Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 18 Issue 18
Volume 18, Issue 18 Atari Online News, Etc. May 6, 2016
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2016
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
To subscribe to A-ONE, change e-mail addresses, or unsubscribe,
log on to our website at: www.atarinews.org
and click on "Subscriptions".
OR subscribe to A-ONE by sending a message to: dpj@atarinews.org
and your address will be added to the distribution list.
To unsubscribe from A-ONE, send the following: Unsubscribe A-ONE
Please make sure that you include the same address that you used to
subscribe from.
To download A-ONE, set your browser bookmarks to one of the
following sites:
http://people.delphiforums.com/dpj/a-one.htm
Now available:
http://www.atarinews.org
Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
http://forums.delphiforums.com/atari/
=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1818 05/06/16
~ Email Accounts Stolen! ~ People Are Talking! ~ PH PDF Maker beta 3!
~ Mail.ru Denies Breach! ~ Win 10 Hits 300 Million ~ Upgrading to Win 10!
~ Rethinking IoT Security ~ Bitcoin Founder Mystery ~ Chrome Topples IE!
~ "Get Windows 10" Ending ~ Uncharted 4 PS4 Highest ~ Siri Successor, Viv!
-* Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare *-
-* Facebook Facial Recognition Suit On! *-
-* Video Game Hall of Fame Inducts 6 Classics *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
And then there was one! Love him or hate him, Trump has beaten
them all and will likely be the GOP candidate for President.
Not in a million years did many think that this day would come,
but it has. Washington's Republican insiders must be having a
fit, and doing a lot of soul-searching. What happened to all of
"likely" hopefuls? And on the Democrats side, the candidate that
was considered to be a landslide candidate, is facing an uphill
battle against Bernie Sanders! While she seems destined to get
the nod, it's not going to be easy. Americans are sick and tired
of the same old song and dance from within The Beltway!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
PH PDF Maker beta 3
PH PDF Maker beta 3 is available for download from PHSW site.
New Features in beta 3:
Works with NVDI 3, 4, 5 & SpeedoGDos 5.0c, 5.7. See notes in ZIP
file for details. (NVDI 5 is still clipping)
True Colour 24-bits graphics support for real life colour
reproduction in PDF.
Selectable output resolution up to 300 dots per inch.
Select from 12 standard PDF paper sizes for your PDF output.
Compressed PDF for smaller file size.
Secured PDF support with password encryption and read/open
password.
Protected PDF support by restriction control for copy, printing
and editing.
Features from previous version:
Creates PDF file simply by printing from an application via normal
GDOS printer settings.
Support VDI output function for graphics text, outline text,
circle, polyline, rectangle and coloured filled area (closed
poly line).
Support Generalized Drawing Primitives (GDP) bar, arc, pieslice,
circle, arc and ellipse.
Support text effects such as bold, italic, outline, underline,
rotation, colour, font scaling, superscript and subscript.
Support VDI colour mapping for supported graphics objects, lines,
texts and filled objects.
Support TrueType fonts for nice font face output.
Support Latin accents as defined by standard Atari character set
(i.e. via keyboard).
https:///sites.google.com/site/probehouse/download/phsw-Atari-software-downloads?pageReverted=123#TO1-PH-PDF
Enjoy.
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - ëCall of Duty: Infinite Warfareí Announced!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 'Uncharted 4' Is Highest Rated PS4 Exclusive!
6 Classic Games Inducted Into Video Game Hall of Fame
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
ëCall of Duty: Infinite Warfareí Announced
Call of Duty is headed to space.
Confirming a weekís worth of leaks, Activision has formally
revealed the next game in its ridiculously popular first-person
shooter franchise: Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Itís due to
launch Nov. 4 for the PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
The new game, developed by Infinity Ward, is indeed reaching past
our mess of a planet and taking players into orbit for some
zero-gravity action.
Itís all very Battlestar Galactica, though the developers are
quick to point out that Infinite Warfare is still very much a
Call of Duty game.
ìOn one hand, this game is the kind of gritty, boots-on-the-ground,
visceral war story that Call of Duty is known for,î said Dave
Stohl, studio head of Infinity Ward. ìOn the other, its future
setting takes players on a journey of epic scale and proportions,
providing incredible gameplay innovations and new experiences for
our fans. This is a grand-scale, old-school, all-out war in an
epic new-school setting. And itís going to be a hell of a lot of
fun.î
Two ìepicsî and one ìvisceral?î Themís fightiní words, for sure.
Though Infinite Warfareís specific time period has yet to be
revealed, Activision has sketched out basics of the futuristic
plot. Ever the greedy species, mankind has depleted Earthís
natural resources and colonized the solar system. As the captain
of the Retribution warship, players will lead the fight against
the insurgent Settlement Defense Front by taking aim with
futuristic munitions and high-speed spaceships.
