Fake Pokémon GO app on Google Play infects phones with malware

Credit: TNW

In the wake of the craze, malware variants of Pokémon GO & other related apps have appeared on the Google Play store.

Malware apps documented to-date:

● Pokémon GO Ultimate

● Guide & Cheats for Pokémon GO

● Install Pokémongo

Promptly removed from the Google Play store, they may still appear on third-party app stores.

Impacts of the malware in question include:

● locking device screen

● rename itself to evade counter measures

● remove itself from the device app menu to evade counter measures

● run in the background & click on ads to generate income for its creator

● display messages that claim that the device is infected with malware (actually true) which advise the user to buy further apps & services to remove malware

● install a backdoor app called DroidJack (aka SandroRAT) which grants an attacker full access to the device

What you can do to protect yourself:

● keep all software up-to-date, including Android itself – as they become available for your device

● avoid using third-party app stores – apart from Amazon

● avoid apps from unknown developers

Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/security/2016/07/fake-pokemon-go-app-on-google-play-infects-phones-with-screenlocker/

Gizmodo
https://gizmodo.com/more-fake-pokemon-go-were-released-to-ruin-your-phone-1783761949

Naked Security
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2016/07/12/fake-pokemon-go-app-watches-you-tracks-you-listens-to-your-calls/ / fake Pokémon Go app Google Play infects phones screenlocker Pokemon Go Ultimate battery removal Device Manager uninstalled badware malware Pokémon Go frenzy sneak fake wares official Google Play marketplace security researchers researchers antivirus provider Eset Google-hosted marketplace Pokemon Go Ultimate biggest threat locks the screen devices installed restarting infected phone unlock the screen Infected phones unlocked removing the battery using the Android Device Manager screen has been unlocked device has restarted app renamed title PI Network removed from the device's app menu continues to run in the background surreptitiously clicks on ads generate revenue for its creators first observation lockscreen functionality fake app Google Play Eset malware researcher Lukas Stefanko ransom message lockscreen ransomware Google Play Eset discovered fake Pokémon Go apps Google Play Guide & Cheats for Pokemon Go Install Pokemongo deliver ads fraudulent scary-sounding messages designed trick users buying expensive unnecessary services message device is infected with malware prompts user spend money get malicious apps removed user presses Back button new scareware pop-ups advertisements appear Stefanko double-clicking Back button apps first case scammers exploit the ongoing Pokémon Go craze researchers from security firm Proofpoint backdoored version of the Pokémon Go app Android contained all the functions of the legitimate app also included remote access tool DroidJack SandroRAT gives an attacker full control over an infected phone malicious app available in third-party third party 3rd-party 3rd party app stores avoid marketplaces increased chances include harmful wares die-hard Pokémon fans sideloading side-loading side loading official Pokémon Go unavailable available in many countries apps discovered by Eset available in Google Play Google Eset reported them continued presence of malicious apps inside the official Android marketplace significant limits Google's attempts detect malicious abusive behavior before admitting titles run Pokémon Go Android phone download app only from Google Play closely inspect the publisher number of downloads other data for signs of fraud before installing /

Brain-linked prosthetic arm provides more accurate, more natural control

“Luke” is a prosthetic arm, activated by the nerves which previously activated the muscles of the severed limb. Advantages of this approach include reduced learning time for the prosthesis user & more natural control. Feedback sensors allow users to know how much force they are applying, so that both heavy & light weight, delicate objects can be handled.

Designed by Segway creator, Dean Kamen, with funding from US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Perhaps most important of all to amputees, it's scheduled to go on sale later this year.



The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2016/7/11/12147726/prosthetic-luke-arm-commercial-launch-2016

Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3692019/The-Force-strong-one-Luke-Skywalker-style-robot-arm-amputees-developed-military.html / DARPA-funded prosthetic arm go on sale later this year world most advanced prosthetics market later this year Luke arm designed Segway creator Dean Kamen funding from DARPA development received approval FDA prosthetic previously named the DEKA arm Luke Luke Skywalker's advanced prosthetic Star Wars headline feature control system prosthetic electrodes amputated limb electrical signals user's muscles user tenses flexes arm Luke changes position grip much more intuitive more basic prosthetics generally controlled switches or buttons adjusted manually by the wearer separate control system uses wireless sensors Luke more degrees of flexibility movement regular prosthetic shoulder elbow wrist individually powered four independent motors hand dexterity securely grip single egg force sensors fingers give the wearer feedback how hard they're gripping technology comes at a price creators of the Luke arm prosthetic cost tens of thousands of dollars experts industry price tag of $100,000 /

Electric world record at the drag strip

VW Beetle electric conversion, Black Current, set a world record with an ET of 8.711 seconds & terminal velocity of 151.58 mph at the 2016 SPRC Summer Nationals at Santa Pod Raceway.

