#Manage Caption of Barcode

[inspireofficespace1]

How Odoo ERP software helps warehouse and inventory

Warehouse and Inventory Management System Inventory management is a serious business function for Perfect trading businesses including e-commerce companies, wholesalers, retailers, stockists, and distributors. Open Source ERP in Odoo Software helps them to manage the retail locations, product locations and run the warehouse efficiently. Without an ERP Software solution inventory management will be facing many challenges. ERP software involves Product stock outs, Mismanagement of warehouse space, and Detectives problems leading to decreased productivity and poor customer service Odoo is an ERP software solution development platform, and it is open-source and fills all the inventory management needs of business Odoo ERPs advanced features like double-entry inventory, cross-docking, multi-warehouse management, drop-shipping, routing, and other features will be a perfect match for inventory management. Odoo inventory management system makes permits easy, the process of managing and tracking stock levels, It increases efficiency and better productivity and It gives the inventory teams to manage all the essential talks.

Odoo inventory is fully integrated ERP software that has all the applications like accounting, purchase, manufacturing, sales, and shipping that are connectors for uncomplicated inventory management.

Features Of Oddo Inventory Management System Basic Operation Support :

Odoo support all the basic operation occurs in a warehouse. These functions include preparing to manage approaching shipments, inventory counts, barcode-based fragments, and packing management.

Advanced Routing:

Odoo support advanced routing operations are mentioned below: Dropshipping: Delivery goods directly to customers from the suppliers. Put Away And Removal Strategies: Define your storage and removal strategies. Pick-Pach Ship: Design every individual orders process flow. Deliver the products directly to the customers either in one step (delivery order) or several processes such as picking, packing, shipment. Cross-Docking: Unlock the materials directly from the incoming trucks or rails and transfer them to outbound gates with no storage in between. Push And Pull Routes: Designs all product routes individually to automate transfer between warehouses.

Traceability:

There are many features in Odoo traceability. Some of the features are lots of tracking, activity log, serial number, and permanent valuation, enabling the organization to track their product inside and outside inventory.

Replenishment:

Odoo offers several options to keep the inventory replenishment. Some of the op Purchase Propositions: Get your purchase order propositions based on the demand of the product, inventory forecast, and supplier lead time.

Request For Quotations: Odoo activates the request for quotation automatically based on future needs.

Make to order: Customers can purchase products as per their customized specifications. Define your routes to specific orders, products, and warehouses.

Product Management Features: Product Types: Odoo support various product types such as services, physical products, digital consumables, and products.

Multi-Level Variants: Oddo supports multi-level variants, creating a matrix based on color, size, and attributes.

Multiple Barcode: By using Odoo ERP software, you can create multiple barcodes with specific codes to apply specific promotions and other required activities…

Expiration Dates: By Odoo you can also track the expiration date of the products.

How to Set up Odoo Warehouse and inventory management system? Dashboard:

Odoo inventory management and warehouse system provide a view of all the operations in your warehouse, The dashboard gives you an overview of plenty of options like receipts, internal transfers, and orders delivery.

Odoo • A picture with a caption

Inventory>Operations>All transfers Here in this tab, you can see the following fields: Check the confirmed sales and purchase orders listed Just click to view the status of each order. Configuration of Warehouse:

Instead of having a single warehouse an organization can have multiple warehouses

Inventory>Configuration>Setting>Multi warehouse Inventory>Configuration>setting>Product Odoo • A picture with a caption

There are three sections under this tab:

Measures of unit

Product variants

Methods of packing

Inventory>Configuration>Setting>Traceability Inventory>Configuration>Setting>Locations and Warehouse There are varieties of fields in the location and warehouse tab:

Procurement: In the first Option you can select the method to reserve a product after the order is confirmed. If you want to schedule to reserve the product, select the second option. Warehouses and Location level: Select the option needed for your usage level. Routes: If the purchase has more than one step select advance routing. Drop Shipping: It gives permission to configure different delivery options for the supplier Location:

Location refers to the different areas in your warehouse. Here you can add multiple locations in your warehouse. All the in and out transactions are recorded by the locations. There are three types of location.

Physical Location: These locations will be in your warehouse Parent Location: These locations will not be under the warehouse Virtual Location: These locations are Unphysically Odoo • A picture with a caption

Inventory > Configurations > Locations Create a location: Inventory>Configurations>Locations>Create Operations:

Operation is mention as different tasks throughout the warehouse such as receipts, internal transfers, and delivery of the order

Inventory>Configuration>Warehouse Management>Warehouse Types>Create Odoo • A picture with a caption

Operations:

Operation is mention as different tasks throughout the warehouse such as receipts, internal transfers, and delivery of the order

Inventory>Configuration>Warehouse Management>Warehouse Types>Create Complete the operation details and click and to list these operations in the dashboards. Routes:

Routes are defined as different ways by which a product is purchased or sold from an organization's warehouse. You can follow the single-step process or multi-step process. They also confirm that the sale or purchase product is tracked properly. A route is a collection of purchase and push rules. Odoo can easily maintain and manage the advanced push and pull routes management.

For example, Default location management of particular product

Product manufacturing chains managing

Routes will be defined within the warehouse according to the business requirements like quality control and supplier returns.

You can view routes form:

Inventory>Configuration>Routes Odoo • A picture with a caption

This field shows us how you track your product in the inventory Odoo • A picture with a caption

Select the product option in the master data, You can either create a new product or import the products from the stored product list. The product list can be shown in a kanban view.

Odoo • A picture with a caption

Inventory>Inventory control>product>Create The important fields in this section are:

Can be sold: When you mark the product and it will be listed in the sales

Can be purchased: when you mark the product and it will be listed in the purchase

You can even import the bulk product entries that are already there via XLS or CSV file

Inventory>Master Data>product>Import

Select the Excel file or CSV Odoo • A picture with a caption You can also analyze the product. It will show the name of the products, price of the product, type of the product, forecasted quantity, and the number of products in hand. Odoo • A picture with a caption

Products are out from the warehouse according to their expiry date. By defining the expiry date on the serial number, you will be able to manage the movement of the products, based on their expiration date.

Product Attributes:

Odoo • A picture with a caption

Under the product variant, you can add the variants of your products: Click ( Add an Item)

Add an attribute ( For example, color)

Add attribute values

Product Type:

After creating a product, you need to configure the product type. There are three product types Consumable Product:

In this type, the stock is not managed. It means you need to deliver the goods as soon as possible you receive them. In this type of product, the stock is not maintained in the system and it is only for a short time. For consumable products, odoo will pop up a warning message in the quotation if a sufficient balance is not available in the stock. Service Product:

Service products are non-material products that are provided by an organization. In this, products are configured at the time when the organization is providing a particular service to the customers. It is suitable for businesses like consulting services, etc. Stackable Product:

In this product type, you can manage all stocks. The reload of this product is generally automated by the rules established in odoo. In stackable products, Odoo ERP set up shipment transactions against a purchase order. If you pick your product type as a stackable product, then you can set trackable, reordering rules, routes, and bills of materials for the same. You can also maintain minimum stock levels by reordering the rules for stock in the odoo ERP system. In this way, the stock will not reach the minimum levels. You don’t want to set a reordering rule, Open Source Odoo ERP software will show up a warning notification in the quotation if there isn’t enough balance in the balance. Reordering Rule:

In this product type, you can manage all stocks. The reload of this product is generally automated by the rules established in odoo. In stackable products, Odoo ERP set up shipment transactions against a purchase order. If you pick your product type as a stackable product, then you can set trackable, reordering rules, routes, and bills of materials for the same. You can also maintain minimum stock levels by reordering the rules for stock in the odoo ERP system. In this way, the stock will not reach the minimum levels. You don’t want to set a reordering rule, Open Source Odoo ERP software will show up a warning notification in the quotation if there isn’t enough balance in the balance. It refers to the rule of activating the purchase of the product when the stock reaches the minimum level. You can also create a custom rule to restock the inventory.

Inventory - Inventory Control - Reordering rule - Create Set a minimum and maximum quantity of the product. Click on the create button to open a new window. Create the name and select the product for which you want to set the reordering rules. Choose the warehouse where the product should be delivered. On the minimum quality side, add the minimum numbers to which the system will activate a new order. Also, add a maximum number of items that have to be shored in the maximum quality field. In quantity multiple fields you can insert the lowest number of items that are ordered. The number of days to purchase communicate to the number of days for a supplier to receive the product. The number of days to receive the products. Odoo • A picture with a caption

Inventory Update:

Odoo • A picture with a caption Single Product One Product Category Pack of Products Selected Product Single lot/ serial number There are other fields that come under the inventory tab:

Vendor: You can insert vendors (suppliers) of any product. Routes: The way by which the organization receives the product. Tracking: You can track the mechanism by using the serial number or lot number.

You can also update the inventory form by the following steps:

Inventory - Inventory Adjustment - Create

Click the required products and select Start Inventory

By clicking product quantity you can change the stock details.

Select Validate.

Scarp Orders:

A product that is outdated or broken is known as scrap. Scraping the product means to take out from the stock. Odoo • A picture with a caption The following are the steps to add the scrap products to your inventory: Inventory - Inventory Control - Scrap - Create

Add the scarp product details and click save.

Scheduler:

To check the reordering rules you can run the scheduler and then take suitable actions. Scheduler - Run Scheduler Select run scheduler

Reports:

Odoo inventory management system offers the users easy and efficient reports to make clever decisions. Inventory - Reports Benefits of odoo ERP inventory software management system with inspire Our ERP team has experienced builders in customizing Odoo inventory management to give our best in inventory management solutions. Inventory professionals have developed a measurable solution with open-source ERP platforms like Opentaps, Odoo, and Of biz for many clients across the globe.

Our team has experience in developing an ERP system from scratch with customized features of Odoo. For easy customization to Odoo implementation, Our team gives the organization to fully automate business processes Conclusion: By using the Odoo ERP inventory management system, the organization can avoid the risk of running out of stock, improve accounting accuracy, decreases losses, and provide systematic customer service. Odoo ERP provides businesses to organize their operations.

[oberlincollegelibraries]

What DMS Did on Their Global Pandemic

Fall semester is underway and perhaps you've already stopped by the Terrell Main Library. Perhaps you have met some of our more visible staff, like those in Reference or Circulation. But, did you know that there are behind-the-scenes departments that also keep the library running smoothly? Today we'd like to introduce you to one of these departments- Discovery and Metadata Services, also known as DMS.

DMS is essentially the cataloging department, which means they create metadata and call numbers for all the books, DVDs, Government Documents, rare materials, and other items the libraries acquire. They're the ones who make it possible to find what you need. However, cataloging is not all they do. They also “prep” new materials (create labels, barcoding, create protective enclosures for book jackets, etc.), create digital content and websites, they fix old records, manage outdated items, coordinate bindery shipments, archives the libraries' website and social media accounts, they even write blog posts (including this one).

This year has brought about many changes for DMS, as well as the rest of the world! For one, staff are finding themselves working from home most days to help de-densify the campus. Makeshift home offices are now filled with boxes and stacks of materials that need to be cataloged and returned to the library for quarantining and processing. And speaking of processing, catalogers have been pitching in to help the preparations staff with labeling and other prep work, since they currently are unable to employ student workers due to the pandemic. 

DMS has also contributed to several large digital projects since the spring, including the Bridging the Distance OHMS/OMEKA project and the 2020 OC Graduating Class Yearbook project. They’ve added over 700 honors and graduate theses, as far back as 1924, as well as the First Year Library Advisor newletters, to Digital Commons. 

