infrastructure – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Dutch Utility Plans Massive Wind Farm Island In North Sea

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Britain’s homes could be lit and powered by wind farms surrounding an artificial island deep out in the North Sea, under advanced plans by a Dutch energy network. The radical proposal envisages an island being built to act as a hub for vast offshore wind farms that would eclipse today’s facilities in scale. Dogger Bank, 125km (78 miles) off the East Yorkshire coast, has been identified as a potentially windy and shallow site. The power hub would send electricity over a long-distance cable to the UK and Netherlands, and possibly later to Belgium, Germany, and Denmark. TenneT, the project’s backer and Dutch equivalent of the UK’s National Grid, recently shared early findings of a study that said its plan could be billions of euros cheaper than conventional wind farms and international power cables. The sci-fi-sounding proposal is sold as an innovative answer to industry’s challenge of continuing to make offshore wind cheaper, as turbines are pushed ever further off the coast to more expensive sites as the best spots closer to land fill up. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Dutch Utility Plans Massive Wind Farm Island In North Sea

Author of BrickerBot Malware Retires, Says He Bricked 10 Million IoT Devices

An anonymous reader writes: The author of BrickerBot — the malware that bricks IoT devices — has announced his retirement in an email to Bleeping Computer, also claiming to have bricked over 10 million devices since he started the “Internet Chemotherapy” project in November 2016. Similar to the authors of the Mirai malware, the BrickerBot developer dumped his malware’s source code online, allowing other crooks to profit from his code. The code is said to contain at least one zero-day. In a farewell message left on hundreds of hacked routers, the BrickerBot author also published a list of incidents (ISP downtimes) he caused, while also admitting he is likely to have drawn the attention of law enforcement agencies. “There’s also only so long that I can keep doing something like this before the government types are able to correlate my likely network routes (I have already been active for far too long to remain safe). For a while now my worst-case scenario hasn’t been going to jail, but simply vanishing in the middle of the night as soon as some unpleasant government figures out who I am, ” the hacker said. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Intel squeezed an AMD graphics chip, RAM and CPU into one module

Intel may have unveiled its latest Core CPUs for mainstream laptops , but the company has something more advanced up its sleeves for what it calls its “enthusiast” customers. The new chip will be part of the 8th-generation Core H series of processors, and comes with discrete-level graphics cards built in, as well as its own RAM. Having all this built into the processor frees up space for other components inside a laptop, so device manufacturers can squeeze in things like larger batteries or more optimal fan designs. Intel is not sharing performance details for the new CPUs yet, but it’s promising power that will be good enough for gamers or content creators who often run taxing programs like Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. Specifically, the new processor integrates a “semi-custom” AMD graphics chip and the second generation of Intel’s “High Bandwidth Memory (HBM2)”, which is comparable to GDDR 5 in a traditional laptop. The three typically distinct components are able to coexist on one chip because of Intel’s Embedded Multi-Die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB), which “allows heterogeneous silicon to quickly pass information in extremely close proximity.” The company also came up with a power-sharing framework that lets the GPU manage each component’s temperature, performance and energy use. This infrastructure should free up about three square inches of board space that could either be used for other components as described above, or make for thinner laptops altogether. The idea is that powerful laptops for gamers no longer have to be chunky beasts. The new Core H processor is the first consumer product to use EMIB, and will be released in the first quarter of 2018, and many laptop makers are expected to offer products powered by the chip. This is a pretty significant development that not only benefits the enthusiast audience, but could also have trickle down effects that could improve mainstream laptops (and even other devices) in the future. Source: Intel

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Intel squeezed an AMD graphics chip, RAM and CPU into one module

