Nicole Spag is on the show. We’ll explain what we know about the Regin spyware and how video game blood can help the Red Cross.

MP3

Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

A special thanks to all our Patreon supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Nicole Spagnuolo, podcaster, Ladies of Leet, Nerd Parents

Headlines:

Symantec released a whitepaper report detailing a sophisticated piece of spyware called Regin that was active from 2008-2011 and reappeared in 2013. Regin is a platform of unknown origin and not even all its pieces have been discovered. Its infection method is a mystery although one instance of using Yahoo Instant Messenger as a vector was documented. It allows for customization based on the targets and can employe Remote Access Trojans, keyloggers, screenshots and basically every bad thing you can think of. It has mostly been discovered in Russia and Saudi Arabia and mostly targets individuals, small businesses and telecoms. Kaspersky also released their findings on Regin including evidence that it may have been responsible for the attack on researcher Jean-Jacque Quisquater.

TechCrunch reports Samsung Galaxy S5 sales have underpeformed expectations by about 40% this year. The Wall Street Journal reports Samsung may demote Mobile Leader and Co-CEO JK Shin back to just head of the mobile unit. That would put Co-CEO and head of home appliance and TV, BK Soon supervising mobile as well. Samsung’s third co-CEO Kwon Oh-hyon would remain overseeing the semiconductor and display panel business. Markets like China have been seeing sales of Samsung mobile devices fall.

The Verge reports T-Mobile added new services to its zero-rating of music services. Google Play Music Xbox Music, Live365, and SoundCloud are among the 14 services added to T-Mobile’s Music Freedom feature. T-Mobile says its goal is to include every streaming music service in  the program. The plan exempts music services from counting against T-Mobile’s monthly data limits.

Apple Insider reports that downloads from Apple’s iOS App store reached an all time high of 7.8 million downloads per day in October. Mobile tracking firm Fisku crunched the numbers and found a 42 percent increase from the previous month among the top 200 free iOS apps tracked by the company. I think you all know why this happened in October. Apple released its iPhone 6, 6 Plus and a new operating system iOS 8.

Engadget points out the Torrent Freak article that watchmakers Omega, Panerai, Swatch and Tissot are sending takedown requests to sites hosting smartwatch faces that allegedly violate “trademark, copyright and design rights”. Fighting watch face piracy has just begun people. And remember one lost watch sale due to watch face piracy can mean thousands of dollars. If the one watch cost thousands of dollars.

 

 

 

News From You:

metalfreak passes along an announcement from Creative Commons.org that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will now require all of their grant-funded research to be made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY) This means that Gates Foundation materials must be discoverable and accessible online, immediately and without an embargo period and that the data underlying published research will also be immediately open. The goal, according to a Gates Foundation spokesperson, is to speed up the sharing of data that might help other scientists and health experts. The new policy takes effect January 1, 2015, but there will be a two year transition period for research which is in the process of being published in expensive medical journals with embargo restrictions.

johnsie776 posted the Engadget article that the same filings that revealed Ford, Bank of America and Visa were meeting with the FCC about net neutrality show some more expected companies meeting as well. Cisco CEO John Chambers called Wheeler to endorse proposed net neutrality rules earlier this year. Chief Comcast lobbyist Kathy Zachem, meanwhile, gave the FCC’s top lawyer advance notice of Republican objections to the proposal. Wheeler also spoke with current NCTA president and former FCC chair Michael Powell. The anit-Wheeler. as Wheeler is former NCTA president and NOW FCC Chair. Very cozy ain’t it?

spsheridan sent the Verge article in repeating a WSJ report that the FAA’s forthcoming rules on commercial use of drones would require all operators to have a pilot’s license and limit operations to daylight hours. Pilots would also have to operate the drones below 400 feet and within line of sight at all times. The rules would apply to commercial use of drones no matter what the size or weight.

starfuryzeta passes along a USA today report that Apple and Bono are collaborating again on RED,for a two-week charity campaign. Apple and RED have teamed up regularly since the red edition of the iPod Nano back in 2006. This time Apple approached the designers of some of its most popular app-store purchase to see if they would modify their apps to raise money for RED, Bono’s charity which fights the spread of HIV/AIDS. First time downloaders of the apps will see their money go directly to RED; those who’ve already purchased the app will be able to make in-game purchases to support RED.

F1Ben passes along a Wall Street Journal report that movie rental company Redbox is raising the rental price of a DVD by at least 25% as of December 2nd. A one night rental of a DVD will now cost $1.50. That’s right. THIRTY WHOLE CENTS! The price of a one night Blu-Ray rental will increase 33% to $2 a night. Redbox will also launch a recommendation engine similar to help customers pick a movie, and they plan on more efficient stocking of machines (aka fewer choices).

