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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 16 Issue 50
Volume 16, Issue 50 Atari Online News, Etc. December 12, 2014
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2014
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
Fred Horvat
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1650 12/12/14
~ Ralph Baer Passes Away ~ People Are Talking! ~ MacAranym JIT!
~ Linux Trojan "Turla"! ~ PaymentsMD Users Faked ~ PS Store Hacked!
~ Destiny, The Dark Below ~ Sony Execs "Warned"! ~ Academics Urge FCC!
~ Dislike Button Nixed! ~ Pirate Bay Is Alive! ~ Goblins vs. Gnomes!
-* Pirate Bay Evades Authorities *-
-* EasyMiNT 1.90b With Firebee Support *-
-* Microsoft: Best Look of Win 10 Next Month! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Yes, we're a little late again this week, but it can't be helped. Lots
of news, and limited time - it happens.
The "new" dog is adapting well to her new surroundings, and managing to
get along fairly well with her new big brother. While we miss our
recently-departed "daughter", it's nice to have another four-legged kid
roaming around the house again. If you've the mind and inclination, I
highly recommend considering you rescuing an animal from your local
shelter; it's a terrific experience and you'd be providing a much-needed
forever home for an animal who needs one!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
EasyMiNT 1.90b With Firebee Support
I've just made a new version of EasyMiNT that should run on firebee now.
(Hope so.:^))
I had some additions to ST support to but that's in alpha stage.
Two things are not working until now on the firebee, the filesystem check
during boot and there will be no backup of an existing MINT folder, so
you have to be careful!
Now the news.
- MiNT 1.19 and XaAES 1.6.4b are installed now
- firebee support
- ext2 filesystem on ST now
- substituted Teradesk with THING 1.29
- creating an ext2 partition works on the firebee, too.
The package is about 40Mb and can be downloaded there:
http://atari.st-katharina-apotheke.de/download/em_190b.zip
Please be careful, this is an early beta version!!
Furthermore I've compiled a version from E-Nick, the EasyMiNT Network
Configurator with Coldfire support. You can get this on my homepage,
too.
http://atari.st-katharina-apotheke.de
So, now I hope that there are not to many bugs.:-)
Please post this link to other forums and places, if you like.
Many thanks go to the developers who are working just for Freemint,
especially Lonny Pursell, Vincent Riviere and Helmut Karlowski.
Have fun!
maanke
Aranym-user ATARI / OS X
ARAnyM 1.0, that is the ATARI GNU / GPL virtual machine, is published
these days.
The *miniPack* which is a minimal configuration of ARAnyM, runs on
Macintosh: (http://eureka.atari.org/miniPack.zip) The v.1.0 of the
`MacAranym JIT` application runs from OS X Leopard (10.5) up to OS X
Yosemite (10.10). Here is a screenshot at
http://eureka.atari.org/aranym.gif).
Comments are welcome. Enjoy, this is yours
FranCois LE COAT
Author of Eureka 2.12 (2D Graph Describer, 3D Modeller)
http://eureka.atari.org
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Sony's PlayStation Store Hacked!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Destiny: The Dark Below!
Inventor Ralph Baer Dies at 92!
And much more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Sony's PlayStation Store Suffers Suspected Hack
Sony's online PlayStation store was inaccessible to users for part of
Monday in the latest possible cyberattack on the electronics and
entertainment company.
Sony Computer Entertainment in Tokyo said Monday the problem lasted two
hours but has been fixed globally. It said the cause is under
investigation, but there is no sign of any material being stolen.
Last week, the computer systems of Sony Pictures Entertainment were
disrupted by a cyberattack and confidential information including
unreleased movies was leaked on the Internet.
North Korea was among the suspects, but it has denied responsibility.
The FBI is investigating threatening emails sent to some employees of
Sony Pictures Entertainment, and trying to identify the person or group
responsible.
There was no indication of a link between the PlayStation and Sony
Pictures incidents.
A hacker group calling itself Lizard Squad appeared to take
responsibility for the attack on its Twitter account, tweeting "PSN
Login #offline."
Earlier this year, Lizard Squad warned that explosives might be on a
flight that included a Sony executive among its passengers, and claimed
responsibility for a disruption to the PlayStation network. American
Airlines diverted the domestic U.S. flight to a nearby airport.
In that incident, hackers orchestrated a so-called denial-of-service
attack against Sony, which involved overwhelming the company's game
network with fake visits so that legitimate users couldn't get through.
In 2011, hackers compromised the company's network including the personal
data of 77 million user accounts. Since then, the company has repeatedly
said its computer security has been upgraded.
"Its The Internets Fault." PlayStation Store Downed Amid Hacking Claims
The PlayStation Store was inaccessible for several hours this morning.
Visitors to the site were met with a simple message that said:
Page Not Found! Its not you. Its the Internet's fault.