Tesla Is Shipping Hundreds of Powerwall Batteries To Puerto Rico

schwit1 quotes a report from Futurism: In a continued streak of goodwill during this year’s devastating hurricane season, Tesla has been shipping hundreds of its Powerwall batteries to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Since the hurricane hit on 20 September, much of the U.S. territory has been left without power — about 97 percent, as of 27 September — hampering residents’ access to drinkable water, perishable food, and air conditioning. The island’s hospitals are struggling to keep generators running as diesel fuel dwindles. Installed by employees in Puerto Rico, Tesla’s batteries could be paired with solar panels in order to store electricity for the territory, whose energy grid may need up to six months to be fully repaired. Several power banks have already arrived to the island, and more are en route. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Over 28 Million Records Stolen In Breach of Latin American Social Network Taringa

Taringa, also known as “The Latin American Reddit, ” has been compromised in a massive data breach that has resulted in the leaked login credentials of almost all of its over 28 million users. The Hackers News reports: The Hacker News has been informed by LeakBase, a breach notification service, who has obtained a copy of the hacked database containing details on 28, 722, 877 accounts, which includes usernames, email addresses and hashed passwords for Taringa users. The hashed passwords use an ageing algorithm called MD5 — which has been considered outdated even before 2012 — that can easily be cracked, making Taringa users open to hackers. Wanna know how weak is MD5? LeakBase team has already cracked 93.79 percent (nearly 27 Million) of hashed passwords successfully within just a few days. The data breach reportedly occurred last month, and the company then alerted its users via a blog post: “It is likely that the attackers have made the database containing nicks, email addresses and encrypted passwords. No phone numbers and access credentials from other social networks have been compromised as well as addresses of bitcoin wallets from the Taringa program! Creators.” the post (translated) says. “At the moment there is no concrete evidence that the attackers continue to have access to the Taringa code! and our team continues to monitor unusual movements in our infrastructure.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Over 28 Million Records Stolen In Breach of Latin American Social Network Taringa

Sweden Accidentally Leaks Personal Details of Nearly All Citizens

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Hacker News: Swedish media is reporting of a massive data breach in the Swedish Transport Agency (Transportstyrelsen) after the agency mishandled an outsourcing deal with IBM, which led to the leak of the private data about every vehicle in the country, including those used by both police and military. The data breach exposed the names, photos and home addresses of millions of Swedish citizen, including fighter pilots of Swedish air force, members of the military’s most secretive units, police suspects, people under the witness relocation program, the weight capacity of all roads and bridges, and much more. The incident is believed to be one of the worst government information security disasters ever. In 2015, the Swedish Transport Agency hand over IBM an IT maintenance contract to manage its databases and networks. However, the Swedish Transport Agency uploaded IBM’s entire database onto cloud servers, which covered details on every vehicle in the country, including police and military registrations, and individuals on witness protection programs. The transport agency then emailed the entire database in messages to marketers that subscribe to it. And what’s terrible is that the messages were sent in clear text. When the error was discovered, the transport agency merely thought of sending a new list in another email, asking the subscribers to delete the old list themselves. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Sweden Accidentally Leaks Personal Details of Nearly All Citizens

Exploit Derived From EternalSynergy Upgraded To Target Newer Windows Versions

An anonymous reader writes: “Thai security researcher Worawit Wang has put together an exploit based on ETERNALSYNERGY that can also target newer versions of the Windows operating system, ” reports Bleeping Computer. “ETERNALSYNERGY is one of the NSA exploits leaked by the Shadow Brokers hacking group in April this year. According to a Microsoft technical analysis, the exploit can allow an attacker to execute code on Windows machines with SMB services exposed to external connections. The exploit works up to Windows 8. According to Microsoft, the techniques used in the original ETERNALSYNERGY exploit do not work on newer platforms due to several kernel security improvements. Wang says his exploit targets the same vulnerability but uses a different exploitation technique. His method ‘should never crash a target, ‘ the expert says. ‘Chance should be nearly 0%, ‘ Wang adds.” Combining his exploit with the original ETERNALSYNERGY exploit would allow a hacker to target all Windows versions except Windows 10. This is about 75% of all Windows PCs. The exploit code is available for download from Wang’s GitHub or ExploitDB. Sheila A. Berta, a security researcher for Telefonica’s Eleven Paths security unit, has published a step-by-step guide on how to use Wang’s exploit. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Exploit Derived From EternalSynergy Upgraded To Target Newer Windows Versions

