Last minute geek

1. USPS patches API flaw that exposed data on 60 million users (update)
(English/engadget)

The United States Postal Service reportedly patched an API exploit on Wednesday that would allow anyone with a USPS.com account to view other users' account details. The security flaw impacted some ...

2. Machine learning hucksters invent an AI racist uncle that predicts your personality from your facial bone structure
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... learning technology that goes beyond Biometrics. Our solution analyzes a person’s facial image and automatically reveals his personality, enabling security companies/agencies to more efficiently detect, ...

3. Essential System Tools: Nmap - network security tool
(English/Linuxtoday)

LinuxLinks: Nmap is widely regarded as the de facto standard tool for network exploration and security auditing. Read all  ...

4. Instagram bug inadvertently exposed some user's passwords
(English/engadget)

According to The Information, Instagram has suffered a serious security leak of its own that could've exposed user's passwords. While Facebook recently had a much more serious problem linked ...

5. Instagram "influencers" phished and accounts stolen
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

Instagram influencers are easy marks for phishers: they are unlikely to be security-savvy, are easily taken-in by marketing patter, have huge easily-grifted audiences, and Instagram won't even give them ...

6. For $20, you can make a DIY Stingray in minutes, using parts from Amazon
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... had become. One upshot of the law enforcement reliance on cellular mass surveillance is that it has created a perverse incentive to maintain the insecurity of our mobile devices; this insecurity, combined ...

7. A leaky database of SMS messages is a reminder that SMS is really, really insecure
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

Berlin-based security researcher Sébastien Kaul discovered that Voxox (formerly Telcentris) -- a giant, San Diego-based SMS gateway company -- had left millions of SMSes exposed on an Amazon cloud server, ...

8. Generative adversarial network produces a "universal fingerprint" that will unlock many smartphones
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

Researchers at NYU and U Michigan have published a paper explaining how they used a pair of machine-learning systems to develop a "universal fingerprint" that can fool the lowest-security fingerprint ...

9. Engadget giveaway: Win a DiskStation DS718+ courtesy of Synology!
(English/engadget)

Cloud data storage services are ubiquitous nowadays, but imagine the savings, security and ownership benefits of hosting your own server. Synology's DS718+ 2-bay unit is a good jump off point if you ...

10. One year later: kids smart-watches are still a privacy and security dumpster fire
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

A year ago, the Norwegian Consumer Council commissioned a study into kids' smart watches, finding that they were incredibly negligent when it came to security and incredible greedy when it came to surveillance: ...

11. Japan's new cybersecurity minister admits never having used a computer
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

Yoshitaka Sakurada might not be Japan's best pick for the cybersecurity portfolio: confused by a USB drive, he was forced to admit he'd never even used a computer. In parliament on Wednesday however, ...

12. Companies keep losing your data because it doesn't cost them anything
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... in security. Why does this keep happening? Because it's affordable. In 2014, Home Depot breached more than 50,000,000 credit-cards; in 2016, they paid less than $0.34/customer in restitution. There ...

13. Japan's new cybersecurity minister admits he's never used a computer
(English/engadget)

Whichever way your political ideology lies, there's no doubt that we live in interesting times. A lot of us have opinions on which political figures are qualified to do their jobs -- and which definitely ...

14. Challenge yourself by building this DIY wooden combination lock
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... lock, here. Once you do, you'll also get access to the plans for a laser cut iteration of the project. While it might not provide the level of security that you'd want for keeping your valuables safe, ...

15. "Privacy Not Included": Mozilla's guide to insecure, surveillant gadgets to avoid
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

"Privacy Not Included" is Mozilla's Christmas shopping (anti)-guide to toys and gadgets that spy on you and/or make stupid security blunders, rated by relative "creepiness," from the Nintendo Switch (a ...

16. Nigerian telco says it accidentally routed Google traffic through China
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

BGP is a notoriously insecure process by which routes for internet data are advertised and discovered by routers; its ubiquity and insecurity make it a prime suspect whenever it seems that national spy ...

17. Researchers keep finding Spectre-style bugs in processors
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

In January 2018, researchers made a blockbuster announcement of seemingly unpatchable security bugs lurking in Intel processors; after a round of initial reassurances about the mitigations for these bugs, ...

18. Black security guard shot dead by police after preventing a mass shooting
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

Jemel Roberson was working as an armed security guard at Manny's Blue Room Bar in the Chicago suburb of Robbins early Sunday morning when he asked a group of intoxicated men to leave the bar. The men came ...

19. Wife of GOP mega-donor to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors." This year's recipients are: -Miriam Adelson -Orrin Hatch -Alan Page -Elvis ...

20. How many computers are in your computer?
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... for surveillance, exfiltration, or attacks against the rest of the system." In other words, every one of these computers is a potential weak point in your "computer"'s security. For a lot of people, ...

21. Security chips have not reduced US credit-card fraud
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

The US credit card industry was a very late adopter of security chips, lagging the EU by a decade or so; when they did roll out chips, it was a shambolic affair, with many payment terminals still not ...

22. Apple's new bootloader won't let you install GNU/Linux
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... trusted computing can prevent compromises to operating systems and other low-level parts of their computer's operating environment. But as with every security measure, there's a difference between "secure ...

23. Oracle's bad faith with security researchers led to publication of a Virtualbox 0-day
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... actors reveal their bugs without giving them time to create and promulgate a patch. But over and over again, this theory of corporate responsibility and security researcher intransigence falls apart. ...

24. Reminder: ousted California Republican Dana Rohrabacher is a filthy tenant from hell
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... cutting the phone lines; and leaving behind squirming maggots under the stove. The damage cost $28,500 to fix. Then Rohrabacher sued his landlord for not refunding his security deposit. In August, ...

25. How To Install Kali Linux Tools In Ubuntu
(English/Linuxtoday)

Learn how to install a suite of security testing tools from Kali Linux onto a Ubuntu machine. Read all  ...