The page gave no further information as to the nature of the problem or
what may have caused it but Sony was aware, tweeting: PSN update: we are
aware of the issues some users are experiencing, and are working to
address them. We'll keep you updated.
The company's network status page confirmed that the service was
'intermittent' for much of the morning, though normal service now appears
to have resumed.
Hacking group Lizard Squad, which has previously taken down the
PlayStation Network, as well as Xbox Live, Destiny and EA Games,
referenced the outage in a Tweet, but it's not clear if it's claiming
credit:
PSN Login #offline #LizardSquad
The outage, if confirmed as an attack, is just one of many to target the
tech giant recently. Last month the firm's movie arm was targeted by a
group identifying itself as "Guardians of Peace".
In that attack the corporate network of Sony Pictures was breached,
resulting in the alleged theft of unreleased movies as well as
confidential information about executives' and actors' salaries.
Speculation still surrounds the source of that attack with fingers being
pointed toward North Korea, which is known to be more than a little
peeved over "The Interview", a Sony Pictures comedy in which two
journalists are hired by the CIA to assassinate the country's leader,
Kim Jong-un.
The BBC reports that North Korea, which called the movie an "act of
terrorism", has denied its direct involvement in the attack but called it
a "righteous deed", which may have been carried out by its "supporters
and sympathisers".
The PlayStation Store outage comes days after the 20th anniversary of the
console's 3 December 1994 release in Japan. It also comes just a week
after Lizard Squad took down the Xbox Live network which was hit with a
DDoS attack. Shortly afterwards the group said:
That's a small dose of what's to come on Christmas. #LizardSquad
Since then the group has reportedly targeted PC gaming network Steam,
taking 2 million users offline for a short while, and highlighted a White
House petition launched against it which has already gathered over 7,500
signatures, presumably from frustrated gamers.
Hackers Contacted Top Sony Executives Before Attack
Top executives at Sony Pictures received an email extorting money three
days before the company's computer network was taken offline in a major
hack.
The email message was among thousands released on Monday when the email
boxes of two top Sony executives were leaked online. It was the latest
release of potentially embarrassing corporate information following a
major hack on the company's computer networks two weeks ago.
"We've got great damage by Sony Pictures," the message began. "The
compensation for it, monetary compensation we want."
"Pay the damage, or Sony Pictures will be bombarded as a whole. You know
us very well. We never wait long. You'd better behave wisely," it reads.
The email was titled "Notice to Sony Pictures Entertainment" and was sent
\at 9:44am PST on Nov. 21 from a Gmail account registered in the name
"Frank David." It was addressed to five top Sony executives.
The IP address of the sender wasn't visible because Gmail's Web interface
appears to have been used to compose the note, but there was one striking
detail.
It was not signed in the name of "Guardians of Peace," the name used by
hackers who claimed responsibility for the attack, but was signed "From
God'sApstls." That text appeared in a different font, as if it had been
cut and pasted into the message.
The God'sApstls name was found inside the malware that attacked Sony,
said Symantec.
The email files of the two executives were uploaded to file-sharing sites
and the Bit Torrent file-sharing network, and links to them were posted
in a message that claimed to be from the same hacking group behind the
Sony attack.
"We have already given our clear demand to the management team of Sony,
however, they have refused to accept," said the message pointing to the
files. "We are sending you our warning again."
The hackers said the email boxes belong to Steve Mosko, president of Sony
Pictures Television, and Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures
Entertainment.
The Microsoft Outlook mailbox files run to several gigabytes and
apparently contain thousands of messages sent to and by both executives
over several months.
A handful of the emails, seen by IDG News Service, appear to include
discussions between company executives, lists of phone messages that
include contact details for executives at other companies, business
information, and personal messages to family members.
In one file, the most recent messages point to the email box being copied
on the evening of Nov. 22. Sony first learned of the hack on November 24,
when computer screens at the company showed a message telling users the
network had been hacked.
The release of the email files is another blow to Sony Pictures, which is
still attempting to determine who was responsible for the attack on its
network. The company has been quiet on the investigation since it
launched two weeks ago. Private computer security companies and the U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigations are understood to be spearheading the
probe.
An initial leak of corporate data soon after the hack revealed thousands
of files stolen from company servers. They included confidential business
information, the salaries of Sony Pictures employees, staff medical
records and computer passwords.
Destiny: The Dark Below - Everything You Need to Know
Space shooter Destiny can be a pretty fun game, but killing the same
hulking aliens over and over in an attempt to level up your Guardian can
prove tiring. Fortunately, Bungie has you covered with The Dark Below,
the game's first official expansion pack, which features new missions,
maps, gear and yes, even more hulking aliens waiting to be disposed of.
Available on Dec. 9 for $20 (or as part of a $35 expansion pass) on PS3,
PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, The Dark Below has the potential to give
Destiny a much-needed shot in the arm of fresh content. If you're
thinking about heading back into orbit to face the Hive, here's what you
need to know about the new add-on.
