Security News for the Week Ending October 9, 2020

AT&T Ending Support for DSL Internet Connections

AT&T stopped selling DSL Internet connections on October 1, 2020, leaving many users, who do not have access to other forms of Internet connection stranded. AT&T’s fastest DSL connection is 6 mbps, much slower than many other carrier’s DSL speeds which can reach 100 mbps, and only about a quarter of the speed that the feds require for an Internet connection to be considered “broadband”. AT&T has about 600,000 DSL customers. These customers now have to find some other form of Internet access such as Satellite (expensive) or cellular (slow and expensive). Credit: Yahoo

John McAfee Arrested in Spain for Tax Evasion and Securities Fraud

McAfee, who sold the company that bears his name years ago, is a very strange dude. He has been arrested in Spain on tax and securities charges and is awaiting extradition. He was “a person of interest” but not charged in a murder in Belize but escaped in the dark of night and was never brought to trial there. He also ran for U.S. President. Now he waits in a Spanish jail to see if he will be extradited to the U.S. Credit: The Register

Republicans Impose New H1B Visa Rules

While there are many things that I disagree about with this current administration, here is one that I totally agree with. Companies bring in foreigners, often to be trained by Americans before the Americans are fired. The people on H1B visas are paid a lot less than Americans and often companies lie about how “highly skilled” the foreigners are. Now DHS is implementing emergency rules to clamp down on the abuse. The White House is saying they are doing this because so many Americans are out of work. One of the “excuses” for using these visas is that they can’t find Americans to fill those jobs. That is true if you are only willing to pay half of what the Americans are making. This is only a temporary rule. Not surprisingly, the government is already being sued even though the rules have not been completely rolled out. Credit: The Hill

Pentagon Tasks Elon Musk With Moving Tanks Anywhere in an Hour

Many people agree that Elon is a little different than the rest of us, but he also seems to be able to create some very imaginative things. So here is a problem the Pentagon has. Say they have an MRAP (an armored vehicle that weighs around 35,000 pounds empty) and it is in the United States at Fort Bragg, but they would really like to use it in Djibouti (Google it; in Africa, close to Saudi Arabia) in like, say, an hour. Elon, can you do that for us? The government has signed a CRDA (an R&D vehicle the government uses) with him to try. Do not underestimate him. Credit: Vice

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