Archive for December 20, 2022

Elon Musk Now Says He Will Resign From Twitter…. This Still Seems A Bit “Sus” To Me

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 20, 2022 by itnerd

One hour ago, Elon Musk posted this on his Twitter account:

Let’s unpack this. First of all, he has to find someone “foolish enough to take the job”. While I am free to be surprised, I don’t know anyone who would be foolish enough to take that job. After all, Elon doesn’t mention anything about divesting himself in terms of his ownership of Twitter. Which means anyone who is foolish enough to take this job would just be Elon’s puppet. So don’t hold your breath in terms of a candidate stepping forward anytime soon. It also means that without a timetable of any sort, he’ll be CEO for weeks, months, or years.

Second, he’s still going to have control of the software and servers team. Seeing as Twitter is a platform that runs on software and servers that you connect to via a client, that means that Elon still has control over Twitter. He just won’t be the CEO which gives him plausible deniability for anything that happens to be bad at Twitter.

The fact is that this is meaningless and you should not be fooled. Elon is clearly trying to engineer a situation where he looks like he’s abiding by the results of this poll that he put on Sunday. But at the same time still have control over Twitter. It’s just smoke and mirrors. And I would like to think that we’re all wise to Elon’s games by now.

Nice try Elon.

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Elon Musk Says That Twitter Policy Polls Will Be Limited To Twitter Blue Subscribers…. Which Likely Means He’s Not Going Anywhere

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 20, 2022 by itnerd

I’m shocked by this. I am really shocked.

Well, actually I am not. I fully expected that Elon Musk who said he would abide by his poll that he’d exit the company if it went against him, which it did, would find a way to weasel his way out of doing so. And here’s why I think that this is the case:

He also made this comment about the poll being rigged by bots… Which for the record Elon pledged to eliminate:

And then there’s this:

This sounds like a threat to me. Like he might burn Twitter to the ground or something.

All of this doesn’t sound like someone who is done with Twitter yet. Though the pressure is mounting for him to go. He’s free to prove me wrong by heading to the exit. But I don’t think that’s going to happen.

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Guest Post: Actual internet speed can be up to 3 times slower than advertised

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 20, 2022 by itnerd

Internet service providers (ISPs) often advertise internet speeds that are significantly higher than the actual speeds experienced by consumers.

According to the Atlas VPN team’s analyzed data, internet speed can be up to 3 times slower than advertised. As the numbers suggest, the faster internet packages are usually far from real speeds, while the slower internet plans are more true to what is advertised.

Internet packages up to 125 Mbps deliver the speeds ISPs advertise. Some people could reach even higher speeds than advertised in the plan.

The further we go, the actual speed goes further from what is advertised in the deal. The advertised 400 Mbps packages have a median tested speed of 256 Mbps.

The most significant difference is in premium plans that offer 940 Mpbs and up. The median tested speed of the advertised 1200 Mbps deal is only 360 Mpbs. That is a 70% contrast between what is offered by the ISPs and what internet users actually get.

Cybersecurity writer at Atlas VPN Vilius Kardelis shares his thoughts on the difference between advertised and actual internet speeds:

“There are many factors that can contribute to slower internet speeds than what is advertised by ISPs. While it can be frustrating, it is important to understand that there are limitations to internet technology and that speeds can vary depending on a variety of reasons.”

Why is that?

One of the main reasons for slower internet speeds is network congestion. When a large number of people are using the internet simultaneously, it can cause the network to become overloaded and lead to slower speeds.

Another reason is that internet speeds can be slowed down by hardware limitations on a user’s device. Furthermore, many ISPs have “fair usage policies” that limit the amount of bandwidth a user can consume at any given time.

To read the full article, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/blog/actual-internet-speed-can-be-up-to-3-times-slower-than-advertised

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New Research: Hackers Spoof Directors of National Education Institutions; 100,000 Mailboxes Targeted in Phishing Campaign

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 20, 2022 by itnerd

Armorblox has released its latest blog, diving deep into a targeted impersonation email attack campaign including two similar, but different, emails sent to employees across the organization impersonating staff that held Director titles.

These emails, targeting 100,000 mailboxes of a large, national institution within the Education Industry, bypassed Microsoft Office 365 Email security using language as the main attack vector. 

