- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Skype for Linux. V4.3 replaced with V8.10
by Ian Stewart 23 Nov '17

23 Nov '17

Skype for Linux has been at V4.3 for quite some time (years?). This version has now gone end-of-life and Microsoft replaced it with Skype for Linux V8.10.0.4 on 8 November 2017. If you start Skype for Linux V4.3 it will launch the login screen. Upon entering your account and password details Skype will crash. You will not be the only one to have struck this feature and you can read about this here<https://askubuntu.com/questions/975804/skype-crashes-after-logging-in>. For an announcement on Skype for Linux from Microsoft and public discussion go here<https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/skype/forum/skype_linux-skype_startms-s…> I used synaptic packet manager to remove my Skype 4.3. I then downloaded Skype V8.10 from here<https://www.skype.com/en/get-skype/> for my Ubuntu 16.04 laptop. The file downloaded was skypeforlinux-64.deb at 63.9MB. Double clicking on the file auto-launched its installation. I found that my preferred settings had changed so you may want to spend some time going through them and setting them as desired. >From the public discussion<https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/skype/forum/skype_linux-skype_startms-s…> on this new version the 4th person to post a reply states... "with lots of improvements" Really? No more search in history. No more normal application settings. No more support of x32 processors. Enjoy the "improvements". cheers, Ian.

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How a Wi-Fi Pineapple Can Steal Your Data (And How To Protect Yourself From It)
by Peter Reutemann 23 Nov '17

23 Nov '17

'The Wi-Fi Pineapple is a cheap modified wireless router enables anyone to execute sophisticated exploits on Wi-Fi networks with little to no networking expertise. A report in Motherboard explains how it can be used to run a Wall of Sheep and execute a man-in-the-middle attack, as well as how you can protect yourself from Pineapple exploits when you're connected to public Wi-Fi. "... it's important that whenever you are done connecting to a public Wi-Fi network that you configure your phone or computer to 'forget' that network. This way your device won't be constantly broadcasting the SSIDs of networks it has connected to in the past, which can be spoofed by an attacker with a Pineapple," reports Motherboard. "Unfortunately there is no easy way to do this on an Android or an iPhone, and each network must be forgotten manually in the 'Manage Network' tab of the phone's settings. Another simple solution is to turn off your Wi-Fi functionality when you're not using it -- though that isn't as easy to do on some devices anymore -- and don't allow your device to connect to automatically connect to open Wi-Fi net' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/11/21/2255254 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Bye-Bye man(1) Easter Egg
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 22 Nov '17

22 Nov '17

Never came across this, but if you type the command “man” at 00:30 (local time?), it would output “gimme gimme gimme”. That easter egg is now gone. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/22/gimme_gimme_gimme_in_linux_breaks_a…>

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The McLaren Formula 1 Team Just Hired The World’s Fastest Gamer
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 22 Nov '17

22 Nov '17

Hiring an eSports champion to do simulation testing, even before you build a real racecar: ... make no mistake, simulator driver is a proper job in the modern F1 team. For the last few years the sport has heavily restricted real in-season testing of the cars, so there has been greater and greater emphasis put on driver-in-the-loop virtual testing. <https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/11/the-mclaren-formula-1-team-just-hired-…>

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PC vendors scramble as Intel announces vulnerability in firmware
by Peter Reutemann 22 Nov '17

22 Nov '17

'Intel has issued a security alert that management firmware on a number of recent PC, server, and Internet-of-Things processor platforms is vulnerable to remote attack. Using the vulnerabilities, the most severe of which was uncovered by Mark Ermolov and Maxim Goryachy of Positive Technologies Research, remote attackers could launch commands on a host of Intel-based computers, including laptops and desktops shipped with Intel Core processors since 2015. They could gain access to privileged system information, and millions of computers could essentially be taken over as a result of the bug.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/11/intel-warns-of-wides… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Google collects Android users’ locations even when location services are disabled
by Peter Reutemann 21 Nov '17

21 Nov '17

'Many people realize that smartphones track their locations. But what if you actively turn off location services, haven’t used any apps, and haven’t even inserted a carrier SIM card? Even if you take all of those precautions, phones running Android software gather data about your location and send it back to Google when they’re connected to the internet, a Quartz investigation has revealed. Since the beginning of 2017, Android phones have been collecting the addresses of nearby cellular towers—even when location services are disabled—and sending that data back to Google. The result is that Google, the unit of Alphabet behind Android, has access to data about individuals’ locations and their movements that go far beyond a reasonable consumer expectation of privacy.' -- source: https://qz.com/1131515/google-collects-android-users-locations-even-when-lo… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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No, you’re not being paranoid. Sites really are watching your every move
by Peter Reutemann 20 Nov '17