Black Current has been a development project, with a string of records, including the first electric car to cover a quarter mile in under 10 seconds, as long ago as 2011. That run included 0-60 mph in just 1.6 seconds. At that time, the car was powered by sixty 12-volt lead-acid motorcycle batteries.

Daily Mail 2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1394754/Record-breaking-Beetle-fastest-electric-powered-drag-racer-doing-0-60mph-1-6-seconds.html?ito=feeds-newsxml / EV electric vehicle battery electric motor LiIon lithium ion charge recharge drag strip drag race Volts-wagen Volkswagen Beetle fastest electric-powered electric powered drag racer 0-60mph in 1.6 seconds Black Current Black Currant Black Current, constructed from a 1965 VW Beetle created brothers Olly Sam Young set world record first electric-powered electric powered car quarter mile in under ten seconds 0-60mph in 1.6 seconds electric cars good for the environment minimal carbon footprint fastest thing on four wheels Sam 30 driver Olly 34 designer won Zero Emissions category annual Alternative Energy Racing tournament Santa Pod home-made home made electric dragster hitting nearly 133mph in the process broken a world record a few weeks earlier quarter-mile sprint 9.51 seconds top speed 135mph first ever break 10-second barrier electric car Olly nought to sixty in 1.6 seconds hand-building electric cars small workshop Hungerford UK world-beater mean machine powerful zero-emissions vehicles milk float car powered by sixty 12-volt motorcycle batteries faster still lithium gel battery pack started VW Beetle record-breaking creation milk float just made improvements year on year the secret is time effort trial and error research keep making car lighter more powerful make it even faster pride and excitement everything works as it should months of work brothers next step race overseas conquer petrol-powered petrol powered dragsters next black currant /

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 launch on 02 August – update

Credit: BGR

Yes, you read that right.

Yes, the current Galaxy Note is the 5.

Rumour has it that Samsung plans to skip the name Note 6 & go straight to 7, based on this teaser:


Credit: The Next Web

Update 15 July: Samsung refers directly to the “Galaxy Note7” on its own web site:
https://news.samsung.com/global/invitation-samsungs-latest-galaxy-note-unpacked-2016

Why? Most likely to bring the Samsung S & Note model lines into numeric synchronisation.

Other widely reported specs:
● 6GB RAM

● base model with 64GB flash storage – estimates range as high as 512GB for the top model – this may be including microSD card(s) – cards up to 256GB will be supported & the dual SIM model will support a second microSD card in the 2nd SIM slot

● curved edges on both sides of the screen, as in the S6 Edge
● USB-C connector for power & data

GSMArena
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_note7-8082.php

TechnoBuffalo
http://www.technobuffalo.com/2016/07/12/galaxy-note-7-august-2-event/

Gizmag
http://www.gizmag.com/galaxy-note-7-event-launch-details/44313/ / Android OS phone smartphone smart phone mobile cell phone cellphone Samsung Galaxy S5 Samsung Galaxy S6 Samsung Galaxy S7 device announced earlier than normal official confirmation Samsung Tuesday media invites event scheduled Aug. 2 a few weeks from now announce follow-up Galaxy Note 5 pictures Samsung’s next device Unpacked announcement handset looks a lot like Galaxy S6 Edge Plus S Pen upgraded specs pictures four possible color colour options black silver blue pink official confirmation Samsung’s event next month pretty good idea of what to expect rumor rumour rumoured rumored specs specifications 5.7-inch QHD display quad high density display 12-megapixel dual-pixel camera OIS PDAF 3,700mAh battery 64GB 128GB storage options microSD slot support IP68 waterproof water proof water resistant rating standout features iris scanner allowing users unlock device just by looking at it launch launches USB-C charge sync /

All-electric Ferrari – obscene?

