Tag: cars

How hackers made life hell for a CIA boss and other top US officials

Enlarge (credit: Flickr user Erica Zabowski ) A North Carolina man has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy that illegally accessed the e-mail and social media accounts of Central Intelligence Director John Brennan and other senior government officials and then used that access to leak sensitive information and make personal threats. Justin Gray Liverman, 24, of Morehead City, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, commit identity theft, and make harassing, anonymous phone calls, federal prosecutors said Friday . Among the 10 people targeted in the conspiracy were Brennan; then-Deputy FBI Director Mark Giuliano; National Intelligence Director James R. Clapper; Greg Mecher, the husband of White House Communication Director Jen Psaki; and other government officials. The group called itself Crackas with Attitude, and it was led by a co-conspirator going by the name of Cracka. “She talks mad shit abt snowden,” Liverman said on December 10, 2015 in an online chat with Cracka, referring to a target who is believed to be Psaki, according to a statement of facts signed by Liverman and filed in US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. (The document refers to Mecher and Psaki as Victim 3 and the spouse of Victim 3 respectively.) “If you come across anything related to [Victim 3’s spouse] let me know. If you find her cell or home number omg gimme.” Liverman went on to say he wanted to “phonebomb the shitt [sic] outta” Psaki. Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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How hackers made life hell for a CIA boss and other top US officials

Verizon purges unlimited data customers, targets those using 200GB

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Spencer Platt) Verizon Wireless customers with unlimited data plans who use more than 200GB a month will have to switch to limited plans next month or be disconnected, a company spokesperson confirmed today. Since Verizon stopped offering unlimited data to new smartphone customers in 2011, this change affects only longtime customers who were allowed to hang on to the old plans. Verizon could simply force all customers who aren’t under contract to switch to new plans, but instead it has periodically made moves that reduce the numbers of unlimited data subscribers. “Because our network is a shared resource and we need to ensure all customers have a great mobile experience with Verizon, we are notifying a small group of customers on unlimited plans who use more than 200GB a month that they must move to a Verizon Plan by February 16, 2017,” Verizon spokesperson Kelly Crummey told Ars today. Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Verizon purges unlimited data customers, targets those using 200GB

Yahoo to change name to Altaba once Verizon buys brand and operations

(credit: Photograph by Randy Stewart ) Yahoo, one of the Internet’s most venerable companies, won’t exist for much longer. Verizon confirmed plans to acquire Yahoo for $4.8 billion in July , and a new financial filing from Yahoo includes details of what’s going to happen next. However, Verizon has promised that—if the increasingly bumpy buyout completes—the Yahoo brand will live on. July’s proposed sale included the firm’s operating business, but it didn’t include the big chunk of Chinese e-commerce site Alibaba owned by Yahoo, and it didn’t include certain other assets, mostly shares of Asia-based companies and non-core patents. What remains, according to SEC paperwork filed on Monday, will be rolled into a publicly-traded investment company called Altaba. The size of the board will be reduced to five directors, and many key executives will leave, including—as expected—Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Yahoo co-founder David Filo. Also out are Eddy Hartenstein, Richard Hill, Jane Shaw, and Maynard Webb. The departures are not “due to any disagreement with the company on any matter relating to the company’s operations, policies, or practices,” Yahoo’s filing said. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Yahoo to change name to Altaba once Verizon buys brand and operations

Shamoon disk-wiping malware can now destroy virtual desktops, too

Enlarge / A computer infected by Shamoon System is unable to find its operating system. (credit: Palo Alto Networks) There’s a new variant of the Shamoon disk-wiping malware that was originally unleashed on Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company in 2012, and it has a newly added ability to destroy virtual desktops, researchers said. The new strain is at least the second Shamoon variant to be discovered since late November, when researchers detected the return of disk-wiping malware after taking a more than four-year hiatus. The variant was almost identical to the original one except for the image that was left behind on sabotaged computers. Whereas the old one showed a burning American flag, the new one displayed the iconic photo of the body of Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian refugee boy who drowned as his family tried to cross from Turkey to Greece. Like the original Shamoon, which permanently destroyed data on more than 30,000 work stations belonging to Saudi Aramco , the updates also hit one or more Saudi targets that researchers have yet to name. According to a blog post published Monday night by researchers from Palo Alto networks, the latest variant has been updated to attack virtual desktops, which have emerged as one of the key protections against Shamoon and other types of disk-wiping malware. The update included usernames and passwords related to the virtual desktop infrastructure products from Huawei, which can protect against a destructive malware through its ability to load snapshots of wiped systems. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Shamoon disk-wiping malware can now destroy virtual desktops, too