20 Nov '17

'If you have the uncomfortable sense someone is looking over your shoulder as you surf the Web, you're not being paranoid. A new study finds hundreds of sites—including microsoft.com, adobe.com, and godaddy.com—employ scripts that record visitors' keystrokes, mouse movements, and scrolling behavior in real time, even before the input is submitted or is later deleted. Session replay scripts are provided by third-party analytics services that are designed to help site operators better understand how visitors interact with their Web properties and identify specific pages that are confusing or broken. As their name implies, the scripts allow the operators to re-enact individual browsing sessions. Each click, input, and scroll can be recorded and later played back. A study published last week reported that 482 of the 50,000 most trafficked websites employ such scripts, usually with no clear disclosure. It's not always easy to detect sites that employ such scripts. The actual number is almost certainly much higher, particularly among sites outside the top 50,000 that were studied.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/11/an-alarming-number-of-sites-emp… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Technology groups and dealing with predators
by Bryce Utting 20 Nov '17

20 Nov '17

The Verge has a detailed (read: graphic) report of predatory behaviour from ex-Auckland security expert Morgan Marquis-Boire, late of Google and the Citizen Lab of the University of Toronto, with connections to the Freedom of the Press Foundation, the EFF, and presumably others. Content warning for sexual assault issues: https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/19/16675704/morgan-marquis-boire-hacker-se… I can only commend those who have come forward, and also Ron Deibert of Citizen Lab for his well-aimed response. Without opening old wounds, I'd suggest that the Citizen Lab code of conduct might be useful food for thought where public WLUG events are involved. (unless a code of conduct already exists and I missed it?) A separate incorporated society I'm involved in has had to deal with complaints of a predator at an event, and a similar document could have done wonders for laying out how to appropriately evaluate and respond in the absence of a police complaint.The Harvey Weinstein disclosures are making clear how endemic this behaviour is, and how rare appropriate responses are. butting

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Intel Planning To End Legacy BIOS Support By 2020, Report Says
by Peter Reutemann 20 Nov '17

20 Nov '17

'Intel is planning to end "legacy BIOS" support in their new platforms by 2020 in requiring UEFI Class 3 or higher. Making rounds this weekend is a slide deck from the recent UEFI Plugfest. Brian Richardson of Intel talked about the "last mile" barriers to removing legacy BIOS support from systems. By 2020, they will be supporting no less than UEFI Class 3, which means only UEFI support and no more legacy BIOS or CSM compatibility support mode. But that's not going to force on UEFI Secure Boot unconditionally: Secure Boot enabled is considered UEFI Class 3+. Intel hasn't removed legacy BIOS / CSM support yet due to many customers' software packages still relying upon legacy BIOS, among other reasons. Removing the legacy BIOS support will mitigate some security risks, needs less validation by vendors, allows for supporting more modern technologies, etc.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/11/20/1251249 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Another Tor Browser Feature Makes It Into Firefox: First-Party Isolation
by Peter Reutemann 20 Nov '17

20 Nov '17

'Unbeknown to most users, Mozilla added a privacy-enhancing feature to the Firefox browser over the summer that can help users block online advertisers from tracking them across the Internet. The feature is named First-Party Isolation (FPI) and was silently added to the Firefox browser in August, with the release of Firefox 55. FPI works by separating cookies on a per-domain basis. This is important because most online advertisers drop a cookie on the user's computer for each site the user visits and the advertisers loads an ad. With FPI enabled, the ad tracker won't be able to see all the cookies it dropped on that user's PC, but only the cookie created for the domain the user is currently viewing. This will force the ad tracker to create a new user profile for each site the user visits and the advertiser won't be able to aggregate these cookies and the user's browsing history into one big fat profile. This feature was first implemented in the Tor Browser, a privacy-focused fork of the Firefox browser managed by the Tor Project, where it is known as Cross-Origin Identifier Unlinkability. FPI was added to Firefox as part of the Tor Uplift project, an initiative to bolster the Firefox codebase with some of the Tor Browser's unique privacy-focused features. The feature is not enabled by default. Information on how to enable it is in the linked article.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/11/20/1713235 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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