ICT news

• Predator Spyware Turns Failed Attacks Into Intelligence For Future Exploits

  17-01-2026 23:41 via it.slashdot.org
  In December 2024 the Google Threat Intelligence Group published research on the code of the commercial spyware "Predator". But there's now been new research by Jamf (the company behind a mobile device management solution) showing Predator is more dangerous and sophisticated than we realized, according to SecurityWeek.Long-time Slashdot reader wiredmikey writes:
  The new research reveals an error taxonomy that reports exactly why deployments fail, turning black boxes into diagnostic events for thr
  
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• To Pressure Security Professionals, Mandiant Releases Database That Cracks Weak NTLM Passwords in 12 Hours

  17-01-2026 22:41 via it.slashdot.org
  Ars Technica reports:
  Security firm Mandiant [part of Google Cloud] has released a database that allows any administrative password protected by Microsoft's NTLM.v1 hash algorithm to be hacked in an attempt to nudge users who continue using the deprecated function despite known weaknesses.... a precomputed table of hash values linked to their corresponding plaintext. These generic tables, which work against multiple hashing schemes, allow hackers to take over accounts by quickly mapping a stolen
  
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• Two More Offshore Wind Projects in the US Allowed to Continue Construction

  17-01-2026 21:41 via news.slashdot.org
  Friday a federal judge "cleared U.S. power company Dominion Energy to resume work on its Virginia offshore wind project." But a U.S. federal judge also ruled Thursday that another major offshore wind farm is allowed to resume construction, reports the Hill. "The project, which would supply power to New York, was one of five that were halted by the Trump administration in December...."
  In fact, there were three different court rulings this week each allowing construction to continue on a U.S. win
  
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• Dozens of US Colleges Close as Falling Birth Rate Pushes Them Off Enrollment Cliff

  17-01-2026 20:34 via news.slashdot.org
  A new article from Bloomberg says dozens of America's colleges "succumbed to a fundamental problem killing colleges across the US: not enough students. The schools will award their final degrees this spring, stranding students not yet ready to graduate and forcing faculty and staff to hunt for new jobs."
  The country's tumbling birth rate is pushing schools toward a "demographic cliff," where a steadily dropping population of people in their late teens and early 20s will leave desks and classroom
  
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• NASA Livestreams the Rocket That Will Carry Four Astronauts Around the Moon

  17-01-2026 19:34 via science.slashdot.org
  "A mega rocket set to take astronauts around the Moon for the first time in decades is being taken to its launch pad," the BBC reported this morning.
  NASA is livestreaming their move of the 11-million-pound "stack" — which includes the Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft secured to it, all standing on its Mobile Launch Platform. Travelling at less than 1 mile per hour, the move is expected to take 12 hours.The mission — which could blast off as soon a
  
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• What Happened After Security Researchers Found 60 Flock Cameras Livestreaming to the Internet

  17-01-2026 18:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  A couple months ago, YouTuber Benn Jordan "found vulnerabilities in some of Flock's license plate reader cameras," reports 404 Media's Jason Koebler. "He reached out to me to tell me he had learned that some of Flock's Condor cameras were left live-streaming to the open internet."
  This led to a remarkable article where Koebler confirmed the breach by visiting a Flock surveillance camera mounted on a California traffic signal. ("On my phone, I am watching myself in real time as the camera records
  
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• T2/Linux Brings a Flagship KDE Plasma Linux Desktop to RISC-V and ARM64

  17-01-2026 17:34 via linux.slashdot.org
  After "a decade of deep focus on embedded and server systems," T2 SDE Linux "is back to the Desktop," according to its web site, calling the new "T2 Desktop" flavour "ready for everyday home and office use!"Built on the latest KDE Plasma, systemd, and Wayland, the new T2 Desktop flavour delivers a modern, clean, and performant experience while retaining the project's trademark portability and reproducible cross-compilation across architectures.T2 Desktop targets x86_64, arm64, and riscv64, deliv
  
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• As US Officials Showed Off a Self-Driving Robo-Bus - It Got Hit By a Tesla Driver

  17-01-2026 16:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shared this report from the Washington Post:The U.S. Department of Transportation brought an automated bus to D.C. this week to showcase its work on self-driving vehicles, taking officials from around the country on a ride between agency headquarters at Navy Yard and Union Station. One of those trips was interrupted Sunday when the bus got rear-ended.
  The bus, produced by the company Beep, was following its fixed route when it was struck by a Tesla with Maryland plates whose
  