The Dark Below packs new gear, maps and missions that largely center
around Destiny's Hive, an undead species that reside on Earth's Moon. An
ancient Hive god named Crota was previously hinted at in Destiny's story,
but now the Hive have seemingly found a way to revive the deity in order
to destroy Earth. No big deal.
Your quest to shut down Crota and his followers will span three new story
missions, which will be given to you by a mysterious new character named
Eris found in the game's Tower. You'll be able to tackle new Strike
mission The Will of Crota to take on Hive boss Omnigul, and, if you're up
for a long, multi-layered challenge, take out Crota himself with five
other friends in new level 30 Raid mission Crota's End.
Competitive types can check out The Dark Below's three new Crucible maps:
Pantheon, Skyshock and The Cauldron. Pantheon is a symmetrical arena
ideal for team play, Skyshock is a sprawling battlefield designed for
vehicle combat, and The Cauldron is a close-quarters map that promises
constant action.
The Dark Below raises Destiny's level cap from 30 to 32, and to help you
get there, the expansion introduces a wealth of new gear and weapons.
Some highlights include the spider-eyed Arachnid helmet, as well as
Dragon's Breath, a menacing new rocket launcher that looks like a shark.
The expansion's new missions, new Strike and new Raid seem to tell a more
cohesive story than what we experienced in the core Destiny game. More
importantly, you'll once again get to slay enemies with Crota's sword in
some capacity, which is a callback to one of the game's very best story
missions.
Just as the core Destiny game before it, The Dark Below will be launched
with PlayStation-exclusive content. Those who buy The Dark Below for PS3
or PS4 will get an exclusive Strike mission titled The Undying Mind, as
well as an exclusive four-barrel shotgun called The 4th Horseman. These
items won't be hitting Xbox systems until at least Fall 2015, which is a
bummer considering all parties are paying the same amount for it.
Even if you don't buy The Dark Below, the expansion's arrival heralds
some pretty big changes to Bungie's sprawling shooter. A recent
pre-expansion patch made the game's rare Exotic weapons more powerful,
and added more direct ways to upgrade those weapons that don't involve
mindlessly roaming around for resources.
While The Dark Below's exciting Exotic gear (like the aforementioned
Dragon's Breath) will be exclusive to expansion owners, the update will
introduce new Legendary items that all players can purchase in the game's
Tower.
Destiny's daily Heroic and weekly Nightfall challenges will be raised by
two levels, meaning they'll be more challenging for players who get their
hands on the wealth of more powerful items headed to the game.
For more nitty-gritty details on how Bungie is changing Destiny, you can
check out the developer's exhaustive patch notes. If The Dark Below seems
like a sweet deal to you, get ready to level up those Exotics and charge
into Crota's cave. We'll see you in orbit.
Goblins vs Gnomes Activated!
Goblins vs Gnomes, the explosive first expansion to Blizzard
Entertainments fast-paced online strategy card game Hearthstone: Heroes
of Warcraft, is available around the world beginning today! Introducing
more than 120 new cardsincluding an all-new type of minion,
MechsGoblins vs Gnomes opens up countless new strategic possibilities
for Hearthstone players of every skill level.
In celebration of the expansions release, Blizzard is offering anyone
who logs in to Hearthstone between the launch and December 19 three free
Goblins vs Gnomes card packsa triple-powered jolt of mayhem to help
players jump-start their collections.
Goblins vs Gnomes throws a big wrench into the Hearthstone works, said
Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. Players are
already having a blast coming up with inventive new strategies and deck
ideaswere looking forward to seeing what happens now that they can put
those plans into action.
Goblins vs Gnomes throws players in the middle of the epic rivalry
between Azeroths audacious goblin engineers and their equally
adventurous gnomish counterpartsand these pint-sized tinkerers are
ready to stir up trouble. Their incredible inventions and mechanical
monstrosities are marvelous to behold
but when Hearthstone players
deploy them in a duel, the results can be quite unpredictable.
Goblins vs Gnomes card packs are available in-game now for gold or
real-world currency, priced the same as Expert card packs from the
original Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft set. Players can also win
Goblins vs Gnomes cards as rewards in the Arena or craft them using
Arcane Dust earned from disenchanting cards in their collection.
Goblins vs Gnomes is available now in the Americas region for Windows,
Mac, and iPad, and will be available December 9 in the Europe and Asia
regions. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and Goblins vs Gnomes are
coming soon to Android tablet devices. For more information, visit
www.playhearthstone.com.
Inventor Ralph Baer, 'The Father of Video Games,' Dies at 92
Ralph Baer, the engineer and inventor who was instrumental in the
development of the first home video game console, has died at age 92,
Gamasutra reports.
While working for Sanders Associates Inc., Baer designed the first
concepts for a device that could play games on a television. With
colleagues Bill Harrison and Bill Rusch, Baer created several video game
prototypes between 1967 and 1969. They developed the original "Brown
Box," a prototype game system that allowed players to play ping-pong and
shoot targets with a light gun. Sanders Associates licensed the system
to Magnavox, who released the system as the Odyssey in 1972.
