ICT news

• U.S. Wiretap Systems Targeted in China-Linked Hack

  05-10-2024 23:21 via slashdot.org
  
  "A cyberattack tied to the Chinese government penetrated the networks of a swath of U.S. broadband providers," reports the Wall Street Journal, "potentially accessing information from systems the federal government uses for court-authorized network wiretapping requests.
  "For months or longer, the hackers might have held access to network infrastructure used to cooperate with lawful U.S. requests for communications data, according to people familiar with the matter, which amounts to a major natio
  
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• Criminal Charges Announced Over Multi-Year Fraud Scheme in a Carbon Credits Market

  05-10-2024 21:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  This week the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York unsealed charges over a "scheme to commit fraud" in carbon markets, which they say fraudulently netted one company "tens of millions of dollars" worth of credits — which led to "securing an investment of over $100 million."
  MarketWatch reports:
  Ken Newcombe had spent years building a program to distribute more environmentally friendly cookstoves for free to rural communities in Africa and Southeast Asia. The benefit
  
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• Plastic-Eating Bacteria Could Combat Pollution Problems, Scientists Hope

  05-10-2024 20:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The Washington Post on scientists who "discovered that bacteria commonly found in wastewater can break down plastic to turn it into a food source, a finding that researchers hope could be a promising answer to combat one of Earth's major pollution problems."In a study published Thursday in Environmental Science and Technology, scientists laid out their examination of Comamonas testosteroni, a bacteria that grows on polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, a plastic commonly found in single-use food p
  
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• America's FCC Orders T-Mobile To Deliver Better Cybersecurity

  05-10-2024 19:34 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  T-Mobile experienced three major data breaches in 2021, 2022, and 2023, according to CSO Online, "which impacted millions of its customers."
  After a series of investigations by America's Federal Communications Commission, T-Mobile agreed in court to a number of settlement conditions, including moving toward a "modern zero-trust architecture," designating a Chief Information Security Office, implementing phishing-resistant multifactor authentication, and adopting data minimization, data inventory
  
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• Akamai Warns CUPS Vulnerability Also Brings New Threat of DDoS Attacks

  05-10-2024 18:34 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Last week the Register warned "If you're running the Unix printing system CUPS, with cups-browsed present and enabled, you may be vulnerable to attacks that could lead to your computer being commandeered over the network or internet." (Although the CEO of cybersecurity platform watchTowr told them "the vulnerability impacts less than a single-digit percentage of all deployed internet-facing Linux systems.")
  But Tuesday generic (Slashdot reader #14,144) shared this new warning from Akamai:Akamai
  
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• Akamai Warns CUPS-Browsed Vulnerability Also Brings New Threat of DDoS Attacks

  05-10-2024 18:34 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Last week the Register warned "If you're running the Unix printing system CUPS, with cups-browsed present and enabled, you may be vulnerable to attacks that could lead to your computer being commandeered over the network or internet." (Although the CEO of cybersecurity platform watchTowr told them "the vulnerability impacts less than a single-digit percentage of all deployed internet-facing Linux systems.")
  But Tuesday generic (Slashdot reader #14,144) shared this new warning from Akamai:Akamai
  
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• Will Hurricanes Prompt More Purchases of Electric Cars?

  05-10-2024 17:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Days after a hurricane struck America's southeast, Florida's state's fire marshall "confirmed 16 lithium-ion battery fires related to storm surge," according to local news reports. "Officials said six of those fires are associated with electric vehicles and they are working with fire departments statewide to gather more data." (Earlier this year America's federal transportation safety agency estimated that after a 2022 hurricane "about 36 EVs caught on fire. In several instances, the fire erupte
  
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• Free Software Foundation Celebrates 39th Anniversary

  05-10-2024 16:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  "Can you believe that we've been demanding user freedom since 1985?" asks a new blog post at FSF.org:
  Today, we're celebrating our thirty-ninth anniversary, the "lace year," which represents the intertwined nature and strength of our relationship with the free software community. We wouldn't be here without you, and we are so grateful for everyone who has stood with us, advocating for a world where complete user freedom is the norm and not the exception.
  As we celebrate our anniversary and refle
  
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• A Quarter Million Comcast Subscribers Had Data Stolen From Debt Collector

  05-10-2024 15:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: Comcast says data on 237,703 of its customers was in fact stolen in a cyberattack on a debt collector it was using, contrary to previous assurances it was given that it was unaffected by that intrusion. That collections agency, Financial Business and Consumer Solutions aka FBCS, was compromised in February, and according to a filing with Maine's attorney general, the firm informed the US cable giant about the unauthorized access in March. At
  
