Tag: internet

Dropbox Head Responds To Snowden Claims About Privacy

First time accepted submitter Carly Page writes When asked for its response to Edward Snowden’s claims that “Dropbox is hostile to privacy”, Dropbox told The INQUIRER that users concerned about privacy should add their own encryption. The firm warned however that if users do, not all of the service’s features will work. Head of Product at Dropbox for Business Ilya Fushman says: “We have data encrypted on our servers. We think of encryption beyond that as a users choice. If you look at our third-party developer ecosystem you’ll find many client-side encryption apps….It’s hard to do things like rich document rendering if they’re client-side encrypted. Search is also difficult, we can’t index the content of files. Finally, we need users to understand that if they use client-side encryption and lose the password, we can’t then help them recover those files.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Dropbox Head Responds To Snowden Claims About Privacy

Verizon’s Accidental Mea Culpa

Barryke writes: Verizon has blamed Netflix for the streaming slowdowns their customers have been seeing. It seems the Verizon blog post defending this accusation has backfired in a spectacular way: The chief has clearly admitted that Verizon has capacity to spare, and is deliberately constraining throughput from network providers. Level3, a major ISP that interconnects with Verizon’s networks, responded by showing a diagram that visualizes the underpowered interconnect problem and explaining why Verizon’s own post indicates how it restricts data flow. Level3 also offered to pay for the necessary upgrades to Verizon hardware: “… these cards are very cheap, a few thousand dollars for each 10 Gbps card which could support 5, 000 streams or more. If that’s the case, we’ll buy one for them. Maybe they can’t afford the small piece of cable between our two ports. If that’s the case, we’ll provide it. Heck, we’ll even install it.” I’m curious to see Verizon’s response to this straightforward accusation of throttling paying users (which tech-savvy readers were quick to confirm). Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Verizon’s Accidental Mea Culpa

After 150 Years, Scientists Finally Know How Barnacle Glue Works

Over a century and a half ago, Charles Darwin first described the remarkable adhesive capabilities of barnacles. He couldn’t figure out how their natural superglue worked, though. And it took until now to finally unlock the barnacle glue’s mysteries . Read more…

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After 150 Years, Scientists Finally Know How Barnacle Glue Works

New Mayhem Malware Targets Linux and UNIX-Like Servers

Bismillah writes: Russian security researchers have spotted a new malware named Mayhem that has spread to 1, 400 or so Linux and FreeBSD servers around the world, and continues to look for new machines to infect. And, it doesn’t need root to operate. “The malware can have different functionality depending on the type of plug-in downloaded to it by the botmaster in control, and stashed away in a hidden file system on the compromised server. Some of the plug-ins provide brute force cracking of password functionality, while others crawl web pages to scrape information. According to the researchers, Mayhem appears to be the continuation of the Fort Disco brute-force password cracking attack campaign that began in May 2013.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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New Mayhem Malware Targets Linux and UNIX-Like Servers

Peer Review Ring Broken – 60 Articles Retracted

blackbeak (1227080) writes The Washington Post reports that the Journal of Vibration and Control’s review system was hijacked by a ring of reviewers. 60 articles have been retracted as a result. “After a 14-month investigation, JVC determined the ring involved “aliases” and fake e-mail addresses of reviewers — up to 130 of them — in an apparently successful effort to get friendly reviews of submissions and as many articles published as possible by Chen and his friends.’On at least one occasion, the author Peter Chen reviewed his own paper under one of the aliases he created, ‘ according to the SAGE announcement.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Peer Review Ring Broken – 60 Articles Retracted

How to Peel a Mango in Under 10 Seconds

Mangoes are objectively one of the best fruits in the world (see you in the comments), but they can be notoriously difficult to peel, due to how slippery they are inside. Here’s how to skip the mess and get rid of those pesky skins in seconds. Read more…

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How to Peel a Mango in Under 10 Seconds

Google Maps Update Lets You Measure Distances (or Aimlessly Doodle)

Ever try measuring the straight-line distance between two points on Google Maps? You had to hold some object or appendage up to the little scale, then eyeball-measure the distance on your screen. What a mess. No more—a new update puts the task a right-click away . Also, you can doodle with it. Read more…

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Google Maps Update Lets You Measure Distances (or Aimlessly Doodle)

DHS Mistakenly Releases 840 Pages of Critical Infrastructure Documents

wiredmikey (1824622) writes The Operation Aurora attack was publicized in 2010 and impacted Google and a number of other high-profile companies. However, DHS responded to the request by releasing more than 800 pages of documents related to the ‘Aurora’ experiment conducted several years ago at the Idaho National Laboratory, where researchers demonstrated a way to damage a generator via a cyber-attack. Of the documents released by the DHS, none were related to the Operation Aurora cyber attack as requested. Many of the 840 pages are comprised of old weekly reports from the DHS’ Control System Security Program (CSSP) from 2007. Other pages that were released included information about possible examples of facilities that could be vulnerable to attack, such as water plants and gas pipelines. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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DHS Mistakenly Releases 840 Pages of Critical Infrastructure Documents

Thousands of Leaked KGB Files Are Now Open To the Public

schwit1 (797399) writes “Over 20 years after being smuggled out of Russia, a trove of KGB documents are being opened up to the public for the first time. The leaked documents include thousands of files and represent what the FBI is said to view as “the most complete and extensive intelligence ever received from any source.” The documents include KGB information on secret Russian weapons caches, Russian spies, and KGB information on the activities of Pope John Paul II. Known as the Mitrokhin Archive, the files are all available as of today at Churchill College’s Archives Centre.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Thousands of Leaked KGB Files Are Now Open To the Public

How to Ditch Google Voice (and Keep All the Best Features)

Google Voice is a service we’ve loved for a long time , but any Voice user that’s honest with themselves knows the service has been a second-class citizen for a while now. If you’re feeling like it’s time to move on, here’s how to ease the transition (and even keep most of your favorite features in the process). Read more…

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How to Ditch Google Voice (and Keep All the Best Features)