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Audio player loading… The UK government is to launch a national emergency alert system that will send a text message to any mobile phone in areas where there is a risk to life such as a flood or terror attack. Emergency alert systems powered by cell broadcasting technology are common in many countries, including the USA, Netherlands, Canada, South Korea, Japan and New Zealand, and have helped save lives during natural disasters such as earthquakes. However, the UK has never had such a system, despite trials in the early 2010s. This meant that during the early phase of the Coronavirus pandemic, the government had to enlist the support (opens in new tab) of the four major mobile operators to send text messages to their customers. These are the best business SIM-only deals (opens in new tab) around today And the best business broadband deals (opens in new tab) Here are the best business mobile phone deals (opens in new tab) Mobile emergency … [Read more...] about UK government building mobile emergency alert system

The best standing desks around today can help offset and prevent a sedentary lifestyle. The health benefits they offer to those of us who spend all day in front of our computers can’t be understated. We are not meant to sit around all day. Sitting down too long – more than 8 hours a day – as stated by the American Journal of Public Health (opens in new tab) , can not only increase the risk of chronic diseases by 10% to 20% but premature death as well. UK's NHS points out (opens in new tab) that it also could slow your metabolism, which could impact "the body's ability to regulate blood sugar, blood pressure and break down body fat." Unfortunately, most of us spend a large portion of our work life hunkered down at an office desk (opens in new tab) , which is why a standing desk is a great investment. Even students going back to school should consider one for a healthier way to do homework. To help you make the leap to a healthier work life, we’ve collected the best … [Read more...] about Best standing desk for home office and WFH 2022

Verizon says its network has suffered 57 incidents of vandalism in seven states in the two weeks since 36,000 workers went on strike . The "incidents of sabotage," mostly involving the severing of fiber optic cables or damage to terminal boxes, "have cut off thousands of Verizon customers from critical wireline services," the company said Wednesday . Further Reading Verizon workers strike over lost jobs and refusal to expand fiber Under normal conditions, there are only about a half-dozen incidents of sabotage over the course of a year, a Verizon spokesperson told Ars today. Verizon says it is still investigating the incidents and hasn't pinned the blame on anyone specific. But the company's announcement pointed out that "these malicious actions take place as Verizon is experiencing a strike." Verizon reported similar incidents of vandalism during another strike in 2011 . A union representing Verizon workers blames the company for failing to maintain its … [Read more...] about Verizon: Network sabotage during strike disrupted thousands of customers

Audio player loading… BT has become the first European mobile operator to successfully combine four channels of spectrum (opens in new tab) on a live 5G standalone (SA) network in a development that will help fulfil the speed and capacity promises of next-generation mobile services. Carrier aggregation fuses separate spectrum bands together to harness the advantages of each. For example, marrying the coverage and indoor propagation rates of low-band frequencies with the high capacity and data rates of mid and high band airwaves. In addition to the performance gains, operators can use their existing spectrum assets to reduce the cost of network deployment. 5G SA carrier aggregation Working with Nokia, BT combined EE’s commercial 2.1 GHz, 2.6GHz, 3.4GHz and 3.6GHz frequencies on a radio mast at its Adastral Park research facility in Suffolk. This is the first time four channel components (4CC) have been combined outside a lab setting in Europe. … [Read more...] about BT and Nokia achieve European first carrier aggregation on 5G SA

In Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar, Apple introduced IPv6 support. Like other IPv6-capable operating systems, Mac OS will prefer IPv6 over IPv4 if it has a choice. That is, until yesterday's 10.6.5 Snow Leopard update . With regular IPv6 connectivity, the newly updated Snow Leopard will still try to connect over IPv6 first, but for IPv6 destinations that are reachable over 6to4, the snowy cat prefers IPv4 instead. It will only connect over 6to4 to IPv6 destinations if there's no IPv4. The apparent rationale for this move is that 6to4 is responsible for a disproportionate share of non-working IPv6 setups. Measurements by Google show that simply giving www.google.com an IPv6 address means that, subsequently, about 0.1 percent of all Google's users would be unable to connect to the search giant. That is unacceptable to them, not just from a commercial perspective, but also... how are you going to debug this problem if you're unable to search the Web? ISPs are unlikely to hold user's hands if … [Read more...] about Apple fixes broken IPv6 by breaking it some more

