Some squids are “consorts,” others are “sneakers.” The species is healthiest when individuals have different strategies randomly.
As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.
Read my blog posting guidelines here.
Anonymous • May 11, 2024 9:36 AM
@Robin, Echo of past arising
Well, one thing is for sure. It looks like the book does relate to mating strategies.
The second chapter moves to the most important event in „Turia’s” life ‒ her getting married. The engagement of the couple does not seem to have a very happy beginning though for Gn…. The future husband, who belonged to the Pompeian party, was in need of his fiancée’s support in providing money and in protecting all of his financial and family matters even though the woman was still not officially his wife. In the end, the wife-to-be emerges victorious from all the turbulent events: she protects her own life, her future husband’s family and his estates/fortune from the marauders of Milo.
ResearcherZero • May 12, 2024 3:02 AM
Telit Cinterion modems are integrated into IoT devices from numerous vendors.
CVE-2023-47610 which allows remote code execution through SMS, is the worst of 7 vulnerabilities. Some of the other flaws require local access in order to exploit.
“telecom vendors are uniquely positioned to implement network-level controls that can prevent the delivery of malicious SMS messages to vulnerable devices.”
Reported to Telit last November, some of the flaws have not been patched. SMS disabling is the only reliable way to mitigate the risks associated with CVE-2023-47610.
‘https://www.darkreading.com/ics-ot-security/millions-of-iot-devices-at-risk-from-flaws-in-integrated-cellular-modem
A presentation on vulnerabilities in Telit Cinterion devices is due in May.
‘https://www.offensivecon.org/speakers/2024/alexander-kozlov-and-sergey-anufrienko.html
–
straight-to-cell communications
‘https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/05/just-5-years-after-its-first-launch-the-starlink-constellation-is-profitable/
‘https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-09/russia-starlink-access-blocked-by-pentagon-spacex-ukraine
Anonymous • May 12, 2024 12:34 PM
@clive
Thanks for all your contributions and for all your benevolent advice throughout the years.
vas pup • May 12, 2024 4:48 PM
The ‘Sift’ strategy: A four-step method for spotting misinformation
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240509-the-sift-strategy-a-four-step-method-for-spotting-misinformation
“There are many reasons why misinformation travels so quickly – according to some research, even faster than accurate information.
One reason is that people are far more likely to share a claim when it confirms their pre-existing beliefs, regardless of its accuracy. This cognitive bias may help explain why even more misinformation seems to be shared by individuals than by bots. One study, for example, found that just 15% of news sharers spread up to 40% of fake news.
When it comes to not falling for misinformation, being aware of our human
fallibilities, such as our quickness to believe what we want to believe, is a
good first step. Research shows that even being more reflective in general can
“inoculate” us against believing fake news.
Perhaps one of the most pernicious aspects of the modern era is its urgency.
Thanks to everything from our continual phone use to nonstop work demands, far too many of us seem to be navigating the world at a dizzying speed.
Being online, where both news cycles and content are especially fast-paced and
often emotive, can put us in a particularly “urgent” mindset. But when it comes to identifying misinformation, immediacy is not our friend. Research has found that relying on our immediate “gut” reactions is more likely to lead us astray
than if we take a moment to stop and reflect.
The first step of the Sift method interrupts this tendency. Stop. Don’t share the post. Don’t comment on it. And move on to the next step.
Posts show up in our social media feeds all the time without us having a clear
sense of who created them. Maybe they were shared by a friend. Maybe they were
pushed to us by the algorithm. Maybe we followed the creator intentionally, but
never looked into their background.
Now’s the time to find this out.
Who created this post? Get off-platform and do a web search. And because
search results can be misleading, make sure you’re looking at a reputable website. One that fact-checkers often use as a first port of call might surprise you: Wikipedia. While it’s not perfect, it has the benefit of being crowd-sourced, which means that its articles about specific well-known people or organizations often cover aspects like controversies and political biases.
While you’re investigating, ask:
If the creator is a media outlet, are they reputable and respected, with a
recognized commitment to verified, independent journalism?
If it's an individual, what expertise do they have in the subject at hand
(if any)? !!! What financial ties, political leanings or personal biases may be at play?
If it’s an organization or a business, what is their purpose? What do they advocate for, or sell? !!!Where does their funding come from? What political leanings have they shown?
Would you still trust this creator’s expertise in this subject if they were
saying something you disagreed with?
If, from the previous step, you find that you still have questions about the source’s credibility, now’s the time to dig a little further. What you’re looking for is whether a more trustworthy source, like a reputable news outlet or fact-checking service, has reported and verified the same claim.
But I sometimes prefer to use the Google Fact Check search engine, which searches just fact-checking sites, specifically. Just keep in mind that Google says it doesn’t vet the fact-checking sites it includes, so to make sure your results are reputable, you’ll need to do a little further sleuthing – I like to see if an outlet has signed up to Poynter’s International Fact-Checking
Network, which you can check here[follow link in the article – vp].
If it’s a photo you’re investigating, use a reverse image search tool to see where else the image comes up online. Google has one, but I also like TinEye and Yandex. (You can also use these for video: take a screenshot from the video and put that in for your image search).
Your goal? To see whether there are any credible sources reporting the same
information as what you’re seeing, and saying that it’s verified.
…the idea here is a little different. You’re trying to find out where the claim
came from originally.
