James accused of inciting violence with 'YOU'RE NEXT' tweet targeting Columbus police officer

James, other celebrities and media outlets have downplayed Bryant's attack on fellow teen with knife
Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is facing intense backlash over a now-deleted tweet targeting a Columbus police officer involved in the shooting of 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant, who was Black. Bodycam footage released late Tuesday showed Bryant being shot as she was attacking another teen with a knife. However, like many other public figures, James suggested that the Columbus shooting was unjustified coming on the heels of the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on murder and manslaughter charges in the death of George Floyd.

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Middle East states dominate list of top executioners in 2020 - Amnesty

Four of the world's five top executioners in 2020 were Middle East states, Amnesty International says.
Iran, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia accounted for 88% of the 483 reported executions worldwide, according to a report by the human rights group. It accuses them of displaying "a ruthless and chilling persistence" in putting people to death despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. The global total was the lowest in a decade, but it did not include China. China is believed to execute thousands of people each year, but the true extent of its use of the death penalty is unknown as the data is a state secret.

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MI5 warns of spies using LinkedIn to trick staff into spilling secrets

At least 10,000 UK nationals have been approached by fake profiles linked to hostile states, on the professional social network LinkedIn, over the past five years, according to MI5.
It warned users who had accepted such connection requests might have then been lured into sharing secrets. "Malicious profiles" are being used on "an industrial scale", the security agency's chief, Ken McCallum, said. A campaign has been launched to educate government workers about the threat. The effort - Think Before You Link - warns foreign spies are targeting those with access to sensitive information.

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George Floyd: US city on edge as jury deliberates Chauvin verdict

The jury in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the ex-police officer accused of killing George Floyd last year, has retired to weigh up its verdict.
Security has been ramped up around the court building in the US city of Minneapolis, which is protected by barbed wire, high barriers and armed soldiers from the National Guard. "This was murder," the prosecutor said in closing arguments on Monday. The defence argued that Mr Chauvin had correctly followed police training. He behaved as any "reasonable police officer" would, lead lawyer Eric Nelson said, adding the circumstances surrounding Mr Floyd's death gave rise to reasonable doubt.

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Huawei denies spying accusation in the Netherlands

A report accusing Huawei of having once had "unlimited access" to phone calls made using one of the Netherlands' leading operators, KPN, has been published by a Dutch newspaper.
The report was compiled by the CapGemini consultancy in 2010 but never released. Those affected would have included former Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. The Chinese technology giant has completely denied the allegations. One cyber-security expert told BBC News it was "doubtful we will ever know" whether the claims made in the report were true. "Huawei may be blameless but insider threat is a powerful one," Prof Alan Woodward, from Surrey University, said. News of the report was published in De Volkskrant.

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Canada sounds the alarm as cases overtake US

The rate of coronavirus infections in Canada's biggest province has reached an all-time high as hospitals warn they are close to being overwhelmed.
A panel of experts say infections in Ontario could increase by 600% by June if public health measures are weak and vaccination rates do not pick up. Last week, for the first time since the pandemic began, Canada registered more cases per million than the US. About 22% of Canadians have now received a first vaccine dose.

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Backdoored developer tool that stole credentials escaped notice for 3 months

AWS credentials and private repository tokens could allow self-perpetuating attacks.
A publicly available software development tool contained malicious code that stole the authentication credentials that apps need to access sensitive resources. It's the latest revelation of a supply chain attack that has the potential to backdoor the networks of countless organizations. The Codecov bash uploader contained the backdoor from late January to the beginning of April, developers of the tool said on Thursday. The backdoor caused developer computers to send secret authentication tokens and other sensitive data to a remote site controlled by the hackers. The uploader works with development platforms including Github Actions, CircleCI, and Bitrise Step, all of which support having such secret authentication tokens in the development environment.

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Microsoft makes $20bn bet on speech AI firm Nuance

Microsoft Corp plans to buy a tech firm known for helping to develop Apple's Siri speech recognition software in a deal valued at $19.7bn (£13.3bn).
The purchase of Nuance Communications is the second largest in Microsoft's history, after its acquisition of networking site LinkedIn in 2016. Microsoft said it would bolster its software and artificial intelligence expertise for healthcare companies. So-called "telehealth" and remote doctor visits have boomed in lockdown. This growth is forecast to continue after the pandemic.

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Daunte Wright shooting by police 'accidental'

The fatal shooting of a black man by a police officer in the US city of Brooklyn Center in Minnesota was an accident, the police chief has said.
Daunte Wright, 20, was shot after the officer meant to use a Taser, but mistakenly drew her gun instead, Chief Tim Gannon told reporters. Mr Wright's death has sparked protests and a curfew has been declared. Tensions in nearby Minneapolis are high as the trial of an ex-officer accused of killing George Floyd continues. Daunte Wright was pulled over on Sunday for a traffic violation, but there was a struggle when he tried to get back into his car.

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US adds Chinese supercomputing companies to export blacklist

Biden administration tightens controls on tech that aids China’s military.
The US has placed Chinese groups accused of building supercomputers to help the Chinese military on an export blacklist, the first such move by the Biden administration to make it harder for China to obtain US technology. Three companies and four branches of China’s National Supercomputing Center were added to the US government “entity list,” which bars American companies from exporting technology to the groups without a license. The US commerce department said the groups were involved in building supercomputers used by Chinese “military actors” and facilitating programs to develop weapons of mass destruction.

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Saint Vincent volcano: 'Explosive' Soufrière eruption sparks mass evacuation

An "explosive" volcano eruption has blanketed the Caribbean island of St Vincent in ash and smoke and forced thousands of people out of their homes.
La Soufrière, which has been dormant for decades, first started showing volcanic activity in December which picked up this week. On Thursday, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves urged more than 16,000 residents in "red zones" to evacuate. The volcano has since spewed dark ash plumes 6 km (3.7 miles) into the air. Ash fall has been recorded as far from the volcano as Argyle International Airport, St Vincent's National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) said.

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T-Mobile 5G home Internet: $60 a month, 100Mbps speeds, and no data cap

30 million households are eligible; signups available "until capacity runs out."
T-Mobile yesterday launched a $60-per-month 5G home Internet service, saying that it will generally provide download speeds of 50 to 100Mbps and upload speeds of 10 to 25Mbps. The $60 monthly price includes everything, T-Mobile said, promising, "No added taxes or fees. No equipment fees. No contracts. No surprises or exploding bills." The service has no data cap, but T-Mobile's home Internet customers will get slower speeds than mobile customers in times of congestion.