Facebook group hosted naked photos of women soldiers

Private Facebook groups can be valuable discussion areas for like-minded people, but they can also promote toxic behavior in the wrong circumstances. The Center for Investigative Reporting has revealed that the US’ Naval Criminal Investigative Service is looking into a Facebook group, Marines United, that was used by soldiers in the US and UK (including the Marine Corps, Navy Corpsman and Royal Marines) to share naked photos of servicewomen. While the group has had some above-board discussions, according to one anonymous veteran, it has been dominated by “creepy, stalker-like” photography, revenge porn and the vile talk to match. Over two dozen of the women were identified by their names and positions.

There are “hundreds” of Marines under investigation, and many involved accounts (both on Facebook and Google Drive) have been shut down. At least some offenders have also been fired or removed from active duty. However, it’s not clear that the group has been completely purged of offending material, as there were photos posted of one woman in mid-February, two weeks after the account that had originally linked them was shut down.

The incident underscores the importance of the military keeping watch over its social presence — both official and otherwise. If groups like this go unchecked, it both tarnishes the honor of the service and promotes bad behavior from soldiers looking to win approval from fellow group members. This problem might not go away unless armed forces either dedicate people to watching these groups or encourages volunteers to quickly report these situations.

Via: The Verge

Source: Reveal, Reddit

Trojan uses a key internet feature to receive marching orders

If malware uses a remote command-and-control server to function, it’s relatively easy to cripple it by blocking the internet addresses it uses. It’s not always that easy, however, and researchers at Cisco’s Talos group have found a textbook example of this in action. A recently discovered Windows PowerShell trojan, DNSMessenger, uses the Domain Name Service for communication — you know, one of the cornerstones of the internet. Few computer users are equipped to block DNS without causing other problems, and they might not notice unusual data traffic even if they’re looking for it. While using DNS isn’t completely unheard of, DNSMessenger uses an “extremely uncommon” two-way approach that both sends commands to victim machines and sends results back to the attacker.

It’s not certain what the malware writers were hoping to accomplish, although the code trash-talks Cisco’s own SourceFire security hardware. This was likely aimed at specific targets rather than a carpet bombing campaign.

The good news? You probably won’t run into this. The malware is currently distributed in specially coded Word documents, and Cisco recently launched a product (Umbrella) specifically designed to counter DNS-based attacks like this. Even so, this shows just how stealthy attacks can get — and when individuals don’t usually have access to corporate tools like Umbrella, you’ll still have to be extra-careful about the Word files you receive online.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: Talos

Your WD networked drive is vulnerable to remote attacks

If you have one of Western Digital’s My Cloud nstorage drives, you might be particularly vulnerable to internet attacks. Exploitee.rs has discovered a number of unpatched security flaws in most My Cloud models that let remote intruders bypass the login, insert their own commands and upload files without permission. In numerous cases, it’s a matter of poorly implemented scripts. Also, every command exectued through the web interface has full access to the operating system — an attacker would have the keys to the kingdom.

The kicker? WD did fix one login bypass flaw through a firmware update, but it introduced another in the process.

We’ve asked WD for its take on the situation and will let you know if it has a response. However, the Exploitee.rs team says it’s revealing these pre-patch bugs to the public because of WD’s “reputation within the community.” Supposedly, the company doesn’t pay attention to the seriousness of security flaws — this open disclosure is a way of pressuring WD into action. True or not, you may not want to allow internet access to your My Cloud gear unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Source: Exploitee.rs

The ProTruly Darling might just be the weirdest phone you’ve ever seen

Why it matters to you

If you’re looking for a phone that will turn heads, the ProTruly Darling may be for you.

This ain’t your grandma’s phone. Heck, this ain’t even your phone. Rather, the Darling smartphone from ProTruly is either the phone of the future, or a bizarre idea that will fade away. Heralded as the first smartphone with a built-in 360-degree camera, the Darling certainly seems to have locked down a recipe for adoration from photo enthusiasts; but only those who do not mind an almost absurdly giant phone.

You see, having a 360-degree camera means sacrificing any semblance of stealth, or generally sleek design. Indeed, the world’s “first VR-taking phone,” as it’s described by China Daily News, has what The Verge called “an enormous camera protrusion on both the front and back.” And as you can see in the video, it’s a significant bump, one that may make sitting down with one of these devices in your back pocket somewhat uncomfortable.