Despite working from home most of the week, catalogers have still made good use of their in-office time to focus on rare and special materials. They’ve cataloged new materials for Special Collections, including two albums of gelatin silver photographs taken during WWI in the Middle East (see here and here), as well as one-of-a-kind books for the Art Library’s Artists’ Book Collection. They’ve also reclassified books from Dewey to Library of Congress call numbers, updated OBIS records that were missing metadata, added Oberlin College author information to important books, and re-implemented shipments of materials to our binderies. 

DMS staff have also all pitched in to pack up and move many, many, many Government Documents to make room for new offices that will be built in the Terrell Main Library. This was no small undertaking, as you might have guessed from the sweaty faces in the images above. 

Life in DMS has certainly been busy since the start of the pandemic and that’s the way we like it! Whether in the office or working remotely, the staff is here to serve you and get you the materials you need for a successful semester at Oberlin. If you have any questions or would just like to say “Hi”, send DMS an email at ocl-dms@oberlin.edu.

Images captions: Top row: DMS staff after packing up Government Documents for their big move. Middle row, left to right: Even the head of the department does his share of at-home cataloging ; DMS cataloger cataloging materials from a home office ; DMS cataloger on labeling duty while student workers are unavailable. Bottom row, left to right: Just one of the stacks of Government Documents on the move ; More Government Documents!! ; Newly rebound books being unloaded from a bindery shipment.

[file-formats-programming]

Generate Barcode using New Well Known Symbologies & Enhanced Data-Source Handling for Report

What’s new in this release?

The new version of Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports 17.3.0 has been released. The major development in this release is the support of capability to generate barCode using 10 more well-known symbologies. Now user can create SwissPostParcel, Italian Post 25 and many more barcodes using Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports. Implementation of the barcode for JasperReports has been upgraded in such way that Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports now implemented a single predefined field that contains the set of fields from datasource. There is no more mixing of values for fields like CodeText and Symbology. There are some new barcode symbologies introduced in this release for JasperReports, such as SwissPostParcel, IATA, RM4SCC, Matrix, Italian Post 25, Code32, DataLogic, DutchKIX, UpcaGs1Code128Coupon and UpcaGs1DatabarCoupon. Implement handling of BarcodeAttributes class as a single field for data source. A single predefined field has been implemented that contains the set of fields from datasource.JasperReport builder functionality has been updated for handling the data source for report and Functionality to handle special symbols in the codetext value has been improved. This release includes plenty of new and improved features as listed below

SwissPostParcel barcode generation

IATA 2 of 5 barcode generation

Support RM4SCC generation

Support matrix 2of5 barcode

Italian Post 25 barcode generation

Support Code32 generation

Support DataLogic2of5 generation

Support DutchKIX generation

Support UpcaGs1Code128Coupon generation

Support UpcaGs1DatabarCoupon generation

Implement handling of BarcodeAttributes class as a single field for data source

Implement Jasper report builder for handling the data source for report

Implement handling the special symbols in attributes values

Newly added documentation pages and articles

Some new tips and articles have now been added into Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports documentation that may guide users briefly how to use Aspose.BarCode for performing different tasks like the followings.

Manage Caption of the Barcode

Generate Barcode by Specifying Custom Image Size

Overview: Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports

Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports allows developers to display high quality barcode labels on JasperReports that can be rendered further in BMP, JPG, GIF and PNG formats. It supports more than 25 barcode symbologies including Linear or 2D barcodes and can also be integrated into existing and new JasperReport (jrxml) files. Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports is written purely in Java and a single provided JAR file can easily be deployed on the machines running JasperReports or JasperServer.

More about Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports

Homepage of Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports

Download Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports

[psatalk]

Digistik's customized digital labeling solutions

Digistik, a digital label solutions company with a manufacturing plant at Rai in Sonepat, Delhi NCR, is said to be 100% geared to delivering high-quality digitally customized branding labels to its clients. Digital printing technology is what differentiates it from the competition. With a state-of-the-art HP Indigo digital press, the production of high-value, short-run, and variable self-adhesive/pressure-sensitive labels is simplified.

A label printing company built from the ground up on a digital platform, Digistik is focused on delivering high-quality labels for competitively priced short and medium-run length orders, within 5-7 days of approval. Run by Harish Gupta, Digistik has established a dominant position in the market for high-value print products requiring variable data and imaging and high impact on the shelf.

[caption id="attachment_71729" align="alignright" width="300"]

Digital labels printed at the Digistik plant in Sonipat. Photo PSA[/caption]

Starting in 2019 with an idea to serve small and medium-sized businesses across the country, the company works with the belief that every entrepreneur has the right to premium quality labels despite smaller order volumes. It is building a reputation as a ‘startup for startups.’

Digistik primarily manufactures labels and packaging for a variety of products in all industrial sectors. It is associated with many well-known FMCG, nutraceuticals, organic, and alcobev brands for customized labeling solutions in both roll and sheet form. “Product labels play a vital role in increasing brand visibility, and loyalty and help to establish a brand in the market. The label is one of the essential means of communication between the brand and the consumer,” says Priyanka Rathi, senior manager media and marketing at Digistik.

“The label market will grow in the coming years as it is driven by demand from end users in the pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and FMCG sectors. The industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.5% between 2021and 2026. There is constant innovation happening in the industry such as smart labels, labels with exclusive personalized designs, and NFC technology. RFID and barcode labels are increasingly used in the logistics and retail industry. The whole scenario is pro-industry and definitely, the future seems bright,” according to Rathi.

[itbeatsbookmarks]

(Via: Hacker News)

Act 1: Sunday afternoon

So you know when you’re flopping about at home, minding your own business, drinking from your water bottle in a way that does not possess any intent to subvert the Commonwealth of Australia?

It’s a feeling I know all too well, and in which I was vigorously partaking when I got this message in “the group chat”.

A nice message from my friend, with a photo of a boarding pass 🙂 A good thing about messages from your friends is that they do not have any rippling consequences 🙂🙂🙂

The man in question is Tony Abbott, one of Australia’s many former Prime Ministers.

That’s him, officer

For security reasons, we try to change our Prime Minister every six months, and to never use the same Prime Minister on multiple websites.

The boarding pass photo

This particular former PM had just posted a picture of his boarding pass on Instagram (Instagram, in case you don’t know it, is an app you can open up on your phone any time to look at ads).

The since-deleted Instagram post showing the boarding pass and baggage receipt. The caption reads “coming back home from japan 😍😍 looking forward to seeing everyone! climate change isn’t real 😌 ok byeee”

“Can you hack this man?”

My friend (who we will refer to by their group chat name, 𝖍𝖔𝖌𝖌𝖊 𝖒𝖔𝖆𝖉𝖊) is asking whether I can “hack this man” not because I am the kind of person who regularly commits 𝒄𝒚𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 on a whim, but because we’d recently been talking about boarding passes.

I’d said that people post pictures of their boarding passes all the time, not knowing that it can sometimes be used to get their passport number and stuff. They just post it being like “omg going on holidayyyy 😍😍😍”, unaware that they’re posting cringe.

People post their boarding passes all the time, because it’s not clear that they’re meant to be secret

Meanwhile, some hacker is rubbing their hands together, being all “yumyum identity fraud 👀” in their dark web Discord, because this happens a lot.

So there I was, making intense and meaningful eye contact with this chat bubble, asking me if I could “hack this man”.

Surely you wouldn’t

Of course, my friend wasn’t actually asking me to hack the former Prime Minister.

However.

You gotta.

I mean… what are you gonna do, not click it? Are you gonna let a link that’s like 50% advertising tracking ID tell you what to do? Wouldn’t you be curious?

The former Prime Minister had just posted his boarding pass. Was that bad? Was someone in danger? I didn’t know.

What I did know was: the least I could do for my country would be to have a casual browse 👀

Investigating the boarding pass photo

Step 1: Hubris

So I had a bit of a casual browse, and got the picture of the boarding pass, and then…. I didn’t know what was supposed to happen after that.

Well, I’d heard that it’s bad to post your boarding pass online, because if you do, a bored 17 year-old Russian boy called “Katie-senpai” might somehow use it to commit identity fraud. But I don’t know anyone like that, so I just clumsily googled some stuff.

Googling how 2 hakc boarding pass

Eventually I found a blog post explaining that yes, pictures of boarding passes can indeed be used for Crimes. The part you wanna be looking at for all your criming needs is the barcode, because it’s got the “Booking Reference” (e.g. H8JA2A) in it.

Why do you want the booking reference? It’s one of the two things you need to log in to the airline website to manage your flight.

The second one is your… last name. I was really hoping the second one would be like a password or something. But, no, it’s the booking reference the airline emails you and prints on your boarding pass. And it also lets you log in to the airline website?

That sounds suspiciously like a password to me, but like I’m still fine to pretend it’s not if you are.

Step 2: Scan the barcode

I’ve been practicing every morning at sunrise, but still can’t scan barcodes with my eyes. I had to settle for a barcode scanner app on my phone, but when I tried to scan the picture in the Instagram post, it didn’t work :((

Maybe I shouldn’t have blurred out the barcode first

Step 2: Scan the barcode, but more

Well, maybe it wasn’t scanning because the picture was too blurry.

I spent around 15 minutes in an “enhance, ENHANCE” montage, fiddling around with the image, increasing the contrast, and so on. Despite the montage taking up way too much of the 22 minute episode, I couldn’t even get the barcode to scan.

Step 2: Notice that the Booking Reference is printed right there on the paper

After staring at this image for 15 minutes, I noticed the Booking Reference is just… printed on the baggage receipt.

I graduated university.

But it did not prepare me for this.

askdjhaflajkshdflkh

Step 3: Visit the airline’s website

After recovering from that emotional rollercoaster, I went to qantas.com.au, and clicked “Manage Booking”. In case you don’t know it because you live in a country with fast internet, Qantas is the main airline here in Australia.

(I also very conveniently started recording my screen, which is gonna pay off big time in just a moment.)

Step 4: Type in the Booking Reference

Well, the login form was just… there, and it was asking for a Booking Reference and a last name. I had just flawlessly read the Booking Reference from the boarding pass picture, and, well… I knew the last name.

I did hesitate for a split-second, but… no, I had to know.

Step 5: Crimes(?)

youngman.mp4

The “Manage Booking” page, logged in as some guy called Anthony Abbott

Can I get a YIKES in the chat

Leave a comment if you really felt that.

I guess I was now logged the heck in as Tony Abbott? And for all I know, everyone else who saw his Instagram post was right there with me. It’s kinda wholesome, to imagine us all there together. But also probably suboptimal in a governmental sense.

Was there anything secret in here?

I then just incredibly browsed the page, browsed it so hard.

I saw Tony Abbott’s name, flight times, and Frequent Flyer number, but not really anything super secret-looking. Not gonna be committing any cyber treason with a Frequent Flyer number. The flight was in the past, so I couldn’t change anything, either.

The page said the flight had been booked by a travel agent, so I guessed some information would be missing because of that.

I clicked around and scrolled a considerable length, but still didn’t find any government secrets.

Some people might give up here. But I, the Icarus of computers, was simply too dumb to know when to stop.

We’re not done just because a web page says we’re done

I wanted to see if there were juicy things hidden inside the page. To do it, I had to use the only hacker tool I know.

Right click > Inspect Element, all you need to subvert the Commonwealth of Australia

Listen. This is the only part of the story that might be confused for highly elite computer skill. It’s not, though. Maybe later someone will show you this same thing to try and flex, acting like only they know how to do it. You will not go gently into that good night. You will refuse to acknowledge their flex, killing them instantly.

How does “Inspect Element” work?

“Inspect Element”, as it’s called, is a feature of Google Chrome that lets you see the computer’s internal representation (HTML) of the page you’re looking at. Kinda like opening up a clock and looking at the cool cog party inside.

