The week that was gave us another 8 interesting stories, including this year’s biggest software hack, how you can easily hack with your laptop, VW embroiled in another emission software scandal, Amazon gets into the car business, Tesla into the sun business and how users can no longer hide from Skype calls!
Enjoy.
- AdultFriendFinder is the winner of the years biggest hack with 412M users
Barely a week goes by when we don’t learn of a hack of some sort, but this one takes the prize for the largest number of users affected in 2016 at 412M users. This haul included passwords, in both clear and (weak) hashed format. The issue here is of course that the vast majority of people repeat their email/passwords combinations, opening them up for not only blackmail, but identify theft.
Interesting tidbit; LeakedSource did an analysis on the passwords and found nearly a 1M people still use the classic 123456 as their password – no sympathy for those people anymore.
- Give a man one laptop; and he can bring down major pieces of the Internet
When we hear of Denial of Server attacks, we picture 1000’s of independent machines infected with a piece of malware that saturate a servers infrastructure. Well that may not be the case anymore if researchers from TDC Security are to believed.
Armed with a single laptop, that has access to a fast network, you can use BlackNurse, a new technique that bombards network equipment with malformed ICMP packets. So forget the foreign nationals trying to hack us – all it takes is a pissed off employee!
- VW are still caught in the emission cheating scandal with Audi
With all the news this week about fake news stories on Google and Facebook you would think you can take solace that something as mechanical as a car won’t betray you. Think again – those pesky German VW software engineers have been caught with their compilers down again – this time with the Audi brand.
The US EPA are investigating Audi about discrepancies in their reports with particular attention being applied to the software. This whole scandal is just ridiculous and I hope a single developer is not fired over this; management had to know, their heads need to roll.
- Do you want to Amazon Prime that new Fiat car?
Yes, Amazon are getting into the automotive business, by offering 3 Fiat models on their Italian website. If you recall they announced a few months ago, Amazon Vehicles that was more like a Wikipedia for cars, so this is a logical step to start selling cars direct online.
This will be an interesting to watch and see how customers react to this model. Personally, I think it will be a big hit, as the likes of CarMax (and Tesla) demonstrate, as people hate haggling and dealing with car salesmen.
- Tesla and SolarCity are now a single entity after 85% shareholder approval
With Amazon getting into the car selling business, Tesla is now in the solar business after shareholders overwhelming approved the acquisition. All gone crazy! At first blush, a car company buying a solar panel maker makes absolutely no sense. However, to understand this you need to buy-in to Elon Musk’s vertical transport energy company (car + battery + solar).
This is a bold move and their stock took a bit of a beating on the official confirmation. If Tesla can produce the Model 3 in the numbers this will be just a bump in the road as this journey is just starting out.
- Russia bans LinkedIn
What is a Russian recruiter to do now?!? Russia has added LinkedIn to the list of foreign sites that are no longer accessible to the average Russian user. LinkedIn has succumb to that law that dictates that any company storing personal Russian citizen data need to have those servers hosted within Russia. LinkedIn does not.
LinkedIn are not the only sites to fall foul of this – YouPorn and PornHub are also in this list. WikiPedia was also banned for a few days, and Facebook/Twitter are also on the cusp of being banned after repeated warnings.
- Skype no longer requires a username to call someone
File this under, #finally. Skype is a great service, but requires both parties to have a Skype account to really benefit. Not any longer. Microsoft have finally relented and can offer Skype call sessions via a web browser, single unique link experience.
There are some limitations, but at least you can now call your Linux friends who have been holding out on you.
- Sssh … can you hear that? Is that an electric car approaching?
Dang naggit the US DoT has gone ruined one of the best bits of fun you can have in an electric car – that is sneaking up on runners in your neighborhood, dogs also fall into that category. They now want all cars that can run silent to emit a sound while they are under 19 mph.
Now details are a little sketchy here as to what type of sound we are talking. I really hope Tesla allow me to upload my own MP3 – maybe the fun hasn’t been ruined after all.
… and this week’s soundtrack was brought to you by Fatboy Slim’s Weapon of Choice. Christopher Walken dancing I could watch all day – every time I press the elevator button this is what goes through my head!
alan williamson 