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Support scams that plagued Windows users for years now target Mac customers

Enlarge (credit: Malwarebytes) For years, scammers claiming that they’re “calling from Windows” have dialed up Microsoft customers and done their best to trick them into parting with their money or installing malicious wares. Now, the swindlers are turning their sights on Mac users. Researchers at antivirus provider Malwarebytes spotted a Web-based campaign that attempts to trick OS X and iOS users into thinking there’s something wrong with their devices . The ruse starts with a pop-up window that’s designed to look like an official OS notification. “Critical Security Warning!” it says. “Your Device (iPad, iPod, iPhone) is infected with a malicious adward [sic] attack.” It goes on to provide a phone number people can call to receive tech support. The site ara-apple.com is designed to masquerade as https://ara.apple.com/ , Apple’s official remote technical support page. People who are experiencing problems with their Macs can go there to get an official Apple tech support provider to remotely access the person’s computer desktop. Ara-apple provides links to the remote programs the supposed technician will use to log in to targets’ Macs. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Support scams that plagued Windows users for years now target Mac customers

Android 6.0 re-implements mandatory device encryption for new devices

(credit: Google) Shortly after the announcement of iOS 8 in 2014, Google made headlines by saying that it would make full-device encryption mandatory for new Android devices running version 5.0. It then made more headlines several months later when we discovered that the company backed down , “strongly recommending” that Android device makers enable encryption but stopping short of actually requiring it. Now Google has published an updated version of the Android Compatibility Definition Document ( PDF ) for Android 6.0, and it looks like mandatory encryption is back with a couple of exceptions. New devices that come with Marshmallow and have AES crypto performance above 50MiB-per-second need to support encryption of the private user data partition (/data) and the public data partition (/sdcard). The relevant portion of the document, emphasis ours: Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Android 6.0 re-implements mandatory device encryption for new devices

Scientists grow functional kidney organoid from stem cells

A drawing shows the complex structure of a kidney. (credit: Wikimedia commons ) There are many diseases that attack specific organs, landing patients on a transplant list. Unfortunately, our bodies have markers that identify an organ as “self,” which makes it difficult to find an organ match. Many individuals die waiting for an organ transplant because a match can’t be found. Research on stem cells—a type of cell that is able to transform into nearly any cell type—has raised hopes of treating organ failure. Researchers envision using these cells to grow fully functional organs. A functional organ is similar to a machine. Organs contain many interacting parts that must be positioned in a specific configuration to work properly. Getting all the right cell types in the appropriate locations is a real challenge. Recently, a team of scientists has met that challenge by using stem cells to grow a tissue, termed an organoid, that resembles a developing kidney. Read 8 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Scientists grow functional kidney organoid from stem cells

Cage against the EMP: New composite cases protect against the electro-apocalypse

A Faraday Cases travel case, configured to keep communications gear safe in transit from unfriendly electromagnetism. 2 more images in gallery WASHINGTON, DC—A small company from Utah has developed a composite material that combines carbon fibers with a nickel coating. The result is an extremely lightweight electric-conducting material with the properties of plastic. And now that material is being used to create cases and computer enclosures that are essentially lightweight Faraday cages—containing electromagnetic radiation from digital devices and shielding them from electronic eavesdropping or electromagnetic pulse attacks. Ars got a brief hands-on with some of the materials at the Association of the United States Army expo this week. The company, Conductive Composites , is now selling cases built with the Nickel Chemical Vapor Deposition (NiCVD) composite material through its Faraday Cases division . The cases range in size from suitcase-sized units for carrying smaller digital devices to wheeled portable enclosures that can house servers—providing what is essentially an EMP-shielded portable data center. The cases and enclosures are being marketed not just to the military but to consumers, corporations, and first responders as well. The materials used in Faraday Cases can also be used to create ultra-lightweight antennas, satellite communications reflector dishes, and hundreds of other things that currently need to be made with conductive metal. And they could be a boon to anyone trying to prevent electronic eavesdropping—be it through active wireless bugs, radio retroreflectors used by nation-state intelligence agencies, or passive surveillance through anything from Wi-FI hacking to electromagnetic signals leaking from computer cables and monitors. And in some cases, they could make it possible to create the kind of secure spaces used by government agencies to prevent eavesdropping nearly anywhere. Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Cage against the EMP: New composite cases protect against the electro-apocalypse