Yeahhh go little cogs, look at ‘em absolutely going off. Now imagine this but with like, JavaScript

Everything you see when you use “Inspect Element” was already downloaded to your computer, you just hadn’t asked Chrome to show it to you yet. Just like how the cogs were already in the watch, you just hadn’t opened it up to look.

But let us dispense with frivolous cog talk. Cheap tricks such as “Inspect Element” are used by programmers to try and understand how the website works. This is ultimately futile: Nobody can understand how websites work. Unfortunately, it kinda looks like hacking the first time you see it.

If you’d like to know more about it, I’ve prepared a short video.

Browsing the “Manage Booking” page’s HTML

I scrolled around the page’s HTML, not really knowing what it meant, furiously trying to find anything that looked out of place or secret.

I eventually realised that manually reading HTML with my eyes was not an efficient way of defending my country, and Ctrl + F’d the HTML for “passport”.

oh no

Oh yes

It’s just there.

At this point I was fairly sure I was looking at the extremely secret government-issued ID of the 28th Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia, servant to her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and I was kinda worried that I was somehow doing something wrong, but like, not enough to stop.

….anything else in this page?

Well damn, if Tony Abbott’s passport number is in this treasure trove of computer spaghetti, maybe there’s wayyyyy more. Perhaps this HTML contains the lost launch codes to the Sydney Opera House, or Harold Holt.

Maybe there’s a phone number?

Searching for phone and number didn’t get anywhere, so I searched for 614, the first 3 digits of an Australian phone number, using my colossal and highly celestial galaxy brain.

Weird uppercase letters

A weird pile of what I could only describe as extremely uppercase letters came up. It looked like this:

RQST QF HK1 HNDSYD/03EN|FQTV QF HK1|CTCM QF HK1 614[phone number]|CKIN QF HN1 DO NOT SEAT ROW [row number] PLS SEAT LAST ROW OF [row letter] WINDOW

So, there’s a lot going on here. There is indeed a phone number in here. But what the heck is all this other stuff?

I realised this was like… Qantas staff talking to eachother about Tony Abbott, but not to him?

In what is surely the subtweeting of the century, it has a section saying HITOMI CALLED RQSTING FASTTRACK FOR MR. ABBOTT. Hitomi must be requesting a “fasttrack” (I thought that was only a thing in movies???) from another Qantas employee.

This is messed up for many reasons

What is even going on here? Why do Qantas flight staff talk to eachother via this passenger information field? Why do they send these messages, and your passport number to you when you log in to their website? I’ll never know because I suddenly got distracted with

Forbidden airline code

I realised the allcaps museli I saw must be some airline code for something. Furious and intense googling led me to several ancient forbidden PDFs that explained some of the codes.

Apparently, they’re called “SSR codes” (Special Service Request). There are codes for things like “Vegetarian lacto-ovo meal” (VLML), “Vegetarian oriental meal” (VOML), and even “Vegetarian vegan meal” (VGML). Because I was curious about these codes, here’s some for you to be curious about too (tag urself, I’m UMNR):

RFTV Reason for Travel UMNR Unaccompanied minor PDCO Carbon Offset (chargeable) WEAP Weapon DEPA Deportee—accompanied by an escort ESAN Passenger with Emotional Support Animal in Cabin

The phone number I found looked like this: CTCM QF HK1 [phone number]. Googling “SSR CTCM” led me to the developer guide for some kind of airline association, which I assume I am basically a member of now.

CTCM QF HK1 translates as “Contact phone number of passenger 1”

Is the phone number actually his?

I thought maybe the phone number belonged to the travel agency, but I checked and it has to be the passenger’s real phone number. That would be, if my calculations are correct,,,, *steeples fingers* Tony Abbott’s phone number.

what have i done

I’d now found Tony Abbott’s:

Passport details

Phone number

Weird Qantas staff comments.

My friend who messaged me had no idea.

Tony Abbott’s passport is probably a Diplomatic passport, which is used to “represent the Australian Government overseas in an official capacity”.

what have i done

By this point I’d had enough defending my country, and had recently noticed some new thoughts in my brain, which were:

oh jeez oh boy oh jeez

i gotta get someone, somehow, to reset tony abbott’s passport number

can you even reset passport numbers

is it possible that i’ve done a crime

Intermission

Act 2: Do not get arrested challenge 2020

In this act, I, your well-meaning but ultimately incompetent protagonist, attempt to do the following things:

⬜ figure out whether i have done a crime

⬜ notify someone (tony abbott?) that this happened

⬜ get permission to publish this here blog post

⬜ tell qantas about the security issue so they can fix it

Spoilers: This takes almost six months.

Let’s skip the boring bits

I contacted a lot of people about this. If my calculations are correct, I called at least 30 phone numbers, to say nothing of The Emails. If you laid all the people I contacted end to end along the equator, they would die, and you would be arrested. Eventually I started keeping track of who I talked to in a note I now refer to as “the hashtag struggle”.

I’m gonna skip a considerable volume of tedious and ultimately unsatisfying telephony, because it’s been a long day of scrolling already, and you need to save your strength.

Alright strap yourself in and enjoy as I am drop-kicked through the goal posts of life.

Part 1: is it possible that i’ve done a crime

I didn’t think anything I did sounded like a crime, but I knew that sometimes when the other person is rich or famous, things can suddenly become crimes. Like, was there going to be some Monarch Law or something? Was Queen Elizabeth II gonna be mad about this?

My usual defence against being arrested for hacking is making sure the person being hacked is okay with it. You heard me, it’s the power of ✨consent✨. But this time I could uh only get it in retrospect, which is a bit yikes.

So I was wondering like… was logging in with someone else’s booking reference a crime? Was having someone else’s passport number a crime? What if they were, say, the former Prime Minister? Would I get in trouble for publishing a blog post about it? I mean you’re reading the blog post right now so obviousl

Update: I have been arrested.

Just straight up Reading The Law

It turned out I could just google these things, and before I knew it I was reading “the legislation”. It’s the rules of the law, just written down.

Look, reading pages of HTML? No worries. Especially if it’s to defend my country. But whoever wrote the legislation was just making up words.

Eventually, I was able to divine the following wisdoms from the Times New Roman tea leaves:

Defamation is where you get in trouble for publishing something that makes someone look bad.

But, it’s fine for me to blog about it, since it’s not defamation if you can prove it’s true

Having Tony Abbott’s passport number isn’t a crime

But using it to commit identity fraud would be

There are laws about what it’s okay to do on a computer

The things it’s okay to do are: If u EVER even LOOK at a computer the wrong way, the FBI will instantly slam dunk you in a legal fashion dependent on the legislation in your area

I am possibly the furthest thing you can be from a lawyer. So, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you not to take this as legal advice. But, if you are the kind of person who takes legal advice from mango blog posts, who am I to stand in your way? Not a lawyer, that’s who. Don’t do it.

You know what, maybe I needed help. From an adult. Someone whose 3-year old kid has been buying iPad apps for months because their parents can’t figure out how to turn it off.

“Yeah, maybe I should get some of that free government legal advice”, I thought to myself, legally. That seemed like a pretty common thing, so I thought it should be easy to do. I took a big sip of water and googled “free legal advice”.

trying to ask a lawyer if i gone and done a crime

Before I went and told everyone about my HTML frolicking, I spent a week calling legal aid numbers, lawyers, and otherwise trying to figure out if I’d done a crime.

During this time, I didn’t tell anyone what I’d done. I asked if any laws would be broken if “someone” had “logged into a website with someone’s publicly-posted password and found the personal information of a former politician”. Do you see how that’s not even a lie? I’m starting to see how lawyers do it.

Calling Legal Aid places

First I call the state government’s Legal Aid number. They tell me they don’t do that here, and I should call another Legal Aid place named something slightly different.

The second place tells me they don’t do that either, and I should call the First Place and “hopefully you get someone more senior”.

I call the First Place again, and they say “oh you’ve been given the run around!”. You see where this is going.

Let’s skip a lot of phone calls. Take my hand as I whisk you towards the slightly-more-recent past. Based on advice I got from two independent lawyers that was definitely not legal advice: I haven’t done a crime.

Helllllll yeah. But I mean it’s a little late because I forgot to mention that by this point I had already emailed explicit details of my activities to the Australian Government.

☑️ figure out whether i have done a crime

⬜ notify someone (tony abbott?) that this happened

⬜ get permission to publish this here blog post

⬜ tell qantas about the security issue so they can fix it

Part 2: trying to report the problem to someone, anyone, please

I had Tony Abbott’s passport number, phone number, and weird Qantas messages about him. I was the only one who knew I had these.

Anyone who saw that Instagram post could also have them. I felt like I had to like, tell someone about this. Someone with like, responsibilities. Someone with an email signature.

wait but do u see the irony in this, u have his phone number right there so u could just-

Yes I see it thank u for pointing this out, wise, astute, and ultimately self-imposed heading. I knew I could just call the number any time and hear a “G’day” I’d never be able to forget. I knew I had a rare opportunity to call someone and have them ask “how did you get this number!?”.

But you can’t just do that.

You can’t just call someone’s phone number that you got by rummaging around in the HTML ball pit. Tony Abbott didn’t want me to have his phone number, because he didn’t give it to me. Maybe if it was urgent, or I had no other option, sure. But I was pretty sure I should do this the Nice way, and show that I come in peace.

I wanted to show that I come in peace because there’s also this pretty yikes thing that happens where you email someone being all like “henlo ur website let me log in with username admin and password admin, maybe u wanna change that??? could just be me but let me kno what u think xoxo alex” and then they reply being like “oh so you’re a HACKER and a CRIMINAL and you’ve HACKED ME AND MY FAMILY TOO and this is a RANSOM and ur from the DARK WEB i know what that is i’ve seen several episodes of mr robot WELL watch out kiddO bc me and my lawyers are bulk-installing tens of thousands of copies of McAfee® Gamer Security as we speak, so i’d like 2 see u try”

I googled “tony abbott contact”, but there’s only his official website. There’s no phone number on it, only a “contact me” form.

I imagine there have been some passionate opinions typed into this form at 9pm on a Tuesday

Yeah right, have you seen the incredible volume of #content people want to say at politicians? No way anyone’s reading that form.

I later decided to try anyway, using the same Inspect Element ritual from earlier. Looking at the network requests the page makes, I divined that the “Contact me” form just straight up does not work. When you click “submit”, you get an error, and nothing gets sent.

This is an excellent way of using computers to solve the problem of “random people keep sending me angry letters”

Well rip I guess. I eventually realised the people to talk to were probably the government.

The government

It’s a big place.

In the beginning, humans developed the concept of language by banging rocks together and saying “oof, oog, and so on”. Then something went horribly wrong, and now people unironically begin every sentence with “in regards to”. Our story begins here.

The government has like fifty thousand million different departments, and they all know which acronyms to call each other, but you don’t. If you EVER call it DMP&C instead of DPM&C you are gonna be express email forwarded into a nightmare realm the likes of which cannot be expressed in any number of spreadsheet cells, in spite of all the good people they’ve lost trying.

I didn’t even know where to begin with this. Desperately, I called Tony Abbott’s former political party, who were all like

Skip skip skip a few more calls like this.

Maybe I knew someone who knew someone

That’s right, the true government channels were the friends we made along the way.

I asked hacker friends who seemed like they might know government security people. “Where do I report a security issue with like…. a person, not a website?”

They told me to call… 1300 CYBER1?

1300 CYBER1

I don’t really have a good explanation for this so I’m just gonna post the screenshots.

My friend showing me where to report a security issue with the government. I’m gonna need you to not ask any questions about the profile pictures.

Uhhh no wait I don’t wanna click any of these

The planet may be dying, but we live in a truly unparalleled age of content.

You know I smashed that call button on 1300 CYBER1. Did they just make it 1300 CYBER then realise you need one more digit for a phone number? Incredible.

