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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for raxas:

Windows 10 bug corrupts your hard drive on seeing this file's icon:

An unpatched zero-day in Microsoft Windows 10 allows attackers to corrupt an NTFS-formatted hard drive with a one-line command.

In multiple tests by BleepingComputer, this one-liner can be delivered hidden inside a Windows shortcut file, a ZIP archive, batch files, or various other vectors to trigger hard drive errors that corrupt the filesystem index instantly.

In August 2020, October 2020, and finally this week, infosec researcher Jonas L drew attention to an NTFS vulnerability impacting Windows 10 that has not been fixed.

When exploited, this vulnerability can be triggered by a single-line command to instantly corrupt an NTFS-formatted hard drive, with Windows prompting the user to restart their computer to repair the corrupted disk records.

The researcher told BleepingComputer that the flaw became exploitable starting around Windows 10 build 1803, the Windows 10 April 2018 Update, and continues to work in the latest version.

What's worse is, the vulnerability can be triggered by standard and low privileged user accounts on Windows 10 systems.

[...] "Microsoft has a customer commitment to investigate reported security issues and we will provide updates for impacted devices as soon as possible," a Microsoft spokesperson told BleepingComputer.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Census Bureau director to resign amid criticism over data:

Facing criticism that he was acceding to President Donald Trump's demand to produce citizenship information at the expense of data quality, U.S. Census Bureau director Steven Dillingham said Monday that he planned to resign with the change in presidential administrations.

Dillingham said in a statement that he would resign on Wednesday, the day Trump leaves the White House and President-elect Joseph Biden takes office. Dillingham's term was supposed to be finished at the end of the year.

The Census Bureau director's departure comes as the statistical agency is crunching the numbers for the 2020 census, which will be used to determine how many congressional seats and Electoral College votes each state gets, as well as the distribution of $1.5 trillion in federal spending each year.

In his statement, Dillingham said he had been considering retiring earlier, but he had been persuaded at the time to stick around.

"But I must do now what I think is best," said Dillingham, 68. "Let me make it clear that under other circumstances I would be honored to serve President-Elect Biden just as I served the past five presidents."

[...] During Dillingham's tenure, the Trump administration unsuccessfully tried to put a citizenship question on the 2020 census questionnaire and named a handful of political appointees that statisticians and Democratic lawmakers worried would politicize the once-a-decade head count of every U.S. resident. The president also issued two directives that advocacy groups said were part of efforts to suppress the participation of minorities and immigrants in the 2020 census.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

To Celebrate Wikipedia’s 20th Birthday, Try Editing It:

At a Monday press conference commemorating Wikipedia’s 20th birthday, Jimmy Wales joked, “We were never as bad as they thought we were, and we’re not as good as they think we are.” Then again, the recent spike in praise for Wikipedia is enough to make any internet encyclopedia editor blush. The Economist is celebrating the occasion with threearticlesarguing that the site is the rare early internet project that exceeded expectations, characterizing it as “the dream that worked.” In recent years, journalists have also described Wikipedia as the “last best place on the internet,” a “ray of light,” “the internet’s good grown-up,” and the “good cop” in the fight against internet misinformation and dangerous conspiracy theories. As Katherine Maher, CEO and executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation observed at the press conference, perhaps Wikipedia’s core values are back in fashion.

[...] Each month the Wikipedia service is accessed by 1.5 billion unique devices from around the world. During that same period, a small minority of those users—some 280,000 editors—take the time to contribute to Wikipedia. According to Kevin Li, one of Wikipedia’s volunteer administrators and a junior at Stanford, the website’s biggest challenge is a declining supply of edit hours to continue the time-consuming work of maintaining an encyclopedia with such a massive readership. Essentially, Wikipedia needs more volunteers to help keep the archive up to date.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Expired Domain Allowed Researcher to Hijack Country's TLD:

A researcher claimed last week that he managed to take control of the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Democratic Republic of Congo after an important domain name was left to expire.

Before the holidays, Fredrik Almroth, founder and researcher at web security company Detectify, decided to analyze the name server (NS) records used by all TLDs. These NS records specify the servers for a DNS zone.

He noticed that a domain named scpt-network.com, which had been listed as a name server for .cd, the TLD for Congo, had been left to expire. Almroth realized that the domain could be highly valuable to a bad actor so he quickly acquired it himself to prevent abuse.