More: Harmonix unveils partial setlist for ‘Rock Band VR,’ with plenty more to come

The phone is also really quite long. That’s because the dual 13-megapixel fisheye lenses are connected to the phone’s top bezel.

As for other impressive specs, the Darling is actually a gold phone made of 3.08 grams of “pure gold,” as per ProTruly. Moreover, the phone just happens to have four diamonds tethered to a leather band on the Darling’s backside — we should point out, however, that the carat count of said diamonds is unclear.

Otherwise, the Darling comes with a 5.5-inch full HD resolution (1,920 x 1,080), runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow, is powered by a 2.5GHz deca-core Helio X20 MT6797 processor, and features 4GB of RAM. The phone also boasts 64GB of internal storage, and an impressive 3,560 mAh battery (because keeping up with a VR camera is hard work). Then there’s the headphone jack, USB-C, and fingerprint sensor in the home button.

It’s not entirely clear how much the phone is actually selling for, partially because there are two models, and partially because there are conflicting reports. The standard model, Mashable says, is $500, but China Daily claims the price is closer to $600. The souped-up (diamond-studded) version is either $800 or $1,300, according to the two respective publications.

So if you’re looking for a phone that will certainly catch someone’s eye, the Darling may be the phone for you.

Jetpack is a Stanford startup looking to bring you necessities in a pinch

Why it matters to you

Sometimes, you just need a sample size of deodorant to get you through the day. Jetpack can help with those needs.

Everything about college feels just a bit temporary. From your ever-changing class schedule to your ever-shifting dorm room, these four years aren’t exactly about permanence. Taking this concept and turning it into a business is Jetpack, a new app that launched out of Stanford to bring students travel-sized versions of necessities like cold medication, energy drinks, and hangover cures (it’s college, after all).

“We’re a peer-to-peer delivery service that makes products available within minutes,” Jetpack says on its website. “We identify the top clutch products you may need and pre-stock the people around you.”

At launch, Jetpack has 15 items that you can order on demand, to be delivered to you by any one of 100 Stanford students who are effectively walking vending machines. They have Jetpack bags filled with miniature goods that will cost you between $1 and $5. And these deliverymen and women (affectionately dubbed Jetpackers) get a weekly salary for selling a percentage of products.

More: The Adjustable Bag can expand its size to meet your travel needs

While Jetpack may be starting on a college campus, founder and CEO Fatima Dicko, a graduate student at Stanford, has high hopes for the company, and sees a possibility of expanding Jetpack into cities and selling themed kits. But wait, you say. Aren’t there already companies that bring you items on demand? The answer, of course, is yes, but Dicko told TechCrunch that these other companies don’t benefit from “economies of scale when it comes to speed of delivery.” Jetpack, however, is different, pre-stocking its little packs and keeping them in densely populated areas.

And of course, there’s the idea of selling smaller versions of things. “It’s not that they completely ran out of these things, but they’re in a situation where they just need a sample size,” Dicko noted. And as the company grows, it’ll also learn what its users need. “We wanted to first understand which products are getting some traction and then curate from that,” she added.

Next year, Jetpack could be making its way to Cornell and Harvard, so if you’re a college student finding yourself in a bind, this might just be the solution you’ve been waiting for.

Check out the latest progress at Apple Park in new drone footage

Why it matters to you

Apple Park opens in about a month, and the latest footage shows new progress being made.

We’re still a ways away from seeing the Apple Park campus unveiled in its full glory (a month, to be exact), but the secretive tech empire is beginning to give us some serious sneak peeks. The latest comes in the form of drone footage that is as straightforward as it gets. It’s an unadulterated look at the campus from the skies, and it goes through just about every angle there may be.

As per the video, there’s work yet to be done on the highly-anticipated campus. The middle of the spaceship campus isn’t quite completed, though other parts of the sprawling community seem to be coming together nicely. There’s a shot of the Steve Jobs Theatre, a look at the underground parking lot (which is still being built), as well as the solar panel roof and the greenery of the campus. Workers can be seen moving about, along with construction vehicles.

More: ‘Apple Spaceship’ is now ‘Apple Park,’ employees set to move in April

The video is simply shot, featuring no on-screen text commentary (unlike its last drone footage update in February) — rather, the drone footage is a succinct birds eye view of Apple Park in extremely high quality. It’s probably the closest that many of us will get to the campus for quite some time, so revel in its beauty, friends.

