DarkCyber for October 20, 2020, Now Available
October 20, 2020
The October 20, 2020 DarkCyber video news program covers five stories. First, secure messaging apps have some vulnerabilities. These can be exploited, according to researchers in Europe. Second, QuinetiQ’s most recent cyber report provides some eye-opening information about exploit techniques and methods. Third, a free phishing tool is available on GitHub. With it, a bad actor can automate phishing attacks. Fourth, mobile phones can be remotely activated to work like spy cameras and audio transmitters. The final story explains that swarms of drones can be controlled from a mobile phone and a new crawling drone can deliver bio-weapons in a stealthy manner. DarkCyber is produced by Stephen E Arnold, author of CyberOSINT and the Dark Web Notebook. You can view the 11 minute program at this link. (The miniature centipede-like drone is a marvel.)
Kenny Toth, October 20, 2020
Matroid: Not Just Math, a Reminder That Google Is Not Search
October 15, 2020
For many people Google is search. Need a pizza? Google it. But for rick media in contexts like streaming video, Google has pizza cheese on its chin.
A venture funding information service called Finsmes published “Matroid Raises $20 Million in Series B Funding.” Add to the firm’s earlier funding, the company has tallied about $33 million to fuel its innovation engine.
Founded in 2016, the company works at the intersection of machine learning (smart software) and image analysis (more smart software). The Finsmes article states:
The company plans to use the new funding to accelerate product development and go-to-market expansion in manufacturing, industrial IOT (IIOT), and video security markets. Led by Reza Zadeh, CEO and Founder, Matroid Matroid is a studio for creating and deploying detectors (computer vision models) to search visual media for people, behavior, objects, and events — no programming required. Once a detector is developed, Matroid can search any live stream or recorded video, providing real time notifications when the object of interest has been detected. Customers use it in construction, manufacturing, security, media, retail and other industries.
Real time analysis of streaming video is a very important search problem. Despite the perception that “Google is search,” the market for a solution is hefty.
Observations:
- The name of the company is borrowed from math wonks
- Law enforcement and intelligence agencies need a solution that works to deal with the video data available to investigators
- Google’s YouTube search illustrates that ad-supported, good enough methods which rely on a creator to index products or tag videos are examples of old-school thinking, maybe Internet dinosaur thinking.
The company will require additional funding. Nailing real time streaming video knowledge generation requires a large hammer.
Stephen E Arnold, October 15, 2020
Let Us Not Quibble over Quibi
October 14, 2020
I am not a video type. Sure, we create a short video every couple of weeks. That’s part of our learning process and a flaccid attempt to keep some of the younger members of the team semi happy. One of the future video stars called my attention to “Apple Has No Interest in Purchasing Failing Short-Form Video Streaming Service Quibi.” My reaction was, “Bad Apple.” Not Apple the fun loving app store operator; bad apple as in the phrase “one bad apple spoils the barrel.” The Quibi thing is the exact opposite of TikTok: TikTok relies on user created content within a surveillance shell. Quibi produces 1980s Hollywood content in chunks of 10 minutes or less. No surveillance, no nation state lobbying to keep the programs flowing. No international PR visibility.
The loss of the Apple dream is not surprising. I recall reading “So Here Are the Real Reasons Quibi Failed.” To refresh your memory that May 2020 write up identified these Semel Yahooesque issues:
- Name quick bites to Quibi
- No sharing in the Rona era of sharing
- Mobile sharing.
The write up also dances around the subscription angle, which remains a problem or an opportunity.
The write up does nail the Quibi management team’s explanation of failure on a billion dollar scale: The pandemic.
The reasoning seems to be that Quibi was designed for people with jobs who commute and want Hollywood 1980s style content.
Maybe.
The reality boils down to many missteps, including the odd couple of Katzenberg and Whitman or more colloquially The Meg and Jeff’s Management Review YouTube program.
Who will care? Probably the investors and at least one of the DarkCyber research team. I am not that empathetic fan. The Quibi caregiver on the DarkCyber research team is, however, lamenting what looks like the streaming equivalent of the 2004 flop “The Alamo.” Remember it?
