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Phishing Tests, the Bane of Work Life, Are Getting Meaner
U.S. employers are deploying increasingly aggressive phishing tests to combat cyber threats, sparking backlash from workers who say the simulated scams create unnecessary panic and distrust in the workplace. At the University of California, Santa Cruz, a test email about a fake Ebola outbreak sent staff scrambling before learning it was a security drill. At Lehigh Valley Health Network, employees who fall for phishing tests lose external email access, with termination possible after three failures.
Despite widespread use, recent studies question these tests' effectiveness. Research from ETH Zurich found that phishing tests combined with voluntary training actually made employees more vulnerable, while a University of California, San Diego study showed only a 2% reduction [PDF] in phishing success rates. "These are just an ineffective and inefficient way to educate users," said Grant Ho, who co-authored the UCSD study.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Google Pulls Incorrect Gouda Stat From Its AI Super Bowl Ad
An anonymous reader shares a report: Google has edited Gemini's AI response in a Super Bowl commercial to remove an incorrect statistic about cheese. The ad, which shows a small business owner using Gemini to write a website description about Gouda, no longer says the variety makes up "50 to 60 percent of the world's cheese consumption."
In the edited YouTube video, Gemini's response now skips over the specifics and says Gouda is "one of the most popular cheeses in the world." Google Cloud apps president Jerry Dischler initially defended the response, saying on X it's "grounded in the Web" and "not a hallucination."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
'Zombie Devices' Raise Cybersecurity Alarm as Consumers Ignore Smart Tech Expiry Dates
A survey of 2,130 Americans has revealed widespread vulnerability to cyber attacks through unsupported smart devices, with 43% unaware their devices might lose software support. The security threat was underscored in December 2023 when U.S. authorities disrupted a Chinese state-sponsored botnet targeting home routers and cameras that had stopped receiving security updates. Cloudflare separately reported a record-breaking DDoS attack in late 2023, primarily originating from compromised smart TVs and set-top boxes.
The survey, conduced by Consumer Reports, found that only 39% of consumers learned about lost software support from manufacturers, with most discovering issues when devices stopped working (40%) or through media reports (15%). Most consumers expect their smart devices to retain functionality after losing software support, particularly for large appliances (70%). However, Consumer Reports' research found only 14% of 21 smart appliance brands specify support timeframes, while an FTC study of 184 devices showed just 11% disclose support duration.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
FOSDEM 2025: Rust Runs Riot in Linux Despite Backlash - The New Stack
FOSDEM 2025: Rust Runs Riot in Linux Despite Backlash The New Stack
Categories: Linux
Campaign Manager 360 expands partnershipsCampaign Manager 360 expands partnershipsManaging Director, Data, Measurement and Google Marketing Platform
Campaign Manager 360 is helping advertisers and agencies navigate the evolving digital landscape with innovative tools and strategic partnerships.Campaign Manager 360 is helping advertisers and agencies navigate the evolving digital landscape with innovative tools and strategic partnerships.
Categories: Technology
French Train Passenger Fined $155 For Using Phone on Speaker
A passenger on the French rail network SNCF has revealed that he received a $155 fine for using his phone on loud speaker within a train station. From a report: The passenger, named only as David, told French TV channel BFM that he was on the phone to his sister while waiting at Nantes station when the SNCF staff member told him to switch his phone's loud speaker off, or risk being fined. When he argued, he was served with the $155 fine, which has been increased to $207 because he did not pay it immediately. Further reading: Flying Was Already the Worst. Then America Stopped Using Headphones.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
British Hydrogen Bus Supplier Aeristech Collapses
A British manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cell components for London's double-decker bus fleet has collapsed into administration, jeopardizing a $15.8 million government-backed project to cut transport emissions. Aeristech Limited, which was developing high-powered compressors for hydrogen fuel cells, was working on Project HEIDI to retrofit London buses with hydrogen technology. The project received $7.84 million in government funding last year, with additional investment from project partners including University of Bath and Equipmake.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
'Torrenting From a Corporate Laptop Doesn't Feel Right': Meta Emails Unsealed
An anonymous reader shares a report: Newly unsealed emails allegedly provide the "most damning evidence" yet against Meta in a copyright case raised by book authors alleging that Meta illegally trained its AI models on pirated books.
