Xeno Danger Evil @XenoDangerEvil@dpw.social

Some good news...

#Malaria #Egypt #WHO

Egypt declared malaria-free by World Health Organization - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2yl8pjgn2o

Hey AMERICANS

I have an opinion I think you should VOTE EARLY

According to CBS you can vote early if your state¹ is on the map below in BLUE OR LIGHT BEIGE

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/map-early-voting-mail-ballot-states/

I think you should vote early because of BULLSHIT

If you early-vote and encounter BULLSHIT, this may give you a chance to CORRECT IT before the regular election

"But I don't like—" Then I think you should vote DOWNTICKET

¹ Puerto Ricans: Sorry

Good people: “doing this worked for me, it might work for you!”

Bad people: “doing this worked for me, if it doesn’t work for you, you’re the problem”

Shitheads: “doing this worked for me, buy my $500 course to find out it more”

Kindness goes a long way.

The phrase "Powered by AI" gives me the same kind of feeling I get when I see a notice that something I might have eaten was the subject of a health recall.

Universal masking and social distancing at the start of the pandemic were so effective that they eliminated a strain of flu, and now annual flu vaccines have been redesigned because that strain no longer needs to be included in the shot. Amazing.

Story: https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/10/17/nx-s1-5155104/flu-shot-vaccine-b-yamagata-extinct

That Dolly Parton song “9 to 5” really messed with my expectations on the hours I would be required to be at my desk when I got a full time job.

The removal of the Klamath River dams will have effects for decades, but one of the most important has already started to show. Less than a month after the dams came down, there are salmon in a Klamath stream where they haven't been seen in 100 years.

Never let anyone tell you there's nothing we can do, that things are too far gone to try. There's still so much we can save, and some we can even bring back.

#Oregon #salmon #rivers

https://www.opb.org/article/2024/10/18/salmon-return-klamath-basin-oregon-dam-removal/

backing up the last project file and it would fill 220 CD-ROMs.

with a 52X CD drive, that would take some 7+ hours of write/read time and who knows how much extra time shuffling discs around.

#OtD 18 Oct 1931 German workers in Braunschweig went on strike in protest against the Nazis. In the 2nd half of 1931 there were 25 political strikes by 30k workers in protest against fascism, with many more the following year. German antifascist art here: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/anti-fascist?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

Stop this. Stop this at once.

Your call is unimportant to us. We get tons of calls, basically all the time

X’s new terms steer lawsuits to Texas court where judge owns Tesla stock

X terms specify Northern District, where Judge Reed O'Connor is a Tesla investor.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/10/xs-new-terms-steer-lawsuits-to-texas-court-where-judge-owns-tesla-stock/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

The world’s largest #InternetArchive is under siege — & fighting back

There are few organizations dedicated to the gargantuan task of preserving the vast, ever-shifting record of human activity that is the #internet. The largest such record belongs to a #nonprofit based in an old church in San Francisco that operates on a smaller annual budget than the DC Public Library.

It is currently under siege.

#tech
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/10/18/internet-archive-hack-wayback/

Robert Stern: "If you are turned away at the polls because your name is not on the register, don't walk away. Say this: "I REQUEST A PROVISIONAL BALLOT AS REQUIRED BY LAW." Don't let them steal your vote." copy: @KamalaHarrisWin #politics #voting #votingrights

I would encourage every Fediverse software project to implement a “dead-man switch" on registrations: if nobody with moderator permissions has been active in the last week, then disable new account creation.

The Fediverse has a significant number of abandoned instances that are used by bad actors to create accounts and send spam.

We implemented this in Mastodon (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/29318) and it has been highly effective.

Today, my Administration approved student debt cancellation for over 60,000 public service workers – that means 1 million folks have now had their debt cancelled thanks to Public Service Loan Forgiveness on my watch.

I will never stop working to make higher education affordable.

I just live hacked Arlene Dickinson
(Dragons' Den star - Canada's Shark Tank) by using her breached passwords, social media posts, an AI voice clone, & *just 1 picture* for a deepfake live video call. Thank you Elevate Conference and Mastercard for asking me to demo these attacks live!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysu7vEkZdN0

What are the takeaways from this Live Hack video with Arlene?

1. Stop reusing passwords - when you reuse your password and it shows up in a data breach, I can then use that password against you everywhere it's reused online and simply log in as you stealing money, access, data, etc.

2. Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) - turning on this second step when you log in makes it more obnoxious for me to takeover your accounts. I then have to try and steal your MFA codes from you (or if you use a FIDO MFA solution like a Yubikey etc, I'm likely just plain out of luck and have to move on to another target)!

3. Recognize that AI has made attacks more believable and scalable - will every or even most hacks involve AI? Nope! Most attacks are simple and leverage your breached passwords to log in as you or they attack via phishing over email, text, call, etc.
That being said, it's important to realize that some attackers will attempt to leverage AI, especially if you have an high threat model. Arlene is a star with millions of followers around the world, because of this she has to be extra politely paranoid about those that reach out with sensitive requests!
If someone with a high threat model (in the public eye, job is to wire money, lots of followers on social media, activist/being targeted, etc) receives a call and they're requesting sensitive info or a wire transfer, recognize that the attacker could believably use a voice clone in that call and could even build a believable deepfake for a live video call.
This is not how all attacks work but it's especially important for those with elevated threat models to recognize that AI can be leveraged in attacks to up the believability with voice clones, deepfake video, etc.

What do I mean "be politely paranoid" in this video?
I recommend verifying that people are who they say they are before taking sensitive actions.
- If you have a high threat model and someone calls you and asks for a wire transfer, use another method of communication to confirm it's them before taking action. Chat them, signal message, email, call them back to thwart spoofing using the number you have on file. This catches me 9 times out of 10 when I'm hacking! This is relevant for your work, when you're buying a house, pretty much anytime you need to send money!
- If you receive an email from a board member asking for a copy of a sensitive document, verify that board member is who they say they are with another method of communication before sending over a document with sensitive work details listed on it.

Stay politely paranoid, folks!