Baer's invention laid the very groundwork for the home video game
industry. He later developed electronic games Simon, Maniac and Computer
Perfection. Baer holds more than 150 U.S. and foreign patents, according
to his personal website.
Baer was born in Germany in 1922 and emigrated to the United States with
his family in 1938. After graduating from the National Radio Institute as
a radio service technician, Baer served in the U.S. Army during World
War II. He joined Sanders Associates in 1956 as staff engineer to the
manager of the equipment design division.
In 2006, Baer donated his video game prototypes, schematics and notes to
the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. That same year, he
was presented with the National Medal of Technology for his
groundbreaking and pioneering creation, development and commercialization
of interactive video games.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Academics Urge FCC To Enforce Net Neutrality on Case-by-case Basis
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission should weigh in on net neutrality and
encourage its sister agency, the Federal Communications Commission, to
back away from calls to regulate broadband like a public utility, a group
of 32 academics said.
Instead of reclassifying broadband as a regulated common carrier, the FCC
should look to the FTCs antitrust enforcement practices and examine
potential net neutrality violations on a case-by-case basis, said a
letter from the academics organized by the free-market think tank the
International Center for Law and Economics.
The FTC should urge the FCC to take an approach that promotes, rather
than harms, consumer welfare, by encouraging its sister agency to take a
lighter regulatory approach toward net neutrality, said Mondays letter.
Most of the people signing the letter are libertarian-leaning law or
economics professors.
If the FCC reclassifies broadband as a regulated common carrier service
under Title II of the Communications Act, the agency would harm consumers
by removing some FTC consumer protection authority over broadband, the
letter said. Reclassification, in an attempt to ban paid traffic
prioritization deals between broadband providers and Web content
providers, could limit broadband provider efforts to minimize network
latency, market sponsored content or create joint marketing deals with
content producers, the letter said.
Although many net neutrality activists rail against the idea of getting
stuck in the slow lane, there are innumerable edge providers that would
likely jump at the chance to have their traffic de-prioritized [at lower
cost], because their services are time-insensitive, the letter added.
For email hosts, backup services, software developer, or any startup
company [not trying to live-stream video] looking to cut their transit
costs, such an option would surely have at least some appeal.
The FTC is unlikely to push the FCC toward a new net neutrality approach,
given that President Barack Obama in November advocated for
reclassification of broadband. But the FTC has filed comments in past FCC
proceedings, with a comment in a 2014 broadband deployment proceeding
noting that the FTC enforces consumer privacy and data security rules
with broadband providers.
The FTC, with a Democratic chairwoman, isnt likely to stray from Obamas
position on net neutrality, said Geoffrey Manne, executive director of
the International Center for Law and Economics, the think tank that
organized the letter. Still, the FTC is an independent agency that can
and should encourage a different approach, he said.
The purpose of the letter is to encourage the FCC to take an
antitrust-like approach toward net neutrality, which, more than
anything, means not prejudging all paid prioritization to be banned but
rather assessing conduct when it happens to see if it has harmful
effects, Manne added by email.
Matt Wood, policy director for net neutrality advocacy group Free Press,
discounted an antitrust-like, case-by-case regulatory approach.
Net Neutrality does not exist merely to protect Skype or YouTube from
the anticompetitive actions of Comcast or AT&T, though thats one
benefit, Wood said by email. Net Neutrality is much broader than that,
protecting users rights to send and receive the information of their
own choosing.
Strong net neutrality rules would protect consumers and Web content
providers against unreasonable interference by broadband providers, no
matter the motivation for such interference, Wood added In other words,
even in situations where antitrust claims would be impossible to make
because the blocked content or service is not in competition with the
broadband providers offerings.
Net neutrality enforced through antitrust-like measures could take years
to litigate and millions of dollars to bring a lawsuit against a
broadband provider, Wood said. You can see some of the few reasons that
putting the FCC on the sidelines is an idea only a cable or telecom
company could love.
Pirate Bay: How the File-Sharing Website Continues to Evade Authorities
The Pirate Bay, a controversial file-sharing website that has survived
for more than a decade, was knocked offline following a police raid in
Sweden.
The raid marked the first time in a while the site had been knocked
offline instead of being blocked by Internet Service Providers in various
countries.
Swedish police said they raided servers on Tuesday belonging to The
Pirate Bay after being prompted by a complaint by the Rights Alliance, a
group targeting cyber crime, according to the Associated Press.
Peter Sunde, a co-founder of the website who is no longer involved,
expressed indifference and wrote on his blog that he is "not been a fan
of what TPB has become."
"It feels good that it might have closed down forever, just a real shame
the way it did that," he wrote. "A planned retirement would have given
the community time and a way to kick off something new, something
better, something faster, something more reliable and with no chance of
corrupting itself. Something that had a soul and could retain it."
