Coinbase bug could have let anyone give themselves free ether

Cryptocurrency exchanges have had a fair share of justified criticism. They can be high-value targets for criminals, easy to hide from the IRS and easily affected by tech issues. Luckily, thanks to a bug report by financial security outfit VI Company, a nasty bug in Coinbase’s cryptocurrency system has been found and fixed. The researchers found that users could add unlimited ether to their Coinbase account with some simple, easily replicated steps.

According to a report on the HackerOne website, the Dutch financial security team found the flaw when planning to give its employees some ether as a Christmas present last December. A set of digital wallets using a smart contract could be tricked into thinking that a transfer of the ether cryptocurrency had occurred when it had not. This would have allowed any Coinbase customer to fictitiously move as much ether as it wanted into their account. Whether they could have cashed it out in some way is another matter, but the bug has been fixed by Coinbase, who also gave VI Company a $10,000 bug bounty.

Via: Gizmodo

Source: VI Company/HackerOne

Senate passes sex-trafficking bill that may lead to online censorship

Today, the Senate passed the controversial Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) and the bill now heads to the White House where Donald Trump is expected to sign it. While some groups like the Internet Association have backed the bill, many others have come out against it saying the bill will lead to online censorship and make it more difficult to find and prosecute sex traffickers. Those who’ve spoken out against SESTA include the National Organization for Women, the ACLU, the EFF, the Department of Justice as well as a variety of sex work rights organizations and sex trafficking victims’ groups.

Combating the horrifying practice of sex trafficking is an issue that knows no partisan lines. As a cosponsor of #SESTA, the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, I was pleased the Senate passed it today. Now it’s onto @POTUS. I hope he signs it soon.

— Senator Pat Toomey (@SenToomey) March 21, 2018

You can read a more in-depth discussion of the bill here, but what it will do is amend section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — a piece of legislation that protects internet companies from liability for user-generated speech. SESTA will prevent these companies from being protected by the law if they knowingly aid sex trafficking. But groups like the EFF and Wikimedia have argued that such a law might only protect large companies while smaller ones could stand to be irreparably harmed.

Ivanka Trump has backed the measure, tweeting her support of a vote to pass the bill yesterday. The EFF, on the other hand, tweeted that today was “a dark day for the internet.”

BREAKING: Today is a dark day for the Internet. Congress just passed the Internet censorship bill SESTA/FOSTA. pic.twitter.com/uvVM95hvDX

— EFF (@EFF) March 21, 2018

Source: Senator Toomey

Over a million people have already played ‘Sea of Thieves’

Have you been struggling to play Sea of Thieves since it launched on March 20th? There’s a good explanation for it. In a launch update, Rare’s Craig Duncan and Joe Neate have revealed that over 1 million unique gamers have played the online pirate adventure in just its first 48 hours. The team had anticipated large demand, but wasn’t ready for as many as 5,000 logins per minute — the servers went down for nearly five hours on launch day as a result.

The studio has had to make strategic decisions to keep things humming. It has prioritized people already playing the game, and has been delaying achievements. Some issues need fixes on Rare’s side, such as missing items. And if you’re one of those itching to play, it’s advising that you don’t keep trying to sign in. That just kicks you back to the start of the sign-in process and adds to the server load, Rare said.

To some extent, you could have seen this coming. On top of the relentless hype for the game (including multiple beta tests), Microsoft has been giving out free copies to Xbox One X buyers and including it in Game Pass subscriptions. It would have been surprising if there wasn’t a glut of players. Still, it’s good to see a developer being candid and taking responsibility quickly.

Source: Sea of Thieves (YouTube)

Apple’s Greg Joswiak Talks Mobile Gaming

In a piece covering growing consumer interest in mobile gaming, TechCrunch’s Matthew Panzarino spoke to Apple’s vice president of product marketing, Greg Joswiak, and several prominent game developers to get opinions on the state gaming on iOS.

According to Joswiak, with developers now able to bring full multiplayer console-style experiences to iOS devices, like the recently released Fortnite and PUBG mobile games, mobile gaming is at a tipping point. Platforms like iOS are able to offer unique combinations of hardware and software that see regular updates and improvements, which has led to impressive new gaming technology over the course of the last few years.

“Every year we are able to amp up the tech that we bring to developers,” he says, comparing it to the 4-5 year cycle in console gaming hardware. “Before the industry knew it, we were blowing people away [with the tech]. The full gameplay of these titles has woken a lot of people up.”

Joswiak says Apple is able to bring a “very homogenous customer base to developers” with 90 percent of devices running the current version of iOS, which allows developers to introduce new features and target the capabilities of new devices more quickly than on other platforms like Android, giving Apple’s App Store a competitive edge.

