#passkeys

[fragile-practice]

Week in Review

October 23rd-29th

Welcome to Fragile Practice, where I attempt to make something of value out of stuff I have to read.

My future plan is to do longer-form original pieces on interesting topics or trends. For now, I'm going to make the weekly reviews habitual and see if I have any time left.

Technology

OpenAI forms team to study ‘catastrophic’ AI risks, including nuclear threats - Tech Crunch; Kyle Wiggers

OpenAI launched a new research team called AI Safety and Security to investigate the potential harms of artificial intelligence focused on AI alignment, AI robustness, AI governance, and AI ethics.

Note: Same energy as “cigarette company funds medical research into smoking risks”.

Artists Allege Meta’s AI Data Deletion Request Process Is a ‘Fake PR Stunt’ - Wired; Kate Knibbs

Artists who participated in Meta’s Artificial Intelligence Artist Residency Program accused the company of failing to honor their data deletion requests and claim that Meta used their personal data to train its AI models without their consent.

Note: Someday we will stop being surprised that corporate activities without obvious profit motive are all fake PR stunts.

GM and Honda ditch plan to build cheaper electric vehicles - The Verge; Andrew J. Hawkins

General Motors and Honda cancel their joint venture to develop and produce cheaper electric vehicles for the US market, citing the chip shortage, rising costs of battery materials, and the changing market conditions.

Note: What are the odds this isn’t related to the 7 billion dollars the US government announced to create hydrogen hubs.

'AI divide' across the US leaves economists concerned - The Register; Thomas Claburn

A new study by economists from Harvard University and MIT reveals a significant gap in AI adoption and innovation across different regions in the US.

The study finds that AI usage is highest in California's Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area, but was also noted in Nashville, San Antonio, Las Vegas, New Orleans, San Diego, and Tampa, as well as Riverside, Louisville, Columbus, Austin, and Atlanta.

Nvidia to Challenge Intel With Arm-Based Processors for PCs - Bloomberg; Ian King

Nvidia is using Arm technology to develop CPUs that would challenge Intel processors in PCs, and which could go on sale as soon as 2025.

Note: I am far from an NVIDIA fan, but I’m stoked for any amount of new competition in the CPU space.

New tool lets artists fight AI image bots by hiding corrupt data in plain sight - Engadget; Sarah Fielding

A team at the University of Chicago created Nightshade, a tool that lets artists fight AI image bots by adding undetectable pixels into an image that can alter how a machine-learning model produces content and what that finished product looks like.

Nightshade is intended to protect artists work and has been tested on both Stable Diffusion and an in-house AI built by the researchers.

IBM's NorthPole chip runs AI-based image recognition 22 times faster than current chips - Tech Xplore; Bob Yirka

NorthPole combines the processing module and the data it uses in a two-dimensional array of memory blocks and interconnected CPUs, and is reportedly inspired by the human brain.

NorthPole can currently only run specialized AI processes and not training processes or large language models, but the researchers plan to test connecting multiple chips together to overcome this limitation.

Apple’s $130 Thunderbolt 4 cable could be worth it, as seen in X-ray CT scans - Ars Technica; Kevin Purdy

Note: These scans are super cool. And make me feel somewhat better about insisting on quality cables. A+.

The Shifting Web

On-by-default video calls come to X, disable to retain your sanity - The Register; Brandon Vigliarolo

Video and audio calling is limited to anyone you follow or who is in your address book, if you granted X permission to comb through it.

Calling other users also requires that they’ve sent at least one direct message to you before.

Only premium users can place calls, but everyone can receive them.

Google Search Boss Says Company Invests to Avoid Becoming ‘Roadkill’ - The New York Times; Nico Grant

Google’s senior vice president overseeing search said that he sees a world of threats that could humble his company at any moment.

Google Maps is getting new AI-powered search updates, an enhanced navigation interface and more - Tech Crunch; Aisha Malik

Note: These AI recommender systems are going to be incredibly valuable advertising space. It is interesting that Apple decided to compete with Google in maps but not in basic search, but has so far not placed ads in the search results.

Reddit finally takes its API war where it belongs: to AI companies - Ars Technica; Scharon Harding

Reddit met with generative AI companies to negotiate a deal for being paid for its data, and may block crawlers if no deal is made soon.

Note: Google searches for info on Reddit often seem more effective than searching Reddit itself.  If they are unable to make a deal, and Reddit follows through, it will be a legitimate loss for discoverability but also an incredibly interesting experiment to see what Reddit is like without Google.

Bandcamp’s Entire Union Bargaining Team Was Laid Off - 404 Media; Emanuel Maiberg

Bandcamp’s new owner (Songtradr) offered jobs to just half of existing employees, with cuts disproportionately hitting union leaders. Every member of the union’s eight-person bargaining team was laid off, and 40 of the union's 67 members lost their jobs.

Songtradr spokesperson Lindsay Nahmiache claimed that the firm didn’t have access to union membership information.

Note: This just sucks. Bandcamp is rad, and it’s hard to imagine it continuing to be rad after this. I wonder if Epic had ideas for BC that didn’t work out.