Calling 1300 c y b e r o n e

“Yes yes hello, ring ring, is this 1300 cyber one”? They have to say yes if you ask that. They’re legally obligated.

The person who picked up gave me an email address for ASD (the Australian flavour of America’s NSA), and told me to email them the details.

Emailing the government my crimes

Feeling like the digital equivalent of three kids in a trenchcoat, I broke out my best Government Email dialect and emailed ASD, asking for them to call me if they were the right place to tell about this.

Sorry for the clickbait subject but well that’s what happened???

Fooled by my flawless disguise, they replied instantly (in a relative sense) asking for more details.

“Potential” exposure, yeah okay. At least the subject line had “[SEC=Sensitive]” in it so I _knew_ I’d made it big

I absolutely could provide them with more information, so I did, because I love to cooperate with the Australian government.

I also asked whether they could give me permission to publish this blog post, and they were all like “Seen 2:35pm”. Eventually, after another big day of getting left on read by the government, they replied, being all like “thanks kiddO, we’re doing like, an investigation and stuff, so we’ll take it from here”.

Overall, ASD were really nice to me about it and happy that I’d helped. They encouraged me to report this kind of thing to them if it happened again, but I’m not really in the business of uhhhhhhhh whatever the heck this is.

By the way, at this point in the story (chronologically) I had no idea if what I was emailing the government was actually the confession to a crime, since I hadn’t talked to a lawyer yet. This is widely regarded as a bad move. I do not recommend anyone else use “but I’m being so helpful and earnest!!!” as a legal defence. But also I’m not a lawyer, so idk, maybe it works?

Wholesomely emailing the government

At one point in what was surely an unforgettable email chain, the person I was emailing added a P.S. containing…. the answer to the puzzle hidden on this website. The one you’re reading this blog on right now. Hello. I guess they must have found this website (hi asd) by stalking the email address I was sending from. This is unprecedented and everything, but:

The puzzle says to tweet the answer at me, not email me

The prize for doing the puzzle is me tweeting this gif of a shakas to you

yeahhhhhhhhhh, nice

So I guess I emailed the shakas gif to the government??? Yeah, I guess I did.

Please find attached

Can I write about this?

I asked them if they could give me permission to write this blog post, or who to ask, and they were like “uhhhhhhhhhhh” and gave me two government media email addresses to try. Listen I don’t wanna be an “ummm they didn’t reply to my emAiLs” kinda person buT they simply left me no choice.

Still, defending the Commonwealth was in ASD’s hands now, and that’s a win for me at this point.

☑️ figure out whether i have done a crime

☑️ notify someone (The Government) that this happened

⬜ get permission to publish this here blog post

⬜ tell qantas about the security issue so they can fix it

Part 3: Telling Qantas the bad news

The security issue

Hey remember like fifteen minutes ago when this post was about webpages?

I’m guessing Qantas didn’t want to send the customer their passport number, phone number, and staff comments about them, so I wanted to let them know their website was doing that. Maybe the website was well meaning, but ultimately caused more harm than good, like how that time the bike path railings on the Golden Gate Bridge accidentally turned it into the world’s largest harmonica.

Unblending the smoothie

But why does the website even send you all that stuff in the first place? I don’t know, but to speculate wildly: Maybe the website just sends you all the data it knows about you, and then only shows you your name, flight times, etc, while leaving the passport number etc. still in the page.

If that were true, then Qantas would want to unblend the digital smoothie they’ve sent you, if you will. They’d want to change it so that they only send you your name and flight times and stuff (which are a key ingredient of the smoothie to be sure), not the whole identity fraud smoothie.

Smoothie evangelism

I wanted to tell them the smoothie thing, but how do I contact them?

The first place to check is usually company.com/security, maybe that’ll w-

Okay nevermind

Okay fine maybe I should just email [email protected] surely that’s it? I could only find a phone number to report security problems to, and I wasn’t sure if it was like…. airport security?

So I just… called the number and was like “heyyyy uhhhh I’d like to report a cyber security issue?”, and the person was like “yyyyya just email [email protected]” and i was like “ok sorrY”.

Time to email Qantas I guess

I emailed Qantas, being like “beep boop here is how the computer problem works”.

(Have you been wondering about the little dots in this post? Click this one for the rest of the email .)

A few days later, I got this reply.

And then I never heard from this person again

Airlines were going through kinda a struggle at the time, so I guess that’s what happened?

if ur still out there Shr Security i miss u

Struggles

After filling up my “get left on read” combo meter, I desperately resorted to calling Qantas’ secret media hotline number.

They said the issue was being fixed by Amadeus, the company who makes their booking software, rather than with Qantas itself. I’m not sure if that means other Amadeus customers were also affected, or if it was just the way Qantas was using their software, or what.

It’s common to give companies 90 days to fix the bug, before you publicly disclose it. It’s a tradeoff between giving them enough time to fix it, and people being hacked because of the bug as long as it’s out there.

But, well, this was kinda a special case. Qantas was going through some #struggles, so it was taking longer. Lots of their staff were stood down, and the world was just generally more cooked. At the same time, hardly anybody was flying at the time, due to see above re: #struggles. So, I gave Qantas as much time as they needed.

Five months later

The world is a completely different place, and Qantas replies to me, saying they fixed the bug. It did take five months, which is why it took so long for you and I to be having this weird textual interaction right now.

I don’t have a valid Booking Reference, so I can’t actually check what’s changed. I asked a friend to check (with an expired Booking Reference), and they said they didn’t see a mention of “documentNumber” anymore, which sounds like the passport number is no longer there. But That’s Not Science, so I don’t know for sure.

I originally found the bug in March, which was about 60 years ago. BUT we got there baybee, Qantas emailed me saying the bug had been fixed on August 21. They later told me they actually fixed the bug in July, but the person I was talking too didn’t know about it until August.

Qantas also said this when I asked them to review this post:

Thanks again for letting us have the opportunity to review and again for refraining from posting until the fix was in place for vulnerability.

Our standard advice to customers is not to post pictures of the boarding pass, or to at least obscure the key personal information if they do, because of the detail it contains.

We appreciate you bringing it to our attention in such a responsible way, so we could fix the issue, which we did a few months ago now.

I couldn’t find any advice on their website about not posting pictures of customer boarding passes, only news articles about how Qantas stopped printing the Frequent Flyer number on the boarding pass last year, because… well, you can see why.

I also asked Qantas what they did to fix the bug, and they said:

Unfortunately we’re not able to provide the details of fix as it is part of the protection of personal information.

:((

☑️ figure out whether i have done a crime

☑️ notify someone (The Government) that this happened

⬜ get permission to publish this here blog post

☑️ tell qantas about the security issue so they can fix it

Part 4: Finding Tony Abbott

Like 2003’s Finding Nemo, this section was an emotional rollercoaster.

The government was presumably helping Tony Abbott reset his passport number, and making sure his current one wasn’t being used for any of that yucky identity fraud.

But, much like Shannon Noll’s 2004 What About Me?, what about me? I really wanted to write a blog post about it, you know? So I could warn people about the non-obvious risk of sharing their boarding passes, and also make dumb and inaccessible references to the early 2000s.

The government people I talked to couldn’t give me permission to write this post, so rather than willingly wandering deeper into the procedurally generated labyrinth of government department email addresses (it’s dark in there), I tried to find Tony Abbott or his staff directly.

Calling everybody in Australia one by one

I called Tony Abbott’s former political party again, and asked them how to contact him, or his office, or something I’m really having a moment rn. They said they weren’t associated with him anymore, and suggested I call Parliament House, like I was the Queen or something.

In case you don’t know it, Parliament House is sorta like the White House, I think? The Prime Minister lives there and has a nice little garden out the back with a macadamia tree that never runs out, and everyone works in different colourful sections like “Making it so Everyone Gets a Fair Shake of the Sauce Bottle R&D” and “Mateship” and they all wear matching uniforms with lil kangaroo and emu hats, and they all do a little dance every hour on the hour to celebrate another accident-free day in the Prime Minister’s chocolate factory.

calling parliament house i guess

Not really sure what to expect, I called up and was all like “yeah bloody g’day, day for it ay, hot enough for ya?”. Once the formalities were out of the way, I skipped my usual explanation of why I was calling and just asked point-blank if they had Tony Abbott’s contact details.

The person on the phone was casually like “Oh, no, but I can put you through to the Serjeant-at-arms, who can give you the contact details of former members”. I was like “…..okay?????”. Was I supposed to know who that was? Isn’t a Serjeant like an army thing?

But no, the Serjeant-at-arms was just a nice lady who told me “he’s in a temporary office right now, and so doesn’t have a phone number. I can give you an email address or a P.O. box?”. I was like “ok th-thank you your majesty”.

It felt a bit weird just…. emailing the former PM being like “boy do i have bad news for you”, but I figured he probably wouldn’t read it anyway. If it was that easy to get this email address, everyone had it, and so nobody was likely to be reading the inbox.

Spoilers: It didn’t work.

Finding Tony Abbott’s staff

I roll out of bed and stare bleary-eyed into the morning sun, my ultimate nemesis, as Day 40 of not having found Tony Abbott’s staff begins.

This time for sure.

Retinas burning, in a moment of determination/desperation/hubris, I went and asked even more people that might know how to contact Tony Abbott’s staff.

I asked a journalist friend, who had the kind of ruthlessly efficient ideas that come from, like, being a professional journalist. They suggested I find Tony Abbott’s former staff from when he was PM, and contact their offices and see if they have his contact details.

It was a strange sounding plan to me, which I thought meant it would definitely work.

Wikipedia stalking

Apparently Prime Ministers themselves have “ministers” (not prime), and those are their staff. That’s who I was looking for.

Big “me and the boys” energy

Okay but, the problem was that most of these people are retired now, and the glory days of 2013 are over. Each time I hover over one of their names, I see “so-and-so is a former politician and….” and discard their Wikipedia page like a LeSnak wrapper into the wind.

Eventually though, I saw this minister.

Oh he definitely has an office.

That’s the current Prime Minister of Australia (at the time of writing, that is, for all I know we’re three Prime-Ministers deep into 2020 by the time you read this), you know he’s definitely gonna be easier to find.

Let’s call the Prime Minister’s office I guess?

Easy google of the number, absolutely no emotional journey resulting in my growth as a person this time.

When I call, I hear what sounds like two women laughing in the background? One of them answers the phone, slightly out of breath, and says “Hello, Prime Minister’s office?”. I’m like “….hello? Am I interrupting something???”.

I clumsily explain that I know this is Scott Morrison’s office, but I actually was wondering if they had Tony Abbott’s contact details, because it’s for “a time-sensitive media enquiry”, and I j- She interrupts to explain “so Tony Abbott isn’t Prime Minister anymore, this is Scott Morrison’s office” and I’m like “yA I know please I am desperate for these contact details”.

She says “We wouldn’t have that information but I’ll just check for you” and then pauses for like, a long time? Like 15 seconds? I can only wonder what was happening on the other end. Then she says “Oh actually I can give you Tony Abbott’s personal assistant’s number? Is that good?”.

Ummmm YES thanks that’s what I’ve been looking for this whole time? Anyway brb i gotta go be uh a journalist or something.

Calling Tony Abbott’s personal assistant’s personal assistant

I fumble with my phone, furiously trying to dial the number.

I ask if I’m speaking to Tony Abbott’s personal assistant. The person on the other end says no, but he is one of Tony Abbott’s staff. It has been a long several months of calling people. The cold ice is starting to thaw. One day, with enough therapy, I may be able to gather the emotional resources necessary to call another government phone number.

I explain the security issue I want to report, and midway through he interrupts with “sorry…. who are you and what’s the organisation you’re calling from?” and I’m like “uhhhh I mean my name is Alex and uhh I’m not calling from any organisation I’m just like a person?? I just found this thing and…”.

