Security News for the Week Ending January 8, 2021
Britain Says Assange Cannot be Extradited
Julian Assange, a long time thorn in the backside of some folks in the US government, cannot be extradited to the US, a British court says. The court said that while he probably can get a fair trial in the US, the court system in the US is unlikely stop him from committing suicide (a la Jeffrey Epstein, another very high profile prisoner). The US is expected to appeal. Credit: Cybernews
Covid Stimulus Bill and UFOs
The first question is why? and the answer is Congress? Buried deep in the Covid stimulus bill is Intelligence Authorization Act which mandates the Pentagon release a report on its UFO task force report. Stay tuned. Credit: Vice
New York Stock Exchange Changes Mind About Delisting Chinese Stocks
After the NYSE said it was going to delist 3 Chinese telecom stocks because the President said they were tied to the Chinese government/military, they suddenly changed their mind. They said that they made the decision after consulting with their regulators. Not sure what this means in the long term, but it might mean that the DoJ thinks the President is on shaky ground legally in doing that and rather than get sued, they are going to let it play out in the courts. Credit: Cybernews
Right after this happened the exchange got a call from Secretary Mnuchin and, apparently he changed their mind. Again. So now they do plan to delist these stocks. Until they change their mind again. This is really a symbolic move since only about 2% of their shares go though the NYSE. Credit: ZDNet
Hackers Use Fake Trump Scandal Video to Load Malware
Want to see a (purported) Trump sex scandal video? Well ignoring your thoughts on the subject, the email is just click bait. If you fall for the bait and click, the malware will install a Remote Access Trojan or RAT on your computer, allowing the hacker to connect to your computer and rummage through (and steal) all your stuff. They could, in addition, deposit some ransomware when they are done, so no matter how curious you might be, don’t click. Credit: Hacker News
Nissan Seems to Have Lost Control of their Source Code
A car is not only a vehicle these days, but also a computer on wheels. More accurately, probably a hundred computers on wheels, plus a bunch of server software plus some mobile apps plus. You get the idea. So one might expect that you would protect that. Nissan did; with Userid:admin and Password:admin. A bit of a problem and it may even be difficult for Nissan to sue because they didn’t take reasonable care. Credit: SC Magazine
by 