Peer review of software raises additional concerns, more testing needed before delivery to FAA.
Enlarge/ The 737 MAX cockpit's layout is nearly identical to this 737-800's. The software behind the glass isn't. (credit: Cory W. Watts)
Delivery of Boeing’s promised fix to the flight system software at the center of two 737 MAX crash investigations has been pushed back several weeks after an internal review by engineers not connected to the aircraft raised additional safety questions. The results of the “non-advocate” review have not been revealed, but the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed on April 1 that the software needed additional work.
“The FAA expects to receive Boeing’s final package of its software enhancement over the coming weeks for FAA approval,” an FAA spokesperson said in a statement. “Time is needed for additional work by Boeing as the result of an ongoing review of the 737 MAX Flight Control System to ensure that Boeing has identified and appropriately addressed all pertinent issues.”
The Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) was developed by Boeing to mitigate changes in the handling of the 737 MAX from other 737 designs. It included a more aggressive anti-stall feature intended to counter the modified aircraft’s inherent tendency to “nose up” during flight—automatically correcting the position of the aircraft’s stabilizers to bring the nose back down. Evidence from the crashes of a Lion Air 737 MAX off Indonesia in October and an Ethiopian Airlines flight last month indicates that a single faulty sensor input caused the anti-stall system to activate in error, pushing both aircraft into a dive shortly after take-off. Lack of diagnostic information and a change in how pilots would normally disable the software also contributed to the Lion Air crash; the investigation of the Ethiopian Airlines crash is still in progress.
“If they’re making a big song and dance about engine tests… they’re miles away,”
Liftoff of the R3D2 mission for DARPA on March 28. [credit:
Kieran Fanning and Sam Toms ]
Last week, Rocket Lab launched its fifth Electron rocket, flying a dedicated mission for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to test a new type of antenna that can be packed tightly for stowage during launch and then deployed to a full size of 2.25 meters in diameter once in space.
It was an important mission because it allowed Rocket Lab to show the US government that it could support missions like this and validated the military's desire to move toward smaller, faster-to-launch, and lower-cost payloads for critical missions. “The Department of Defense has prioritized rapid acquisition of small satellite and launch capabilities," Fred Kennedy, director of the defense agency's Tactical Technology Office, said before the launch.
This mission means that Rocket Lab has arrived as the first fully commercial player for private satellite, civil space, and defense launches in the small-satellite industry. This is the hottest area of the "new space" race, with dozens of companies large and small in the United States, China, and around the world seeking to develop new rockets to serve the market of satellites weighing from a few kilograms up to about one or two tons. By some counts, there are now as many as 117 such efforts at varying degrees of advancement.
HMD Global is the latest phone maker to jump on the hole-punch bandwagon. The company’s new Nokia X71 features a slim bezels and a 6.4 inch display with a small hole in the upper left corner where you’ll find a 16MP front-facing camera. The…
HMD Global is the latest phone maker to jump on the hole-punch bandwagon. The company’s new Nokia X71 features a slim bezels and a 6.4 inch display with a small hole in the upper left corner where you’ll find a 16MP front-facing camera. The phone has upper mid-range specs, and it will be available in […]
Das neue Honor 8A richtet sich an Nutzer, die nicht viel für ein Smartphone ausgeben wollen. Mit seiner Ausstattung im Einsteigerbereich erinnert das Gerät an das jüngst vorgestellte Y6 2019 der Mutterfirma Huawei. (Honor, Smartphone)
Das neue Honor 8A richtet sich an Nutzer, die nicht viel für ein Smartphone ausgeben wollen. Mit seiner Ausstattung im Einsteigerbereich erinnert das Gerät an das jüngst vorgestellte Y6 2019 der Mutterfirma Huawei. (Honor, Smartphone)
Jeder kann das Glyphosat-Gutachten auf Anfrage erhalten, veröffentlichen darf es die Plattform Frag den Staat allerdings nicht – aus Urheberrechtsgründen. Die Plattform ruft dazu auf, das Dokument selbst zu beantragen. (Urheberrecht, Rechtsstreitigkeit…
