A USB stick containing sensitive security files for the Heathrow airport was found on a London street and handed over to The Sunday Mirror. According to the Mirror there were at least 174 documents on the stick and none of them were encypted or password protected. Airport authorities say that its security plans have been reviewed, and they were confident the airport was secure. Yeah, I guess someone knowing where all the CCTV cameras are, timetables of patrols and types of ID needed to enter restricted areas isn’t a big deal. This just goes to show, once again, that the insider threat is the biggest threat we have to face in cybersecurity.
Airport insiders revealed they were trying to determine if there had been an “incompetent data breach” or if someone had been accessing files intentionally. Police fear it may have been copied and circulated on the “dark web” – where terrorists and criminals buy information.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Heathrow to Probe Leak of Security Files
Monthly Archives: October 2017
Explore PlayStation 4's 'Detroit: Become Human' next spring
Source: Engadget – Explore PlayStation 4’s ‘Detroit: Become Human’ next spring
'The Last of Us: Part II' doesn't shy away from violence and gore
The Last of Us: Part II is a violent game. At least, that’s the message Naughty Dog and Sony broadcast this morning when they debuted a new cinematic trailer at Paris Games Week. In the video, a woman is dragged to a campsite where corpses hang from…
Source: Engadget – ‘The Last of Us: Part II’ doesn’t shy away from violence and gore
This annual party uses a giant pumpkin for a beer keg
There’s no ‘turning into a pumpkin at midnight’ because the pumpkin is where it’s at!
Source: TreeHugger – This annual party uses a giant pumpkin for a beer keg
Store 4TB of Files For $100, No Power Cord Required
This WD portable hard drive doesn’t require an external power cord, and can hold 4TB of movies, music, photos, or even console games. Not bad for $100.
Source: LifeHacker – Store 4TB of Files For 0, No Power Cord Required
Trump adviser Roger Stone has been booted off Twitter
Enlarge / Roger Stone in his office in Oakland Park, Florida. (credit: Andrew Innerarity/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to President Donald Trump, has been suspended from Twitter following a rant against two CNN reporters.
It is one of the highest-profile account suspensions since Twitter has said it will take stronger action against bullying and threats of violence on its service.
Stone’s account was taken offline on Saturday night following a series of profane attack tweets he put out on Friday focused on CNN reporters Don Lemon and Jake Tapper.
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Source: Ars Technica – Trump adviser Roger Stone has been booted off Twitter
Bug in Google's Bug Tracker Lets Researcher Access List of Company's Vulnerabilities
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, writing for Motherboard: Google’s platform to deal with bugs and unpatched vulnerabilities had a bug that allowed a security researcher to see a full list of known, unpatched vulnerabilities within Google, creating a kind of bug inception that could have led to more damaging hacks. Alex Birsan, a security researcher, found three vulnerabilities inside the Google Issue Tracker, the company’s internal platform where employees keep track of requested features or unpatched bugs in Google’s products. The largest one of these was one that allowed him to access the internal platform at all. The company has quickly patched the bugs found by Birsan, and there’s no evidence anyone else found the bugs and exploited them. Still, these were bad bugs, especially the one that gave him access to the bug-tracking platform, which could have provided hackers with a list of vulnerable targets at Google. “Exploiting this bug gives you access to every vulnerability report anyone sends to Google until they catch on to the fact that you’re spying on them,” Birsan told Motherboard in an online chat. “Turning those vulnerability reports into working attacks also takes some time/skill. But the bigger the impact, the quicker it gets fixed by Google. So even if you get lucky and catch a good one as soon as it’s reported, you still have to have a plan for what you do with it.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Bug in Google’s Bug Tracker Lets Researcher Access List of Company’s Vulnerabilities
The first 'Destiny 2' expansion arrives December 5th
You won’t have to twiddle your thumbs too long before Destiny 2’s first expansion arrives. Bungie has announced that Curse of Osiris will be available on December 5th, and has unveiled a trailer to show what it’s all about. (Heads-up: the video inclu…
Source: Engadget – The first ‘Destiny 2’ expansion arrives December 5th
That Study About Lead in Baby Food Is Nonsense
A new study says our children are chowing down on lead and other contaminants in baby food and formula. But there’s something fishy about said study. For one thing, it comes from a group arguing for “transparency” in labeling… but keeps all their own data hidden.
