An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: Singapore has confirmed its law enforcers will be able to access the country’s COVID-19 contact tracing data to aid in their criminal investigations. To date, more than 4.2 million residents or 78% of the local population have adopted the TraceTogether contact tracing app and wearable token, which is one of the world’s highest…
Tag: citizens
Vietnam Targeted in Complex Supply Chain Attack
A group of mysterious hackers has carried out a clever supply chain attack against Vietnamese private companies and government agencies by inserting malware inside an official government software toolkit. From a report: The attack, discovered by security firm ESET and detailed in a report named “Operation SignSight,” targeted the Vietnam Government Certification Authority (VGCA), the government organization that issues digital certificates…
Edward Snowden Urges Donations to the EFF
In October, Edward Snowden was granted permanent residency in Russia. A new web page by the EFF applauds his past activities as a U.S. whistleblower. “His revelations about secret surveillance programs opened the world’s eyes to a new level of government misconduct, and reinvigorated EFF’s continuing work in the courts and with lawmakers to end unlawful mass spying.” And then they…
Mass Die-Off of Birds in Southwest US ‘Probably Linked to Climate Crisis’
The Guardian reports: The mass die-off of thousands of songbirds in south-western U.S. was caused by long-term starvation, made worse by unseasonably cold weather probably linked to the climate crisis, scientists have said. Flycatchers, swallows and warblers were among the migratory birds “falling out of the sky” in September, with carcasses found in New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Arizona and Nebraska. A…
DHS Is Looking Into Backdoors In Smart TVs By China’s TCL
chicksdaddy shares a report from The Security Ledger: The acting head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the agency was assessing the cyber risk of smart TVs sold by the Chinese electronics giant TCL, following reports last month in The Security Ledger and elsewhere that the devices may give the company “back door” access to deployed sets, The Security…
Tech Giants Will Block Kazakhstan’s Web Surveillance Efforts Again
Apple, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla have teamed up to block the Kazakhstan government’s attempts to force its citizens to install a “national security certificate” on every internet-capable device in the country. “That government-issued root certificate would allow authorities to keep tabs on people’s online traffic, essentially becoming a back door to access citizens’ data,” reports Engadget. From the report: In its…
Kazakhstan’s Government Begins Intercepting HTTPS Traffic In Its Capital
ZDNet reports: Under the guise of a “cybersecurity exercise,” the Kazakhstan government is forcing citizens in its capital of Nur-Sultan (formerly Astana) to install a digital certificate on their devices if they want to access foreign internet services. Once installed, the certificate would allow the government to intercept all HTTPS traffic made from users’ devices via a technique called MitM (Man-in-the-Middle)….
120,000-year-old supernova remnants detected in neighboring galaxy
Western Sydney University researchers have discovered the ‘senior citizens’ of our neighboring galaxy—close to 120,000-year-old remains of exploding stars known as supernova remnants. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-year-old-supernova-remnants-neighboring-galaxy.html…
Introducing Four New Online Master’s Degrees from HSE University
By Betty Vandenbosch, Chief Content Officer, Coursera Degrees in business, technology, and data science will enable students around the world to prepare for in-demand jobs The “future of work” is already here. According to the World Economic Forum, the global workforce is automating faster than expected, displacing 85 million jobs in the next five years. […]
The post Introducing Four New Online…
The Pope Praises Medical Workers, Criticizes ‘Personal Freedom’ Protests
More Americans travelled Wednesday than on any other day in the last eight months — 1.1 million Americans — continuing the country’s long-standing annual tradition of gathering to give thanks. The same week the Pope apparently felt compelled to publish an opinion piece in one of the country’s largest newspapers to share his own thoughts about the pandemic. First, the Pope…