Even if you see that a claim has been reported on by a credible media outlet, for example, it may not be original reporting; they may have gotten that claim
from another outlet. Ideally, the original story should be linked – so always go there – but if it’s not, you may need to search for it separately.!!!Crucially, you want to figure out not just whether something like this really is true, but whether anything was taken out of context. If you’re looking at an image, does how it was described in the social media post you saw line up with what its original caption, context, and location? If it’s a quotation from a speaker, was anything edited out or taken out of context or, when you see their full interview or speech, does it seem like perhaps they misspoke in that moment?
Today, anyone can make a claim on social media. And anyone can be the person
whose re-sharing of that claim is the one who makes it go viral. That means it’s the responsibility of each one of us to make sure that what we are posting, liking, and sharing is, first and foremost, actually true.”
cybershow • May 12, 2024 8:29 PM
@all,
At least once a month we’re trying to do a live-stream style episode
Hopefully the first Friday 18:00 BST (UT+1) if we can get regular
studio use. Anyway, you can find a recorded version of the latest
episode here .
All good wishes.
US Health Care Cyber attack • May 13, 2024 12:57 AM
Ascension Health, the nation’s largest chain of Catholic hospitals, said Thursday it was responding to a cyberattack that was disrupting its operations.
ResearcherZero • May 13, 2024 2:08 AM
At least the squid are getting along/it on.
ResearcherZero • May 13, 2024 3:28 AM
RNC lawsuits seek to have election officials cancel voter registrations.
‘https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/06/politics/dnc-rnc-lawsuits-election-michigan-nevada/index.html
Voters can check their own details and update them if they have moved address recently.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-rnc-vote-monitor-election-integrity-rcna148557
Winter • May 13, 2024 4:50 AM
@ResearcherZero
RNC lawsuits seek to have election officials cancel voter registrations.
The ideal is to be able to select who can vote. Gerymandering brings you just that far. Being able to turn back people that do not vote for you is much more effective.
The perennial mess with provisional ballots in Ohio is a look into the future, but now with party members being able to remove unwanted voters from the rolls.
‘https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2024/04/03/voting-rights-organization-highlights-increase-in-ohio-provisional-ballots-rejected-over-id/
echo • May 13, 2024 6:24 AM
Fear and urgency and and only the philosopher-warrior-priest Sunak can save us. Uh huh. This story is now rolling out across all the media and is a classic BS exercise. The Downing Street squatter has lost the country. Call an election, already!
Rishi Sunak: UK is facing some of the most dangerous years in its history.
PM to speak on what he believes is at stake in next election, focusing on wars, migration and technology.
Sunak is the ragged end of the worst government since William Pitt the Younger. His war on the transes and “Stop the boats” rhetoric didn’t work and he’s facing election wipeout this year and possibly extinction as a political force. The Tories have nothing to offer and that’s what all these new scare stories are about.
He is expected to say: “I have bold ideas that can change our society for the better, and restore people’s confidence and pride in our country. I feel a profound sense of urgency. Because more will change in the next five years than in the last 30.
“I’m convinced that the next few years will be some of the most dangerous yet most transformational our country has ever known.”
Between austerity and mishandling Covid the Tories are responsible for 600,000 early deaths, a polarised and unequal society, and a country on its knees and in the worst shape in many respects since the Napoleonic Wars. The Tories have had fourteen years to get something – anything right and they failed. So why the sudden rush?
JonKnowsNothing • May 13, 2024 10:21 AM
@ Winter, All
re: written v spoken
It is an interesting view about posting on social media. It’s how we “think” of spoken language vs written language.
When people write reports or essays they automatically shift into “written” mode when composing the article.
When people respond on X-type social media, it is a fast exchange, as if they were “talking” to the other person. Hi-Vis, Hi-Traffic, platforms encourage these fast exchanges for which an previous poster described methods to “detach” from the thread.
Social media is designed to use both psychology and sociology manipulations. It is like “talking” without thinking. As normal social self-restraints are deliberately severed by the platform design, people “say and/or write” words they would never otherwise use.
In effect, people ARE talking, but their medium is by keyboard inputs and not by vocalization. They do not consider it writing. The use of emoji characters adds enhancement to their sense of talking.
Winter • May 13, 2024 10:52 AM
@JonKnowsNothing
In effect, people ARE talking, but their medium is by keyboard inputs and not by vocalization. They do not consider it writing.
I expect the law, eg, in the USA, to ignore that and simply consider any written comment libel.
I can understand the reasoning, as writing requires a special premeditated act. I can blurt out stupid things much faster than I can write them down.
On the other hand, reading comments I do not think this distinction is that big.
echo • May 13, 2024 11:05 AM
Rishi Sunak speech – live: PM says world closest to nuclear war since Cuban missile crisis.
In a bid to convince voters, the Prime Minister has outlined his plan for the next three years following a huge blow at the local election.
I haven’t had time to review this beyond a cursory glance. I’m familiar enough with all the main policy areas to know from a quick scan that Sunak is full of it. There’s nothing new in this for anyone following public policy and commentary from a range of subject matter experts.
Just picking three issues:
It’s going to be a fun few days watching people unpack this speech! Sunak is going to be rinsed.
echo • May 13, 2024 4:29 PM
Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission Responds to Illegal Migration Act Judgment.
The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission welcomes today’s judgment.