The series has been inching into sci-fi for several years now.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare sent players to 2054 and outfitted
them with rocket-boosted exoskeletons. Last yearís Black Ops III
pushed the sci-fi flavor even further, pitting man versus machine
in a Terminator-like war. Both games enjoyed critical and
commercial acclaim and helped right Call of Duty after it stumbled
with 2013ís disappointing Call of Duty: Ghosts (incidentally, the
last game developed by Infinity Ward).
Activision also confirmed that various special editions of
Infinite Warfare will include a fully remastered take on Infinity
Wardís magnum opus, the game-changing Call of Duty 4: Modern
Warfare. The remaster will include 10 multiplayer maps alongside
the complete single-player campaign, all uprezzed and fancified.
Infinity Ward will be streaming more info about Infinite Warfare
on its Twitch channel starting at 10:30 a.m. (PT) today. We
should hear much more about Infinite Warfare at Activisionís
event during the E3 conference in June.
'Uncharted 4' Is Now The Highest Rated PS4 Exclusive
Uncharted 4: A Thiefís End reviews are live, and things are looking
good. Nathan Drakeís swan song is earning praise all across the
board, boiling the hype surrounding the PS4's biggest exclusive to
a fever pitch. It all puts the game at a 94 on Metacritic, making
it the third highest rated PS4 game behind GTA 5 and The Last Of
Us: Remastered, and now the highest rated PS4 exclusive to date
just edging out Bloodborneís 92 (I suppose technically The Last
of Us: Remastered is a PS4 exclusive too, but doesnít quite
count, being a remaster). It does not, however, make it the
highest rated Uncharted game: that honor goes to Uncharted 2:
Among Thieves, my favorite installment to date and always a tough
act to follow. Our own Paul Tassi gave it a 9/10, and hereís what
he had to say:
ìI was deeply impressed by Uncharted 4, and I absolutely
believe it lives up to the high bar of quality the series has set
for itself, meaning all the delays were probably worth it. I think
it relies entirely too much on the no-longer-innovative climbing
mechanic, but thereís simply no denying that this game is a visual
masterpiece with likable characters in an interesting and intense
story. In short, itís an Uncharted game, and once again, that can
speak for itself.î
Other critics were equally laudatory, with a smattering of perfect
scores and some criticism from some other corners. Here are a few
reactions from around the internet.
Gamespot, 10/10: ìUncharted 4's gameplay pushes the narrative
forward, the narrative feeds off its gameplay, and every detail
coalesces to create something bigger. Uncharted 4 bounces between
set pieces and personal moments with such grace, with such skill
and poise and affection for its characters, that you donít mind
when the guns stop firing, and the smoke clears, and Nathan gets a
moment to breathe.
Yes, this is a thrilling adventure through exotic locations, with
spectacular action sequences and a pacing that pulls you through
with ease. I had a smile on my face the second it began. But itís
also a story about family. Itís a story about self-examination.
Itís a story about making sacrifices for the ones you care about.î
Polygon, 9/10: ìBut it wasnít the promise of bigger, more dangerous
explosions that pulled me through Uncharted 4ës campaign, which I
completed ravenously over a two-day binge. It was a desire for
Nathan Drake to just be done with it all: the killing, the lying,
the recklessness, the selfish pursuit of fortune and glory. And
that desire wasnít just me projecting my feelings onto a video
game character ó itís the arc that Drake and Uncharted 4 follow
unswervingly.
There is nothing cheap about how Naughty Dog has decided to retire
this franchise ó no door is left open for a crass surprise sequel
ó and thereís nothing ambiguous about its resolution. Every other
Uncharted game has, to varying degrees, posed a question ó ìcan a
thief be good?î ó and summarily moved on without wagering a
guess. In finding an answer, Uncharted 4ës story soars, and
presents a moving, fulfilling finale.î
Recommended by Forbes
Destructoid, 9.5/10: ìThat the interpersonal relationships arenít
overshadowed by $400 million in pirate gold, or by hundreds of dead
mercenaries, is a testament to the caliber of storytelling. Even
the ways Uncharted 4 retrofits in previous entries in the series ó
Young Drakeís shirt in Uncharted 3 seems to be a hand-me-down from
Young Sam in this one ó to bring it all to a well-earned, cohesive
conclusion is impressive. Stunning art direction; satisfying game
feel; a willingness to shake up third-person action conventions,
to know when to introduce variety, or let a foot up off the gas;
excellent dialogue that reveals a lot without oversharing; and a
heck of a conclusion. A thief couldnít ask for a better end.î
Game Informer: ìA Thief Endís is the best Uncharted yet,
delivering a story I didnít want to end, and an adventure that
concludes with a hell of a payoff. The ìwowî factor of the world
exploding under Drakeís feet has diminished in the years following
Uncharted 2, but those moments are still effective, and a true
showpiece of the developerís exquisite craftsmanship for world and
gameplay design. All four of Naughty Dogís games culminate in A
Thiefís End in a fitting and cohesive way that fans should
appreciate. I hate seeing Drake go (especially when heís in his
prime), but Iíd rather see him go out on top like he is here than
be tasked to find a crystal skull or some other poorly fabricated
MacGuffin decades from now.î
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE Gaming Online - Online Users Growl & Purr!
