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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 17 Issue 07
Volume 17, Issue 07 Atari Online News, Etc. February 13, 2015
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2015
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 #1707 02/13/15
~ Anonymous Fights ISIS! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Pay To Use Windows?
~ Ex-Sony Exec Was Fired ~ Gamer Gets 'Swatted'! ~ Atari Coldfire News!
~ Shadow Realms Canceled ~ Pirate Bay Down Again! ~ UK Revenge Porn Law!
~ NYC To Accept Bitcoin? ~ Safer Internet Day 2015 ~ Asteroids: Outpost!
-* New Agency for Cybersecurity *-
-* TurboTax Resumes E-filing Practices *-
-* Facebook To Help User Accounts After Death *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Happy Friday the 13th! Well, the sentiment might be more effective had
this week's issue actually made it out to the streets when it was
supposed to rather than over the weekend! Sorry, I apologize for the
delay this week, but I have a good excuse. Well, an excuse, whether or
not you think it good or bad! The weather. That's it. More snow (and
moe on the way!). I spent a good amount of time cleaning up after a
few storms in preparation for the one coming this weekend. That meant
"raking" the roofs, or actually climbing up to them because access to
use the snow rake was limited or even impossible! A lot of time and hard
work; and I'm not getting any younger!
So, I was too tired and sore to finish up the issue last night! In fact,
we did some more roof-cleaning Saturday before I was able to get back to
the issue. So, before I crash for the day, let's see if we can get this
finished up and out to you!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
Atari Coldfire - New GFA Release
Dear Ladies and Gentleman,
Mr. Pursell released a new version of GBE, which fixes many bugs and
includes now all needed components for coding and compiling, so that you
can start right away with building new programs for your Bees and 68k
Ataris. This one is a major release!
http://acp.atari.org
Atari-coldfire mailing list
Atari-coldfire@lists.lnxnt.org
https://lists.lnxnt.org/mailman/listinfo/atari-coldfire
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Asteroids: Outpost, Multiplayer Survival Game!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" BioWare's Shadow Realms Canceled!
Gamer Swatted While Live-streaming!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Early Access for Asteroids: Outpost, Multiplayer Survival Game Coming Soon to PC
Atari announced the upcoming release of Asteroids: Outpost for PC. This
bold re-imagining of the world-renowned 1979 arcade shooter puts players
in the role of a deep space miner, as they struggle for survival in the
asteroid belt. Asteroids: Outpost reinvents the classic Atari title as an
open world, sandbox style, survival experience, where players mine, build
and defend their base and grow their fortune as they go "from rocks to
riches".
Set in the distant future, Asteroids: Outpost thrusts players into a harsh
deep space environment. While on a massive, unforgiving asteroid, players
face the challenges of exploring the asteroid, collecting resources,
scavenging for ore, crafting equipment, and expanding their territory as
they build highly customized bases - all while forming alliances and
fighting off other players in challenging multiplayer gameplay. Recurring
showers of smaller asteroids represent a source of wealth and a threat as
players shoot down these incoming projectiles to defend their claims and
harvest their components.
"Asteroids is one of the most iconic titles in Atari's portfolio of more
than 200 games and franchises, and we're looking forward to ushering the
game into today's digital gaming era," said Fred Chesnais, Chief Executive
Officer, Atari. "We're paying homage to the original Asteroids by
incorporating classic features such as asteroid blasting capabilities,
while introducing a completely new premise and gameplay. Asteroids:
Outpost will appeal to both fans of the classic Asteroids as well as
enthusiasts of immersive survival games and expansive MMOs."
Developed by Salty Games, Asteroids: Outpost will be available on PC. To
keep up with the latest on Asteroids: Outpost, visit
www.asteroidsoutpost.com. Fans can also join the conversation by liking
Asteroids: Outpost on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/asteroidsgame
and following Asteroids: Outpost on Twitter, @Atari_Asteroids.
BioWare's Multiplayer PC Game Shadow Realms Canceled
Following the publication of this story, BioWare Austin officially
announced the cancellation of Shadow Realms. The developer will now focus
its efforts on other projects, but mostly PC MMO Star Wars: The Old
Republic, BioWare Austin general manager Jeff Hickman explains in a
statement posted on the game's website. You can read his full statement
below.
"Today Im sharing some important news about Shadow Realms and our BioWare
Austin studio.
Weve made the decision to not move forward with development of Shadow
Realms. We fully recognize that this news is disappointing to some of our
fans, so I want to explain more behind this decision.
While the team did amazing work on the game concept and we got lots of
great feedback from our fans at events and through other game testing,
right now there are other projects for the team to work on within the
BioWare studios for the coming year and beyond. Weve got an incredibly
talented team here at the Austin studio, and they are excited and already
deep on new projects within the BioWare family, ones that will make some
great BioWare games even better.
These include additional ongoing enhancements to the award-winning Dragon
Age: Inquisition, as well as the next game in the Mass Effect series and
other new IP.
But the biggest focus for our team in BioWare Austin will be on Star Wars:
The Old Republic. As every Star Wars fan knows, this is a massive year in
the Star Wars universe. We have some great plans for expanding this epic
game this year, and look forward to sharing the news about those plans
with our players in the coming weeks.
For all the people that registered for the Shadow Realms Closed Alpha,
were working on a way to say thank-you for signing up. To all those
players that gave us feedback at Gamescom and PAX, and those that shared
their thoughts and impressions in the past months, we thank you for being
part of the conversation."
The original story is below.
Following a report last month that claimed BioWare's 4v1 PC online game
Shadow Realms had been rebooted for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, sources
told Game Informer today that the title has been canceled outright.
Multiple sources at publisher Electronic Arts said the game is no longer
in the works, though it's unclear as to why the game has been shut down or
if there will be layoffs as a result.
EA declined to comment when approached by Game Informer.
The game, which was announced during Gamescom less than a year ago, was in
development at Star Wars: The Old Republic developer BioWare Austin.
Set in a modern fantasy world, Shadow Realms was described as an
"online-only" RPG that would offer cooperative 4v1 gameplay. Four players
can fight against an enemy known as the Shadowlord, or you can play as
the Shadowlord.
"This game brings us back to our roots in the realm of classic Pen and
Paper RPG, but also delivers something thats completely new and
innovative for our fans," Hickman said at the time. "Shadow Realms is a
new BioWare RPG that has the hallmarks of all BioWare games with a rich
story, a unique world setting, and deep combat progression, but built as
an interactive experience that evolves the genre and broadens the appeal
to online gamers all over the world."
Gamer Swatted While Live-streaming on Twitch.TV
A gamer has posted a video of his tearful reaction after he was swatted
in the middle of a live Twitch stream of RuneScape.
The video shows him just moments after armed police stormed his house,
pointed their guns at his 10-year-old brother who answered the door, and
forced the gamer himself to lie face down on the floor in yet another
swatting incident in the gamer community.
I see you posting my address. I had police point a gun at my little
brothers because of you. They could have been shot. They could have died.
Because you chose to swat my stream. I dont give a sh*t about what you
have against me, or what I did to you. For that I am ... I am at a loss
for words. Your gripe is with me. So let it be with me. But do not
involve my family in any way, shape or form with this. They dont deserve
that.
Joshua Peters, 27, goes by the alias Koopatroopa787 to live-stream his
gaming on Twitch.TV for almost 60,000 followers from his home in St.
Cloud, Minnesota, in the US.
On Wednesday, while he streamed during RuneScape, his noise-canceling
headphones muffled the sounds of the 10 armed police who stormed his
house.
His live stream from that day shows Peters's reaction when his mother's
voice penetrates the headphones to inform him that the police are there.
He arose, confused and concerned, told his followers that the police were
there, and left the screen.
After some 15 minutes, Peters returned to the live stream to leave the
emotional message above for whomever did this to him and his family.
The next day, he told The Guardian that he hadn't seen it coming:
My channel's not crazy big, like some of these other mainstream
streamers. I just didnt expect that. I was going upstairs, and before I
knew it, my face was on a tile on the ground, hands wide open and a bunch
of police officers with assault rifles.
Swatting is the practice of making bogus emergency calls, as a prank or
as revenge, with the hopes of getting armed law enforcement or other
emergency responders to descend on a victim.
In Peters's case, he told viewers later, the perpetrator called to tell
police that someone "had shot their roommate and now they were pointing
their gun at them". "Two gun shots" were apparently heard before the call
ended.
Swatting is far from new, particularly with regards to Twitch.TV, where
it's becoming more and more common, with the responsible trolls seldom
suffering consequences.
In fact, a live video platform such as Twitch adds a voyeuristic twist to
this already puerile, dangerous stunt, allowing the perpetrators to watch
the whole situation unfold, live, with a built-in audience.
Although this was the first swatting incident the St. Cloud police say
they've experienced, like most police nowadays, they're familiar with the
practice.
In fact, just the mention of Twitch helped to defuse the situation,
Peters said:
When we were all laying down, I spoke out. I said 'I stream on Twitch.TV,
Im being swatted, and someone probably prank-called this'. And then the
tone shifted as soon as I said 'I'm streaming on Twitch.TV.'
But the swatter(s) didn't leave it at just one incident. He, or she, or
they, tried again, posing as one of Peters's family members to call police
and tell them he was suicidal about the raid.
Fortunately, the police didn't rise to the bait the second time. They made
sure to vet the call before wasting their time responding to yet another
prank.
Peters is one of many who've been either randomly targeted or purposefully
singled out as part of ongoing campaigns of harassment.
A recently launched network, Crash Override is aimed at helping such
victims.
The network, which its founders describe as an "online anti-harassment
task force", is devoted to helping victims of doxing/swatting in the
ongoing Gamergate battle.
One of the would-be swatting victims helped out by the proactive work of
the network was Israel Galvez, a web developer and Gamergate critic who
was the target of a swatting attempt that came out of a forum linked to
Gamergate.
Crash Override, which monitors known troll forums, in January gave police
a heads-up about Galvez's likelihood of being targeted.
When police subsequently received a bogus message about a "cylinder thing
with duct tape wrapped around it" that was supposedly to be found within
their target's house, police knew to dial down their reaction.
In other words, they knocked with their fists, not with their boots,
averting a potentially dangerous incident.
Gamers, if you're live streaming, please be careful.
As Peters's horrific experience shows, these vicious attacks can come out
of nowhere, sparked by absolutely nothing, rising up to silently blindside
both you and the innocents around you.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
U.S. To Establish New Agency for Cybersecurity
The U.S. government is creating a new agency to monitor cybersecurity
threats, pooling and analyzing information on a spectrum of risks, a
senior Obama administration official said on Tuesday.
The Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC) will be an
intelligence center that will connect the dots between various cyber
threats to the nation so that relevant departments and agencies are aware
of these threats in as close to real time as possible, the official said
on condition of anonymity.
Obama has moved cybersecurity to the top of his 2015 agenda after
recent hacking attacks against Sony Pictures, Home Depot Inc, Anthem
Inc and Target Corp and the federal government itself.
The Democratic president sees it as an area of cooperation with the
Republican-led Congress.
Various federal agencies have cybersecurity components, including the
National Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and
the CIA.
The Obama administration is trying to connect the agencies so that
theres one belly button for the entire U.S. government, Shawn Henry,
president of CrowdStrike cybersecurity agency, said on the CBS This
Morning program.
"Thats a good strategy. Its important because theres so many different
pieces of intelligence coming in. Youve got to collaborate and put it
together," he said.
The CTIIC will aim for seamless intelligence flows among centers,
including those responsible for sharing with the private sector, the
official said.
The White House counterterrorism coordinator, Lisa Monaco, will announce
the new center in an address on Tuesday.
The Obama administration likens the new agency to the National
Counterterrorism Center established after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks,
following criticism that U.S. intelligence agencies were not
communicating with each other.
It will have a similar broad focus of providing integrated, all-source
analysis of threats, the official said.
"No existing agency has the responsibility for performing these
functions, so we need these gaps to be filled to help the federal
government meet its responsibilities in cybersecurity," the official
said.
Congress has tried for years to pass legislation to encourage companies
to share data from cyberattacks with the government and each other, but
efforts were stymied by liability issues and privacy concerns of
citizens.
Last month, President Barack Obama proposed legislation to strike a
balance, offering liability protection to companies that provide
information in near real time to the government, while requiring them to
strip it of personal data.
The Washington Post first reported the agencys creation.
FireEye Is "First in the Door" on Big Cyberattacks
As hackers invade the computer systems of major companies with greater
frequency and their corporate victims scramble to contain the damage and
prevent future intrusions, these are boom times for cybersecurity
sleuths.
Perhaps no security specialist has benefited more than a small but
fast-growing company called FireEye, which is based in Silicon Valley and
staffed with a roster of former military and law-enforcement
cyberexperts.
FireEye has been called in to investigate the high-profile cyberattacks
against Target, JPMorgan Chase, Sony Pictures and, just last week, Anthem,
the country's second-largest health insurer,
"In any high-profile cyber breach, FireEye is usually first in the door,"
said Daniel Ives, a technology industry analyst at FBR Capital Markets.
FireEye CEO David DeWalt calls his employees "cyber SEALs" as in Navy
SEALs.
After a slew of prominent cases last year, FireEye ranked first in a
recent Piper Jaffray survey of corporate IT officials who were asked which
security contractor they planned to hire in 2015.
But Wall Street isn't totally sold. The company, which made its market
debut in late 2013, has roughly doubled its sales in each of the last four
years but hasn't yet turned a profit. The stock soared to nearly $100 a
year ago after FireEye bought hot security startup Mandiant. But
disappointing earnings and a sell-off by early investors caused the stock
to plummet last spring.
Since then, FireEye shares have limped along, trading mostly in the $40
and below range. Analysts say the company could be ripe for takeover by a
bigger tech firm, such as IBM Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. or Hewlett-Packard
Co.
FireEye, based in Milpitas, Calif., gained some goodwill on Wednesday
with a fourth-quarter earnings report that showed sales of $143 million,
nearly tripled from a year ago, and a smaller-than-expected loss of $105.7
million. Its stock popped 12 percent Thursday.
"We're a growth company with a huge opportunity," DeWalt told The
Associated Press. He said FireEye's strength lies in its software
capabilities and its deep bench of experts trusted by government
officials. As a result, when a company like Sony gets hacked, it usually
calls authorities first, "and the second call is to us, or vice versa,"
he said.
Competitors like Palo Alto Networks Inc., CloudFlare and ProofPoint offer
their own innovative approaches to cyberdefense. Rivals like CrowdStrike
are known for tracking overseas hackers, while computer forensics firm
Stroz Friedberg has its own lineup of ex-federal prosecutors and cops.
But FireEye has become a "marquee name," said industry analyst Jon Oltsik
of the Enterprise Strategy Group.
It holds that status at a time when DeWalt says there's been a "massive
increase" in cyberattacks sponsored by governments. FireEye has played a
role in investigations that pointed the finger at Chinese authorities
seeking economic secrets, supporters of a Syrian president battling
anti-government rebels, and a North Korean regime bent on disrupting the
studio behind an irreverent film comedy.
A veteran tech executive, the plain-spoken DeWalt holds a top government
security clearance and is a respected figure in Silicon Valley. His last
job was CEO at McAfee, which Intel bought in 2010. These days, he contends
software from industry leaders like McAfee is no longer effective.
While older companies sold firewalls or anti-virus programs that block
known malware, FireEye founder Ashar Aziz developed a system for spotting
threats that haven't been tracked before. Aziz, a former Sun Microsystems
engineer, started FireEye in 2004 and is vice chairman today. His system
uses software to simulate a computer network and check programs for
suspicious behavior, before allowing them into the network itself.
"The world has changed. The bad guys have changed. And new solutions are
needed," said Matt Trotter, a managing director at Silicon Valley Bank,
who's seeing increased investment by venture capitalists in security
startups.
FireEye raised its profile last year by acquiring Mandiant, known for
expertise in assessing damage and tracing the source of cyberattacks.
Mandiant founder Kevin Mandia, a former U.S. Air Force investigator, is
now FireEye's chief operating officer. His group handles high-profile
"crisis response," but their work also helps FireEye sell its other
security tools.
While businesses are spending more on information security, FireEye itself
has spent heavily on research, development, sales and marketing. Analysts
expect it will post losses for the next two years.
"No one can deny they are a clear leader in cybersecurity, but ultimately
the company has not delivered the financial results yet," said FBR's Ives.
If that doesn't change over the next year, he added, "I'd view it as a top
acquisition for a large company such as a Cisco or an IBM."
Ex-Sony Chief Amy Pascal Acknowledges She Was Fired
In her first interview since her exit as co-chairman of Sony Pictures, Amy
Pascal opened up about her departure and acknowledged it wasn't voluntary.
Speaking to journalist Tina Brown at the Women in the World conference
Wednesday night in San Francisco, Pascal joked, "All the women here are
doing incredible things in this world. All I did was get fired."
After a long reign as the head of Sony Pictures, the studio last week
announced Pascal was stepping down and would start a new production
venture at Sony. In her new role as producer, she has already inherited
several of the studio's biggest upcoming projects, including Sony's next
Spider-man film, to be made in partnership with Marvel Studios.
"I'm 56," she said at the summit. "It's not exactly the time that you want
to start all over again. But it's kind of great and I have to and it's
going to be a new adventure for me."
Pascal also spoke candidly about the trauma of the hacking attack that
preceded her departure. When the extent of the damage was still
unraveling and personal information was found to be stolen, Pascal said
"everybody was really scared."
"But nagging in the back of my mind, and I kept calling them, like, 'They
don't have our emails, right? Tell me they don't have our emails.' 'No,
no no,'" recalled Pascal. "Well, then they did. That was a bad moment."
Pascal came under fire, in particular, for emails with producer Scott
Rudin in which the two joked about President Barack Obama's presumed
taste in movies. Other emails revealed a furious Rudin calling Angelina
Jolie names ("the first person I talked to was Angie after that email,"
said Pascal) and showed her tussling with the powerful producer ("We've
been having an ongoing fight since the moment we met," she said of
Rudin).
