The Politics of Hacking in the Age of Trump. There are a lot of unusual things to do at DEF CON, the annual hacker conference that draws tens of thousands of security enthusiasts to Las Vegas in the depths of summeryou can learn to lockpick, go fed spotting, or hack an internet connected sex toy. But last year offered something new. Jeff Moss, the founder of DEF CON and its more enterprise focused sister conference, Black Hat, held a political fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. Fundraising for Clinton mightve been standard behavior for most of the tech industry that summer, but doing it during Black Hat and DEF CON sparked backlash. Microsoft Cracks Down Certification Exam Cheating' title='Microsoft Cracks Down Certification Exam Cheating' />Jake Braun, the CEO of Cambridge Global and a former White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security, addressed the tension when he co hosted last years controversial Clinton event. I realized its not apolitical, its just a non political chimera, he said of DEF CON. A week before the fundraiserthe first political fundraiser at either conference, Braun saidTrump called on Russia to find the 3. Clintons disclosures. A month earlier, the cybersecurity firm Crowd. Window 8 Activation For Ever. Strike had announced its investigation into a hack at the Democratic National Committee and attributed the intrusion to Russia linked hacking groups. The Texarkana Gazette is the premier source for local news and sports in Texarkana and the surrounding Arklatex areas. Pixelmon, a robust Pokmonthemed modification for Minecraft released in 2012, can no longer be downloaded. The developers say the take down is the result of a. The next literary hit to bear the same name as Jane Austens 200yearold masterpiece Emma isnt a book at all, but a thoroughly modern AI. This Emma formally. Luke Plunkett. Luke Plunkett is a Contributing Editor based in Canberra, Australia. He has written a book on cosplay, designed a game about airplanes, and also runs. Microsoft Cracks Down Certification Exam Cheating' title='Microsoft Cracks Down Certification Exam Cheating' />Wikileaks and an individual or group calling themselves Guccifer 2. DNC. The impact wouldnt become clear until November, but it was obvious to the assembled hackers that their industry was being yanked into the spotlight. The year of hacking themed stories that followed thrust cybersecurity into mainstream politics like never before. Election hacking is now an exhausted meme Russia is synonymous not with onion domes but with network intrusion. This last year, it really hit, Moss told Gizmodo. Its not as if election hacking is a new field Moss recalled presentations about it at DEF CON in 2. Donald Trumps presidency is giving hackers an exciting, if itchy, fame. Whether you love or hate him, hes incredible for business, the best, big league. If youre a DEF CON attendee, your grandma has seen stories about your world on TV, maybe even a pundit with your same job title. A hacked election isnt necessarily how you wanted your work to get notoriety, but here you are and you might as well ask for a raise. A lot of hackers are happy in the sense that theyre being listened to more. Their advice is considered a little bit more. Theres a sense of, Weve been saying this for so long. It feels good to be validated but it sucks that things havent changed. Weve been warning you about it for a decade, nothings happened, but at least youre paying attention, Moss told Gizmodo. At last years fundraiser, Moss seemed apathetic, even apologetic, about Clinton as a candidate. Im not in the endorsement game, he said last week. But he was as focused then as he is now on solving the security problems in election systems. Weve been warning you about it for a decade, nothings happened, but at least youre paying attention. Although Moss, whos also known as The Dark Tangent, spoke for less than ten minutes at the fundraiser, it netted him a slew of hate mail. And there may have been professional consequences, too. Moss, whos a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, has been told that the fundraiser earned him a spot on the Trump administrations blacklist. Microsoft Cracks Down Certification Exam Cheating' title='Microsoft Cracks Down Certification Exam Cheating' />Despite his role on the advisory council, he was not sought after to consult on cybersecurity issues during the transition. But Moss isnt backing away from the cause, and DEF CON is getting more deeply involved with election security than ever beforethis year, the event will host its first Voting Machine Hacking Village. DEF CON villages are offshoots of the main event, where attendees get to tinker with technology. At the vote hacking village, theyll be invited to tamper with voting hardware and software. In addition to the hackers, the village is expecting visitors from Congress, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Homeland Security, and voting machine vendors. Moss hopes to discover just how easy it is to compromise a voting system. Although states test components of their systems, Moss couldnt find any examples of a state testing their complete voting apparatus. Most manufacturers, he explained, test voting machines for their ability to withstand humidity rather than hackers. This is worrisome, particularly at a time when Americans are suddenly obsessed with qualifying the security of their electoral systems. We wanted to get our hands on enough equipment to build and run a complete fake election, Moss told Gizmodo. Hes been tracking down the machines on e. Bay. The software, however, has been harder to obtain. We couldnt get our hands on one key piece of software that acts as the backend. We have some leads on them but couldnt get them in time for this year. Security experts typically outline three possible routes of attack on elections. One is the Russiagate scenario thats trickled out in intelligence assessments and headlines over the last yearan