Apple has slowly revealed more and more details about its flagship campus, though some of those details have proven frustrating, as we reported last month. But hey, perfection takes time, and apparently, a lot of patience.

“Steve was exhilarated, and inspired, by the California landscape, by its light and its expansiveness. It was his favorite setting for thought. Apple Park captures his spirit uncannily well,” said Laurene Powell Jobs, the late CEO’s widow, in a statement in February. “He would have flourished, as the people of Apple surely will, on this luminously designed campus.”

Nintendo Switch game saves can’t transfer between systems

It’s not just your Nintendo Account that latches on to one Switch at a time — your game saves are stuck, too. Nintendo has quietly posted word that saves are stored exclusively to the console’s built-in storage, so you can’t just transfer your progress to another system like you could (however awkwardly) with the Wii U or 3DS. If you’re determined to complete Legend of Zelda, you’ll have to finish it on the system where you started.

Will this change? The answer is a resounding “maybe.” Nintendo confirmed to Kotaku that you can’t transfer saves “at this time,” which leaves the door open to an upgrade but is far from a guarantee. Either way, this isn’t very thrilling news if you’re coming from virtually any other console… particularly a PS4 or Xbox One, where cloud saves are within easy reach.

Source: Nintendo, Kotaku

Moon mission will test an anti-radiation vest for astronauts

For astronauts headed to Mars, the biggest threat might not be an unforgiving climate or dwindling supplies — it could be gamma ray radiation that gradually wrecks their bodies. Explorers may soon have a way to shield themselves, though. StemRad has revealed that its AstroRad anti-radiation vest is set to trialed aboard the Orion capsule when it orbits around the Moon during its late 2018 dry run. The non-metallic, layered shields are custom-fitted to each astronaut in order to protect their vital organs without bogging them down.

What you see above is only a mockup, but the first production vest should be ready by the end of 2017. And no, the first test won’t involve humans. The Orion mission should fly with an AstroRad strapped to a torso dummy to see how much radiation it absorbs, with an unprotected dummy serving as a reference point.

If successful, the vest could be crucial to both Mars missions and any other trip into deep space. At the moment, specially sheltered areas are the best defense against gamma rays. AstroRad wouldn’t necessarily give crews the freedom to operate as usual during solar storms and other gamma ray events, but they might not have to beat a hasty retreat in the right circumstances.

Source: Reuters

Is your Mac acting strange? Here’s how to reset the PRAM and SMC to clear up quirks

Is your Mac acting weird or crashing lately? Are the indicators and lights malfunctioning? Does it refuse to charge properly, even with a new battery? Is the operating system acting too slow? Are you having problems with multiple types of connections? The answer to these problems could be an issue with your PRAM or SMC. These are parts of your Mac that typically work silently in the background to make sure that all settings — especially hardware-oriented settings — function as designed.

More: Kickstart your sluggish Mac with these 11 tips and tricks

However, sometimes these settings can get confused or tied in knots due to a variety of causes. When this happens, you can often put things right by resetting these parts on your Mac. Below, we’ll show you exactly how it’s done.

Note: Resetting these parts on your Mac is usually safe, but that’s not a guarantee. Make sure you try basic rebooting and other troubleshooting first, and back up your data before you begin. This will also reset any customized settings that you may have, so you may have a little work to do once you start back up.

Resetting PRAM/NVRAM

PRAM/NVRAM control the basic settings that allow MacOS to be… well, MacOS. This includes startup fonts, how long it takes to click things, mouse speed, speaker volumes, port configuration, and a host of other operating facets. These can often be adjusted via the settings menu or by other means, but PRAM can also be reset entirely to help fix problems that have developed.

Oh, and about that name: This memory was once called PRAM (parameter RAM), but is now technically NVRAM (non-volatile RAM), and because acronyms tend to stick around, the terms are somewhat interchangeable.

Step 1: Shut down your Mac as you normally would.

Step 2: Start your Mac up again, but the moment you hear the startup chime, hold down the Command, Option, P, and R keys at the same time.

Step 3: Keep pressing the keys until you hear a second chime and your computer restarts. This is the sign that the PRAM has been rebooted — you can let up on the keys now.

Step 4: Log back in and check to see if the problems that were plaguing you before still persist. If they’re gone, then rebooting your PRAM/NVRAM worked. Keep in mind, however, that this doesn’t always work. Instead, you may get a gray screen that just sticks around, like your Mac isn’t sure what to do while you’re pressing the keys. This can happen due to a problem with your keyboard, and other attached devices. Unplug all other accessories, make sure your keyboard doesn’t need new batteries, and try again.

