Online Critics Decry Even More Wells Fargo Fraud Scandals

On Saturday author/blogger Cory Doctorow launched a new barrage of criticism towards Wells Fargo: It’s been a whole day since we learned about another example of systematic, widespread fraud by America’s largest bank Wells Fargo (ripping off small merchants with credit card fees), so it’s definitely time to learn about another one: scamming mortgage borrowers out of $43/month for an unrequested and pointless “home warranty service” from American Home Shield, a billion-dollar scam-factory that considers you a customer if you throw away its junk-mail instead of ticking the “no” box and sending it back. $43/month gets you pretty much nothing: people who tried to actually use their AHS insurance found it impossible to get them to actually do anything in exchange for this money. Here’s a quick Wells Fargo fraud scorecard: stealing thousand of cars with fraudulent repos; defrauding mortgage borrowers; blackballing whistelblowers; creating 2, 000, 000+ fraudulent accounts, and stealing millions with fraudulent fees and penalties. Life Pro Tip: if you don’t like banks, join a credit union. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Online Critics Decry Even More Wells Fargo Fraud Scandals

Russian Group That Hacked DNC Used NSA Attack Code In Attack On Hotels

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A Russian government-sponsored group accused of hacking the Democratic National Committee last year has likely been infecting other targets of interest with the help of a potent Windows exploit developed by, and later stolen from, the National Security Agency, researchers said Friday. Eternal Blue, as the exploit is code-named, is one of scores of advanced NSA attacks that have been released over the past year by a mysterious group calling itself the Shadow Brokers. It was published in April in the group’s most damaging release to date. Its ability to spread from computer to computer without any user action was the engine that allowed the WCry ransomware worm, which appropriated the leaked exploit, to shut down computers worldwide in May. Eternal Blue also played a role in the spread of NotPetya, a follow-on worm that caused major disruptions in June. Now, researchers at security firm FireEye say they’re moderately confident the Russian hacking group known as Fancy Bear, APT 28, and other names has also used Eternal Blue, this time in a campaign that targeted people of interest as they connected to hotel Wi-Fi networks. In July, the campaign started using Eternal Blue to spread from computer to computer inside various staff and guest networks, company researchers Lindsay Smith and Ben Read wrote in a blog post. While the researchers didn’t directly observe those attacks being used to infect guest computers connected to the network, they said a related campaign from last year used the control of hotel Wi-Fi services to obtain login credentials from guest devices. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Russian Group That Hacked DNC Used NSA Attack Code In Attack On Hotels

Intel Unveils One-Petabyte Storage Servers For Data Centers

Slashdot reader #9, 219 Guy Smiley shared this report on a new breed of high-density flash storage. The Inquirer reports: Intel has unveiled a brand new form factor for solid state disc drives (SSDs)… Intel Optane’s new “ruler” format will allow up to a petabyte of storage on a single 1U server rack… By using 3D-NAND, the ruler crams in even more data and will provide more stability with less chance of catastrophic failure with data loss. The company has promised that the Ruler will have more bandwidth, input/output operations per second and lower latency than SAS… As part of the announcement, Intel also announced a range of “hard drive replacement” SSDs — the S4500 and S4600 0 which are said to have the highest density 32-layer 3D NAND on the market, and are specifically aimed at data centres that want to move to solid state simply and if necessary, in stages. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Intel Unveils One-Petabyte Storage Servers For Data Centers

Studio Ghibli reopens for Hayao Miyazaki’s new film

Just a few years ago, Studio Ghibli’s future was in the air after co-founder and legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki (supposedly) retired. The place is about to be jumping again, however, as the studio announced that it has re-opened to start production on a recently-announced new film by the not-so-retired Miyazaki. He was on hand for a small ceremony on July 3rd, where he “brought together his main collaborators already engaged on his new feature film to talk to them about the project, ” the company said in a news release (translated). A re-opening normally wouldn’t be newsworthy, but at one point, it seemed like Studio Ghibli — behind masterpieces like Spirited Away , Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle — would not produce any more films. Recently, however, Amazon announced that it would stream Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter , a children’s TV series directed by Miyazaki’s son Goro. Shortly after that came the news that the studio would produce a new film directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli hasn’t released any details about the film itself, but many fans think it will be an adaptation of Miyazaki’s first CGI short film Boro the Caterpillar . That short was delayed, but producer Toshio Suzuki has said it will likely be released in 2019 ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games. Miyazaki has threatened retirement before, and when he stepped down in 2013, the company announced it would restructure for the next generation of animators. The films, while beloved by animation aficionados and cineastes, have never made tons of money — Studio Ghibli’s best-grossing film was Spirited Away, which made $275 million back in 2001. Over the years, however, the films have gained a much larger following thanks to streaming and DVD, so the new one will likely be met with unprecedented anticipation. Adding to that, Miyazaki will be 80 when it’s completed, so this could definitely be his last film. Via: Indie Wire Source: Buta Connection (Facebook)