attacker steals compromising information from the leading candidates campaign, perhaps mixes it with faked documents to stir up even more scandal, and then leaks that information to level the playing field. The second possibility involves breaching states voter rolls and removing names or otherwise altering the data to make life difficult for voters as they show up to the polls. The third option is attacking voting machines directly to manipulate the vote count. Its this final possibility thats the most exciting for hackers and most alarming to everyone else. Although US officials have repeatedly said that theres no evidence to suggest vote tallies were altered during the 2. At the vote hacking village, participants will get a chance to find out how much impact they could have. If theres enough ways of messing with it, it will keep people interested, Moss said. Plus, hackers have a legal advantage on their side, at least for now. New exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act were added in October that open a two year window to allow cybersecurity research on certain devices, including voting machines. While many academics have experimented with hacking voting machines, Moss wants the village to conduct a test of a complete election system. Its not intended as academic research, Moss says, but more of a temperature check to see just how vulnerable state systems might be. Whatever is learned at the village will hopefully be used by state officials when theyre evaluating which systems to purchase, and how to configure and maintain them. With an audience of Congressmen and DHS officials, the village could have a substantial impact. We can be the sane voices in the room, not, The sky is falling elections are controlled by Russia, Moss explained. Its an opportunity for attendees not just to test their skills, but to educate and shape policy on an issue, turning uninformed panic into experience. I did not see how popular this would be, Moss said. The machines have been for sale on e. Bay for years and nobodys done this. Or if they have, nobodys gotten attention. I guess its just the context of the presidential election. The specter of last years election is still haunting security pros. But politics dont always sit well at DEF CON, or in the security community in general. Ryanair Scrambles to Solve Its Drunken Passenger Problem. Ryanair is having a tough time. As Brexit threatens to turn its entire business upside down, passengers cant stop getting drunk on its flights, doing something stupid on camera, and causing all kinds of chaos when the video hits the internet. Now, Ryanair is trying to restrict how much people drink at the airport. This week, the budget airline proposed that British airports only sell alcohol after 1. The move comes after an especially embarrassing year of drunken passengers being rowdy, abusing other passengers, stripping, openly having sex, and ultimately diverting flights to unplanned destinations. Each of those links refers to a separate incident, all of which happened in the first half of this year. You almost cant blame Ryanair for treating its passengers like college students who need extra supervision. The UKs Civil Aviation Authority actually instituted a code of conduct last year, after a study revealed a 6. The agency listed alcohol as a common factor. Ryanair, which has already banned alcohol altogether on some flights between Scotland and Spain, is struggling to get a handle on the problem. After all, look at all the crazy shit thats happened since that code of conduct went into place. Still, the idea of an alcohol ration either feels either Orwellian or Victorianor maybe both. It sounds like theres an economic incentive to the plan as well. You know the smell. Its hard to describe, but the second you step on an airplane, a flood ofRead more ReadIts completely unfair that airports can profit from the unlimited sale of alcohol to passengers and leave the airlines to deal with the safety consequences, Kenny Jacobs, Ryanairs marketing director, said in a statement. This is a particular problem during flight delays when airports apply no limit to the sale of alcohol in airside bars and restaurants. This is an issue which the airports must now address and we are calling for significant changes to prohibit the sale of alcohol at airports, particularly with early morning flights and when flights are delayed. So, its the airports fault for letting these passengers drunk before their flights That seems to be precisely what Ryanair is saying and the motivation for the proposed restrictions on drinking in airports. After the airline announced the plan, however, a disgruntled employee leaked emails suggesting Ryanair is simultaneously pressuring workers to sell more drinks on flights. All they care about is sales, the unnamed Ryanair steward told The Mirror. Ryanair disputes this and told the paper These claims are untrue no crew are threatened everyday with disciplinary action. The safety of our customers, people and aircraft comes before all other considerations including sales, and cabin crew have full discretion when it comes to selling or refusing to sell alcohol to passengers on board. Furthermore, all of our flights are shorthaul, so very little alcohol is actually sold on board, which is why the issue lies with the airports. Regardless of the intent, its easy to see that Ryanair is suffering through some alcohol problems. Whether the blame should fall on the airports, the passengers, or the airline itself remains to be determined. But you do have to think twice about Ryanair trying to impose its will on others. This is the same airline that once wanted to charge passengers to use the restroom and even proposed standing room flights where passengers wouldnt even get seats. No matter the airline, though, restricting people with long delays from enjoying a cold one just feels cruel. Maybe the airlines themselves should just try harder to be on time. The Guardian, The Mirror.