Iran ‘Hides Spyware in Wallpaper, Restaurant and Games Apps’

Iran is running two surveillance operations in cyber-space, targeting more than 1,000 dissidents, according to a leading cyber-security company. From a report: The efforts were directed against individuals in Iran and 12 other countries, including the UK and US, Check Point said. It said the two groups involved were using new techniques to install spyware on targets’ PCs and mobile devices….

Important milestone in the creation of a quantum computer

Quantum computer: One of the obstacles for progress in the quest for a working quantum computer has been that the working devices that go into a quantum computer and perform the actual calculations, the qubits, have hitherto been made by universities and in small numbers. But in recent years, a pan-European collaboration, in partnership with French microelectronics leader CEA-Leti, has been…

China Accused of Spying On Americans Via Caribbean Phone Networks

“A mobile security expert has accused China of exploiting cellphone networks in the Caribbean to conduct ‘mass surveillance’ on Americans,” reports Newsweek: Gary Miller, a former vice president of network security at California-based analytics company Mobileum, told The Guardian he had amassed evidence of espionage conducted via “decades-old vulnerabilities” in the global telecommunications system. While not explicitly mentioned in the report,…

FCC Maintains Ban on Mobile Phone Voice Calls During Flights

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission killed a proposal to allow in-flight voice calls via mobile phones, ending its examination of an idea that evoked fears of air rage from passengers trapped beside jabbering seat mates. From a report: The idea drew “strong opposition” from pilots and flight attendants, the agency said Friday in a four-paragraph order. The FCC in 2013 proposed…

A 4G network on the moon is bad news for radio astronomy

As you drive down the road leading to Jodrell Bank Observatory, a sign asks visitors to turn off their mobile phones, stating that the Lovell telescope is so powerful it could detect a phone signal on Mars. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-11-4g-network-moon-bad-news.html…

Iranian Hackers Found Way Into Encrypted Apps, Researchers Say

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Iranian hackers, most likely employees or affiliates of the government, have been running a vast cyberespionage operation equipped with surveillance tools that can outsmart encrypted messaging systems — a capability Iran was not previously known to possess, according to two digital security reports released Friday. The operation not only targets…

ARM Co-Founder Hermann Hauser: ‘It’s In Nvidia’s Interests To Destroy Arm’

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NS Tech: SoftBank is in advanced talks with US chip company Nvidia to sell Arm — with a price in the region of 32 billion euros reportedly being thrown around. But Nvidia’s purchase of the Cambridge-based chip designer would not only strike a blow to the UK’s technological sovereignty, but would result in the…

Qualcomm Wins US Antitrust Lawsuit Appeal Over Chip Licensing

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday reversed a lower court ruling against chip supplier Qualcomm in an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission. From a report: The United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals also vacated an injunction that would have required Qualcomm to change its intellectual property licensing practices. The decision amounted to a near complete victory for…

US Government Contractor Embedded Software in Apps To Track Phones

A small U.S. company with ties to the U.S. defense and intelligence communities has embedded its software in numerous mobile apps, allowing it to track the movements of hundreds of millions of mobile phones world-wide, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter and documents it reviewed. From the report: Anomaly Six, a Virginia-based company founded by…

Study reveals secret life of lithium in Sun-like stars

Lithium is becoming common in our everyday lives. It is the key ingredient in the batteries of our mobile phones and electric vehicles, but have you ever wondered where it comes from? Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-07-reveals-secret-life-lithium-sun-like.html…