Category: News

NSA spys on Wikileaks

Posted on January 2, 2015 by - News

spyGoogle has told WikiLeaks that on Christmas Eve the Gmail mailboxes and account metadata of a WikiLeaks employee were turned over to law enforcement under a US federal warrant.

WikiLeaks journalist and Courage Foundation acting director Sarah Harrison displayed a redacted copy of the warrant during her presentation on source protection at the Chaos Communications Congress yesterday in Hamburg, Germany.

The warrant was dated for execution by April 5, 2012 by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, and it was apparently part of the continuing investigation by the Justice Department into criminal charges against WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange.

It is not clear whose e-mail was searched and details were not provided, and Wikileaks is a little er secretive about who works there. According to a statement on the organisation’s website, “Given the high level assassination threats against WikiLeaks staff, we cannot disclose exact details about our team members.”

A Google spokesperson said in a statement: that it did not talk about individual cases to help protect all its users.

When it received a subpoena or court order, Google check to see if it meets both the letter and the spirit of the law before complying. And if it doesn’t, it asks that the request is narrowed.

“We have a track record of advocating on behalf of our users,” a spokesGoogle said.

This is the second time a US warrant has been served at Google for data from someone connected to WikiLeaks. A sealed warrant was served to Google in 2011 for the email of a WikiLeaks volunteer in Iceland. The Justice Department has also previously sought to get metadata from WikiLeaks-connected Twitter accounts, and won a court battle with Twitter three years ago to force it to hand it over.

 

Samsung confirms Tizen TV move

Posted on January 2, 2015 by - News

tv58Samsung has confirmed that it is moving all its new smart television products launched in 2015 to its operating system which is named after a particularly loud sneeze.

Tizen will give smart tellies additional software and connectivity functions, such as video streaming and web browsing capabilities.

Kim Hyun-suk, Samsung’s president of visual display business said that while Samsung is focusing on Tizen, the hope was that other TV makers will follow suit and help build an ecosystem that will help the platform grow.

Televisions are only part of Samsung’s Tizen plans. The idea is that a few smartwatches and cameras will also use it.

Samsung has been keen to move to Tizen to break it free from Google’s iron grip with its Android platform. Some pundits think that it will not take off until Samsung builds a successful smartphone with it.

This will encourage developers to write software for Tizen.  Certainly TVs will increase the platform’s user base, even if it is not the normal sort of market developers write for.

 

Linus rubbishes parallel computing

Posted on January 2, 2015 by - News

torvaldsThe creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds has discretely muttered that he does not think that the world of parallel computing is much chop.

In his typically understated way, he hinted that parallelism was “snake oil” and that a huge body of ideas related to that flavour of computing was “garbage”,

“The whole “let’s parallelise” thing is a huge waste of everybody’s time. There is this huge body of “knowledge” that parallel is somehow more efficient, and that whole huge body is pure and utter garbage. Big caches are efficient. Parallel stupid small cores without caches are horrible unless you have a very specific load that is hugely regular,” Torvalds said.

He said that people want mobility, so “the crazies talking about scaling to hundreds of cores are just that – crazy. Why give them an ounce of credibility?”

Torvalds said that the only place where parallelism matters is in graphics or on the server side, where we already largely have it. Pushing it anywhere else is just pointless.

“End users are fine with roughly on the order of four cores, and you can’t fit any more anyway without using too much energy to be practical in that space. And nobody sane would make the cores smaller and weaker in order to fit more of them – the only reason to make them smaller and weaker is because you want to go even further down in power use, so you’d still not have lots of those weak cores,” Torvalds said.

Just in case you missed his subtle point he added: “Give it up. The whole “parallel computing is the future” is a bunch of crock.”

Needless to say there was a controlled and not-at-all-holiday-tipple-fuelled debate about this statement on various news groups. Most of it was about the language Torvalds used – and not just the swear words. The wonderful world of parallelisation is so complex that there are many words to describe different aspects about what it actually means and if you use the wrong ones then the grammar pedants will tear you to bits.

Generally though the feeling about Torvalds’s comments was that the it was not that parallelism which was to blame.  In theory it should all be wonderful.  But the software running it is still not up to snuff.

 

Microsoft sues Windows scammers

Posted on December 31, 2014 by - News

Microsoft campusSoftware giant Microsoft has taken legal action against a company it claims is scamming people by representing itself as a Windows support outfit.

The Indian company, C-Cubed Solutions, is alleged to call people up saying people have had problems with their computers and conning them out of money.

