Tootfinder

Typical #Mastodon (Fediverse?) moment:

• a supportive video on the #Fediverse is referenced in a post. In this case the video is on YouTube...
• one person in the comments saying that the video should really be on PeerTube instead
• @…

thank you, new york times

Investigation: Microsoft uses engineers in China to help maintain US DOD systems, with minimal supervision by US personnel, leaving sensitive data vulnerable (ProPublica)
https://www.propublica.org/article/microsoft-digital-escorts-penta…

A Little-Known Microsoft Program Could Expose the Defense Department to Chinese Hackers
The Pentagon bans foreign citizens from accessing highly sensitive data, but Microsoft bypasses this by using engineers in China and elsewhere to remotely instruct American “escorts” who may lack expertise to identify malicious code.

Microsoft is using engineers in China
to help maintain the Defense Department’s computer systems
— with minimal supervision by U.S. personnel
— leaving some of the nation’s most sensitive data vulnerable to hacking from its leading cyber adversary,
a ProPublica investigation has found.
The arrangement, which was critical to Microsoft winning the federal government’s cloud computing business a decade ago,
relies on U.S. citizens with security clearances to …

A Little-Known Microsoft Program Could Expose the Defense Department to Chinese Hackers
The Pentagon bans foreign citizens from accessing highly sensitive data, but Microsoft bypasses this by using engineers in China and elsewhere to remotely instruct American “escorts” who may lack expertise to identify malicious code.

Hackers Can Remotely Trigger the Brakes on American Trains and the Problem Has Been Ignored for Years https://www.404media.co/hackers-can-remotely-trigger-the-brakes-on-american-trains-and-the-problem-has-been-ignored-f…

A Little-Known Microsoft Program Could Expose the Defense Department to Chinese Hackers
https://www.propublica.org/article/microsoft-digital-escorts-pentagon-defense-department-china-hackers

A Little-Known Microsoft Program Could Expose the Defense Department to Chinese Hackers
The Pentagon bans foreign citizens from accessing highly sensitive data, but Microsoft bypasses this by using engineers in China and elsewhere to remotely instruct American “escorts” who may lack expertise to identify malicious code.

Buy it Now, Track Me Later: Attacking User Privacy via Wi-Fi AP Online Auctions
Steven Su, Erik Rye, Robert Beverly, Dave Levin
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.13052

Buy it Now, Track Me Later: Attacking User Privacy via Wi-Fi AP Online Auctions
Static and hard-coded layer-two network identifiers are well known to present security vulnerabilities and endanger user privacy. In this work, we introduce a new privacy attack against Wi-Fi access points listed on secondhand marketplaces. Specifically, we demonstrate the ability to remotely gather a large quantity of layer-two Wi-Fi identifiers by programmatically querying the eBay marketplace and applying state-of-the-art computer vision techniques to extract IEEE 802.11 BSSIDs from the sell…

A Compact Dynamic Omnidirectional Antenna
Sheng Huang, Jacob R. Randall, Cory Hilton, Jeffrey A. Nanzer
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.11351 https://

A Compact Dynamic Omnidirectional Antenna
We propose a novel omnidirectional antenna design incorporating directional modulation for secure narrow planar information transmission. The proposed antenna features a compact size and stable omnidirectional radiation performance by employing two tightly spaced, printed meander line monopole antennas, acting as a single radiating element. To achieve a narrow information secure region, the proposed antenna is fed by differential power excitation of two ports with real-time dynamic switching. T…

Not a whisper about this on DR's news site so thanks 🙏 @… for sharing the original briefing.
Looking forward to better IT support on our Linux machines now...
https://mastodon.social/@randahl/114655674138180496
randahl@mastodon.social - In Denmark, The Ministry of Digitalization now removes all Microsoft software from ministry computers and switches to open source in a strategy that has been agreed with all five regions of Denmark.
The more Trump threatens Europe, the more US companies will get the Tesla treatment.
I will not be surprised if the Parliament member iPhones are next.
https://nordjyske.dk/nyheder/politik/digitaliseringsminister-vil-udfase-microsoft-i-sit-eget-ministerium/5616096

Hertz and other car rental agencies are increasingly relying on scanners that use high-res imaging and AI to flag even tiny blemishes, angering some customers (Gabe Castro-Root/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/travel/rental-car-ai-scann…

Hertz and Other Rental Car Agencies Turn to AI for Damage Detection
Hertz and other agencies are increasingly relying on scanners that use high-res imaging and A.I. to flag even tiny blemishes, and customers aren’t happy.