@scottalanmiller said in Nadella: Microsoft will sell war tech to democracies to “protect freedoms”: A growing number of employees feel that the military project crosses a line. Speaking to CNN Business, Nadella defended the decision to enter the contract, saying, "We made a principled decision that we're not going to withhold technology from institutions that we have elected in democracies to protect the freedoms we enjoy," adding, "We were very transparent about that decision and we'll continue to have that dialogue [with employees]." I can get behind this statement. Don't we all want the best tech to help us perform our job? Individuals protecting one's homeland deserve no less than the best offered.

@wrx7m said in Anti-cheat software causing big problems for Windows 10 previews: Which anti-cheat software is it? I must have missed it in the article. I figured it was 3rd party. Just wondering if it is from the games that I play.

This is getting lost in the news today with everything else going on. This is incredibly important.

@IRJ said in Microsoft culls secret Flash whitelist after Google points out its insecurity: @scottalanmiller said in Microsoft culls secret Flash whitelist after Google points out its insecurity: Others seemed more peculiar; a Spanish hair salon, for example, was listed.* Wtf I wonder if it was always a Spanish hair salon or if someone else owned it.

@gjacobse said in The Verge briefly censored YouTubers who mocked its bad PC building advice: Just goes to show, that while there is good information on the internet, YouTube and other outlets, you must realize that some or most is done with some creative license. YouTube videos can be used as a ‘guide’ and should not be (always) used as the rule. But hell, if you use that video as a "guide", you'll be ruining your components quickly.

@scottalanmiller said in Ajit Pai orders phone companies to adopt new anti-robocall tech in 2019: Pai threatens "regulatory" action if carriers don't use Caller ID authentication. The Federal Communications Commission will consider "regulatory intervention" if major phone companies fail to adopt a new anti-robocall technology this year. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has been pressuring phone companies to implement the "SHAKEN" and "STIR" robocall-blocking protocols, which perform Caller ID authentication. Most major providers have committed to doing so, but Pai issued a warning to laggards yesterday. "I applaud those companies that have committed to deploy the SHAKEN/STIR framework in 2019," Pai said in his statement yesterday. "This goal should be achievable for every major wireless provider, interconnected VoIP operator, and telephone company—and I expect those lagging behind to make every effort to catch up. If it appears major carriers won't meet the deadline to get this done this year, the FCC will have to consider regulatory intervention." I’ll need to reread the standard for this. I vaguely recall something in that not being all that helpful.

@stacksofplates said in Researchers use Intel SGX to put malware beyond the reach of antivirus software: Did you see what Intel said regarding this: Intel is aware of this research which is based upon assumptions that are outside the threat model for Intel SGX. The value of Intel SGX is to execute code in a protected enclave; however, Intel SGX does not guarantee that the code executed in the enclave is from a trusted source. In all cases, we recommend utilizing programs, files, apps, and plugins from trusted sources. Protecting customers continues to be a critical priority for us and we would like to thank Michael Schwarz, Samuel Weiser, and Daniel Grus for their ongoing research and for working with Intel on coordinated vulnerability disclosure. Outside of the threat model?......... Haha, whatever that means.

@Pete-S said in “Catastrophic” hack on email provider destroys almost two decades of data: So if you make a backup to something like Backblaze. Would that be considered an offline backup? Depends how it is done. It's online, not offline. But it can be airgapped.

Exciting stuff.

@Dashrender said in Amazon acquires Eero, maker of mesh Wi-Fi routers: @coliver said in Amazon acquires Eero, maker of mesh Wi-Fi routers: https://eero.com/shop/home-wifi-system And it's not as cheap as the competitors. It's hella expensive - just like the google mesh stuff. Yeah, makes no sense.

Honestly this guy isn't photogenic. Why do they keep taking pictures of his face-for-radio. FFS Also I hope they bring him up on corruption charges.

@JaredBusch said in Comcast rejected by small town—residents vote for municipal fiber instead: Just had this email exchange today with Adams Telecom. Note: The existing service was 50/50 with a 3 year contract at $80. Contract expired this month. This is what happens when small municipalities are ignored. They work with local telecoms or do it themselves. Ans the costs are always better. Must be F'ng NICE! B#&%@

@JaredBusch said in Verizon cuts 10,000 jobs and admits its Yahoo/AOL division is a failure: @Dashrender said in Verizon cuts 10,000 jobs and admits its Yahoo/AOL division is a failure: @bnrstnr said in Verizon cuts 10,000 jobs and admits its Yahoo/AOL division is a failure: Hasn't AOL been a failure since dial-up internet was dead? like mid-1990s? nah - really more like early 2000's, but man I sure thought so - I guess they held on because they were some sort of advertising company. AOL was solid well into the mid 00's It was around 2004 when I worked for the fed and they were using it for communicating in the senate.

