Microsoft Wins $10 Billion Pentagon Cloud Contract, Beating Amazon
October 26th, 2019Via: Bloomberg:
Microsoft Corp. has won the sought-after JEDI cloud computing contract with the Pentagon valued at as much as $10 billion over a decade, dealing a blow to the market leader, Amazon.com Inc., which had been the front-runner.
The decision, which was announced by the Defense Department late Friday, may be challenged by Amazon, according to a person familiar with the matter, because President Donald Trump weighed in on the bidding process. The terms of the competition were also hotly contested by another rival, Oracle Corp.
The Pentagon has said the cloud project, known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, is intended to help bring American military technology into the modern era.
Military Algorithm Can Predict Illness 48 Hours Before Symptoms Show
October 25th, 2019Via: Nextgov:
U.S. service members are strong but they’re still people, and people get sick sometimes. But when one gets sick at the last minute, that can have serious repercussions on their unit’s ability to execute critical missions.
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, or DTRA, is trying to get ahead of this problem by developing a predictive algorithm that knows whether a service member is falling ill—due to anything from a cold to exposure to biological weapons—up to 48 hours before they start to show any symptoms.
“Think of it as a check-engine for the human body,” Edward Argenta, science and technology manager for DTRA’s Joint Science and Technology Office, told Nextgov.
DTRA partnered with the Defense Innovation Unit to leverage the latter’s other transaction authority—a special procurement method outside of the Federal Acquisition Regulations—to develop the algorithm hand-in-hand with health IT company Royal Philips.
Using its own globally-collected data sets, Philips was able to develop a unique algorithm for the Defense Department. Using 165 distinct biomarkers across 41,000 cases, the Philips team was able to create the Rapid Analysis of Threat Exposure, or RATE, algorithm, which the company says can “predict infection 48 hours before clinical suspicion” with better than 85% accuracy.
Pence Tells Hong Kong Protesters in China Speech: “We Stand with You”
October 24th, 2019Via: Reuters:
Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday accused China of curtailing “rights and liberties” in Hong Kong in a wide-ranging critique of Beijing’s behavior but also insisted that the United States does not seek confrontation or to “de-couple” from its main economic rival.
Life in the Most Drone-Bombed Country in the World
October 24th, 2019Via: MIT Technology Review:
America’s longest war has turned Afghanistan into an unwilling testing ground for warfare technology.
…
Nearly 20 years in, and with the conflict once more intensifying, there are no signs of an ending.
The Jeffrey Epstein Network
October 24th, 2019You’ll love this.
Via: Graph Commons:
People and activity connected to Jeffrey Epstein, government and organised crime.
Equifax Used ‘Admin’ as Username and Password for Sensitive Data
October 24th, 2019
Via: Yahoo Finance:
Equifax (EFX) used the word “admin” as both password and username for a portal that contained sensitive information, according to a class action lawsuit filed in federal court in the Northern District of Georgia.
The ongoing lawsuit, filed after the breach, went viral on Twitter Friday after Buzzfeed reporter Jane Lytvynenko came across the detail.
“Equifax employed the username ‘admin’ and the password ‘admin’ to protect a portal used to manage credit disputes, a password that ‘is a surefire way to get hacked,’” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit also notes that Equifax admitted using unencrypted servers to store the sensitive personal information and had it as a public-facing website.
SpaceX Plans to Start Offering Starlink Broadband Services in 2020
October 24th, 2019Global Lightning.
Hmm.
Via: Space News:
Shotwell said many of the Starlink features are being tested by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory under a program called Global Lightning. SpaceX in December 2018 received a $28 million contract to test over the next three years different ways in which the military might use Starlink broadband services. So far, SpaceX has demonstrated data throughput of 610 megabits per second in flight to the cockpit of a U.S. military C-12 twin-engine turboprop aircraft.
Brazil: Worst Oil Spill in Country’s History
October 24th, 2019Via: Telegraph:
Brazil has deployed 5,000 troops to its beaches amid mounting fury at the government’s inaction over the worst oil spill in the country’s history.
The environmental catastrophe began in early September when large quantities of oil inexplicably washed ashore.
The mysterious spill has continued and has now touched more than 1,000 miles of Brazil’s coast, polluting some of the country’s most picturesque beaches and destroying local marine life.
BBC News Launches ‘Dark Web’ Tor Mirror
October 24th, 2019Via: BBC:
The BBC has made its international news website available via the Tor network, in a bid to thwart censorship attempts.
The Tor browser is privacy-focused software used to access the dark web.
The browser can obscure who is using it and what data is being accessed, which can help people avoid government surveillance and censorship.
Countries including China, Iran and Vietnam are among those who have tried to block access to the BBC News website or programmes.
Tulsi Gabbard: “Toe The Line Or Be Destroyed”
October 23rd, 2019Gabbard thinks Al Queda did 9/11 and she’s polling near the bottom for the Democratic Presidential Nomination.
But…
Calling out Hillary as, “The queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long,” was pretty good!
Via: ZeroHedge:
Tulsi Gabbard unleashed her latest counterattack to the establishment hit-job against her, after Hillary Clinton suggested she’s an Russian asset.