"The site was ugly, full of bugs, old code and old design. It never
changed except for one thing - the ads," Sunde wrote. "More and more
ads was filling the site, and somehow when it felt unimaginable to make
these ads more distasteful they somehow ended up even worse."
It appeared that a mirror of the website was back online today under a
Costa Rican domain suffix, however with problems with its search
functionality.
Despite the conviction of several individuals involved with The Pirate
Bay on copyright infringement charges, its high traffic and attempts to
block it, The Pirate Bay, for the most part, managed to continue to
operate and evade authorities.
One way The Pirate Bay achieved this was by switching from torrent
files, which the site was required to host, to magnet links, which
offer a cloud-based solution.
The site's administrators said in a February 2012 Facebook post that
the switch would be cheaper and "also make it harder for our common
enemies to stop us."
While this may be the most significant blow in recent times to The
Pirate Bay, Alan Woodward, a cyber security expert and a professor at
the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom, told ABC News he
expects the site will "resurrect."
Woodward said the site's administrators have "distributed themselves in
a more interesting way to make themselves more raid proof."
In the United Kingdom, where The Pirate Bay is blocked, Woodward said
there are proxy websites that allow users to get around the filters.
"I would be surprised if they don't come back in some form," he said. "I
think a lot of people will fill in the vacuum. Watch that space."
The Pirate Bay Has Been Brought Back Online By IsoHunt
So a few days ago, were sure many have heard by now that The Pirate Bay
has been taken offline due to raids conducted by the Swedish police.
Given that the website is backed up and mirrored, many had expected the
website to be back up and running in no time, but so far all mirror
websites that have appeared dont seem to be functioning, at least until
now.
Thanks to the efforts of the IsoHunt team, it looks like The Pirate Bay
is back online at the URL oldpiratebay.org. According to the IsoHunt
team, As you probably know the beloved Pirate Bay website is gone for
now. Itll be missed. Itll be remembered as the pilgrim of freedom and
possibilities on the web. Its a symbol of liberty for a generation of
internet users.
They also add, In its honor we are making the oldpiratebay.org search.
We, the isohunt.to team, copied the database of Pirate Bay in order to
save it for generations of users. Nothing will be forgotten. Keep on
believing, keep on sharing. Its interesting that IsoHunt is still
around despite the fact that last year they were fined $110 million and
forced to shutdown.
That being said there is still a chance that The Pirate Bay could come
back online in the near future, but in the meantime it looks like
IsoHunts version of The Pirate Bay could be the best alternative,
although use it at your own risk because we all know piracy is illegal!
Powerful Linux Trojan 'Turla' Infected Large Number of Victims
Security researchers have discovered a highly nasty Linux trojan that has
been used by cybercriminals in state sponsored attack in order to steal
personal, confidential information from government institutions, military
and pharmaceutical companies around the world.
A previously unknown piece of a larger puzzle called "Turla," one of the
most complex Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) uncovered by researchers
at Kaspersky Lab in August, remained hidden on some systems for at least
four years. The malware was notable for its use of a rootkit that made it
extremely hard to detect.
The German security company G Data believed that Turla campaign is linked
to Russia and has in the past exploited a variety of Windows
vulnerabilities, at least two of which were zero-days, to infect
government institutions, embassies, military, education, research, and
pharmaceutical companies in more than 45 countries.
Recently, security researchers from Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab have
detected the first Turla sample targeting Linux operating system. This
Linux component of malware points towards a much bigger threat than it
was previously thought and it may also herald the discovery of more
infected systems.
"The newly discovered Turla sample is unusual in the fact that it's the
first Turla sample targeting the Linux operating system that we have
discovered," Kaspersky researcher Kurt Baumgartner said in an advisory.
"We suspect that this component was running for years at a victim site,
but do not have concrete data to support that statement just yet."
The modules of the Linux-based Turla malware is written in C and C++
languages and contains code from previously written libraries. The
malware uses hidden network communication and stripped of symbol
information, which makes it hard for researchers to reverse engineer or
analyze.
As a result, the Linux-based Turla trojan may have capabilities that
have not yet been uncovered completely, as Baumgartner said the Linux
component is a mystery even after its discovery, adding it can't be
detected using the common Netstat command.
In order to hide itself, the backdoor sits inactive until hackers send it
unusually crafted packets that contain "magic numbers" in their sequence
numbers. The malware have ability to sit unnoticed on victims computers
for years. The trojan contained attack functionalities including
arbitrary remote command execution, incoming packet interception and
remote management even though it requires no root system privileges.
Earlier this year, Kaspersky Labs researches suggested Turla as Snake,
which was built on the capabilities of Agent.Biz, the worm that came to
the surface in 2008 when US Department of Defense sources claimed that
its classified networks had been breached by an early version of the
same virus, described by officials as the "worst breach of US military
computers in history." Uroburos rootkit was also one of the components
of Snake campaign.
