Suite of Sophisticated Nation-State Attack Tools Found With Connection to Stuxnet →
For nearly a year, the researchers [Kaspersky] have been gradually collecting components that belong to several highly sophisticated digital spy platforms that they say have been in use and development since 2001, possibly even as early as 1996, based on when some command servers for the malware were registered. They say the suite of surveillance platforms, which they call EquationLaser, EquationDrug and GrayFish, make this the most complex and sophisticated spy system uncovered to date.
See also Ars Technica:
The accomplishments led Kaspersky researchers to conclude that Equation Group is probably the most sophisticated computer attack group in the world, with technical skill and resources that rival the groups that developed Stuxnet and the Flame espionage malware.
The attackers managed to rewrite hard drives' firmware to enable persistence. Reuters quotes sources saying it was in fact the NSA and quotes Kaspersky's argument:
The authors of the spying programs must have had access to the proprietary source code that directs the actions of the hard drives. That code can serve as a roadmap to vulnerabilities, allowing those who study it to launch attacks much more easily.
"There is zero chance that someone could rewrite the [hard drive] operating system using public information," [lead Kaspersky researcher Costin Raiu] said.
Incredible.
Happy Valentine's Day.
Happy Valentine's Day.
The FCC's Net Neutrality Regime, Explained →
Wow, seems perfectly reasonable. I'm sure I'm missing an existential threat to Internet companies' ability to earn a profit, though.
Man Saves Wife's Sight by 3D Printing Her Tumor →
A neurosurgeon there agreed to consider a minimally invasive operation in which he would access the tumor through Scott's left eyelid and remove it using a micro drill. Balzer had adapted the volume renderings for 3D printing and produced a few full-size models of the front section of Scott's skull on his MakerBot. To help the surgeon vet his micro drilling idea and plan the procedure, Balzer packed up one of the models and shipped it off to Pittsburgh.
The accessibility of medical technology is starting to allow us to do amazing things.
Scientists Work to Contain Modified Organisms to Labs →
The scientists have given a common type of bacterium a unique genetic code that makes it dependent for survival on unnatural amino acids that must be fed to it. If such organisms escaped into the wild, where those amino acids are not available, they would die.
I think this was tried before. They clearly did not learn the lesson.
Facebook Data Know You Better Than Your Own Mother →
Given the average number of Facebook Likes—i.e. 227—the algorithm handily bested all but spouses in more accurately predicting the subject's personality. And for subjects with 300 or more Likes, the computer beat even significant others.
Personal relationships, you are no longer needed.
The End of Gangs: Cleaning Up Los Angeles, California →
The changes on Southern California streets over the last few years are unlike anything I've seen in my decades of writing about gangs. For the first time, it seems possible to tame a plague that once looked uncontrollable—and in doing so allow struggling neighborhoods, and the kids who grow up in them, a fighting chance.
Encouraging and very interesting.