Credit: ElectricGT

Ferrari’s Marchionne is reported to have said of an all-electric Ferrari, “With Ferrari, it's almost an obscene concept.”^1,2

Good to keep an open mind.

On the other hand, when Eric Hutchinson discovered a Ferrari 308 with an engine that had been destroyed in a fire, electric drive seemed like a good idea.

Conversion process
http://www.electricgt.com/about/

Completed vehicle
http://www.electricgt.com/



Boy Genius Report
http://bgr.com/2016/05/10/electric-ferrari-electric-gt/
__________

¹ Road & Track: “Marchionne: all-electric Ferrari ‘an obscene concept’”, http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/future-cars/news/a28377/electric-ferrari-youll-have-to-shoot-me-first-says-marchionne/

² AutoBlog: “Marchionne: all-electric Ferrari ‘an obscene concept’”
http://www.autoblog.com/2016/03/04/marchionne-all-electric-ferrari-an-obscene-concept/ / ev EV electric vehicle battery LiIon lithium ion charge recharge electric vehicles challenge pick a car to convert to electric convert conversion red 1978 Ferrari 308 GTS fuel leak and subsequent fire had toasted the car send it to the graveyard carbureted engine beyond repair perfect rolling chassis electric conversion project toasted Classic Magnum PI Style Ferrari perfect blend retro electric super cool high-performance low-maintenance electric vehicle suitable for daily driving 308 GTS tube frame racing inspired core design construction handle seriously increased power and torque electric drive conversion electric vehicle delivers huge torque quick speed dynamic driving all the smiles and fun you want without maintenance first scheduled oil change NEVER driven an electric 1978 Ferrari 308 GTS first and only 100% electric zero-emissions converted Ferrari on the road conversion project recycled engine 308 Ferrari owner’s GT-series cars OEM parts converted Ferrari 308 passionate dedicated skilled professionals in California EV electric vehicle racing record holders winners brilliant engineers radical custom fabricators sourced teamed top-notch EV engineers designers fabrication masters automotive professionals enhance car total driving experience performance Electric GT projects horse power horsepower torque are doubled custom design unrivaled driving experience performance Classic EV /

Hackers find new ways to attack computing systems

Security risk?
Credit: PC Advisor

You probably have a good idea of how to avoid having your various computing systems attacked. It may be time to think again. Proof-of-concept has just been demonstrated for two new ways to overcome security precautions.

1. An attack on Siri or Google Now with voice commands (which are barely audible to humans) embedded in videos http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/07/11/siri_hacking_phones/