Jeder kann das Glyphosat-Gutachten auf Anfrage erhalten, veröffentlichen darf es die Plattform Frag den Staat allerdings nicht - aus Urheberrechtsgründen. Die Plattform ruft dazu auf, das Dokument selbst zu beantragen. (Urheberrecht, Rechtsstreitigkeiten)
Nachdem die Klage von Linux-Entwickler Christoph Hellwig gegen VMware auch im Berufungsverfahren abgewiesen wurde, legt der Entwickler keine weiteren Rechtsmittel ein. Hellwig hatte VMware einen Verstoß gegen die GPL vorgeworfen und sieht sein Ziel der…
Nachdem die Klage von Linux-Entwickler Christoph Hellwig gegen VMware auch im Berufungsverfahren abgewiesen wurde, legt der Entwickler keine weiteren Rechtsmittel ein. Hellwig hatte VMware einen Verstoß gegen die GPL vorgeworfen und sieht sein Ziel der Lizenzeinhaltung dennoch erreicht. (GPL, Urheberrecht)
In its latest attempts to battle Amazon, Walmart teamed up with another tech giant to introduce a new way for its customers to buy groceries. According to a blog post by Walmart's senior vice president of digital operations Tom Ward, Walmart will now let those with Google Assistant devices buy groceries just by using their voices. Dubbed Walmart Voice Order, the feature will roll out over the next few weeks to those with Google Home devices along with other Google Assistant-enabled devices including Android smartphones and iPhones.
To begin voice-controlled shopping, users must say "Hey Google, talk to Walmart." Then, they can ask the virtual assistant to add items to their Walmart Grocery cart, and eventually, check out. Like most virtual assistant features, Walmart Voice Order will get better at identifying the specific items you want the more you use it. For example, the feature should be able to identify the type of milk you want based on previous orders.
Google's Assistant is available on more than just Google-made devices. Those with Google Home Hubs can ask Walmart Voice Order to do their shopping just as easily as those with Android smartphones or iPhones with the proper software installed. Ward writes that Walmart is "kicking off the work with Google," but it plans to add other platforms into the mix in the future. That could mean Walmart wants the feature to eventually work with Apple's Siri.
There’s a new(ish) smartphone operating system aimed at folks who want to be able to run Android apps, but want additional security and privacy features. It’s called GrapheneOS, and it comes from Daniel Micay, the former lead developer of a…
There’s a new(ish) smartphone operating system aimed at folks who want to be able to run Android apps, but want additional security and privacy features. It’s called GrapheneOS, and it comes from Daniel Micay, the former lead developer of another security-based Android fork called CopperheadOS. After the founders of Copperhead had a falling out last […]
Aufgrund subtiler Unterschiede beim Parsen von HTML-Code gelang es einem Sicherheitsforscher, gängige Filtermechanismen zu umgehen. Betroffen waren zwei Javascript-Bibliotheken und die Google-Suche. (Javascript, Google)
Aufgrund subtiler Unterschiede beim Parsen von HTML-Code gelang es einem Sicherheitsforscher, gängige Filtermechanismen zu umgehen. Betroffen waren zwei Javascript-Bibliotheken und die Google-Suche. (Javascript, Google)
Game of Thrones is widely known as the most pirated TV-show in history. That’s quite an achievement, but one that comes with a downside for the unauthorized audience. Research from Kaspersky reveals that the popular TV-show is also used by scammers as a prime payload for malware.
In recent years copyright holders have been rather concerned with the health of pirates’ computers.
They regularly highlight reports which show that pirate sites are rife with malware and even alert potential pirates-to-be about the dangers of these sites.
While some of these claims are exaggerated, there is no denying that malware is spread through pirate sites. On torrent sites, this is usually done in the form of fake releases uploaded by malware peddlers, who disguise themselves as legitimate uploaders.
While the .torrent files and the sites are not the problem, the actual downloads can include all sorts of nastiness.
This problem isn’t new. We have highlighted it repeatedly over the years, going back more than a decade in some cases. Although it’s been hard to quantify the problem, a new report from Kaspersky Lab adds some intriguing context to the phenomenon.
The cybersecurity company and anti-virus provider decided to take a closer look at how scammers use popular TV shows to lure victims. Are some shows more frequently used than others, for example, and which ones are most successful in delivering their payload?