"""""""""""""""""""
Six Classic Games Inducted Into Video Game Hall of Fame
A video game that had players zapping space aliens with lasers and
another that put them in covered wagons in 1848 have been inducted
into the World Video Game Hall of Fame, along with four other
games recognized for their influence on gaming and pop culture.
"Space Invaders" and "The Oregon Trail," along with "Grand Theft
Auto III," ''Sonic the Hedgehog," ''The Legend of Zelda" and "The
Sims," make up the class of 2016 honored Thursday at the hall
inside The Strong museum in Rochester.
The winners were chosen from among 15 finalists culled from
thousands of nominations from around the world. Contenders that
missed the final cut were: "John Madden Football," ''Elite,"
''Final Fantasy," ''Minecraft," ''Nurburgring," ''Pokemon Red and
Green," ''Sid Meier's Civilization," ''Street Fighter II" and
"Tomb Raider."
The Strong, which also houses the National Toy Hall of Fame,
opened the World Video Game Hall of Fame last year to recognize
electronic games of all types - arcade, console, computer,
handheld and mobile. To get in, games must have had sustained
popularity and influenced the video game industry or society.
About this year's honorees:
"Space Invaders"
The high score display at the top of "Space Invaders" quickly
became a standard feature in arcade games. In 1980, the game that
had been released in Japan in 1978 broke free from the arcade and
entered the home console market to become the Atari 2600's most
popular game.
"The Oregon Trail"
"The Oregon Trail" was developed by three student teachers in
1971 and gave many players their first introduction to computers.
It was designed to teach Minnesota schoolchildren American
history by making them settlers heading west toward the Pacific
coast. Jon-Paul Dyson, director of The Strong's International
Center for the History of Electronic games, said "The Oregon
Trail" pioneered the valuable blend of learning and play.
"Grand Theft Auto III"
The first 3-D open-ended game that let players control the action
became a model for the "sandbox-style" games that followed. But
the flamethrowers and automatic weapons that were part of the
action in the 2001 best seller fed worries about the influence of
video game violence and reminded that video games are not just
for kids, said Jeremy Saucier, the history center's assistant
director.
"Sonic the Hedgehog"
"Sonic the Hedgehog" was Sega's answer to Nintendo's Mario
character, and was launched in 1991. It remains the best-selling
Sega Genesis game of all time and has inspired more than 20
additional games and spin-offs, as well as a television show and
comic book, said Strong Associate Curator Shannon Symonds. It
also inspired the first video game-themed balloon in Macy's
Thanksgiving Day parade.
"The Legend of Zelda"
"The Legend of Zelda" of 1986 also spun off sequels, comic books
and a television series. Inspired by creator Shigeru Miyamoto's
childhood expeditions through woods and caves, it popularized
non-linear open-world exploration.
"The Sims"
"The Sims" provided a digital dollhouse setting for endless
domestic dramas and gave players flexibility to tell stories in
an open-ended environment. Its nearly 200 million sales in 60
countries and more than 20 languages following its 2000 release
make it the best-selling PC game franchise ever.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Over 272 Million Email Accounts Stolen
from Gmail, Microsoft, Yahoo and More
A new report shows that hackers from Russia have obtained login
credentials for more than 272.3 million email accounts, which are
now available for sale in Russiaís criminal underworld, a Most of
them are Mail.ru accounts, though the list also includes smaller
fractions of Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft email users.
The discovery comes from Hold Security, with Reuters saying itís
one of the biggest stashes of credentials to be discovered since
the cyber attacks that hit U.S. banks and retailers in 2014.
Alex Holden, founder and chief information security officer at
Hold Security, has uncovered some of the largest known data
breaches in previous years, including the attacks on JPMorgan,
Target, and Adobe Systems.
Researchers found the treasure trove of information by accident,
after discovering a young Russian hacker on a forum. He was
bragging that he had collected and was going to give away a large
number of stolen credentials that amounted to 1.17 billion records.
After eliminating duplicates, Holden said he found 57 million
Mail.ru accounts, which is an enormous number compared to the
64 million monthly users the service said it had late last year.
The database includes tens of millions of credentials from Gmail
(24 million), Microsoft (33 million), and Yahoo (40 million), and
hundreds of thousands of accounts from German and Chinese email
providers.