The person is mercifully forgiving, and says that he’ll have to call me back. I stress once again that I’m calling to help them, happy to wait to publish until they feel comfortable, and definitely do not warrant the bulk-installation of antivirus products.

Calling Tony Abbott’s personal assistant

An hour later, I get a call from a number I don’t recognise.

He explains that the guy I talked to earlier was his assistant, and he’s Tony Abbott’s PA. Folks, we made it. It’s as easy as that.

He says he knows what I’m talking about. He’s got the emails. He’s already in the process of getting Tony Abbott a new passport number. This is the stuff. It’s all coming together.

I ask if I can publish a blog post about it, and we agree I’ll send a draft for him to review.

And then he says

“These things do interest him - he’s quite keen to talk to you”

I was like exCUSE me? Tony Abbott, Leader of the 69th Ministry of Australia, wants to call me on the phone? I suppose I owe this service to my country?

This story was already completely cooked so sure, whatever. I’d already declared emotional bankruptcy, so nothing was coming as a surprise at this point.

I asked what he wanted to talk about. “Just to pick your brain on these things”. We scheduled a call for 3:30 on Monday.

And then Tony Abbott just… calls me on the phone?

Mostly, he wanted to check whether his understanding of how I’d found his passport number was correct (it was). He also wanted to ask me how to learn about “the IT”.

He asked some intelligent questions, like “how much information is in a boarding pass, and what do people like me need to know to be safe?”, and “why can you get a passport number from a boarding pass, but not from a bus ticket?”.

The answer is that boarding passes have your password printed on them, and bus tickets don’t. You can use that password to log in to a website (widely regarded as a bad move), and at that point all bets are off, websites can just do whatever they want.

He was vulnerable, too, about how computers are harder for him to understand.

“It’s a funny old world, today I tried to log in to a [Microsoft] Teams meeting (Teams is one of those apps), and the fire brigade uses a Teams meeting. Anyway I got fairly bamboozled, and I can now log in to a Teams meeting in a way I couldn’t before.

It’s, I suppose, a terrible confession of how people my age feel about this stuff.”

Then the Earth stopped spinning on its axis.

For an instant, time stood still.

Then he said it:

“You could drop me in the bush and I’d feel perfectly confident navigating my way out, looking at the sun and direction of rivers and figuring out where to go, but this! Hah!”

This was possibly the most pure and powerful Australian energy a human can possess, and explains how we elected our strongest as our leader. The raw energy did in fact travel through the phone speaker and directly into my brain, killing me instantly.

When I’d collected myself from various corners of the room, he asked if there was a book about the basics of IT, since he wanted to learn about it. That was kinda humanising, since it made me realise that even famous people are just people too.

Anyway I hadn’t heard of a book that was any good, so I told a story about my mum instead.

A story about my mum instead

I said there probably was a book out there about “the basics of IT”, but it wouldn’t help much. I didn’t learn from a book. 13 year old TikTok influencers don’t learn from a book. They just vibe.

My mum always said when I was growing up that:

There were “too many buttons”

She was afraid to press the buttons, because she didn’t know what they did

I can understand that, since grown ups don’t have the sheer dumb hubris of a child, and that’s what makes them afraid of the buttons.

Like, when a toddler uses a spoon for the first time, they don’t know what a spoon is, where they are, or who the current Prime Minister is. But they see the spoon, and they see the cereal, and their dumb baby brain is just like “yeA” and they have a red hot go. And like, they get it wrong the first few times, but it doesn’t matter, because they don’t know to be afraid of getting it wrong. So eventually, they get it right.

leaked footage of me learning how to hack

Okay so I didn’t tell the spoon thing to Tony Abbott, but I did tell him what I always told my mum, which was: “Mum you just gotta press all the buttons, to find out what they do”.

He was like “Oh, you just learn by trial and error”. Exactly! Now that I think about it, it’s a bit scary. We are dumb babies learning to use a spoon for the first time, except if you do it wrong some clown writes a blog post about you. Anyway good luck out there to all you big babies.

Asking to publish this blog post

When I asked Tony Abbott for permission to publish the post you are reading right now while neglecting your responsibilities, he said “well look Alex, I don’t have a problem with it, you’ve alerted me to something I probably should have known about, so if you wanna do that, go for it”.

At the end of the call, he said “If there’s ever anything you think I need to know, give us a shout”.

Look you gotta hand it to him. That’s exactly the right way to respond when someone tells you about a security problem. Back at the beginning, I was kinda worried that he might misunderstand, and think I was trying to hack him or something, and that I’d be instantly slam dunked into jail. But nope, he was fine with it. And now you, a sweet and honourable blog post browser, get to learn the dangers of posting your boarding pass by the realest of real-world examples.

During the call, I was completely in shock from the lost in the bush thing killing me instantly, and so on. But afterwards, when I looked at the quotes, I realised he just wanted to understand what had happened to him, and more about how technology works. That’s the same kind of curiosity I had, that started this whole surrealist three-act drama. That… wasn’t really what I was expecting from Tony Abbott, but it’s what I found.

The point of this story isn’t to say “wow Tony Abbott got hacked, what a dummy”. The point is that if someone famous can unknowingly post their boarding pass, anyone can.

Anyway that’s why I vote right wing now baybeeeee.

☑️ figure out whether i have done a crime

☑️ notify someone (The Government) that this happened

☑️ get permission to publish this here blog post

☑️ tell qantas about the security issue so they can fix it

Act 3: Closing credits

Wait no what the heck did I just read

Yeah look, reasonable.

tl; dr

Your boarding pass for a flight can sometimes be used to get your passport number. Don’t post your boarding pass or baggage receipt online, keep it as secret as your passport.

How it works

The Booking Reference on the boarding pass can be used to log in to the airline’s “Manage Booking” page, which sometimes contains the passport number, depending on the airline. I saw that Tony Abbott had posted a photo of his boarding pass on Instagram, and used it to get his passport details, phone number, and internal messages between Qantas flight staff about his flight booking.

Why did you do this?

One day, my friend who was also in “the group chat” said “I was thinking…. why didn’t I hack Tony Abbott? And I realised I guess it’s because you have more hubris”.

I was deeply complimented by this, but that’s not the point. The point is that you, too, can have hubris.

You know how they say to commit a crime (which once again I insist did not happen in my case) you need means, motive, and opportunity? Means is the ability to use right click > Inspect Element, motive is hubris, and opportunity is the dumb luck of having my friend message me the Instagram post.

I know, I’ve been saying “hubris” a lot. I mean “the willingness to risk breaking the rules”. Now hold up, don’t go outside and do crimes (unless it’s really funny). I’m not talking about breaking the law, I’m talking about rules we just follow without realising, like social rules and conventions.

Here’s a simple example. You’re at a sufficiently fancy restaurant, like I dunno, with white tablecloths or something? The waiter asks if you’d like “still or sparkling water?”

If you say “still”, it costs Eleven Dollars. If you say “sparkling”, it costs Eleven Dollars and tastes all gross and fizzy. But if you say “tap water, please”, you just get tap water, what you wanted in the first place?

When I first saw someone do this I was like “you can do that? I just thought you had to pay Eleven Dollars extra at fancy restaurants!”.

It’s not written down anywhere that you can ask for tap water. But when I found out you could do that, and like, nothing bad happens, I could suddenly do it too. Miss me with that Eleven Dollars fizzy water.

Basically, until you’ve broken the rules, the idea that the rules can be broken might just not occur to you. That’s how it felt for me, at least.

In conclusion, to be a hacker u ask for tap water.

FAQ

Why is it bad for someone else to have your passport number?

Hey crime gang, welcome back to Identity Fraud tips and tricks with Alex.

A passport is government-issued ID. It’s how you prove you’re you. The fact that you have your passport and I don’t is how you prevent me from convincing the government that I’m you and doing crimes in your name.

Just having the information on the passport is not quite as powerful as a photo of the full physical passport, with your photo and everything.

With your passport number, someone could:

Book an international flight as you.

Apply for anything that requires proof of identity documentation with the government, e.g. Working with children check

Activate a SIM card (and so get an internet connection that’s traceable to you, not them, hiding them from the government)

Create a fake physical passport from a template, with the correct passport number (which they then use to cross a border, open a bank account, or anything)

who knows what else, not me, bc i have never done a crime

Am I a big bozo, a big honking goose, if I post my boarding pass on Instagram?

Nah, it’s an easy mistake to make. How are you supposed to know not to? It’s not obvious that your boarding pass is secret, like a password. I think it’s on the airline to inform you on the risks you’re taking when you use their stuff.

But now that you’ve read this blog post, I regret to inform you that you will in fact be an entire sack of geese if you go and post your boarding pass now.

When did all of this happen?

March 22 - @hontonyabbott posts a picture of a boarding pass and baggage receipt. I log in to the website and get the passport number, phone number, and internal Qantas comments.

March 24 - I contact the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and let them know what happened.

March 27 - ASD tells me their investigation is complete, I send them a shakas gif, and they thank me for being a good citizen.

March 29 - I learn from lawyers that I have not done a crime 💯

March 30 - I contact Qantas and tell them about the vulnerability.

May 1 - Tony Abbott calls me, we chat about being dropped in the middle of the bush.

July 17 - Paper Mario: The Origami King is released for Nintendo Switch.

August 21 - Qantas emails me saying the security problem has been fixed.

September 13 - Various friends finish reviewing this post <3

September 15 - Tony Abbott and Qantas review this post.

Today - You read this post instead of letting it read you, nice job you.

I’m bored and tired

Let me answer that question,,, with a question.

Maybe try drinking some water you big goose. Honk honk, I’m so dehydrated lol. That’s you.

honk honk honk honl

Yeah, exactly.

I wrote this because I can’t go back to the Catholic church ever since they excommunicated me in 1633 for insisting the Earth revolves around the sun.

You can talk to me about it by sliding into my DMs in the tweet zone or, if you must, email.

[tastydregs]

Apprentice raises $7.5 million to expedite lab work with AI and AR

Apprentice.io, a startup developing a conversational AI and augmented reality platform for pharmaceutical, biotech, and chemical companies, today announced that it has raised $7.5 million. CEO and cofounder Angelo Stracquatanio says the capital will enable Apprentice to scale to accommodate customer growth attributable to the pandemic.

A shortage of lab workers is hastening the adoption of automation-driven “augmentation” technologies. (The number of laboratory training programs available to students decreased by nearly 25% between 1990 and 2018.) An American Society for Clinical Pathology study revealed that the increasing workload is compelling lab managers to hire recent graduates or candidates with bachelor’s degrees but no laboratory training. Automation and digital guidance tools like Apprentice’s can upskill young professionals while ensuring quality standards aren’t compromised.

Apprentice’s suite supports batch execution, with computer vision systems tailored to life sciences that understand how operators are interacting with equipment to provide real-time feedback. The platform allows managers to plan out batches and schedule campaigns for an entire year and to set parameters for batch runs so that every batch remains the same. Using AI and machine learning, Apprentice facilitates dynamic batch flows, data reporting, and data monitoring, and it integrates with existing enterprise systems to make batch record processes ostensibly faster.

Beyond batch execution, Apprentice can “augment” files like PDFs and records with captured data, linked resources, and more. It supports the creation of workflows that can be executed on devices like smart glasses to provide operators voice-guided, hands-free instructions, and it allows the recording of instructional media (e.g., audio, photos, videos, and digital readings) for proof of compliance and future reference material. On the training side of the equation, Operators can use Apprentice to learn in-suite and simulate procedures, and to view instructions as they recreate workflows within teams that mimic actual interactions.