The High Court found that a number of provisions in the Illegal Migration Act breached the UK’s obligations under Article 2(1) of the Windsor Framework and the European Convention on Human Rights.
(Continues…)
Closing down lawful asylum routes was always a disgusting policy which undermines the UK’s reputation on the world stage and sends all the wrong kind of signals. That the court found against it is good news.
UK media has never made a proper job of reporting immigration issues. It wildly conflates asylum seekers, refugees, and lawful immigrants; and often uses loaded language and mangling everything together with swarthy “military age” thugs. Nor did media explain how many UK people took advantage of EU freedom of movement while it existed, or point out how UK immigration was quite low compared to other EU countries and that the majority of people escaping from conflict zones and the like were accepted by countries in the region.
I do agree that international treaties may need reviewing as does foreign policy and development and aid. Then there’s the possibility of mass migration due to climate change and being ready for this if it is needed. There’s obviously practical limits to maintain functioning and good order but it’s like you don’t refuse a “Mayday” or turn a blind eye to genocide. That’s really not on.
ResearcherZero • May 14, 2024 2:01 AM
random phone calls
‘https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/13/cyber-criminals-stealing-one-time-passcodes-sim-swap-raiding-bank-accounts/
–
How adversaries have used DNS tunneling for scanning and tracking.
‘https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/three-dns-tunneling-campaigns/
–
P-HEL defending against cheap threats.
‘https://www.wired.com/story/laser-wars-us-military-laser-weapons/
DE weapons “are not authoritatively defined under international law, nor are they currently on the agenda of any existing multilateral mechanism.”
‘https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46925
ResearcherZero • May 14, 2024 2:22 AM
@Winter
The RNC also have bunch of lawsuits filed to delay any undesired voting outcomes.
One could call it an actual plan to ‘hack’ an election, rather than baloney and cheese.
‘https://apnews.com/article/rnc-trump-lawsuits-2024-election-voter-rolls-c7d8943dcac776103d948532f62f2a5c
In the 3rd Century if you did not prey to the emperor he would not be your friend.
And not just that, if you did not swear utter loyalty, he could have you executed.
“I wouldn’t want any one person to have that authority,” Pence said.
“But wouldn’t it be almost cool to have that power?” Trump asked.
Once the Electoral College has met and every state’s election has been certified, there is no constitutional provision for an “alternate slate” of electors.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/11/trump-fake-electors-charges-00157440
The new strategy is somewhat different than the 2020 approach, but may ultimately deliver.
Eastman’s 2020 plan then was not to contest a single state, but to ‘flip’ multiple states.
The duplicate slates of electors were forged documents. This should avoid the illegality.
From the texts: “it allows us to flip states, not just tie them up to deny them to Biden”
‘https://eu.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2024/04/26/in-texts-trump-advisers-touted-using-false-electors-to-flip-states/73454731007/
Prosecutors had hoped to deter a repeat, but they are not having much of an effect anyway.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/07/opinion/trump-running-mate-election.html
ResearcherZero • May 14, 2024 2:30 AM
Last security update in June 2024.
‘https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/13/windows_10_21h2_support/
(hardware requirements can be avoided for newer LTSC Enterprise)
Winter • May 14, 2024 2:59 AM
@ResearcherZero
“But wouldn’t it be almost cool to have that power?” Trump asked.
I suspect Putin is admired at the right is mainly due to the way he is able to execute all dissenters.
Trump wants to be able, and do, that too. He tried to murder Pence already.
ResearcherZero • May 14, 2024 3:02 AM
Though short on specifics, loyalists have a poor history of providing good advice.
‘https://apnews.com/article/america-first-trump-biden-russia-ukraine-policy-54080728c6e549c8312c4d71150480ba
That does not mean that others couldn’t tell him exactly what they want him to hear.
“That could empower the former president’s top subordinates to shield him from information that doesn’t conform with his politics and even change the wording of assessments with which he disagrees, many said.”
America’s spy agencies are never completely divorced from politics. But an overhaul of the type Trump is expected to attempt could undermine the credibility of American intelligence at a time when the U.S. and allies are relying on it to navigate crises in Ukraine and the Middle East. It could also effectively strip the intelligence community of the ability to dissuade the president from decisions that could put the country at risk.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/26/trump-intelligence-agency-national-security-00142968
Classified information could walk out the door and foreign policy may well collapse.
‘https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-a-second-trump-term-would-mean-for-the-world/
You have to get the base in shape somehow. Martial Law and 1970s-style inflation would.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-second-term-plans-wildest-proposals-1234947327/
ResearcherZero • May 14, 2024 3:40 AM
MineOne purchased the land within one mile of the Air Force base in Cheyenne in 2022.
‘https://fortune.com/2024/05/13/chinese-crypto-firm-forced-nuclear-missile/
Living of the Land is the new normal – WMI and AD dumping
https://www.secureworks.com/blog/chinese-cyberespionage-group-bronze-silhouette-targets-us-government-and-defense-organizations
To enhance operational security, Volt Typhoon avoids using compromised credentials during non-working hours to prevent triggering security alerts. They extensively research victim-owned sites, gathering information about the organization’s staff, network, and IT administrators. Additionally, they focus on the personal email accounts of critical network and IT personnel. By extracting security event logs into .dat files, Volt Typhoon gathers crucial information while evading detection.
