Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Q Link Wireless, a provider of low-cost mobile phone and data services to 2 million US-based customers, has been making sensitive account data available to anyone who knows a valid phone number on the carrier’s network, an analysis of the company’s account management app shows. Dania, Florida-based Q Link Wireless is […]
Category Archives: Uncategorised
US adds Chinese supercomputing companies to export blacklist
Enlarge (credit: China News Service | Getty Images) The US has placed Chinese groups accused of building supercomputers to help the Chinese military on an export blacklist, the first such move by the Biden administration to make it harder for China to obtain US technology. Three companies and four branches of China’s National Supercomputing Center […]
Comcast nightmare: Six months without Internet despite $5,000 payment
Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images) When Edward Koll and his girlfriend, Jo Narkon, bought and moved into a new house in Draper, Virginia, in late September 2020, they had every reason to think that Comcast Internet would be readily available. They had done their due diligence before buying the house, plugging the address […]
Windows and Linux devices are under attack by a new cryptomining worm
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) A newly discovered cryptomining worm is stepping up its targeting of Windows and Linux devices with a batch of new exploits and capabilities, a researcher said. Research company Juniper started monitoring what it’s calling the Sysrv botnet in December. One of the botnet’s malware components was a worm that spread from […]
Brislen on Tech: The main trunk line
It’s been 25 years since I moved to Auckland and for the first year I commuted back and forth from Hamilton each week, via train. I love trains. They speak of adventure and mystery in ways that buses simply do not. Where buses are terrible for long distance use, combining all the negative aspects of […]
ITx Innovation Days – CFP and Sponsorship Opportunities
Have you heard? The ITx conference is coming to you this year, with ITx Innovation Day conferences all around New Zealand in July. Here’s a quick update: The CFP is now open – come and speak at your local ITx Innovation Day! More > Sponsorship options are now available too! Get in quick for the […]
T-Mobile 5G home Internet: $60 a month, 100Mbps speeds, and no data cap
Enlarge / T-Mobile’s 5G home Internet gateway. (credit: T-Mobile) T-Mobile yesterday launched a $60-per-month 5G home Internet service, saying that it will generally provide download speeds of 50 to 100Mbps and upload speeds of 10 to 25Mbps. The $60 monthly price includes everything, T-Mobile said, promising, “No added taxes or fees. No equipment fees. No […]
How a VPN vulnerability allowed ransomware to disrupt two manufacturing plants
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Ransomware operators shut down two production facilities belonging to a European manufacturer after deploying a relatively new strain that encrypted servers that control a manufacturer’s industrial processes, a researcher from Kaspersky Lab said on Wednesday. The ransomware, known as Cring, came to public attention in a January blog post. It takes […]
Major software conferences stay virtual for another year
In a reminder that Covid-19 remains a grave threat to human health around the world, Microsoft, Google and Apple have all opted for a new round of virtual developer gatherings. The rise of the online-only tech fest has had its pros and cons. Conferences that I’ve tuned into over the past year have seemed anaemic, […]
SpaceX to keep Starlink pricing simple, exit beta when network is “reliable”
Enlarge / SpaceX Starlink logo. (credit: Getty Images | SOPA Images ) The Starlink broadband network will probably stick with one price instead of offering different tiers of service, SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell said yesterday. “I don’t think we’re going to do tiered pricing to consumers. We’re going to try to keep it […]