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User: bestweasel

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  1. When we're talking about spear-phishing then it's wise to look at the targets: who would benefit from hacking "Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, the Atlantic Council, the RAND Corporation, and the State Department"? This "Russian Business Network"? There is a widespread and long-standing series of attacks which points to the Russian state being the culprit. I'll post this again because it was unaccountably modded to zero before.

    BBC News summarized the evidence for the Russian state being behind a whole host of cyber-attacks since 2007, via the Fancy Bears hacking group. There is no smoking gun but the article and those linked within it (well worth reading) suggest evidence of Russian involvement in the language and timestamps of the malware as well as the list of targets: the Georgian, German, Romainian and Polish governments, Ukraine, Russian dissidents, NATO, the MH17 investigation team, as well as the US Democratic Party, US media and US athletes' drug testing records and more generally targets of interest to governments rather than those after money. The same hackers also shut down a French TV station and a Ukrainian power station, probably just to see if they could.

    The article is based on Microsoft's accusation that the group was exploiting an unpatched flaw in Windows but it's probably no co-incidence that it was published just after the head of MI5 warned about Russia's increased aggression.

  2. Re: Don't use Facebook on Facebook on its Fake News Problem: 'There's So Much More We Need To Do' (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    If you believe this unreliable, unscientific, self-selecting poll from July, half of us don't use Facebook.

  3. The lies came from those Trump supporters being polled. Trump was so vilified by all the clever people that some of them were too ashamed to admit being supporters to those same clever people's pollsters. However when someone says, "I'm conducting a poll on behalf of Donald Trump ...", they were more likely to admit to it. I didn't think Clinton was safe when her lead dropped below 7%. See also Brexit.

  4. Re:Nice of them to take Election day off on Russian Hackers Launch Targeted Cyberattacks Hours After Trump's Win (vice.com) · · Score: 1

    BBC News summarized the evidence for the Russian state being behind a whole host of cyber-attacks since 2007, via the Fancy Bears hacking group. There is no smoking gun but the article and those linked within it (well worth reading) suggest evidence of Russian involvement in the language and timestamps of the malware as well as the list of targets: the Georgian, German, Romainian and Polish governments, Ukraine, Russian dissidents, NATO, the MH17 investigation team, as well as the US Democratic Party, US media and US athletes' drug testing records and more generally targets of interest to governments rather than those after money. The same hackers also shut down a French TV station and a Ukrainian power station, probably just to see if they could.

    The article is based on Microsoft's accusation that the group was exploiting an unpatched flaw in Windows but it's probably no co-incidence that it was published just after the head of MI5 warned about Russia's increased aggression.

  5. Re: That's great! on Ubuntu Budgie Is Now An Official Ubuntu Flavor (softpedia.com) · · Score: 1

    That's unfair. I'm sure someone has heard of it.

    This should be part of the Slashdot editor's job. So many of these ground-breaking releases lead to a git site or web page which assume you already know what it's all about and where it can be hard to find a simple description which doesn't assume lots of prior knowledge.

  6. Re: This is interesting on Leaked NASA Paper Suggests The 'Impossible' EM Drive Really Does Work (sciencealert.com) · · Score: 0

    Reagan was an actor playing the part of a president whereas Trump is primarily a salesman, his flagship product of course being himself.

  7. Re: Terrified of Crimina Corruption in the Whiteho on FBI: Review of New Emails Doesn't Change Conclusion on Clinton (cnn.com) · · Score: 2

    "I've been stopped by the cops over a hundred times".

    Are you a really bad driver or just black?

  8. Well the Guardian story linked in the article is from August.

  9. Re: Serious question here. on A Naked Black Hole Is Screaming Through the Universe (gizmodo.com) · · Score: 1

    It could be detected when it occludes or distorts the light of objects behind it.

  10. Well if a single, simple measure like this costs $10 million to pass in one state, I'd say you're right.

  11. Re: About damn time! on You Can Legally Hack Your Own Car, Pacemaker, or Smartphone Now (wired.com) · · Score: 2

    He has a heart?

  12. Cash In on Apple CEO Tim Cook: 'We're Going To Kill Cash' (cnet.com) · · Score: 1

    "We're going to kill cash," said.Tim Cook. "Nobody likes to carry around cash."

