?️ Security News
Ukraine has found another nasty piece of malware targetting their government systems. It’s a Windows backdoor called Pterodo. Link
China has turned on their social credit system that was basically a Black Mirror episode, and it’s resulted in the blacklisting of millions of Chinese from booking flights. Their scores were too low. Unreal. Link
The US government is again telling everyone to avoid using anything from Huawei. Link
Half a million Android users were tricked into downloading malware from Google Play. Link
DARPA is working on a security strategy called Mosaic Warfare, where you focus less on individual weapon systems and more on disrupting the decision-making process of the enemy, and using new and existing weapons in unexpected ways. Link
Insurers are starting to monitor peoples’ behavior using technology and deny benefits based on what they see. This person had coverage limited due to not being “compliant” in their CPAP machine usage. Link
The Pentagon has started uploading the foreign nation-state malware they find to VirusTotal. Link
The FBI is about to start collecting data on police use of force. Link
Advisories: Adobe Flash
Breaches: USPS, FIESP
⚙️ Technology News
9 out of 10 Silicon Valley jobs pay less than 20 years ago. Or, to put it another way, most people are making less money in Silicon Valley—except the top 10% of earners. Link
Americans look at their smartphones an average of 52 times a day. Link
86% of teens want their next phone to be an iPhone. 10% want an Android. Link
?? Human News
Astronomers have found water in the atmosphere of a planet that’s 179 light years away. Link
New York’s public transportation is in really bad shape. Link
? Ideas, Trends, & Analysis
The gig economy is trying to monetize workers to keep them working, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re getting paid well when they score well. Link
? Discovery
My book summary of Algorithms to Live By (with the new format, which I’m super excited about). Link
The Google Cemetary — A site that highlights all the different products that Google has killed off. Link
The Symmetry and Simplicity of the Laws of Physics and the Higgs Boson Link
FlickMetrix — Find Netflix movies based on multiple criteria. Link
CMSScan — a CMS scanner with lots of platforms supported. Link
satpy — a Python package for looking at satellite image data. Link
bscan — an asynchronous target enumeration tool. Link
? Notes
Currently Reading: This Idea is Brilliant
Recently Finished: The Four
Just Purchased: Elements of a Life, Astrophysics For People in a Hurry, Alibaba—The House That Jack Built
This Idea is Brilliant is a stunningly fun book. It’s like hundreds of tiny essays on individual topics. Highly recommended.
I just launched the new format for my Book Reviews page, and I’m pretty pleased with it. Check out my first summary in the new format. Once I get done updating them, every review will have a one-sentence summary and a N/10 rating! Algorithms to Live By
?️ Recommendations
This is the best floss you will ever use. Link
? Aphorism
“Tell me about yourself is the only ice-breaker you’ll ever need”.
~ Terry Gross