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Studio Ghibli reopens for Hayao Miyazaki’s new film

A New Amiga Will Go On Sale In Late 2017

An anonymous reader quote the Register: The world’s getting a new Amiga for Christmas. Yes, that Amiga — the seminal Commodore microcomputers that brought mouse-driven GUIs plus slick and speedy graphics to the masses from 1985 to 1996… The platform died when Commodore went bankrupt, but enthusiasm for the Amiga persisted and various clones and efforts to preserve AmigaOS continue to this day. One such effort, from Apollo Accelerators, emerged last week: the company’s forthcoming “Vampire V4” can work as a standalone Amiga or an accelerator for older Amigas… There’s also 512MB of RAM, 40-and-44-pin FastIDE connectors, Ethernet, a pair of USB ports and MicroSD for storage [PDF]. Micro USB gets power to the board. A school in Michigan used the same Amiga for 30 years. Whenever it broke, they actually phoned up the high school student who original set it up in 1987 and had him come over to fix it. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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A New Amiga Will Go On Sale In Late 2017

Study finds massive volcano range hidden in Antarctica’s ice

A new study claims to have found a huge expanse of volcanoes lurking beneath the ice in Antarctica . Scientists unearthed a total of 91 previously undiscovered volcanoes — some stretching up to 3, 850 metres (12, 600 feet) in height — in the region known as the West Antarctic Rift System (WARS). The area is comparable to the densely concentrated volcanic regions in east Africa and North America, according to researchers from the University of Edinburgh. Due to the ice sheets that cover its terrain, geologists have found it extremely difficult to study Antarctica for signs of volcanic systems. To overcome the obstacles posed by nature, the team of scientists remotely surveyed the underside of the ice using a digital elevation model known as Bedmap 2 DEM. They cross-referenced that info by examining aerial and satellite imagery. The results showed peaks of basalt rock poking up through the ice to form cone-shaped structures. Of those 178 edifices, 91 were outlined as previously undiscovered volcanoes. The study suggests that the density of the volcanoes in the WARS is one volcano per 4, 800 square miles, making it one of the world’s largest volcanic regions. Although, the results do not indicate whether the volcanoes are active, the data could allow future studies to determine just that. Whereas previous research has pointed to seismic activity in Antarctica, it is not thought to have impacted the present ice retreat. That wasn’t the case in Iceland, where studies found an increase in ice flow due to subglacial eruptions. Comparably, west Antarctica contains a thicker sheet of ice, but that may not be enough to prevent the affects of volcanic disturbance on future ice flow, suggest the scientists — especially during warmer periods . On the other hand, seeing as ice tends to slope downwards on a smooth surface, the cone-shaped structures could even act as deterrents against the current pace of glacial motion, claim the researchers. Source: University of Edinburgh, School of Geosciences (pdf)

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Study finds massive volcano range hidden in Antarctica’s ice

14,700 years ago, cannibals conducted rituals in this English cave

PLoS Nestled in the dramatic Cheddar Gorge in Somerset, UK, there’s a roomy limestone cave called Gough’s Cave where a few generations of people lived about 14,700 years ago. They littered the floor with the remnants of their meals, leaving hundreds of bones behind for archaeologists to find. Now, scientists have analyzed these bones and discovered that some of them are from six separate human beings. And they bear the distinct marks of ritual cannibalism. Natural History Museum of London scientist Silvia Bello and her colleagues write in PLoS One about the find. The bones came from a child, two adolescents, two adults, and one elderly adult. All showed evidence of butchery, which leaves characteristic marks behind when sharp tools are used for defleshing. The bones were also covered in human tooth marks from biting and gnawing, and some had been broken open for their marrow. Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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14,700 years ago, cannibals conducted rituals in this English cave