Agent.Biz has since been developed with many advanced features that make
it even more flexible and sophisticated than before. It was thought to
have inspired other nasty malware creations including Flame and Guass.
Online Medical Bill Site Tricked People To Hand Over Health Records
Let's say you're running an online portal for people to pay their medical
bills.
But now you want to start up a site that has their medical records. How
do you get people's personal medical information in order to populate
your new site?
According to the FTC, PaymentsMD got that data by setting up
authorizations in tiny windows on the billing site, each of which
displays a meager six lines of a far lengthier text that, when consumers
click the box, grants the go-ahead for your data grab.
Oh, and don't forget to make it even easier to weasel away that data by
putting a single box on the front page. Anybody who clicks that one box
accepts all of the four authorizations at once.
On Wednesday, the FTC announced that PaymentsMD and its former CEO have
settled charges that they misled thousands of consumers who signed up
for the billing portal, by failing to adequately inform them that the
company would seek highly detailed medical information from pharmacies,
medical labs and insurance companies.
The FTC charged in a pair of complaints that the company and its CEO
used the sign-up process for the patient portal as "a pathway to
deceptively seek consumers' consent to obtain detailed medical
information about the consumers."
That's pretty bad, privacy-wise, said Jessica Rich, director of the
FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection: Consumers' health information is as
sensitive as it gets. Using deceptive tactics to gain consumers'
"permission" to collect their full health history is contrary to the
most basic privacy principles.
The complaints say that PaymentsMD, along with a third party, began
developing a separate service known as Patient Health Report in 2012.
To get the new site populated with medical records, the complaints
allege, PaymentsMD tweaked the registration process for the billing
portal to include permission for the company and its partners to contact
healthcare providers to obtain their medical information.
According to the complaint, it's only reasonable for customers of the
Patient Portal billing service to expect that when they clicked to
authorize the site, they were authorizing exactly that: billing.
The complaints allege that once the company and its partners had the
authorization, they then scooped up sensitive health information from
pharmacies, medical testing companies and insurance companies in order
to create a patient health report.
That includes prescriptions, procedures, medical diagnoses, lab tests
performed, test results and more.
The company allegedly contacted pharmacies located near the consumers,
without knowing whether the consumers in question were in fact customers
of any particular pharmacy.
Here's the good news, which speaks highly of the privacy sophistication
of many healthcare companies: All but one of the companies refused to
hand over the requested data to the company, given that PaymentsMD was
after information pertaining to minors and to individuals who weren't
customers of the healthcare company contacted.
It was when PaymentsMD began to let customers know that it was trying to
collect consumers' health information that the truth emerged.
"Numerous" angry consumers complained to the FTC, it said, having been
under the impression that they had signed up only for a billing portal
and not an online health record.
All that weaseled-away information has to be destroyed under the terms of
the settlements.
Nor can they pull this stunt again, the FTC said, having banned them
from deceiving consumers about the way they collect and use information,
including how information they collect might be shared with or collected
from a third party.
Also, the settlements state that the respondents must obtain consumers'
affirmative, express consent before collecting health information about
a consumer from a third party.
Moral of the story: Beware the tiny and/or hidden legalese!
A company that's handling sensitive consumer data in a manner that's on
the up and up very likely doesn't need to stuff the permissions far away
from the light of day.
Internet Freedom Weakens Around The World
By exposing the US National Security Agency's surveillance programs in
2014, rogue sysadmin and master leaker Edward Snowden likely didn't mean
to spur local governments into more closely surveilling citizens' data.
But according to a newly released report from Freedom House, Snowden's
revelations were one factor that has led to multiple countries requiring
that data be localized and hence more available to local authorities -
one aspect that has contributed to an overall decline in internet
freedom around the world.
From the report: Data localization requirements - by which private
companies are required to maintain data storage centers within a given
country - are multiplying, driven in part by NSA revelations, which
spurred more governments to bring international web companies under
domestic jurisdiction. These costly measures could expose user data to
local law enforcement.
Tighter control of data by local authorities is just one of three
emerging threats, according to Freedom House, a Washington-based
nongovernmental organization that publishes the yearly study of internet
freedom around the globe.
Freedom House also described internet freedom as being under siege by
digital threats and harassment suffered by women and those in the LGBTI
community, resulting in self-censorship in those demographics.
Government critics and human rights organizations are also being
subjected to "increasingly sophisticated and personalized malware
attacks", according to the report.
In this, its fifth annual study, Freedom House assessed developments in
65 countries that occurred between May 2013 and May 2014 and found that
internet freedom is declining for the fourth consecutive year, with 36
of those countries seeing loss of freedom over the covered period.
To assess the level of freedom in each assessed country, Freedom House
poses a checklist of questions and subquestions.
These questions go beyond blatant censorship via content filtering or
other means.
