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COVID-19 Contact Tracing App ‘Working in Ireland’

Charlotte Henry ·

Ireland’s COVID-19 contact tracing app is a rare success story, according to BBC News. It is also one of the tools that has been released using that Apple-Google API.

And now people in Northern Ireland are about to get access to a similar contact tracing app made by Nearform, the company behind Ireland’s Covid Tracker. Northern Ireland health officials confirmed at a briefing today that the app, to be released next week, will collect some data to show how it is functioning. In the early days there will not be much to go on as only between 10 and 20 new cases of the virus are being reported each week, but if there is a second wave of infections in the autumn they hope to know more about what is going on. The officials also revealed their app will work across the border, as will Ireland’s Covid Tracker.

 

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Sorry, Catnip Won’t Protect You Against the Meow Attack

Andrew Orr ·

Over 1,000 insecure databases have been completely erased, and the attackers leave no trace except the word “meow.”

Since then, Meow and a similar attack have destroyed more than 1,000 other databases. At the time this post went live, the Shodan computer search site showed that 987 ElasticSearch and 70 MongoDB instances had been nuked by Meow. A separate, less-malicious attack tagged an additional 616 ElasticSearch, MongoDB, and Cassandra files with the string “university_cybersec_experiment.” The attackers in this case seem to be demonstrating to the database maintainers that the files are vulnerable to being viewed or deleted.

Better erased than breached, right?

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‘The Darwin Affair’ Latest Big Library Read

Andrew Orr ·

“The Darwin Affair” is the next book in Libby’s digital book club called Big Library Read.

London, June 1860: When an assassination attempt is made on Queen Victoria, and a petty thief is gruesomely murdered moments later—and only a block away—Chief Detective Inspector Charles Field quickly surmises that these crimes are connected to an even more sinister plot. Was Victoria really the assassin’s target? Are those closest to the Crown hiding something? And who is the shadowy figure witnesses describe as having lifeless, coal-black eyes?

TMO Deals

Bluetooth 5.0 Speaker, Wireless Charger, Clock: $56.99

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on the Gotek Wireless Charging Music Station. This device is a Bluetooth 5.0 speaker, , a wireless charger, and a clock, all in one. Accordingly, it tells time with a big LED display, and is capable of both streaming music and charging your Qi-enabled smartphone wirelessly. It’s $56.99 through our deal.

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The Reasons Why Apple Should Buy TikTok

Charlotte Henry ·

TikTok has been the focus of much political attention recently due its base in China and allegations (which it denies,) of data sharing with the Chinese state. The video-sharing app has said it will move its HQ, but it could even be bought by a U.S. firm. Music Business Worldwide offered a number of reasons why that company could, and maybe should, be Apple.

TikTok’s global addictive appeal is no accident. The app’s advanced artificial intelligence capabilities and powerful recommendation algorithms are key factors behind the 68 billion hours spent by its users in the app last year. Case in point: respected investor and tech industry commentator Connie Chan recently wrote a piece in which she called TikTok “the first mainstream consumer app where artificial intelligence is the product”… In an increasingly competitive music streaming market, with Apple Music’s primary rival Spotify known for excelling in content recommendation, TikTok’s AI baked into the the Apple Music ecosystem could be Spotify’s kryptonite.

Cool Stuff Found

Creating Beastie Boys Posters on iPad Pro

Charlotte Henry ·

To celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the Beastie Boys releasing Hello Nasty, Apple released a new video in which artist Geoff McFetridge describes making five new posters related to the Apple TV+ series about the band. The eye-catching posters were made entirely on an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil. They give some insight into the cultural and musical impact of the rap trio.

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DNA Company ‘GEDmatch’ Hacked in Data Breach

Andrew Orr ·

First, over a million DNA profiles from GEDmatch were leaked. Then, email addresses from the breach were used in a phishing attack against users of genealogy website MyHeritage.

As a result of this breach, all user permissions were reset, making all profiles visible to all users. This was the case for approximately 3 hours. During this time, users who did not opt in for law enforcement matching were available for law enforcement matching and, conversely, all law enforcement profiles were made visible to GEDmatch users.

If GEDmatch sounds familiar, it was the DNA database used to identify the Golden State Killer.