The remaining name servers managing the .cd TLD belonged to South African Internet eXchange (SAIX), which kept the TLD operational. However, gaining control over the scpt-network.com domain could have still allowed a malicious actor to hijack half of the DNS traffic for .cd websites.

Almroth believes the impact could have been significant considering that the African country has a population of approximately 90 million people, as well as the fact that many international organizations have a .cd website.

Also at Detectify Labs

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hemocyanin writes:

The NY Times, in a Jan 17, 2020, article outlines new details in an anti-trust suit brought by ten states: Behind a Secret Deal between Google and Facebook. These apparently come from an unredacted version of the lawsuit filed in October 2020: Redacted Version. (I did not find an unredacted version)

From TFA:

"This idea that the major tech platforms are robustly competing against each other is very much overstated," said Sally Hubbard, a former assistant attorney general in New York's antitrust bureau who now works at Open Markets Institute, a think tank. "In many ways, they reinforce each other's monopoly power."

Some of the details outlined in the article:

c0lo writes:

Scientists shed light on how and why some people report "hearing the dead"

Spiritualist mediums might be more prone to immersive mental activities and unusual auditory experiences early in life, according to new research.

This might explain why some people and not others eventually adopt spiritualist beliefs and engage in the practice of 'hearing the dead', the study led by Durham University found.

The researchers conducted a survey of 65 clairaudient spiritualist mediums from the Spiritualists' National Union and 143 members of the general population in the largest scientific study into the experiences of clairaudient mediums.

They found that these spiritualists have a proclivity for absorption – a trait linked to immersion in mental or imaginative activities or experience of altered states of consciousness.

They found that 44.6 per cent of spiritualist participants reported hearing the voices of the deceased on a daily basis, with 33.8 per cent reporting an experience of clairaudience within the last day.

A large majority (79 per cent) said that experiences of auditory spiritual communication were part of their everyday lives, taking place both when they were alone and when they were working as a medium or attending a spiritualist church.

takyon writes:

Lee Jae Yong: Samsung heir gets prison term for bribery scandal

Samsung heir Lee Jae Yong has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison by a high court in South Korea.

The bribery case is a retrial of an earlier one involving the country's former President Park Geun-hye, who was also jailed for bribery and corruption.

Lee has been the de facto head of Samsung Electronics since 2014.

The ruling is likely to have ramifications for the future of his role at the tech giant.

News of the sentence sent Samsung electronics shares more than 4% lower before they began to claw back some ground.

Also at Wccftech.

Previously: Samsung Vice Chairman a Suspect in South Korean Presidential Bribery Probe
Samsung Vice Chairman Arrested For Bribery, Perjury And Embezzlement
President Park Geun-hye's Impeachment Upheld as South Korea's "Trial of the Century" Begins
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Sentenced to Five Years in Corruption Scandal Ruling

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Traces of a Mysterious Particle Predicted Decades Ago May Have Been Detected:

Evidence of a long-sought hypothetical particle could have been hiding in plain (X-ray) sight all this time.

The X-ray emission coming off a collection of neutron stars known as the Magnificent Seven is so excessive that it could be coming from axions, a long-predicted kind of particle, forged in the dense cores of these dead objects, scientists have demonstrated.

If their findings are confirmed, this discovery could help unravel some of the mysteries of the physical Universe – including the nature of the mysterious dark matter that holds it all together.

[...] Axions are hypothetical ultra-low-mass particles, first theorised in the 1970s to resolve the question of why strong atomic forces follow something called charge-parity symmetry, when most models say they don't need to.

[...] "We're not claiming that we've made the discovery of the axion yet, but we're saying that the extra X-ray photons can be explained by axions," [astronomer Raymond] Co said. "It is an exciting discovery of the excess in the X-ray photons, and it's an exciting possibility that's already consistent with our interpretation of axions."

[...] "This starts to be pretty compelling that this is something beyond the Standard Model if we see an X-ray excess [other places], too," [physicist Benjamin] Safdi said.