Freedom House analyzes a range of categories regarding how freedom is
impeded, including obstacles to access - for example, does the public
have wide access to the internet via public cafes, libraries, or
schools?
Does poor infrastructure, such as electricity or telecommunications,
hobble access? Does the state set the price of access prohibitively
high?
Does the government impose restrictions on connectivity and access to
particular social media and communication apps permanently or during
specific events?
Freedom House found that whereas governments have in the past controlled
citizens' access to online information behind the scenes, they're now
adopting instead a legalistic approach to "legitimize existing
repression and effectively criminalize online dissent."
Censorship hasn't gone away; it's still common. But throwing dissenters
in jail is becoming a preferred approach, the report says.
Blocking and filtering - once the most widespread methods of censorship -
are still very common, but many countries now prefer to simply imprison
users who post undesirable content, thereby deterring others and
encouraging self-censorship. This approach can present the appearance of
a technically uncensored internet while effectively limiting certain
types of speech.
More people than ever are being detained or prosecuted for their digital
activities, but it's not just individuals who are being intimidated.
The new legalistic approach is also being wielded against online media
outlets that are increasingly pressured to censor themselves in the face
of legal penalties, as well as new demands being made on companies to
comply with government requests for data or deletions.
Out of the 36 countries that have seen freedom decrease, Russia, Turkey
and Ukraine have seen the most significant declines.
Much of the new forms of repression are in reaction to the fact that
internet citizens have found ways around the old ones, according to
Freedom House.
Internet users have figured out how to slip past the technological tools
of censorship - i.e., blocking web sites and filtering internet content.
One such censorship workaround is GreatFire, a service that takes content
blocked in mainland China and hosts it on big, global platforms, like
Amazon's servers, that are both technologically and politically difficult
for the Chinese government to block.
The report ranks countries with scores from 0 to 100, with 0 representing
maximum freedom (fewest controls) and 100 the least possible freedom.
Iran once again takes the top spot for least internet freedom, scoring 89,
as authorities continue to hand down harsh punishments, including
sentencing people to lengthy prison terms.
It was followed closely by Syria and China, which scored 88 and 87,
respectively. The freest country is Iceland, which had only 6 points,
followed by Estonia with 8 points, Canada with 15, Australia and Germany
tied with 17 points each, and the United States, which scored 19 points.
Microsoft Will Give Us Our Best Look Yet at Windows 10 Next Month
Want to see what changes Microsofts forthcoming Windows 10 will bring to
your PC? Well, you wont have to wait much longer.
Microsoft has begun sending out press invitations to an event scheduled
for Jan. 21 that will give us a look at a consumer preview of the
operating system.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will be on hand for the January event, which
is expected to offer greater detail on the tweaks and updates Microsoft
is making in Windows 10.
Microsoft debuted an early version of the next generation of Windows in
September, but that event focused primarily on how the software would
benefit business customers. This time around, well get to see what kind
of changes Microsoft has in store for you, the average PC owner.
Based on what weve seen from Windows 10 so far, the update addresses
many of the issues PC owners and reviewers had with Windows 8. The
biggest change for Windows is that you will no longer have to contend
with Windows 8s tile-based home screen. Instead, desktops and laptops
will boot directly to the familiar desktop view.
If youve got a 2-in-1 laptop-tablet hybrid, Windows 10s new Continuum
mode will let you switch from the standard desktop interface when in
laptop mode to the tile-centric Metro UI when in tablet mode.
The classic Start button and menu also make a return with Windows 10.
This time around, the Start menu features Windows 8-style tiles, as well
as a list of programs and apps.
And just because you no longer have to deal with the Metro tiles anymore,
it doesnt mean Microsoft is doing away with Windows 8-style apps. On the
contrary, Windows 10 actually makes them more accessible, as you can now
use them on the desktop screen, something you couldnt do with Windows 8.
So will Windows 10 be the panacea for all of Microsofts Windows 8 woes?
Well just have to wait and see next month.
Facebook Launches Keyword Searching on Past Posts
Here's news that will horrify those of us whose pasts include truly
embarrassing Facebook posts: Facebook has enabled keyword search on past
posts, thus killing the concept of privacy by obscurity.
On Monday, it announced the new Graph Search, which, it tells us, will
enable the reliving of "the most important memories of your life".
The new Facebook search is being introduced this week in the US, in
English, on iPhone and on the desktop version of Facebook.
The new search will allow keyword search on photos, posts, videos,
and/or links about, say, a friend's wedding, or the equally wholesome
content of a chocolate chip recipe a friend shared in the past.
Just search on cookie, recipe, friend's name, and bingo! You're one step
closer to the recipe your friend shared with you on Facebook and which
you thought you'd lost. (One step closer to Type 2 diabetes, but oh well
- carpe diem, and carpe carbs!)
Of course, searches don't always stay as wholesome as cookies and
weddings.