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• California Passes Law To Protect Consumer 'Brain Data'

  05-10-2024 12:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  On September 28, California amended the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 to recognize the importance of mental privacy. "The law marks the second such legal protection for data produced from invasive neurotechnology, following Colorado, which incorporated neural data into its state data privacy statute, the Colorado Privacy Act (CPA) in April," notes Law.com. GovTech reports: The new bill amends the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, which grants consumers rights over personal infor
  
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• People Are Using Google Study Software To Make AI Podcasts

  05-10-2024 09:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Audio Overview, a new AI podcasting tool by Google, can generate realistic podcasts with human-like voices using content uploaded by users through NotebookLM. MIT Technology Review reports: NotebookLM, which is powered by Google's Gemini 1.5 model, allows people to upload content such as links, videos, PDFs, and text. They can then ask the system questions about the content, and it offers short summaries. The tool generates a podcast called Deep Dive, which features a male and a female voice dis
  
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• Meta Faces Data Retention Limits On Its EU Ad Business After Top Court Ruling

  05-10-2024 05:30 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The European Union's top court has sided with a privacy challenge to Meta's data retention policies. It ruled on Friday that social networks, such as Facebook, cannot keep using people's information for ad targeting indefinitely. The judgement could have major implications on the way Meta and other ad-funded social networks operate in the region. Limits on how long personal data can be kept must be applied in order to comply with data minimiza
  
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• Waymo Chooses the Hyundai Ioniq 5 For New Robotaxi

  05-10-2024 03:25 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Waymo has entered a "multi-year, strategic partnership" with Hyundai to integrate the company's autonomous driving system into the American-made Hyundai Ioniq 5. It's expected to join the Waymo One fleet after road tests starting in late 2025. Carscoops reports: Waymo and Geely joined forces in 2021 to introduce a mobility-focused Zeekr EV. The model was slated to be added to Waymo's fleet of autonomous vehicles and effectively replace their aging Jaguar I-Paces. While that was a solid plan a fe
  
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• Samsung's 'One UI' Is Expanding To All of Its Consumer Devices

  05-10-2024 02:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  First announced in 2018, Samsung's "One UI" software is expanding to all the company's major tech products in 2025. 9to5Google reports: At its annual developer conference, Samsung announced that "One UI" is the new name for the company's software experiences across "major product lines." This specifically includes TVs and home appliances. Samsung says: "In addition, the company announced that it will integrate the software experience of its major product lines -- from mobile devices to TVs and h
  
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• SEC Appeals Decision In Landmark Ripple Case

  05-10-2024 02:02 via slashdot.org
  
  On Wednesday, the SEC filed (PDF) to appeal a 2023 court ruling that determined XRP is not considered a security when sold to retail investors on exchanges. The announcement sent the price of XRP tumbling more than 8%. "XRP, which was created by the founders of Ripple, is the native token of the open source XRP Ledger, which Ripple uses in its cross-border payments business," notes CNBC. "It is the fifth-largest coin by market cap, excluding stablecoins Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC)." CNBC r
  
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• Google Vows To Stop Linking To New Zealand News If Forced To Pay For Content

  05-10-2024 01:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: Google said Friday it will stop linking to New Zealand news content and will reverse its support of local media outlets if the government passes a law forcing tech companies to pay for articles displayed on their platforms. The vow to sever Google traffic to New Zealand news sites -- made in a blog post by the search giant on Friday -- echoes strategies the firm deployed as Australia and Canada prepared to enact similar laws in recen
  
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• Google Is Testing Verified Checkmarks In Search

  05-10-2024 00:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google is testing a new verification feature in search, in a move aimed at helping users avoid fake or fraudulent websites. The Verge's Jess Weatherbed reports: My colleague Jay Peters spotted checkmarks next to official site links for Microsoft, Meta, Epic Games, Apple, Amazon, and HP, but these were no longer displayed once he logged into a different Google account -- meaning this experiment isn't being rolled out widely just yet. Hovering over a checkmark will display a message that explains
  
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• Latest Windows 11 Dev Build Is Out With Copilot Key Remapping

  05-10-2024 00:00 via build.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft has released Windows 11 Dev build 26120.1930, which contains the ability to remap the Copilot key. The changes are rolling out gradually to Dev Insiders with the "Get the latest features as soon as they are available" toggle on. Neowin reports: [H]ere are the updates that are also gradually rolling out, but this time for all Dev Insiders: "We are adding the ability to configure the Copilot key. You can choose to have the Copilot key launch an app that is MSIX packaged and signed, thus
  
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