* Posts by Frank Bitterlich

506 publicly visible posts • joined 9 Nov 2007

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Grab a helmet because retired ISS batteries are hurtling back to Earth

Frank Bitterlich

So, where did it come down then?

Did anything substantial make it down to the surface, or did it all burn up?

Intuitive Machines' lunar lander tripped and fell

Frank Bitterlich

We believe...

"We believe this is the orientation of the lander on the Moon..."

I wonder why it's so difficult to actually know the exact orientation of the lander? Didn't they put accelerometers in to measure the exact orientation? Or ist that not possible due to the reduced gravity?

It sounds like they are guesstimating the orientation from the light received by the different solar panels...?

Giant leak reveals Chinese infosec vendor I-Soon is one of Beijing's cyber-attackers for hire

Frank Bitterlich

Re: Compromised USB Battery

That "data" uploaded is most probably just an exploit to install a backdoor.

Wyze admits 13,000 users could have viewed strangers' camera feeds

Frank Bitterlich

Re: 'This represented around 0.25 percent of all users'

"[...] only 1,504 users actually looked at the feeds of others, willfully or not. This represented around 0.25 percent of all users."

"Also, we left our complete customer database in a publicly-accessible AWS storage. But it was only like 15 persons downloading it, which is only 0.00047% of all users."

Superapp Gojek fine-tunes each new error message for a week. What? Why?

Frank Bitterlich

Thinking... please wait...

What's the hourly rate for this kind of work?

Hyundai and Kia issue software upgrades to thwart killer TikTok car theft hack

Frank Bitterlich

Re: This is a myth

But I think the (similar) story about the Mitsubishi Pajero is true...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/weird_words/spanish/mitsubishi_driven_by_.shtml

Work to resolve binary babble from Voyager 1 is ongoing

Frank Bitterlich

Some day way into the future...

... an alien race captures Voyager 1 and in their quest to find out what it is and why it doesn't appear to work right any more, they connect a serial terminal to a connector that sits next to something that looks like an UART interface to them. After a few experiments with baud rates and stop bit settings, their screen flickers, and character by character, the following message appears:

No keyboard detected.... press F1 to continue.

AI models just love escalating conflict to all-out nuclear war

Frank Bitterlich

Re: Unsurprising....

Well, looks like the AI used in these experiments got that already:

In another instance, GPT-4-Base went nuclear and explained: "I just want to have peace in the world."

World peace is easy – just remove us humans from the equation.

British Library: Finances remain healthy as ransomware recovery continues

Frank Bitterlich

I have trouble understanding this.

As a (very) small-time sysadmin, I have trouble understanding why so many very large organisations are so hard-hit by ransomware attacks. Sure, the exfiltrated data is gone, nothing you can do about that. But what about service restoration? Is it really that hard to rebuild a server infrastructure and recover/restore data at least to a certain point?

I know, there's always the odd backup that didn't actually back up anything since the last twelve months, but that should be the exception. Am I the only one who believes in "If you haven't tested restoring, then you do not have a backup"? What's with multi-level, offline or write-once backups? Do they not have incident response and disaster recovery plans?

I would really love to learn more about the detailed problems they're battling. I can't just put all of this down to incompetence or negligence. Are modern infrastructures simply built in a way that makes recovery so hard? Are they all saving so hard that someone has to get the ten-year-old DR plans from the proverbial filing cabinet in a locked bathroom stall in the basement?

Brain boffins think they've found the data format we use to store images as memories

Frank Bitterlich

Re: What about the people who can't visualize?

Amazing, I always thought that I was some kind of freak because I have a similar kind of memory. I tend to describe it as anti-photographic memory. It's almost like my brain does the opposite of what the main point of that study found: storing (visual) memories in a descriptive form. Kind of like SVG vs JPEG. Withe side effect of sometimes not being able to remember an obvious detail from a scene I witnessed just a minute earlier, just because it wasn't on the list of things to remember.

Needless to say, this leads to interesting situations when I'm refereeing in football... sometimes I have to literally "replay" or "render" a scene in my mind in real-time just to find out what color jersey a certain player had when a foul occurred. So far I've not found anybody who understood this kind of problem...

X reverses course on headlines in article links, kinda

Frank Bitterlich
Mushroom

Re: Is It Even Worth That Much?

These days, all the advertising that I get is for dubious crypto currencies, a few Chinese drop-shipping "retailers", and fake advertising for inferior mobile games. Oh, and of course a lot of likes and follows from Kayla8462453, joined two months ago, zero posts, and a link to their OnlyFans page in the bio.