“Our goal was to see which TV series were the most popular with the malware pushers and to take a closer look at what kind of threats are distributed that way,” Kaspersky writes.
The research provides a snapshot of how malware spreads through downloads of 31 popular TV shows. Kaspersky ran these titles against its in-house database of malware encounters, to see how often the TV-shows were linked to malware.
The results show that last year, 126,340 users were attacked by malicious payloads that could be linked to (fake) pirated copies of popular TV-shows. The total number of recorded attacks among all users was 451,636. That translates to little under 1,000 malware attacks per day.
The 2018 numbers are a significant decrease compared to the year before when 188,769 users were attacked. According to Kaspersky, this drop is in line with a decrease in the overall prevalence of malware attacks in other areas. Torrent sites are losing traffic slowly as well, which may play a role too.
While the number of malware attacks linked to popular TV-shows is sizable, it’s worth keeping in mind that these originate from uploads by scammers. These uploads are usually swiftly removed from well-moderated torrent sites but can clearly survive longer on other indexes.
Looking at the individual show titles, Kaspersky found that Game of Thrones accounted for 17% of all user attacks in the sample. This is quite an achievement since there were no new episodes released in 2018. The number of total attacks and unique malware samples were also the highest for Game of Thrones.
“Of all the TV series analyzed, Game of Thrones had the greatest number of users attacked by malware of the same name – 20,934. It tried to infect users 129,819 times, and the total number of Game of Thrones-themed malware files in our threat collection is 9,986.
“This makes the show an unmatched leader in popularity not just among users but also among cybercriminals looking for the most effective way to distribute malware,” Kaspersky adds.
Top 10 TV shows used as a disguise for malware in 2018 (credit Kaspersky)
The list of top 10 most popular ‘malware’ TV shows is completed by other popular titles such as The Walking Dead, Arrow, and Suits. These are familiar names in our yearly list of most pirated TV-shows, which makes sense, as scammers seek out the most sought after releases.
A more detailed look at the episodes within a season further shows that the premiere and season finale are the most likely to be infected. As such, they also target the most users.
“The common theme we were able to spot was that the first and last episodes were used as a disguise for malware each season. Also, the titles of the opening and closing episodes of each season were used the most actively to hide malware compared to other episodes,” Kaspersky writes.
GoT: number of infected files and unique users attacked in seasons 1, 6 and 7 (credit Kaspersky)
While Game of Thrones is the uncrowned king of torrent related malware, American Horror Story also deserves a mention. Of all the researched TV-shows, this show was the most effective, as it hit an average of three users per infected release.
Finally, Kaspersky reports that “Not-a-virus:Downloader” and “Not-a-virus:AdWare” are the most common threats which are shared TV show content. The most popular ‘dangerous’ malware was the Trojan category.
With the final season of Game of Thrones coming up later this month, Kaspersky’s findings should serve as a “stark” warning to pirates.
The anti-virus vendor notes that using legitimate sites is the best option to avoid trouble. Other tips include checking the extension of a downloaded file, avoiding suspicious links that promise early releases, and checking the comments before downloading a torrent.
Das neue Honor 8A richtet sich an Nutzer, die nicht viel für ein Smartphone ausgeben wollen. Mit seiner Ausstattung im Einsteigerbereich erinnert das Gerät an das jüngst vorgestellte Y6 2019 der Mutterfirma Huawei. (
Jeder kann das Glyphosat-Gutachten auf Anfrage erhalten, veröffentlichen darf es die Plattform Frag den Staat allerdings nicht - aus Urheberrechtsgründen. Die Plattform ruft dazu auf, das Dokument selbst zu beantragen. (
Nachdem die Klage von Linux-Entwickler Christoph Hellwig gegen VMware auch im Berufungsverfahren abgewiesen wurde, legt der Entwickler keine weiteren Rechtsmittel ein. Hellwig hatte VMware einen Verstoß gegen die GPL vorgeworfen und sieht sein Ziel der Lizenzeinhaltung dennoch erreicht. (
Aufgrund subtiler Unterschiede beim Parsen von HTML-Code gelang es einem Sicherheitsforscher, gängige Filtermechanismen zu umgehen. Betroffen waren zwei Javascript-Bibliotheken und die Google-Suche. (
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