Security News Update for August 30, 2024
Trump Threatens Zuckerberg With Life in Prison
Trump said he is watching Zuckerberg and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison. If I remember right, isn’t Trump the person who is railing about the administration weaponizing the Justice Department against political enemies. This sounds like what he is proposing if re-elected. Credit: MSN
Is a Republican Mega Donor Changing Trump’s Opinion of TikTok
Republican mega donor Jeff Yass has an investment in TikTok. It is worth, personally to him, around $20 billion. He has been, apparently, doing some heavy handed lobbying against the TikTok ban and he does have a relationship with the ex-president. Is Trump’s new love of TikTok related? Since both candidates use it, is it really not much more of a threat than, say, Twitter? I don’t know. Credit: NBC
Cybertruck Windows Are Peelable – Thieves Love It
A user posted a video of a thief pulling a tool out of his pocket and peeling down a Telsa cybertruck window, climb inside and steal a backpack in seconds. It took longer to get away than to break in. Apparently, the attack is similar to one that worked on a Honda Civic in the 1990s – that car cost a bit less than the cybertruck. And, to add insult, the alarm did not go off. Credit: Cybernews
User Says Pixel 9 Eavesdropped on Him 24/7
And he wasn’t wrong, but it is less than sinister. This Pixel had the Now Playing app running in the background. It recognizes songs that it hears and adds them to a playlist. Google says that music is compared to a preloaded data set so it even works in airplane mode. That also makes less effective than the cloud versions. But, since it is listening by default with no user input, that reasonably raises privacy concerns. Simple answer is to turn it off. Why Google sets it on by default is unclear. Credit: Cybernews
After Telegram CEO Arrest, Will Other CEOs Be Wary of Traveling?
With the arrest of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov for ignoring French law and the police, should other tech CEOs be concerned. Telegram is unique in its willingness to allow criminals to use its platform. No other platform is that “open” to crime. I would say that if other tech CEOs routinely ignore law enforcement, they, too, should avoid traveling. But, since almost all comply with the law, this should not be a problem for them. Credit: Cybernews
Researcher Bypasses TSA Security, DHS Says Nothing to See
It is hard to tell who to believe, but in this case, I am more likely to believe the researcher rather than the government who would like to pretend that airport security is tight. I am sure that it is getting better. After all, last time I traveled they confiscated my shaving cream, but they use a lot of software and all software has bugs. This software is the Cockpit Access System and Known Crew Member software, run by vendors for the TSA. Even though DHS is denying any problem, I hope they fixed that non-problem that the researcher demonstrated. Credit: Bleeping Computer
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