Russian man who helped create notorious malware sentenced to 5 years

DOJ: Citadel led to $500 million in losses for banks.

Mark Vartanyan, seen here in 2014. (credit: Mark Vartanyan / Instagram)

A Russian man who helped create and spread the notorious Citadel malware back in 2011 was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison by a federal judge in Atlanta.

According to the Associated Press, Mark Vartanyan will receive two years' credit for time already served in Norway, where he had been living previously. He was extradited to the United States in December 2016 and was arraigned and pleaded guilty to hacking charges in March 2017. Vartanyan had apparently been helping prosecutors with their investigation "from the start."

In September 2015, another Russian man, Dimitry Belorossov, was sentenced to 4.5 years on similar charges. In 2014, Ars reported how the malware was being used to target password managers and financial data.

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Cheap catalyst takes sunlight and carbon dioxide, makes methane

It’s not especially efficient, but we haven’t had time to optimize the reaction.

Enlarge / The catalyst in question. (credit: John Timmer)

The carbon dioxide we're currently dumping into the atmosphere started out as atmospheric carbon dioxide hundreds of millions of years ago. It took lots of plants and millions of years of geological activity to convert it to fossil fuels. One obvious way of dealing with our atmospheric carbon is to shorten that cycle, finding a way to quickly convert carbon dioxide into a usable fuel.

Unfortunately, carbon dioxide is a very stable molecule, so it takes a lot of energy to split it. Most reactions that do so end up producing carbon monoxide, which is more reactive and a useful starting material, but it's far from a fuel. Now, though, researchers have discovered a catalyst that, with a little help from light, can take CO2 and make methane, the primary fuel in natural gas. While the reaction is slow and inefficient, there are a number of ways it could be optimized.

Unexpected methane

The work started out with a catalyst that converts carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide when supplied with a source of electrons. The catalyst is a complex ring of carbon-based molecules that latch on to an iron atom at the center. The iron interacts with carbon dioxide, allowing hydrogen atoms from water to break one of the carbon-oxygen bonds, liberating water. The iron loses some electrons in the process, and these have to be re-supplied for the cycle to start again. Typically, that supply comes in the form of a separate chemical that readily gives up some electrons.

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Deals of the Day (7-19-2017)

Deals of the Day (7-19-2017)

Over the past decade or so, Telltale Games has delivered a number of popular adventure games including titles in the Walking Dead, Batman, and Sam & Max series. With a number of game designers who had previously worked at LucasArts, the Telltale team is the closest thing you’re likely to find to a successor to […]

Deals of the Day (7-19-2017) is a post from: Liliputing

Deals of the Day (7-19-2017)

Over the past decade or so, Telltale Games has delivered a number of popular adventure games including titles in the Walking Dead, Batman, and Sam & Max series. With a number of game designers who had previously worked at LucasArts, the Telltale team is the closest thing you’re likely to find to a successor to […]

Deals of the Day (7-19-2017) is a post from: Liliputing

Autonomes Fahren: Audi lässt Kunden selbstfahrenden A7 testen

Nicht nur Politiker und Journalisten, auch Kunden und Interessierte können nun Audis selbstfahrenden Testwagen ausprobieren. Der Autokonzern erhofft sich davon Erkenntnisse für die Entwicklung der neuen Technik. (Autonomes Fahren, Technologie)

Nicht nur Politiker und Journalisten, auch Kunden und Interessierte können nun Audis selbstfahrenden Testwagen ausprobieren. Der Autokonzern erhofft sich davon Erkenntnisse für die Entwicklung der neuen Technik. (Autonomes Fahren, Technologie)

Android hacks: Magisk updated and Xposed comes to Nougat (kind of)

Android hacks: Magisk updated and Xposed comes to Nougat (kind of)

Once upon a time if you wanted to totally change the look and feel of the Android software running on  your phone, your best bet was probably to install a custom ROM. Then along came the Xposed framework, which lets you make deep changes to Android by installing and customizing modules, making the process almost […]

Android hacks: Magisk updated and Xposed comes to Nougat (kind of) is a post from: Liliputing

Android hacks: Magisk updated and Xposed comes to Nougat (kind of)

Once upon a time if you wanted to totally change the look and feel of the Android software running on  your phone, your best bet was probably to install a custom ROM. Then along came the Xposed framework, which lets you make deep changes to Android by installing and customizing modules, making the process almost […]

Android hacks: Magisk updated and Xposed comes to Nougat (kind of) is a post from: Liliputing

Early tests show bizarre issues with Nintendo Switch voice chat app

Forget multitasking when talking with other players in Splatoon 2.

