An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: The messages began arriving in World Health Organization employees’ inboxes in early April, seemingly innocuous emails about the coronavirus from news organizations and researchers. But a close examination revealed that they contained malicious links, and some security experts have traced the emails to a hacking group in Iran believed to be sponsored by…
Tag: Conservative
White House Blocks CDC Guidance Over Economic and Religious Concerns
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: As President Trump rushes to reopen the economy, a battle has erupted between the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the agency’s detailed guidelines to help schools, restaurants, churches and other establishments safely reopen. A copy of the C.D.C. guidance obtained by The New York…
President Trump Just De-Funded a Research Nonprofit Studying Virus Transmissions
Charlotte Web writes: The U.S.-based research non-profit Ecohealth Alliance has spent 20 years investigating the origins of infectious diseases like Covid-19 in over 25 countries, “to do scientific research critical to preventing pandemics.” America just cut it’s funding. Trump’s reason? “Unfounded rumors” and “conspiracy theories…without evidence,” according to reports in Politico and Business Insider. The group had received a total of…
Tesla Vehicles Can Now Recognize and Respond To Traffic Lights, Stop Signs
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Properly equipped Tesla vehicles can now recognize and respond to traffic lights and stop signs thanks to a software update the company started pushing out to owners over the weekend. The software update had been available to a sliver of Tesla owners, some of whom had posted videos of the new capability. Now,…
Some ‘Reopen’ Domains Could Be Phishing and Malware Campaigns
CNET reports on new research from a threat-intelligence company into the more than 540 domain names registered this month with the word “reopen” in their URL. While hundreds of them are “designed to lend credibility to anti-lockdown protests,” and 98 more were purchased to thwart that effort, there’s still many other domains that “come from suspicious sources or resellers looking to…
Who’s Behind the ‘Reopen’ Domain Surge?
Inspired by a thread on Reddit, KrebsOnSecurity has been investigating possible incidences of state-led astroturfing to put pressure on U.S. states to ease, end, or reduce the extent of coronavirus lockdowns. From the article: The Reddit discussion focused on a handful of new domains — including reopenmn.com, reopenpa.com, and reopenva.com — that appeared to be tied to various gun rights groups…
The Most Widespread COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Target Bill Gates
In a 2015 speech, Bill Gates tried to warn that the greatest thread to humanity was an infectious virus, reports the New York Times. “Anti-vaccinators, members of the conspiracy group QAnon and right-wing pundits have instead seized on the video as evidence that one of the world’s richest men planned to use a pandemic to wrest control of the global health…
Elon Musk’s Battery Farm Is an Undeniable Success
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Popular Mechanics: More than two years after winning an electricity bet, Elon Musk’s resulting Australian solar and wind farm is an almost total success. The facility powers rural South Australia, whose population density falls between Wyoming and Alaska, the two least dense U.S. states. In 2016, South Australia experienced a near total blackout after…
Study Confirms Recommended 14-Day Quarantine Period For Coronavirus
“A study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine confirms the recommended 14-day quarantine period for those suspected of having been infected by the COVID-19 virus,” writes Slashdot reader RNLockwood. “I’m going to stock up on essentials.” From the abstract: Results: There were 181 confirmed cases with identifiable exposure and symptom onset windows to estimate the incubation period of COVID-19….
Oracle’s Allies Against Google Include Scott McNealy and America’s Justice Department
America’s Justice Department “has filed a brief in support of Oracle in its Supreme Court battle against Google over whether Java should have copyright protection,” reports ZDNet: The Justice Department filed its amicus brief to the Supreme Court this week, joining a mighty list of briefs from major tech companies and industry luminaries — including Scott McNealy, co-founder of Sun, which…