 

 

Discussion Section: Regin Spyware

https://gigaom.com/2014/11/24/groundbreaking-state-spyware-targeted-airlines-and-energy-firms/

http://recode.net/2014/11/23/symantec-uncovers-sophisticated-stealthy-computer-spying-tool/

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/11/24/secret-regin-malware-belgacom-nsa-gchq/

http://www.symantec.com/content/en/us/enterprise/media/security_response/whitepapers/regin-analysis.pdf

https://securelist.com/files/2014/11/Kaspersky_Lab_whitepaper_Regin_platform_eng.pdf

Calendar: Dum-Dum. Dum-Dum. Dummmmm-Dum-Dum…

A trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens is coming to “a small number” of US theaters this Friday November 28th. Regal Cinemas was so excited they announced the trailer BEFORE JJ Abrams. Then there was a great disturbance in The Force, as if a million other theaters cried out in terror and Regal was suddenly silenced. but unlike Alderaan they’re not silent anymore. a list of thirty theaters has been announced by Lucasfilm.

Pick of the Day: Channel Frederator via Rob Jennings

Cartoon conspiracy theories, conspiracy theories from your favorite cartoons when you were a kid!

Like was sponge bob squarepants and friends created from a weapon bomb testing to did the flintstones and jetsons live at the same time period ? This series goes over the facts, to find out the truth, even from the writers / creators themselves

Tuesday’s guest: Patrick Le Beja

 

Darren Kitchen is on to talk about the Russian site that collects people’s unprotected baby monitor and cat cams. Should it be taken down? And Len Peralta is here to illustrate the show!

MP3

Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

A special thanks to all our Patreon supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Darren Kitchen of hak5.org and Len Peralta, author and illustrator

Today is the final day! It’s almost the one year anniversary of DTNS and Friday’s resident artprov artist Len Peralta is doing something special to mark the occasion. He’s drawing a poster called “In This Together” and you have a chance to be drawn into the print. There are only 26 slots left. If you want to get drawn into this piece of DTNS history, go to Len’s Patreon page: patreon.com/len and pledge at the $2.50 level or higher. Len will draw you into the print + you’ll also get a copy of it as well. Once again, that URL is patreon.com/len

Headlines:

ReCode passed on a Financial Times report that a draft motion for the European Parliament would call for Google to separate its search services from other businesses and become two companies. The motion says “Unbundling of search engines from other commercial services” should be considered. Google holds 93% of the search market in Europe compared to 67% in the US.

Aereo announced on its blog today that it will file for chapter 11 bankruptcy. CEO Chet Kanojia wrote that his teams had explored every path available to the company but cited legal and regulatory uncertainty as the main reason they chose to file for bankruptcy. Aereo appointed appointed Lawton Bloom of investment banker Argus to serve as Aereo’s Chief Restructuring Officer during this period.

The patent wars may be winding down. Reuters reports Google has agreed to settle litigation with patent consortium Rockstar which includes Apple as an investor. The consortium had sued Google and other handset makers in October 2013 over Nortel patents related to search engine technology. No details were announced about the settlement. Cisco took a $188 million charge related to settlement with Rockstar earlier this month.

Bloomberg Businessweek reports that a US federal appeals court blocked the US FCC from ordering Comcast to disclose its programming contracts. The FCC has the contracts, but wanted “interested parties” to be able to see them as part of the agency’s review of the proposed Comcast merger with Time Warner. Comcast argued revealing its fee structures would put them at a competitive disadvantage. The disclosure requirement also would apply to the FCC’s review of AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV.

Gigaom reports that Google is offering 1 terabyte of Google Drive storage, free for two years with the purchase of a new Chromebook. The offer, valued at $240, accompanies the sale of Chromebooks priced as low as $199. Interested buyers must redeem the Drive offer by January 1, 2015 to quality for the increased capacity.

ReCode reports US FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is afraid of dogs. Wheeler told reporters Friday “Look, the big dogs are going to sue regardless of what comes out. We need to make sure we have sustainable rules.” He was trying to explain why no new proposals have come from the FCC regarding Open Internet Guidelines since President Obama suggested reclassifying ISPs under Title II of the Teleocmmunications Act of 1934.