Thousands of stolen credentials belong to employees of some of
the largest U.S. banks, manufacturing and retail companies, the
firm revealed.
ìThis information is potent. It is floating around in the
underground, and this person has shown he's willing to give the
data away to people who are nice to him," Holden sais. "These
credentials can be abused multiple times.î
Because people tend to favor certain passwords and reuse them
across online services, this type of stolen information may be
very valuable to certain people.
But the unidentified hacker, who obtained the data from various
unspecified sources, was looking to sell it for just $1 and made
it available to Holden in return of favorable comments.
Hold Security contacted the affected organizations 10 days ago,
with Reuters saying that the companyís policy is to return data
it recovers at little or no cost to the firms that were breached.
Whatís more disturbing is that itís not clear yet how hackers
obtained the data.
Mail.ru Denies Mass Password Breach; Researcher Stands by Findings
Russia's top Internet company, Mail.ru said on Friday a sliver of
its users' email accounts were vulnerable while denying that tens
of millions of other users were at risk after researchers found
its data circulating among cyber criminals.
The company said in a statement credentials tied to its email
accounts appeared to have been stolen from other, unrelated sites
such as social networks or e-commmerce sites which ask users to
sign-up using email addresses like Mail.ru.
"The database is most likely a compilation of a few old data dumps
collected by hacking web services where people used their email
address to register," the Moscow-based company said.
However, the security expert who uncovered what he said were
hundreds of millions of hacked usernames and passwords into some
of the world's biggest Web sites, said Mail.ru's own analysis
suggested that tens of thousands of users were at risk.
Alex Holden, founder of Hold Security, a U.S. firm that
specialises in recovering stolen credentials from hackers, told
Reuters on Wednesday his researchers had coaxed a young Russian
hacker into disclosing the stolen data.
Reuters reported on Wednesday Hold Security's discovery of 272.3
million stolen credentials globally, including 57 million at
Mail.ru and smaller fractions of the email user bases of Google,
Yahoo and Microsoft . Mail.ru recently reported 64 million monthly
active email users.
In a statement, the Moscow-based company said its own study of
sample data provided by Holden had found that 99.982 percent of
Mail.ru account credentials on the hit list were invalid. Most had
incorrect passwords or used fake email addresses.
But the company acknowledged that 0.018 percent of the usernames
and passwords might have worked and said: "We have already
notified the affected users to change their passwords."
Thefts of personal information or financial losses can result
from hackers breaking into other accounts relying on the same
credentials.
Mail.ru said it found that 12.42 percent of the sampling had
been marked by its computers as suspicious and blocked.
Holden said he had supplied a randomised sample of data that
represents less than one-tenth of the exposed Mail.ru records. He
said he was ready to provide Mail.ru the full dataset.
Hackers know users cling to favourite passwords. It's why
attackers reuse old passwords found on one account to try to
break into other accounts of the same user.
Mail.ru said its experts constantly monitor the web for data dumps
to see if Mail.ru account credentials are compromised. It said the
"sole purpose" of revealing the possible credential theft was to
create media hype and to promote Holden's business.
Holden, whose firm earns commissions from providing threat
intelligence to some of world's biggest companies, said he had
spent the past week informing any company whose credentials
appeared to have been stolen and was doing it for free.
"We have no claim to this information because we just retrieved
it from the hacker and are sharing it with the community," he
said. Hold Security refuses to publish the database of stolen
accounts but said it provides specific data to authorised
technical staff at the affected firms.
Lawsuit Challenging Facebookís Facial Recognition System Moves Forward
A lawsuit alleging that Facebook photo tagging violates user
privacy has cleared a crucial early hurdle. A judge in Northern
California District Court today ruled against a motion by Facebook
to dismiss. That leaves the larger questions around biometric
privacy unanswered, but clears the way for a major legal battle
over one of Facebook's most popular products.
The lawsuit alleges that Facebook's photo-tagging system violated
user privacy by creating faceprints ó geometric representations of
a person's face ó without explicit consent. Those faceprints are
typically used to identify users to suggest tags for uploaded
photos. According to the complaint, that's a violation of
Illinois's Biometric Information Privacy Act, which forbids the
collection of biometric identifiers like fingerprints or
faceprints without a person's explicit consent. As Alvaro Bedoya
of the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law
described it, "If you run a bar, the law doesnít prevent you from
picking up my used pint glass, but it prevents you from pulling
my DNA off it."
The photo-tagging system is disclosed in the company's Data
Policy and users can opt out of it, but it is unclear whether
those measures will satisfy the legal definition of consent.
"This lawsuit is without merit," a Facebook spokesperson said in
an earlier statement on the case, "and we will defend ourselves
vigorously."
