The hack that almost wasn’t: How a pen test led to Mr. Robot’s ransomware

Tanium’s Director of Cybersecurity Andre McGregor talks about being a consultant on S2.

Yes, it's an homage to a famous hacker (nice touch). (credit: USA Networks / NBC Universal)

Warning: This piece contains minor spoilers for this week's episode of Mr. Robot (S2E1)

Near the intermission of Mr. Robot's two-part season two premiere, fsociety hacker Darlene boots her desktop computer and opens up something called the "Social-Engineering Toolkit." She scrolls through a list of options including a "Java Applet Attack" (done through a Remote Administration Tool) then chooses to unleash the "F-Society Cryptowall." Suddenly, tellers and high-level employees at one of the world's most powerful banks all stare at the same screen (above).

Ars readers will recognize this as another instance of art imitating life. And as Mr. Robot's premiere played out, the episode relied on a cryptoransomware story arc that could've been ripped from any number of headlines, including those high-profile Maryland hospital hacks. Similar to that real-life outcome, executives at fictitious E-Corp decide they could come up with the requested $5 million in the couch cushions and eventually pay up (or at least intend to).

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Does Snapchat’s Lenses feature violate Illinois’ biometrics law?

2008 law warns “full ramifications of biometric technology are not fully known.”

(credit: Patrik Nygren)

An Illinois man has sued Snapchat for alleged violations of a state law that requires users to expressly consent to instances in which their biometric information is used.

This is the second time a plaintiff has brought such a case under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). Last year, a Chicago man sued Facebook on similar claims.

The proposed class-action lawsuit, known as Jose Martinez v. Snapchat, was originally filed in May 2016 in a Los Angeles County court but was transferred to federal court on Thursday at Snapchat’s behest.

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Update für Fire TV: App-Start wird komfortabler

Amazon verteilt ein Update für alle Fire-TV-Geräte, um den Start von Apps komfortabler zu gestalten. Vor allem der Wechsel zwischen Apps wird damit noch ein Stück vereinfacht. (Fire TV, Amazon)

Amazon verteilt ein Update für alle Fire-TV-Geräte, um den Start von Apps komfortabler zu gestalten. Vor allem der Wechsel zwischen Apps wird damit noch ein Stück vereinfacht. (Fire TV, Amazon)

Nexus 5: Juli-Patch macht Probleme bei der Lautstärkeregulierung

Viele Besitzer eines Nexus 5 können die Lautstärke des Smartphones seit dem Juli-Patch nicht mehr ohne Weiteres einstellen. Alles deutet auf einen Fehler im Android-Kernel hin, eine Abhilfe existiert bereits, wenn auch nicht von Google. (Nexus 5, Smartphone)

Viele Besitzer eines Nexus 5 können die Lautstärke des Smartphones seit dem Juli-Patch nicht mehr ohne Weiteres einstellen. Alles deutet auf einen Fehler im Android-Kernel hin, eine Abhilfe existiert bereits, wenn auch nicht von Google. (Nexus 5, Smartphone)

Google Wipes Record Breaking Half Billion Pirate Links in 2016

Copyright holders asked Google to remove more than 500,000,000 allegedly infringing links from its search engine in 2016 thus far. This nearly equals the number of takedown notices it received for the whole of 2015. Rightsholders see the surge as evidence of a failing system, but Google clearly disagrees.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

google-bayCopyright holders continue to overload Google with DMCA takedown requests, targeting “pirate links” in the company’s search results.

In recent years the number of notices has exploded, breaking record after record.

Data analyzed by TorrentFreak reveals that Google recently received its 500 millionth takedown request of 2016.

The counter currently displays more than 523,000,000, which is yet another record. For comparison, last year it took almost the entire year to reach the same milestone.

If the numbers continue to go up at the same rate throughout the year, Google will process a billion allegedly infringing links during the whole of 2016, a staggering number.