"Everyone understood because we all live in this weird thing together
called Hollywood," said Pascal. "If we all actually were nice, it
wouldn't work."
Brown founded the Women in the World conference five years ago to bring
together women leaders to share stories and advice. Long considered the
top female executive in Hollywood, Pascal was known for, among other
things, supporting female filmmakers. Speaking to Brown, she said much
still needed to change.
"The most important thing we can do in our business is make movies with
female protagonists and movies with female villains and movies where the
plot of the movie is about them," said Pascal. "The worst thing you can
do is be on the sidelines."
Pascal was also entertainingly frank about the inner-workings of the
movie business. She called hypersensitive actors "bottomless pits of
need."
Said Pascal: "You've never seen anything like it."
Anonymous Takes Down Dozens of "Terrorist" Social Media Accounts in #OpISIS
Anonymous hacktivists, in conjunction with RedCult, have ramped up
efforts to disrupt ISIS by zeroing in on social media accounts allegedly
used by the terrorist group for recruitment and propaganda purposes.
Against a backdrop of increased military action by allied forces against
ISIS, hackers flying the Anonymous flag have unveiled a new operation -
dubbed #OpISIS - which aims to take down websites and email accounts, as
well as expose Islamic militants, according to a message recently posted
on PasteBin.
Greetings citizens of the world, we are Anonymous,
Operation ISIS Continues:
First we need to clarify few a things.
We Are: Muslims, Christians, Jews...
We Are hackers, crackers, Hacktivist, phishers, agents, spies, or just
the guy from next door.
We Are students, administrators, workers, clerks, unemployed, rich, poor,
We are young, or old, gay or straight.
We wear smart clothes or rugs, we are hedonists, ascetics, joy riders or
activists.
We come from all races, countries, religions, and ethnicity.
UNITED AS ONE, DIVIDED BY ZERO...
We Are Anonymous.
-REMEMBER...THE TERRORISTS THAT ARE CALLING THEMSELVES ISLAMIC STATE,
ISIS), ARE NOT MUSLIMS!!!.
In the statement and an accompanying two minute video, an Anonymous
spokesperson explains how the group sees ISIS as a virus that it says it
intends to cure.
Part of the treatment appears to be the takedown of Facebook and Twitter
accounts. The document on PasteBin lists a total of 90 Twitter accounts
which the group says it has taken offline due to their affiliation with
ISIS.
It also says it's keeping twelve Facebook accounts under continuing
surveillance after they were found to have been "keeping contact with the
terrorists (ISIS) in Syria & Iraq".
In a similar offensive last month, Anonymous launched #OpCharlieHebdo in
response to the terrorist attacks in Paris, claiming responsibility for
the downing of dozens of "Jihad sites".
TurboTax Resumes E-filing Following Torrent of Fraudulent Tax Returns
Intuit, the makers of the popular TurboTax app, stopped the e-filing of
all state tax returns in the US on Thursday due to a surge in fraudulent
filings but then recommenced on Saturday after having taken security
measures to help clean up the mess.
The filing freeze came after several states refused to accept the returns
after seeing a deluge of phony filings.
Utah, the first state to reach out to Intuit, issued a statement on
Thursday, saying that the state tax commission had discovered 28 fraud
attempts that "originate from data compromised through a third-party
commercial tax preparation software process," as well as 8,000 returns
flagged as potentially fraudulent.
According to Utah's state tax commission, as of Thursday, 18 other states
had identified similar problems.
Intuit said in a press release on Friday that an ongoing investigation
hasn't yet turned up evidence that its own systems had leaked the stolen
information that's being input into the bad returns.
Rather, preliminary findings are indicating that the identity details
were squeezed from external sources.
That could be any number of sources.
Intuit said on Thursday that it was working with state agencies to
address growing concern over state tax fraud, which, together with
improper payments, takes a $5 billion bite out of revenue every year,
according to the Internal Revenue Service: an estimate that's growing
along with the rise of cyberfraud.
As of 3 pm PST on Saturday, TurboTax was back filing state returns.
To do that, it plugged in several security measures, one of which was
multifactor authentication.
Multifactor or two-factor authentication (2FA) is a good stumbling block
for identity thieves.
Most online 2FA systems work by asking for your username and password,
which may stay the same for weeks, months or years, and then asking you
for a passcode that changes every time you login.
Your passcode might come from a dedicated security token that displays a
sequence of numbers that changes every minute, or you might receive a text
message on your mobile phone with the passcode in it.
To read more about the hows and whys of 2FA, check out Chet Wisniewski's
recent post: The power of two - All you need to know about two-factor
authentication.
Not all US states require tax returns to be filed. Intuit says that
filing of federal returns wasn't affected.
The state of Minnesota was one of the states that had stopped accepting
TurboTax state returns.
A spokesperson for the Department of Revenue there said that the agency
had resumed accepting e-filings from TurboTax on Saturday, following
Intuit's announcement that it had taken steps to combat the fraud.
The state's recommendation for worried taxpayers was don't worry about it:
we'll call you if we spot a problem, spokesperson Janelle Tummel said:
If you already filed your return using TurboTax, you do not need to do
anything. We will review your return and contact you if we identify
issues.
To assist customers who believe they're victims of tax fraud, Intuit has
set up a dedicated toll-free number, 800-944-8596, with direct access to
specially trained identity protection agents who can provide support and
filing assistance.
D-Link Routers Vulnerable to DNS Hijacking
D-Link's DSL-2740R router is susceptible to traffic rerouting and DNS
hijacking, according to Bulgarian security researcher Todor Denev.
Unfortunately, Denev went public with his discovery before alerting D-Link
or any other potentially affected manufacturer, in what could be argued to
be an irresponsible form of disclosure.
The DSL-2740R is no longer a member of D-Link's current line-up but is
still supported.
At the time of writing, the product's support page - perhaps
unsurprisingly thanks to a lack of prior contact with Donev - makes no
mention of the alleged vulnerability and the only security related
information attached to the device comes via a FAQ which merely states
which wireless security standards the product supports.