“Neon” screenshots leak, showing off a refreshed Windows 10 look and feel

Enlarge / Neon introduces the use of transparency, such as on the left panel of Groove Music. (credit: MSPoweruser ) After reports last year that Microsoft was going to revise and update the design language used for Windows applications, some screenshots have leaked  to MSPoweruser giving an indication of how the appearance is going to change. Windows 10 presently uses a design language known as MDL2 (Microsoft Design Language 2), which is an evolved version of the Metro design first introduced with Windows Phone 7. Both Metro and MDL2 put an emphasis on clean lines, simple geometric shapes, attractive typography, photographic imagery, and minimal use of ornamentation. Both heavily borrow from responsive Web design concepts. Google’s Material design language builds on similar themes, adding transitions and animations to better show how pieces of information are related. The new Microsoft look is named Neon. It continues the evolution of Metro—it retains the emphasis on clean text and a generally flat appearance but adds certain elements of translucency (which the company is calling “acrylic”) and greater use of animation and movement. Additional new elements are “Conscious UI,” wherein an acrylic element might change depending on what’s behind the current app, and “Connected Animations.” The current preview of the Groove Music app, available to users of Windows Insider builds, already includes Connected Animations. Headers and pictures shrink as you scroll down the list of songs. As with Metro before it, much of this is already familiar and commonplace in Web design. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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“Neon” screenshots leak, showing off a refreshed Windows 10 look and feel

Tesla’s next-generation Superchargers should be much faster

Tesla’s Superchargers are certainly faster than most public EV stations, but they’re still far slower than you might hope for. When it can take about 40 minutes to get an 80 percent charge, you can’t exactly grab and go like you would at a gas pump. Relief is in sight, however: Elon Musk has teased third-generation Superchargers that could supply much, much more power than the maximum 150kW per car you see today. Even the 350kW floated as a guess by Electrek ‘s Fred Lambert is like a “children’s toy, ” according to Musk. Musk isn’t diving into specifics, to no one’s surprise, so it’s not clear just how quickly the new system would charge, when it arrives or whether it will be compatible with existing Tesla cars. As our Autoblog compatriots point out , though, Geneva is planning to deploy buses that use 600kW “flash-charging” to keep running without significantly interrupting their schedules. Even a longer recharge at the end of the line should take 4-5 minutes. If Tesla can approach that level of power delivery, it could speed up charging to the point where you can visit a Supercharger when you’re pressed for time (say, on the way to work). Any dramatic improvement would go a long way toward making EVs more acceptable to a public used to refilling their cars almost on impulse, instead of planning their trips around it. However, it could also make financial sense for Musk and company. The shorter your charging stop, the sooner you free up a given space for the next driver. Whatever Tesla spends to upgrade stations could be offset by taking more customers (many of whom will be paying ) and reducing the need for additional stations to keep up with demand. Also, Musk notes that both these “V3” stations and Powerwall 2 will be key to a wide rollout of solar-powered Superchargers that are kinder to both Tesla’s energy costs and the environment. @FredericLambert There are some installed already, but full rollout really needs Supercharger V3 and Powerpack V2, plus SolarCity. Pieces now in place. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2016 @FredericLambert A mere 350 kW … what are you referring to, a children’s toy? — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2016 Via: Autoblog Source: Elon Musk (Twitter 1) , (2)

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Tesla’s next-generation Superchargers should be much faster

Paris Makes All Public Transportation Free In Battle Against ‘Worst Air Pollution For 10 Years’