For instance, in one known and documented compromise, Volt Typhoon extracted NTDS.dit from three domain controllers over four years. They extract the hashes from the NTDS.dit file and then apply various methods, including brute force attacks, dictionary attacks, and sophisticated techniques like rainbow tables, to reveal the plaintext passwords.
They frequently utilize the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) via command-line utilities like vssadmin to access NTDS.dit. This file serves as a centralized repository containing critical Active Directory data, including user accounts, hashed passwords, and other sensitive information. Leveraging a shadow copy of the volume hosting NTDS.dit allows Volt Typhoon actors to bypass file locking mechanisms present in a live Windows environment, which typically prevent direct access to NTDS.dit while the domain controller is operational.
‘https://blogs.infoblox.com/security/five-eyes-joint-advisory-on-volt-typhoon-chinese-state-sponsored-threat-actor/
Volt Typhoon is not the only Chinese group using Living of the Land techniques or conducting similar activity…
echo • May 14, 2024 7:05 AM
https://archive.ph/AWpyz
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/05/20/lucy-letby-was-found-guilty-of-killing-seven-babies-did-she-do-it
A British Nurse Was Found Guilty of Killing Seven Babies. Did She Do It?
Colleagues reportedly called Lucy Letby an “angel of death,” and the Prime Minister condemned her. But, in the rush to judgment, serious questions about the evidence were ignored.
After the judgment I was still undecided about this case. I had my doubts but not enough to scream innocence as one now independent journalist did. I didn’t know the details of the case nor did I have expertise. That said it did seem like a case which needed reviewing. This article by the New Yorker is an eye opener. To my ordinary eye it looks like there may well have been a miscarriage of justice.
The NHS is a nice idea but as every women knows it is not without its criticisms. Some of that is legacy patriarchal structures and attitudes, sometimes very dubious management, lack of investment, refusal to change, a culture of cover-up, and a million and one micro-aggressions. Maternity care has been a long standing joke and that’s before other ingrained legacy misogyny caused by historical research attitudes and poor training and poor guidelines or snotty GP’s with the attitude it’s “somebody else’s problem”. Then there is its below European standard investment and funding. “doing things on the cheap”. None of this is helped by current Tory party dogma which is small state low taxes which is an American import via Tufton Street’s Institute of Economic Affairs – a failed model which doesn’t work for the UK.
As for UK journalism? It’s clubby and captured and full of enough bad habits of its own. There is good journalism. Sadly not enough. It’s long overdue a review of regulation and a good clearing out. If evidence could be found to attach criminal charges to the billionaire owners of the right wing media or even management and editors on the alleged “left” of the media I wouldn’t cry a tear. Their fraud and complicity ruined a country.
Not legal in UK • May 14, 2024 8:32 AM
@ALL in UK and NI.
It is not legal for the New Yorker article on Lucy Letby to be seen in the UK.
Unlike in the US where almost anything about a pending legal action is fair game for newspapers the English Judicial system is very different.
https://unherd.com/newsroom/new-yorker-publishes-article-challenging-lucy-letby-verdict/
Technically it’s not even legal to post links or names that could be used to find such articles.
Remember that a man in his sixties with a number of significant and chronic illnesses was jailed for eight months in Scotland, in what was a very dubious case involving friends of the then Scottish First minister trying to set up a previous First Minister on false sexual abuse charges.
echo • May 14, 2024 8:59 AM
https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/d8f7002e-b68a-4db9-bdcb-180cc2ef5190?in=18:24:05
ParliamentTV
Motion: Debate on A Motion on the risk-based exclusion of Members of Parliament.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4WOeQ-UQWY
Must Watch: Jess Phillips emotional plea to ban MPs who break the law
Last night MPs voted 170 to 169, majority one, in favour of banning MPs from Parliamentary estate if they are arrested for serious sexual or violent offences.
This was tough watching. I have myself raised issues of hate crime by specific members both in the chamber and on parliamentary premises and been told the Speaker was not pursuing complaints. That email exchange among with a few others may come in handy one day. It’s all logged for when that day arrives. On the more serious issue of sexual harassment and assault and rape on parliamentary premises it’s disgusting it’s taken this long to do something about it. It’s disgusting the right wing media continue to buff some politicians public image when they know what they have been up to.
Parliamentary sovereignty, archaic Parliamentary rules, a useless Speaker, and police looking the other way has a lot to answer for. Parliamentary privilege in law is very narrow and Parliamentary sovereignty isn’t the free pass many believe it to be. Getting anyone to act is another question. As for “voluntary arrangement” and “convention”… One rule for them and another rule for everyone else.
This motion passed 170 to 169. One vote! One!! A breakdown of the voting is disappointing but not a surprise. Around 99% who voted against were Tories. Mind you Tories don’t get human rights and equality law or risk assessment at the best of times unless they can use it as a club to beat other people with. And yes the Tories have opened their mouths or abused ministerial power to use the system to score a political point for a cheap headline or issue unlawful guidance which puts innocent people at risk. That’s what happens when they don’t listen to the governments own lawyers.
echo • May 14, 2024 9:15 AM
It is not legal for the New Yorker article on Lucy Letby to be seen in the UK.
Unlike in the US where almost anything about a pending legal action is fair game for newspapers the English Judicial system is very different.
Uuuuuuh me of all people should have put up a warning about that. Your warning is correct. There is a pending trial on another offence and there is an injunction in place.