The case claims that representatives from the company claim they represent Microsoft and then attempt to inveigle people into visiting web sites which are infected with malware, according to the Times of India. The caller may also attempt to get remote access to a computer and ask for payment using a credit card under the pretext of providing technical support.

Microsoft says it never cals people cold and advises people who get such calls never to give any information to people who claim to represent it.

The scam doesn’t only affect people in the USA – cold calls have been made to other countries including the UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Tech entrepreneur wins gong

Posted on December 31, 2014 by - News

Lawrence Jones, UK FastA Manchester man who runs a small to medium sized business (SMB) is recognised  in the 2015 New Year’s Honours list.

Lawrence Jones (pictured) runs hosting and colocation firm UKFast and received an MBE for his services to the UK’s digital economy.

Jones said his company specialises in helping UK SMEs by providing small firms with high end tech that are normally affordable only to enterprises.

He said: “We, the SMEs, are the ones that are paying tax, not the big boys with the clever tax planning.”

Small companies drive the UK economy, he said. His 15-year old company turns over £30 million a year and has 200 employees.

He said: “As an entrepreneur you find yourself carrying on regardless, working your hardest, even when there are not many people who pat you on the back. I am tremendously proud to be British and to get an honour like this makes all of the hard work worthwhile.”

* Inventor Trevor Baylis has received a CBE in the Honours list. He invented the Baygen wind up radio, and received the award for services to intellectual property.

Samsung sued by Dutch

Posted on December 31, 2014 by - News

dutch-childrenDutch based telecommunications company KPN has sued Samsung in the US state of Texas, claiming that it stole  some of its patented ideas.

The European network is suing the world’s largest smartphone company for using patented technology, with Samsung’s Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S5 among the listed devices.

Apparently KPN has been negotiating with Samsung for some years to reach a licensing agreement, but talks broke down.

As the court filing was made in the US, it seems KPN is focused on that market, but it is unclear if Samsung is infringing the same patent in other global regions, or if this was just “stage one” of a wider campaign.

Texas is a little more patent friendly to trolls, which does weaken the Dutch case somewhat. After all, if you really believed in your case you would choose a court where the jurors were a little less likely to automatically agree with you.

It is also not clear which patents Samsung is said to have broken – so far no news source from the US has said.

 

US claims it can kill VPNS with Star Trek

Posted on December 31, 2014 by - News

article-2096522-11973640000005DC-278_468x355US spooks claim that they have has VPNs in a “Vulcan death grip” and can “uncloak” any encrypted traffic. 

In a story which appears to have been written by Der Speigel’s Star Trek nut who was the only one in the office during the holiday break,  the  National Security Agency’s Office of Target Pursuit (OTP) has said that it maintains a team of engineers dedicated to cracking the of virtual private networks (VPNs).

A slide deck [shurely holodeck. Ed] from a presentation by a member of OTP’s VPN Exploitation Team, dated September 13, 2010, details the process the NSA used at that time to attack VPNs.  Der Speigel gleefully pointed out that the tools with names drawn from Star Trek and other bits of popular culture.

In 2010, the NSA had already developed tools to attack the most commonly used VPN encryption schemes: Secure Shell (SSH), Internet Protocol Security (IPSec), and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption.

The NSA has a specific repository for capturing VPN metadata called Toygrippe. The repository stores information on VPN sessions between systems of interest, including their “fingerprints” for specific machines and which VPN services they have connected to, their key exchanges, and other connection data. VPN “fingerprints” can also be extracted from Xkeyscore, the NSA’s distributed “big data” store of all recently captured Internet traffic, to be used in identifying targets and developing an attack.

When an IPSec VPN is identified and “tasked” by NSA analysts, according to the presentation, a “full take” of its traffic is stored in Vulcandeathgrip, a VPN data repository. There are similar, separate repositories for PPTP and SSL VPN traffic dubbed Fourscore and Vulcanmindmeld.

The data is then replayed from the repositories through a set of attack scripts, which use sets of preshared keys (PSKs) harvested from sources such as exploited routers and stored in a key database called CORALREEF. Other attack methods are used to attempt to recover the PSK for each VPN session. If the traffic is of interest, successfully cracked VPNs are then processed by a system called Turtlepower and sorted into the NSA’s Xkeyscore -traffic database, and extracted content is pushed to the Pinwhale “digital network intelligence” content database.

All this can apparently move any Klingons using a technique first seen in the game Star Control II but never actually used on Star Trek.