Donev says the vulnerability lies in the ZynOS firmware used by the
modem/wireless router. The popularity of ZynOS means other routers
manufactured by D-Link, as well as devices from TP-Link Technologies and
ZTE, may also be at risk.
The flaw apparently allows an attacker to access the device's web
interface without the need for authentication.
If an administration panel is exposed to the internet - and we strongly
recommend that you don't do this! - then outsiders may be able to access
and reconfigure your device's DNS setting from afar.
Messing with your DNS settings is a simple but effective way for
cybercrooks to direct you to imposter sites, replace adverts on legitimate
sites, and even to block or redirect network traffic to keep you away from
things like security updates.
This isn't the first time for either D-Link or ZynOS.
In March 2014 Team Cymru, an internet security research organisation,
discovered a network containing more than 300,000 compromised routers.
Prior to that, another D-Link security hole was found - "Joel's Backdoor",
which provided easy backdoor access to the administration interface on a
number of the company's routers.
But of course it's not only D-Link routers which have had their issues -
in January 2014 we reported how Sercomm products, which include routers
under the LinkSys and Netgear brands, had their own issues surrounding
unauthorised admin access.
Chipotle Apologises for Offensive Tweets, Says Account Was Hacked
Fast-food restaurant chain Chipotle was forced to apologise after its
Twitter account was used to post racist, homophobic and anti-government
tweets on Sunday morning.
The attack, which occurred just after 1am ET, saw the the company's
profile picture changed from its usual pepper logo to a swastika. The
profile description was also altered to read:
The official Twitter account of @TUGFeds and @TheCeltic666
Both of those accounts have subsequently been suspended by Twitter.
After regaining control of its errant @ChipotleTweets account, the
company said sorry to its followers:
We apologize for the very offensive messages sent out from our account
earlier tonight. We were unfortunately hijacked temporarily. -Joe
Screenshots captured by Time before the account was reclaimed show some
of the offensive tweets, which include anti-establishment messages such
as:
F*CK THE GOVERNMENT AND FBI, UR ALL FRAUDS THAT LINE UR POCKETS HAHAHAHA
LOSERS, F*CK YOU ALL
In a continuation of the political theme, the attacker also suggested
Chipotle was "in full support of the Nazi party" and directed a racial
slur at President Obama.
In an official statement, Chipotle's communications director Chris Arnold
said:
Our Twitter account was hijacked overnight for about two hours during
which a series of offensive tweets was posted to the account.
We apologise for the nature of the posts that were made during that time,
and we are now conducting an investigation to try to determine what
happened and who might have been involved.
While the motive for the hack is unclear, it is possible that the
attackers were acting out of a sense of irony after Chipotle itself
seemingly orchestrated a fake Twitter account hack in 2013 - as part of a
20th anniversary publicity campaign.
A series of tweets from the company at first appeared to be random and
nonsensical until it later became clear that they contained a list of
ingredients for its guacamole recipe. Speaking at the time, Arnold told
Mashable that:
We thought that people would pay attention, that it would cut through
people's attention and make them talk, and it did that.
It was definitely thought out: We didn't want it to be harmful or hateful
or controversial.
The Mexican food chain isn't the first Twitter account to be hacked this
year - in January US pop star Taylor Swift had her account taken over for
a short while as an attacker pushed out tweets promoting two other
Twitter accounts that were themselves quickly suspended.
As John Zorabedian noted at the time, the best way to protect your own
social media accounts from befalling a similar fate is to employ
two-factor authentication where available.
Doing so adds an additional layer of security, requiring a would-be
attacker to not only circumnavigate your password but also an additional
identifying factor, such as a code sent to your phone via SMS.
And, of course, it's really important to make sure you use strong, unique
passwords for every single one of your online accounts. If you're not sure
what makes a password "strong", then watch our video on how to pick a
proper password.
40,000 UnProtected MongoDB Databases Found on the Internet
Nearly 40,000 organisations running MongoDB, a NoSQL high performance and
cross-platform document-oriented database, are found to be unprotected
and vulnerable to hackers.
Three students from University of Saarland in Germany at the Centre for
IT Security Kai Greshake, Eric Petryka and Jens Heyens discovered
that MongoDB databases running at TCP port 27017 as a service on several
thousands of commercial web servers are easily accessible on the
Internet.
MongoDB is an open-source database used by companies of all sizes,
across all industries for a wide variety of applications. MongoDB is
built for scalability, performance and high availability, scaling from
single server deployments to large, complex multi-site architectures.
By leveraging in-memory computing, MongoDB provides high performance
for both reads and writes.
The German researchers said that they were able to get "read and write
access" to the unsecured MongoDB databases without using any special
hacking tools. They found 39,890 MongoDB databases openly available on
the Internet, including one belongs to an unnamed French
telecommunications company containing 8 Million customers phone numbers
and addresses.
"Anybody could retrieve and even alter several million items of customer
data, including names, addresses, emails and credit card numbers," the
university in Saarbruecken on the Franco-German border said in a
statement.
Exploiting the loophole is incredibly easy, as an attacker only needs to
run a port scan for TCP port 27017 on the victims machine and finding
all possible vulnerable servers on the Internet could be achieved within
four hours by scanning the Internet using fastest TCP Port Scanner
called, "masscan".
However, Shodan Search Engine makes the task even easier as it helps
hackers to identify accessible MongoDB databases easily. Shodan has a
database containing IP addresses with a list of services running and an
easy-to-use filter mask.
The German researchers reported the issue to MongoDB as well as the
French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) and the Federal Office for
Information Security so that the affected database owners could be
notified of the loophole.
MongoDB responded to the issue, saying "MongoDB takes security very
seriously." Those who are affected by the issue should use latest
installer for MongoDB which limits network access to localhost by
default and also refer MongoDB Security Manual.
The Pirate Bay Is Down Again
The saga of The Pirate Bay is far from over. TorrentFreak reported just
minutes ago that the popular torrent website has gone offline exactly
two weeks after it returned from its extended hiatus. It could be a
glitch or a server issue, but based on recent events, it seems just as
likely that the site might be back in hot water.