Hundred-year-old fruitcake found in Anarctica in "excellent condition"

Researchers from the Antarctic Heritage Trust turned up this 100-year-old fruitcake in a Cape Adare hut. From their report : Made by Huntley & Palmers, the fruit cake is still wrapped in paper and encased in the remains of a tin-plated iron alloy tin. The cake probably dates to the Cape Adare-based Northern Party of Scott’s Terra Nova expedition (1910 – 1913) as it has been documented that Scott took this particular brand of cake with him at that time. Although the tin was in poor condition, the cake itself looked and smelt (almost) edible… “It’s an ideal high-energy food for Antarctic conditions, and is still a favourite item on modern trips to the Ice,” said the Trust’s Lizzie Meek.

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Hundred-year-old fruitcake found in Anarctica in "excellent condition"

Apple Refuses To Enable iPhone Emergency Settings that Could Save Countless Lives

An anonymous reader shares a report: Despite being relatively easy, Apple keeps ignoring requests to enable a feature called Advanced Mobile Location (AML) in iOS. Enabling AML would give emergency services extremely accurate locations of emergency calls made from iPhones, dramatically decreasing response time. As we have covered before, Google’s successful implementation of AML for Android is already saving lives. But where Android users have become safer, iPhone owners have been left behind. The European Emergency Number Association (EENA), the organization behind implementing AML for emergency services, released a statement today that pleads Apple to consider the safety of its customers and participate in the program: “As AML is being deployed in more and more countries, iPhone users are put at a disadvantage compared to Android users in the scenario that matters most: An emergency. EENA calls on Apple to integrate Advanced Mobile Location in their smartphones for the safety of their customers.” Why is AML so important? Majority of emergency calls today are made from cellphones, which has made location pinging increasingly more important for emergency services. There are many emergency apps and features in development, but AML’s strength is that it doesn’t require anything from the user — no downloads and no forethought: The process is completely automated. With AML, smartphones running supporting operating systems will recognize when emergency calls are being made and turn on GNSS (global navigation satellite system) and Wi-Fi. The phone then automatically sends an SMS to emergency services, detailing the location of the caller. AML is up to 4, 000 times more accurate than the current systems — pinpointing phones down from an entire city to a room in an apartment. “In the past months, EENA has been travelling around Europe to raise awareness of AML in as many countries as possible. All these meetings brought up a recurring question that EENA had to reply to: ‘So, what about Apple?'” reads EENA’s statement. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Apple Refuses To Enable iPhone Emergency Settings that Could Save Countless Lives

Salesforce Fires Red Team Staffers Who Gave Defcon Talk

Josh Schwartz, Salesforce’s director of offensive security, and John Cramb, a senior offensive security engineer, have been fired by the company after they gave talk at the Defcon security conference talk in Las Vegas last month, reports ZDNet. Schwartz and Cramb were presenting the details of their tool, called Meatpistol, a “modular malware implant framework (PDF)” similar in intent to the Metasploit toolkit used by many penetration testers. The tool, “pitched as taking ‘the boring work’ out of pen-testing to make red teams, including at Salesforce, more efficient and effective”, was anticipated to be released as open source at the time of the presentation, but Salesforce has held back the code. From the report: The two were fired “as soon as they got off stage” by a senior Salesforce executive, according to one of several people who witnessed the firing and offered their accounts. The unnamed Salesforce executive is said to have sent a text message to the duo half an hour before they were expected on stage to not to give the talk, but the message wasn’t seen until after the talk had ended. The talk had been months in the making. Salesforce executives were first made aware of the project in a February meeting, and they had signed off on the project, according to one person with knowledge of the meeting. The tool was expected to be released later as an open-source project, allowing other red teams to use the project in their own companies. But in another text message seen by Schwartz and Cramb an hour before their talk, the same Salesforce executive told the speakers that they should not announce the public release of the code, despite a publicized and widely anticipated release. Later, on stage, Schwartz told attendees that he would fight to get the tool published. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Salesforce Fires Red Team Staffers Who Gave Defcon Talk