Report: Russia hacked election systems in 39 US states

Russia’s US election meddling was much more widespread than the public has been told, according to a report from Bloomberg. Hackers attacked vote systems in 39 states, accessed campaign finance databases in one state and tried to delete or alter voter data in Illinois. While officials don’t believe the attackers changed any results, the situation was serious enough that President Obama took the unusual step of complaining to the Kremlin on “red phone” back channels.

After the November elections, officials in the Obama administration accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of attacking the US election and imposed sanctions on the nation. Reuters later reported that the FBI was conducting three separate investigations into Russian election hacking that targeted Democrat party workers.

The latest reports from unnamed US officials, however, suggest that things were actually worse than thought. In July of 2016, Illinois election officials discovered a breach in the voter database, which led investigators to IP addresses and other digital signatures. Investigators subsequently discovered similar signs of attacks in 37 other US states.

Hackers attempted and failed to alter Illinois voter databases, something that wasn’t known until now. Unnamed officials told Bloomberg they’re worried it was just a test run by Russians in preparation for a more aggressive attack. According to an NSA documents obtained by The Intercept (which resulted in the arrest of leaker Reality Leigh Winner), Russia’s GRU military intelligence arm tried to take over the computers of 122 local election officials prior to the November vote.

A US voting machine (David Ryder/Reuters)

The DHS told US swing states to protect their voting systems from attacks last year, but officials in states like Georgia brushed aside the advice. After resistance from Republicans, voting machines were declared “critical infrastructure, deterring foreign interference and allowing the DHS to give assistance to state or local officials who request it.

Until recently, Putin has vehemently denied that the Russians were involved in hacking US elections. However, earlier this month Putin acknowledged that Russian hacking into the US election was “theoretically possible,” while still insisting the government had no role. The Trump administration hasn’t taken the problem seriously enough, according an ex-FBI official.

President Obama reportedly contacted the Kremlin on a new “red phone” communications system established in 2011, the report states. The White House showed the Kremlin proof of the attacks and asked for more information, but the hackers’ work reportedly continued anyway. In the end, Obama reportedly decided not to reveal the extent of Russian activity, worrying it would shake the public’s faith in the election process — a decision he may regret now.

Source: Bloomberg

Waymo bids its self-driving bubble cars farewell

Say goodbye to Waymo’s quirky bubble-shaped autonomous cars. Google’s former self-driving car division is retiring its fleet of “Fireflies” — also known as “koalas” and “gumdrops,” among many other nicknames — to focus on integrating its technology into more traditional vehicles. It particularly aims to give more people access to its self-driving technology through a fleet of 600 Chrysler Pacifica minivans, which the team has equipped with its latest custom-built radar, LiDAR and vision systems. The minivans also come with Waymo’s newest AI platform that can see farther and more clearly. Plus, they run like normal vehicles do, unlike the Fireflies which are limited to 25mph.

This move doesn’t exactly come as a surprise. A report from late 2016 said Alphabet’s Larry Page scrapped Waymo’s plans to manufacture bubble-shaped driverless vehicles to make the company’s strategy more feasible. It said Page’s new plan involves collaborating with automakers to design and make cars with no pedals and steering wheels that use Google’s self-driving tech. Shortly after that report came out, Waymo introduced its heavily modified Chrysler Pacificas with altered electrical, powertrain, chassis and structural system to accommodate the extra weight brought by the company’s equipment.

While Waymo will no longer use its Fireflies for future tests, you can still catch a glimpse of the cute bubble cars in various locations. This August, they’ll be on display at the Arizona Science Center in Phoenix before making their way to the The Thinkery in Austin, Texas this October. You’ll also find a Firefly at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California and another at the Design Museum in London.

Source: Waymo

Tim Cook says Apple is working on ‘autonomous systems’

Has Tim Cook made the first public admission that Apple is indeed working on self-driving car technology? Bloomberg seems to think so, based on comments made by the CEO in an interview at WWDC earlier this month. After remarking on the exciting automotive trends of self-driving cars, EVs and ride-sharing, Cook said: “What we’re focusing on — what we’ve talked about focusing on publicly — is we’re focusing on autonomous systems. And clearly one purpose of autonomous systems is self-driving cars. There are others, and we sorta see it as the mother of all AI projects. It’s probably one of the most difficult AI projects, actually, to work on. And so autonomy is something that’s incredible exciting for us, but we’ll see where it takes us.”