Why you need to put a MacBook in the oven

Posted on December 31, 2014 by - News

603716_com_hpim3203aFor a long time I have been suggesting that a hammer is the best cure for all things which emerge from the Apple Cargo Cult, but it turns out that I might have been wrong and it is better to put them in the oven.

Sterling over at iFixIT was having huge problems with heating problems on his MacBook Pro.  Apparently, the geniuses at Apple decided that people would pay more money for a laptop which sets your groin on fire.

While most Apple fans are happy to live with this poor state of design rather than get a real computer that works, Sterling spent the weekend trying to improve on Apple’s design instead.  Now since this is considered heresy in the Apple world, where you are not even allowed to replace a battery without permission from Steve Jobs without voiding your warranty, it is fairly clear that Sterling did not care. On an average day, his laptop hovered between 80 and 90ºC. One time he saw it climb as high as 102 C which was hot enough to make a nice cup of tea.  Apple fanboys would tell you that this is an additional feature.

In March, in living proof that you get what you pay for, it died and his novel answer was to reflow it.  This involved heating it up until the balls of solder melt back into their assigned spots.

He disconnected all eleven connectors and three heat sinks from the logic board, and turned the oven up to 340º F. He baked it for seven minutes.

After it cooled, he reapplied thermal paste, put it all back together, and cheered when it booted. It ran great for the next eight months.

Then, two weeks ago, it died again so he rebaked it and it ran again.

 

Android to swamp 2015 smartphone market

Posted on December 31, 2014 by - News

7d0b48c2aafb49dba955a982d484463eNext year could see the rise of the new Android defeating platforms, according to new research.

Sales of smartphones based on newly emerging platforms, including Android One, Firefox OS and Tizen, are expected to increase significantly in 2015.

According to beancounters at Gartner,  the ratio of feature phones to total global handset shipments already dropped to 34 percent in the third quarter of 2014 and is expected to dip to as low as 10 percent in 2018.

The narrowing price gap between smartphones and feature phones is the main reason for feature phone subscribers to switch to smartphones.

Microsoft Mobile’s decision to phase out its feature phones has also encouraged handset makers to roll out more Android One-, Firefox- and Tizen-based models, priced from$50-100, to cash in.

Mozilla teamed up with China-based handset makers including TCL, ZTE, Huawei as well as chipset vendor Spreadtrum Communications to form a supply chain for Firefox smartphones.

In cooperation with regional telecom operators, the Firefox supply chain has launched 14 models in 30 markets. Some Firefox models available in the Philippines and India are even priced below US$30.

In reply, Google has been promoting Android One smartphones and with Micromax to promote Android One smartphones in India and chipset vendors Qualcomm and MediaTek and handset vendors HTC, Asustek Computer, Acer and Lenovo to develop next generation Android One phones, which are expected to come in the first half of 2015.

But it faces some competition from Samsung with its first Tizen-based smartphone, the Z1, in early 2015. The Z1 is expected to come with a 4-inch display, 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and priced below US$100.

 

Smartphone brands cleared by Taiwan’s watchdog

Posted on December 31, 2014 by - News

White Puppy-02Tawian’s watchdogs have cleared China’s Xiaomi and other smartphone brands of breaching data protection laws after national security concerns triggered a government probe.

The National Communications Commission said all the 12 brands it had tested, which also included handsets sold by Apple, Samsung, LG and Sony , did not violate the laws.

James Lou, an NCC official who was involved in the testing, said the commission, however, would request mobile phone makers make information transmission more secure.

The probe was started over concerns that the Chinese handset makers Huawei and ZTE were being used as snooping tools by the Chinese.

Taiwan is a bit sensitive to security matters involving China, which is its largest trading partner, but has never renounced the use of force to take back what it deems a renegade province.

Xiaomi, whose budget smartphones are popular throughout Asia, was previously accused of breaching data privacy. In August, the company said sorry and changed a default feature after a Finnish security company said Xiaomi collected address book data without users’ permission.

Taiwan’s government began performing independent tests on Xiaomi phones after media reports said that some models automatically send user data back to the firm’s servers in mainland China.

The probe was then widened to include local and foreign handsets. The NCC report said handsets made by HTC Corp, Asustek, Far EasTone, Taiwan Mobile and InFocus Corp, whose handsets are made by Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry were also cleared of breaching the data protection laws.

China says Gmail users must lump it

Posted on December 30, 2014 by - News

330ogleAccess to Gmail for Chinese users remains restricted but now a state owned newspaper has offered words of advice on the matter.

