A group of students at the University of Texas at Austin built and successfully tested a GPS spoofing device to remotely redirect an $80 million yacht onto a different route, the Houston Chronicle reports. The project, which was completed with the permission of the yacht’s owners in the Mediterranean Sea this past June, is explained in the video below.
via College students hijack $80 million yacht with GPS signal spoofing.
The English High Court (the highest civil court) has blocked the publication of a scientific paper that would have revealed the full details of a zero day vulnerability in Volkswagen’s immobiliser mechanisms – the temporary injunction against publication has been granted to stop the publication of “Dismantling Megamos Crypto: Wirelessly Lockpicking a Vehicle Immobilizer” – due to be presented at a Usenix security conference.
via Court blocks the publication of a scientific paper | cartesian product.
In accepting the award I don’t condone the NSA’s surveillance. Simply put, I don’t think a free society is compatible with an organisation like the NSA in its current form. Yet I’m glad I got the rare opportunity to visit with the NSA and I’m grateful for my hosts’ genuine hospitality. A large group of engineers turned up to hear my presentation, asked sharp questions, understood and cared about the privacy implications of studying password data. It affirmed my feeling that America’s core problems are in Washington and not in Fort Meade. Our focus must remain on winning the public debate around surveillance and developing privacy-enhancing technology. But I hope that this award program, established to increase engagement with academic researchers, can be a small but positive step.
via Light Blue Touchpaper » Blog Archive » NSA Award for Best Scientific Cybersecurity Paper.
US astronaut Sunita Williams spent a total of 322 days in space on two missions to the International Space Station. As part of BBC News’ How to put a human on Mars coverage she explains how she coped and considers whether a crew could endure a voyage to the Red Planet.
via BBC News – Astronaut Suni Williams: You need to make peace before leaving Earth.
In its latest earnings statement filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Zynga reported the number of daily average users (DAU) dropped to 39 million in the second quarter of 2013—the lowest ever since the company began keeping track. Last quarter, the DAU fell to the then-lowest record, 52 million users. The fall to 39 million means that 25 percent of its daily user base stopped using Zynga products in just one quarter.
via Game over for Zynga? Firm loses 25 percent of daily active users in one quarter | Ars Technica.
The pornography filtering system praised by David Cameron is controlled by the controversial Chinese company Huawei, the BBC has learned.
via BBC News – Chinese firm Huawei controls net filter praised by PM.
Customers who do not want filtering still have their traffic routed through the system, but matches to Huawei’s database are dismissed rather than acted upon.
I recently wrote a popular article on the history of computer power supplies, which led to speculation on what’s inside those amazingly small one-inch cube USB chargers sold by Apple, Samsung, RIM, and other companies. In the interest of science, I bought a cheap no-name cube charger off eBay for $2.79, and took it apart. It’s amazing that manufacturers can build and sell a complex charger for just a few dollars. It looks a lot like a genuine Apple charger and cost a lot less. But looking inside, I found that important safety corners were cut, which could lead to a 340 volt surprise. In addition, the interference from a cheap charger like this can cause touchscreen malfunctions. Thus, I recommend spending a few dollars more to get a brand-name charger.
via Ken Shirriff’s blog: Tiny, cheap, and dangerous: Inside a (fake) iPhone charger.
The chief architect behind Netflix’s cloud and OSS strategy is Adrian Cockcroft, a former distinguished engineer at eBay and Sun, who says Netflix has many agendas in developing OSS. For one, it’s working to establish Netflix’s process as a best practice way of operating in the public cloud. Doing so allows the company to benefit from the knowledge of the broader open source community who recommend improvements. Furthermore, it helps Netflix hire and retain top engineering talent all while building up the company’s technology brand.
via Why Netflix is one of the most important cloud computing companies – Network World.
In its second quarter of earnings in 2013, Facebook walked away with $333 million in profit (and $1.8 billion in revenue), according to its latest 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors clearly like Facebook’s latest numbers—the stock has soared 17 percent in after-hours trading. (By comparison, Facebook lost $157 million in the same quarter in 2012.)
via What mobile problem? Facebook just raked in $333 million in quarterly profit | Ars Technica.
The only way an Android user can be attacked via this master key flaw is if they download a vulnerable application.
“It all comes down to where you get your applications from,” Forristal said.
That means if a user gets their applications from trusted sources like Google Play, the risk of the master key exploit is not high, even if the given device has not been updated with the latest patched Android code. Forristal noted that he has seen reports that he has not been able to independently verify, that indicate Google is already scanning apps in the Play store to mitigate risk.
via Inside the Bluebox Android Master Key Vulnerability – eSecurity Planet.
From: First Malicious Apps Targeting Android ‘Master Key Vulnerability’ Found in the Wild
Bluebox Security has released a free app designed to help Android users check if their device has been patched for the master key vulnerability.