Curating the Internet: Science and technology micro-summaries for October 7, 2019
Zero-day android exploits in the wild, now.; Cybersecurity advice from an expert; Security researcher claims a way to bog down the EOS network; Mixed results with this year's North American flu vaccine selections; and massive gaseous threads connect intergalactic space
Straight from my RSS feed | Whatever gets my attention |
Links and micro-summaries from my 1000+ daily headlines. I filter them so you don't have to.
- Attackers exploit 0-day vulnerability that gives full control of Android phones - There is evidence that a zero-day vulnerability is being exploited in the wild by hackers. Vulnerable phones include Google Pixels, Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, LG Oreo, and most likely others. According to the article, the exploit is a local privilege elevation that allows for the device to be fully compromised, and the "vulnerability can be exploited two ways: (1) when a target installs an untrusted app or (2) for online attacks, by combining the exploit with a second exploit targeting a vulnerability in code the Chrome browser uses to render content." The exploit is classed as high severity, and in Pixel devices, the vulnerability will be patched in the October security update, which should become available in a few days. For devices from other manufacturers, consumers should update when security updates become available.
- A cybersecurity expert says you can take these steps to make sure your accounts aren't 'low-hanging fruit' for hackers -
(i) Change your password frequently; (ii) Don't reuse security questions across sites; (iii) Use bogus information for security questions; (iv) Use a password manager; (v) Don't leave a trail of public information on social media; and (vi) Use multifactor authentication when possible. Everything I've seen in recent years says that the advice to change your password frequently is obsolete, but the rest of the suggestions are good (if difficult to manage). - Research Claims EOS Network Can Freeze, Block.one Denies Any Errors - In a recent article, security researcher Dexaran claimed that the EOS network can be overwhelmed and slowed to a crawl for several minutes each hour with just a few dollars worth of EOS per month, in an exploit that may have recently enabled hackers to steal $110,000 from an EOS gambling application. With stereotypical corporate hand-waving, BlockOne did not deny the claim, but responded that the network is operating as designed, did not freeze, and the report of congestion is no different from high fee transaction spam on bitcoin or eth.
- Flu Vaccine Selections Suggest This Year’s Shot May Be Off the Mark - The "strain selection committee" for the southern hemisphere decided that the flu vaccinations for H3N2 and B/Victoria viruses need to be updated, because the northern hemisphere's vaccine - selected last winter - didn't match the strains that came to dominate this year. On the other hand, these same officials concluded that the vaccine for H1N1 and the flu B/Yamagata do not need to be updated, which indicates that this year's northern hemisphere vaccine may be partially on target. (Original article in STAT.)
- STEEM Massive Strings Of The Cosmic Web Fuel Galaxies - In this post, @kralizec tells about a recent study that observed immense cosmic filaments of intergalactic gas that grow up to millions of light years in length. According to post, these massive strings form a mesh in the cosmos by interconnecting galaxies, and it turns out that they are mathematically consistent with predictions from a galaxy creation model that is based upon cold dark matter. These observations were also able to confirm that these massive intergalactic threads serve to feed growth and creation of galaxies and black holes, especially in the places where they intersect. (A 10% beneficiary setting has been applied to this post for @kralizec.)
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