While it’s not unlawful to discuss a case in the UK it is contempt of court to say anything which may prejudice a case. That’s why people either say nothing or stick with dry transcripts of a case. I know a lot of Americans will yell “freedom of speech” but it is responsible not to comment because it may throw a case. This news item has an injunction preventing publication in the UK. Ooof. I know enough about English law to know I could get done for this if a significant audience is in the UK. A grovelling apology to the court would be needed.
I for one wish US media would stop milking cases for all they are worth. Some commentary is okay but yeesh. Do we need a breathless running commentary every time Donald von Shitzenpants blinks? As for outing members of the jury? That Fox News broadcaster should have got fired or landed in jail for that. It was either trial interference or putting someone’s life in danger.
echo • May 14, 2024 12:19 PM
https://juststopoil.org/2024/05/14/just-stop-oil-supporter-who-sprayed-scotland-yard-sign-acquitted/
Just Stop Oil supporter who sprayed Scotland Yard sign acquitted.
Of all the places! Not even the Dibbles could miss this one.
They fight for all of our futures. I’m happy she was acquitted.
echo • May 14, 2024 12:54 PM
@moderator
Before I forget it was a mistake to post this when I felt mentally exhausted. There is an injunction on discussion of this case because of an upcoming appeal and later pending trial on another matter. Contempt of court puts the host in jeopardy if they are traveling to the UK.
JonKnowsNothing • May 14, 2024 3:56 PM
All
I decided I will take a break from posting on this site. Best of luck and hope you will have many excellent discussions in the future.
I hope @Clive is still oot n aboot.
-JonKnowsNothing-
Thanks • May 14, 2024 6:05 PM
Three cheers for JonKnowsNothing!!
He knows more than he says, and he shares it generously.
Jon, thanks for your contributions. I enjoyed reading them. Be well!
(No HAIL warning necessary. I’m real.)
From an avid reader • May 14, 2024 6:42 PM
@JonKnowsNothing
“I decided I will take a break from posting on this site. Best of luck and hope you will have many excellent discussions in the future.”
I hope the break in posting will be short, and that you keep reading.
Because hopefully if there are any “excellent discussions in the future” you will see them and drop in.
Till then may peace, good health and sufficient prosperity be with you and all you know and care for.
Hopefully others who used to be posters and have become readers will pop up and say keep in touch.
echo • May 14, 2024 8:34 PM
Tory MPs share despair at PM’s top team over Commons vote in leaked WhatsApps
There is fury today among Tory MPs after most found themselves on the losing side of a vote to exclude any MP arrested for a serious offence from the parliamentary estate, which would bring Westminster into line with many other workplaces.
The optics on this are not very good are they? It’s right people should be protected by law and MP’s don’t get special treatment. It obviously effects women more but is a crime that can also effect men too who need to learn to speak up about this. It’s just better for everyone not just organisational functioning but society too.
I’m not remotely qualified to comment on the science aspects of this but a quick search threw up a fair number of papers on authoritarianism and these kinds of crimes.
noname • May 15, 2024 12:29 AM
@JonKnowsNothing
Are you okay? I will be keeping you in my thoughts and looking forward to hearing from you again.
lurker • May 15, 2024 4:18 AM
@ResearcherZero
re: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2024/04/friday-squid-blogging-squid-bots.html/#comment-435039
About a month before you posted that I had received a TXT from the ex-Vodafone NZ who now go by the snappy name of One. The TXT informed that they were closing down 3G service “later this year”, and since my phone was 3G I would no longer be able to use data roaming. I never use data roaming so ignored the message.
I have used the search engines, and found this conflicting advice from One NZ:
customers with 3G phones will still be able to make 111 calls since they will be forced back to 2G;
2G service will be switched off by November 2025.
I cannot find any advice on the the 3G/4G functionality of my handset. The maker’s manual suggests that if in the system settings I turn on 4G, then immediately below that turn on VoLTE, I can make 4G voice calls. I can turn on 4G, but have no option for VoLTE. I consulted a bright eyed bushy tailed fellow at the local One office, who could not find my handset in his database, and had never heard the term 3.5G for 3G phones with LTE, but he assured me that 2G/3G/4G is only about internet data, and has nothing to do with voice calls …
What irks me is that four years ago I was induced to upgrade from a perfectly good working phone, because the govt covid tracing app would not run on less than Android 7. Now a Higher Authority is again telling me a perfectly good phone is beneath their dignity …
Crisis Capitalism Attack • May 15, 2024 5:56 AM
@lurker
“What irks me is that four years ago I was induced to upgrade from a perfectly good working phone, because the govt covid tracing app would not run on less than Android 7. Now a Higher Authority is again telling me a perfectly good phone is beneath their dignity”
More like ‘Sales and Marketing’ than a ‘Higher Authority’ (unless where you live HA has an alternative meaning much like “Beneath every ponytail you find an A-H” 😉
I was once told there was a political scandal because a political ministers press secretary sent out an Email to staff saying “Today is a good day to release bad news” on Sept 11… I had to look it up but,
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/oct/23/Whitehall.uk
There is a mentality out there that every change or crisis is never a set back but an opportunity.
What does this have to do with Security?
Well two things immediately come to mind,
The disadvantage of the second as has been seen in the the UK with Royal Mail / Post Office Horizons and Windrush “engineered crises” (both on BBC web currently) is all to often the creators of the crises get away with it as others get very badly harmed.
