Choosing NULL as your license plate might seem like a funny idea. But as an infosec researcher discovered recently, the cool-looking NULL vanity plate comes with its own consequences. Researcher Droogie, that’s his handle, who presented at this year’s DEF CON in Las Vegas, said he has been on the receiving end of thousands of dollars worth of tickets that aren’t…
Tag: database
Hundreds of Exposed Amazon Cloud Backups Found Leaking Sensitive Data
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: New research just presented at the Def Con security conference reveals how companies, startups and governments are inadvertently leaking their own files from the cloud. You may have heard of exposed S3 buckets — those Amazon-hosted storage servers packed with customer data but often misconfigured and inadvertently set to “public” for anyone to…
When Jupiter and Saturn meet
Jupiter and Saturn have appeared close on our sky’s dome throughout 2019, but they’re due to get even closer in the coming months. Their conjunction will come on December 21, 2020. Here’s how to watch them. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/jupiter-saturn-conjunction-dec-2020…
E3 Accidentally Doxxed Over 2,000 Journalists, YouTubers, and Streamers
The Entertainment Software Association, which runs the E3 video game expo, accidentally made phone numbers, emails, names, and addresses of over 2,000 attendees public on their website. “A copy of the list was archived on several popular message boards for trolls, and includes the home addresses of many reporters,” reports BuzzFeed News. From the report: The leaked list was discovered by…
‘5 Programming Languages That Are Probably Doomed’
An anonymous reader shares a report: Not all programming languages endure forever. In fact, even the most popular ones inevitably crumble away, as new generations of developers embrace other languages and frameworks they find easier to work with. In order to determine which programming languages are likely doomed in the medium- to long-term, we looked at the popularity rankings by TIOBE…
UK Made Illegal Copies and Mismanaged Schengen Travelers Database
Authorities in the United Kingdom have made unauthorized copies of data stored inside a EU database for tracking undocumented migrants, missing people, stolen cars, or suspected criminals. From a report: Named the Schengen Information System (SIS), this is a EU-run database that stores information such as names, personal details, photographs, fingerprints, and arrest warrants for 500,000 non-EU citizens denied entry into…
Ransomware Incident Leaves Some Johannesburg Residents Without Electricity
A ransomware infection at an electricity provider in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa’s biggest city and financial capital, has left some of its residents without power. From a report: The ransomware infection impacted City Power — a provider of pre-paid electric power for Johannesburg residents and local companies. The malware encrypted the company’s database, internal network, web apps, and official…
You’re Very Easy To Track Down, Even When Your Data Has Been ‘Anonymized’
An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: The most common way public agencies protect our identities is anonymization. This involves stripping out obviously identifiable things such as names, phone numbers, email addresses, and so on. Data sets are also altered to be less precise, columns in spreadsheets are removed, and “noise” is introduced to the data. Privacy policies…
Corals spreading to subtropical waters
While coral populations are declining in tropical waters, scientists have just detected an increase in subtropical areas, which could be good news for corals. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/corals-spreading-to-subtropical-waters…
New Map Shows Where America’s Police, Businesses Are Using Facial Recognition and Other Surveillance Tech
“Fight For the Future, a tech-focused nonprofit, on Thursday released its Ban Facial Recognition map, logging the states and cities using surveillance technology,” reports CNET — noting that “surveillance technology” in this case includes Amazon’s Ring doorbell security cameras. A CNET investigation earlier this year highlighted the close ties between Ring and police departments across the US, many of which offer…