The site still attempts to load after you input the URL, but an Error
502" message appears in place of the familiar homepage. As TorrentFreak
notes, the CloudFlare error indicates that The Pirate Bays servers are
offline.
This is even more worrisome now that other major torrent sites are seeing
similar disruptions. Just days ago Kickass Torrents went down and had to
move domains.
File Hosting Service RapidShare Shutting Down
Remember RapidShare? Once one of the world's most popular and first ever
one-click online file hosting and cloud storage website on the Internet.
The company has announced that it will shut down its business at the end
of next month.
RapidShare file hosting service announced its shut down Tuesday through
a notice on its official website, saying that it will stop active
service on March 31, 2015. All user accounts on the website will no
longer be available after this date, and all files will be deleted
automatically.
"We strongly recommend all customers to secure their data. After
March 31st, 2015 all accounts will no longer be accessible and will be
deleted automatically," the notice on RapidShare official website reads.
Just two days back, the most popular Torrent website KickAss Torrents
banned by the .so registry (Somalian registry), forcing the site's
operators to switch to another domain. Now, suddenly the oldest and
popular file hosting service is closing up its shop.
RapidShare, founded in May 2002, was widely used to share copyrighted
content directly. In 2009, the site claimed to have 10 petabytes of files
uploaded to its servers, and in 2010, it was said to have hundreds of
millions of visitors per month, making it among the worlds 50 most
popular websites.
The reason behind the sudden shutdown decision is still unclear, however,
the legal troubles related to copyright infringement have plagued the
company for years.
RapidShare has often been faced several lawsuits just like all other
notorious file hosting services including The Pirate Bay, Megaupload and
Isohunt, which all have been hit with legal issues for facilitating
copyright infringement.
While RapidShare worked to cooperate with the entertainment industry and
even tried to rebrand itself as a personal cloud storage service in
recent years by introducing a number of measures to discourage
infringement. But at the end, its user base fell dramatically. Its
likely the site simply isn't as profitable as it once was.
The reason behind the closure could also be the increasing competition
with the other cloud storage services. We know that RapidShare cloud file
hosting servers provides unlimited upload and download sizes, but the
service does make you wait to download files if you are not its premium
user.
Comparatively, RapidShare charges roughly $680 per year for 300GB of
space, while Dropbox charges just $99 a year for 1TB.
MegaUpload, one of the largest file sharing websites on the Internet, was
shut down in 2012 by federal prosecutors in Virginia, and the site's
founder Kim Dotcom and three others were arrested by the police in New
Zealand at the request of US authorities, conspiring to commit copyright
infringement.
The same happened in the case of The Pirate Bay a widely popular torrent
download website predominantly used to share copyrighted material free of
charge, when TPB went dark from the Internet following a raid in Sweden.
The raid was in response to a complaint from Swedish anti-piracy group
Rights Alliance. The police raided The Pirate Bay's server room in
Stockholm and seized several servers and other equipment. However, the
infamous torrent download website The Pirate Bay (TPB) made a defiant
return and finally came back online last weekend.
Safer Internet Day 2015
Since 2004, Net activists, educators, parents, technology companies and
geeks around the globe have been gathering each Feburary to celebrate
Safer Internet Day. Their goal: To promote responsible behavior online
and in the mobile world, especially among kids.
This years US commemoration, organized by ConnectSafely.org, will take
place Tuesday afternoon at Facebooks Palo Alto headquarters.
California State Attorney General Kamala Harris will deliver the keynote
address, following an introduction by Facebook Chief Operating Officer
Sheryl Sandberg. Harris will be followed by a panel discussion moderated
by Yahoo Techs own Dan Tynan, which will focus on finding solutions to
the problem of online bullying, trolls, and social cruelty.
Other panels will include a discussion of how to use technology to effect
social change, and a conversation with industry leaders from Google,
Twitter, and Instagram moderated by Stephen Balkam, founder and CEO of
the Family Online Safety Institute.
Safer Internet Day, which began in Europe before spreading to the US,
will be celebrated in more than 100 countries worldwide.
'Revenge Porn' Law Passed in England and Wales
A new law banning "revenge porn" - sexually explicit images shared online
by a former partner without their ex's consent - was passed in England
and Wales Thursday.
The law means that people caught sharing such images on social networking
sites like Facebook and Twitter or via SMS and email could face up to two
years in prison.
England and Wales join jurisdictions including Japan and the US state of
California in banning such images.
The move was welcomed by women who featured in "revenge porn" shared by
their former partners, as well as women's groups.
Hannah Thompson, 22, discovered that her ex-boyfriend had been publishing
explicit photos of her on his blog, tagged with offensive captions.
She campaigned for a change in the law and her case was quoted during
debate on the issue in the House of Commons.
Thompson called the law change, plus guidelines for police on prosecuting
cases and a new support helpline, "huge steps forward".
"It's a clear sign that they (the victims) are not to blame, they are not
in the wrong and there is support out there for them," she said.
Folami Prehaye's ex-partner shared explicit pictures of her on Facebook
after she left him last year.
She has now set up a website, Victims of Internet Crime (VOIC), to support
others in the same situation.
While welcoming the changes, she said that more needed to be done to
alter attitudes.
"A law change is a law change but it doesn't necessarily deter people,"
she told AFP.
"When my ex-partner did that, I know he did it out of anger. I had
pictures of him but I just deleted them - that's rational."
The new law applies to "photographs or films which show people engaged in
sexual activity or depicted in a sexual way or with their genitals
exposed," the Ministry of Justice said.
Some "revenge porn" offences were already illegal under existing
legislation banning harassment and malicious communications.
But the new law toughens up the legal situation following technological
advances which campaigners say have made the problem more common in recent
years.
Campaign group End Violence Against Women welcomed the ban, saying
"revenge porn" was "used by abusive partners and ex-partners as a way of
threatening, controlling and hurting women."
"So-called 'revenge pornography' is also extremely harmful because the
person uploading or sharing does so without the victim's consent and
often with the intent to harm and humiliate," acting director Sarah
Green added.