 

News From You:

HobbitfromPA posted the CNET story about a plant-based polymer from Suneris that can help stop bleeding and act like lego bricks fro the body. The substance is called VetiGel and can be applied to skin or soft organs to stop bleeding in 20 seconds. So far the substance has been determined safe for animals. Vets interested in testing it out can sign up at suneris.co/contactus.

the_big_endian sends us an NDTV report that according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International, the number of people online in India will reach 302 million by the end of this year, overtaking the US and its 279 million users as the second-largest Internet market in the world. As of the end of October, 278 million people are online in India with 159 million accessing the internet on mobile phones. China is still the largest Internet market with more than 600 million Internet users.

metalfreak posted the PC World article that Intel will join Samsung in shipping 3D NAND flash chips that stack transistors in a miniscule 32-layer cube. While Samsung’s chips have already been on the market, Intel claims they’re models can hold twice as many bits as their competitors, 256 billion bits on a single die. That means a TB of data could fit on a NAND chip that’s 2 millimeters thick. Intel plans to ship the 3D NAND chips next year.

ancrod2 sent in the Wired article that Utah representative Marc Roberts has introduced legislation int he Utah House of Representatives that, if approved, would direct municipalities in the US state to “refuse support to any federal agency which collects electronic data within this state.” The effect would be to prohibit the NSA from negotiating a new deal for cheap water service for its data center in Bluffdale, Utah. That water deal ends in 2021.

spsheridan sent us a CNET report that researchers at Princeton University have developed a 3D printer that can 3D-print quantum dot LED in layers. QLEDs shine brighter and with a great purity of color, at a lower power consumption rate, using cadmium selenide nanocrystals. They’re also ultrathin, flexible and transparent and could someday be used to create contact lenses with a heads up display, once they figure out a way to include an on-board power supply. So, not coming next year.

Discussion Section: 

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/20/webcam-hackers-watching-you-watchdog-warns

http://iconewsblog.wordpress.com/2014/11/20/is-someone-watching-you-right-now-a-warning-as-website-targets-insecure-webcams/

http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/what-know-about-webcam-hackers

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/gchq-nsa-webcam-images-internet-yahoo

Pick of the Day: Legion: Skin Deep via Technosquid

Technosquid sent us this one: “My pick is the new Brandon Sanderson audiobook, Legion: Skin Deep, available free for pre-order on audible.com, set for release on November 24th. Legion: Skin Deep is the sequel to Legion, a novella which gained some popularity when it was available free to purchase from audible for a month or two back in 2012 (now $4.86 for audible subscribers, $6.95 for non subscribers, or $2.99 kindle + $1.99 whispersync for audio audible add-on.)

“Stephen Leeds, AKA ‘Legion,’ is a man whose unique mental condition allows him to generate a multitude of personae: hallucinatory entities with a wide variety of personal characteristics and a vast array of highly specialized skills.”

I really liked the original, although it was only a short two-hour reading of a 96 page story, but thankfully the sequel is more than twice as long.

In a blog post, the author noted that this is a limited-time promotion, and after one month it would no longer be available for free, but of course anyone who purchased it during the promotion would have it available in their audible libraries.”

Monday’s guest: Nicole Spagnuolo! 

 

Jill Duffy is here to talk about the wearables people actually care about and USE and how your Doctor’s office may be the biggest beneficiary.

Support the show at http://patreon.com/donate

MP3

Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

A special thanks to all our Patreon supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Jill Duffy, writer and senior analyst at pcmag.com

Check out Jill’s great article on Fitness Trackers at Prevention Magazine

Also! It’s almost the one year anniversary of DTNS and Friday’s resident artprov artist Len Peralta is doing something special to mark the occasion. He’s drawing a poster called “In This Together” and you have a chance to be drawn into the print. There are only 50 slots left available. If you want to get drawn into this piece of DTNS history, go to Len’s Patreon page: patreon.com/len and pledge at the $2.50 level or higher. Len will draw you into the print + you’ll also get a copy of it as well. Once again, that URL is patreon.com/len

Headlines:

Engadget reports Corning has created Gorilla Glass 4. The company examined hundreds of broken devices and smashed a LOT of phones to find out that damage from sharp contact accounted for 70% of field failures. Gorilla Glass 4 is designed to stay intact 80 percent of the time when dropped from a meter above a rough surface (3.3. feet). Corning said it is already sending test samples to its customers.

TechCrunch reports Dropbox has updated its Carousel app for iOS and Android. Carousel combines photos from your device with photos stored in Dropbox to make an easy interface for viewing all of them. The Carousel feature lets you easily spin through photos to view them and a messaging feature lets you instantly send photos and videos to friends. The new app with a cleaner interface launches on iPad today, Android tablets soon and adds a web version as well.

ReCode passes along details from Sandvine’s latest report on North American broadband usage during primetime. If you’ve been saying Netflix takes up about a third of download bandwidth, you can keep saying that. YouTube stays at number 2 with 14.04% and Amazon has risen to 2.58%. This bandwidth usage so it’s not number of streams but it’s a fair approximation. BitTorrent still takes up 25.49% of the upload. So many Linux ISOs.

Ars Technica reports Mozilla has not renewed Google as the default search engine for the Firefox browser worldwide. Mozilla has struck regional deals. Baidu becomes default in China, Yandex in Russia and Yahoo powered by Bing in the US. Mozilla told MarketingLand’s Danny Sullivan that Google remains default in Europe and it will continue to exist as an alternate option.

Gigaom reports that The Washington Post has launched a version of its news app exclusive to Amazon Fire owners. Fire users will get the app free for six months. An additional six months will cost $1. The new app will come to other devices next year but cost $3.99/month. The new app includes ‘Pinch View’ which allows users to swipe through an edition as if they were flipping magazine pages and updates twice a day at 5am and 5pm eastern with breaking news and other updates added in between.

Reuters reports Alibaba founder Jack Ma said the Chinese company will set up an international version of its Taobao ecommerce site in multiple languages including English and Chinese. Alibaba has a wholesale international site called Aliexpress but not one for consumers to sell to each other.

The Verge reports Uber hired Harriet Pearson, former privacy chief at IBM, to conduct a review of Uber’s privacy practices and make recommendations. In addition US Senator Al Franken posted a public letter to Uber CEO Travis Kalanick taking him to task for the companies attitude toward privacy and asking 8 questions which the Senator expect responses to by December 15th.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports a corporate advocacy group called the Ad Hoc Telecommunications USers Committee has visited the US FCC commissioners three times this year. Representatives of the group included Nicholas Lewis of UPS, Lawrence Chattoo of Bank of America, Carl Holshouser of Visa and James Carroll from Ford Motor. FCC filings show the topic of the meetings was “Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet” and terminating access monopolies. In a separate comment filed with the FCC the same group urged the FCC to classify broadband under Title II. Ford and Visa spokespeople told Bloomberg their representatives did not advocate for Title II.

The Verge reports Google has a new system called Contributor that lets users pay partner sites $1 to $3 a month in order to remove Google AdSense ads from the site. Mashable, The Onion, Science Daily, Imgur, WikiHow, and Urban Dictionary have been announced as partners in the new program.

 

News From You:

starfuryzeta sent the GigaOm report that the US FTC and the State of Florida announced court complaints against dozens of individuals and companies that allegedly run PC Cleaner scams. The scams trick users into installing malware and then charge them for the removal of it which then leads to further scams. The FTC obtained an injunction on their operations and an order for asset seizures though no criminal charges were filed.

KAPT_Kipper pointed out the TechCrunch story that free open source anti-surveillance tool called Detekt has been released by Berlin-based security researcher Claudio Guarnieri at resistsurveillance.org. The tool scans Windows machines for surveillance spyware used to target and monitor human rights defenders and journalists around the world.” The tool only tells you if it can find surveillance software not guarantee none exists. The software was developed in partnership with the EFF, Digitale Gesellschaft, Privacy International and Amnesty International.

KAPT_Kipper pointed out the TechCrunch story that free open source anti-surveillance tool called Detekt has been released by Berlin-based security researcher Claudio Guarnieri at resistsurveillance.org. The tool scans Windows machines for surveillance spyware used to target and monitor human rights defenders and journalists around the world.” The tool only tells you if it can find surveillance software not guarantee none exists. The software was developed in partnership with the EFF, Digitale Gesellschaft, Privacy International and Amnesty International.

habichuelacondulce passed along the Consumerist report about a graphic designer in Tennessee who was moving an hour away. He called his cable company and was told he could move his business class broadband service to his new location. But the installer never showed up! The man called his cable company again and was told his new address wasn’t served by the company and he owed $2,789 in early termination fees. Anyone want to guess the cable company? Veronica? Anyone? A local news station got involved and–you guessed it–Comcast, confirmed the early termination fee, but then said there were extenuating circumstances in the case and the fee would be waived. Good job, WSMV Nashville. Next up, a monkey that goes bananas for basketball!

Discussion Section: Fitness Trackers

http://www.prevention.com/health/healthy-living/tech-report-coolest-health-and-fitness-trackers-today-and-tomorrow

http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2014/11/20/basis-peak-fitness-tracker-gets-notifications-stylish-new-watch-bands/

https://www.fitbit.com/store?gclid=CjwKEAiAv7ajBRCIldS7rp7wzFkSJAAA1n4DJjrdS4rlayFN_j3kop3tSZy7D3iUyhnPU9Vl00PbzBoCXZLw_wcB

Pick of the Day: Bomgar via Greg Harris

Check out Bomgar.com for the best in enterprise remote desktop support for nearly every platform. It’s simple, intuitive, comprehensive, and full featured. It’s available for hosted or managed and can be virtual or appliance based.

Friday’s guests: Darren Kitchen and Len Peralta