Last month, Meta admitted to torrenting a controversial large dataset known as LibGen, which includes tens of millions of pirated books. But details around the torrenting were murky until yesterday, when Meta's unredacted emails were made public for the first time. The new evidence showed that Meta torrented "at least 81.7 terabytes of data across multiple shadow libraries through the site Anna's Archive, including at least 35.7 terabytes of data from Z-Library and LibGen," the authors' court filing said. And "Meta also previously torrented 80.6 terabytes of data from LibGen."
"The magnitude of Meta's unlawful torrenting scheme is astonishing," the authors' filing alleged, insisting that "vastly smaller acts of data piracy -- just .008 percent of the amount of copyrighted works Meta pirated -- have resulted in Judges referring the conduct to the US Attorneys' office for criminal investigation."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Asahi Linux Lead Developer Hector Martin Resigns From Linux Kernel
Asahi lead developer Hector Martin, writing in an email: I no longer have any faith left in the kernel development process or community management approach.
Apple/ARM platform development will continue downstream. If I feel like sending some patches upstream in the future myself for whatever subtree I may, or I may not. Anyone who feels like fighting the upstreaming fight themselves is welcome to do so.
The Register points out that the action follows this interaction with Linux Torvalds.
Hector Martin: If shaming on social media does not work, then tell me what does,
because I'm out of ideas.
Linus Torvalds: How about you accept the fact that maybe the problem is you. You think you know better. But the current process works. It has problems, but problems are a fact of life. There is no perfect. However, I will say that the social media brigading just makes me not
want to have anything at all to do with your approach. Because if we have issues in the kernel development model, then social media sure as hell isn't the solution.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Categories: Linux
Asahi Linux Lead Developer Hector Martin Resigns From Linux Kernel
Asahi lead developer Hector Martin, writing in an email: I no longer have any faith left in the kernel development process or community management approach.
Apple/ARM platform development will continue downstream. If I feel like sending some patches upstream in the future myself for whatever subtree I may, or I may not. Anyone who feels like fighting the upstreaming fight themselves is welcome to do so.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Minimal Linux OS runs in a 6MB PDF document in Chrome — LinuxPDF leverages RISC-V emulator - Tom's Hardware
Minimal Linux OS runs in a 6MB PDF document in Chrome — LinuxPDF leverages RISC-V emulator Tom's Hardware
Categories: Linux
Minimal Linux OS runs in a 6MB PDF document in Chrome — LinuxPDF leverages RISC-V emulator - Tom's Hardware
Minimal Linux OS runs in a 6MB PDF document in Chrome — LinuxPDF leverages RISC-V emulator Tom's Hardware
Categories: Linux
Minimal Linux OS runs in a 6MB PDF document in Chrome — LinuxPDF leverages RISC-V emulator - Tom's Hardware
Minimal Linux OS runs in a 6MB PDF document in Chrome — LinuxPDF leverages RISC-V emulator Tom's Hardware
Categories: Linux
Minimal Linux OS runs in a 6MB PDF document in Chrome — LinuxPDF leverages RISC-V emulator - Tom's Hardware
Minimal Linux OS runs in a 6MB PDF document in Chrome — LinuxPDF leverages RISC-V emulator Tom's Hardware
Categories: Linux
Minimal Linux OS runs in a 6MB PDF document in Chrome — LinuxPDF leverages RISC-V emulator - Tom's Hardware
Minimal Linux OS runs in a 6MB PDF document in Chrome — LinuxPDF leverages RISC-V emulator Tom's Hardware
Categories: Linux
Minimal Linux OS runs in a 6MB PDF document in Chrome — LinuxPDF leverages RISC-V emulator - Tom's Hardware
Minimal Linux OS runs in a 6MB PDF document in Chrome — LinuxPDF leverages RISC-V emulator Tom's Hardware
Categories: Linux
UK Orders Apple To Let It Spy on Users' Encrypted Accounts
The UK government has ordered Apple to create a backdoor allowing access to encrypted cloud backups of users worldwide, Washington Post reported Friday, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter. The unprecedented demand, issued last month through a technical capability notice under the UK Investigatory Powers Act, requires Apple to provide blanket access to fully encrypted material rather than assistance with specific accounts.
Apple is likely to discontinue its encrypted storage service in the UK rather than compromise user security globally, the report said. The company would still face pressure to provide backdoor access for users in other countries, including the United States. The order was issued under Britain's 2016 Investigatory Powers Act, which makes it illegal to disclose such government demands, according to the report. While Apple can appeal to a secret technical panel and judge, the law requires compliance during any appeal process. The company told Parliament in March that the UK government should not have authority to decide whether global users can access end-to-end encryption.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