Apprentice maintains a log of steps within processes for posterity — and auditing. It accounts for materials and products as they’re used in one phase and in subsequent phases, and it helps ensure equipment is properly checked, cleaned, and cleared of unwanted items before runs. The platform organizes and captures data about how teams interact with equipment, instruments, raw materials, and consumables, and it tracks and monitors inventory throughout product lifecycles to minimize over-ordering and delivery delays.

Apprentice’s barcode scanner lets operators log and track items, materials, and batch information with timestamps, while a complementary telepresence feature allows managers to perform quick, second-part inspections for review and sign-off. The company’s Tandem tool provides a way for employees to troubleshoot during critical situations, either with headsets, videoconferencing, phone dial-in, screen-sharing, augmented reality overlays, live drawing, or a combination of those things. Participants need only send a link to an unlimited number of people via a calendar invite, message, or email to kick off a Tandem session. From there, hosts can query data using external enterprise tools like Microsoft Word and Outlook and flip on settings like live translation captions in over nine global languages.

Vendors can also tap into Tandem remotely to provide support. The program affords them information about the relationship between in-use devices and the environment in which they’re being used, including a device user’s location, equipment details, Wi-Fi signal strength, and more. Those vendors also gain access to augmented reality tools, including laser pointers, “arrow drops,” and high-definition screenshots with annotations that can be leveraged to visually guide someone through troubleshooting steps.

Above: The augmented reality guidance tool offered within Tandem.

Image Credit: Apprentice.io

New Jersey-based Apprentice, which claims to retain Fortune 100 clients in life sciences based in the U.S., Asia, South America, and Europe, says site deployments have increased 6 times since March, as a result of the pandemic. To meet this demand, the company has been shipping lab technicians rapid deployment kits preconfigured with its augmented reality and intelligent software solutions.

Insight Partners led this latest investment, which brings the startup’s total raised to nearly $20 million following an $8 million round in September 2018.

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[jackrgaines]

6 Best WordPress Plugins for Event Management 

The post 6 Best WordPress Plugins for Event Management  appeared first on HostGator Blog.

Small businesses thrive on hosting events, whether it’s local or online. Events offer these teams a chance to connect with customers and build partnerships with other businesses. 

However, managing and promoting those events can easily turn into a hassle. Thanks to WordPress plugins, you can manage event venues, sell tickets, and track attendance for your events. 

So, make event management easier for your entire team. Try one (or maybe a few) of the WordPress event management plugins below. 

1. Events Manager

Events are complex gatherings requiring a designated team member to juggle every single detail. So, it’s essential for event managers to create a to-do list and make key decisions on when to complete each task. 

The success of your event starts in the planning stage. Set your main event goals to plan your action steps. Jacob Thomas, contributing writer at Bizzabo, writes:

“Knowing how to best prioritize your time and efforts is a common productivity tip. The more focused you can be on the right objectives, the more success you’ll see. This is especially true when planning an event.”

Events Manager gives your team flexibility to easily create events, accept bookings, and manage attendees within one plugin. You can create single or recurring events, offer multiple tickets, and set the specific price. There’s also an option to allow visitors to search your events by location, even if it’s a webinar.

2. Modern Events Calendar Lite

Research shows that 96% of small business owners think in-person meetings are worth the investment. Face-to-face meetings are an opportunity to socialize with customers and industry colleagues, especially in relaxed environments. 

For instance, some small businesses host meetups at large conferences for their VIP guests. This social gathering usually includes lots of networking, branded swag, and tasty hors d’oeuvres. It also allows your guests to make more meaningful connections in a smaller crowd.

Plan your upcoming event with Modern Events Calendar Lite, a comprehensive event management plugin for creating a single or recurring event on your website. You can choose several locations for an event, add a countdown view for your attendees, and integrate with Google Calendar.

Moreover, the plugin is user-friendly for your event-goers. Its integrated online event registration helps your visitors conveniently purchase tickets and sign up for events.

3. WP Event Manager

Event managers act as the glue that holds everything together. They must satisfy the needs of multiple stakeholders while ensuring vendors and attendees are satisfied.

Time management is essential to event planning, so it makes sense to keep others informed of when and how to connect with you. With so many things to do, you’ll want to set clear expectations. Margaret Jones, the managing editor at Eventbrite, offers some sound advice: 

“To orchestrate an event, you have to work with a lot of stakeholders, sponsors, consultants, and talent. Set expectations upfront with each so that there’s a cut-off point for any changes. For instance, make sure you make it clear with vendors that they can’t back out after a certain date.”

WP Event Manager frees up your time by allowing you to create, manage, and categorize events on your website. It comes with a Preview option for you to review event schedules before you hit publish. This plugin also includes search and filtering features to help your visitors find event listings quickly.

4. Tickera

Brand awareness is a major part of hosting events for your small business. It gives potential customers an inside look at your company, team, and products. 

Research uncovered that following a live event experience, 38% of attendees visit the company’s website, 32% purchase its products or services, and 30% use or wear an item with the brand’s logo on it, such as a T-shirt or pen. You can set similar baseline figures to gauge engagement for your online and offline events. 

Before you earn engagement, you’ll need to sell tickets on your website. Tickera can help you sell and send tickets to your attendees. A third-party isn’t necessary for setup; that way, your small business can control all the event profits. 

This WordPress plugin also allows you to check-in attendees; you can use the iPhone or Android mobile apps, a Barcode reader, or a Chrome Desktop application. No more long waiting lines for your event-goers.

5. All-in-One Event Calendar

Beyond event planning, execution is key for event management. Everyone on your team needs dedicated time to actually get tasks completed.

“With a clear event plan in place, you need the time and space in your day to actually execute it. At Asana, we have ‘No Meeting Wednesdays’ so everyone can hit their productive stride on important work without getting interrupted by meetings for an entire day,” states Nikki Henderson, marketing content manager at Asana.

With All-in-One Event Calendar, you can get peace of mind managing all your events in a single place. This tool comes with filtering by event category, embedded Google Maps, and multiple view settings.

You can customize the calendar appearance to match your website’s theme. Plus, you can embed the event calendar on your WordPress page without creating template files.

6. The Events Calendar

As the event date gets closer, you’ll be checking off your final to-dos. You’ll need another burst of energy to get your team to the finish line. Candice Simons, CEO and founder of Brooklyn Outdoor, offers a few last-minute suggestions: 

“You will realize there is a lot to get done to make everything run smoothly. When you are about two weeks out from the event, you will want to think about meeting with your team, visiting the venue and confirming your guest list to make sure everyone is on the same page.”

The Events Calendar makes it easy to add new details to your event in its admin menu. If you frequently have events at the same venue or web conference link, you can save the event information and duplicate it for future use. In addition, this plugin is responsive for mobile devices.

Plan Your Next Event with the Help of WordPress Event Plugins

Event management involves several moving parts. With these WordPress plugins, you have the flexibility to post events, register attendees, and accept online payments.

Find the post on the HostGator Blog

from HostGator Blog https://www.hostgator.com/blog/best-wordpress-plugins-event-management/

[thetechmedia1]

Google launches Lookout 2.0 for Android, allowing users to scan food labels and more

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Google today launched its latest update of The Lookout app –  Lookout 2.0 which aims to improve the life of the visually impaired even further.

“To help people who are blind or low-vision complete (these) daily tasks faster and more easily, we’re introducing updates to Lookout on Android: new modes, a more accessible design, and expansion to even more Android devices, “Google wrote in a blog post.

With this new update, the Lookout app will recognize Food Labels, which will help users identify packaged foods by pointing their cameras at the label. The app will also guide you to place the product in a way that lets it be recognized via its packaging or barcode, for enhanced convenience of the visually impaired. According to Scott Adams, product manager for Google’s Accessibility Engineering, this would let Lookout “distinguish between a can of corn and a can of green beans,” for example.

The second mode is Scan Document, which as its name suggests can take a snapshot of a letter or other documents and read it aloud. Adams said this tool will “capture the entire document’s content in detail” for your screen reader to narrate to you, and can make tasks like sorting through mail easier.

Lookout’s new design is based on “feedback from the blind & low-vision community,” Adams further divulged. It works seamlessly with Android’s TalkBack screen reader, giving more space to the camera’s viewfinder so you can capture more into the frame for the Scan Document feature. Besides, it will now also allow users to scroll between modes at the bottom of the screen instead of the slightly long-drawn process of having to tap back and forth to change them.

Google launched the Lookout app in 2019 aimed at people who are blind or have low vision, helping them navigate the world with their phones. However, it was was only available on Pixel phones  and supported only the English language up until now.

With this update, Lookout will no longer remain a Pixel-only app and will be made accessible from Play Store on any Android device with more than 2GB of RAM, running Android 6.0 or newer. In its latest update, it has rolled out other major languages such as French, Italian, German, and Spanish to the list of supported languages.

With the updates to Lookout and the recent rollout of Live Caption for Calls with the Pixel 4a, it’s great to see Google focussing more on its accessibility features to cater to a wider range of audiences which, a lot of times, is ignored by the mainstream companies.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2PKaLHd via IFTTT

[anneedmonds]

Life Update: What Have I Done?

I’ve had a slightly longer break from work than anticipated; but don’t worry, there’s nothing sinister afoot. I’m not ill, the dog didn’t die, I’ve not had a drastic facelift that meant I needed to hide behind bandages for a month. I was just absolutely shattered before Christmas and then the school holidays (aka “the great relentless abyss of no childcare”) completely finished me off.

I won’t harp on about Christmas not being a holiday – you can read this post from the same time last year and just update the kids’ ages – but it’s safe to say that having a four and two year old is as much work (possibly more) than having a three and a one year old. At least toddlers (generally) haven’t discovered eye-rolling and chat-back. At least toddlers are vaguely amused by wrapping paper, empty boxes and the jangly bell from a Lindt bunny tied to the end of a piece of ribbon. Fast-forward a year and the children now want painting games on the iPad and festive biscuit-decorating sessions.

Anyway, to cut a long and fairly pedestrian story short, I decided to take a few casual days off when school started back last week so that I actually had more than twenty seconds to myself. It was great. On the first of the two child-free days (there were four school days in total but Ted only goes to nursery part time) I stayed in bed looking for second hand velvet sofas on eBay and browsing for vintage rugs on Vinterior. On the second child-free day, which – alas – wasn’t consecutive – I went to Bath in the morning with Mr AMR, had some lunch and then sorted out the shoes and boots in the utility room. Bliss.

So that covers the two days last week when I actually had some proper time off: what of the rest of the “holiday”? What an earth have I been up to, seeing as though I’ve been on a self-imposed social media ban which theoretically should free up about nine hours a day? Here’s a run-down: brace positions, people, it’s a wild ride.

I learnt how to use the scanner thing at Sainsbury’s. Have you used these supermarket handheld beepy scanner things? I’m not talking about the self checkout tills, which are so useless and stress-inducing they make me want to chew off my own feet, I’m referring to the handsets that you pick up at the start of your shop and take around with you, zapping barcodes as you go, so that at the end of your shop you can just pay and go.

No unloading the trolley at the till only to pack it up again and then unload it into the boot of your car.  (Sounds such a ridiculous waste of time when you write it down.) No watching helplessly as your bottle of Malbec slowly rolls along the conveyor belt, straight off the end and then smashes on the floor. No performance anxiety as you try to pack your bags in front of the people waiting in the queue behind you – the pressure as you feel them judging your packing speed and dexterity! The shame as you fumble to retrieve your bag-for-life from the floor! The panic as a loose lime you’ve reached for rolls away, escaping your grasp. You can feel your audience’s eyes trained upon you – they wince as you pack heavy potatoes on top of squishy cherry tomatoes, they breathe an audible sigh of relief when you realise that the milk is leaking and ask if someone could possibly get you another.