New zero-day exploit hits fully patched Adobe Flash [Updated]

Update on October 14 at 1:15pm PDT: Adobe officials have confirmed this vulnerability affects Flash version 19.0.0.207 , which was released on Tuesday. The vulnerability has been cataloged as CVE-2015-7645. The company expects to release a fix next week. Attackers are exploiting a previously unknown vulnerability in fully patched versions of Adobe’s Flash Player so they can surreptitiously install malware on end users’ computers, security researchers warned Tuesday. So far, the attacks are known to target only government agencies as part of a long-running espionage campaign carried out by a group known as Pawn Storm, researchers from antivirus provider Trend Micro said in a blog post published Tuesday . It’s not unusual for such zero-day exploits to be more widely distributed once the initial element of surprise wanes. The critical security flaw is known to reside in Flash versions 19.0.0.185 and 19.0.0.207 and may also affect earlier versions. At this early stage, no other technical details are available. The researchers wrote: Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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New zero-day exploit hits fully patched Adobe Flash [Updated]

Cemu, the first working Nintendo Wii U emulator, publicly released

After months of fakes, a proper Wii U emulator is finally available for download—even if it is still rather janky. According to the developer, Cemu contains “basically no optimizations whatsoever,” no proper controller support, and no audio. For the time being, it’s only for Windows x64, although other platforms might eventually be supported. Ignoring all these caveats, it’s actually quite impressive if these videos are any indication of how far it’s come already. NES Remix Gameplay Windwaker HD booting up to menu (video link) Cemu, which is currently in what has been termed as its “proof-of-concept release” stage, requires OpenGL 3.3 to operate. It has an internal resolution of 1920×1080, and can run encrypted Wii U images (WUD) and RPX/RPL files. If you want to launch a game, it will need to be in raw dump format (WUS or ISO). There are plans to release updates on a fortnightly basis, although nothing has been set in stone as of yet. Interestingly, Cemu defies current emulator trends by not being an open-source project. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Cemu, the first working Nintendo Wii U emulator, publicly released

How Soviets used IBM Selectric keyloggers to spy on US diplomats

(credit: Etan J. Tal ) A National Security Agency memo that recently resurfaced a few years after it was first published contains a detailed analysis of what very possibly was the world’s first keylogger—a 1970s bug that Soviet spies implanted in US diplomats’ IBM Selectric typewriters to monitor classified letters and memos. The electromechanical implants were nothing short of an engineering marvel. The highly miniaturized series of circuits were stuffed into a metal bar that ran the length of the typewriter, making them invisible to the naked eye. The implant, which could only be seen using X-ray equipment, recorded the precise location of the little ball Selectric typewriters used to imprint a character on paper. With the exception of spaces, tabs, hyphens, and backspaces, the tiny devices had the ability to record every key press and transmit it back to Soviet spies in real time. A “lucrative source of information” The Soviet implants were discovered through the painstaking analysis of more than 10 tons’ worth of equipment seized from US embassies and consulates and shipped back to the US. The implants were ultimately found inside 16 typewriters used from 1976 to 1984 at the US embassy in Moscow and the US consulate in Leningrad. The bugs went undetected for the entire eight-year span and only came to light following a tip from a US ally whose own embassy was the target of a similar eavesdropping operation. Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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How Soviets used IBM Selectric keyloggers to spy on US diplomats