Ryan Cash, one of the developers behind the newly released Alto’s Odyssey game, told TechCrunch that there’s a “real and continually growing sense that mobile is a platform to launch compelling, artful experiences.”

“This has always been the sentiment among the really amazing community of developers we’ve been lucky enough to meet. What’s most exciting to me, now, though, is hearing this acknowledged by representatives of major console platforms. Having conversations with people about their favorite games from the past year, and seeing that many of them are titles tailor-made for mobile platforms, is really gratifying.

According to Joswiak, gaming has always been one of the App Store’s most popular categories, and the iOS 11 redesign of the App Store that splits gaming into its own category has grown interest in mobile gaming even more. “Traffic to the App Store is up significantly, and with higher traffic, of course, comes higher sales.”

One aspect of the new App Store design that developers are appreciative of is the new “Today” tab that provides customers with a look at some of the work that goes into creating a mobile game.

Dan Gray, one of the developers behind Monument Valley 2, said that it lets people know that indie games really are a “labour of love for a small group of people” and not created by a corporation of 200 people. “Hopefully this leads to players seeing the value in paying up front for games in the future once they can see the craft that goes into something,” he said.

SpellTower creator Zach Gage told TechCrunch that games have “never had the cultural reach that they do now” because of the App Store and “these magical devices that are in everyones pockets.” He went on to say that people are beginning to recognize that “iOS devices are everywhere” and are “the primary computers of many people,” which is leading to more iOS development.

The full interview with comments from Joswiak and several other game developers is over at TechCrunch and is well worth reading for those interested mobile gaming.

Tags: App Store, Greg Joswiak
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Facebook Launching News Feed Tool to Let Users Quickly Revoke Permissions From Apps

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg this afternoon addressed the ongoing Cambridge Analytica situation, in which Cambridge Analytica used personal data acquired from Facebook in an illicit manner by a third-party app to create targeted political advertisements during the 2016 election.

Zuckerberg outlined a multi-step response that Facebook plans to take to prevent this situation from recurring, and one feature Facebook will add is a new tool at the top of the News Feed which will let people see which apps they’ve used.

Any app used on the Facebook platform has access to a user’s personal data, so the Facebook tool will let people see which apps have their info and it will offer up an easy way to revoke permissions.

This tool is already available through Facebook’s privacy settings, but the company plans to make it more accessible to all users.

Back in 2014, Facebook implemented changes to reduce the amount of data apps had access to (the CA data was pre-2014), and Facebook says it will now investigate all apps that had access to large amounts of information before the platform change.

We will conduct a full audit of any app with suspicious activity. We will ban any developer from our platform that does not agree to a thorough audit. And if we find developers that misused personally identifiable information, we will ban them and tell everyone affected by those apps.

Zuckerberg also says Facebook plans to remove developers’ access to data if an app hasn’t been used in three months, and the amount of data provided to an app when a user signs in will be further restricted to name, profile photo, and email address. Access to posts or other private data will require users to explicitly approve the action.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal has resulted in a massive “Delete Facebook” movement from users concerned over the data Facebook collects and how it’s used, and Facebook stock has sharply declined this week.

Facebook users who are not satisfied with Zuckerberg’s response can permanently delete a Facebook account by clicking this link. Before doing so, it’s recommended Facebook users download an archive of their content so no photos are lost.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: Facebook
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Quick Takes: Apple Music Debuts K-Pop Ad, iPhone SE 2 Concept, and More

In addition to our standalone articles covering the latest Apple news and rumors at MacRumors, this Quick Takes column provides a bite-sized recap of other headlines about Apple and its competitors on weekdays.

Wednesday, March 21

1. Apple Music ad released with Korean girl group TWICE: The 15-second video features their 2017 single Heart Shakers and is accompanied by a link to an Apple Music playlist with their other k-pop songs.

2. Apple is an exception to nearly every rule: Dutch entrepreneur Haje Jan Kamps explains how using Apple as a template for how to build a startup is not a great idea due to its unparalleled hardware design, logistics, and even packaging.

Commentary: As the world’s most valuable company, Apple has tremendous leverage over its supply chain and logistical partners like Foxconn and UPS respectively. Given how valuable a contract with Apple can be, these companies will bend over backwards to accommodate the iPhone maker in any way.

3. 3D designer Martin Hajek shares iPhone SE 2 renders: The concept imagines the iPhone SE with a glass back for wireless charging, in the same color as the gold iPhone 8. Overall, the device looks like a refined version of the current iPhone SE, which is likely what we can expect if it does receive a refresh.

For more Apple news and rumors coverage, visit our Front Page, Mac Blog, and iOS Blog. Also visit our forums to join in the discussion.

Tags: Apple ads, Quick Takes
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