Make of that what you will. Cook talks around the subject, emphasizing Apple’s work in AI and by extension, autonomy, rather than addressing anything directly. “We’re not really saying from a product point of view what we will do, but we are being straight-forward that it’s a core technology that we view as very important,” Cook goes on to say. Let’s just assume he’s saying Apple is working on self-driving tech here, but isn’t willing to commit to an actual vehicle coming from the company. That would jibe with a Bloomberg report from last year, which said Apple had abandoned car development and scaled so-called “Project Titan” back to focus on the backend technology.

All things considered, though, we don’t really need Tim Cook to publicly acknowledge Apple’s self-driving strategy in detail. Between high-profile hires, discussions with the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and seeking an autonomous car testing permit in California, the secret’s been out for some time now. Most recently, an actual vehicle that’s reportedly part of Apple’s program was spotted in the wild, a few days prior to the company joining Tesla in suggesting changes in self-driving car policy to the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

Let’s also not forget that Apple has pumped $1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing darling Didi Chuxing, which happened to open an autonomous AI lab in Mountain View earlier this year. Tim Cook’s latest comments are intentionally vague, but we don’t really need Apple’s CEO to make a formal announcement about a project that’s so obviously well under way.

Source: Bloomberg

‘YouTube Red’ Free Three-Month Trial Ends July 4

Google is currently promoting a free three-month trial of YouTube Red, its ad-free video service offering subscribers uninterrupted music, background app play, and offline access to YouTube-hosted content.

In addition to allowing users to test out the personalized stations via the new YouTube Music mobile app, the trial provides access to original programming produced by YouTube creators as well as the full range of YouTube Kids channels.

A free Google Play Music account is also included as an extra perk, offering access to an extensive catalog of streamed music and unlimited storage for uploading their existing music library.

After the free trial concludes, subscribers pay $9.99 per month. Users can cancel their YouTube Red trial and full membership at any time. It’s also worth noting that if users cancel their Google Play Music subscription they lose access to YouTube Red and no longer qualify for the free trial.

The limited time offer is open to U.S. residents only and ends July 4.

(Thanks, Nick!)

Tag: YouTube
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Ubisoft Announces New Free-to-Play RPG ‘South Park: Phone Destroyer’ Coming to iOS in 2017

During Ubisoft’s E3 press conference this week, the company announced an all-new South Park game that’s coming to iOS and Google Play sometime later in 2017, called South Park: Phone Destroyer (via TouchArcade). Developed by Ubisoft studio RedLynx in collaboration with South Park Digital Studios, the new app combines the real-time combat of the new series of console South Park games with trading card collecting and multiplayer battles.

Players will become the New Kid in South Park and assume a variety of roles, including cowboy, pirate, cyborg, angel, and more throughout a new single-player campaign. Although not many details have been shared yet, Ubisoft said that card collecting will impact combat, and eventually becomes the strategic key to competing and winning in the real-time multiplayer mode, which includes a ranking system.

In South Park: Phone Destroyer™, players once again assume the role of the New Kid and team up with South Park characters to play a new game with cowboys, pirates, cyborgs and even almighty gods. Take your gang on a new single-player adventure featuring an original story. Full of fun, explosive battles and irreverent humor, players build and upgrade an all-powerful team to master the true strength of the cards they acquire.

Upgrading and learning to use cards strategically is key to competing at the next level: the real-time Multiplayer mode. Player versus Player combat challenges players’ skill and knowledge needed to defeat opponents in order to rise up the global multiplayer ranks.

Ubisoft also noted that South Park: Phone Destroyer will stay true to the TV show with all of the humor, jokes, characters, and animation that fans expect. Show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone will also provide the mobile game with authentic audio and voice work of all the classic South Park characters. The developer also confirmed that the game will be free to play.

South Park: Phone Destroyer is set to launch worldwide on the iOS App Store and on the Android Google Play store later this year.

Tags: App Store, South Park
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Tim Cook Confirms Apple’s Focus on Autonomous Driving Systems

Apple CEO Tim Cook has spoken to Bloomberg to clarify for the first time the company’s intentions in the automotive market, following several reports in recent months indicating that the company has put its ambitions to build a car on the back-burner.

“We’re focusing on autonomous systems,” Cook said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “It’s a core technology that we view as very important.”

“We sort of see it as the mother of all AI projects,” Cook said in his most detailed comments to date on Apple’s plans in the car space. “It’s probably one of the most difficult AI projects actually to work on.”

