slashdot – Page 8 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Hacker Shows How To Fabricate Death Records

wiredmikey writes: Hackers the Def Con gathering in Las Vegas on Friday got schooled in how to be online “killers.” A rush to go digital with the process of registering deaths has made it simple for maliciously minded folks to have someone who is alive declared dead by the authorities. The process of having someone officially stamped dead by getting a death certificate issued typically involves a doctor filling out one form and a funeral home filling out another, according to Rock’s research. Once forms are submitted online, certificates declaring the listed person legally dead are generated. A fatal flaw in the system is that people can easily pose as real doctors and funeral directors. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Hacker Shows How To Fabricate Death Records

Spyware Demo Shows How Spooks Hack Mobile Phones

An anonymous reader writes: Joe Greenwood, of cybersecurity firm 4Armed, recently gave a live demonstration of some of Hacking Team’s leaked spyware to the BBC. Tracking Bitcoin payments, recording audio from the microphone of a locked device, and secretly gaining control of an infected phone’s camera are just a few of the software’s capabilities. The BBC reports: “Both Mr Greenwood and 4Armed’s technical director, Marc Wickenden, said they were surprised by the sleekness of the interface. Both point out, though, that customers could be paying upwards of £1m for the software and would expect it to be user-friendly, especially if it was intended for use by law enforcers on the beat. For the tracked user, though, there are very few ways of finding out that they are being watched. One red flag, according to Mr Greenwood, is a sudden spike in network data usage, indicating that information is being sent somewhere in the background. Experienced spies, however, would be careful to minimize this in order to remain incognito.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Spyware Demo Shows How Spooks Hack Mobile Phones

Non-Invasive Spinal Cord Stimulation Gets Paralyzed Legs Moving Again

schwit1 writes: A new technique called transcutaneous stimulation has allowed five men with complete motor paralysis regain the ability to move their legs voluntarily and produce step-like movements. The treatment requires no surgery and adds to prior work to help paralyzed people gain voluntary movement through electrical stimulation (one completed in 2011, the other in 2014). Gizmag reports: “The new treatment uses a technique called transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, which involves strategically placing electrodes on the skin of the lower back. While receiving stimulation, the men’s legs were supported by braces that hung from the ceiling. At first their legs only moved involuntarily, if at all. But they soon found they could voluntarily extend the distance their legs moved during stimulation. They doubled their range of voluntary motion after four treatment sessions.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Non-Invasive Spinal Cord Stimulation Gets Paralyzed Legs Moving Again

The New Google Glass Is All Business

An anonymous reader writes: Google scrapped an early version of its smart glasses in January, but has developed another model just for businesses. The company hopes to get this newest version of Glass in the hands of healthcare, manufacturing and energy industry professionals by this fall. Recode reports: “The new model can fold up like a traditional pair of glasses and is more rugged for outdoor use. However, unlike most other smart glasses, it still sports a small screen to the upper right of the user’s vision, rather than displaying an image in the center of one’s view like the ODG R7 or Microsoft HoloLens.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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The New Google Glass Is All Business

LinkedIn (Temporarily) Backs Down After Uproar At Contact Export Removal

Mark Wilson writes: LinkedIn caused a storm a couple of days ago when it removed the option to instantly download contacts. Many users of the professional social network were more than a little irked to discover that while contact exporting was still available, a wait of up to three days had been put in place. Unsurprisingly, users revolted, having been particularly upset by the fact the change was implemented with no warning or announcement. But the company has managed to turn things around by quickly backtracking on its decision after listening to a stream of complaints on Twitter. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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LinkedIn (Temporarily) Backs Down After Uproar At Contact Export Removal

Gmail Spam Filter Changes Bite Linus Torvalds

An anonymous reader points out The Register’s story that recent changes to the spam filters that Google uses to pare down junk in gmail evidently are a bit overzealous. Linus Torvalds, who famously likes to manage by email, and whose email flow includes a lot of mailing lists, isn’t happy with it. Ironically perhaps, it was only last week that the Gmail team blogged that its spam filter’s rate of false positives is down to less than 0.05 per cent. In his post, Torvalds said his own experience belies that claim, and that around 30 per cent of the mail in his spam box turned out not to be spam. “It’s actually at the point where I’m noticing missing messages in the email conversations I see, because Gmail has been marking emails in the middle of the conversation as spam. Things that people replied to and that contained patches and problem descriptions, ” Torvalds wrote. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Gmail Spam Filter Changes Bite Linus Torvalds

Paralyzed Man Hits the Streets of NYC In a New Exoskeleton

the_newsbeagle writes: Robert Woo was paralyzed in 2007 when a construction crane dropped a load of steel on him. Yesterday, he put on the newest “exoskeleton, ” essentially a pair of smart robotic legs, and strolled out into a busy Manhattan sidewalk. He was demoing the ReWalk 6.0, a $77, 000 device that he plans to buy for home use. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Paralyzed Man Hits the Streets of NYC In a New Exoskeleton

Toyota Recalls 625,000 Hybrid Vehicles Over Software Glitch

hypnosec writes: Yesterday we discussed news that over 65, 000 Range Rovers were being recalled over a software issue. Not to be outdone, Japanese car manufacturer Toyota on Wednesday recalled 625, 000 hybrid vehicles globally to fix a different software defect. The automaker said the defect in question might lead to shut down of the hybrid system while the car is being driven. The recall was due to software settings that could result in “higher thermal stress” in parts of a power converter, potentially causing it to become damaged. Toyota dealers will update the software for both the motor/generator control ECU and hybrid control ECU in the involved vehicles. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Toyota Recalls 625,000 Hybrid Vehicles Over Software Glitch

Google Accidentally Reveals Data On ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ Requests

Colin Castro points out an article from The Guardian, who noticed that Google’s recent transparency report contained more data than intended. When perusing the source code, they found data about who was making requests for Google to take down links under the “right to be forgotten” law. The data they found covers 75% of all requests made so far. Less than 5% of nearly 220, 000 individual requests made to Google to selectively remove links to online information concern criminals, politicians and high-profile public figures, the Guardian has learned, with more than 95% of requests coming from everyday members of the public. … Of 218, 320 requests to remove links between 29 May 2014 and 23 March 2015, 101, 461 (46%) have been successfully delisted on individual name searches. Of these, 99, 569 involve “private or personal information.” Only 1, 892 requests – less than 1% of the overall total – were successful for the four remaining issue types identified within Google’s source code: “serious crime” (728 requests), “public figure” (454), “political” (534) or “child protection” (176) – presumably because they concern victims, incidental witnesses, spent convictions, or the private lives of public persons. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Amnesty International Seeks Explanation For ‘Absolutely Shocking’ Surveillance

Mark Wilson writes: A court recently revealed via email that the UK government had been spying on Amnesty International. GCHQ had put Amnesty under surveillance — despite this having previously been denied — and now the human rights organization wants answers. In a letter to the UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Amnesty International asks for an explanation for the surveillance. The Investigatory Powers Tribunal’s (IPT) email made it clear that GCHQ had been intercepting, accessing and storing communications, something that Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Salil Shetty believes ‘makes it vividly clear that mass surveillance has gone too far’. Read more of this story at Slashdot.