Just Computers

Hoo boy.

One lousy click: the phishing blunder that sank an entire product

I went to bed too early, woke up about 12:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. Got up about one and started playing on my computer.

However the internet was not working. Figured maybe Comcast was doing maintenance (it happens) so I did some non-internet stuff and checked back every so often.

About 2:00 I was able to access Google, but nothing else -- no email, no Wikipedia, not even any Google search results. Just the Google main page.

Checked my iPad and I could do email on it, but not anything else.

Finally about 2:30 everything came back. I cannot explain this.

Fancy Bear bites hotel networks as EternalBlue mystery deepens

Quote :

Coincidentally (or not), in mid March, the company patched the vulnerability exploited by EternalBlue, MS17-010, weeks before a group called the Shadow Brokers made it public. How did Microsoft know about it? Speculation pointed to the possibility that it had been tipped off by the NSA which knew attacks with its leaked tools were likely.

The company’s president and chief legal officer Brad Smith later very pointedly described WannaCry as “yet another example of why the stockpiling of vulnerabilities by governments is such a problem”.

I'm glad I don't have heart problems.

Pacemaker gets firmware update – go and see your doctor

I do use email though.

Is your email in the latest cache of 711 million pwnd addresses?

My heart is broken.

Equifax says 143 million consumers potentially hacked

Quote :

The company said criminals had accessed details including names, social security numbers, and, in some cases, driver's license numbers.
In addition, credit card numbers of around 209,000 U.S. consumers and certain dispute documents with personal identifying information of around 182,000 U.S. consumers were accessed, the company said.
Equifax also said personal information of certain UK and Canadian residents were also hacked.

That all sounds a bit worse than the usual.

Your voice assistant can hear things you can’t – such as a hacker

Quote :

...they demonstrated that Siri – along with every other voice assistant (VA) they tested – will respond to commands that don’t come from a human – that are not only outside the human vocal range, but are also inaudible to humans.

This seems fairly serious. The article explains how to do screw with someone.

Disable Apple's "Find My Device" to Stop Hackers From Ransoming Your Mac or iPhone

Oh FFS. How is anyone going to profit from remotely locking your device? If they hold it for ransom, how could they get paid anonymously?

It seems like a rather long way to go for your run-of-the-mill street thief.

The article explains exactly how the scheme works to make money from locking your device.

What do you recommend for a password manager?

Looking around, 1Password seems to be highly regarded but the registration process pissed me off by asking for my credit card number ($36/yr) before it'd even let me see how it works. There are some free ones out there and a lot of reviews but I'm inherently wary. Isn't is dangerous to put all your passwords in one basket?

My requirements:

• strong random passwords
  
• easy access across mobile devices, main computer & TV
  
• reasonable cost/benefit
  
• fast, easy to use
  
• secure stable company

This is kinda scary:

Quote :

The official KeePass 2.x for Mac OS X website is here:
http://keepass2.openix.be/

Why is the "official website" crossed out? Why is it in Belgium?

Oops. I forgot you used an Apple. An Apple users forum is probably the place to look.

Here's one for you.

Every time I use the Home Depot web site, I lose my internet connection and my DSL connection.
I've tried it about a dozen times in the past few weeks, and it always does it.

That's fucking bizarre.

That IS bizarre. Are you using standard home router / wi-fi setup options (10.0.0.1)? Perhaps you have some kind of network address conflict -- although that's a (big BIG) stretch.

The router is not involved in the problem; it occurs at the modem. Wi-fi is not involved.

I have not noticed any other web site causing this problem.

The confusing part is that the DSL connection is an always-on connection. It's just the connection between the modem and the phone company equipment. When that connection is established, I have to log in to connect to the internet, which is upstream from the DSL connection. Losing the DSL connection is really baffling.

OK, it's old news in most respects, but the incompetence and dishonesty at Yahoo is still breathtaking.

3 billion Yahoo accounts affected by 2013 breach

I didn't hear about this guy. Sounds like a really obnoxious asshole.

How the Waltham cyberstalker’s reign of fear was ended

I don't really care if somebody tracks me, but I can see how a lot of people would get upset at the possibility.

How individuals can use online ad buying to spy on you

I know there are some serious aspects of this, but I couldn't stop laughing.

If Your Vibrator Is Hacked, Is It a Sex Crime?

Posted on the Firefox forum about the problem with homedepot. Got a quick response, but no idea of what the problem might be. I get sick and tired of hearing "update to the latest version." I fired up the old XP machine with an old version of Firefox on it and it did the same damned thing with homedepot - killed the DSL connection.