Tag: military

Hamas ‘Honey Trap’ Dupes Israeli Soldiers

wiredmikey quotes Security Week: The smartphones of dozens of Israeli soldiers were hacked by Hamas militants pretending to be attractive young women online, an Israeli military official said Wednesday. Using fake profiles on Facebook with alluring photos, Hamas members contacted the soldiers via groups on the social network, luring them into long chats, the official told journalists on condition of anonymity. Dozens of the predominantly lower-ranked soldiers were convinced enough by the honey trap to download fake applications which enabled Hamas to take control of their phones, according to the official. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

More:
Hamas ‘Honey Trap’ Dupes Israeli Soldiers

Russian Military Jet Carrying Choir Crashes, No Survivors

A Russian military jet that was en route to Syria disappeared from radar on Sunday. Russian authorities say that it crashed into the Black Sea. Reportedly , all 92 people on board were killed, including at least 60 members of the Red Army Choir. Read more…

More here:
Russian Military Jet Carrying Choir Crashes, No Survivors

DARPA is giving war vets first access to LUKE bionic arms

DARPA’s sophisticated LUKE bionic arm is ready for production, eight years after its development began and a couple of years after it was approved by the FDA. Before the bionic limb makes the transition into a commercial product, though, the military division is giving war veterans access to its initial production run. DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office director Justin Sanchez has recently delivered two LUKE arms to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for use by a couple of vets in need of a prosthetic limb. LUKE, which used to be known as the DEKA Arm System, is the brainchild of Segway creator Dean Kamen. Its name stands for Life Under Kinetic Evolution, but as you can guess, it was also inspired by Luke Skywalker whose hand was replaced with a robotic appendage in The Empire Strikes Back . The arm can understand multiple commands at any one time, giving it the ability to move as naturally as possible. In earlier tests, people were able to use it to brush their hair and to open locks. DARPA plans to develop LUKE even further to be more life-like. Sanchez says they “envision these limbs providing even greater dexterity and highly refined sensory experiences by connecting them directly to users’ peripheral and central nervous systems.” Source: DARPA

See the original article here:
DARPA is giving war vets first access to LUKE bionic arms

Avast’s Four Free Ransomware Decryption Tools Decrypt Locked Files

Ransomware, malware that enables attackers to disable systems or encrypt your data until you pay them , is on the rise. If you’ve become the victim of an attack, these four decryption tools might save the day. Read more…

More here:
Avast’s Four Free Ransomware Decryption Tools Decrypt Locked Files

Royal Navy Giving Up Anti-Ship Missiles, Will Rely On Cannons For Naval Combat

cold fjord writes: It will soon be a bit more difficult for Britain’s Royal Navy to rule the waves as it gives up anti-ship missiles as a result of budget cuts. That will force the Royal Navy to go “old school” and rely upon naval gunfire for ship-to-ship combat. Cannon fire as the primary means of ship-to-ship combat has been largely obsolete since the 1950s following the invention of guided missiles in World War 2. Prior to that, cannon fire had been the primary means of naval combat for hundreds of years. Although the Royal Navy ranged up to 16″ guns on battleships, the largest gun currently in active service is a 4.5″ gun. That will leave the Royal Navy unable to engage targets beyond approximately 17 miles / 27 km, whereas Harpoon missiles provide an 80 mile / 130 m range. The loss of anti-ship missile capability will begin in 2018 and may last for 10 years for warships, and 2 years for helicopters. The Sun quotes a naval insider who said: “It’s like Nelson saying, ‘don’t worry, I don’t need canons, we’ve got muskets.'” The loss of missile capability heaps more misfortune upon a naval force that recently has seen its available frontline combat force drop to an unprecedented 24 warships. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Continue Reading:
Royal Navy Giving Up Anti-Ship Missiles, Will Rely On Cannons For Naval Combat

White House Names Retired Air Force General As First Cyber Security Chief

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The White House on Thursday named a retired U.S. Air Force general as the government’s first federal cyber security chief, a position announced eight months ago that is intended to improve defenses against hackers. Gregory Touhill’s job will be to protect government networks and critical infrastructure from cyber threats as federal chief information security officer, according to a statement. President Barack Obama announced the new position in February alongside a budget proposal to Congress asking for $19 billion for cyber security across the U.S. government. Touhill is currently a deputy assistant secretary for cyber security and communications at the Department of Homeland Security. He will begin his new role later this month, a source familiar with the matter said. Grant Schneider, who is the director of cyber security policy at the White House’s National Security Council, will be acting deputy to Touhill, according to the announcement. wiredmikey adds from a report via SecurityWeek.Com: The White House today announced that Brigadier General (retired) Gregory J. Touhill has been named the first Federal Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). Back in February, President Barack Obama unveiled a cybersecurity “national action plan” (CNAP) which called for an overhaul of aging government networks and a high-level commission to boost security awareness. As part of the plan, the White House said it would hire a federal CISO to direct cybersecurity across the federal government. General Touhill is currently the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity and Communications in the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The key hire comes at a time when the government needs cybersecurity talent more than ever. Earlier this week a report published by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee said the data breaches disclosed by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) last year were a result of culture and leadership failures, and should not be blamed on technology. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Follow this link:
White House Names Retired Air Force General As First Cyber Security Chief