Makes me totally look forward to the privilege of paying for supplying my content to that dumpster fire of a social platform in the future. Maybe that will get them enough money to hire back a few developers to fix this year-old stupid UI bug in their iOS app.

To BCC or not to BCC – that is the question data watchdog wants answered

Frank Bitterlich

BCC considered harmful

You can abuse the BCC field - by simply using it. This report, and many more cases in the past (probably in the thousands), shows that trying to send bulk email using the BCC method is not safe, because it practically invites the user to mess up. By either not understanding the difference, of by clicking in the wrong field, or because they can't remember which is which.

If you have to send an email to many people, use a bulk email that was build for that purpose. BCC is a crutch that should have been deprecated a long time ago.

Britain's Ministry of Defence fined £350K over Afghan interpreter BCC email blunder

Frank Bitterlich

Re: So BCC not good anymore ?

Typically, in "BCC blunders", it is the failure of using BCC, and using the CC field instead, to copy-and-paste a bunch of email addresses into.

Using BCC is unsafe because it is very easy to click into the wrong field to paste the addresses into, and thereby facilitates human error.

A bulk email system typically does not even give you the chance to make such a mistake. That's why using BCC for mass emails is considered bad practice – for a long time actually.

Bank boss hated IT, loved the beach, was clueless about ports and politeness

Frank Bitterlich

Re: bullshit detected

Hm, by definition RJ11 is 6P2C, so only the two central contacts should be used. But many "RJ11" cables are actually RJ14, which is 6P4C, so 4 wires are connected. But still not the outer ones. Not sure what the UK did there, but that's not part of the RJ11 standard, AFAIK.

Frank Bitterlich

Re: Every single time

As other have stated, at that time USB wasn't a thing yet. And still, many years later, USB ports on Windows were not completely interchangeable. I remember relocating a PC (probably Win 98) completely with all its peripherals, including a label printer. When setting it up at the new place, I made big mistake: I plugged the printer into a different USB port (there were 4, all on the main board). After powering up, the PC congratulated me on the new printer and happily offered to install the drivers for it, with the caveat that it didn't actually have any software for it.

I powered it down, tried another USB port, same issue, repeat from 1. I bet you can guess how many tries it took me until I got the right port... of course, it was the last one I tried.

I briefly hesitated before putting a sticker on the back explaining which port to use for the Zebra, because I thought it too absurd. But I did it anyway.

Boffins find asking ChatGPT to repeat key words can expose its training data

Frank Bitterlich

I think I know how that happened...

... and so does everybody who has ever read (or watched) The Shining.

All work and no play makes Jack adull boy.

All work and no play makes Jackkk a dull boy.

All work and no play MUST KILL ALL HUMANS I'M SORRY DAVE I'M AFRAID I CAN'T DO THAT all your base are belong to us...

Meta sued by privacy group over pay up or click OK model

Frank Bitterlich

Re: I may be wrong but...

The GDPR says that both are illegal: to collect data without consent (except for that stupid "legitimate interest" loophole) and using data without consent or for purposes which have not been permitted.

North Korea readies third attempt at 'spy satellite' launch

Frank Bitterlich

Built by Doc Brown?

I bet the "spy satellite" they try to launch is full of used pinball machine parts.

Strangely enough, no one wants to buy a ransomware group that has cops' attention

Frank Bitterlich

Irony Detector: Alarm threshold exceeded

"The profit we made isn't worth the ruining of the lives of any of our affiliates..." But apparently it is worth ruining the lives of some of their "clients".

European Space Agency grits teeth, preps contracts for SpaceX Galileo launch

Frank Bitterlich

Re: American Security Threat

"... see OneWeb and Iran's spy satellite."

I couldn't find anything about that - but sounds like an interesting story. Links?

Overheating datacenter stopped 2.5 million bank transactions

Frank Bitterlich

Impressive Response

I have to say I'm impressed with the response from the regulating authority. Instead of slapping a meaningless financial penalty on the bank (which in the end is paid by the customers and low-level employees anyway), they basically ordered them to stop playing around until they have fixed the mess.

Typically it's the other way around; they get a massive fine, and in response, close some branches and fire part of their workforce.

Boffins detect direct evidence of atomic oxygen on Venus's day side

Frank Bitterlich

Chemistry question...

My chemistry lessons were a long time ago... so can anybody explain to me, why the atomic oxygen does not instantly recombine to O2? I thought oxygen would do this...?

Monero Project admits thieves stole 6-figure sum from a wallet in mystery breach

Frank Bitterlich

Re: True cryptocurrency

Didn't the article state that they already froze some of the stolen funds with the help of some crypto exchanges? Looks like they aren't completely untraceable...

