firehose

ReVuln

Internet-connected TVs manufactured by Philips running the latest firmware update are wide open to browser cookie theft and other serious attacks by hackers within radio range, a security researcher has warned.

The hacks work against Philips Smart televisions that have a feature known as Miracast enabled, Luigi Auriemma, a researcher with Malta-based ReVuln (Twitter handle @revuln), told Ars. Miracast allows TVs to act as Wi-Fi access points that nearby computers and smartphones can connect to so their screen output can be displayed on the larger set. The hacking vulnerability is the result of a recent firmware update that allows anyone within range to connect to the TV, as long as they know the hard-coded authentication password "Miracast."

Once someone has connected to the Miracast-enabled Wi-Fi network, they can use publicly available software to download any personal files that may be contained on USB drives plugged in to the Philips Smart TV. More troubling, connected devices can steal the highly sensitive browser cookies that many websites rely on to authenticate users when they access their private accounts.

Norio Nakayama

The United States Department of Justice wants to broaden its ability to hack criminal suspects’ computers, according to a new legal proposal that was first published by The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

If passed as currently drafted, federal authorities would gain an expanded ability to conduct “remote access” under a warrant against a target computer whose location is unknown or outside of a given judicial district. It would also apply in cases where that computer is part of a larger network of computers spread across multiple judicial districts. In the United States, federal warrants are issued by judges who serve one of the 94 federal judicial districts and are typically only valid for that particular jurisdiction.

The 402-page document entitled “Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules" is scheduled to be discussed at an upcoming Department of Justice (DOJ) meeting next month in New Orleans.

The creators of Torchlight developer Runic Games, Travis Baldree and Erich Schaefer, will depart from the studio next month, Baldree announced via the company's forums.

Baldree writes that the departure is an amicable one, and that Schaefer leaves with him as an equal partner. At Runic, Baldree served as the company's president and lead engineer, while Schaefer was the chief creative officer and a designer.

"I'm personally excited — oh, hell, I'm super stoked — to be getting back to smaller-scale development, where I can wear many, many hats performing many, many different kinds of tasks," Baldree wrote. "Working within the boundaries of limited means and resources is the best fun I've ever had, and that sort of work satisfies me in a fundamental way — I can't wait to be working that way again.

"To those of you who have played our games, interacted with us on our forums, met us at trade-shows, and Tweeted/Facebooked/social-media'ed with us over the years, I want to thank you all. You have helped to make this a rewarding journey for me, and I hope the same holds true for you."

Baldree and Schaefer founded the company, along with Max Schaefer and Peter Hu, in 2008. The studio released Torchlight in 2009 and its sequel, Torchlight 2, in 2012.

The White House

President Barack Obama has said he wants to shut down the telephone surveillance program that has been the subject of intense controversy since it was revealed in top-secret documents published last summer. The US government will stop maintaining its database of telephone call "metadata," which includes all numbers dialed in the US as well as their duration and other data.

"Earlier this year, I announced a transition that would end the Section 215 bulk telephony metadata program as it previously existed and that we would establish a mechanism to preserve the capabilities we need without the government holding this bulk metadata," Obama said in a statement today. "I did so to give the public greater confidence that their privacy is appropriately protected, while maintaining the tools our intelligence and law enforcement agencies need to keep us safe."

A fact sheet lays out the details of the changes, and they are significant. The data itself will still exist in the hands of the phone companies, as it always has (it's the same data on your telephone bill), but it can only be queried when the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) approves requests for specific numbers. That's the difference between the government going to a judge and saying "We'd like to see the metadata for 555-123-4567 and all of his/her contacts" and the government already having all those contacts in its own database with no supervision for individual searches.

Hot on the heels of Bethesda’s announcement of the somewhat lacking collector’s edition of Wolfenstein: The New Order comes a new video from the publisher that gives us a taste of the fake ’60s pop songs on the New Order soundtrack. The trailer itself is a fine piece of work, a mock infomercial advertising a collection of greatest hits from "Neumond Records," a label that forms within the game’s alternate history after Nazi Germany’s world conquest. “Remember the ’60s? We conquered the world, we conquered the moon, and we conquered rock ’n’ roll,” the infomercial’s narrator reminds us before ordering his audience to “put on your favorite blue jeans and take a trip with us back in time to the 1960s.”

Source

The full versions of all eight original songs featured in the game can be found over at Neumond Records’ SoundCloud page. They’re ...

This morning, a number of Mozilla employees took to Twitter with a united, nearly simultaneous message to new Mozilla Corporation CEO Brendan Eich: "Step down."

The internal response began this morning with two tweets from Mozilla Open Badges project lead Chris McAvoy. "I love @mozilla but I'm disappointed this week," McAvoy said, referring to the controversial decision to appoint Eich as CEO after he had donated thousands to both California's Proposition 8 and political candidates who supported it. "@mozilla stands for openness and empowerment, but is acting in the opposite way." He then made a more pronounced declaration: "I'm an employee of @mozilla and I'm asking @brendaneich to step down as CEO."

Within minutes, many other Mozilla employees followed suit, using similar language or copying each other's statements outright. Those included Mozilla Festival curator Chloe Vareldi, partnerships lead John Bevan, designer Jessica Klein, and engagement team member Sydney Moyer.