Surveillance & Digital Privacy

Mozilla Launches Annual Digital Privacy 'Creep-o-Meter'. This Year's Status:  'Very Creepy' - Slashdot

Mozilla gave the current state of digital privacy a 75.6/100, with 100 being the creepiest.

They measured security features, data collection, and data sharing practices of over 500 gadgets, apps, and cars to come up with their score.

Every car Mozilla tested failed to meet their privacy and security standards.

Note: It would be great if even one auto brand would take privacy seriously.

EPIC Testifies in Support of Massachusetts Data Privacy and Protection Act -Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)

Massachusetts version of ADPPA.

Note: While it may warm my dead heart to see any online privacy protections in law, scrambling to do so in response to generative AI is unlikely to protect Americans in any meaningful way from the surveillance driven form of capitalism we’ve all been living under for decades.

Complex Spy Platform StripedFly Bites 1M Victims - Dark Reading

StripedFly is a complex platform disguised as a cryptominer and evaded detection for six years by using a custom version of EternalBlue exploit, a built-in Tor network tunnel, and trusted services like GitLab, GitHub, and Bitbucket to communicate with C2 servers and update its functionality.

iPhones have been exposing your unique MAC despite Apple's promises otherwise - Ars Technica

A privacy feature which claimed to hide the Wi-Fi MAC address of iOS devices when joining a network was broken since iOS 14, and was finally patched in 17.1, released on Wednesday.

Note: I imagine this bug was reported a while ago, but wasn’t publically reported until the fix was released as a term of apple’s bug bounty program.

What the !#@% is a Passkey? - Electronic Frontier Foundation

Note: I welcome our passkey overlords.

[dariomassi]

[robpegoraro]

Weekly output: FCC updates broadband map, Meta vs. California link-tax bill, passkeys, Mark Vena podcast

A holiday-shortened week got a little shorter with an overnight trip to New York for a press-preview event put on by the people behind the IFA trade show that’s brought me to Berlin since 2012. In addition to the posts below, Patreon readers got a bonus: my thoughts on note-taking alternatives to a significantly more expensive Evernote. 5/30/2023: FCC Updates Broadband Map With New ISP Data,…

[raymond-oglesby]

With these hand-picked tips and pointers, customize your Windows 11 experience, learn about the best new features, and get the most out of Microsoft's superb desktop OS.

[sentivium]

Passkeys: Secure, But Not User-Friendly? Holiday Tech Support Nightmare

Incoming With passkeys becoming more prevalent, concerns about their usability are rising just in time for the holiday season, when many people rely on tech support for assistance.

[jose96853]

MICROSOFT ANNOUNCES PASSWORD REMOVAL FOR 1 BILLION USERS AMID 200% RISE IN ATTACKS

Microsoft has announced a significant shift in its authentication strategy, confirming plans to eliminate password-based logins for approximately one billion users. This move comes in response to a dramatic increase in cyberattacks, with password-related breaches rising by 200% over the past year. The company reports blocking 7,000 password attacks per second, nearly double the rate from the…

[lieselotte-sky]

Passkey a Discord

…aneb já to nechápu. Definitivně nedoporučuji používat passkey v kombinaci s Discordem. Totiž. U normálních lidí to funguje tak, že pokud povolíte autentizaci s passkeys (ať už použijete yubikey nebo nějaké softwarové řešení), stane se z toho alternativa ke kombinaci login/heslo, bo něco někam vypisovat je opruz. No ne tak na discordu, neb tam se z toho stane druhý faktor. Aha, takže zadáváte login, heslo, no a pak to po vás ještě chce autentizaci přes passkeys. A pokud neprojde, tak smůla soudruzi, bo alternativní metoda neexistuje. Krom passkeys si také můžete aktivovat totp (v jejich pádě se to jmenuje "přihlašovací aplikace". No co myslíte že se stane potom? No logika by říkala, že tím vznikne alternativa k passkeys, jenomže realita se liší. Vybleje to nějakou záhadnou chybu a už se nepřihlásíte. Moje štěstí bylo, že jsem se neodhlásila všude, kdyby se to stalo, jsem patrně bez účtu. Takže tohle okamžitě zrušit a druhý pokus s autentizací pomocí SMS, protože to by mohla být alternativa. Hm, není, stejný výsledek jako s totp bohužel — záhadná chyba a nazdar.

Ovšem. Pokud odmažete všechno tohle včetně passkeys, přihlásíte se kombinací login/heslo, což, well, není ideální, ale je to z nabízených možností nejmenší zlo…Protože kombinace login/heslo se jednoduše nezbavíte, nikdy a nijak, můžete k tomu leda přidávat další věci. Mám dost.

Jak správně implementované přihlašování pomocí passkey vypadá si můžete vyzkoušet na https://passkeys.io Opět mě to přesvědčilo o tom, že korporátní webíkáři prostě nerozumí bezpečnosti, což je provázeno vznikem takových nesmyslů, že se ��lověk nestačí divit.