As for
“I consulted a bright eyed bushy tailed fellow at the local One office, who could not find my handset in his database, and had never heard the term 3.5G for 3G phones with LTE, but he assured me that 2G/3G/4G is only about internet data, and has nothing to do with voice calls”
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, back to the box with that person.
All GSM phones are “data” at any of the meaningful levels from physical layer upwards.
The handling of “voice” is by a higher layer protocol / application.
For those that do not know LTE is a series of extensions to the data communications allowing much greater data bandwidths. Like the V in VoIP the Vo in VoLTE is the name of a protocol for carrying “voice” over the data channel.
And yes it is an engineered crisis created by the GSM A to push obsolescence thus enforced new sales,
https://www.gsma.com/solutions-and-impact/technologies/networks/ip_services/volte/
Yup under every rock you will find something unpleasant just waiting to ‘get under your skin’ in one way or another to ‘suck out your very life essence’ 😉
Noise in the machine • May 15, 2024 7:19 AM
@Bruce Schneier
@ALL
LLM AI has been said to be a
“Stochastic Parrot”
Where in effect Stochastic means an intentional random noise signal in the function of the LLM.
But is that the only ‘noise’ in the overall LLM system?
The short answer is ‘NO’, you also have to consider the input data.
If you ask 100 people a series of questions you get a hundred set of answers that unless the questions are both simple and highly deterministic like,
“What is 2+2?”
Will give a range of answers.
If you graph them on a line two things become visible.
The averages indicate the bias of the over all answers the spread indicates a form of ‘noise’ based on differences between individuals.
Both of these at the input have effects on an LLM AI output. Amongst other things they can be ‘used and abused’ by those seeking to effect the output of the LLM.
The Conversation had a piece on the input noise,
echo • May 15, 2024 8:37 AM
The disadvantage of the second as has been seen in the the UK with Royal Mail / Post Office Horizons and Windrush “engineered crises” (both on BBC web currently) is all to often the creators of the crises get away with it as others get very badly harmed.
People keep forgetting the 1970’s/1980’s hemophiliac blood donor scandal where countless people with hemophilia (and other blood disorders) contracted HIV/AIDS. This scandal goes right to the top. Thatcher clamped down on it because the damages would bankrupt the government. The then health minister Ken Clarke in testimony later claimed he knew nothing about it. The scandal is still rumbling on as the government refuses to settle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contaminated_blood_scandal_in_the_United_Kingdom
Currently transgender children (and transgender adults) are being blatantly genocided in plain site. This is being documented in real time only the prevailing dogma in power and a media turbocharged hate campaign for political and financial reasons would have you believe different.
SEND children and disabled adults are currently being “invisibled”. The blame is being put on local councils who are being denied a rise in overall funding if they don’t sign up to larger but still restricted funding for SEND children. This also puts pressure on care budgets forcing councils tounlawfully push disabled people with care needs into institutional care. “Death by DWP” is still a thing as even severely disabled people with incurable life long conditions or severe mobility issues are being denied enhanced disability benefits. Even people with severe terminal illness or in hospital and too ill to travel are being denied.
In spite of loud public assurances WASPI women (Women Against State Pension Inequality) are still being denied compensation for their stolen pensions. Some have already died without seeing a penny.
The Tories are only interested in A.) Tax cuts for the rich and B.) Privatising the NHS on the cheap for Tories who then wash a “donation” into party coffers or lobbying/marketing groups disguised as “think tanks”.
You are only worth what you earn for the capital owning classes. Doing something right or correcting mistakes doesn’t enter into their head. It becomes an outsourced loss. None of this is about professional standards or law. It’s about what people can get away with and attitude. If you don’t “play the game” you’re for it.
The results were sobering. In both settings, even on commonsense questions that might have been expected to elicit high – even universal – agreement, we found a nontrivial degree of noise. The noise was high enough that we inferred that between 4% and 10% of a system’s performance could be attributed to noise.
You need to drop down through maths and science (including physics and the humanities) – the hierarchy of science and from the simple through to the more vague where tools are not available; organisations and individuals and rote learned material, tacit knowledge which only comes through experience, the data exchange between formally trained people with a common experience and language, then world views including people having different starting points and varying degrees of unstructured knowledge and knowledge from different domains.
People are obsessed with control. Not so much though put into data. The authority (control) may have a big pool of expert data but also be wildly out of date or have accumulated bad habits. The client can have more expertise and a deeper pool of more relevant data. Similar imbalances be true within academic and work or social situations.
It’s no surprise AI has a problem! The data is either formally beyond science and maths (because you’re getting into probabilities and observational experiment), not recorded in any meaningful or measurable way, and unable to be communicated by either of the two.
If the wealth owned by the 1% and big corporations was taxed and government invested in public services and people had fair incomes something more immediately useful than AI we might get a better result. It’s not just AI which needs regulation. It’s they who would control and own it who need regulation. Nobody talks about that.
Zaphod • May 15, 2024 2:07 PM
@Bruce / @all
Anyone heard from Clive Robinson recently? Did I miss a message explaining his absence?
Concerned.
south wind • May 15, 2024 2:53 PM
@Zaphod
Clive Robinson has trans-cough-substantiated into some kinda Many-Faced god.
echo • May 15, 2024 3:37 PM
Speaking of the trans hydra a couple of weeks ago an attack by the far right turned into an embarrassing self-own as by, means mysterious, it turned out to be really cool.