"It is abusive behaviour and should be treated the same way as offline
abuse."
While the law does not force social media sites to remove "revenge porn",
the Ministry of Justice said it would "send out a clear message and make
it easier for social media providers to act."
How One Man Could Have Deleted Any Photo Album He Could See on Facebook
Facebook is probably the biggest database of photographs ever compiled.
We upload around 350 million photos to the world's most popular social
network every day. Facebook users aren't quite as busy sharing photos as
the kids who use Snapchat or WhatsApp but they're not far off, and
they've been doing it a lot longer.
In a beautiful and terrifying illustration of the vast asymmetries that
the internet can create, security researcher Laxman Muthiyah has revealed
how he discovered he had the power to delete billions of images. If he
was allowed to see it, he was allowed to delete it.
Thankfully for Facebook's 1.3 billion users Laxman's moral compass was in
fine working order that day. He reported the bug to Facebook as soon as
he found it, netting himself a cool $12,500 USD bug bounty in return.
Facebook's response was swift - to its great credit the bug was fixed
across its vast network within 2 hours.
In Laxman's own words:
OMG :D the album got deleted! So i got the key to delete all of your
Facebook photos :P lol :D?Immediately reported this bug to Facebook
security team. They were too fast in identifying this issue and there
was a fix in place in less than 2 hours from the acknowledgement of the
report.
And let's be absolutely clear, Laxman had options.
The bug he discovered is a weapon. It wouldn't have killed anyone but it
could have caused misery to to millions.
Laxman could probably have sold that bug to somebody other than Facebook
and earned a great deal more money than he got for doing the Right Thing.
Or he could have milked it; kept his discovery under wraps (giving
somebody less upstanding a chance to find it), engaged a PR firm and
given it a fancy name.
And of course he had the chance to make himself The Man That Wrecked
Facebook if he wanted to take it. Do you think LizardSquad would have
blinked before inflicting misery for the sake of self-aggrandisement?
Kudos Laxman.
You might think that pulling off something like this requires genius and
technology on an equally epic scale.
Not a bit of it.
In theory you could do it with a few lines of code and a phone or a
Raspberry Pi. Hell, the code would probably run on a digital watch.
In practice Facebook probably operates rate limiting or other
countermeasures that would prevent a single device from doing too much
harm - and even if it doesn't, the social network is so large an attacker
would probably struggle to delete albums as fast as people on Facebook
create new ones.
But that's just a question of horsepower, and horsepower is easy on the
internet - there are kids running botnets of 60,000 computers.
Laxman discovered the bug whilst poking about in Facebook's Graph API
(Application Program Interface).
The Graph API is the official Facebook interface for websites, apps and
other computer programs that want to integrate with Facebook.
Unlike the glossy, graphical, point-and-click interface that we humans
use, it's a terse, code interface that's driven by HTTP requests rather
than taps, typing or mouse clicks.
It allows computer programs to do the same things that humans can do with
Facebook and much more besides.
Just like the human interface, users of the API are not supposed to be
able to edit or delete things that belong to somebody else.
What Laxman discovered was a bug that allowed him to do just that if he
used a Facebook for Android access token to authenticate himself.
So long as he had the photo album id and permission to view the album he
could delete it. The anti-Facebook super-weapon was no more than a four
line HTTP request:
DELETE /<victim's album in> HTTP/1.1
Host : graph.facebook.com
Content-Length: 245
access_token=<attacker's Facebook for Android token>
Facebook album IDs are numeric, which means that guessing them is easy -
you start with 1 and just keep going up.
So wrap that 4 line request in a loop and increment the ID from one to a
trillion and you've got yourself a micro-David to take on Facebook's
photographic mega-Goliath.
Update 2015-02-12
Facebook got in touch, keen to explain that this bug only applies to
photo albums that the attacker has permission to view which, to all
practical purposes, means photo albums that are public.
Your Cover Photos and Profile Pictures albums are public by default, for
instance.
Taking out those albums alone, never mind any other public albums, would
still amount to a hugely damaging attack but in light of this information
we've changed the original headline and two sentences in the article to
better reflect the nature of the bug.
Facebook's spokesperson said:
We received a report about an issue with our Graph API and quickly fixed
it within two hours of verifying the claims. To be clear, triggering this
issue would have required knowledge of the ID of the target photo album,
as well as permission to view the album based on the album's privacy
settings. Wed like to thank the researcher who reported the issue to us
through our bug bounty program.
Microsoft Might Make You Pay Every Year To Use Windows in the Future
Microsoft might make you pay every year to use Windows in the future
Microsoft might be ready to offer Windows 10 as a free download to certain
customers later this year, but the company still has plans to make plenty
of money off of its most important product. In addition to enterprise
customers thatll have to pay for the upgrade to Windows 10, the company
might also have a different kind of Windows product in mind, one that will
have a subscription business model like Office 365.
FROM EARLIER: Windows 10 wont be as free as you might have hoped
The term Windows 365 has been listed in various leaks detailing some of
Microsofts plans for the future, with people speculating that the company
is interested in bringing the Office 365 model to Windows in the future.
It looks like the marketing name is definitely genuine, Neowin reports, as
the company has applied for a Windows 365 trademark.
However, its not clear what the company plans to do with Windows 365 in
the future, and the publication says Microsoft might be simply taking
defensive action for the time being, looking to protect this particular
trademark for the future.
New York Could Become First City To Accept Bitcoin
New York City Councilman Mark Levine is expected to unveil a proposal on
Thursday that will allow the city to accept bitcoin as payment for fines.
The bill would allow the municipality to accept the cryptocurrency for
things like parking tickets and court fees, but could also include an
added charge for bitcoin payments.
The bill is still in its infancy and will need to be reviewed by the
citys officials before becoming a law; if passed, it would be hailed as
a huge step toward mainstream adoption for bitcoin.
Late last year, New York began working to find ways to make parking
tickets easier to pay, which is where the concept of bitcoin payments was
born.
City finance officials were considering the use of a smartphone app that
would allow ticket holders to pay using Apple Pay, PayPal or bitcoin.