Journal Reference:
Malte Buschmann, Raymond T. Co, Christopher Dessert, et al. Axion Emission Can Explain a New Hard X-Ray Excess from Nearby Isolated Neutron Stars [open], Physical Review Letters (DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.021102)

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MotorTrend and probably many other car sites discuss a new Tesla recall: https://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-model-x-s-nhtsa-screen-recall/

According to the NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI), the problem lies with the Media Control Unit that runs the central display screen. If it fails, the screen goes dark, which means that neither the backup camera nor the climate controls will be displayed—and since Tesla displays its climate controls on the center screen, that means there's no way to turn on the defroster or defogger. (A rear-view camera and defroster are required by Federal law. This is why most cars, even those with video-screen climate controls, have a separate defroster button.) ODI says a failed MCU can also affect other safety systems, including Autopilot and the turn signal clickers.

The problem lies with the Nvidia Tegra 3 processor and its 8 GB of flash memory. Tesla installed the processor in about 158,000 2012-2018 Model S and 2016-2018 Model Y vehicles. The flash memory, which is accessed when the car is started, has a lifespan of about 3,000 program-erase cycles. According to the NHTSA, that equates to 5-6 years of normal usage before the system packs up. The agency says Tesla has confirmed that all MCUs will inevitably fail due to the design, and the NHTSA says it has already identified some 12,588 incidents related to MCU replacements.

My understanding of NHTSA recalls (US Federal Gov't) is that they stand forever. Tesla will either have to find a replacement that has longer lasting flash memory, or Tesla will have to bring these cars in before another ~3000 starts and replace the Nvidia processor again.

Or, I suppose Tesla could eventually buy them back and crush them...shades of GM and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car

I have a 2003 car with one of the airbags that becomes dangerously explosive with temp/time, the car is on its 3rd airbag now. Apparently replacing with a new one with the same propellant is the cost effective solution for the manufacturer. I'm going to wait them out--I don't drive it that often and current plans are to keep it for another ~20 years.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

How Many Galaxies Are in the Universe? A New Answer From the Darkest Sky Ever Observed:

In 2016, a study published in The Astrophysical Journal by a team led by the University of Nottingham's Christopher Conselice used a mathematical model of the early universe to estimate how many of those as-yet-unseen galaxies are lurking just beyond Hubble's sight. Added to existing Hubble observations, their results suggested such galaxies make up 90 percent of the total, leading to a new estimate—that there may be up to two trillion galaxies in the universe.

Such estimates, however, are a moving target. As more observations roll in, scientists can get a better handle on the variables at play and increase the accuracy of their estimates.

Which brings us to the most recent addition to the story.

After buzzing by Pluto and the bizarre Kuiper Belt object, Arrokoth, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is at the edge of the solar system cruising toward interstellar space—and recently, it pulled a Hubble. In a study presented this week at the American Astronomical Society and soon to be published in The Astrophysical Journal, a team led by astronomers Marc Postman and Tod Lauer described what they found after training the New Horizons telescope on seven slivers of empty space to try and measure the level of ambient light in the universe.

Their findings, they say, allowed them to establish an upper limit on the number of galaxies in existence and indicate space may be a little less crowded than previously thought. According to their data, the total number of galaxies is more likely in the hundreds of billions, not trillions. "We simply don't see the light from two trillion galaxies," Postman said in a release published earlier in the week.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

EU regulator: Hackers 'manipulated' stolen vaccine documents:

The European Union's drug regulator said Friday that COVID-19 vaccine documents stolen from its servers by hackers have been not only leaked to the web, but "manipulated."

The European Medicines Agency said that an ongoing investigation showed that hackers obtained emails and documents from November related to the evaluation of experimental coronavirus vaccines. The agency, which regulates drugs and medicines across the 27-member EU, had troves of confidential COVID-19 data as part of its vaccine approval process.

"Some of the correspondence has been manipulated by the perpetrators prior to publication in a way which could undermine trust in vaccines," the Netherlands-based agency said.

"We have seen that some of the correspondence has been published not in its integrity and original form and, or with, comments or additions by the perpetrators."

The agency did not explain exactly what information was altered — but cybersecurity experts say such practices are typical of disinformation campaigns launched by governments.

[...] The EMA, which is based in Amsterdam, came under heavy criticism from Germany and other EU member countries in December for not approving vaccines against the virus more quickly. The agency issued its first recommendation for the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine weeks after the shot received approval in Britain, the United States, Canada and elsewhere.