Today's decision focused on the question of whether the Illinois
law is applicable to Facebook, one of the major legal hurdles
facing the plaintiffs. Facebook's Terms of Service maintains that
the the company is only bound by California and federal laws, and
the company had moved to dismiss the case on those grounds. But
today, the judge ruled that the terms-of-service clause isn't
sufficient to nullify the Illinois law. As a result, the
plaintiffs have a valid claim under the Illinois biometrics law
and the case can proceed.
If the plaintiffs win, it could have major implications for both
Facebook and the industry at large. Facebook's photo-tagging
system is one of its core products, and one that has already been
copied by competitors like Twitter and Google Photos. Those
systems are already beginning to see similar challenges. In March,
Google was hit with a similar lawsuit alleging that the
photo-tagging system in Google Photos violates the same Illinois
law.
Mystery Solved? Australian Says He's Bitcoin Founder
An Australian man long rumored to be associated with the digital
currency Bitcoin has publicly identified himself as its creator,
a claim that would end one of the biggest mysteries in the tech
world.
BBC News said Monday that Craig Wright told the media outlet he
is the man previously known by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
The computer scientist, inventor and academic said he launched
the currency in 2009 with the help of others.
Wright made similar claims to the Economist magazine, which said
on its website it still has ìnaggingî questions about Wrightís
claim. He also asserted his role in a lengthy blog post.
The founderís identity has been shrouded in uncertainty, and the
mediaís inability to pinpoint the person responsible has led to
a series of investigations. Last year, some reports claimed
Wright was the founder and had used a false name to mask his
identity.
Wright told the BBC he had decided to make his identity known to
stop the spread of ìmisinformationî about Bitcoin.
ìI didnít take the decision lightly to make my identity public
and I want to be clear that Iím doing this because I care so
passionately about my work and also to dispel any negative myths
and fears,î he said.
Wright said he believes that Bitcoin and blockchain, the
technical innovation that makes the currency possible, ìcan
change the world for the better.î
He added that he would now be able to release his research and
academic work to help people understand the potential of
Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is designed for secure financial transactions that
require no central authority ó no banks, no government
regulators. That makes it attractive to off-the-grid types such as
libertarians, people who want to evade tax authorities, and
criminals, even though Bitcoin doesnít guarantee anonymity, since
it documents every transaction in a public forum.
According to the BBC, Wright supported his claim to being the
founder by signing digital messages using cryptographic keys used
during the early days of Bitcoin.
If Wright is the founder, he is likely a very wealthy person. The
person going by the pseudonym Nakamoto is believed to have amassed
about 1 million Bitcoins, which would be worth about $450 million
if converted to cash, the BBC says.
Jon Matonis, one of the founding directors of the Bitcoin
Foundation, which says it helps support the use of the currency,
told the BBC he is convinced that Wright is who he claims to be
and is responsible for a brilliant achievement.
The hunt for Bitcoinís founder had become a mission for some
journalists. Attention focused for a time on a Finnish sociologist,
a Japanese math whiz and a Japanese-American engineer.
In December, the technology magazine Wired and the website Gizmodo
both published lengthy investigations based on documents and
emails that concluded Wright was probably the man behind the
pseudonym. He was living in an upscale suburb of Sydney at the
time.
The reports were circumstantial and contained no proof. But
Wrightís new statements, and his use of Nakamotoís own encrypted
signature, known as a PGP key, may have confirmed his role.
He also spoke to GQ magazine and the London Review of Books.
Rethinking Security for the Internet of Things
Many people scoffed in January 2014 when Cisco CEO John Chambers
pegged the ìInternet of Everythingî as a potential $17 trillion
market, five to 10 times more impactful on society than the
Internet itself. Two years later, it seems that Chambersí
prediction for the phenomenon more commonly known as the Internet
of Things (IoT) could be on the conservative side.
Thereís no question that IoT is ushering in a new era of
innovation, connecting the digital and machine worlds to bring
greater speed and efficiency to diverse sectors, including
automotive, aviation, energy and healthcare. But with sensitive
data increasingly accessible online ó and more endpoints open to
attackers ó businesses are quickly realizing that security cannot
be an afterthought.
The bad news is that theyíre relying on the same solutions that
have failed in the past ó and which continue to fail. Created four
decades ago to secure communications between two human parties,
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) was never designed to handle the
complexity of managing 50 billion devices on industrial-scale
networks.
McKinsey estimates that the cost of ineffective cybersecurity
will rise to $3 trillion by 2020. Given that the number of
connected devices is predicted to reach 20.8 billion by 2020,
thereís an urgent need to fundamentally rethink security for an
always connected, high-volume, decentralized world of machines.
Data has an entire lifetime
Bruce Schneier observed that throughout the 1990s, everyone was
focused on data in motion ó communication between two parties ó
when they should have focused on data at rest. Emphasis on the
former is a major reason modern security continues to fail. We
need to consider data throughout its entire lifetime, not just
secure transmission between devices, which becomes meaningless
if the device itself is compromised.