Cook has not been as forthcoming in previous remarks when asked about Apple’s car plans, choosing instead to call the automotive space “interesting” because of the potential for new technologies. However recent rumors had converged around the belief that Apple has refocused its car project, which reportedly involved more than 1,000 engineers when it originally began in 2014.

Ballooning costs and a change in management were said to have pushed Apple’s car strategy increasingly toward autonomous driving systems, leading to dozens of employees involved in the project being laid off as part of an internal “reboot”.

“There is a major disruption looming,” Cook told Bloomberg, citing self-driving technology, electric vehicles and ride-hailing. “You’ve got kind of three vectors of change happening generally in the same time frame. If you’ve driven an electric car, it’s actually a marvelous experience. “

Cook’s comments are particularly timely, following indications that Apple’s exclusive focus on self-driving technology has accelerated in recent months.

In April, the company was granted a permit from the California DMV to test self-driving vehicles on public roads, and is rumored to be planning to test its self-driving car software platform in three 2015 Lexus RX450h SUVs. The SUVs have already been spotted out on the road fitted with a range of sensors and cameras.

Apple is thought to have several teams working on different aspects of its automotive software. In Canada, a team of two dozen former BlackBerry QNX customers are said to be developing the base operating system, while another team is working on the software that will run on it, such as a heads-up display and self-driving capabilities.

A report by Bloomberg last October claimed Apple could return to developing its own vehicle in future, or partner with existing carmakers, but given Cook’s latest comments, any prospect of an Apple Car seems some way off, at least for now.

“We’ll see where it takes us,” Cook told Bloomberg most recently when asked about the chances Apple could one day make its own vehicle. “We’re not really saying from a product point of view what we will do.”

Related Roundup: Apple Car
Tag: bloomberg.com
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Day One Journaling App Gains End-to-End Encryption Feature

Popular journaling app Day One received an update yesterday that introduces end-to-end encryption to its cloud server for the first time, as well as a handful of other improvements.

Rather than using iCloud, Day One synchronizes data between devices using its own servers, something that has opened it up to criticism in the past because of security concerns regarding private journal data.

Version 2.2 of the app should allay those worries, since Day One now encrypts journal data from client to server via a user-generated private key. However it’s important to note that the new end-to-end encryption feature is enabled on a journal-by-journal basis, so users need to go to Journals in Day One’s Settings and select the journals they want to encrypt from there.

If users do not enable end-to-end encryption, Day One defaults to standard encryption, which encrypts journal data “at rest” on the company’s servers. This less secure method requires that Day One staff hold the keys to decrypt journal data.

In addition to the enhanced security feature, the in-app camera has been improved to make it easier to take photos and quickly add multiple square-cropped shots to entries. Journal metadata now also includes the device name on which an entry was created.

Elsewhere, recent searches are now saved in a list for convenient re-use, while an app-wide state restoration system has been implemented so that users can pick up where they left off in the event of a crash or a force quit. The update also includes several fixes that should improve the user experience.

End-to-end encryption is included in the 2.2 update for both iOS and Mac. Day One is a $4.99 app on the iOS App Store and costs $39.99 on the Mac App Store.

Tag: Day One
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Destiny 2 will hit PCs almost two months after it hits console

While it was already known that the hotly-anticipated followup to Bungie’s Destiny would roll out later on PC than on either PS4 or Xbox One, it took until today to actually find out that day will be October 24. The information comes from the Blizzard Launcher, which now accepts pre-orders for Destiny 2. 

Activision had previously announced that Blizzard will be handling the PC distribution side of Destiny 2, to mixed reactions from the PC gaming community. Some expressed confusion, apparently forgetting Activision owns Blizzard, while others expressed joy that a company with a solid reputation for delivery and server stability will handle the title.

Either way, the purchase price is the same as the console versions, at $60 for the regular version, $90 with the expansions, and $100 total for the expansions and some extra “digital deluxe” in-game items.

While the PS4 and Xbox One beta will run in mid July, the PC beta won’t start until late August. As for what the beta includes, well, we don’t know. That information remains to be seen.

Hopefully, the wait will be worthwhile. Bungie is promising the PC version will, at the least, provide better visual fidelity than the console versions. It’s unclear if any other unique features will be available. While PC is capable of handling features like enhanced player counts and dedicated servers, such extras seem extraordinarily unlikely. In fact, we already know dedicated servers won’t be a thing.

After a rocky start to the original title’s release, it’s clear Bungie wants to get everything perfect this time around. Good MMOs can last years on player enthusiasm, and after refining Destiny over several years, it’s become a game with a big, excitable following. Whether Bungie can deliver on that hype remains to be seen, but either way, Destiny 2 is only going to make more noise before its release in the fall of this year.