How it works: The emails, coming from what appeared to be Directors or the institution, included the individual’s name as the sender, spoofing the employee’s email address, as well as a signature that included the individual’s full name, credentials, and title at the organization. The attackers claimed that a confidential task needed to be completed and a response warranted by the recipient in order to exfiltrate sensitive information such as confidential business data, user login credentials, bank account credentials, and gift cards.

You can read the report here.

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The Head Of CTV News Has Been “Reassigned” Due To The Lisa LaFlamme Episode

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 20, 2022 by itnerd

You might recall that earlier this year, veteran news anchor Lisa LaFlamme was fired by CTV. Likely due to her age and gender. And that set off a firestorm that Bell Media, owners of CTV, had problems dealing with. You can find a lot of that story here. And as part of that story, it came to light that CTV News head Michael Melling had to take a leave of absence due to the blow back from this firing. Today, it’s come to light that Melling has been “reassigned“:

Several months after Melling took a leave of absence from the news division, a Bell Media statement confirms his job will be permanently filled by Richard Gray, who has been serving as interim vice-president of news.

The company says Melling has been reassigned to vice president of shared services.

The decision follows an independent third-party review of the CTV national newsroom that was sparked after the ousting of LaFlamme as anchor of the flagship newscast.

Now let’s be clear. For someone of in Melling’s position to be “reassigned” means that he was too expensive to fire. Thus they had to find something for him to do. And this VP role is it as it puts him in a position where he in theory cannot attract any negative attention for Bell Media. Thus this doesn’t really solve the problem. And unsurprisingly, this announcement has started to trend on Twitter:

If you’re Bell media, that’s not a good look. And it doesn’t make this problem go away as Bell Media hasn’t addressed the problem.

#Fail

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Native Voice and iHeartMedia Announce Hands-Free Access to Expansive Audio Content 

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 20, 2022 by itnerd

Native Voice, an on-demand voice assistant library that enables users to communicate directly by voice with their favorite brands, announced today a product collaboration with iHeartMedia to offer direct access to the nation’s largest library of live and on-demand music, radio and podcast content via voice. Early next year, anyone with a Skull-iQ enabled Skullcandy device (Grind, Grind Fuel, Push Active) can simply say “Hey iHeart” for immediate, hands-free access to iHeartRadio’s expansive world of content without having to download the iHeart app.

The service provides access to free artist-radio stations from iHeartRadio  – users will simply say, “Hey iHeart, play Dua Lipa radio” to enjoy instant streaming of their favorite artist station. Or users might say, “Hey iHeart, play 102.7 KIIS FM” to stream local live radio and connect with their community. Over time, users will also be able to select music by mood or genre and play the podcasts they know and love. 

This partnership is another example of Native Voice’s ongoing commitment to making life simpler by connecting users with brands’ voice assistants, and all the help they have to offer. And by doing so, improving the bond between consumers and the brands they love through voice. Simply put, Native Voice enables everyone to do more with direct and seamless access to the most responsive and valuable voice experiences. For companies that don’t have a voice assistant, Native Voice works with them to define a voice experience and distribution plan.

2022 has been a year of tremendous growth for Native Voice. Back in July, the company announced at Alexa Live that their technology will be deployed on Skullcandy devices for the first time, providing hands-free access to multiple branded voice assistants, including Alexa. As a result, Push Active and the Grind Series will become the first Skullcandy devices to feature both Alexa and the Skullcandy assistant simultaneously, and now, iHeartRadio.

The Native Voice/iHeartMedia integration on Skull-iQ enabled Skullcandy devices will be rolled out in early Q1 2023. Any existing user of Skullcandy earbuds that are Skull-iQ enabled will be able to add “Hey iHeart” to their earbuds for an instant update, at no cost.

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2022 Recap: The top seven brand impersonation attacks detected over the past 12 months

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 20, 2022 by itnerd

This past year, we’ve observed how cyber attacks have become more sophisticated than ever. We’ve seen cunning tactics across all types of attacks: credential phishing, malware attacks, financial fraud, vendor fraud attacks, and more. 

Armorblox has released its latest blog sharing the top brand impersonation attacks in 2022. This blog lists the most interesting attacks that Amorblox observed and stopped throughout the year, where hackers impersonated reputable companies such as AMEX, WhatsApp, Apple, seeking credentials or a large pay day.

You can find the blog here.

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