Army’s first shoulder-fired “smart weapon” close to final test

Orbital ATK The XM25 is the Army’s first “smart” shoulder-fired weapon. “It launches 25mm dual-warhead, low velocity, flat trajectory ammunition designed to explode over a target,” as the Army describes it-allowing it to blow things and people up hidden behind cover. 4 more images in gallery Early next year, the US Army will begin acceptance testing of a weapon that seems like it’s straight out of Call of Duty Advanced Warfare:  the XM25 Counter Defilade Engagement System , a “smart” grenade launcher from Orbital Sciences subsidiary Orbital ATK. The XM25 is designed to be an “anti-defilade” weapon-its purpose is to allow soldiers to hit targets shielded by cover. The XM25 has a built-in “target acquisition and fire control system” that allows any soldier with basic rifleman skills to operate it effectively–the soldier points the weapon’s target selector down range, and a laser rangefinder determines how far away it is. The soldier can add additional distance to clear obstacles, and the fire control computer gives the soldier a new aiming point to put the round on target, as well as setting the fusing of the grenade in the chamber. The grenade doesn’t have to strike anything to explode, so it can detonate in the air over whatever or whoever might be hiding behind a vehicle, wall, or entrenchment. The XM25 has been in development since the middle of the last decade. Originally developed by Alliant TechSystems, which was acquired by Orbital Sciences. In 2010, the Army’s PEO Soldier program office sent prototypes of the XM25 to Afghanistan for “forward operational assessment”–use in actual combat to see how it performed. PEO Soldier’s Lt. Colonel Chris Lehner said in a post about the field tests that the “introduction of the XM25 is akin to other revolutionary systems such as the machine gun, the airplane and the tank, all of which changed battlefield tactics. No longer will our Soldiers have to expose themselves by firing and maneuvering to eliminate an enemy behind cover. Our Soldiers can remain covered/protected and use their XM25 to neutralize an enemy in his covered position. This will significantly reduce the risk of U.S. casualties and change the way we fight.” Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Army’s first shoulder-fired “smart weapon” close to final test

Android 6.0 has a great auto backup system that no one is using (yet)

We recently published a  rather lengthy review of Google’s newest operating system, Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but there was one feature we couldn’t get working in time for the review: the new automatic backup feature for app data. The theory is that this feature would take all your app data, stick it in the cloud, and when you restore your phone or buy a new one, it would be like nothing ever changed—all your settings and logins would come back like magic. “Theory” is the key word, since we only had Google’s descriptions and the behavior of the Android M Developer Preview to go on for the review. One week and lots of research later, we think we’ve nailed down how the system works in the final version. What follows is a rewrite of the backup section that we’ll paste into the review, but since it is 95 percent new content and information, we’re giving it a separate article, too. If you’ve had any experience with the Developer Preview’s backup behavior, it really doesn’t apply to the final version. The Developer Preview took a brute force “back up everything” approach to app data, which in part was for Google’s testing to see how such a system would work. The final version takes a safer, consumer-ready route that has a lot more restrictions for what gets backed up. Read 32 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Android 6.0 has a great auto backup system that no one is using (yet)

New subreddit chronicles the most public “blue screens of death”

The new subreddit Public Blue Screens of Death. I swiped my credit card at a gas station last week, and as I replaced the nozzle, the pump’s display screen froze, blanked, and then rebooted. I had never seen such a thing before. Not sure if I had actually paid for the gas or not, I went inside and told the cashier. “It happens,” she said. Indeed it does. Thanks to our ever-more-computerized world, crashed software and arcane error messages are a common sight in public-facing displays. A new subreddit called Public Blue Screens of Death aims to chronicle these public crashes, especially those that result in the infamous Windows “blue screen of death” (BSOD). This isn’t the first such collection of BSODs, of course. The Flickr group ” Public Computer Errors ” has been around since 2005 and contains 1,500 images—but its remit extends far beyond the BSOD. More commonly, public BSODs are collected into humorous, one-off roundups . The new subreddit aims to be an ongoing archive of such material, however, and it has been skinned to resemble an old Windows display. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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New subreddit chronicles the most public “blue screens of death”