    "So what we're going to do is open special 'Cash Exchange Bars' at all our Apple stores where people can come in and swap their old cash for brand new Apple products. What's more, we're making a commitment to keep our Cash Exchange Bars open until no-one has any cash left and the scourge of paper money has been eliminated from society."

  13. Re: Diversion on Russians Seek Answers To Central Moscow GPS Anomaly (yahoo.com) · · Score: 1

    Oh thanks, I think I see now. You'd approach the Kremlin then at some point be directed in the Kremlin-from-airport direction until the effect wore off then go round again and again.

  14. Diversion on Russians Seek Answers To Central Moscow GPS Anomaly (yahoo.com) · · Score: 1

    It seems a bit odd to redirect attacks to an airport - I'd have expected it to point to the opposition's headquarters.

  15. More from that link:

    That story (as well as one published earlier this week, Spreading the DDoS Disease and Selling the Cure) examined the sometimes blurry lines between certain DDoS mitigation firms and the cybercriminals apparently involved in launching some of the largest DDoS attacks the Internet has ever seen. Indeed, the record 620 Gbps DDoS against KrebsOnSecurity.com came just hours after I published the story on which Madory and I collaborated.

    A botnet for hire can be rented by a variety of customers at different times, even nation states.

  16. Re: waah waah i oversold my product on Elon Musk: Negative Media Coverage of Autonomous Vehicles Could be 'Killing people' (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    Yes, idiots will always be with us but the idea is to lower the risks of them harming themselves or others, besides most of us are idiots at some time in some way.

    Not sure why I'm trolling, I've never heard of the clumsy term "driver assists".

  17. Re: waah waah i oversold my product on Elon Musk: Negative Media Coverage of Autonomous Vehicles Could be 'Killing people' (theverge.com) · · Score: 2

    It's Musky's own fault for calling it Autopilot. If he'd called it Driverassist or similar, idiots would be less likely to assume they can watch TV or send texts while driving.

  18. Re: Two star content? on Netflix's Big Bet on Original Shows Finally Seen Paying Off (reuters.com) · · Score: 1
  19. Thank you very much for your donation to Hillary Clinton's election fund. With your help, we'll win.

  20. Re: So Assange has overstayed his welcome. on WikiLeaks: Ecuador Cut Off Assange's Internet Access (bbc.com) · · Score: 1

    They'll be turning off the sandwiches next.

  21. "hopefully it will get bitch slapped by the Supremes"

    Stop In the Name of Law

  22. Re: Does anybody ... on Assange Internet Link Cut By State Actor, Claims Wikileaks (rt.com) · · Score: 1

    It's most likely a British Telecom technician made a mistake in the junction box. Seems a bit remiss that he doesn't have a backup what with his life being a bit constrained as to what else he can do. Doesn't he have data on his phone?

  23. Oh no, immoral rules for radicals! How could they stoop so low. Even if all of that stuff was true and meant what you think it does, Trump would still be a worse choice.

    Trump is not the saviour you are looking for. You wanted someone who could beat the RNC's fix but you were so beguiled by his tinsel charisma and TV appearances - and because he was the only one around who could win the nomination - that you didn't pay enough attention to his personal qualities.

    The machine will win again. Pick a better candidate next time.

  24. It makes me a horrified spectator. George Bush's main claim to fame in case you need reminding, is causing the deaths of several hundred thousand people though bad decisions, at the least. Not my sort of role model.

    Trump's father started Donald off with a few million, and presumably left him some of the hundreds of millions in his will. He managed four huge bankruptcies by himself though and has a much lower tax rate than you. Is he a multi-billionaire? It's hard to tell because he tells so many lies. We may find that he is bankrupt again and in hock to the Bank of Moscow.

  25. He got to his station in life because his father amassed several hundred million dollars. You think Trump deals with the details of every square inch himself - does he strike you as that sort of man? I understand the technique of "keep 'em guessing" but it's not usually applied to people whose votes you're trying to win. Does Trump speak in some secret code that makes perfect sense to his supporters while everyone else sits there open-mouthed?

    When you say technicalities are you including sexual assault? In the second debate, why didn't he deny it when first asked instead of talking about ISIS? That was no kind of strategy - that was a cornered Donald Trump in a blind panic.