The EMA recommended a second vaccine, made by Moderna, for use earlier this month. A third shot made by AstraZeneca and Oxford is currently under consideration by the agency.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

US blacklists Xiaomi, CNOOC, Skyrizon, raising heat on China:

The U.S. government has blacklisted Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp. and China's third-largest national oil company for alleged military links, heaping pressure on Beijing in President Donald Trump's last week in office.

The Department of Defense added nine companies to its list of Chinese firms with military links, including Xiaomi and state-owned plane manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (Comac).

U.S. investors will have to divest their stakes in Chinese companies on the military list by November this year, according to an executive order signed by Trump last November.

Xiaomi said in a statement that its products are for "civilian and commercial use" and said it is not owned, controlled or affiliated with the Chinese military.

"The Company will take appropriate course of actions to protect the interests of the Company and its stakeholders," the statement read, although Xiaomi did not elaborate on what those actions might be.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit reaches space on 2nd try:

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit reached space on Sunday, eight months after the first demonstration flight of its air-launched rocket system failed, the company said.

A 70-foot-long (21.34-meter-long) LauncherOne rocket was released from beneath the wing of a Boeing 747 carrier aircraft off the coast of Southern California, ignited moments later and soared toward space.

The two-stage rocket carried a cluster of very small satellites known as CubeSats developed and built as part of a NASA educational program involving U.S. universities.

The launch occurred after the Boeing 747-400 took off from Mojave Air and Space Port in the desert north of Los Angeles and flew out over the Pacific Ocean to a drop point beyond the Channel Islands.

"According to telemetry, LauncherOne has reached orbit!" Virgin Orbit tweeted later. "Everyone on the team who is not in mission control right now is going absolutely bonkers."

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

WhatsApp changes: Signal messaging platform restored after surge prompts outage:

Messaging platform Signal says it has resolved technical problems which have hampered its service over the past few days, after seeing a rush of new users.

On Friday, some users reported messages failing to send on both the mobile and desktop apps for several hours.

The company has seen a huge uptick in interest since its rival WhatsApp unveiled new privacy terms last week.

It urged users to continue with the service and report any further problems.

Both Signal and Telegram, another free-to-use encrypted messaging app, have benefited from discontent sparked by WhatsApp's updated terms and conditions.

[...] According to data from analytics firm Sensor Tower, Signal was downloaded 246,000 times worldwide in the week before WhatsApp announced the change on 4 January, and 8.8 million times the week after.

In India, downloads went from 12,000 to 2.7 million. In the UK, they leapt from 7,400 to 191,000, and in the US from 63,000 to 1.1 million.

On Wednesday, Telegram said it had surpassed 500 million active users globally. Downloads jumped from 6.5 million in the week starting 28 December, to 11 million during the following week.

During the same period, WhatsApp's global downloads shrank from 11.3 million to 9.2 million.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

After a decade, NASA's big rocket fails its first real test:

For a few moments, it seemed like the Space Launch System saga might have a happy ending. Beneath brilliant blue skies late on Saturday afternoon, NASA's huge rocket roared to life for the very first time. As its four engines lit, and thrummed, thunder rumbled across these Mississippi lowlands. A giant, beautiful plume of white exhaust billowed away from the test stand.

It was all pretty damn glorious until it stopped suddenly.

About 50 seconds into what was supposed to be an 8-minute test firing, the flight control center called out, "We did get an MCF on Engine 4." This means there was a "major component failure" with the fourth engine on the vehicle. After a total of about 67 seconds, the hot fire test ended.

During a post-flight news conference, held outside near the test stand, officials offered few details about what had gone wrong. "We don't know what we don't know," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "It's not everything we hoped it would be."

He and NASA's program manager for the SLS rocket, John Honeycutt, sought to put a positive spin on the day. They explained that this is why spaceflight hardware is tested. They expressed confidence that this was still the rocket that would launch the Orion spacecraft around the Moon.

And yet it is difficult to say what happened Saturday is anything but a bitter disappointment. This rocket core stage was moved to Stennis from its factory in nearby Louisiana more than one calendar year ago, with months of preparations for this critical test firing.

Honeycutt said before the test, and then again afterward, that NASA had been hoping to get 250 seconds worth of data, if not fire the rocket for the entire duration of its nominal ascent to space. Instead it got a quarter of that.

Original Submission