Digital communication platform Twilio was hacked after a phishing campaign tricked its employees into revealing their login credentials ( via TechCrunch ). The company disclosed the data breach in a post on its blog , noting that only “a limited number” of customer accounts were affected by the attack. Twilio allows web services to send SMS messages and place voice calls over telephone networks and is used by companies including Uber, Twitter, and Airbnb. The hack occurred on August 4th and involved a bad actor sending SMS messages to Twilio employees that asked them to reset their password or alerted them to a change in their schedule. Each message included a link with keywords, like “Twilio,” “SSO” (single sign-on), and “Okta,” the name of the user authentication service used by many companies. The link directed employees to a page that mimicked a real Twilio sign-in page, allowing hackers to collect the information employees inputted there. After it became aware of the … [Read more...] about Twilio suffers data breach after its employees were targeted by a phishing campaign

Privacy-centric internet search engine DuckDuckGo has earlier promoted its browser saying that it blocks hidden online trackers on websites. However, in May, the company faced huge criticism for not blocking some third-party Microsoft trackers in the DuckDuckGo browser as both companies had a search content agreement between them. According to a report by Bleeping Computer, DuckDuckGo has recently confirmed that it has started blocking all third-party Microsoft tracking scripts in their privacy browser which it was unable to block earlier. Why was DuckDuckGo criticised The Apple App Store listing for the DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser explains that the Tracker Radar in the browser automatically blocks hidden third-party trackers that are lurking around on the website. This feature stops the companies behind those trackers from collecting and selling user data. , However, trackers discovered some Microsoft trackers were allowed by the DuckDuckGo browser. While the … [Read more...] about microsoft: Explained: Why DuckDuckGo has started blocking Microsoft’s web trackers

Some Michigan counties can’t immediately report Tuesday night’s election results due to a confusing mix of federal vote reporting guidance and AT&T’s decision to retire its 3G networks this past February. In a website alert , the Wayne County clerk’s office confirmed that 65 of Michigan’s 83 total counties “are no longer modeming unofficial election results.” Wayne County is where Detroit is located, and it’s the state’s biggest county by population, with about 1.8 million residents. It’s unclear how many are due to county officials that did not upgrade their own modems, or if this is due to U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) guidelines advising against using modems. In section 14.2-E, the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) 2.0 established in February 2021 advised against connecting voting systems to the internet. The guidelines cited the risk of ransomware, the ability for attackers to view files within the system, or modify files within it that have to do … [Read more...] about AT&T’s 3G shutdown catches blame for a major election headache in Michigan

I n 1993, Julio Lopes was sipping a coffee at a bar when he had a stroke. He fell into a coma, and two months later, when he regained consciousness, his body was fully paralyzed. Doctors said the young man’s future was bleak: Save for his eyes, he would never be able to move again. Lopes would have to live with locked-in syndrome, a rare condition characterized by near-total paralysis of the body and a totally lucid mind. LIS is predominantly caused by strokes in specific brain regions; it can also be caused by traumatic brain injury, tumors, and progressive diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. Yet almost 30 years later, Lopes now lives in a small Paris apartment near the Seine. He goes to the theater, watches movies at the cinema, and roams the local park in his wheelchair, accompanied by a caregiver. A small piece of black, red, and green fabric with the word “Portugal” dangles from his wheelchair. On a warm afternoon this past June, his birth country was … [Read more...] about Locked-in syndrome and the misplaced presumption of misery

Audio player loading… A bug in the US Emergency Alert System (EAS), a tool used to deliver urgent alerts to the general public, could be abused by threat actors to send out fake alerts, possibly creating mass panic. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently confirmed these findings in an advisory and urged organizations using EAS to tighten up on their security measures, in order to prevent any abuse. As reported by The Register , the flaw was discovered by cybersecurity researcher Ken Pyle, who also managed to successfully exploit it. Apparently, a proof-of-concept is in the works and should be presented to the general public soon. Tightening up security In order to keep their endpoints (opens in new tab) secure, the DHS says, businesses need to update both their hardware and their software to the latest versions, apply security patches (opens in new tab) wherever possible, and set up a firewall as extra means of defense. Furthermore, they … [Read more...] about Serious bug in US Emergency Alert System could be abused to create mass panic