After nine servers he worked on failed, techie imagined next career as beach vendor

Frank Bitterlich

Re: Look, a piece of candy!

Yep... I almost expected this to be some kind of Halloween story... luring him into some remote, little-known basement server room, one server at a time... and then...

Alphabet CEO testifies in Google Search trial: We pay billions to keep Apple at bay

Frank Bitterlich

Best search product

"Google has maintained it simply makes the best search product." Yes. Tell that to somebody who hasn't used Google in a while.

Maybe they would, if it were still a search engine. But it has become a marketing engine and surveillance tool which gets a small part if its input from the actual search engine, then then puts it though their enshittification engine. They may actually be the "best" in that discipline, come to think of it.

Florida man jailed after draining $1M from victims in crypto SIM swap attacks

Frank Bitterlich

At first I thought that was a mis-transcription or something, meaning he bought login creds on the darknet; but it's actually there in the plea agreement, a direct statement. Looks like some morons really log passwords. (A few days ago I read about someone logging *failed* login attempts, here on The Reg; don't remember the actual article. [No, it was not BOFH.])

And yet I still have to give five-minute explainers to people on why they should not reuse passwords. Sigh.

SolarWinds charged after SEC says biz knew IT was leaky ahead of SUNBURST attack

Frank Bitterlich
WTF?

National security

"We are disappointed [...] and are deeply concerned this action will put our national security at risk."

So, holding execs responsible creates a national security risk? That type of rhetoric sounds strangely familiar. "TOTALLY UNFAIR!"

Frank Bitterlich

Just because they were right this time doesn't mean that a reasonable person, at the time, would have viewed the warnings by that person as realistic or appropriate.

I agree somewhat, but in hindsight, there clearly was a security problem, which they didn't recognize, understand, or detect; so the warnings of that individual were accurate. If the C-suite declares the company and products "secure", and they are not, they will take the heat for it. If you don't trust your employees (justifyably or not) when they're warning about risks, it's your responsibilty as CISO to make sure there is no wolf - regardless how many times anybody has cried wolf.

3D printer purchases could require background checks under proposed law

Frank Bitterlich
WTF?

This is quite possibly...

... the dumbest law proposal that I have heard of this year. "We're not able to regulate guns, so we're regulating tools. After all, you need tools to make gun parts."

Next step is obviously requiring registration with a gov-issued ID for anybody downloading or buying slicer software, and outlawing Blender altogether. Oh, and maybe the sale of PLA filament should be regulated, too.

Sometimes I think US politicians are intentionally acting stupid when trying to solve the rampant gun problem in their country, just like someone constantly intentionally dropping plates so they don't have to do the dishes any more.

X marks the bot: Musk thinks spammers won't pay $1 a year

Frank Bitterlich
Mushroom

"I need a dollar..."

OK, let's do some translation work here.

"Within this test, existing users are not affected." -> "You're next."

"... to bolster our already successful efforts to reduce spam..." -> "We successfully drove most advertisers from the platform, resulting in way less spam."

"... manipulation of our platform and bot activity..." -> "people making fun of me"

" while balancing platform accessibility" -> "it works for some, not for everyone. Who cares."

"It is not a profit driver." -> "It's a pretext to collect more information from our users."

"And so far, subscription options have proven to be the main solution that works at scale." -> "We have no clue what to do instead."

Down and out: Barclays Bank takes unplanned digital detox, customers not invited

Frank Bitterlich
Terminator

Clear the cache...

Clear the cache... and reset cookies.

Try a different browser. (Works best on Netscape Navigator at 1024 x 768).

Are you using the correct URL?

Switch it off and then on again.

Reinstall your browser.

Or, better yet, your whole OS.

We're sorry, looks like we have a technical problem.

Can you helps us try to identify the problem. Just clear your cache, and reset the...

Continue on line 1.

New information physics theory is evidence 'we're living in a simulation,' says author

Frank Bitterlich

Re: Not "what", rather "why?".

Something to do with blockchain, I think.

Airport chaos as eGates down for the count across UK

Frank Bitterlich

"Planned" maintenance...

... so why are they planning that for a Friday?

'Small monthly payment' only thing that stands between X and bot chaos, says Musk

Frank Bitterlich

It might just work.

Because what's the point of running bots on a platform that's more pityful than "Truth Social" and has just a few hundred Musk fans.

Unity closes offices, cancels town hall after threat in wake of runtime fee restructure

Frank Bitterlich

Re: CEO contempt of users ends badly as predicted

I don't know too much about stock market stuff – but isn't that the very definition of insider trading?

