I was curious what other people used to block ads or for their other privacy needs online. I use uBlock Origin on Firefox and recently installed Privacy Badger on Chrome. As far as a VPN, I subscribe to Private Internet Access.
Creepy laughing Alexa
Over the past few days, users with Alexa-enabled devices have reported hearing strange, unprompted laughter. Amazon responded to the creepiness today in a statement to The Verge, saying, “We’re aware of this and working to fix it.”
For Whom the Cell Trolls
A new book argues that modern wars will be won with phones and laptops rather than tanks.
I was interested enough by the conversation surrounding this book on Hacker News that I sprung for the it. Information operations/warfare is fascinating to me, and I’ll give a recap of the book when I’ve finished it.
One of Apple’s most embarrassing leaks
How a Low-Level Apple Employee Leaked Some of the iPhone’s Most Sensitive Code
On Wednesday, an anonymous person published the proprietary source code of a core and fundamental component of the iPhone’s operating system.
Risky Business Podcast
Another course that I’m taking this semester has us listening to information security related podcasts, and I thought I’d share one that I found.
Published weekly, the Risky Business podcast features news and in-depth commentary from security industry luminaries. Hosted by award-winning journalist Patrick Gray, Risky Business has become a must-listen digest for information security professionals.
This week’s episode highlights the below.
- Strava heatmap
- Dutch infiltration of Cozy Bear
- Possible nationalization of the US 5G network on security grounds
- Microsoft disabling Intel Spectre patches
- Google’s Chronicle announcement
- US$400m Cryptocurrency ownage
The Strava heatmap topic was personally interesting to me, since I was able to find the base I was stationed at in Afghanistan without any issues. It wasn’t a special or secret base, but it wasn’t one of the huge ones either, so it was interesting.