Month: July 2019

Enlarge (credit: Lisa Brewster / Flickr)

About 200 million Internet-connected devices—some that may be controlling elevators, medical equipment, and other mission-critical systems—are vulnerable to attacks that give attackers complete control, researchers warned on Monday.

In all, researchers with security firm Armis identified 11 vulnerabilities in various versions of VxWorks, a slimmed-down operating system that runs on more than 2 billion devices worldwide. Billed collectively as Urgent 11, the vulnerabilities consist of six remote code flaws and five less-severe issues that allow things like information leaks and denial-of-service attacks. None of the vulnerabilities affects the most recent version of VxWorks or any of the certified versions of the OS, including VxWorks 653 or VxWorks Cert Edition.

High stakes

For the 200 million devices Armis estimated are running a version that’s susceptible to a serious attack, however, the stakes may be high. Because many of the vulnerabilities reside in the networking stack known as IPnet, they can often be exploited by little more than boobytrapped packets sent from outside the Internet. Depending on the vulnerability, exploits may also be able to penetrate firewalls and other types of network defenses. The most dire scenarios are attacks that chain together multiple exploits that trigger the remote takeover of multiple devices.

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  Google's new diagram of the Pixel 4. There's FaceID and Soli technology in there.

After showing off the back of the Pixel 4 in June, Google is again taking the unprecedented step of publicly detailing an unreleased smartphone. The newest post on the company blog is all about the Pixel 4's big top bezel and the tech goodies contained within.

First, Google confirms the earlier rumors from 9to5Google that the device will integrate Project Soli technology:

Pixel 4 will be the first device with Soli, powering our new Motion Sense features to allow you to skip songs, snooze alarms, and silence phone calls, just by waving your hand. These capabilities are just the start, and just as Pixels get better over time, Motion Sense will evolve as well. Motion Sense will be available in select Pixel countries.

Soli, or "Motion Sense" as it's being called in the Pixel 4, is powered by radar. Google's Advanced Technology and Projects team (ATAP) has been working on shrinking down radar into a tiny chip for the last five years. As originally pitched, Soli was capable of detecting a number of fine hand gestures, like tapping your thumb and index finger together for a virtual button press or rubbing the two fingers together to scroll or turn a virtual dial. Google's old Soli YouTube video claims the technology is capable of tracking "sub-millimeter motions at high speed and accuracy," but in this first consumer device, the video shows waving your hand across the entire face of the phone to skip music. Gestures like this have been done before on Samsung and Motorola phones with cameras and other optical sensors, and they were not well received enough to be carried forward to future devices.

Enlarge / Thumbs down. (credit: Getty Images | Ted Soqui )

A group of privacy and consumer organizations is asking a federal court to slow its roll on approving the Federal Trade Commission's $5 billion settlement with Facebook, saying it doesn't do nearly enough to protect individuals.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed the motion to intervene (PDF) with the US District Court in Washington, DC on Friday, asking the court to let it and other privacy advocacy groups file comments in a "careful review of the fairness and adequacy" of the proposed settlement.

The agreement between Facebook and the FTC, as announced last week, includes a record-setting $5 billion fine and mandates changes to Facebook's reporting structure and oversight for privacy-related matters.

Enlarge / Former White House Physician Rear Admiral Dr. Ronny Jackson and a "very stable genius" in Bethesda, Maryland, January 12, 2018. (credit: Getty | Saul Loeb)

The doctor who created the 30-question test for early signs of dementia that Trump famously aced last year says the screening assessment is being misused, according to a report by Kaiser Health News.

Dr. Ziad Nasreddine, the neurologist who wrote the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), grew concerned after reviewing hundreds of test results. A closer look at individual patients’ scores suggested that some were wildly off, even calling into question some scores of a perfect 30, like the one Trump earned.

“I’ve seen so much variability, which might make us reconsider some of the decisions made based on the MoCA score,” Nasreddine told KHN. He declined to speculate specifically on Trump’s scoring.