Australian government tells citizens to turn off two-factor authentication

When going abroad, turn off additional security. What could possibly go wrong?

The Australian government has repeatedly called for citizens to turn off two-factor authentication (2FA) at its main digital government portal, myGov. The portal's Twitter account has recently been updated several times with cute pictures encouraging holidaymakers to "turn off your myGov security codes" so that "you can spend more time doing the important things."

The portal is the place where Australian citizens can use and manage a number of governmental services, including health insurance, tax payments, and child support. In case of myGov, two-factor authentication is implemented by sending users text messages that contain one-time codes to complement their usual passwords.

A number of people on Twitter pointed out that, while downplaying security isn't a good idea in general, it could be even more dangerous when citizens go abroad:

Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Bahamas man accused of hacking celebs, stealing movie scripts & sex tapes

Suspect offered “a very popular celebrity SSN along with 30 unreleased tracks.”

Federal prosecutors announced charges today against 23-year-old Alonzo Knowles, a Bahamas resident who stands accused of hacking into the e-mail accounts of celebrities and entertainment studios, then trying to sell off unreleased scripts, audio tracks, and personal information that he obtained.

Investigators lured Knowles to the US, where he had been hoping to sell purloined movie scripts along with scripts for six episodes of a TV series. Instead, once Knowles asked an undercover officer for $80,000, he was arrested.

Prosecutors say Knowles had other information from celebrity hacks as well, including the e-mail addresses and phone numbers of "at least 130" entertainment, sports, and media figures. In one exchange, Knowles sent the undercover agent the passport, Social Security number (SSN), and other personal identification "of a particular film actor." Another time, Knowles offered to sell sexually explicit photos and videos from a celebrity account. At one point the complaint says he tried to sell "a very popular A-list celebrity SSN along with 30 unreleased tracks towards their upcoming album."

Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Hacker: Filmstars mit Problemen im Netz

Brandneue Spielfilme wie der jüngste Western von Quentin Tarantino sind im Internet aufgetaucht. Eine Reihe weiterer Stars hat ganz andere Probleme: Ein Hacker ist an Sexvideos und persönliche Daten von ihnen gelangt – er wurde allerdings nun verhaftet. (Film, Malware)

Brandneue Spielfilme wie der jüngste Western von Quentin Tarantino sind im Internet aufgetaucht. Eine Reihe weiterer Stars hat ganz andere Probleme: Ein Hacker ist an Sexvideos und persönliche Daten von ihnen gelangt - er wurde allerdings nun verhaftet. (Film, Malware)

Windows will block Superfish-style adware starting in April, 2016

Windows will block Superfish-style adware starting in April, 2016

Earlier this year Lenovo got in hot water for shipping computers with pre-installed software called Superfish that was designed to replace the ads in websites with, well, other ads. The problem is that it does this by hijacking your internet connection in a way that could pose a security risk and expose your data when you think […]

Windows will block Superfish-style adware starting in April, 2016 is a post from: Liliputing

Windows will block Superfish-style adware starting in April, 2016

Earlier this year Lenovo got in hot water for shipping computers with pre-installed software called Superfish that was designed to replace the ads in websites with, well, other ads. The problem is that it does this by hijacking your internet connection in a way that could pose a security risk and expose your data when you think […]

Windows will block Superfish-style adware starting in April, 2016 is a post from: Liliputing

Bestpreisklausel: Kartellamt geht gegen Booking.com vor

Ähnlich wie Amazon darf auch Booking.com keine Bestpreisklausel erzwingen. Das hat das Bundeskartellamt entschieden. Booking.com plant, Berufung einzulegen. (Amazon, Rechtsstreitigkeiten)

Ähnlich wie Amazon darf auch Booking.com keine Bestpreisklausel erzwingen. Das hat das Bundeskartellamt entschieden. Booking.com plant, Berufung einzulegen. (Amazon, Rechtsstreitigkeiten)

FBI Investigates Hollywood Ties to Pirated ‘Hateful Eight’ Screener

The pirated screener of Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” has been traced back to a copy sent to a top Hollywood executive. The FBI is currently investigating the breach, which is part of series of leaked screeners that appeared online in recent days. Meanwhile, The Hateful Eight has been shared more than a million times through various unauthorized channels.

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

fbiantiOver the past several days more than a dozen high quality screeners of Hollywood films have appeared online, including The Hateful Eight, The Revenant and Steve Jobs.

Screeners are advance copies of recent movies, which are generally sent out to critics and awards voters. These high quality releases are subject to intense security precautions by the studios, as they are highly sought after by online pirates.

This year there appears to be a serious breach in the security process and Hollywood has involved the FBI to uncover where.

THR now reports that a watermark on the leaked copy of Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight points to Andrew Kosove, the co-CEO of production-finance company Alcon Entertainment.

The screener that was intended for Kosove was reportedly signed off by an office assistant at the company. The Hollywood executive, however, says he never received the copy.

“I’ve never seen this DVD. It’s never touched my hands. We’re going to do more than cooperate with the FBI. We’re going to conduct our own investigation to find out what happened,” Kosove told THR.

The screener eventually ended up online where it was released by the P2P-group Hive-CM8. The copy of The Hateful Eight is not the only leak to originate from this group, but it’s unknown whether any of the other releases are also linked to Alcon Entertainment’s co-CEO.

The Hollywood company is cooperating with the FBI and the film’s distributor The Weinstein Company to find out what exactly happened. Kosove hopes that the feds can help to get to the bottom of the matter.

“At the moment, nobody knows anything, but I promise we will find out. And I am praying that it had nothing to do with anyone at our beloved company,” he told Deadline.

Every year more than a dozen screeners leak online, often with direct ties to entertainment industry insiders.

Last year a pirated copy of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was linked to Ellen DeGeneres, and Howard Stern’s name was also connected to a Super 8 screener.

At the time of writing The Hateful Eight has been shared more than a million times through various unauthorized channels. The film is set to premiere in the U.S. on Christmas day.

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

Badland 2 im Test: Knobel- und Action-Blob geht in die zweite Runde

Erst konnte Badland als Smartphone-Titel diverse Auszeichnungen gewinnen, dann verbreitete es sich auf Konsole und PC. Jetzt stellt Teil 2 erneut Denkvermögen und Geschicklichkeit auf die Probe. Die Veränderungen sind überschaubar – der Spielspaß ist gewohnt hoch. (Games, Spieletest)

Erst konnte Badland als Smartphone-Titel diverse Auszeichnungen gewinnen, dann verbreitete es sich auf Konsole und PC. Jetzt stellt Teil 2 erneut Denkvermögen und Geschicklichkeit auf die Probe. Die Veränderungen sind überschaubar - der Spielspaß ist gewohnt hoch. (Games, Spieletest)

Ars Science Q&A: How to deal with science denialists

People don’t accept scientific information for a lot of different reasons.

In my blog post on my 10th anniversary at Ars, I promised to answer readers' questions. This is one of my attempts to do so.

Someone asked how to deal with a denialist/skeptic on scientific topics. I think the process can be best explained using a flow chart.

The first question is whether you’re dealing with a fully committed denialist. You’re never going to get Peter Duesberg to admit HIV causes AIDS or someone from the Heartland Institute to accept that we’ve got over a century’s worth of science behind climate change. So if your first answer is “yes,” then you have to think about whether an audience is present or likely to ever see the conversation. If not, then there’s no point in engaging. You’re never going to get anywhere with the individual, and nobody is going to benefit from the time you will spend trying.

Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments