Darren Kitchen is back to follow up with what we should know about shellshock, plus some good news for a few drones out there. And Len Peralta illustrates the show, artprov style!

MP3

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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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guests: Darren Kitchen and Len Peralta

Headlines

GigaOm reports good news for BlackBerry. But first the bad news. Handset sales were down 200,000 to 2.4 million and the company lost $207 million. HOWEVER that’s quite a bit less than the $965 million it dumped a year ago, not to mention it has $3.1 billion in the bank. Plus the Blackberry Passport has received 200,000 pre-orders.

SysAdmins the world over continue to deal with the shellshock vulnerability with patches out for most Linux distros, though not all of them complete. Consumers should be most concerned about devices with embedded systems like routers and webcams as well as OS X. Apple says most OS x users will not have the Unix services turned on that would allow attackers to take advantage of the vulnerability. However a patch is in the works. Bash maintainer Chet Ramey said on Twitter he had notified Apple of shellshock several times before it was made public. Apple uses an older version of Bash, v 3.2.51.(1) because the company avoids GPLv3-licensed software like Frankenstein’s monster avoids villagers with torches.

Reuters reports the European Aviation Safety Agency said Friday it will allow passengers to use portable electronic devices throughout the entire flight without being in airplane mode. EASA said This is the latest regulatory step toward enabling the ability to offer ‘gate-to-gate’ telecommunication or Wifi services.” Each airline will have to conduct a safety assessment before changing their policies.

TechCrunch reports Apple released iOS 8.0.2. The new update includes all original fixes promised in the earlier update, and fixes the cell reception issue with iPhone 6 and 6+, as well as a bug in the HealthKit app that delayed release of compatible apps, and a bug where third-party keyboards would default back to Apple’s keyboard when activated inside an app. Apple said in their apology that fewer than 40,000 devices were affected by the bad release which was pulled after an hour.

The tech press all decided to notice social network Ello today, possibly due to it being Friday. Engadget reports Ello is notching up 20,000 new users an hour despite being invite only. Ello is created by designers and artists, its CEO Paul Budnitz is founder of toy company Kidrobot. Its central premise is that it won’t turn you into a product to sell to advertisers. So no ads. The idea is to provide basic functions for free but more advanced functions, like multiple accounts managed from one login might cost you $2. Budnitz says “We’re not competing. We’re just building this thing that we really want to use.”

ZDNet reports that Amazon has officially acquired game-streaming service Twitch and its more than 55 million active monthly users, for $970 million. Amazon VP of games Mike Frazzini said the deal came together after Amazon met with Twitch leaders and decided their culture was “an awesome fit with Amazon’s culture.” To recap, Amazon now owns an incredibly popular live-streaming platform for less than one Instagram.

Re/code reports that Intel will pay up to $1.5 billion for a 20% stake in two mobile chipmakers with ties to the Chinese government. Intel will acquire the stake in Spreadtrum Communications and RDA Microelectronics through a deal with Tsinghua Unigroup in an attempt to catch up to rival Qualcomm in the mobile chip market.

 

News From You

habichuelcondulce pointed out Samsung announced its highest capacity SSD yet. The SM1715 can store 3.2 TB of data and is in production. The drive is made using Samsung’s 3D V-NAND technology, in which storage chips are placed on top of each other. The random read speed of the drive is 750,000 IOPS (input/output operations per second) and write speed is 130,000 IOPS. Price and ship dates were not announced. Hopefully it’s cheaper than the $20,000 LSI Nytro 3.2 TB SSD.

spsheridan shares a BBC report that the US Federal Bureau of Investigations is “very concerned” about Apple and Google’s plans to create file encryption systems to which the companies would have no access. The head of the FBI James Comey told reporters that lives could depend on continuing access to device data. The FBI is holding conversations with both companies. Apple and Google have not yet responded. “we have keys to all your houses… oops I wasn’t supposed to say that,” Comey is imagined to have said.

ancrod2 pointed out the Moscow Times article noting Russia’s Roskomnadzor agency, which supervises the media and communications, has notified Google, Facebook and Twitter that they must register as “organizers of inofrmation distribution” and therefore keep information about Russian users on servers located inside the country. The companies have until the end of the year to register or risk administrative sanctions.

Discussion Links:  Shellshock and Drones

http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2014/q3/741

http://www.imore.com/apple-working-quickly-protect-os-x-against-shellshock-exploit

http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/146849/how-do-i-recompile-bash-to-avoid-shellshock-the-remote-exploit-cve-2014-6271-an/146851#146851

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/09/25/google-and-amazon-respond-to-shellshock-security-flaw/?mod=rss_Technology

https://gigaom.com/2014/09/26/companies-and-organizations-react-to-shellshock-flaw-with-patches-and-advice/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/25/us-drones-exemptions-implications-idUSKCN0HK2RG20140925?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

http://www.cnet.com/news/faa-opens-the-door-for-movie-making-drones/#ftag=CAD590a51e

Pick of the Day: Teleprompter+ via Tom

Monday’s guest: Todd Whitehead of Alpha Geek Radio

Breki Tomasson is on the show and while we will touch on a glaring omission from Healthkit, the main story is the bash vulnerability Shellshock. Thankfully Steve Gibson agreed to drop in and explain it to us!

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Breki Tomasson, creator of the CSICon podcasting network and Steve Gibson, co-host of Security Now and head of the Gibson Research Corporation

Headlines

Last week a vulnerability in bash was reported to Red Hat by Unix expert Stephane Chazelas. The vulnerability was revealed late Wednesday. GigaOm has a good roundup of the details, but it essentially allows an environmental variable with an arbitrary name to carry a malicious function definition with trailing commands. That means it can get your server to execute code. It affects any OS that implements bash which includes Apache, most versions of Linux and Mac OS X. It also can include many routers, webcams and other embedded systems. Red Hat issued a partial patch and Akamai published some mitigation measures, but more fixes from more vendors are expected.

TechCrunch reports Apple says bent iPhone 6s are extremely rare and claims only nine people have complained to the company about it. Apple claims under normal use the problem rarely occurs and notes the new iPhones are built with steel/titanium inserts to reinforce stress locations. Apple also claims iPhone 6 models underwent testing to ensure they can endure bending, sitting, torsion and other kinds of stress.

Kotaku reports Valve released the Steam Music player for its desktop client. It’s not a streaming (or should we say steaming?) service just an in-game music player for your existing collection. So for instance if you want to be able to listen to Peter Gabriel’s Steam on the Steam Music Player, we now live in a world where that’s possible.

The PC is NOT DEAD! At least not in the US. NPD reports consumer retail PC sales grew 3% in the US from July 4th through Labor Day week. Last year sales declined 2.5% in that period. Chrome OS led the way increasing 37 percent over 2013 and Mac products rose 14 percent. Windows devices dropped 3%. Overall laptops rose 3.4% while desktop sales were essentially flat.

TechCrunch reports Apple apologized for the “great inconvenience” caused by its faulty iOS 8.0.1 update and claimed developers are working around the clock to prepare iOS 8.0.2 with a fix that will hopefully arrive in the next few days. Apple officially recommends rolling back iPhone 6 and 6 Plus from 8.0.1 to 8.

Reuters reports that European data privacy regulators gave Google guidelines on legally collecting and storing user data. Google came under privacy scrutiny from the European Union as well as six individual European countries after the company combined its privacy policies and data collection from sixty services into one, and giving users no way to opt out.

Apparently the EU feels a little warmer towards Facebook, because Reuters UK has two sources that say Facebook is about to win unconditional EU approval to purchase mobile messaging startup WhatsApp for $19 billion. European telecom companies like Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica want the EU to extract concessions from Facebook in light of WhatsApps plan to add free voice-call services later this year, but it looks like that may not happen. US regulators approved the deal in April.

 

 

News From You

BigJim1 submitted the ABCNews story on the successful arrival of India’s Mars Orbiter Mission and our subreddit users voted it up. The Indian Space and Research Organization is the first agency to be successful on a Mars mission in its first attempt. The orbiter program cost $75 million which Prime Minister Narendra Modi pointed out was less than it cost to make the movie Gravity. It’s also quite a bit less than the $671 million NASA spent on the Maven mission to Mars.

Kylde didn’t want us to miss the Technology Review report that Google X Lab’s head Astro Teller, speaking at the EmTech Conference on Tuesday, said Google aims to have a continuous ring of high-altitude balloons above the Southern Hemisphere within the next year. Project Loon as its called will provide LTE data service to cell phones on the ground at rates of 22 megabits per second to fixed antennas, and five megabits per second to mobile handsets. Teller said “if we can figure out a way to take the Internet to five billion people, that’s very valuable.”

Discussion Links:  Shellshock and a glaring Healthkit omission

http://www.troyhunt.com/2014/09/everything-you-need-to-know-about.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/25/us-cybersecurity-shellshock-idUSKCN0HK23Y20140925

http://lcamtuf.blogspot.com/2014/09/quick-notes-about-bash-bug-its-impact.html

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/09/24/11

https://twitter.com/taviso/status/514887394294652929

https://gigaom.com/2014/09/25/the-critical-shellshock-flaw-affects-many-linux-and-apple-systems-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

http://www.wired.com/2014/09/internet-braces-crazy-shellshock-worm/

http://blog.erratasec.com/2014/09/bash-bug-as-big-as-heartbleed.html#.VCRaXildXA4

http://www.zdnet.com/first-attacks-using-shellshock-bash-bug-discovered-7000034044/

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/25/6844021/apple-promised-an-expansive-health-app-so-why-cant-i-track

Pick of the Day: SpeedCrunch via Cody Olivier

My pick is SpeedCrunch. As a game programmer and CS graduate student, I need a quick, straight forward, and simple calculator with some power behind it. Enter SpeedCrunch. It is a calculator that is completely controlled by your keyboard ( similar to command-line ) which supports user defined variables, a multitude of math functions, and comes with a table of scientific constants. It shows history, lets you retrieve previously entered equations, and my favorite feature is as you type in an equation, it will have a little pop-up with the current answer to the equation. This is very useful when I am adding up a lot of numbers and want to see the current total. It works for Windows and OSX and has a portable Windows version. I also believe the program is open source for anyone who wants to modify or look at the code.