[arielmcorg]

#Ciberseguridad - Protegé tu mundo con Passkeys, las llaves de acceso resistentes al phishing

Uno de los avances que está revolucionando la seguridad en línea y la autenticación de usuarios son las passkeys. Estas claves de acceso representan significativamente un salto hacia la creación de un panorama digital más seguro, alineándose perfectamente con la misión de proteger nuestro mundo. Al aprovechar técnicas criptográficas y autenticación biométrica, las passkeys ofrecen una alternativa…

[govindhtech]

What’s New In Android 15 Features, And Other Updates

Android 15 News

Google is introducing multitasking capabilities for tablets and foldables, a private area for private apps, and further theft protection features.

Android 15 Features

Pixel devices are beginning to receive Android 15. These updates include security features that assist prevent fraud and theft of your private, financial, and sensitive health information. Additionally, Google is launching updates for apps like passkeys, messaging, and the camera, as well as enhancements for large-screen devices that help you accomplish more.

Because new features and upgrades are released frequently rather than only once a year, your Android devices are constantly growing better. Google released useful new AI enhancements for Android smartphones this year, such as Circle to Search and new Gemini interaction options. And it has even more upgrades for you today. Here’s what’s new:

Aid in preventing theft and expediting the recovery of a stolen device

AI is used by the new Theft Detection Lock to help protect your data. Your phone will immediately lock if it detects that someone has stolen it and is attempting to flee by bike, car, or foot. Using your phone number and a brief security check, you can also utilize Remote Lock to swiftly lock your smartphone from any device. The majority of Android 10+ smartphones currently support these functionalities.

Additionally, Android 15 adds safeguards that keep hackers from figuring out your passwords and gaining access to private data. For instance, we’re requiring authentication for settings that criminals target, such as deleting your SIM card or disabling Find My Device. If we detect repeated unsuccessful attempts to access your device’s settings and apps, it will lock it down. These updates discourage more thefts before they occur by making it more difficult for thieves to reset and sell a stolen device.

Don’t display sensitive apps

Android 15’s private zone functions as your phone’s virtual secure. You can arrange critical apps, such as your banking, dating, and social media apps, in a different private area. Apps are hidden from your list of apps, recent apps view, notifications, and settings while your private space is locked, making them essentially inaccessible to outsiders. An extra layer of verification is required to access private areas, keeping apps safe and hidden from prying eyes. Additionally, you have the option to conceal the existence of your private place from your phone’s view for even more privacy.

Make more use of your tablets and foldable devices

Android 15’s new features make it simpler to access the apps that help you complete tasks, whether you’re brainstorming in a document or sending an email.

You can now quickly pin and unpin your taskbar on tablets and foldable phones. For easier access and increased productivity, you may personalize your layout and put your favorite apps, such as Gmail or Google Photos, close to hand.

App pairing offers a fast way to simplify multitasking. For instance, you can drag and drop files with ease by simultaneously opening Gmail and Google Drive. Additionally, you may save your most popular app combinations, which will show up on your tablet or foldable as a single app icon. For quicker access, you can swiftly retrieve them in split-screen with a single tap.

Take better pictures, log in safely, and more

Additional Android 15 enhancements have been made to the camera, messaging, and passwords. Here are some further new features:

The in-app camera controls and Low Light Boost now function better in low light. Additionally, third-party apps have more control over the camera, including more accurate flash control.

Without a smartphone or Wi-Fi connection, carrier messaging apps can send and receive messages via satellite connectivity.

You can tap once to log in to apps that use Passkeys for authentication.

Try out these Android 15 features, along with a ton more that will be available on Pixel smartphones, and keep checking back for additional updates.

Read more on Govindhtech.com

[laurentgiret]

Google is improving the built-in password manager in Google Chrome to make it easier to use passkeys on the desktop.

[netscapenavigator-official]

I like Passkeys (mainly because they allow me to securely login without dealing with 2FA codes). I just wish more sites would use them.

[robpegoraro]

Weekly output: Boom Supersonic's XB-1, Comcast low latency, painstaking passkey progress

This has been a strange, sad and shocking week in the nation’s capital–first the mid-air collision outside National Airport Wednesday that left 67 people dead and ended a nearly 16-year streak without fatal crashes by U.S. airlines, then Elon Musk’s attempts to stage what I have to call a digital coup at the Treasury Department and the Agency for International Development. Patreon readers got an…

[jpmellojr]

Proton Adds Passkey Support to Password Mgr, Bashes Big Tech

Proton adds passkey support to its password manager, taking a jab at "Big Tech" for locking users' passkeys in "walled gardens." Another step towards more secure, passwordless authentication. https://jpmellojr.blogspot.com/2024/04/proton-adds-passkey-support-to-password.html

[educationaltechs]

Do You Know: What Is #passkey? Difference Between #Password, #passphrase and Passkey. How Does #Passkeys Work? How To Setup Passkeys? How Passkeys Are More #secure ? If no then learn here 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

https://www.educationaltechs.com/2023/12/what-are-passkeys-how-they-work.html