SteveBellovin

campuscodi, 1 day ago to random

Just think about it!

In just 14 days, Microsoft pivoted from "do security" in an internal memo on May 5 to "let's install spyware on everyone's PC" on May 21.

That must be a world record in bad corporate management

jvagle, 1 day ago to random

Once again I ask journalists writing on court cases: Please include a link to the complaint, decision, or other relevant court documents.

Thank you.

w7voa, 3 days ago to random

(AP) — A video posted to Donald Trump’s account on his social media network Monday included references to a “unified Reich” among hypothetical news headlines if he wins the election in November. https://apnews.com/article/31002afb91b642c0314223d19e51f427

aka_pugs, 2 days ago to random

C. Gordon Bell died May 17th. A giant in computing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Bell

dsalo, 4 days ago to random

Johns Hopkins is doing a long-COVID survey and apparently is having trouble finding controls -- people who haven't had COVID. If this is you, consider giving them some clicks.

https://covid-long.com/

badastro, 3 days ago to random

A team of astronomers discovered some of the most ancient stars in our galaxy and used the moment to thumb their noses at ingrained GOP sexism, and I am so here for it.

https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/planet-fomalhaut-three-ancient-stars-another-galaxy-orbit

urbandinosaurs, 3 days ago to Birds

A raven, vocalizing, near St. John the Divine, and three views of a peregrine falcon on Riverside Church in Manhattan. (Aside: falcons used to nest there, but last year there was scaffolding in the way and I haven't seen sign of nesting this year. In fact, this is the first time I've seen a falcon there since February.)
#birds #wildlifePhotography #birdCPP

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urbandinosaurs, 4 days ago to Birds

Two shots of a red-bellied woodpecker. The bird was so close that I had to zoom way out to get it all in frame. The second picture is at full zoom (800 mm, since I was using a teleconverter). Also: a male red-winged blackbird. The last picture, taken with my phone at the Harlem Meer, is titled “Reflections on things I cannot see”.

#birds #wildlifePhotography #birdCPP #mirror

A headshot of that woodpecker, still looking to its right.
A ¾ left profile of a red-winged blackbird, on a ~3 cm branch that is slanting up at ~40°. There is a thicker tree trunk in the background.
Several buildings reflected in the water. Most of the direct views of the buildings are obscured by tree leaves hanging down in my line of sight.

urbandinosaurs, 4 days ago to Birds

Central Park (again) today: can't a bird take a bath without paparazzi? A grey catbird, a female northern cardinal, and a male scarlet tanager.
#birds #wildlifePhotography #birdCPP

A cardinal bathing in very shallow water, against a brown background. There are droplets everywhere.
A tanager apparently glaring at me (and the other birders) as it bathes. On the left, the image is framed by out-of-focus leaves; on the right is water.

urbandinosaurs, 6 days ago to Birds

An unhappy raven chick, wanting more food. But—in this clip, it looks like it’s eating something left in the nest. Deposited, per the previous post? Leftovers? Random pecking? I can't tell. (Aside: I was using a back-up tripod (because reasons). It reminded me of why I spent a fair amount of money on a good one…)
#birds #wildlifePhotography #birdCPP #wildlifeVideo

A raven chick, moving back and forth around the nest. At one point, though, its head movements suggest that it is eating something out of my field of view.

urbandinosaurs, 6 days ago to Birds

I spent a while this afternoon with my camera on a tripod pointed at the raven's nest on the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC. (Aside: I had thought there were two chicks, but I only saw one. Either I was wrong, the other has fledged, or it met with some mishap.) Here are two parental visits where I did not see the chick being fed—but see the video in the next post. Also note the chick playing with some dried grass.
#birds #wildlifePhotography #birdCPP

The chick has a piece of dried grass or some such in its beak, waving it around.
An adult raven is perched on the saint’s head, bending all the way forward as if it is depositing something in the nest.
The chick looking all around, waiting for a parent to come back with food.

evacide, 7 days ago to random

Threat models matter.

When a platform/service/app tells you they are “private” or “secure” always ask “from whom?”