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trans-hydra-gender-ideology-hydra
vas pup • May 15, 2024 5:48 PM
Israel data storage startup raises $140m, attains ‘unicorn’ status at $1.6b valuation
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-data-storage-startup-raises-140m-attains-unicorn-status-at-1-6b-valuation/
“Israeli data storage and management platform Weka said Wednesday that it has raised $140 million in fresh capital from investors at a valuation of $1.6 billion, more than double the startup’s previous valuation.
Weka built a software-based platform that helps businesses and organizations manage and store workloads across public and private clouds that demand massive volumes of data and computing power, including artificial intelligence-based applications, machine learning and high-performance computing.
The platform consolidates the utilization of diverse data types and seeks to meet the growing needs of running and training generative AI and large language models on-premises, in the cloud and between locations.
“Weka pioneered the concept of a software, platform-based approach that is revolutionizing modern enterprise data, then forged and hardened its technology in some of the largest, most demanding AI projects on the planet,” said Valor Equity Partners CEO and chief investment officer Antonio Gracias, who is joining Weka’s board of directors.
Headquartered in Silicon Valley with its R&D center based in Tel Aviv, Weka said it has a customer base of over 300 brands including AI startup Stability AI, 11 of the Fortune 50 companies, and several undisclosed domestic and foreign government agencies.”
lurker • May 15, 2024 8:12 PM
@vas pup, @ALL
From the Dept of Doubletakes.
The weka is a New Zealand native bird, brown, flightless, about the size of a domestic chicken. Not at all shy like many other NZ birds, it is notorious for its thievery of anything and everything from campsites.
Not to be mistaken with the weta, a native NZ insect, a (mostly) nocturnal giant cricket, a scavenger.
The paragraph
Weka built a software-based platform that helps businesses and organizations manage and store workloads across public and private clouds that demand massive volumes of data and computing power, including artificial intelligence-based applications, machine learning and high-performance computing.
could equally apply to Weta Digital, now known as Weta FX, the Oscar winning movie post-pro shop (Lord of the Rings, Avatar, &c.)
Location location location • May 15, 2024 8:49 PM
@lurker
A different time, a different place, and different legislation and
“is a New Zealand native bird, brown, flightless, about the size of a domestic chicken. Not at all shy like many other NZ birds”
Could have been about the now extinct dodo.
ResearcherZero • May 16, 2024 12:14 AM
Notification occurred yesterday. Information is limited as the response is ongoing.
‘https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-16/health-organisation-part-of-large-scale-ransomware-data-breach/103856582
The spreadsheet highlights a total of 257 breaches that were reported by federal government to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) between February 2020 until February 2024.
The majority of breaches impacting federal government between 2020 and 2024 – 160 in total – occurred due to human error.
Federal government departments and agencies recorded 14 encounters with ransomware last year and a further three in 2022, according to a released under freedom of information.
‘https://www.itnews.com.au/news/federal-gov-reports-14-ransomware-attacks-last-year-607069
–
Admins account pics overlaid with prison bars.
‘https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/fbi-seize-breachforums-hacking-forum-used-to-leak-stolen-data/
ResearcherZero • May 16, 2024 1:25 AM
@lurker
When I purchased my old phone the shop assistant said it was 5G “compatible”, but that turned out to be far from true. It was a cheap-as-chips flip phone and now is a brick.
5G will allow for many new types of multi-connect features and redundancy.
Eventually services will all support 5G for voice calls, though when the actual equipment all becomes 5G will vary. Location tracking for emergencies has traditionally depended on 2G. LTE stands for Long Term Evolution, denoting the eventual change for 4G LTE to 5G.
These newer networks will require VoLTE (voice over LTE) for emergency calls and fancy stuff that can be found in this here flyer:
‘https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/NECP%20Webinar_Technology%205G_%28December%202020%29%20Slide%20Presentation_508C.pdf
(although it is expected that a minimum level of 2G coverage will need to be maintained for a considerable period to support legacy emergency calling devices, including eCall IVS systems)
There a few complications in getting the switchover to work successfully outside of metropolitan areas due to the properties of how the 5G spectrum is used. 5G networks operate on different frequencies with sub-6 GHz and millimeter-wave (20-60 GHz).
But mmWave has a few drawbacks: Because it’s so high-frequency, the waves don’t travel long distances. In fact, they can’t even travel through windows or buildings. They do allow for faster data speeds, low-latency and a range of new technologies and connection redundancy.
So that the technology works indoors, and in order for 5G to work over longer distances outdoors, vendors are incorporating lowband (sub 1GHz) and midband (1 to 6GHz)
https://www.wired.com/story/wired-guide-5g/
5G New Radio (NR) – and a not so well explained presentation of new redundancy features.
https://www.ericsson.com/en/blog/2020/5/how-5g-for-public-safety-could-save-lives
This page also has a list of some of the new features that 5G networks can support.
https://www.ericsson.com/en/reports-and-papers/ericsson-technology-review/articles/5g-nr-evolution
ResearcherZero • May 16, 2024 1:32 AM
Sub-6 5G is where 4G, 3G, and 2G networks have historically operated, and this is the 5G you’re most likely to interact with for the next couple years still. This probably won’t change much until at least 2026. Then more of the 6GHz+ frequencies will be rolled out.
lurker • May 16, 2024 1:55 AM
@ResearcherZero
Thanks for those links.