“JANET! JANET! Six litres of full fat on checkout nine! The woman’s got a leaky one!”

None of that when you use the handheld scanner. Utter genius, it is. Although I have to say, don’t let your kids mess about with it. I almost paid for eight giant boxes of dishwasher tablets and a “Pressure King” pressure cooker.

I saved over £290 on curtain tie-backs. Yes, you heard me – £290! The one from Samuel & Sons that matched my tasselled curtain (photo above) would have been £300 inc VAT and I managed to get an (admittedly much plainer) version without the tassel but with all the same tying-back abilities in the Laura Ashley sale. Eight quid! The fact that it took me around ninety-five man hours to research alternative tie-backs is by the by. I’m pretty sure my labour costs were more than the original tie-back…

I made Yorkshire Puddings properly for the first time and they were immense. Quite literally. I put a bit too much batter into each tin and they rose to just about fill the top oven. I think one of them was almost ten inches tall. Who cares, though – more is more when it comes to Yorkshire Puddings, surely? It’s the only part of a roast dinner I’m actually bothered about. Next year at Christmas I might just make myself a giant Yorkshire and fill it with gravy. Bit of al dente broccoli. Scrap of turkey and a dollop of cranberry and I’m done.

I took the stair gate off and now Mr Bear the cat is an omnipresent menace. Honestly, life was easier when he was confined to the ground floor. Now that he has free run of the house he sneaks up on you when you’re in the shower, jumps onto your back when you’re sitting on the loo and pounces on the kids’ feet in bed. He’s having an absolute whale of a time. Although I caught him pointing his claws in the direction of my velvet upholstered Soho Home bed the other day and so the gate might have to be resurrected. It’s been so nice without it though – just walking down the stairs, freely, without having to wrestle with the lock and then risk breaking my neck tripping over the frame. We could have taken it down about a year ago if it wasn’t for the cat and his penchant for creeping about the place and using furniture to sharpen his nails…

I did a self-imposed social media ban. Which I’ve already mentioned, but it’s worth saying again: I didn’t look at any social media from the 21st of December until the other day. Amazingly, my screen time didn’t go down, but that’s because I used all of the social media time trawling the internet for furniture bargains. I reckon if you squished all of the time together, I spent a full day and night searching for stuff on Vinterior – the scrolling started to make me feel seasick! (By the way, if you want to get £50 off your first order with them use RUTH CRILLY in the code box. This isn’t a special affiliate setup – anyone who orders with them can get a code.)

Why the social media ban? I just wanted a quiet and relaxing Christmas (HA!) and to properly stop thinking about work for a couple of weeks. The thing is that I have a perpetual internal monologue as I go about my day – I almost narrate my own existence – and because of this I’m always tempted to write down every thought that I’ve had, or record every action. Quite often little things I’ve done can form the basis for a post here on A Model Recommends, or I’ll jot down a thought that will then become a bigger idea which then requires a longer sit-down with pen and paper to elaborate, and unless I absolutely switch off, one hundred percent, the temptation is always there to quickly write a caption or draft a blog post.

So I moved all of my social media apps to a different page of the iPhone menu so that they weren’t staring me in the face when I opened my phone and then I just sort of forgot about them. I can highly recommend it, at least every once in a while. I actually think I have an OK relationship with social media – I’m definitely not addicted and can easily detach myself – but still. A digital cleanse felt pretty good!

Now I’m finding it quite hard to get back to work, however – I’m dragging myself very slowly into 2020, like a giant, jumper-wearing slug. I have been setting myself absurdly basic tasks so that my brain doesn’t go into shock;

email the sofa-fixing man about fixing the sofa, ask him to fix the sofa and how much it would be to fix the sofa. Can he even fix the sofa?

How are you finding the New Year? Did you set any resolutions or do you have a masterplan for 2020? Mine is to try and be more organised with work so that I don’t feel so stressed – plan my content and commitments in advance so that I know what I need to get done, rather than just fitting in tasks at the last minute or late at night. 2020 is the year of the new, streamlined me!

The post Life Update: What Have I Done? appeared first on A Model Recommends.

Life Update: What Have I Done? was first posted on January 14, 2020 at 5:09 pm. ©2018 "A Model Recommends". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at contact@amodelrecommends.com Life Update: What Have I Done? published first on https://medium.com/@SkinAlley

[terabitweb]

Original Post from Security Affairs Author: Pierluigi Paganini

Experts at Dr Web discovered that a set of Android Apps with over 100 million installations that contains a clicker Trojan tracked as Android.Click.312.origin.

Malware researchers at antivirus firm Dr Web discovered more than 33 Android Apps in the Google Play Store with over 100 million installations that contain a clicker Tojan tracked as Android.Click.312.origin.

The apps were all functional and include common applications like dictionaries, online maps, audio players, and barcode scanners.

“The Trojan is a malicious module that, according to Dr.Web classification, is named Android.Click.312.origin . It is built into ordinary applications – dictionaries, online maps, audio players, barcode scanners and other software.” reads the analysis published by the experts. “All these programs are workable, and for owners of Android devices look harmless. In addition, upon their launch, Android.Click.312.origin starts malicious activity after only 8 hours, so as not to cause suspicion among users.”

To avoid detection, the apps start any malicious activity after 8 hours from their installation.

Once executed, Android.Click.312.origin gather information about the infected system and sent it back to the C2. Data collected by the malware include manufacturer and model, OS version, country of residence of the user, the default language of the system, user agent identifier, name of mobile operator, type of internet connection, screen options, time zone, and information about the tainted application containing the Trojan.

The Command & Control server, in turn, sends the necessary settings to the malware.

The Trojan remains active in the memory of infected devices and allows to execute multiple malicious activities such as advertising applications on Google Play, downloading any sites, displaying advertisements or other content, subscribing users to expensive premium services.

“Doctor Web specialists were unable to recreate the conditions for the Trojan to download such sites, however, the potential implementation of this fraudulent scheme in the case of Android.Click.312.origin is quite simple. Since the Trojan informs the management server about the type of current Internet connection, if a connection is made through the mobile operator’s network, the server can send a command to open the website of one of the partner services that support WAP-Click technology.” continues the report.”This technology simplifies the connection of various premium services, but it is often used to illegally subscribe users to premium services.”

Every time the user installs a new app on the infected device via the Play Store or from an APK installer, the malicious code will inform the C2 server that in turn reply with URLs to open in a browser, an invisible WebView, or in the Play Store.

The researchers found 34 applications containing the Android.Click.312.origin installed by over 51.7 million users. Researchers also discovered a variant of the Trojan, named Android.Click.313.origin , that downloaded by at least 50,000,000 people. The total number of mobile device owners threatened by this Trojan exceeded 101.7 million. The following is a list of programs in which this clicker was found:

The company removed several of the reported apps, while a number of them got updated and had the malicious module removed.

Package name Minimum downloads com.a13.gpslock   com.a13softdev.qrcodereader 1000000 com.aitype.android 10000000 com.crics.cricketmazza 1000000 com.dictionary.englishurdu 5000000 com.finance.loan.emicalculator 1000000 com.fitness.stepcounter.pedometer 100000 com.galaxyapps.routefinder 5000000 com.guruinfomedia.ebook.pdfviewer 100000 com.guruinfomedia.gps.speedometer 1000000 com.guruinfomedia.gps.speedometerpro 50000 com.guruinfomedia.notepad.texteditor 1000000 com.guruinfomedia.notepad.texteditor.pro 100000 com.impactobtl.friendstrackerfree 1000000 com.impactobtl.whodeletedme 500000 com.mapsnavigation.gpsroutefinder.locationtrackers 1000000 com.qibla.compass.prayertimes 100000 com.qiblafinder.prayertime.hijricalendar 1000000 com.quranmp3.readquran 1000000 com.quranmp3ramadan.readquran 500000 com.ramdantimes.prayertimes.allah 1000000 com.ramdantimes.qibla.prayertimes 500000 com.sdeteam.gsa 1000000 com.shikh.gurbaniradio.livekirtan 100000 com.studyapps.mathen 500000 com.studyapps.obshestvo 100000 com.tosi.bombujmanual 500000 com.videocutter.mp3converter 1000000 com.vpn.powervpn 1000000 liveearthcam.livewebcams.livestreetview 500000 qrcode.scanner.qrmaker 5000000 remove.unwanted.object 10000000 com.ixigo.train.ixitrain 50000000

The researchers provide detailed information on what information the clicker Trojan sends to its C2 servers, as well as the commands and settings it receives from its operators.

Additionally, Doctor Web’s research team also advises developers to “responsibly choose modules to monetize their applications and not integrate dubious SDKs into their software.”

window._mNHandle = window._mNHandle || {}; window._mNHandle.queue = window._mNHandle.queue || []; medianet_versionId = "3121199";

try { window._mNHandle.queue.push(function () { window._mNDetails.loadTag("762221962", "300x250", "762221962"); }); } catch (error) {}

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – Clicker Trojan, hacking)

The post Android Apps containing Clicker Trojan installed on over 100M devices appeared first on Security Affairs.

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Go to Source Author: Pierluigi Paganini Android Apps containing Clicker Trojan installed on over 100M devices Original Post from Security Affairs Author: Pierluigi Paganini Experts at Dr Web discovered that a set of Android Apps with over 100 million installations that contains a clicker Trojan tracked as Android.Click.312.origin.

[cooldavidkentposts]

DNA technology detects the real E.coli

Researchers from SA Water’s Australian Water Quality Centre (AWQC) laboratories are using DNA technology to differentiate between climate-influenced non-infectious bacterial blooms and potentially dangerous E. coli bacteria.

A common bacterium found in human faeces, E. coli can contaminate waterways and catchments, posing a risk for gastrointestinal illness if not detected and treated effectively; a practice that has become increasingly challenging with the proliferation of a different, possibly climate-evolved bloom E. coli. The thermotolerant bloom E-coli does not pose a risk to human health but can mask its more dangerous counterpart.

The method employed at SA Water uses a unique thermotolerant agar culture developed by AWQC Method Development Coordinator Gary Hallas and the AWQC. Using ION Chef and ION S5 analytical equipment, the sample DNA is placed on a DNA chip with unique barcodes identifying the problematic E. coli found in water samples.

Hallas said developing new methodologies and harnessing progressive technology is vital to staying on top of bacterial evolution.

“The prevalence of thermotolerant bloom E. coli has been an increased issue for water utilities across Australia, which we speculate is potentially due to Australia’s changing climate and water conditions, allowing for an evolution link and gene transference mechanism between common bacteria in our open water sources and our indicator organism for risk management,” he said.

“It is vitally important for health protocols to have an ability to pinpoint between harmful and non-harmful E. coli samples should they ever arise. Through a new thermotolerant culturing process and then identifying the unique E. coli DNA sequence types, we can clearly differentiate the make-up of both naturally blooming and potentially pathogenic faecal E. coli within just a few hours, and most importantly, if any samples are of human health concern.”

Hallas explained that the findings are groundbreaking for water quality management in Australia, as despite not posing a risk to the human body, non-faecal E. coli has the potential to mask a true contamination event.

“Much like tracing a DNA fingerprint, we can also use the ION chef and ION S5 to identify unique characteristics in the water samples, which allows us to track and monitor its presence over time at a single location or its movement through the network,” Hallas explained.

“We are the only water utility in the country regularly using this software to sequence specific E. coli DNA, and SA Water is at the forefront in helping other utilities across the water industry to identify and manage blooms in their water sources to prevent potential waterborne illness.”