Again and again, weíve tried to retrofit security in after
the fact.
ó Bruce Schneier
In the machine world, data begins and finishes as data at rest.
In between, it passes through myriad interacting devices,
customer transactions, user activities, access, authentication,
software deliveries, API interactionsÖ the list goes on. By
focusing only on communication, thereís no chain of custody or
way to audit the lifetime of data hosted in different
environments administered by different organizations. One
compromise anywhere in the chain, and the reliability of the
collected data and any conclusions derived from it will be suspect.
PKI was designed for Alice and Bob to encrypt and share secret
messages, not for massive-scale transmission among millions of
machines. Communication is stateless; if Alice thinks her key has
been compromised, she can simply generate a new key pair and
register the new public key. Previous communications (those
before the key compromise) will not be impacted.
Machines are stateful; the keys used to verify the integrity of
their components have to be secured and managed throughout the
life of the machines and the data they produce.
The underlying assumption today is that machines and the sensor
data they manage can be secured. But what exactly are we
securing? Information security has three components:
Confidentiality: access to sensitive information is
restricted and protected
Integrity: assurance that the information is as it should be,
absent of compromise
Availability: those authorized to access this information are
able to do so
The overwhelming majority of modern security solutions ó
encryption, firewalls, two-factor authentication, tokens ó target
data confidentiality, erecting barriers against unauthorized
access. But machines, their communications protocols, software,
rules and exposed APIs will always have vulnerabilities.
What happens when these weak points are breached and
confidentiality has been compromised? In most cases, like Sony
or Anthem, the breach isnít even detected until months later,
after which system administrators must identify which pieces of
data were accessed and/or manipulated ó an economically and
socially costly task.
Unfortunately, I donít think thereís a security expert in the
world who thinks we can build IoT networks without
vulnerabilities. So we need a new approach. When breaches are
detected, we need to know what data has been changed, and how.
This is an integrity issue ó and it should be the key focus of
modern security in the age of ìconnected everything.î Focusing on
integrity will require a different approach, and a new set of
tools. Data integrity schemes based on blockchain, Merkle hash
trees, scalable provable data possession (SPDP) and dynamic
provable data possession (DPDP) are good places for the industry
to focus its efforts.
We can work on scaling these technologies, making them reliable
for large networks. This is a necessary complement to endpoint
security, especially for the IoT industry. As Schneier points out
in relation to integrity attacks, ìAgain and again, weíve tried to
retrofit security in after the fact.î And, he warns, ìonce the
attacks start doing real damage ó once someone dies from a hacked
car or medical device, or an entire cityís 911 services go down
for a day ó there will be a real outcry to do something.î
The reality is that basing the integrity of networks and systems
on the security of key-stores and the administrators who manage
them is a failing strategy. Rather, truly effective solutions
must continuously monitor the state of a networkís entry points
and the data within. For all the energy and resources spent
guarding against breaches, letís devote equal attention to
protocols for when ó not if ó they occur.
Microsoft: Windows 10 Hits 300 Million Milestone
Windows 10 is running on 300 million active devices as of May 5,
according to Microsoft. That's up from 200 million devices four
months ago and 270 million since the end of March.
Microsoft's goal is to have Windows 10 running on one billion
devices by 2018.
"Active devices" mean devices than have been active in the past
28 days, Microsoft officials have said. The figure includes not
only Windows 10 installed on PCs, tablets and phones, but also on
Xbox One consoles and HoloLens, Surface Hubs.
Today's blog post announcing the latest milestone also includes a
reminder to users that Microsoft's first-year-free upgrade offer
for Windows 10 ends on July 29, 2016. Just a reminder: The
first-year-free upgrade deal means those running Windows 7, 8.X
and Windows Phone 8.1 can upgrade to Windows 10 for free. It
doesn't mean those who upgraded for free start having to pay for
Windows 10 after July 29.
Today's blog post seems to imply that Microsoft has decided
definitively against extending its first-year free offer. It says:
"After July 29th, you'll be able to continue to get Windows 10 on
a new device, or purchase a full version of Windows 10 Home for
$119." (The $119 price is the current retail price of a copy of
Windows 10 Home.)
However, this reminder doesn't necessarily mean Microsoft has
decided against renewing that deal, a company spokesperson said
when I asked.
The full official statement to my question as to whether Microsoft
plans to extend the free upgrade deal (which doesn't really answer
it):
"The free upgrade offer has been a big success, leading to
the fastest adoption of Windows ever, with Windows 10 on more
than 300 million active Windows devices. The free upgrade
promotion is currently slated to end on July 29 and we encourage
all of our customers to take advantage of it while it is still
active."