With the new keyword-enabled search, anybody with whom you've shared
content in the past can now search on words such as "drunk", "nude",
"party", and "[your name here]".
The new search won't change your privacy settings. If you've only shared
content with friends, then only friends can search and find your content.
Then again, if you've ever been in the habit of sharing things publicly,
anybody who searches could turn up that content.
If that makes you uneasy for any reason, you might want to imagine a few
choice words that, if put into a keyword search with your name, would
return results that would best be left in the dark.
It's a good idea to check out your Timeline and/or run some searches with
your name coupled with blush-worthy words, in order to ferret out
anything that could embarrass you or that you wouldn't want a current or
future employer to see.
If you find such content, change the audience that can view it to
"Friends" or "Only me", or just delete it!
If you want to make sure your current privacy settings are up to scratch,
you can check what they are with the Facebook privacy dinosaur.
Zuckerberg's Not Joking: Facebook Still Nixing Dislike Button
Mark Zuckerberg, currently worth $34 billion, continues to brush off user
suggestions and complaints. On recurring topics such as a 'Dislike'
button, ever-morphing privacy shenanigans, and user-hostile
'experiments,' Zuck waxed dismissive. The best he could say was that
Facebook takes these things 'seriously.'
It's increasingly clear that Facebook is just about making money out of
you (not that we're surprised). One has to ask: With 'friends' like
Facebook, who the heck needs enemies?
In IT Blogwatch, bloggers furiously eyeroll.
Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment.
Zach Miners likes Like, but wonders about occasions when the button "just
doesn't cut it":
Facebook...is thinking about adding more options, though probably not
"dislike." ... Giving users a tool to express a broader range of emotions
like empathy or surprise might be a useful feature, [Zuckerberg] said.
The executive also defended Facebook's frequent updates to its privacy
policy, saying they were needed to reflect changing technologies and the
arrival of new products.
Zuckerberg also [talked] about Facebook's controversial "mood
experiment," in which the company tweaked the news feeds of some of its
users to assess the impact on their moods. He stopped short of
apologizing, though he did say it prompted the company to reflect on its
internal processes.
Josh Constine liveblogged Zuck's Q&A session:
Zuckerberg discussed how Facebook wont add a dislike button but wants to
give more nuance to how people share emotions and reactions other than
approval.
While Facebook gets flack for making us less connected in real-life...
the 30-year old CEO...said the products goal it to let us blow past
Dunbars Number and maintain relationships with more people.
Overall, Zuckerberg seemed confident and affable...though he frequently
relied on saying Thats a really good question and Thats something
Facebook takes really seriously to buy himself time. ... Still, its
impressive that he would be willing to so directly and publicly respond
to some of the companys harshest criticisms.
And Martin Beck calls out the multi-multi-billionaire's reply: [You're
fired -Ed.]
Some people have asked for a dislike button before, Zuckerberg said.
... They want to be able to say that a thing isnt good and thats not
something that we think is good. ... So were not going to build that. I
dont think there needs to be a voting mechanism on Facebook whether
posts are good or bad. I dont think thats socially very valuable.
Whats the right way to make it so people can easily express a broader
range of emotions, to empathize. Or to express surprise or laughter or
any of these things. ... Theres something thats so simple about the
like button. ... But we need to figure out the right way to do it so it
ends up being a force for good.
So what the heck is Facebook doing, button-wise? Nathan Olivarez-Giles
has the info:
Facebook has rolled out a new feature that will let you click a single
button on a business's Facebook page to book reservations, use an app,
go to their...website or sign up for a subscription service, among
other things. Facebook is calling these call-to-action buttons. ...
Among the sort of buttons you may see pop up on Facebook are: book now,
contact us, use app, play game, shop now, sign up and watch video.
This move will...provide additional metrics about what users are up to
outside of Facebook, and what theyre spending money on, too.
That's nice, but why should Facebook be only about supporting Mammon?
Joe Hallissey comments:
It would be great to have a "Donate" option for the charity I work for,
or at least something ambiguous, like "Learn more."
And Kathi Kruse agrees:
My only disappointment is you forgot about non-profits "Donate Now."
As does Allison Young Wilcosky:
What about a Donate Now for nonprofit pages?
[That's enough charitable whinery -Ed.]
Ron Enderland gives up, but despairs for the sheeple:
Facebook and Microsoft leave the same foul taste in my mouth. Thus I've
given up both. Sadly, most people will take their **** and stick
around, thus encouraging the bad behavior.
'TXPDelta' mockingly cuts to the chase:
Everybody "Like" me. I am popular. I am smart. I am pretty. I am
emotionally fragile. My self worth is determined by my "Like" count. I
don't know what I'll do if everybody not "Like" me.
Seriously people. If God forbid someone "Dislike" someone or something,
the world will keep spinning. Grow some skin and add a "Dislike"
button already. It's long overdue that Facebook has a way of saying
that it's users don't "Like" something or someone.
=~=~=~=
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