Paris has barred some cars from its streets and has made public transportation free as it suffers from the worst and most prolonged winter pollution for at least 10 years, the Airparif agency said on Wednesday. The Independent reports: Authorities have said only drivers with odd-numbered registration plates can drive in the capital region on Wednesday. Drivers of even-numbered cars were given the same opportunity on Tuesday, but could now be fined up to 35 EUR if they are caught behind the wheel. More than 1, 700 motorists were fined for violations on Tuesday. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said images of smog blanketing the capital were proof of the need to reduce vehicle use in the city center. The air pollution peak is due to the combination of emissions from vehicles and from domestic wood fires as well as near windless conditions which means pollutants have not been dispersed, the Airparif agency said. “This is a record period (of pollution) for the last 10 years, ” Karine Leger of AirParif told AFP by telephone. For more than a week, Airparif has published readings of PM10 at more than 80 micrograms per cubic meter of air particles, triggering the pollution alert. Along with odd-numbered cars, hybrid or electric vehicles as well as those carrying three or more people will be allowed to roam the roads. Foreign and emergency vehicles will be unaffected. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Paris Makes All Public Transportation Free In Battle Against ‘Worst Air Pollution For 10 Years’

Using Rowhammer bitflips to root Android phones is now a thing

Enlarge / An LG Nexus 5 at the moment it is rooted using Rowhammer-induced bit flips. (credit: van der Veen et al.) Researchers have devised an attack that gains unfettered “root” access to a large number of Android phones by exploiting a relatively new type of bug that allows adversaries to manipulate data stored in memory chips. The breakthrough has the potential to make millions of Android phones vulnerable, at least until a security fix is available, to a new form of attack that seizes control of core parts of the operating system and neuters key security defenses. Equally important, it demonstrates that the new class of exploit dubbed Rowhammer can have malicious and far-reaching effects on a much wider base of devices than was previously known, including those running ARM chips. Previously, some experts believed Rowhammer attacks that altered specific pieces of security-sensitive data weren’t reliable enough to pose a viable threat because exploits depended on chance hardware faults or advanced memory-management features that could be easily adapted to repel the attacks. Now, an international team of academic researchers is challenging those assumptions by demonstrating a Rowhammer exploit that alters crucial bits of data in a way that completely roots name brand Android devices from LG, Motorola, Samsung, OnePlus, and possibly other manufacturers. An app containing the researchers’ rooting exploit requires no user permissions and doesn’t rely on any vulnerability in Android to work. Read 17 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Using Rowhammer bitflips to root Android phones is now a thing

To beat crypto, feds have tried to force fingerprint unlocking in 2 cases

Enlarge (credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images News) Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have been successful in getting judicial approval for two highly unusual searches. The warrants allowed the authorities to force suspects, who were inside their California homes, to press their fingerprints on a seized smartphone to see if it would unlock, Ars has learned. On Sunday, Forbes published the first-known redacted court filing associated with the search of a home in Lancaster, California, about 70 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. The 12-page memo  filed in federal court outlines the government’s argument as to why it believes it can conduct such a search under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, which protect against unreasonable search and seizure, and against compelled self-incrimination, respectively. The Lancaster document is dated May 9, and Forbes managed to contact an unnamed resident at the home, who confirmed that the search had taken place. That person said that “neither they nor any relatives living at the address had ever been accused of being part of any crime, but declined to offer more information,” according to Forbes . Read 25 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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To beat crypto, feds have tried to force fingerprint unlocking in 2 cases

Tesla bans customers from using autonomous cars to earn money ride-sharing

Enlarge On Thursday night, Tesla announced the new Model X and Model S electric vehicles will now come with the necessary hardware to allow them to drive completely autonomously at a future point in time. But buried in the notes about this new functionality there was also a warning to future Tesla owners: don’t expect to be able to use your EV driving for Uber, Lyft, or any other ride-sharing service that isn’t owned by Tesla. On Tesla’s website , the section that describes the new “Full Self-Driving Capability” (A $3,000 option at the time of purchase, $4,000 after the fact) states “Please note also that using a self-driving Tesla for car sharing and ride hailing for friends and family is fine, but doing so for revenue purposes will only be permissible on the Tesla Network, details of which will be released next year.” In Elon Musk’s ” Master Plan part 2 ,” the company’s CEO included plans for a Tesla ride-sharing network, which we know know will be called the Tesla Network. However, no other information about this program has escaped into the wild as yet. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Tesla bans customers from using autonomous cars to earn money ride-sharing