He only sent me a few hundred thousand, I feel ripped off.

The engine may end up being an "Enterprise Mode" like IE I think? Edge as a browser works well but with a few show stoppers that killed any further usage for us: 1: Downloads mysteriously won't start or just plain stop for no reason. 2: Edge ate my favourites way too many times. The containerized Edge, Application Guard I think(?), is a great idea. If Edge was as good as they had hoped it would provide a fantastic sandbox experience to protect users from drive-by attacks and bad GET commands from e-mail clients. At least we are not getting stuck with the legacy ActiveX that keeps rearing its head every once in a while because of IE.

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/qld-it-minister-cautions-feds-over-interference-516628 Queensland’s IT minister Mick de Brenni has urged the federal government not to use its newly created Australian Digital Council as a way to dilute state regulation.   He has also accused the Canberra of not consulting with state and territory governments prior to releasing its inaugural digital transformation strategy last month So it seems that only Canberra is keen on it.

@Dashrender said in Why, in 2018, is Microsoft adding security questions to Windows 10?: @JaredBusch said in Why, in 2018, is Microsoft adding security questions to Windows 10?: @Dashrender said in Why, in 2018, is Microsoft adding security questions to Windows 10?: @scottalanmiller said in Why, in 2018, is Microsoft adding security questions to Windows 10?: @Dashrender said in Why, in 2018, is Microsoft adding security questions to Windows 10?: @JaredBusch said in Why, in 2018, is Microsoft adding security questions to Windows 10?: @scottalanmiller said in Why, in 2018, is Microsoft adding security questions to Windows 10?: @JaredBusch said in Why, in 2018, is Microsoft adding security questions to Windows 10?: @scottalanmiller said in Why, in 2018, is Microsoft adding security questions to Windows 10?: @Obsolesce said in Why, in 2018, is Microsoft adding security questions to Windows 10?: This only occurs, that I've seen, during OOBE when you set up the PC as a local, non-domain, non-Microsoft-Account, user. Correct, as a standard local account. The "normal" way. Most people don't use AD, even in business this is dropping off quickly. And lots of people don't want to deal with those ridiculous MS accounts that they try to ram down everyone's throats. And who knows how secure those are, anyway. That is not the normal way to set up windows anymore and has not been for quite a while. The normal way to set up windows is with a Microsoft account. In fact you have to click no to setting up a Microsoft account multiple times in order to set up a PC without a Microsoft account That's what they promote, but I wonder how many people are actually doing that. Probably most that don’t use AD. Of course some will not, but not many. I tend to agree - most home users will use a MS account simply because it's what's presented. IT folks and some programmers might not, but I'm willing to bet it's way over half that do. Have you seen a lot of home users doing this? I have not, of course my cross section is tiny. But of the ones I see that have zero tech skills, they all skip it because it is scary and confusing. The option to skip it's obvious enough for most people I run into - they just do it, even if that means setting up a new account. It is obvious? not really. And even if they see it and click on it, you have to refuse once or twice more. Whoops - I meant - NOT super obvious... normal users will be guilted into using an MS account in most cases. yeah the first two times it took me a moment to notice you could skip.

@JaredBusch said in Why aren’t chip credit cards stopping “card present” fraud in the US?: @Dashrender said in Why aren’t chip credit cards stopping “card present” fraud in the US?: @JaredBusch said in Why aren’t chip credit cards stopping “card present” fraud in the US?: @Dashrender said in Why aren’t chip credit cards stopping “card present” fraud in the US?: @nadnerB said in Why aren’t chip credit cards stopping “card present” fraud in the US?: A significant majority of cards here in Au have a "tap 'n' go" feature. There are idiots the put a nail punch into the chip several times to "disable" the "tap 'n' go" feature to make their card "more secure"... which send them right back to magnetic strip swiping... #MeatwareMayhem Even when it's important to them, the end user refuses to educate themselves. While I'm not surprised to hear about hole punching - I've never heard about it - what, do they just not want to be more secure? Why kill the chip? Because part of the chip is RFID capabilities. Stupid humans still. I guess when I read his comment I thought the hole punch people were only trying to disable the chip, and not TAP, but their overzealous punching also caused damage to the TAP chip.. The RFID is not a separate chip. It still uses the same chip. The antenna may be on the other side, but the brains are all in the one chip. OK I'd like to think this is right - as it would totally make sense. the problem I have with it is that tapping takes a fraction of the time to authenticate a transaction compared to plugging the card into a reader - is the wireless read just that much faster? or is TAP really not doing an challenge response situation like chip is?

Do they even have a website at this point?