Millions of eyeballs. 12 years. How many years have state actors exploited?
https://thehackernews.com/2022/01/12-year-old-polkit-flaw-lets.html

A 12-year-old security vulnerability has been disclosed in a system utility called Polkit that grants attackers root privileges on Linux systems, even as a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit has emerged in the wild merely hours after technical details of the bug became public.
Dubbed "PwnKit" by cybersecurity firm Qualys, the weakness impacts a component in polkit called pkexec, a program that's installed by default on every major Linux distribution such as Ubunti, Debian, Fedora, and CentOS.

Ain't technology grand.
Received a text at 10:15. An NHS apt reminder.
If you wish to cancel or reschedule please call XXXX.
Did so, expecting to hit an automated menu, no problem, just go through the motions.
Nope!
"Welcome to XXX Dept.
Please leave your name
Contact number
ref number
We will return your call".
WTF?

Left name, ref number, no contact number but a message - please cancel apt.
1st time ever cancelling a medical apt. Why?
Have one for the same day & time here.
The one cancelled was in Cambridge.
Pont to note - ref no is medical number unique to each individual.
Edit:
Un-frigging-believable.
Less than a minute after posting, phone rang (13:07)
Addenbrookes - is this Mr (pronouced my surname wrong).
Thank you for calling. Do you wish to deactivate for a short while or deactivate permanently?
WTF?
Just cancel apt & told her why. Silly Xxxxh still didn't get it, so just said cancel & hung up. Immediately called apt dept at city hospital, took a couple of minutes, explained situation & said I will be there tomorrow.
No wonder the NHS is screwed up!!!!!

It's about time that something was done about these things.

Apple AirTag Allegedly Leads Jilted Woman to Victim She Ran Over and Killed.

There are just far too many crazy stalkers out there using them for the wrong purposes and it's just getting worse fast.

Note that we already have too many examples of how guns get misused in America... For all too similar reasons...


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

As if there arn't enough distractions in modern cars already.

How Apple CarPlay plans to take over your car.

I wonder how many crashes that idea will bring to our roads (or how many countries will ban it).

Just finished watching a fascinating documentary - The 15 Billion Railway, Inside the Elizabeth Line.
The 1st all digital operating railway in the UK.
Overall, it has gone 4bn over budget, which the program showed was mainly due to previous management & top heavy bureaucracy & covid.
A short way into the program, did think there would be a serious stumbling block & it turned out to be the case.
The all digital signalling system (CBTC) working hand in hand with 2 older Network Rail signalling systems (TPWS & ETCS).
By the time the program ended, felt there will still be serious issues over the coming decades due to it's expected lifespan.
There are many here who can recall the the fuss the millennium bug caused also the issues with many legacy systems using old code/software & the difficulty in getting them up to date.
1 major issue I can foresee is this: In the run up to getting the actual trial run up & running, there had been 20 software updates done with the final 1 done for the trial run to commence.
This entails the signalling system, trains, stations & their various electronic systems updated all at the same time so that they can all work seamlessly together.
This was done by the project engineering teams & was manpower hungry.
Who is going to handle any/all future updates & at what cost?
1 feature that I did enjoy & felt was a genuine time saver in train operation was the Auto Reverse.
Normally when doing short journeys, 1 detrained, entered siding,, changed ends to return on the opposite road (East/West North/South).
Auto Reverse enabled the train to drive itself from siding to station enabling the driver to walk through train to their position at the front of the train.
There were a few glitches, 1 which was serious enough. Once the Auto Reverse had been activated, it caused issues with the doors at stations.
There were also 2 issues that could/can/will cause problems for the future. Both Human issues & vital safety concerns.
Network Rail signalers had little or no understanding of CBTC so refused movement authority for the train to transition from CBTC to TPWS.
Driver refused to open doors for the engineer attempting to track.resolve the door issue with Auto Reverse used as his panel showed it unsafe to do so.
It got dealt with but did take some time.
I couldn't stop laughing with one serious issue - a specific train (No 69) was known to experience many software issues & was excluded from the trail run.
It was not known as to how it managed to end up of the trial run & it caused so many issues that the trail had to be aborted that day.
Now off to watch the next episode.

Open source difficult to hack - Check.
Open source needs no anti virus - Check.
Open source used for nefarious purposes - Check.

A lot of the code for handling communications was apparently copied from an open source messaging app.

The joys of Open Source

You're kidding me right?



So much for online shopping.

Family of victims killed in Tesla crash hires prominent Florida attorneys.

A California family has hired a well-known Florida law firm in the wake of a Tesla crash in Florida that left two dead last week.

