internet

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This Experiment Proves Just How Vulnerable the IoT Is

Unsecured devices with default passwords are easy prey for malicious botnets

(Newser) - After last Friday's massive cyberattack utilized a botnet of infected devices like webcams, printers, and DVRs, the general public now knows what security researchers have been saying for years: these devices are extremely vulnerable to attack. And it turns out, they're under attack a lot more often than...

Internet Attack Was Strongest of Its Kind by Far

Experts suspect amateur hackers were responsible

(Newser) - The distributed denial of service attack that sent Internet users into a tailspin Friday was the most powerful of its kind by far, say cybersecurity researchers, and they're especially alarmed because it looks to be the work of amateur hackers. Twitter, Netflix, Reddit, and other sites went down as...

Hacked DVRs, Cameras, Fridges Launched Attack on Internet

Malware targeted devices with default passwords

(Newser) - Oct. 21, 2016 was the day our fridges—the smart ones, at least—finally turned on us. Friday's massive Internet outage , which affected sites including Twitter and Reddit, was caused by hacked "Internet of Things" devices including DVRs, webcams, and smart fridges, according to the Krebs on Security...

Internet Acting Weird Today? You're Not Alone

Outages on Twitter, other sites after DDOS attack

(Newser) - If you like to ease your way into the day by flipping on some Spotify tunes and checking out your Twitter feeds and favorite Reddit forums, Friday morning was probably pretty miserable. That's because those sites, and dozens of others, experienced annoying disruptions (or were down completely for some)...

WikiLeaks Says Who Cut Assange's Internet, but Not Why

Says Ecuador turned it off after publication of Clinton's Goldman Sachs speeches

(Newser) - Things appear to be getting tense between Julian Assange and the Ecuadorian Embassy where he's been holed up since 2012. WikiLeaks—which sparked rumors of Assange's death with odd "dead man's switch tweets" Sunday — tweeted Monday that Ecuador had cut off Assange's internet on...

Comcast Is About to Cap Internet Usage for Millions

Its residential internet service will soon resemble your smartphone data plan

(Newser) - Comcast is about to makes its residential internet service a lot more like smartphone data plans for millions of customers, the Washington Post reports. Starting Nov. 1, Comcast will be capping the internet usage of customers in 18 markets—including 12 whole states—at 1 terabyte. According to Ars Technica...

US Hands the Internet Over to the International Community

Long-planned handover officially happened on Saturday

(Newser) - The US has officially ceded control over the internet Domain Name System, or DNS. DNS, a key protocol used for routing modern internet traffic, is controlled by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN. Since 1998, ICANN has been under contract with the US government to administer...

N. Korea's Internet Just Leaked— All 28 Websites

(Newser) - Have a few minutes? You can peruse all of North Korea's websites. The country's main Domain Name System server was reportedly misconfigured on Monday and a security engineer for Uber took notice. Matthew Bryant was able to access data on all .kp domain names, then shared it on...

Study Finds We Might Owe Microsoft Our Children

Because nobody reads or understands the terms of service before agreeing

(Newser) - If Facebook or Apple ever turns truly evil, we might be in big trouble, apparently. A study published last week found that almost nobody reads online terms of service agreements—and even fewer understand them. Ars Technica reports 543 college students signed up for a fake social networking site called...

Disturbing Death in Early Days of Internet Still Haunts
Disturbing Death in Early Days of Internet Still Haunts
in case you missed it

Disturbing Death in Early Days of Internet Still Haunts

Sharon Lopatka's killing raised debate on 'consensual murder'

(Newser) - The Kernel revisits a disturbing case from the early era of the internet, one in which a woman named Sharon Lopatka expressed an interest online to be tortured until death, met up with a stranger, and was subsequently found dead in 1996. Lopatka, 35, had left a note for her...

Grandma Wins Internet With Politest Google Search Ever

England's May Ashworth thought there was a person at Google HQ answering queries

(Newser) - When Ben John went to his grandma's house last week to do laundry, he decided to surf the Internet on her laptop while he was waiting. What he found on the Web page she had open blew his millennial mind, the Guardian reports. "Omg opened my Nan's...

What the Heck Is Up With This Reddit Mystery?
 What the Heck Is Up 
 With This Reddit Mystery? 
in case you missed it

What the Heck Is Up With This Reddit Mystery?

At first no one noticed the numbers and letters quietly churning away at A858

(Newser) - It all started back in 2011 when a Reddit account began posting an indecipherable sequence of numbers and letters to a new subreddit, r/A858DE45F56D9BC9, or r/A858 for short. After languishing in Internet obscurity for nearly a year, another Reddit user requested more information, asking: "Do these seemingly random strings...

The Internet Has a New Most Popular Browser

Google Chrome ends a reign dating back to last century

(Newser) - The Internet king is dead; long live the Internet king. ABC News reports Google Chrome became the most popular Internet browser in the world in April, overtaking Internet Explorer. Last month, Chrome held 41.71% of the market to Internet Explorer's 41.33%, according to analytics firm Net Market...

FCC Approves Subsidy to Get Low-Income Families Online

'There was a time when broadband access was a luxury; no more'

(Newser) - Low-income families will now be eligible for a monthly government subsidy to pay for high-speed Internet service following an FCC vote Thursday, the Los Angeles Times reports. The 3-2 vote (three Democratic commissioners for, two Republican commissioners against) expands the 30-year-old Lifeline program that provides subsidies for phone service. Commissioners...

Lonely Burger-Eating Papaw Gives the Internet a Sad

'He made 12 burgers for all 6 grandkids and I’m the only one who showed'

(Newser) - One sad, burger-cooking grandpa took the Internet by storm this week, inspiring everything from amusing memes to death threats, US Magazine reports. It all started Wednesday when Kelsey Harmon, a college softball player from Oklahoma, dropped in for a meal with her papaw. "Dinner with papaw tonight…he made...

Weapons of Kim Jong Un's Destruction? Old USB Drives

Groups hope to smuggle 2K into N. Korea every month, laden with movies, TV

(Newser) - Got any old flash drives gathering dust in a drawer? There's a growing movement to get them into the hands of ordinary North Koreans, loaded with Western movies and shows in the hopes of offering a more realistic look at the outside world Pyongyang paints as utterly bleak. Andy...

Please Stop Talking About What 'the Internet' Likes

In fact, 'the Internet' doesn't even exist

(Newser) - Navneet Alang has a simple request: Please stop talking about what the Internet likes. Or what it's obsessed with. Or what it's ruining. Or who it's newest crush is. "Not only does referring to everything online as 'the Internet' mistakenly suggest that the digital is...

North Korea's OS Has 'Malicious Functionality'

Linux-based Red Star operating system basically spies on whoever uses it

(Newser) - Check out North Korea's computer operating system, and it feels almost like you're using a Mac. Red Star OS is a "fully featured desktop system," German researcher Niklaus Schiess tells Motherboard , complete with word processing software and a revamped Firefox browser. But like almost everything else...

Internet Goes Crazy Over Hidden Panda Image

Can you spot it?

(Newser) - There was the question of when Cheryl's birthday is . The dress that was either white and gold or blue and black . And now the Internet is going insane over a hidden panda, BuzzFeed reports. Illustrator Gergely Dudás, pen name Dudolf, shared an image on Facebook last Wednesday showing...

Ray Bradbury Inspires New Web Error Code

The code 451 will alert Internet users to government censorship

(Newser) - A reference to one of Ray Bradbury's most famous novels can now be used to alert Internet users when their governments are censoring information, Engadget reports. The Internet Engineering Steering Group recently approved status code 451 for use, which means web developers can start implementing it, according to the...

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