NASA’s Impossible Propulsion EmDrive Is Heading to Space

An anonymous reader writes:The EmDrive, a hypothetical miracle propulsion system for outer space, has been sparking heated arguments for years. Now, Guido Fetta plans to settle the argument about reactionless space drives for once and for all by sending one into space to prove that it really generates thrust without exhaust. Even if mainstream scientists say this is impossible. Fetta is CEO of Cannae Inc, and inventor of the Cannae Drive. His creation is related to the EmDrive first demonstrated by British engineer Roger Shawyer in 2003. Both are closed systems filled with microwaves with no exhaust, yet which the inventors claim do produce thrust. There is no accepted theory of how this might work. Shawyer claims that relativistic effects produce different radiation pressures at the two ends of the drive, leading to a net force. Fetta pursues a similar idea involving Lorentz (electromagnetic) forces. NASA researchers have suggested that the drive is actually pushing against “quantum vacuum virtual plasma” of particles that shift in and out of existence. Most physicists believe these far-out systems cannot work and that their potential benefits, such as getting to Mars in ten weeks, are illusory. After all, the law of conservation of momentum says that a rocket cannot accelerate forward without some form of exhaust ejected backwards. Yet the drumbeat goes on. Just last month, Jose Rodal claimed on the NASA Spaceflight forum that a NASA paper, “Measurement of Impulsive Thrust from a Closed Radio Frequency Cavity in Vacuum” has finally been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, but this cannot be confirmed yet. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read the original:
NASA’s Impossible Propulsion EmDrive Is Heading to Space

US Navy Faces $600M Lawsuit For Allegedly Pirating 3D VR Software

An anonymous reader quotes a report from HotHardware: The U.S. Navy has been accused of pirating 3D software after first testing a software package offered by Germany company Bitmanagement Software GmbH. The company is suing the United States of America for nearly $600 million. HotHardware reports: “According to the court filing, Bitmanagement licensed its BS Contact Geo software for use on 38 Navy computers from 2011 to 2012. This limited rollout was ‘for the purposes of testing, trial runs, and integration into Navy systems.’ While this test period was underway, the Navy reportedly began negotiating to license the software for use on thousands of additional computers. However, even as the negotiations were ongoing, the Navy decided to go ahead and initiate its full-scale rollout without actually paying for the software. In total, the initial 38 computers allegedly swelled to 104, 922 computers by October 2013. As of today, BS Contact GEO is claimed to be installed on 558, 466 Navy computers, although ‘likely this unauthorized copying has taken place on an even larger scale’ according to the filing. As if the unauthorized installation of software onto hundreds of thousands of computers wasn’t enough, Bitmanagement is alleging that the Navy during 2014 began disabling the Flexwrap software that is tasked with tracking the use of BS Contact Geo and helping to prevent it from being duplicated. When this software piracy was taking place, the retail price of a single BS Contact Geo license was $1067.76. With nearly 600, 000 computers now in play, Bitmanagement is seeking a whopping $596, 308, 103 in damages. The lawsuit, which alleges willful copyright infringement was filed on July 15th.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Continue Reading:
US Navy Faces $600M Lawsuit For Allegedly Pirating 3D VR Software

IRS Gets Hacked Again, Forced To Scrap Their Entire PIN System

The IRS has abandoned a system of PIN numbers used when filing tax returns online after they detected “automated attacks taking place at an increasing frequency, ” adding that only “a small number” of taxpayers were affected. An anonymous reader quotes the highlights from Engadget: The IRS chose not to kill the tool back in February, since most commercial tax software products use it… If you’ll recall, identity thieves used malware to steal taxpayers’ info from other websites, which was then used to generate 100, 000 PINs, back in February… This time, the IRS detected “automated attacks taking place at an increasing frequency” thanks to the additional defenses it added after that initial hack… the agency determined that it would be safer to give up on a verification method that’s scheduled for the chopping block anyway. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Link:
IRS Gets Hacked Again, Forced To Scrap Their Entire PIN System