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• Nearly 5 Million Accounts Removed Under Australia's New Social Media Ban

  17-01-2026 14:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: Nearly five million social media accounts belonging to Australian teenagers have been deactivated or removed, a month after a landmark law barring those younger than 16 from using the services took effect, the government said on Thursday. The announcement was the first reported metric reflecting the rollout of the law, which is being closely watched by several other countries weighing whether the regulation can be a blueprint for prote
  
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• Supreme Court May Block Thousands of Lawsuits Over Monsanto's Weed Killer

  17-01-2026 11:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  The U.S. Supreme Court will hear Monsanto's argument that federal pesticide law should shield it and parent company Bayer from tens of thousands of state lawsuits over Roundup since the Environmental Protection Agency has not required a cancer warning label. The case could determine whether federal rules preempt state failure-to-warn claims without deciding whether glyphosate causes cancer. The Los Angeles Times reports: Some studies have found it is a likely carcinogen, and others concluded it
  
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• Biggest Offshore Wind Project In US To Resume Construction

  17-01-2026 08:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  A federal judge has temporarily lifted the Trump administration's suspension of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, allowing construction on the largest offshore wind project in the U.S. to resume. CNBC reports: Judge Jamar Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted Dominion's request for a preliminary injunction Friday. Dominion called the Trump suspension "arbitrary and illegal" in its lawsuit. "Our team will now focus on safely restarting work to ensure CVO
  
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• Pesticides May Drastically Shorten Fish Lifespans, Study Finds

  17-01-2026 04:30 via science.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: Even low levels of common agricultural pesticides can stunt the long-term lifespan of fish, according to research led by Jason Rohr, a biologist at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Signs of aging accelerated when fish were exposed to the chemicals, according to the study, published in Science, which could have implications for other organisms. [...] The research found that fish from pesticide-affected lakes showed shortened telomeres
  
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• Judge Orders Anna's Archive To Delete Scraped Data

  17-01-2026 03:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  Anna's Archive has been hit with a U.S. federal court default judgment and permanent injunction over its scraping and distribution of OCLC's WorldCat data, which occurred more than two years ago. According to the ruling, the shadow library must delete all copies of its WorldCat data and stop scraping, using, storing, or distributing the data. "It is expected that OCLC will use the injunction to motivate third-party intermediaries to take action against Anna's Archive," reports TorrentFreak. From
  
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• Patch Tuesday Update Makes Windows PCs Refuse To Shut Down

  17-01-2026 02:25 via tech.slashdot.org
  A recent Microsoft Patch Tuesday update has introduced a bug in Windows 11 23H2 that causes some PCs to refuse to shut down or hibernate, "no matter how many times you try," reports The Register. From the report: In a notice on its Windows release health dashboard, Microsoft confirmed that some PCs running Windows 11 23H2 might fail to power down properly after installing the latest security updates. Instead of slipping into shutdown or hibernation, affected machines stay stubbornly awake, drain
  
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• Trump Wants Tech Companies To Foot the Bill For New Power Plants

  17-01-2026 01:45 via hardware.slashdot.org
  The Trump administration urged the largest electricity grid in the U.S. to make big tech companies pay for new power plants to support the surging electricity demand from AI and data centers. CNBC reports: Electricity prices have exploded in recent years on PJM Interconnection due in part to the data centers that tech companies are building to train and power artificial intelligence. The PJM grid serves more than 65 million people across 13 states and Washington, D.C. Its service area includes n
  
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• Supreme Court Hacker Posted Stolen Government Data On Instagram

  17-01-2026 01:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Last week, Nicholas Moore, 24, a resident of Springfield, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to repeatedly hacking into the U.S. Supreme Court's electronic document filing system. At the time, there were no details about the specifics of the hacking crimes Moore was admitting to. On Friday, a newly filled document -- first spotted by Court Watch's Seamus Hughes -- revealed more details about Moore's hacks. Per the filing, Moore hacked not only into the
  
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• Cloudflare Acquires Team Behind Open Source Framework Astro

  17-01-2026 00:20 via news.slashdot.org
  Cloudflare has acquired the core team behind the open source JavaScript framework Astro, bringing its creators in-house while pledging to keep Astro fully open source. The New Stack reports: Astro is used by major brands like IKEA, Unilever, Visa and OpenAI to build fast, content-driven websites. Search engines prioritize fast-loading and clean pages, the Cloudflare statement noted. Websites that rely heavily on JavaScript for initial rendering often struggle to deliver the required speed, which
  
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