Source: LifeHacker – That Study About Lead in Baby Food Is Nonsense
Play as Aloy from 'Horizon: Zero Dawn' in 'Monster Hunter' on PS4
Horizon: Zero Dawn is one of this year’s best games, hands down. But if you wanted to hunt flesh and blood monsters as Aloy it fell short. Not that taking down robo-dinosaurs wasn’t cool, it’s just that sometimes when you wanna fell a T rex-looking c…
Source: Engadget – Play as Aloy from ‘Horizon: Zero Dawn’ in ‘Monster Hunter’ on PS4
This OnePlus 5T Leak Is Our Best Look Yet At The Incoming Thin Bezel Flagship
We’ve seen quite a few leaks surrounding the alleged OnePlus 5T over the past month, but the most credible leak to date has just made its way to Twitter. Noted leaker Evan Blass posted an render of what he claims to be the top half of the OnePlus 5T, and is confirms what we’ve previously been told: the device will feature thin bezels on the
Source: Hot Hardware – This OnePlus 5T Leak Is Our Best Look Yet At The Incoming Thin Bezel Flagship
Man finds USB stick with Heathrow security plans, Queen’s travel details
(credit: Heathrow Airports Limited,)
An unemployed London man discovered a USB flash storage device lying on the street as he was headed to the library to check the Internet for job listings. When he got to the library, he plugged it in and found it was filled with security details for London’s Heathrow International Airport—including security measures and travel details for Queen Elizabeth II. The man turned over the drive to a reporter at the Sunday Mirror.
On the flash drive were 76 folders of files, including security documents and maps of the airport. The maps included the location of every closed circuit television (CCTV) camera at the airport; routes and security protection measures for the Queen, Cabinet ministers and visiting foreign dignitaries; and maps of the airport’s tunnels and escape shafts for the Heathrow Express train station.
Other documents included a timetable for anti-terrorism patrols at the airport, a documentation of the ultrasound system used by Heathrow security to check perimeter fences and runways for breaches, and details of the types of identification required to gain access to secure areas—including those used by covert security personnel. There were also photos of the security facilities used by the Queen.
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Source: Ars Technica – Man finds USB stick with Heathrow security plans, Queen’s travel details
The 'Infamous' team is working on a Samurai game
Sucker Punch Productions, the studio behind the Infamous series, is building a new open-world game set in the mountains of ancient Japan: Ghost of Tsushima. So far, we’ve only seen a cinematic trailer for the new title, but it gives away a few clues:…
Source: Engadget – The ‘Infamous’ team is working on a Samurai game
You Did It Wrong: Man Knocks Himself Out Cold In Keg-Tossing Competition
This is a short video of a man participating in a keg-tossing competition when one of the kegs he throws bounces off the pole he’s trying to toss it over and comes down on the back of the head, knocking him out cold. Thankfully, the man was “sent home from the hospital with a clean bill of health.” And, presumably, a doctor’s recommendation to retire from keg tossing.
Keep going for the video.
Source: Geekologie – You Did It Wrong: Man Knocks Himself Out Cold In Keg-Tossing Competition
Cat Announces S41 Rugged Smartphone: 5” FHD, IP68+, 5000 mAh
Cat has announced its new S41 rugged smartphone designed to withstand extreme conditions that will succeed the model S40 introduced several years ago. The new model has significant upgrades in terms of both performance and ‘ruggedness’, and will be available for the same price.
The key selling points of all Cat smartphones, produced by Bullitt Group, are the tough designs which they claim have special features that are useful for extreme environments keeping in sync with the Caterpillar brand. The new smartphone is IP68 certified, but it is advertised to work underwater in depths of up to two meters for one hour, which is beyond IP68 requirement of one meter. Users will not be able to use apps in the underwater mode (because the touchscreen is locked), but will still be able to capture photos or videos using the external keys. When it comes to overall durability, Cat says that the S41 is built to survive repeated drops onto concrete from up to 1.8 meters, from every orientation. The hermetic enclosure is covered by rubber and the whole design can handle extreme temperatures (-25°C to 55°C) as well as a salty mist for going out to sea.
The Cat S41 is equipped with a 5” FHD IPS display with increased brightness to enable easy readability in bright sunlight. The display of the smartphone is protected by the Corning Gorilla Glass 5.
Operation in extreme environments usually taxes a handsets battery life, so the Cat S41 comes with a 5000 mAh battery. The accumulator can be used to charge other devices due to Cat’s special Battery Share feature. The enforced enclosure as well as a high-capacity battery (for a 5” phone) naturally affected weight and dimensions of the device: it weighs 218 grams and is 12.95 mm thick. It will be interesting to see what low power modes the C41 supports to further extend battery life, such as reduced screen resolution or restricted App modes.
A design for harsh conditions is likely to focus more on the physical design than the performance of the internal components. With that in mind, the Cat S41 is based on MediaTek’s Helio P20 SoC (MT6757, eight ARM Cortex-A53 cores at 2.3 GHz, Mali-T880 iGPU, LTE Cat6, etc.) which is definitely more powerful than the one used in the S40 but it is not designed to set records in benchmarks. The smartphone is also equipped with 3 GB of memory, 32 GB of storage (expandable using a microSD card), an underwater 13 MP main camera with a LED flash as well as a 8 MP front-facing camera, 802.11n Wi-Fi, NFC, 4G LTE Cat6 and Bluetooth 4.1 wireless technologies, a host of sensors and so on. The phone has a 3.5-mm TRRS audio connector and a micro-USB port covered by a rubber pad to ensure sealing.
| Caterpillar Cat S41 Specifications | |||
| Cat S41 | |||
| SoC | MediaTek’s Helio P20 (MT6757) 8x ARM Cortex-A53 @ 2.3 GHz ARM Mali-T880 GPU |
||
| RAM | 3 GB LPDDR3 | ||
| Storage | 32 GB | ||
| Display | 5″ 1920×1080 with Gorilla Glass 5 | ||
| Network | U.S. Version |
2G | 850/900/1800/1900 |
| 3G | 850, 900, AWS, 1900, 2100 | ||
| 4G | 2, 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 17, 66 | ||
| E.U. Version |
2G | 850/900/1800/1900 | |
| 3G | 850, 900, 1900, 2100 | ||
| 4G | 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20 | ||
| Latin America | 2G | 850/900/1800/1900 | |
| 3G | 850, 900, AWS, 1900, 2100 | ||
| 4G | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 28, 38, 39, 40, 41 | ||
| APAC Version | 2G | 850/900/1800/1900 | |
| 3G | 850, 900, AWS, 1900, 2100 | ||
| 4G | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 28, 38, 39, 40, 41 | ||
| LTE | Down: 300 Mb/s Up: 50 Mb/s |
||
| Audio | Stereo speakers 3.5-mm TRRS audio jack |
||
| Rear Camera | 13 MP with autofocus and LED flash | ||
| Front Camera | 8 MP | ||
| Battery | 5000 mAh | ||
| OS | Android Nougat | ||
| Connectivity | 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, Micro-USB | ||
| Navigation | GPS, GLONASS, aGPS, Beidou (in select versions) | ||
| SIM Size | Dual NanoSIM | ||
| Water- and dust-proof | IP68 certified. Waterproof up to 2M for 60 minutes. |
||
| Shock, drop proof | Shock and drop proof (up to 1.8m onto concrete), category 4 vibration. |
||
| Extreme environments | Salt fog, sand, dust, dirt, vibration and pressure resistant |
||
| Operating temperature | -25°C (-13°F) to 55°C (131°F) | ||
| Colors | Grey | ||
| Launch Country | NA, EMEA (certain locations), APAC | ||
| Price | $449/€?/£399 | ||
The Cat S41 has MSRP of $449 and is currently available from at Catphones.com, as well as various retailers including Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, eBay, The Home Depot and B&H.
Related Reading
- MWC 2017: AGM Preparing IP68 Rated Snapdragon 835 Smartphone with 8GB DRAM
- CAT Announces S60 Rugged Smartphone with integrated FLIR Thermal Camera
Source: AnandTech – Cat Announces S41 Rugged Smartphone: 5” FHD, IP68+, 5000 mAh
What Should We Sous Vide for Thanksgiving?
Hello sous-vide friends, and welcome back to another topic-picking session for Will It Sous Vide?, the column where I make whatever you want me to with my immersion circulator.
Source: LifeHacker – What Should We Sous Vide for Thanksgiving?
Space Has Never Sounded Scarier Than on NASA's Halloween Playlist
In space, it has been said, no one can hear you scream. That may very well be the case, but that doesn’t mean space isn’t filled with an abundance of strange sounds in the form of radio bursts, electromagnetic pulses, solar wind, charged particle bursts, and other celestial emissions. We can’t hear these sounds in…
Source: Gizmodo – Space Has Never Sounded Scarier Than on NASA’s Halloween Playlist
Get your first glimpse of 'Spelunky 2'
Spelunky 2 exists! And, really that’s about all we know aside from the game potentially taking place in the sky, and you playing as the unnamed original protagonist’s daughter a la (spoiler warning) Uncharted 4. Check out the trailer below and see if…
Source: Engadget – Get your first glimpse of ‘Spelunky 2’
Microsoft Receives Patent to Protect the Headphone Jack
Microsoft has received a patent for a plug receptacle for an electronic device. Basically it allows for a 3.5mm headphone jack without taking up a lot of space inside the phone. It operates by expanding to the front, back, or both sides of the receptacle. I know there are still a lot of people using headphones with 3.5mm jacks, but is anyone really interested in continuing to use them with their phone?
A major upside to this new patent is that all existing 3.5mm headphones and accessories would be usable. Phones could become thinner without losing a feature that is still important to many consumers. On the flip side, added manufacturing complexity and more moving parts could mean that OEMs are unlikely to make use of this technology.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Microsoft Receives Patent to Protect the Headphone Jack
It Lives! This Nightmare Machine Writes Bone-Chilling Tales
MIT researchers have applied the electrodes and brought to life a new fiction-writing bot they call Shelley -after “Frankenstein” author Mary Shelley. They made their creation read 140,000 stories published by amateur writers on a popular online forum. Now Shelly is generating its own stories. Of course the stories are a bit strange and the wording doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it’s writing stories. Watch out, Stephen King, Shelley is after you.
Shelley’s sentences are inspired by the hive mind it’s learned from: a crew of horror hobbyists who participate in Reddit’s “r/nosleep” forum . Machine-learning algorithms are fueled by big troves of data, and these amateur writers have produced about 700 megabytes of home-grown horror over the past decade.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – It Lives! This Nightmare Machine Writes Bone-Chilling Tales