Cyber firms warn of ‘Industroyer’ malware that could knock out power grids

Why it matters to you

This is some serious malware that our governments are going to have to deal with if our critical systems are to stay up and running.

The December 2016 power grid hack in Ukraine that plunged part of the capital, Kiev, into darkness for several hours was an alarming display of the capabilities of skillful hackers determined to bring chaos to communities by knocking out critical infrastructure.

On Monday, two cyber security companies — Slovakia-based anti-virus software outfit Eset, and American firm Dragos that deals with critical-infrastructure security — claimed to have identified the malware that caused the disturbing power outage.

Known by the names Industroyer and Crashoverride, they warned that it could be repurposed with little effort by other groups intent on causing further havoc around the world targeting not only power supply operations, but also water and gas systems, and transportation networks.

Industroyer is believed to be considerably more advanced than the malware used in another attack on Ukraine’s power grid a year earlier, in December 2015.

Eset said it’s been studying the malware for a number of months and recently shared its data with Dragos, leading it to conclude that it’s same as that used in the Ukraine incident in 2016.

Robert Lee of Dragos suggested this week that the Kiev transmission substation targeted in last year’s incident “may have been more of a proof of concept attack than a full demonstration of the capability in Crashoverride,” though at this stage he said he couldn’t be certain.

Either way, Eset senior malware researcher Anton Cherepanov said the Kiev attack “should serve as a wake-up call for all those responsible for the security of critical systems around the world.”

The researcher described Industroyer as particularly concerning because “it’s capable of controlling electricity substation switches and circuit breakers directly. To do so, it uses industrial communication protocols used worldwide in power supply infrastructure, transportation control systems, and other critical infrastructure systems (such as water and gas).”

The work of Eset and Dragos highlights the need for governments around the world to bolster their defenses against highly damaging cyberattacks capable of causing widespread disruption to critical infrastructure. Rather than for monetary gain, such acts of cyberwarfare are often thought to be backed by nation-states as they have the potential to cause chaos within society and reduce a population’s confidence in its own government. It’s not certain who’s behind the Ukraine cyberattacks, though coming during a period of conflict with neighboring Russia has prompted some to suspect it could be the work of hackers based there.

News of the security firms’ discovery led the U.S. Homeland Security to contact all critical infrastructure operators to ensure they’re following recommended security procedures, Reuters reported on Monday.

Cherepanov added that hackers “could adapt the malware to any environment, which makes it extremely dangerous.”

EMBARGOED JUNE 13 12:01 A.M.: Logitech unveils Circle 2 security camera with wired and wireless operation

Built for both indoor and outdoor use, and wired or wireless operation, Logitech’s new Circle 2 smart camera promises to be a flexible home security tool wherever you put it. It features a 1080p camera with an ultra-wide, 180-degree angle of view, making it easy to position in such a way to monitor an entire room. With a broad range of support accessories, it can be wirelessly mounted directly to a wall or window, or simply plugged straight into an outlet.

The Circle 2 will be available in either wired or wire-free models, but both feature the same weatherproof design. For outdoor wired operation, Logitech offers an optional weatherproof extension cable to safely wire the camera when the standard cable doesn’t provide enough reach. The wire-free model features a swappable, rechargeable battery that the company claims will last up to three months. Additional batteries can be purchased separately, ensuring you don’t have any downtime when it’s time to recharge.

With the Window Mount, the Circle 2 can clearly monitor the outside of a home from the inside – the mount holds the camera face-out directly to the window pane. The Plug Mount is a minimalist approach to indoor continuous operation and lets the camera be connected straight to an outlet – no wall-mounting hardware or power cord required.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the Circle 2, however, is its support for both Apple’s and Amazon’s smart home hubs. While Apple HomeKit support won’t initially be available with the camera, it will be added sometime after launch via a software update. The device will ship with Amazon Alexa support, which will let users control settings and trigger recordings with voice commands.

The camera can also be controlled by a mobile app (iOS and Android) as well as a web app. It also supports Logitech’s POP Smart Button, which can be connected to other smart home devices, as well.

Aside from the versatile mounts, the rest of the Circle 2’s feature set runs par for the course. It includes night vision, two-way audio, encrypted cloud storage, and 24 hours of free online backup. Users can choose to add on either a 14-day or 31-day backup plan for additional storage. There is no memory card slot. The wired model starts at just $180, while the wire-free version bumps the price up to $200.