According to Google roughly 98% of the reported URLs are indeed removed. This means that half a billion links were stripped from search results this year alone. However, according to copyright holders, this is still not enough.

googlenotices500m

Entertainment industry groups such as the RIAA, BPI and MPAA have pointed out repeatedly that many files simply reappear under new URLs.

“It’s like ‘Groundhog Day’ for takedowns,” RIAA CEO Cary Sherman said previously.

This week Google addressed the issue in its updated “How Google Fights Piracy” report. In it, the company provides an overview of all the efforts it makes to combat piracy while countering some of the entertainment industry complaints.

According to Google, the increase shows that the system is working and the company notes that it takes less than six hours to remove content.

“The growing number of notices sent to Google by an increasing volume of different copyright owners and enforcement agents demonstrates the effectiveness and success of the notice-and-take-
down system.”

“As the internet continues to grow rapidly, and as new technologies make it cheaper and faster for copyright owners and enforcement agents to detect infringements online, we can expect these numbers to continue to increase,” Google adds.

Still, rightsholders are not impressed and continue to demand a tougher stance from Google when it comes to piracy. Shortly after Google released its report this week, BPI CEO Geoff Taylor already dismissed it.

“This report looks a lot like ‘greenwash’. Although we welcome the measures Google has taken so far, it is still one of the key enablers of piracy on the planet,” Taylor said.

By now it has become clear that the entertainment industry groups and Google are not going to reach an agreement anytime soon. The issue has been going on for years now and both sides continue to make the same arguments.

Various industry are now hoping that the Government will intervene at some point. Whether that will happen has yet to be seen but in the meantime, rightsholders will continue to report millions of pirate links per day.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

Amazon Video: Prime-Inhalte lassen sich auf SD-Karte herunterladen

Die Android-App von Amazon Video hat ein Update erhalten, um Offline-Inhalte aus dem Prime-Sortiment auch auf einer Speicherkarte ablegen zu können. Diese Funktion war bisher nur den Amazon-eigenen Tablets vorbehalten. (Amazon-Video, Amazon)

Die Android-App von Amazon Video hat ein Update erhalten, um Offline-Inhalte aus dem Prime-Sortiment auch auf einer Speicherkarte ablegen zu können. Diese Funktion war bisher nur den Amazon-eigenen Tablets vorbehalten. (Amazon-Video, Amazon)

Acer Liquid Jade Primo Windows 10 phone now available for S649 (including dock, keyboard, and mouse)

Acer Liquid Jade Primo Windows 10 phone now available for S649 (including dock, keyboard, and mouse)

Acer’s Liquid Jade Primo is a Windows 10 smartphone with support for Continuum software, allowing you to connect it to an external display and run some apps in desktop mode.

The smartphone made its debut at CES in January, but the phone didn’t start shipping until April… and that was a European launch.

Now the Liquid Jade Primo is available in the United States. The Microsoft Store is selling a carrier unlocked model for $649 — and that price includes a desktop dock, keyboard, and mouse.

Continue reading Acer Liquid Jade Primo Windows 10 phone now available for S649 (including dock, keyboard, and mouse) at Liliputing.

Acer Liquid Jade Primo Windows 10 phone now available for S649 (including dock, keyboard, and mouse)

Acer’s Liquid Jade Primo is a Windows 10 smartphone with support for Continuum software, allowing you to connect it to an external display and run some apps in desktop mode.

The smartphone made its debut at CES in January, but the phone didn’t start shipping until April… and that was a European launch.

Now the Liquid Jade Primo is available in the United States. The Microsoft Store is selling a carrier unlocked model for $649 — and that price includes a desktop dock, keyboard, and mouse.

Continue reading Acer Liquid Jade Primo Windows 10 phone now available for S649 (including dock, keyboard, and mouse) at Liliputing.