Mary Lou and Karl Seelandt of Lompoc, Calif., died July 6 after their 2015 Tesla slammed into the rear of a freight truck at a rest stop near Gainesville, Fla.

The Seelandt family has hired Orlando-based Morgan and Morgan personal injury attorneys, the firm confirmed Thursday.

"We are in the very early stages of our investigation to determine what caused this deadly collision and have requested Tesla preserve all evidence related to this matter," the firm said.

"We are awaiting the crash report as well as audio and video that were recorded in the collision, which will provide us with a clear picture of what happened. We will work to help the family understand why they have lost loved ones and seek justice on their behalf.”

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said last week it would be investigating the crash. It is not clear what caused it, and Florida Highway Patrol has told media it did not know whether Tesla's self-driving system was engaged.

Tesla reported 273 vehicle crashes since July 2021 involving advanced driving assistance systems like automated driving — more than any other automaker, federal data released last month showed. NHTSA has opened a total of 30 investigations into Tesla crashes since 2016....

To my uneducated eye, this is looking like that 'crash-avoidance/brake-assist' radar sensor, that Tesla removed, looks to be needed for where the optical 'assist' fails...

Ya cannae deny the laws of physics!!


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

FBI found Huawei equipment in Midwest could disrupt US nuclear communications.

The FBI found that equipment from the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei placed on cell towers in the Midwest is capable of disrupting Department of Defense communications, including those from the force that oversees U.S. nuclear weapons, multiple sources told the media outlet.

More than a dozen sources told the media outlet that during an FBI investigation, Huawei’s technology, which sits on top of cell towers near military bases in the Midwestern U.S., has the capability of disrupting communications from U.S. Strategic Command....

No comment was made on who owned those towers.

RAT man caught.

A man has been charged by federal police for allegedly creating spyware that allowed criminals to remotely control people’s computers – at just the age of 15.

A man has been charged by federal police for allegedly creating and selling spyware that allowed criminals, including domestic violence perpetrators, to remotely take control of people’s computers – all while he was only a teenager.

The man will front in Brisbane Magistrates Court on August 19 following a brief appearance on Friday.

Police allege he was just 15 years old when he created the Remote Access Trojan (RAT), before selling it to thousands of people across the globe between 2013 and 2019.

The spyware, named Imminent Monitor, was allegedly sold to 14,500 customers across 128 countries. Federal police also identified 201 Australians who bought the RAT....

Google fined $60 million for misleading some Australian mobile users about collection of location data.

Google has been slapped with a $60 million fine for some misleading consumers about the collection and use of their personal location data on Android phones between January 2017 and December 2018.

The consumer watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), took Google to the Federal Court last year, saying the issue may have affected about 1.3 million Australian customers.

The Federal Court found Google represented to some Android users that the setting titled Location History was the only account setting that affected whether Google collected, kept and used personally identifiable data about their location.

But there was another account setting, titled Web & App Activity, which also enabled Google to collect personal information, which was turned on by default.

Google fixed the issue by December 2018....

Apple has been caught out down under for an “unethical” ploy to hurt employees' conditions and pay.

Apple accused of rushing new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement with Aussies workers.

But then again maybe they don't want anyone working for their sweatshop.

Moscow got hacked.

Hackers caused a massive traffic jam in Moscow using a ride-hailing app.

Hackers caused a major traffic jam in Moscow after exploiting the Russian ride-hailing app, Yandex Taxi, to summon dozens of taxis to the same location at the same time (via Vice). The attack occurred on September 1st and had traffic heading towards Kutuzovsky Prospect — an already busy boulevard — stuck at a standstill.

A video showing lines of taxis seemingly trying to get to the same destination was shared widely on Twitter and Reddit on Thursday. While Moscow is known for its heavy traffic — it ranked number two as the world’s most congested city in the world last year — this incident wasn’t related to the capital city’s typical traffic patterns.

“On the morning of September 1, Yandex.Taxi encountered an attempt by attackers to disrupt the service — several dozen drivers received bulk orders to the Fili region,” Yandex Taxi said in a statement to the Russian state-owned outlet TASS. The ride-hailing service, which is owned by the Russian internet giant, Yandex, added that the jam lasted about 40 minutes, and that its “algorithm for detecting and preventing such attacks has already been improved to prevent similar incidents in the future.” Yandex didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment....

Now that's hypocritical.

China accuses Washington of cyber-spying on university.

More likely they hit a honey pot that bit back. LOL

Be warned about where you get your pics from.

Hackers are hiding malware in a James Webb Telescope image.

A new broadband network in the U.S. could send you on the wrong path.

Pentagon warns of GPS interference from Ligado broadband network.