Global Times, which is controlled by the Chinese authorities, said if the government has indeed blocked access to Gmail, then there must be good reasons – such as “newly emerged security reasons”.

The editorial said it that is the reason for the service not working, users “need to accept the reality of Gmail being suspended in China”.

But the editorial is interlarded with ifs and buts.  It suggests that there may be a technical glitch on Google’s side.  And it said the Western press has accused the government of strengthening cyber censorship.

“The issue at heart is to what extent Google is willing to obey Chinese law, on which China’s attitude is steadfast,” it continued.

Chinese law was the reason that Google decided to quit the mainland in 2010.

Global Times accuses Google of running into conflict with other authorities.

“China welcomes the company to do business on the prerequisite that it obeys Chinese law; however, Google values more its reluctance to be restricted by Chinese law, resulting in conflict.”

LG shows off 4K TV designs

Posted on December 30, 2014 by - News

lgscreensThe Consumer Electronics Show kicks off in Las Vegas next week and already vendors are seeking to hog the headlines by pre-announcing what they’ll be showing off.

Korean manufacturer LG said it it will show off a number of LED 4K Ultra HD TVs at the show that it will launch during 2015.

The TVs use different phosphor based LEDs and LG claims that gives better colour depth, more lifelike images, and a 25 percent increase in the colour range.

The TVs have 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution with something called inplane switching 4K panels which have the effect of allowing wider viewing angles.

LG will also show off an ultra thin Slim TV, while five of the products it will launch next year will include an ultra surround system, co-developed with Harmon/Kardon.

The company said it will also show off its smart TV software, webOS 2.0, which reduces boot time by up to 60 percent.

It will also show off an algorithm which renders SD, HD and full HD content into Ultra HD images.

People still fear mobile banking

Posted on December 30, 2014 by - News

oldbankA survey of US financial institutions that offer mobile banking show most people are still steering clear of it.

Ratewatch surveyed 10,000 US financial institutions and found that while 82 percent of institutions now offer mobile banking, only two percent of people use their mobile devices to access their bank accounts.

Instead, 62 percent of banking customers are still addicted to their branch as their primary way of managing their money.  While 29 percent use online services, presumably from their PCs, only two percent think their mobile device is their primary banking method.

Of the institutions which offer mobile banking services, 63 percent offered the ability to check account balances, transfer funds, and make loan payments. And 54 percent allow customers to pay their bills using a mobile service.

Ratewatch thinks that despite the convenience of mobile banking, many people still go to a building to perform complicated transactions or to make desposits using multiple cheques.

But despite the low take up, 70 percent of people under 30 and 51 percent of 30 plus people think mobile banking is a “must have” or “nice to have” facility.

Ratewatch believes the introduction of ApplePay may help spur more takeup of mobile banking services.

Connected cars pose security threat

Posted on December 30, 2014 by - News

googlecarThe UK’s Automobile Association (AA) has warned that cars connected to the internet are vulnerable to hackers.

Different systems installed in the latest automobiles offer clear opportunities for abuse, according to the head of the AA, Edmund King.

He told Electronics Weekly that as more cars get connected to the internet the more vulnerable they’ll be to hack attacks.

Most car manufacturers have already installed systems using IP addresses and the number of those are going to increase over time.

King thinks that terrorists could threaten transportation systems, and interfere with acceleration and braking systems, with crooks demanding money from owners to release their cars.

He also thinks hackers could breach controller area networks, switch on internal microphones and cameras and track peoples’ movements.

King told EW that there are so many sensors installed in cars these days that vehicles are becoming vulnerable to security breaches.

Apple ruled Christmas

Posted on December 30, 2014 by - News

two-applesA report from Flurry indicated that Apple seriously outdid its competitors over the Christmas period.

The metrics company said that of all the devices activated in the week up to Christmas Day, Apple ruled the roost with 51 percent of device activations.

Samsung devices took second place with 17.7 percent of activations, Nokia took 5.8 percent, Sony took 1.6 percent and LG managed a measly 1.4 percent.

Microsoft owns Nokia now so it could be said to be third in the pecking order.

Flurry Analytics said the figures indicated that the introduction of Apple’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus had a “blockbuster” holiday season, beating the somewhat dismal gizmo trend.

Flurry also said that the largest number of app installs on Christmas Day, with 2.5 times the installs compared to any day in the previous three weeks.

The company also managed to track the type of device, with full size tablets taking 16 percent, small tablets 17 percent, “phablets” three percent, medium phones 58 percent and smalll phones seven percent.