Geek Stuff category archive

Are you desperate for “likes”?

Spelling is important, regardless of your career choice.

A spelling mistake in an online bank transfer instruction helped prevent a nearly $1bn heist last month involving the Bangladesh central bank and the New York Fed, banking officials said.

Unknown hackers still managed to get away with about $80m, one of the largest known bank thefts in history.

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El Reg reports that ransomeware has surpassed botnets as the primary threat to computing in the enterprise for the simple fact that persons pay the ransom.

Paying up is always a surefire way to mitigate threats, now, is it not?

Healthcare is the most affected sector when it comes to cyber-attacks more generally, according to other findings from the 2015 edition of Trend Micro’s Annual Security Roundup Report. Throughout 2015, almost 30 per cent of all data breaches happened in the healthcare sector, followed by education and government sectors (17 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively).

No surprise there. Network and device security tends to be an afterthought in the enterprise, and healthcare is one of the worst, if not the worst offender.

Depressing frolics.

Going viral.

Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Use computers to do what you want, not what someone else wants you to do.

It’s not hard; it’s just different.

What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting.

Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.

Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.

When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, March 3.

Directions:
Lake Taylor Hospital
1309 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502 (Map)

Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks)
Uno Chicago Grill
Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (JANAF Shopping Center). (Map)

Join the forums.

In the Silk Road case, the defendant’s lawyer has taken a creative approach to the portion of the charges related to money-laundering. He’s arguing that, since Bitcoins aren’t legally recognized as money, they can’t be laundered, regardless of how dirty they are.

In the filing, Dratel referred to recent guidance [PDF] from the US Internal Revenue Service, which stated that virtual currency like Bitcoin “does not have legal tender status in any jurisdiction,” and that for tax purposes it should be treated as property, rather than currency.

If the government doesn’t consider Bitcoin to be money, Dratel argued, then transactions conducted solely in Bitcoin don’t fall under 18 U.S.C. §1956, the US money laundering statute, which includes specific language referring to “funds,” “monetary instruments,” and “financial institutions.” For this reason, he said, the money-laundering charge against Ulbricht should be dismissed.

Follow the link for much, much more.

Omit the offspring.

No, no, no, not Napster-style piracy.

The traditional kind:

A global shipping company noticed that over the course of several months last year, pirates armed with guns had been rummaging through cargo more quickly than usual before making off with the most valuable crates.

When one unnamed shipping company hired Verizon’s VZ, +1.14% security team to investigate, they learned the pirates had begun practicing another trade: Hacking.

The pirates are stealing computerized bills of lading so they can make sure they are hijacking the good stuff. More at the link.

Screenshot frolics.

Via Marketwatch.

Uber and Lyft
have them a tiff.

Nir Eyal tries to understand the forces that keep you staring at your screen. One of them he identifies as “The Tech,” that is ” Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Buzzfeed and the like.” Here’s a bit of what he has to say about that:

Since these services rely on advertising revenue, the more frequently you use them, the more money they make. It’s no wonder these companies employ teams of people focused on engineering their services to be as engaging as possible. These products aren’t habit-forming by chance; it’s by design. They have an incentive to keep us hooked.

Follow the link for the rest.