“Eventually services will all support 5G for voice calls” or 6G or 7G or …
while the users sweat on the upgrade treadmill.
ResearcherZero • May 16, 2024 4:05 AM
@lurker
Hopefully though 5G phones will get a good 5 years of support and the underlying technology should be around for a while. The switch from the 3G networks to 5G is the difficult bit.
3G lasted around 20 years, so hopefully it will be some timee before it happens again. Apple is still rolling out the odd 0day fix for pretty old phones and tablets. Some companies are providing longer support for some models, so that is what I looked for with an upgrade. I did however replace the OS with a more private and frequently updated one.
5G is not good 4G is better. • May 16, 2024 4:49 AM
@ResearcherZero
@lurker
With regards 20-60GHz and
“So that the technology works indoors”
Not really, it won’t go through your head or realistically any other part of your body. Also multipath is going to be a real problem.
So even if you have a pico-cell base in the same room as you are, signal strength reliability is not going to be high thus drop outs will be high.
With a low bandwidth baseband source such as “voice” you probably won’t notice too much (except when you turn your head or move around the room). However with a high bandwidth like 1Gbit or above networking etc then you will be lucky to get it to work in all but a few places in the room.
You can blame the 20-60GHz nonsense on the US and most phones will only work in a small portion of that frequency range, thus your 5G will probably drop back to 4G LTE, if you are lucky enough to have it yet (look up rural coverage maps).
The thing is 2G should have gone by now only…
There is a lot of expensive infrastructure and machinery using it. For instance the railway emergency signalling system that replaced VHF and UHF PMR frequencies is going to be around for the next twenty years or so at least. Then there are traffic light systems that are centrally controlled as well as having first responder pass through systems.
Oh and if you look back on this blog you will see it’s been mentioned several times that the UK ‘airwave’ system based on Motorola TETRA is a very real failure. So it is being dumped and should have been replaced by now… The replacement ESN that should have been up and running in 2017 is still coming… ESN is now based on 4G not even 4G LTE to try and get things to happen. You can read the political ‘aspirations’
However a lot of people are watching and already it is not just late but probably won’t be around untill some time ‘next decade’… Some are talking 2035 maybe if at all… To see why,
The fact is ESN will be lucky to provide anything beyond very rudimentary ‘Push to Talk’ equivalence and all that ‘secure data’ is not going to happen.
In fact ESN will probably not happen. Because many frontline first responders started using personal mobile phones due to the very crap nature of Motorola AirWave. This encouraged their management to look at other solutions thus SmartPad solutions are already up and running for a heck of a lot less than ESN is going to cost. Several ‘authorities’ have indicated that they see no reason to pay well over top dollar for what is seen as so retrograde it’s not a safe solution, nor will it work with the workflows they have been forced to adopt by UK Government needless Cut-Backs to man-power and funding.
pup vas • May 16, 2024 3:52 PM
The Master of Arts in Global Security is an interdisciplinary, online graduate program that enables students’ professional advancement in security-related fields, including the military, humanitarian assistance, international affairs,
government service, and private industry.
https://futuresecurity.asu.edu/mags
=MA in Global Security (Cybersecurity)
This nontechnical program focuses on the complex risks, threats, and modes of protection and response associated with cybersecurity. Emphasizing real world case studies and taught by the world’s foremost leaders in cyber strategy, policy and planning, this concentration prepares students for a rapidly expanding field with a focus on the evolving relationship between cybersecurity and global politics.
MA in Global Security (Irregular Warfare)
A first-of-its-kind degree program at a civilian university, the concentration in Irregular Warfare builds student understanding of contemporary irregular warfare and how it fits within the broader geopolitical environment. It enables graduates to develop suitable courses of action or policy proposals in complex conflict situations to achieve positions of relative advantage over any adversary. Coursework focuses on current and future conflict domains including cyber, information & narrative warfare, economic competition, proxy war, counterinsurgency, great
power competition, and other domains of irregular warfare and special operations.
Certificate in Global Security & Competitive Statecraft
This 15-credit graduate certificate is designed for learners pursuing career advancement or deeper knowledge of contemporary security issues who don’t need a master’s degree. It introduces students to the complexity of the contemporary global security environment in an era of increased competition and compounding security
risks, exploring the dynamics of great power competition, information & narrative warfare, economic competition, proxy war, and the security implications of urbanization, migration, climate change, technological innovation, and other global trends.=
Jennifer • May 16, 2024 8:02 PM
The University Network for Human Rights on Wednesday released and sent to United Nations offices a 105-page report that it called “the most thorough legal analysis” yet to find “Israel is committing genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The network partnered with the International Human Rights Clinic at Boston University School of Law, the International Human Rights Clinic at Cornell Law School, the Center for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, and the Lowenstein Human Rights Project at Yale Law School for the analysis, which draws from “a diverse range of credible sources” and the territory’s history.
Full article:
Actual report:
lurker • May 17, 2024 12:31 AM
All your Reddit are belong to us
and Wall St seems to like it …
‘https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxe92v47850o
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Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.
Not Really Anonymous • May 11, 2024 4:43 AM
@Clive
Thanks for writing a lot of interesting comments over the years. I hope you continue to do so.