Anxiety and Freedom, Microsoft Deepfake Detection, Facebook Disinformation, Replacing Huawei, India China Apps, JEDI Oracle, A Text Scam, Cisco Jabber Flaw, Technology News, Human News, Ideas Trends & Analysis, Discovery, Recommendations, and the Weekly Aphorism…
MY ESSAYSIs Anxiety Freedom Without Direction? MoreThe Original Meaning of Begging the Question MoreSECURITY NEWSMicrosoft has released a tool to help identify deepfake videos to help counteract disinformation. MoreFacebook is taking some pretty extreme steps to limit their blame for any upcoming election drama. They’ve removed new accounts linked to Russian propaganda and they’re now going to ban all political ads for the week leading up to the election. I can’t help but feel like they already know it’s going to look bad for them, no matter what, and they’re just trying to build a case that they did what they could. MoreThe FCC says it’s going to cost around $1.8 billion to replace Huawei/ZTE wireless gear in the US. That seems low, but what do I know. MoreTensions are increasing between India and China, and India has now banned over 100 China-related apps, including PUBG and Baidu. More
This episode originally had this story wrong in the podcast and newsletter—stating that the JEDI contract went to Oracle.
The Pentagon has once again awarded the JEDI contract to Microsoft, and Amazon continues to be upset about it.More There’s a text-message scam going around saying “You, we came across a package from June pending for you. Kindly assume ownership and confirm for delivery here”. Yes, it’s a scam. If you’re reading this you probably already knew that, but tell your loved ones. MoreVulnerabilities:
Cisco fixes a huge flaw in Cisco Jabber for Windows. More
There are around 450 thousand QNAP devices that are vulnerable to three RCE vulnerabilities in QNAP’s Photo Station app, which comes pre-installed. More
Millions of sites are being attacked to look for a vulnerability in a WordPress plugin called “File Manager”. More
Breaches:
Atrium Health, who used Blackbaud software, reported a breach of patient data between Feb 7 and May 20th related to the Blackbaud breach. As it turns out, Blackbaud’s breach was really tens of thousands of smaller breaches. More
Millions of US voter details have been leaked onto a Russian Dark Web forum. More
Ransomware:
Disinformation:
Facebook and Twitter have been warned by the FBI that Russia’s Internet Research Agency is active once again around election disinformation. They’ve created a new network of fake accounts and a fake left-wing news website. They also hired US-based writers to help with the believability of the language. More
Graphika published a 120-page report on a new Russian Information Warfare campaign that goes back to 2014. More
TECHNOLOGY NEWSAmazon gig drivers are putting phones in trees to try to catch more incoming work. MoreAmazon is adding 10,000 more jobs in the Seattle area, and 7,000 more in the UK. More MoreWalmart is launching Walmart Plus to compete with Amazon Prime. It’s $98 instead of $119, but doesn’t have as many advantages. MoreReed Hastings says remote work has been bad for Netflix, and that they’ll be going back to onsite work as soon as they can. MoreZoom and enhance technology has finally arrived, thanks to the rapid improvement of camera tech. MoreFacebook is working a wearable that will allow you to hear inaudible sounds in the real world, including enhancing the speech of someone talking to you in a loud place. MoreAmazon has a new line of security cameras that can last up to four years on a single charge. MoreCompanies:
HUMAN NEWSMore than half of 18 to 29-year-olds in the US are living with their parents. MoreSolar and Wind energy reached 67% of new power capacity added globally in 2019, with fossil fuels making up just 25%. MoreDivorce rates are up 34% during COVID. MoreEconomists are getting more concerned that there will be a quick economic recovery—but only for people already doing well. MoreNetflix is making a series based on Three-Body Problem. MoreIn Japan there are companies that help people disappear out of their lives that are so burdened with visibility, expectation, and responsibility. MoreChess is getting big on Twitch. MoreIDEAS, TRENDS, & ANALYSISWhat Happened When I Went Full Stoic — I really enjoyed this piece, and I like how it found what I did during my journey with it, i.e., that it’s a lot more like some Eastern teachings that tell you to maintain distance from the world so that it cannot harm you. MoreWhat Will You Do if Trump Doesn’t Leave? MoreRiot Porn is making the violence worse. MoreUPDATESBruce Schneier is moving his blog to WordPress, and the trolling started immediately. Why are you moving to something so insecure! This is wisdom as old as “firewalls keep you safe”. WordPress Core is quite secure (for a blogging platform). It’s the plugins that get you. MoreWell, I tried and failed again to create a shorter show this week. This one took me around six hours to assemble. I think I need to raise the bar for what I send to the review queue during the week.DISCOVERY A Big Ass Data Broker Opt-Out List MoreAnalyzing Senators’ Stock Picks Using ML MoreThe Criteria for 10x Content MoreMy Thoughts on Editors in 2020 MoreThe Most Favorited Hacker News Posts MoreThings I Learned From a Senior Software Engineer MoreThe origin of obscure UNIX commands. MoreSomeone fed Nassim Taleb aphorisms to GPT-3 to see if it could make more of them. MoreLessons Learned from Running SSH Honeypots MoreUsing VirusTotal’s API to Detect Malicious Activity MoreRed Team Village CTF Writeup MoreRECOMMENDATIONSThere are an increasing number of studies (including this new one) that shows that vitamin D can be helpful with COVID-19. I’m being very cautious about how I word this because 1) I’m not a doctor, and 2) even doctors are still confused about this stuff. But here’s one thing I can tell you for sure: it’s probably a really good idea to make sure your vitamin D levels are not below where they should be. That’s true whether this research turns out to be strong or not. TL:DR: Make sure you’re not deficient. MoreAPHORISMS“True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.”~ Baltasar Gracian
Notes
Sep 8, 2020 — This episode originally had this story wrong in the podcast and newsletter—stating that the JEDI contract went to Oracle. My apologies for the error.
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