Image caption: AWQC’s Method Development Coordinator Gary Hallas using the Ion Chef DNA technology. Image credit: SA Water.

source http://sustainabilitymatters.net.au/content/water/news/dna-technology-detects-the-real-e-coli-560797136

from WordPress https://davidkent.home.blog/2019/05/14/dna-technology-detects-the-real-e-coli/

[jobboardsoftware]

For some HR teams, mobile recruiting offers a real edge

For some HR teams, mobile recruiting offers a real edge

Mobile devices are now a recruiting tool — one that should not be taken for granted. HR managers who have adopted a mobile recruiting practice said it can deliver tangible benefits that can make all the difference in attracting quality candidates.

They are turning to text messaging, iPads and QR barcodes, and they are designing applications optimized for mobile. Their goal is to use technology…

[file-formats-programming]

New Architecture of Barcodes Recognition Filters & Barcode Reading from TIFF in JasperReports

What’s new in this release?

The new version of Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports 18.10 has added some important new features and fixed the issues in the API. This release has been developed based on Aspose.BarCode for Java 18.10. This new release has introduced new architecture of Barcode recognition filters, implemented UpcaGs1Code128Coupon for new Barcode generation API and includes implementation to read all Barcodes from TIFF images. This release has also deprecated BarCodeBuilder.  This release includes plenty of new and improved features as listed below

Investigate new architecture of barcodes recognition filters.

Implement UpcaGs1Code128Coupon for new barcode generation API

Not able to read all barcodes from TIFF images

Not able to read the barcode

Deprecate BarCodeBuilder

DPI settings works incorrectly with rotation

Databars are generated incorrectly from GS1 string

ITF14 barcode fails GS1 Verification Process

Can't recognize DataMatrix codes from the JPG image

Text part isn't correct in ENA13 when change resolution     

Aspose.BarCode is detecting only 1 out of 3 barcodes from PDF

Newly added documentation pages and articles

Some new tips and articles have now been added into Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports documentation that may guide users briefly how to use Aspose.BarCode for performing different tasks like the followings.

Manage Caption of the Barcode

Generate Barcode by Specifying Custom Image Size

Overview: Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports

Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports allows developers to display high quality barcode labels on JasperReports that can be rendered further in BMP, JPG, GIF and PNG formats. It supports more than 25 barcode symbologies including Linear or 2D barcodes and can also be integrated into existing and new JasperReport (jrxml) files. Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports is written purely in Java and a single provided JAR file can easily be deployed on the machines running JasperReports or JasperServer.

More about Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports

Homepage of Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports

Download Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports

Online documentation of Aspose.BarCode for JasperReports

[kenyagadgetshop-blog]

Handheld Barcode Scanners EPOS EC 301

Handheld Barcode Scanners EPOS EC 301

EPOS EC 301 is a plug and play handheld Laser Scanner easy to use and integrate with  Point of sale Systems or inventory management systems 

Brand : E Pos

Form Factor : Handheld and Corded

Scan Type : Laser

Model Number : EPOS EC301

[mavwrekmarketing]

Image copyright Getty Images

“No, I’m just looking.” Words most of us have said when approached politely by a sales assistant while browsing in a shop. Most of us will not have then experienced the sales assistant snarling: “Then ‘op it, mate!”

Hearing those words in a London shop made quite an impression on Harry Gordon Selfridge.

The year was 1888, and the flamboyant American was touring the great department stores of Europe – in Vienna, Berlin, the famous Bon Marche in Paris and then Manchester and London – to see what tips he could pick up for his then-employer, Chicago’s Marshall Field.

Field popularised the phrase “the customer is always right”. Evidently, not yet the case in England.

Two decades later, Selfridge was back in London, opening his eponymous department store on Oxford Street – now a global destination for retail, then an unfashionable backwater, but handily near a station on a newly opened Tube line.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Selfridges – pictured on its opening day, 15 March 1909 – became renowned for sumptuous window displays

Selfridges caused a sensation, partly due to its sheer size: the retail space covered six acres (24,000 sq m).

Attitude

Selfridge also installed the largest glass windows in the world – and created, behind them, the most sumptuous shop displays.

But more than scale, what set Selfridges apart was attitude.

Harry Gordon Selfridge introduced a whole new shopping experience, one honed in the department stores of late-19th Century America.

“Just looking” was positively encouraged.

50 Things That Made the Modern Economy highlights the inventions, ideas and innovations that helped create the economic world.

It is broadcast on the BBC World Service. You can find more information about the programme’s sources and listen online or subscribe to the programme podcast.

As he had in Chicago, Selfridge swept away the previous custom of stashing merchandise behind locked glass doors in cabinets, or high up on unreachable shelves.

Instead, he laid out the open aisle displays we now take for granted, where you can touch a product, pick it up, and inspect it from all angles, without a salesperson hovering by your side.

In the full-page newspaper adverts he took out when his store opened, Selfridge compared the “pleasures of shopping” to those of “sightseeing”.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Harry Gordon Selfridge revolutionised the shopping experience

Shopping had long been bound up with social display.

The old arcades of the great European cities, displaying their fine cotton fashions – gorgeously lit with candles and mirrors – were places for the upper classes not only to see, but to be seen.

Selfridge had no truck with snobbery or exclusivity. His adverts pointedly welcomed the “whole British public”: “No cards of admission are required.”

‘The bottom of the pyramid’

Management consultants nowadays talk about the fortune to be found at the “bottom of the pyramid” – Selfridge was way ahead of them. In his Chicago store, he appealed to the working classes by dreaming up the concept of the “bargain basement”.

Selfridge did perhaps more than anyone to invent shopping as we know it. But the ideas were in the air.

Another trailblazer was an Irish immigrant named Alexander Turney Stewart. Stewart introduced New Yorkers to the shocking concept of not hassling customers the moment they walked through the door, a novel policy he called “free entrance”.

Image copyright Alamy

Image caption Alexander T Stewart set his prices low, hoping to make profits from high volumes of sales

AT Stewart and Co was among the first stores to practise the now-ubiquitous “clearance sale”, periodically moving on old stock at knockdown prices to make room for new.

Stewart also offered no-quibble refunds. He made customers pay in cash, or settle their bills quickly. Traditionally, shoppers had strung out their lines of credit for up to a year.

He also recognised that not everybody liked to haggle, with many welcoming the simplicity of being quoted a fair price, and being told to take it or leave it.

Stewart made this “one-price” approach work by accepting unusually low mark-ups. “[I] put my goods on the market at the lowest price I can afford,” he said, “although I realise only a small profit on each sale, the enlarged area of business makes possible a large accumulation of capital”.

This idea wasn’t totally unprecedented, but it was certainly considered radical.

The first salesman Stewart hired was appalled to discover he’d not be allowed to apply his finely tuned skill of sizing up the customer’s apparent wealth and extracting as extravagant a price as possible. He resigned on the spot, telling the youthful Irish shopkeeper he’d be bankrupt within a month.

Cathedrals of commerce

By the time Stewart died, over five decades later, he was one of the richest men in New York.

The great department stores became cathedrals of commerce. At Stewart’s “Marble Palace”, the shopkeeper boasted: “You may gaze upon a million dollars’ worth of goods, and no man will interrupt either your meditation or your admiration.”

They took shopping to another level, sometimes literally.

Corvin’s in Budapest installed a lift that became such an attraction in its own right that they began to charge for using it. In London, Harrods’s moving staircase carried 4,000 people an hour.

In such shops, one could buy anything from cradles to gravestones.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Golf champion John Henry Taylor instructing customers at Harrods in 1914

Harrods offered a full funeral service. There were picture galleries, smoking rooms, tea rooms, concerts. The shop displays bled out into the street, as entrepreneurs built covered galleries around their stores.

It was, says historian Frank Trentmann, the birth of “total shopping”.

The glory days of the city centre department store have faded a little. With the rise of cars has come the out-of-town shopping mall, where land is cheaper.

Tourists in England still enjoy Harrods and Selfridges, but many also head to Bicester Village, a few miles north of Oxford, an outlet that specialises in luxury brands at a discount.

But the experience of going to the shops has changed remarkably little since pioneers such as Stewart and Selfridge turned it on its head. And it may be no coincidence that they did it at a time when women were gaining in social and economic power.

There are, of course, some tired stereotypes about women and their supposed love of shopping. But the evidence implies that the stereotypes aren’t completely imaginary.

More from Tim:

How the barcode changed retailing and manufacturing

How the lift transformed the shape of our cities

The tiny pill which gave birth to an economic revolution

TV dinners: The hidden cost of the processed food revolution

Time-use studies suggest women spend more time shopping than men.

Other research indicates that this is a matter of preference as well as duty: men tend to say they like shops with easy parking and short checkout queues. Women are more likely to prioritise different aspects of the shopping experience, such as the friendliness of sales assistants.

Social reformer?

This wouldn’t have shocked Harry Gordon Selfridge. He saw that female customers offered profitable opportunities that other retailers were bungling.

One quietly revolutionary move was that Selfridges featured a ladies’ lavatory, a facility London’s shopkeepers had hitherto neglected to provide.

He saw – as other men apparently had not – that women might want to stay in town all day, without having to use an insalubrious public convenience or retreat to a respectable hotel for tea whenever they wanted to relieve themselves.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Selfridges was designed to be as attractive as possible to women

Selfridge’s biographer Lindy Woodhead even thinks he “could justifiably claim to have helped emancipate women”. That’s a big claim for a shopkeeper, but social progress can sometimes come from unexpected directions.

And Harry Gordon Selfridge certainly saw himself as a social reformer.

He once explained why, at his Chicago store, he’d introduced a creche. “I came along just at the time when women wanted to step out on their own,” he said.

“They came to the store and realised some of their dreams.”

Tim Harford writes the Financial Times’s Undercover Economist column. 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy is broadcast on the BBC World Service. You can find more information about the programme’s sources and listen online or subscribe to the programme podcast.

Related Topics

Retailing

Women

Read more: http://ift.tt/2wHMTZN

The post How department stores changed the way we shop – BBC News appeared first on MavWrek Marketing by Jason

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[ameliamike90]

Customer Service Executive - Malaysia (KL) job at Prenetics Limited Malaysia

Prenetics is a technology-driven life sciences company specializing in precision medicine. At Prenetics, our mission is to help people lead healthier, more active lives by empowering them with personalized, predictive and preventive treatments using the latest proven innovations in DNA technology. As part of our team, you’ll have the opportunity to grow your career, contribute your ideas to life-changing products and services, and - above all - have fun while you’re at it! For more information, visit www.prenetics.com

About this opportunity:

This job presents a great opportunity to get involved in innovative health solutions with a company that is dedicated to helping people all over Asia.

Staff will be trained on the following curriculum:

1. Prenetics’ operating procedures related to myMLDNA test

2. Validating customers: What to check for when receiving redemption certificates

3. Kit inventory management: Scanning barcodes and daily stock counts

4. Online registration: How to communicate and demonstrate online registration process

5. Sample collection: How to demonstrate swab sample collection. How to safely and hygienically collect swab samples

6. Sample security and hand off: How to ensure physical safety of samples and how to do proper hand off to couriers at end of every day

7. Basic customer service principles: using positive language, effective communication skills, dealing with angry customers, how and when to escalate complaints, body language and tone of voice, questioning to understand the customer’s need or problem, listening, confirming understanding, etc

- Customer-oriented with excellent communication and interpersonal skills

- Preferably more than 1 year of service experience

- Speak fluent English AND  another language either Mandarin OR Bahasa (to interact with End Users and Client)

- Read and write English & another language 

- Basic computer skills with proficiency in MS Office applications especially Excel

- Independent, proactive & willing to go above and beyond

StartUp Jobs Asia - Startup Jobs in Singapore , Malaysia , HongKong ,Thailand from http://www.startupjobs.asia/job/28711-customer-service-executive-malaysia-kl-customer-service-job-at-prenetics-limited-malaysia Startup Jobs Asia https://startupjobsasia.tumblr.com/post/161264489019