Equal Rights Center Sues Uber For Denying Equal Access To People Who Use Wheelchairs

The Equal Rights Center is suing Uber, alleging that the company has chosen not to include wheelchair-accessible cars as an option in its standard UberX fleet of vehicles, and excludes people who use wheelchairs in Washington, D.C. According to the lawsuit, Uber is in violation of Title 3 of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the D.C. Human Rights Act. TechCrunch reports: After conducting its own investigation of Uber’s services for people in wheelchairs, the ERC found that passengers had to wait an average of eight times longer for an accessible car to arrive. They also had to pay twice as much in fares, according to the ERC’s study. Ultimately, the ERC wants Uber to integrate wheelchair accessible cars into its UberX fleet so that people who use wheelchairs don’t have to wait longer and pay more to use the car service. Uber said in a statement provided to TechCrunch: “We take this issue seriously and are committed to continued work with the District, our partners, and stakeholders toward expanding transportation options and freedom of movement for all residents throughout the region.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Equal Rights Center Sues Uber For Denying Equal Access To People Who Use Wheelchairs

Trump Promises a Federal Technology Overhaul To Save $1 Trillion

New submitter threc shares a report from MIT Technology Review: The tech world descended on Washington, D.C. yesterday to attend a tech summit at the White House. According to MIT Technology Review associate editor Jamie Condliffe: “Trump suggested he might relax his stance on immigration as a way to get tech leaders to help his cause. ‘You can get the people you want, ‘ he told the assembled CEOs. That sweetener may be a response to a very vocal backlash in the tech world against the administration’s recent travel bans. Trump may hope that his business-friendly stance will offer enough allure: if tech giants scratch his back, he may later deign to scratch theirs.” The report continues: “‘Our goal is to lead a sweeping transformation of the federal government’s technology that will deliver dramatically better services for citizens, ‘ said Trump at the start of his meeting with the CEOs, according to the Washington Post. ‘We’re embracing big change, bold thinking, and outsider perspectives.’ The headline announcement from the event was Trump’s promise to overhaul creaking government computing infrastructure. According to Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and advisor, there’s much to be done: federal agencies have over 6, 000 data centers that could be consolidated, for instance, while the 10 oldest networks in use by the government are all at least 39 years old. The upgrade, said Trump, could save the country $1 trillion over the next 10 years.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Trump Promises a Federal Technology Overhaul To Save $1 Trillion

Trump Wants To Modernize Air Travel By Turning Over Control To the Big Airlines

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Today, President Donald Trump endorsed a plan to hand over oversight of the nation’s airspace to a non-profit corporation that will likely be largely controlled by the major airlines. Republicans argue that privatizing air traffic control will help save money and fast track important technological upgrades. But Democrats and consumer groups criticize that plan as a corporate giveaway that will inevitably harm passengers. The air traffic reform proposal, which fell short in Congress last year, would transfer oversight from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to a government-sanctioned, independent entity that would be made up of appointees from industry stakeholders. The effort picked up steam when the union representing air traffic controllers endorsed the plan, citing years of understaffing by the FAA. Some passengers may balk at the idea of handing over day-to-day management of the nation’s highly complex air traffic control system to the same companies that rack up tens of thousands of customer complaints a year, and occasionally physically assault or drag passengers off their planes. But the Trump administration argues this is the only way to modernize a system that still runs on technology that’s been around since World War II. The FAA is already years into a technology upgrade known as NextGen, which involves moving from the current system based on radar and voice communications to one based on satellite navigation and digital communications. The FAA wants to use GPS technology to shorten routes, save time and fuel, and reduce traffic delays by increasing capacity. Read more of this story at Slashdot.