Microsoft: Aus einer Milliarde Windows-10-Systeme bis 2018 wird nichts

Das hatte sich Redmond anders vorgestellt: Die Prognose, dass bis 2018 auf über einer Milliarde Geräte Windows 10 installiert sei, ist nicht haltbar. Als Grund nennt Microsoft seine Smartphone-Sparte. (Windows 10, Microsoft)

Das hatte sich Redmond anders vorgestellt: Die Prognose, dass bis 2018 auf über einer Milliarde Geräte Windows 10 installiert sei, ist nicht haltbar. Als Grund nennt Microsoft seine Smartphone-Sparte. (Windows 10, Microsoft)

Photographers Take “Pirating” News Outlets to Court

Major news outlets don’t always stick to the rules when it comes to licensing photos for their articles. Photographers often see their work featured by prominent publishers, without credit or compensation. Increasingly, they are standing up for their rights in court. In recent weeks several independent photographers have launched cases targeting Yahoo.com, Verizon.com, MSN.com, MTV.com, Gawker.com and others.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

photoWhen it comes to online piracy most attention usually goes out to music, TV-shows and movies. However, photos are arguably the most-infringed works online.

While most photographers spend little time battling piracy, a few are willing to take the matter to federal court.

Recently we’ve seen a trend emerge on this front. A handful of independent photographers have teamed up with attorney Richard Liebowitz in order to demand damages from a variety of publishers, mostly prominent news outlets.

One of the photographers taking a stand is Christopher Sadowski, who noticed his work being featured on Gizmodo.com and Gawker.com. Sadowski sued Gawker media for using his photo of an UBER car in two articles. In neither case he was rewarded or recognized for his work, the complaint alleges.

“Gawker did not license the Photograph from Plaintiff for its articles, nor did Gawker have Plaintiff’s permission or consent to publish the Photograph on its Websites. Upon information and belief, Gawker removed Sadowski’s gutter credit and did not attribute the Photograph to anyone.”

It’s unclear how the photo ended up on Gawker but the complaint states that it was properly licensed to The New York Post earlier. Gawker has yet to respond to the claims and at the time of writing the photo is still online.

The allegedly infringing image on Gizmodo

gizpirate

Sadowski is not alone as several lawsuits have also been filed on behalf of other photographers in recent weeks. For example, photographer John Mantel sued a variety of news publishers including tech companies Verizon, AOL and Microsoft, for using his work without permission in news articles.

Similarly, Steve Sands launched lawsuits against IGN.com (Ziff Davis) and MTV.com, Steven Hirsch sued Heavy.com, Allesandro Masi took Yahoo.com to court and Angel Chevrestt went after CBS. And that’s just a small selection of the ongoing cases.

Sands vs. Ziff Davis

ziff

In all cases, the publishers are accused of copyright infringement and the common theme is that the news outlets use photos in their articles without properly licensing them. Most of the time the photographers in question are not even credited.

None of the accused news outlets have been found liable yet, but it’s very likely that at least some of them are breaking the law. According to the defense attorney, these news outlets are clearly profiting from the work of his clients.

“Copyright infringement is an ongoing issue. Companies are using other people’s hard work and profiting off of it. It is important for photographers and the creative community to unite and stand up for their rights and protect their work,” Liebowitz tells TorrentFreak.

In the complaints the photographers all seek compensation, which could go up to $150,000 in statutory damages per work. It is expected, however, that most will be settled for a lower amount at some stage to avoid expensive litigation.

The costs involved with these cases is also one of the main reasons why photographers typically don’t file lawsuits. Starting a federal case with proper representation is quite costly, while the outcome is rather uncertain.

However, this may change soon. This week, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries introduced a new bill that will give rightsholders a cheaper option to pursue these cases.

The CASE Act, short for Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement, proposes a small claims court to resolve copyright disputes outside the federal courts. This means that legal costs will be significantly reduced.

This is not the first time that a small claims court for copyright issues has been proposed but this time the plan has significant backing from Professional Photographers of America, a trade organization with roughly 30,000 members

For now, however, Liebowitz and his client will have to take their cases to federal court. Considering the stream of new complaints being filed, this strategy may still pay off.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.