Criminals, domestic abusers, law enforcement, data brokers, and intelligence agencies are all different attackers with very different capabilities.

nminow, 7 days ago to random

Coming soon to the Norman Rockwell Museum, a show about MAD Magazine!

martin, 9 days ago to random

Our university deployed a mail filter that rewrites URLs in emails to redirect them via a service that checks for bad websites. Somebody clever worked out that PGP-signed emails are exempt from the rewrite rule, so now people are starting their emails with "BEGIN PGP MESSAGE" even though they haven't used PGP at all, just to fool the filter 😂

Anybody sending malware links has probably also worked out that trick by now, thereby rendering the entire filter pointless

urbandinosaurs, 8 days ago to Birds

A few of my pictures from yesterday (more coming tomorrow…). The first three are from Central Park in NYC: a great egret that has just speared a fish on both parts of its beak (Harlem Meer), a spotted sandpiper (Pool), and a black-and-white warbler (also Pool). Last, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, two common raven chicks in a nest behind St. Andrew's head. They're getting big!
#birds #wildlifePhotography #birdCPP

A sandpiper walking along, just in the water from a sandy/rocky short. The reflection of the bird in the water is visible.
There is a moderately thick branch ascending at a 45༠ angle. The warbler is on the side of the branch, facing head-down.
There is a large nest behind the saint’s head. Two ravens are visible to the right side of the head. One is mostly obscured; the other is very visible.

urbandinosaurs, 8 days ago to Birds

Oh, what the heck; let me post more now. All at the Pool in NYC's Central Park: a male and a female common yellowthroat warbler, a magnolia warbler, and a black-throated blue warbler.
#birds #wildlifePhotography #birdCPP

A more-or-less upside down warbler on a thin stem of some plant, among many other green plants and leaves.
A right profile view of the warbler on a very thin branch.
The warbler is bathing in shallow water.

urbandinosaurs, 8 days ago to Birds

Finally: a Swainson's thrush, a bay-breasted warbler, and a water thrush—I'm not sure if it's a northern or a Louisiana water thrush.
#birds #wildlifePhotography #birdCPP

A ¾ left profile view of the bird on a thin branch.
A ¾ right profile view of the bird on a log, with water in the background.

urbandinosaurs, 12 days ago to Birds

A lovely day at Central Park in NYC. First, female and male scarlet tanagers (with a lot of birders waiting for them to reappear). Next, a northern parula; finally, a female rose-breasted grosbeak.
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#birds #birdCPP #wildlifePhotography

The tanager is in very shallow water, with mud around. His head is turned to the right and his beak is open.
A left profile view of the parula, on a very thin branch of some coniferous tree.
A left profile view of the grosbeak. She’s on a mud bank just behind the water.

yurnidiot, 14 days ago to random

peer-to-peer Cat6 cabling

#Caturday

cat connected to wire walks under floor of deck and appears at other end where person is holding treats

sundogplanets, 14 days ago to random

I am talking o a reporter about this in a couple hours: https://regina.ctvnews.ca/from-outer-space-sask-farmers-baffled-after-discovering-strange-wreckage-in-field-1.6880353

This is about an hour away from my farm, so this'll be a fun conversation, and yet another great opportunity to tell a lot of people about what a huge problem we have with unregulated commercialization of orbit. (Also I just redid my slides for my public talk next week, this is going in!)

arstechnica, 14 days ago to random

FBI urges employees to “look for ways” to collect Americans’ messages

FBI must use surveillance tools to demonstrate their importance, email says.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/05/fbi-urges-employees-to-look-for-ways-to-collect-americans-messages/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

misty, 15 days ago to random

Looks like the same attack that took down the British Library for so long also targeted the US Library of Congress, but good multifactor auth and fast action from their IT and security staff protected them. https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2024/05/thwarted-cyberattack-targeted-library-congress-tandem-october-british-library-breach/396399/

urbandinosaurs, 16 days ago to astrophotography

Sunspots! According to spaceweather.com, the big sunspot just below and left of center is visible to the naked eye. I don't have my eclipse glasses handy, but I did have the solar filter for my camera available.
#astrophotography

urbandinosaurs, 17 days ago to Birds

A red-winged blackbird, two Canada geese with six goslings, a red admiral, and a yellow-rumped warbler.
#birds #wildlifePhotography

In the foreground, there is grass; behind it, there is a dirt (and puddle) area. One adult and two goslings are on the edge of the grass; the remaining geese are on the dirt. One gosling is laying down; the other five are pecking at the ground.
A butterfly with its wings spread on some dried, dead grass.
The warbler is on a ~3cm branch that has some leaves. Behind it, there is a tree trunk.