Enlarge / This is not Nintendo's solution for voice chat on the Switch, but it's closer than you might think.

Our recent review of Splatoon 2 wasn't able to test Nintendo's unorthodox new voice-chat app for the Nintendo Switch, which requires a separate smartphone to let you talk to your teammates during a match. That app launched on the iOS and Android app stores today, and while we'll have a full review after more extensive testing, we wanted to point out one baffling design decision immediately.

As Nintendo points out in the app's official FAQ, voice chat cannot run in the background while using your phone for other purposes such as "texts, social media, etc.":

The voice chat will disconnect while you're talking on the phone or using another application, but your voice chat will restart in the same room once you open the Nintendo Switch Online application again as long as the game session is still ongoing.

What's more, early testing confirms that the app won't work if your phone goes into power-saving "sleep mode," with the screen inactive. And don't bother trying to use the app to chat with your Switch friends while away from the system, either: you can only join chat rooms with people when you're actively playing a specific, supported game with them.

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Studio Wildcard: Server-Neustart bei Ark Survival Evolved abgesagt

Eigentlich wollte das Entwicklerstudio Wildcard wegen Hackerangriffen und Cheats die Server des Actionspiels Ark Survival Evolved zurücksetzen. Nach Gesprächen mit der Community hat sich das Team umentschieden – nun sollen neue, besonders sichere Server parallel zu den alten an den Start gehen. (Ark Survival Evolved, Computer)

Eigentlich wollte das Entwicklerstudio Wildcard wegen Hackerangriffen und Cheats die Server des Actionspiels Ark Survival Evolved zurücksetzen. Nach Gesprächen mit der Community hat sich das Team umentschieden - nun sollen neue, besonders sichere Server parallel zu den alten an den Start gehen. (Ark Survival Evolved, Computer)

Devil’s Ivy: Gefährliche Schwachstelle in Sicherheitskameras entdeckt

Ein Fehler in gSOAP erlaubt es Angreifern, sich Zugriff von außerhalb auf vernetzte Geräte zu verschaffen, die diese Bibliothek nutzen. Entdeckt wurde der Fehler in Sicherheitskameras des Herstellers Axis. Tausende andere Geräte dürften aber ebenfalls betroffen sein. (Security, Netzwerk)

Ein Fehler in gSOAP erlaubt es Angreifern, sich Zugriff von außerhalb auf vernetzte Geräte zu verschaffen, die diese Bibliothek nutzen. Entdeckt wurde der Fehler in Sicherheitskameras des Herstellers Axis. Tausende andere Geräte dürften aber ebenfalls betroffen sein. (Security, Netzwerk)

Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant supports US English now

Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant supports US English now

Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant launched alongside the company’s Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ smartphones… in South Korea. But it’s taken a bit longer for Samsung to get Bixby to work properly for customers in the United States. Last month the company launched a Bixby Early Access program for US English speakers. And now Bixby is […]

Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant supports US English now is a post from: Liliputing

Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant supports US English now

Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant launched alongside the company’s Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ smartphones… in South Korea. But it’s taken a bit longer for Samsung to get Bixby to work properly for customers in the United States. Last month the company launched a Bixby Early Access program for US English speakers. And now Bixby is […]

Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant supports US English now is a post from: Liliputing

After 3 months, Samsung’s “Bixby” voice assistant finally launches in the US

Samsung’s answer to the Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa is rolling out now.

Enlarge / The hardware Bixby button on the Galaxy S8. (credit: Ron Amadeo)

It has been almost three months since the launch of the Galaxy S8, and Samsung is finally ready to unleash an English-speaking version of Bixby on the world—well, on the US at least. Samsung announced today that its voice assistant can finally speak English, and it's rolling out to the Galaxy S8 and S8+ now. The UK, Australia, Canada, and other English-speaking nations still don't have Bixby, however.

When the Galaxy S8 was announced at the end of March, Bixby was a heavily promoted part of the phone. Samsung considered Bixby so core to the Galaxy S8 software package that Samsung actually added a hardware "Bixby" button to the side of the Galaxy S8—it looks just like a second power button and lives below the volume rocker. Bixby launched in Samsung's home of Korea along with the Galaxy S8, but integrating English proved too hard of a task for Bixby to master in time for the Galaxy S8's April US launch.

With no Bixby to use on their Bixby button, Galaxy S8 customers started remapping the button with third-party apps, turning it into a Blackberry-style "convenience key" that could be configured to launch anything. Samsung has been aggressively disabling these mods with software updates, insisting that the Bixby button is only to be used for Bixby.

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