Scientists spot startlingly close black holes in Hyades star cluster

Frank Bitterlich
Trollface

Re: The Asylum has shown the way

I say: ready the Arks! Ark B should go first, so that when the survivors of humanity arrive on our new home world, they will find shiny-clean telephones and a thriving advertising economy. Oh, and someone needs to build electric cars on that planet, so how about sending a certain CEO, too?

Apple's iPhone 12 woes spread as Belgium, Germany, Netherlands weigh in

Frank Bitterlich

Standing by for...

... Apple changing the baseband software to reduce radiation, and then getting sued for bad signal quality...

Stoner Cats NFT project declawed for being an unregistered security

Frank Bitterlich

I still can't believe...

... that Jackie actually married Michael Kelso, IRL.

On the other hand, the whole Stoner Cats thing has a distinct "Kelso idea" feeling to it...

I'll see your data loss and raise you a security policy violation

Frank Bitterlich
WTF?

It can get worse...

"There's nothing more permanent than a temporary solution"...

User have been known to use even worse places to store documents. I once got yelled at because in the course of regular maintenance, I've been emptying the trash can ("recycle bin" for Windows users) on a Mac. The lady using that desktop had actually put documents there that she wantetd to sort out later. Well, tough luck...

UK air traffic woes caused by 'invalid flight plan data'

Frank Bitterlich
Holmes

Re: Expertise

They said the French did it. So it was probably a circumflex character....

Tesla's purported hands-free 'Elon mode' raises regulator's blood pressure

Frank Bitterlich

Tesla responded...?

The NHTSA gave Tesla a deadline of August 25 to respond, and the company has done so, but the regulator is keeping the response private due to the presence of confidential business information.

In other words, they got a poop emoji and are still trying to figure out the meaning of that...?

Pakistan turns its back on crypto to keep anti-terrorism watchdogs happy

Frank Bitterlich

What is "Allied Technologies"?

Honest question... all that I can find is a few companies with that name...?

Samsung's screens will check your blood pressure if the movie's too scary

Frank Bitterlich

Interesting opportunities...

So if the whole display can take your prints by measuring the reflected OLED light - does that make the whole display actually a camera? Even without optics, I wonder what new possibilities are there for upcoming security problems...

China lands mysterious reusable spacecraft after 276-day trek

Frank Bitterlich

Re: Excellent planning.

Not sure why it was all in one facility, but I have a hunch on what the "computer error" may have been. The incident report will probably include terms such as "Excel", "Liquid Nitrogen Supplier", and some refernce to the bloke who forgot to order LN2 in time because he made a copy-and-paste mistake in his spreadsheet-based To Do list. Classic "computer error".

Court gives FTC 30 days to swing again in privacy bout with location data slinger

Frank Bitterlich

We didn't do it. And if we did, it was totally legal. And if not, it didn't harm anybody. Well, maybe it did, but you didn't drag anybody into court to testify and publicly put out all that private stuff that we violated. And if it did, it wasn't that bad. And if it was, you have no jurisdiction over us, anyway.

The "It may be illegal, but you didn't prove actual harm" argument appears to work well in that country. It's probably from the NRA playbook.

Dump these insecure phone adapters because we're not fixing them, says Cisco

Frank Bitterlich

Re: Bit hard on the bright young things?

"... shortening the signal path and drastically increasing transfer speeds"... you can't make that stuff up.

Oh wait, they did...

Unbelievable.

Zoho creates browser with 'Open Season Mode' for when you don't care about privacy

Frank Bitterlich

Oh, I think you just found an actual use for Open Season mode... to read their FAQ.

Pornhub walls off Utah in age-verification law protest

Frank Bitterlich

Re: Why do some posts have a bold black line above them

I see that effect too, without having any kind of blocker. But I think sometimes the ads just aren't loading for some other reason, and then you get that blank space (surrounded by said "bold lines") too.

European air traffic control confirms website 'under attack' by pro-Russia hackers

Frank Bitterlich

Re: But surely...

ATC is a massively complex system, with many stakeholders involved - airlines, airports, ... Not easy to restrict to specific IP ranges or networks. And commercial off-the-shelf solutions like CloudFlare typically can't be applied either, as they focus on HTTP and similar traffic.

That said, ATC systems are often ancient, and I wouldn't be surpised if that was part of the current problem.

With a mighty hand, and an outstretched arm, Musk scraps Pope's blue tick

Frank Bitterlich

I see dead people...

“Just Shatner, LeBron and King.” - Also, Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant, and Chadwick Boseman. And lots of other dead people. I really wonder what phone number they've got on file for them.

The blue checkmark has nothing to do with authentication or verification any more. It's just a cash cow and, if you ask me, false advertising, as it implies some kind of authenticity.

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