Google has recently removed 17 Android applications from the official Play Store because they were infected with the Joker (aka Bread) malware. ZDNet reports: “This spyware is designed to steal SMS messages, contact lists, and device information, along with silently signing up the victim for premium wireless application protocol (WAP) services,” Zscaler security researcher Viral Gandhi said this week. The 17…
Tag: messages
Foreign Hackers Cripple Texas County’s Email System, Raising Election Security Concerns
Last week, voters and election administrators who emailed Leanne Jackson, the clerk of rural Hamilton County in central Texas, received bureaucratic-looking replies. “Re: official precinct results,” one subject line read. The text supplied passwords for an attached file. But Jackson didn’t send the messages. From a report: Instead, they came from Sri Lankan and Congolese email addresses, and they cleverly hid…
Senators Introduce Bipartisan ‘Unplug Internet Kill Switch Act of 2020,’ Preventing a President From Denying Access To the Internet
Yesterday, U.S. Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Gary Peters (D-MI) introduced the bipartisan ”Unplug the Internet Kill Switch Act of 2020” (S. 4646), which would help protect Americans’ First and Fourth Amendment rights by preventing a president from using emergency powers to unilaterally take control over or deny access to the internet and other telecommunications capabilities. Slashdot reader…
A New York Clock That Told Time Now Tells the Time Remaining
For more than 20 years, Metronome, which includes a 62-foot-wide 15-digit electronic clock that faces Union Square in Manhattan, has been one of the city’s most prominent and baffling public art projects. Its digital display once told the time in its own unique way, counting the hours, minutes and seconds (and fractions thereof) to and from midnight. But for years observers…
US Teens Are Being Paid to Spread Disinformation on Social Media
The Washington Post covered “a sprawling yet secretive campaign that experts say evades the guardrails put in place by social media companies to limit online disinformation of the sort used by Russia” during America’s last presidential campaign in 2016. According to four people with knowledge of the effort, “Teenagers, some of them minors, are being paid to pump out the messages…”…
Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott Hacked After Posting Boarding Pass on Instagram
Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott had his phone number and passport details obtained by a hacker after posting a picture of his boarding pass on Instagram. From a report: Hacker Alex Hope said he uncovered Mr Abbott’s details from his Qantas boarding pass in just 45 minutes. He then spent months attempting to contact Mr Abbott to alert him of…
Why Goodreads is Bad For Books
After years of complaints from users, Goodreads’ reign over the world of book talk might be coming to an end. From a report: Goodreads started off the way you might think: two avid readers, in the mid-Noughties, wanting to build space online for people to track, share, and talk about books they were reading. Husband and wife Otis and Elizabeth Chandler…
Mark Zuckerberg Launches a Push to Recruit Poll Workers for US Election on Facebook
“Facebook is launching a recruitment drive for poll workers this weekend, putting messages into users’ News Feeds with links to poll worker registration sites in their state,” reports the Verge: CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post announcing the drive that it was part of the company’s larger voting information campaign, which has a goal of helping 4 million people register…
Nikola Motors Accused of Massive Fraud, Ocean of Lies
Socguy writes: Hindenburg research has released their report on Nikola motors and have taken a short position as a result of their research. During the course of their investigation, they claim to have spoken to numerous former employees, have amassed a pile of emails, text messages, contracts as well as other documents and videos showing a massive deception. Essentially, Hindenburg alleges…
Germany’s Nationwide Emergency Warning Day Sees Bumpy Rollout
For those living in or visiting Germany on Thursday, things got loud this morning. At 11 a.m. sharp (0900 GMT) Germany carried out a nationwide test of its civil alarm systems — with everything from sirens to push notifications on smartphones being tested. The test was slated to run for exactly 20 minutes.
It’s the first test of its kind since Germany…