Windows 10 is a key part of Microsoft's plan to be more of an
Internet of things player. The catch is that few people see
Microsoft putting the pieces together.
(Note the words "currently slated." That's the iffy part.)
There's been speculation, both pro and con, as to whether
Microsoft will end up extending its free upgrade offer beyond the
current July deadline.
Microsoft might end up making its Windows 10 Anniversary Update
(a k a Redstone 1), due around July 29, free for the first year
as a way of extending the offer, as some have suggested. Or it
could opt for a low-price, but not totally free upgrade offer to
take its place - if officials decide that keeping some kind of
upgrade offer in place makes sense.
How To Upgrade to Windows 10 for Free (While You Still Can)
If you're still on the fence about whether to upgrade to
Windows 10, the clock is ticking.
Microsoft's free Windows 10 upgrade offer officially expires on
July 29, 2016. After July 29, upgrading will cost you $119, £100
or AU$180. So if you're running Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows
8.1 on a laptop, desktop or tablet computer, the time to act is
now.
Before you upgrade
Your device must meet the minimum physical requirements for
Windows 10. You will need at least: 1GHz CPU, 1GB (32-bit) or 2GB
of RAM (64-bit), 16GB (32-bit) or 20GB of open hard drive space
(64-bit) and a DirectX 9-capable video card with WDDM driver.
You must be running Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1. You
can check your current operating system on Microsoft's website.
You must be running the latest version of your operating
system. To update Windows 7, go to Start > Control Panel > System
and Security > Windows Update. To update Windows 8 or Windows 8.1,
go to Start > PC Settings > Update and recovery > Windows Update.
You should probably back up your computer. Here's how to
prepare your PC for Windows 10.
How to upgrade right now
1. Go to the Windows 10 download page. At the top of the page,
you'll see a button that says Upgrade now. Click this button to
download the Windows 10 download client.
2. Double-click the Windows 10 download client to run it. A User
Account Control (UAC) window will pop up asking if you want to
allow this program to make changes to your computer; click OK to
proceed.
3. The client will download Windows 10 and walk you through the
setup process. The process could take up to an hour and your
device will restart several times while you're setting up
Windows 10.
If you upgrade and realize you absolutely hate Windows 10, no
sweat - you have 30 days to go back to your previous version of
Windows.
Microsoft Says It Will Stop Pestering Users To 'Get Windows 10' in July
There was one issue that went unspoken in Microsoftís announcement
on Thursday that the free Windows 10 upgrade offer would end on
July 29. What would the company do about all those annoying, almost
malware-like, pop-up notifications to upgrade to Windows 10 that
appeared on the PCs of Windows 7 and 8.1 users? The answer is they
will disappear.
ìDetails are still being finalized, but on July 29th the Get
Windows 10 app...will be disabled and eventually removed from
PCs worldwide,î Microsoft told WinBeta in a written statement.
The company warned that it may take some time to disable the
upgrade pop-ups on computers worldwide.
Many people disliked the companyís approach, but it appears
Microsoftís upgrade push has been relatively successful. Microsoft
said on Thursday there were now 300 million active Windows 10
devices worldwideóa bump of 30 million from late April when
Microsoft said there were 270 million active users.
Anyone currently on Windows 7 or 8.1 that doesnít plan on
upgrading to Windows 10 can already disable the Windows 10
prompts. The easiest way is to use GWX Control Panel, a utility
that automates the process for you.
The impact on you: As with all things Windows 10, conspiracy
theories abound. The big question is just how serious Microsoft
is about ending the upgrade strategy on July 29? If the company
backtracks and decides to extend the free upgrade offer ó or keep
it going in perpetuity as some critics have argued they should ó
then the upgrade pop-ups may remain.
Chrome Finally Topples Internet Explorer in the Battle of The Browser
Google has taken the crown from Microsoft in the battle of the
browsers.
Findings reveals that for the month of April, Google Chrome held
41.6 percent share of all desktop browser traffic picked up by
web tracker NetMarketShare.
This victory is a 2.6 percent jump from March and a .3 percent
lead over Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which has dropped from
43.4 percent to 41.3 percent over the past two months.
In April, Google Chrome held 41.6 percent share of all desktop
browser traffic picked up by web tracker NetMarketShare, a 2.6
percent jump from March and a .3 percent lead over Microsoftís
Internet Explorer, which has dropped from 43.4 percent to 41.3
percent over the past two months.
In April, Google Chrome held 41.6 percent share of all desktop
browser traffic picked up by web tracker NetMarketShare, a 2.6
percent jump from March and a .3 percent lead over Microsoft's
Internet Explorer, which has dropped from 43.4 percent to 41.3
percent over the past two months
HOW MUCH TRAFFIC DOES EACH BROWSER HOLD?