Resetting SMC

SMC (system management controller) isn’t data, but rather a piece of hardware that manages important physical aspects of your Mac — i.e., power settings, temperature sensors, LED indicators. If you’re having problems with settings and other hardware issues, the SMC may be malfunctioning, especially if you tried tweaking some of your hardware in the past. This can be particularly dangerous because a glitching SMC can cause overheating and various power issues. Fortunately, you can reset your SMC to its original factory settings, which can fix serious problems such as these. However, the process for doing so is differs based on whether you’re using a desktop Mac or a Macbook.

Desktop Macs

Step 1: Shut down your Mac as you normally would. Afterward, unplug the power cord from the wall.

Step 2: Wait for at least 15 seconds.

Step 3: Plug the power cord back in, wait a few more seconds, and then turn your Mac back on. That’s it! The SMC should reboot and hopefully fix your problem.

Macbooks

Step 1: Check to see if the battery is removable, as newer Macs don’t have removable batteries and the steps differ. We’ll divide Step 2 into two parts for the different types of MacBooks.

Step 2 (for Macbooks with removable batteries): Take out the battery and unplug your Mac. It may look dead, but you can still reset the SMC. Just press the power button, and count to five before letting go. Now, put the battery back in and start your machine as you would normally.

Step 2 (for Macbooks without removable batteries): Plug your Macbook into a power source and turn your Mac off. Once off, press and hold the Shift, Option, Control, and Power buttons simultaneously. Hold them for about a second, and then release. Wait several seconds, and then press the power button again to turn your Mac on.

How to turn off AMBER alerts on Android and iOS

You’ve probably been startled by the vibration or ringing of your phone, only to find out it was caused by a seemingly random AMBER alert. They’re only used when a child goes missing in your area, and they certainly do a good job at getting your attention. But you may want disable such geo-centric notifications for a number of reasons, most likely because you’re out of town or continue to receive them in the wee hours of the morning. All smartphones — be it Android or iPhone — receive AMBER alerts, and here we explain how to turn the notifications off. Then again, is knowing what’s going on in your local area such a bad thing?

More: How to block text messages in Android and iOS

Turning off AMBER alerts in iOS

In iOS, AMBER alerts are categorized as Government Alerts alongside Emergency Alerts, the latter which amounts to weather warnings or notifications issued by the President. Provided you’re using an iPhone 4S or later — and your carrier is AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon — you should be able to toggle them on and off.

Step 1: Start by opening your Settings.

Step 2: Tap Notifications, then scroll to the bottom of the page to find the Government Alerts sections.

Step 3: Tap the toggles next to AMBER Alerts and Emergency Alerts to turn them off.

Turning off AMBER alerts in Android

The settings to adjust your AMBER alerts may be found in a different place depending on your Android phone. Below, you’ll find instructions for stock Android devices, the Samsung Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge, and the Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge.

Turning off AMBER alerts in stock Android

Step 1: From the Home screen, open your Settings.

Step 2: Tap the More option, followed by Emergency broadcasts.

Step 3: On the Cell Broadcast page, tap the box or toggle next to Show AMBER alerts to disable AMBER alerts. You can also disable alerts for Extreme threats and Severe threats.

Turning off AMBER alerts on a Samsung Galaxy

For a Samsung Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge or an S7 or S7 Edge (AT&T, T-Mobile)

Step 1: From the Home screen, open the Messages app.

Step 2: Tap More in the upper-right corner, then tap Settings.

Step 3: Tap Emergency alert settings > Emergency alerts.

Step 4: On the Emergency alerts screen, toggle off AMBER alerts, as well as Extreme alerts and Severe alerts.

For a Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge (Verizon)

Step 1: Go to Apps > Emergency Alerts.

Step 2: Tap Settings in the upper-right corner.

Step 3: Tap Alert types.

Step 4: Toggle off AMBER alerts. Here, you can also choose to turn off Extreme threats and Severe threats.

For a Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge (Verizon)

Step 1: Open Settings > Privacy and emergency.

Step 2: Tap Emergency alerts and select Settings in the upper-right corner.

Step 3: Tap Alert types.

Step 4: Toggle off AMBER alerts. Here, you can also turn off Severe alerts, Extreme alerts, and Emergency alert test messages.