Since then, lawmakers have been working out the details of creating such
an app and debating the merits of incorporating bitcoin into the system.
New York is not the first state to explore the possibility of using
cryptocurrency for fees and fines.
In 2014, Pittsburgh also examined the benefits of allowing its residents
to make bitcoin payments, but ultimately decided against it.
The citys officials, who were working to avoid bankruptcy at the time,
said the currency was too volatile and new to be considered as a viable
option. Instead, they chose to focus on more popular forms of payment
like credit and debit.
Facebook Is Telling Native Americans Their Names Are Fake
In October, Facebook apologised to the drag queens, drag kings, and
others in the LGBT (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender) community, some of
which it had recently locked out of their accounts because their names
weren't "real."
Facebook owned up to a policy that was essentially clueless about the
importance of using pseudonyms online to protect people from harassment
and violence.
Changes are in the works, Facebook promised at the time.
But missing from that apology and mea culpa: an apology to all the Native
Americans who are still getting locked out when they use their real names.
As reported by Colorlines, Facebook is telling them that their user names
are fake.
Facebook is actually now calling its "real name" policy the "authentic"
name policy, but the gentler name doesn't make any difference for Native
Americans.
That's because Facebook's baked an anti-Native name slant into its policy.
For example, the company explicitly prohibits using "words, phrases or
nicknames in place of a middle name".
That means that a Native named In Between The Watchers, for example, is in
violation of the policy.
Natives claim that the social media behemoth is forcing them to jump
through hoops to prove they're real - including requesting documents such
as credit cards or taxpayer IDs to support their claims.
One such is Dana Lone Hill: one of the Lakota people who writes that she
was shut out when she used her father's and mother's last names
(respectively, Lone Elk and Lone Hill).
Lone Hill did what Facebook's automatic "Please Change Your Name" message
requested, sending in three forms of ID: her library card, one with a
picture, and a piece of mail.
Be patient, Facebook's bot responded: we'll investigate and get back to
you.
She was able to log back in, briefly, the day after it was suspended, but
then she got locked out again.
Lone Hill writes that she initially felt singled out, but a bit of
exploration revealed she wasn't the only one:
I had a little bit of paranoia at first regarding issues I had been
posting about until I realized I wasnt the only Native American this
happened to. One friend was forced to change his name from his Cherokee
alphabet to English. Another was forced to include her full name, and a
few were forced to either smash the two word last names together or omit
one of the two words in the last name. Oglala Lakota Lance Brown Eyes
was [booted] from Facebook and when he turned in his proof of
identification they changed his name to Lance Brown. After contacting
the Better Business Bureau and threatening Facebook with a class action
lawsuit, they sent him an apology and let him use his given name again.
Profiles get reported as "fake" when individuals flag them.
It's happened twice to Shane Creepingbear, the most recent time being in
October.
Creepingbear is a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, and that's
really, truly his last name. But Facebook didn't buy it, he told The
Washington Post.
I started going through the remediation process to prove that I was a
real person. They kept asking me to put in my real name. And they said
this doesnt meet Facebooks standards.
I had to send in a photo of my state ID and I had done that before and
that was very frustrating for them to demand it again. It just felt
really marginalizing.
Natives have a few options: Choosing a Facebook-friendly version of their
real names is one option.
True, it will probably keep people from reporting an account as fake, but
many would see it as demeaning and prejudicial. As the Washington Post
said:
For many Native Americans, being forced to "prove" their identities is
more than an inconvenience; it is a form of silencing.
If somebody does report a Native name as being inauthentic, it's up to
Facebook employees to determine the issue - a subjective process that's
not guaranteed to be resolved in the user's favour.
Lone Hill told the Post that it sounds like a matter of ignorance on
Facebook's part, just like how it was oblivious about its real name
policy's implications for the LGBT community:
I just think they have to maybe have more training on what our full names
encompass. ... We hang on to these names. A lot of [Native Americans]
went with Christian last names and lost their names, so we carry these
names proudly.
I asked Facebook if policy changes were in the works.
A spokesperson noted that over the past six months, Facebook's added a
new option for verifying names: one that allows someone with an
"authentic" name that isn't necessarily a "legal" name to provide one ID
with the legal name and a few more pieces of documentation for the name
he or she goes by.
That's option 3 on its Help Center page.
The spokesperson also sent this statement:
We are committed to ensuring that all members of the Facebook community
can use the authentic names that they use in real life. Having people use
their authentic names makes them more accountable, and also helps us root
out accounts created for malicious purposes, like harassment, fraud,
impersonation and hate speech. Over the last several months, weve made
some significant improvements in the implementation of this standard,
including enhancing the overall experience and expanding the options
available for verifying an authentic name. We have more work to do, and
our teams will continue to prioritize these improvements so everyone can
be their authentic self on Facebook.
The company responded slowly to the LGBT community, but eventually, it
did respond. Changes are still in the works, as it said.
Based on its past response on this issue, I'm hoping, and am pretty sure,
that it's again going to do the right thing.
Facebook Now Lets You Choose Who Controls Your Account After You Die
Facebook is putting its users in control of what happens to their
accounts after they die. Starting today, users in the US will be able to
chose to have their accounts deleted after death or grant another person
on Facebook permission to manage an account on their behalf. Facebook
calls this person an accounts legacy contact, and users will be able
to choose that person through the websites or apps security page.
If you chose to set up a legacy contact, that person will be able to
change your profile photo, accept friend requests, and pin announcements
on your accounts timeline after Facebook receives notice of your death.
A legacy contact wont be able to post as the account that theyre
controlling, nor will they be able to view that persons private
messages. Facebook will also provide an option to let legacy contacts
download a file containing an accounts photos, posts, and other
information.
Before today, Facebook provided a process to freeze accounts after death,
but there was no way to set them up to be managed by someone else or
automatically deleted. Facebook said last year that it was working on
better ways to handle accounts after death at the time, it started
respecting users existing privacy settings and allowing Look Back
compilation videos to be generated. Now, about a year later, its
actually giving its users control. Setting up legacy choices is
optional, and Facebook says that theyll eventually roll out to other
countries.
=~=~=~=
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