Spoiled Onions: Exposing Bad Tor Exit Relays
January 21st, 2014Via: Spoiled Onions:
As of January 2014, the Tor anonymity network consists of 5,000 relays of which almost 1,000 are exit relays. As the diagram to the right illustrates, exit relays bridge the gap between the Tor network and the “open” Internet. As a result, exit relays are able to see anonymised network traffic as it is sent by Tor clients.
While most exit relays are innocuous and run by well-meaning volunteers, there are exceptions: In the past, some exit relays were documented to have sniffed and tampered with relayed traffic. The exposed attacks included mostly HTTPS man-in-the-middle (MitM) and SSL stripping.
In this research project, we are monitoring all exit relays for several months in order to expose, document, and thwart malicious or misconfigured relays. In particular, we monitor exit relays with a fast and modular scanner we developed specifically for that purpose. Since September 2013, we discovered several malicious or misconfigured exit relays which are listed below. These exit relays engaged in various attacks such as SSH and HTTPS MitM, HTML injection, and SSL stripping. We also found exit relays which were unintentionally interfering with network traffic because they were subject to DNS censorship.
This project is funded by a research grant provided by Internetfonden. Previous work of ours investigated how Tor is blocked and how censorship can be circumvented.
Britain: 26% of Young Adults Live with Parents
January 21st, 2014Via: BBC:
A quarter of young people in the UK now live with their parents, official figures show.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said more than 3.3 million adults between the ages of 20 and 34 were living with parents in 2013, 26% of that age group.
World’s 85 Richest People Have as Much Wealth as Poorest 3.5 Billion
January 21st, 2014Via: Independent:
The 85 richest people on the planet have accumulated as much wealth between them as half of the world’s population, political and financial leaders have been warned ahead of their annual gathering in the Swiss resort of Davos.
The tiny elite of multibillionaires, who could fit into a double-decker bus, have piled up fortunes equivalent to the wealth of the world’s poorest 3.5bn people, according to a new analysis by Oxfam. The charity condemned the “pernicious” impact of the steadily growing gap between a small group of the super-rich and hundreds of millions of their fellow citizens, arguing it could trigger social unrest.
It released the research on the eve of the World Economic Forum, starting on Wednesday, which brings together many of the most influential figures in international trade, business, finance and politics including David Cameron and George Osborne. Disparities in income and wealth will be high on its agenda, along with driving up international health standards and mitigating the impact of climate change.
Oxfam said the world’s richest 85 people boast a collective worth of $1.7trn (£1trn). Top of the pile is Carlos Slim Helu, the Mexican telecommunications mogul, whose family’s net wealth is estimated by Forbes business magazine at $73bn. He is followed by Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder and philanthropist, whose worth is put at $67bn and is one of 31 Americans on the list.
Other well known names include the business magnate Warren Buffett, whose estimated worth is $53.5bn, and Larry Page, the co-founder of Google, with $23bn.
The world’s richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt, sits on a family fortune of $30bn derived from L’Oréal, the cosmetics company. According to Forbes, the richest person in the UK (and 89th in the world) is the Duke of Westminster, whose property empire has boosted his wealth to $11.4bn.
Night Work ‘Throws Body Into Chaos’
January 21st, 2014How about sitting for hours, at night!?!?! *shrill screams of horror*
Via: BBC:
Doing the night shift throws the body “into chaos” and could cause long-term damage, warn researchers.
Shift work has been linked to higher rates of type 2 diabetes, heart attacks and cancer.
Now scientists at the Sleep Research Centre in Surrey have uncovered the disruption shift work causes at the deepest molecular level.
Experts said the scale, speed and severity of damage caused by being awake at night was a surprise.
The human body has its own natural rhythm or body clock tuned to sleep at night and be active during the day.
It has profound effects on the body, altering everything from hormones and body temperature to athletic ability, mood and brain function.
The Brazilian Ranch Where Nazis Kept Slaves
January 21st, 2014Via: BBC:
It’s well known that pre-war Brazil had strong links with Nazi Germany – the two were economic partners and Brazil had the biggest fascist party outside Europe, with more than 40,000 members.
But it was years before Maciel – thanks to detective work by history professor Sidney Aguilar Filho – learned the grim story of his farm’s links to Brazil’s fascists.
Filho established that the farm had once been owned by the Rocha Mirandas, a family of wealthy industrialists from Rio de Janeiro. Three of them – father Renato and two of his sons, Otavio and Osvaldo – were members of the Acao Integralista Brasileira, an extreme right-wing organisation, sympathetic to the Nazis.
The family sometimes held rallies on the farm, hosting thousands of the organisation’s members. But it was also a brutal work-camp for abandoned – and non-white – children.
47% Of Today’s Jobs Automated In Next Two Decades, “No Country Is Ready For It”
January 20th, 2014What’s the solution, according to the The Economist?
Online classes and video games!
Via: The Economist:
Today’s governments would do well to start making the changes needed before their people get angry.
Poll: U.S. The Biggest Threat to World Peace in 2013
January 20th, 2014Via: Gallup:
WIN/Gallup International, the leading global association in market research and polling, has today published, in collaboration with The BBC’s Today programme, the results of its annual End of Year Survey which explores the outlook, expectations, hopes and fears of people from 65 countries around the world.
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US is considered to be the greatest threat to peace in the world, followed by Pakistan and China;
More:
Gerald Celente on Dumfukistan (Gerald is more irate than usual in this one.)
Research Credit: windhorse
Nissan Has 48% of Global Pure Electric Car Market
January 20th, 2014Via: Inside EVs:
This past weekend Nissan announced that after just more than 3 years on the market, the LEAF had reached the 100,000 vehicles sold level.
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Overall, Nissan has captured 48% of pure electric sales worldwide since 2010 according to the company.
Sugar Linked To $1 Trillion In U.S. Healthcare Spending Per Year
January 20th, 2014Via: Forbes:
“So 30% – 40% of healthcare expenditures in the USA go to help address issues that are closely tied to the excess consumption of sugar.” Credit Suisse Report – Sugar: Consumption At A Crossroads (PDF here)
At this level, the math clearly lacks scientific precision, but it does emphasize the huge burden associated with a single and truly ubiquitous substance – sugar. Assuming a U.S. National Healthcare Expenditure of $3 trillion per year – and further assuming we simply take 33% (the lower end of the Credit Suisse range), the calculation is easy. Basically, the U.S. healthcare system spends about $1 trillion per year (and possibly more) fighting the effects of excess sugar consumption.
The report references a constellation of health effects around that excessive consumption – including coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Other known risks – mostly around being overweight and/or obese – include osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, gout, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and cancer.
Rich Chinese Flee China
January 19th, 2014Via: CNBC:
A new report shows that 64 percent of Chinese millionaires have either emigrated or plan to emigrate—taking their spending and fortunes with them. The United States is their favorite destination.
The report from Hurun, a wealth research firm that focuses on China, said that one-third of China’s super rich—or those worth $16 million or more—have already emigrated.
The data offer the latest snapshot of China’s worrying wealth flight, with massive numbers of rich Chinese taking their families and fortunes overseas. Previous studies show the main reasons rich Chinese are leaving is to pursue better educations for their kids, and to escape the pollution and overcrowding in urban China.
Related: China Starts Televising Sunrise On Giant TV Screens Because Smog Is So Thick