Chrome: 41.6%
Internet Explorer: 41.3%
FireFox: 9.76%
Safari: 4.91%
Opera:1.89%
Konqueror: 0.01%
NetMarketShare reviews unique visits and weighs its data against
all other internet traffic around the world.
Although other statistics claim Google overtook its arch rival
months ago, it is the first time the NetMarketShare results have
favoured Google.
Although the two search giants are going head-to-head for the top
spot, the two left the rest of the contenders in the dust.
Firefox trailed behind at a mere 9.76 percent, followed by Safari
with 4.91 percent, Opera and Konqueror didn't even hit two
percent combined.
All of the lagging browsers, except for Firefox, seem to have
maintained a constant amount of traffic since June 2015ñ even if
they are smaller numbers.
But Internet Explorer has been slowly plunging.
During June 2015, Microsoft owned half of the desktop browser
market, but has not been able to climb back up since.
Some 17 years ago, the browsers could only render basic HTML when
it was first released, but was still impressed users with its 20
basic tags.
Microsoft reached an all-time high of 96 percent in 1996, just
two years after AltaVista and Yahoo hit the market.
Internet Explorer was dubbed the most popular internet browser in
late 1998 and early 1999, and has survived the stampede of other
browsers into the World Wide Web.
Firefox trailed behind at a mere 9.76 percent, followed by Safari
with 4.91 percent, Opera and Konqueror didn't even hit two percent
combined. All of the lagging browsers, except for Firefox, seem
to have maintained a constant amount of traffic since June 2015 ñ
even if they are smaller numbers
What some may find interesting is that Internet Explorer comes
bundled on all Window desktops and users have to download Chrome
in order to use it, which is what some say played a role in the
higher market share ñ but doesn't explain the current decline.
Chrome has been gaining traction since Internet Explorer started
taking a dive.
Siri 2.0: Google And Facebook Offered
To Buy Advanced Digital Assistant ëViví
The creators of Siri are about to show off its successor, Viv,
which they say is smarter and more capable.
The creators of Siri have been hard at work on its successor and
now, after four years of development, Viv is ready for its first
public demonstration. But the AI-powered digital assistant has
already been catching the eye of Google and Facebook.
On Monday, the team behind Viv, which includes Dag Kittlaus and
Adam Cheyer, who were the co-creators of Siri, will give the first
public demonstration of the technology they dub ìthe global
brain.î Viv is a smarter version of Siri, according to its
creators, and will allow users to carry out a huge range of
actions by just using their voice and without having to tap on a
screen or type a request.
The work on Viv began in 2003 and was what its creators envisioned
Siri would be. According to a demonstration seen by the Washington
Post, Viv was able to get pizzas delivered to Vivís engineers
without the need to have any specific app installed and without
the need for instructions to be typed, all by asking: ìGet me a
pizza from Pizzía Chicago near my office.î
This was how Kittlaus described the technology to the Guardian in
January: ìTell Viv what you want and it will orchestrate this
massive network of services that will take care of it,î adding
that Vivís capabilities can be integrated into everything from
smartphones and laptops to smart home devices like fridges, light
bulbs and security cameras. According to the companyís website,
Viv ìis a global platform that enables developers to plug into
and create an intelligent, conversational interface to anything.î
Along with Kittlaus and Cheyer, around a third of the team that
created Siri is now working on Viv after many left Apple due to
disagreements over the way Siri was being developed.
While the company says it will work with developers to let them
add Vivís capabilities to their apps, that could all change if the
company is acquired by a bigger player, and according to sources
speaking to the Washington Post this week, both Google and
Facebook have tabled offers to acquire Viv.
While Apple has Siri and Microsoft has Cortana, Google doesnít
really have a similar product for its Android and Chrome users.
While Google Now does a lot of what Siri and Cortana offer, it is
not as interactive and therefore Viv would seem like a good fit.
Facebook, whose CEO is an investor in Viv, is taking a different
path, leveraging its investment in artificial intelligence into
chatbots, which it plans to integrate into its Messenger app to
help companies automate interactions with their customers.
=~=~=~=
Atari Online News, Etc. is a weekly publication covering the entire
Atari community. Reprint permission is granted, unless otherwise noted
at the beginning of any article, to Atari user groups and not for
profit publications only under the following terms: articles must
remain unedited and include the issue number and author at the top of
each article reprinted. Other reprints granted upon approval of
request. Send requests to: dpj@atarinews.org
No issue of Atari Online News, Etc. may be included on any commercial
media, nor uploaded or transmitted to any commercial online service or
internet site, in whole or in part, by any agent or means, without
the expressed consent or permission from the Publisher or Editor of
Atari Online News, Etc.
Opinions presented herein are those of the individual authors and do
not necessarily reflect those of the staff, or of the publishers. All
material herein is believed to be accurate at the time of publishing.
