Episode 2206 – Hak5-year-old

Darren Kitchen is here to talk about the 5-year-old who hacked an Xbox One and started a career in security research. Plus, a look at the Amazon Fire TV in use. AND Len Peralta is here to illustrate the episode.



Or you can download the MP3 version here.

Headlines

 * Graphene, a substance poised to take over for silicon for many years, may finally made it out of the lab. CNET reports Samsung’s researchers have synthesized a crystal of graphene that retains its charge across a larger area, which could lead to industrial scale production. Graphene is just one atom thick, more conductive than silicon, stronger than steel and able to leap tall buildings if carried by Superman. It could make it easier to construct flexible or unbreakable screens and be useful in things like bionic implants.


 * CVG reports the Unreal game engine will get an update later this month that will add support for Linux and SteamOS in Unreal Engine version 4.1. In March Epic made the Unreal Engine available for $19 a month plus 5% of gross revenue from any commercial products that use the engine.


 * io9 reportsThe US National Institute of Standards and Technology a new atomic clock called NIST-F2, that uses a fountain of cesiujm atoms to determine the length of a second, and can go 300 million years without gaining or losing a second. That makes it three times as accurate as the current NIST-F1.


 * The Verge reports the Samsung Ativ SE Windows Phone is now official and available for pre-order on Verizon. Thhe 5-inch phone has a 1080p display, 13-megapixel camera, 2.3 GHz quad-core processor, 2 GB of RAM and a 2600 mAh battery. It also comes with Ativ Beam which can use an infrared blaster on the phone to control your TV. Verizon promises it will ship by April 12 and runs $200 on a two-year contract or $600 without a contract.


 * Josh Constine at TechCrunch has a piece up, looking at the question of Facebook’s declining page reach. Even though the total number of pages liked on Facebook grew 50% last year, companies like Eat24 and presumed people like Rainn Wilson have complained and even broken up with Facebook over a declining number of people visiting their pages. A study from News Feed optimization service EdgeRank Checker has found reach per fan has steadily declined. Constine finds the increase in things for people on Facebook to pay attention to, plus the number of alternatives like Twitter and Pinterest are the most likely culprits.

News From You

 * MrMaxPowers247 pointed us to the ABC News 10 San Diego story about 5-year-old Kristoffer Von Hassel discovering that filling the Xobx One’s secondary password box with all spaces let him log into his father’s Xbox Live accountand play some not necessarily age-appropriate games. His father, Robert Davies, is a security researcher, who was not only proud of his boy’s l33t skillz but also contacted Microsoft after documenting the vulnerability. Microsoft has patched the problem and given Von Hassel four games, $50 and a year-long subscription to Xbox Live from Microsoft, as well as acknowledging him as a March 2014 Microsoft Security Researcher.


 * SpSheridan let us know that Nest has announced it halted sales of the Nest Protect smoke alarm, after it found that the Nest Wave feature could delay the alarm from going off during a fire. Nest Wave let a user wave hands at the detector to shut off the alarm. Nets researchers found this feature could be unintentionally activated. Protect smoke detectors that have already been sold will automatically update and deactivate the feature within 24 hours if the device is connected to the Internet. Nest is also offering refunds. It may take up to three months to get regulatory approval of changes to the software for Nest Protects to be sold again.


 * metalfreak pointed out the Network World story that Linus Torvalds has banned Kay Sievers, a prominent Red Hat employee and code contributor, from working on the Linux Kernel. Sievers develops the system management framework systemd. Torvalds banned Sievers for failing to address an issue that caused systemd to interact with the Linux kernel in negative ways. The command line entry of debug would run both the base kernel and systemd’s debugging routines potentially flooding some systems. Torvalds wrote on a mailing list that he is “tired of the fact that you don’t fix problems in the code *you* write.” referring to Sievers.


 * And motang pointed out the ReactOS Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign. – ReactOS is a free open source operating system based on the design principles of the Windows NT architecture. It is intended to be binary compatible with Windows software. The group wants to raise $50,000 to help develop a ReactOS community edition, which will focus on developing compatibility with the community’s favorite Windows apps and drivers, based on a vote.

The Littlest Hacker

 * http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/04/microsoft-plugs-xbox-one-security-hole-discovered-by-five-year-old/
 * http://www.10news.com/news/5-year-old-ocean-beach-exposes-microsoft-xbox-vulnerability
 * http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/cc308589
 * https://www.linkedin.com/pub/robert-davies/5/302/b17
 * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnQhhEv4cKw&list=UU-vIANCum1yBw_4DeJImc0Q

Pick of the Day

 * Capresso 560.01 Infinity Burr Grinder
 * "'If you like to make coffee at home, but you’re still using good old reliable Mr. Coffee with good old reliable pre-ground coffee, perhaps its time for an upgrade? Today’s pick of the day: A Capresso 560.01 Infinity Burr Grinder. Grinding your own beans ups your coffee quality by at least 50%. Using a conical burr grinder instead of the traditional two-blade grinder produces a uniform grind by only allowing grains of a specific size to pass through the machine, among other benefits. Amazon has them for about eighty bucks, which is NOT cheap, but it’s worth the investment. Now you can all fight among yourselves about which method of coffee preparation is the best. Jennie choses a Chemex brewer, but that’s another story for another pick of the day.'"