2. Manipulating the speed of a computer’s internal fans to steal data from air-gapped machines https://www.wired.com/2016/06/clever-attack-uses-sound-computers-fan-steal-data/ / group researchers Israel highly adept stealing data from air-gapped computers machines prized by hackers security reasons never connected to the Internet connected to other machines connected to the Internet making it difficult to extract data from them Mordechai Guri manager research and development Cyber Security Research Center Ben-Gurion University colleagues lab designed attacks various methods extracting data from air-gapped machines methods radio waves electromagnetic waves GSM network heat emitted by computers lab’s team found yet another way undermine air-gapped systems sound emitted by cooling fans inside computers technique steal limited amount of data siphon encryption keys lists usernames passwords keylogging histories documents more than two dozen feet away researchers technical details attack paper siphon encryption keys passwords rate of 15 to 20 bits per minute 1,200 bits per hou working on methods accelerate data extraction use two fans concurrently same machine CPU chassis fans double transmission rates research colleagues Yosef Solewicz Andrey Daidakulov Yuval Elovici director Telekom Innovation Laboratories Ben-Gurion University working on more techniques accelerate make it much faster air-gap myth air-gapped systems classified military networks financial institutions industrial control system environments factories critical infrastructure protect sensitive data networks machines aren’t impenetrable steal data attacker needs physical access to the system removable media USB flash drive firewire cable connecting air-gapped system another computer attackers use near-physical access covert methods Ben-Gurion researchers devised challenge assumption air-gapped systems are secure using sound waves steal data high-security environments not require sensitive systems air-gapped external internal speakers systems removed disabled create audio gap using computer’s cooling fans also produce sound researchers bypass protection steal data computers fans CPU fan chassis fan power supply fan graphics card fan operating fans generate acoustic tone blade pass frequency louder with speed attack increasing speed frequency fans transmit digits encryption key password nearby smartphone computer different speeds representing binary ones zeroes data attackers extract test researchers 1,000 RPM represent 1 1,600 RPM represent 0 one zero air-gap hacks stealing data computers using heat researchers hack air-gapped computer cell phone attackers radio signals mobile phones steal protected data attack researchers air-gapped machines targeted machine infected with malware researchers proof-of-concept malware Fansmitter manipulates speed computer’s fans malware air-gapped machines insurmountable problem real-world attacks Stuxnet Agent.btz sensitive air-gapped machines infected via USB drives receive sound signals emitted target machine attacker infect smartphone someone working near machine malware detect decode sound signals transmitted send attacker via SMS Wi-Fi mobile data transfers receiver within eight meters 26 feet targeted machine secure environments smartphones attacker infect internet-connected machine in the vicinity targeted machine fans operate few hundred RPMs few thousand RPMs noticing fluctuations fan noise attacker lower frequencies transmit data close frequencies differ only by 100 Hz signify binary 1’s and 0’s fluctuating speed natural background noise of a room human ear much more sensitive attack systems no acoustic hardware speakers design servers printers internet of things devices industrial control systems attack multiple infected machines transmitting receiver distinguish signals fans multiple infected computers transmit signals different frequencies methods mitigate fan attacks software detect changes in fan speed hardware devices monitor sound waves drowning dalek commands Siri voice-rec hack attack boffins embed barely-audible-to-humans commands inside vids videos vid video fool virtual assistants university boffins brewed one of the most complex mechanisms loading malware onto phones surreptitious Google Now Siri voice commands hidden in YouTube videos attack phones state receive voice commands feature often left unlocked close enough audio source instructions to be understood masking phone's beep acknowledgment voice commands have been received could alert users to an attack researcher researchers research boffins Tavish Vaidya Yuankai Zhang Micah Sherr Clay Shields Wenchao Zhou Georgetown University Nicholas Carlini Pratyush Mishra David Wagner University of California Berkeley paper Hidden Voice Commands give away beeps can precise conditions countered noise cancelling from the same attacking audio source users ignore beep LED flashes vibrations Apple Google operating systems alert systems sounds paper builds on existing work hidden voice commands constructed very little knowledge speech recognition system significantly improved attacks adversaries significant knowledge speech recognition system construct hidden voice commands humans cannot understand detection mitigation strategies limit effects attacks speech recognition audio CAPTCHAs proof-of-concept video boffins phone empty conference room three metres 10 feet from a speaker commands issued sound like a drowning dalek garbling garbled commands difficult for humans to understand passable for Siri attackers activate airplane mode denial of service attack open website paper substituted phishing malware download site successful effort malware writers malware fake Pokemon Go apps viral app tricked into dodgy substitutes commands easy to understand proof-of-concept video priming effects words spoken researchers /

Growing population = protein supply problem

Credit: Ética Animal

Humanity has a population problem – expected to reach 10 billion by the middle of the century. Feeding that many people is a problem. Biggest part of that problem is protein. In western societies, the preferred source of protein is red meat. Unfortunately, producing one calorie in the form of meat takes many more plant calories.

One way around this problem is cutting out the plant-to-animal stage by growing a plant based source of protein, such as soya beans.

An alternative is an animal which is more efficient at turning plants into protein. One such animal is the cricket – ten times more efficient in fact. Water use, 100 times more efficient than cattle.



http://www.wired.com/2016/07/ive-future-tastes-like-crickets/ / the future tastes like crickets humanity population problem solution six-legged six legged insect insects crickets soundtrack everyday foods snack bars pastas chips cricket protein industry venture capitalists cricket startup Exo $4 million in funding earlier this year Silicon Valley cash-slingers alternative foods crickets sales of edible insects worldwide top $500 million by 2023 venture capitalists humanitarian organizations our species won’t be able to feed itself population growth 10 billion people on Earth middle of this century humans better way produce protein using fewer resources insects seem to be the answer crickets 10 times more efficient than cattle feeding them 100 times more efficient water use efficiency improve cricket farmers perfect their methods cricket production in action visited Entomo Farms Ontario Canada farmers care for 100 million crickets churn out 1,500 pounds flour week from egg to grinder make the food that’ll soon power humanity /