Category Archives: Current Events

Chinese hack compromised security-clearance database

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Last week, the OPM announced that a database containing the personal information of about 4 million current and former federal employees was hacked. Privately, U.S. officials said the Chinese government was behind the breach. The administration has not publicly pointed a finger at Beijing.

Source: Chinese hack compromised security-clearance database – The Washington Post

I’m surprised the Washington Post continues with this Chinese narrative as there has been no official condemnation of China over this and determining the true source of an intrusion is extremely difficult if not impossible in many cases.  They still haven’t caught the culprits in the Target and Home Depot data breaches.  The list of suspects with motive to obtain this kind of data is probably quite long so it’s irresponsible to assume a guilty party before any evidence has been leaked.  No doubt consultants are working furiously tracing log records but at least wait until there is something concrete.  The Washington Post is an institution with top notch journalists so they should know better.

And here’s the blurb that made me laugh.

Offensive actions might include directing a U.S. agency to locate the servers holding the stolen data and deleting or altering the data, the former official said.

Haha.  Like whoever did this wouldn’t have backups 6 ways to Sunday of every bit gathered.  There’s no way to delete anything digital once it’s out in the ether.  Why would anyone publish a statement like that?  The only thing an offensive cyber attack can accomplish is making the US government behave like the criminals who they denounce.

A400M probe focuses on impact of accidental data wipe

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Computers operating each engine cannot work if this data, which is unique to each of the turboprops, is missing.

Source: Exclusive: A400M probe focuses on impact of accidental data wipe | Reuters

Under the A400M’s design, the first warning pilots would receive of the engine data problem would be when the plane was 400 feet (120 meters) in the air, according to a safety document seen by Reuters. On the ground, there is no cockpit alert.

Sounds like these data files became a single point of failure.

FBI anti-terror official calls on tech firms to ‘prevent encryption above all else’

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“When a company, a communications company or a ISP or social media company elects to build in its software encryption, end-to-end encryption, and leaves no ability for even the company to access that, we don’t have the means by which to see the content”, he added.

“When we intercept it, we intercept encrypted communications. So that’s the challenge: working with those companies to build technological solutions to prevent encryption above all else.

Source: FBI anti-terror official calls on tech firms to ‘prevent encryption above all else’ | Technology | The Guardian

Steinbach insisted that he wasn’t asking for a “back door” to be built into encryption products, telling legislators that “we’re not looking at going through a back door or being nefarious.”

He proposes using the side door, the door no one else knows about, instead.

Human Pros Dominating Poker AI

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At the halfway point of the “Brains Vs. Artificial Intelligence” poker competition between software developed at Carnegie Mellon University and four of the world’s best players, the nod unquestionably goes to the humans.

The CMU computer program, Claudico, is playing a total of 80,000 hands of Heads-Up No-limit Texas Hold’em against Doug Polk, Dong Kim, Bjorn Li and Jason Les. And after 42,100 hands, the humans had a cumulative lead of 626,892 chips.

Source: Human Pros Dominating Poker AI – Robotics Trends

Looks like poker may be more difficult than chess and Jeopardy.

2 million lines of code process new air traffic system

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The Federal Aviation Administration this week said it had completed the momentous replacement of 40-year old main computer systems that control air traffic in the US.

Known as En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM), the system is expected to increase air traffic flow, improve automated navigation and strengthen aircraft conflict detection services, with the end result being increased safety and less flight congestion.

Source: FAA: 2 million lines of code process new air traffic system | Network World

Don’t Be Fodder for China’s ‘Great Cannon’

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“It only intercepts traffic to a certain set of Internet addresses, and then only looks for specific script requests. About 98 percent of the time it sends the Web request straight on to Baidu, but about two percent of the time it says, ‘Okay, I’m going to drop the request going to Baidu,’ and instead it directly provides the malicious reply, replying with a bit of Javascript which causes the user’s browser to participate in a DOS attack, Weaver said.

via Don’t Be Fodder for China’s ‘Great Cannon’ — Krebs on Security.

Interestingly, this type of attack is not unprecedented. According to documents leaked by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, the NSA and British intelligence services used a system dubbed “QUANTUM” to inject content and modify Web results for individual targets that appeared to be coming from a pre-selected range of Internet addresses.

TrueCrypt doesn’t contain NSA backdoors

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A security audit of TrueCrypt has determined that the disk encryption software does not contain any backdoors that could be used by the NSA or other surveillance agencies. A report prepared by the NCC Group for Open Crypto Audit Project found that the encryption tool is not vulnerable to being compromised.

via TrueCrypt doesn’t contain NSA backdoors.

New Homeowner Has To Sell House Because Of Comcast’s Incompetence, Lack Of Competition

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According to the latest Broadband Progress Report from the FCC, 4% of all Americans — and only 2% of people in Washington state — lack access to even the most basic non-mobile broadband service. But Seth’s story makes us wonder how many consumers are being counted as having access to these services when in fact the service providers refuse to make them available?

That’s why it’s in the best interest of Comcast, CenturyLink and others to assume an address is serviceable just because it falls within a certain ZIP code or municipal boundary — because it gives the illusion that they are providing service to more customers.

via New Homeowner Has To Sell House Because Of Comcast’s Incompetence, Lack Of Competition – Consumerist.

The US’s First Offshore Wind Farm Will Slash Local Power Prices by 40 Percent

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Five floating turbines will be built off the coast of the island, which currently relies on diesel generators for its power—and pays a dollar more per gallon than the mainland does to get it. Those turbines will be connected to an undersea power cable that links not just the island, but to the US mainland.

The result will be a huge price drop in the islanders’ electricity bills, and an influx of clean energy piped into the grid from across the sound. The 30 megawatt plant is expected be generating power for thousands of New England homes by fall next year.

via The US’s First Offshore Wind Farm Will Slash Local Power Prices by 40 Percent | Motherboard.