Friday’s guest: Darren Kitchen and Len Peralta

Brian Brushwood is on the show and we’ll cover the history of post-iPhone release controversies including this year’s which involves the fact that when you put slim aluminum things under stress, they bend. But should they? The answer may surprise you.

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Brian Brushwood, co-host of Night Attack and Cordkillers

Today’s title ” ” was chosen by  at showbot.replex.org

Headlines

Watch out Google X! Reuters reports Amazon will increase staff at it’s Lab126 R&D division by at least 27% over the next five years according to a tax agreement reached with the State of California in June. Among the projects. Sources told Reuters that areas of research at the lab include wearable devices and connected home devices. One would allow one-button product ordering from the kitchen over WiFi. Products like the Kindle ereader and FirePhone came out of Lab126.

The Next Web reports BlackBerry unveiled its square Passport smartphone today. The Passport has a 4.5-inch, 1440 x 1440 resolution display, a 2.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 3GB RAM and 32GB of onboard storage, a 13 megapixel camera on the back and a 2 megapixel camera on the front. The phone runs BlackBerry 10.3, which features BlackBerry Blend, allowing users to manage files and communications across devices and platforms including Windows, Mac, iOS and Android device. The phone is available now and cost $599 in the US, $699 in Canada, £529 in the UK and €649 in Europe.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/24/6838103/blackberry-passport-att-availability

The Verge reports Apple says they “received reports of an issue with the iOS 8.0.1 update, are actively investigating the reports and have pulled the update for the time being. 8.0.1 was the first bug-fix update to iOS 8. These first patches notoriously cause unexpected problems. This time affected phones showed no service and touchID was unresponsive. The issue seemed only to affect iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. The best workaround if you already updated would be to downgrade to iOS 8. Search “downgrade to iOS 8” for several tutorials.

Recode reports Comcast filed its response to comments on its proposed merger with TWC. Comcast told the US FCC that Netflix, Dish Network and Discovery, among others opposed the deal because the companies failed in “extortion” attempts to get special favors. Yeah, Comcast used the word extortion once and “extortionate demands” twice in the filing. Discovery said Comcast continues to intimidate opposing voices and Netflix said, “It is extortion when Comcast fails to provide its own customers the broadband speed they’ve paid for unless Netflix also pays a ransom.” Whoa whoa whoa! Ransom? Extortion? Intimidation? C’mon folks, this is not Fat Tony’s House of Legitimate Business here… or is it?

Reuters reports Adobe will close its research and development arm in China by the end of December. Adobe will maintain its sales presence in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Taiwan and focus on market development in the region. Last week, Adobe reported its worst quarterly revenue for Asia in the last five years.

News From You

t2t2 submitted the Polygon story that Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said the company will end development of a rumored video game codenamed Titan. Today Kotaku compiled everything it had heard about the game from various sources inside Blizzard. It had apparently been intended to be a near-future Earth set after an alien invasion had been fought off. Players would choose one of three factions and work normal jobs during the day, while at night turning into superhero like fighters against the other factions in a TF2 style game. Morhaime told Polygon they canceled the game because it just wasn’t good enough.

habichuelcondulce passes along the CNET report that Boeing has partnered with a company called Liquid Robotics to make SEA-FARING ROBOTS! That’s right, Boeing wants to build robots that can surveil the open seas, looking for drug traffickers and submarines. Or maybe drug traffickers IN submarines, because why limit yourself. Liquid Robotics is the company that built the Wave Glider SV3, a self-powered sea-faring data center that can stay in the ocean for months at a time. So add Boeing and BOOM SEA-ROBOT SOLDIERS

Discussion Links: What does the E.U. want?

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29331349

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1785905

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=19826437&postcount=41

http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/23/bent-iphone-6-plus-problem/

http://www.geek.com/apple/iphone-6s-are-being-bent-in-peoples-pockets-including-mine-1605177/

http://www.cultofmac.com/297404/get-bent-shocking-history-bent-smartphones/

http://www.cultofmac.com/248603/iphone-5ses-are-bending-in-peoples-pockets/

http://thenextweb.com/apple/2014/09/24/apple-support-says-bent-iphones-must-pass-visual-inspection-qualify-warranty-replacement/

Pick of the Day:  Lootcrate via Rob Jennings

Today we have possibly the shortest recommendation we’ve ever received from Rob Jennings. And I quote: “Lootcrate.com a subscription services for monthly swag . It has different levels of boxes.” To elaborate just a bit: If you sign up for Lootcrate.com, they will send you a themed mystery box with a retail value of $40 or more. In August the theme was ‘HEROES’ and included a Groot Bobblehead, some mini ninja turtles, and a pair of Shwings (that’s wings for shoes) among many other things. The monthly plan costs $13.37/mo + $6 shipping and handling. Sign up for more months at a time and get a discount. Every month one lootcrater wins a megacrate, with $750 worth of stuff.

Thursday’s guest: Breki Tommason