Stephen E Arnold, October 14, 2020
Streaming Data: Does the Information Presage the Future for Google Advertising?
October 12, 2020
DarkCyber is not populated with work hour gamers. (Tibby is the exception.) One of the research team spotted “Streamlabs & Stream Hatchet Q3 Live Streaming Industry Report.” The summary contained an interesting factoid, which we assume is spot on. Here it is:
Twitch now represents 91.1% of the market share for hours streamed, up 14.5% from last quarter. This massive increase can be attributed to Mixer’s shutdown, which captured 14.2% of all content live-streamed last quarter. That is compared to Facebook Gaming, which now represents 3.4% of the market share, and increased by 1% since last quarter, and YouTube Gaming, which now represents 5.5% of the market share, and decreased by 1.2% since last quarter.
The data prompted a question from one of the DarkCyber researchers:
What is the likelihood that Amazon’s online streaming advertising follows a similar path?
At lunch on October 8, a number of ideas floated above the miasma of take out Chinese:
- No way, José. Google will find a way to get into the online streaming money flow.
- Yikes. Google may be too distracted by removing features from its lackluster mobile devices, fending off regulators, and dealing with its “human resource” issues to respond in an effective manner.
- The Bezos bulldozer grinds forward. The effectiveness of Amazon in multiple market sectors may push Google and others aside. Product searches and product advertising are likely to be more important as the retail sector in the US erodes.
Which is it? Worth watching.
Stephen E Arnold, October 12, 2020
DarkCyber for September 22, 2020, Now Available: Bogus Passports, Chinese Data and Apps, and the Dronut Drone
September 22, 2020
DarkCyber for September 22, 2020, is now available. This week’s program features an update on falsified documents, three stories about China, and a report about the Dronut. You can view the video on YouTube. The video is available via the Beyond Search blog.
Kenny Toth, September 22, 2020
TikTok Ticks Along
September 18, 2020
US President Donald Trump allegedly banned Americans from using TikTok, because of potential information leaks to China. In an ironic twist, The Intercept explains “Leaked Documents Reveal What TikTok Shares With Authorities—In The U.S.” It is not a secret in the United States that social media platforms from TikTok to Facebook collect user data as ways to spy and sell products.
While the US monitors its citizens, it does not take the same censorship measures as China does with its people. It is alarming the amount of data TikTok gathers for the Chinese, but leaked documents show that the US also accesses that data. Data privacy has been a controversial topic for years within the United States and experts argue that TikTok collects the same type of information as Google, Amazon, and Facebook. The documents reveal that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, the FBI, and Department of Homeland Security monitored the platform.
Law enforcement officials use TikTok as a means to monitor social unrest related to the death of George Floyd. Floyd suffocated when a police officer cut off his oxygen attempting to restrain him during arrest. TikTok users post videos about Black Lives Matter, police protests, tips for disarming law enforcement, and even jokes about the US’s current upheaval. TikTok’s user agreement says it collects information and will share it with third parties. The third parties include law enforcement if TikTok feels there is an imminent danger.
TikTok, however, also censors videos, particularly those the Chinese government dislikes. These videos include political views, the Hong Kong protests, Uyghur internment camps, and people considered poor, disabled, or ugly.
Trump might try to make the US appear as the better country, but:
““The common concern, whether we’re talking about TikTok or Huawei, isn’t the intentions of that company necessarily but the framework within which it operates,” said Elsa Kania, an expert on Chinese technology at the Center for a New American Security. “You could criticize American companies for having an opaque relationship to the U.S. government, but there definitely is a different character to the ecosystem.” At the same time, she added, the Trump administration’s actions, including a handling of Portland protests that brought to mind the police crackdown in Hong Kong, have undercut official critiques of Chinese practices: “At a moment when we’re seeing attempts by the administration to draw a contrast in terms of values and ideology with China, these eerie parallels that keep recurring do really undermine that.”
Where is the matter now? We will have to ask an oracle.
Whitney Grace, September 18, 2020
Quick Bite: Apple Chomps into a Quibi Pro
September 8, 2020
DarkCyber spotted a news version of a quick bite. “Apple Hires Former Hulu/Quibi Hollywood Exec As It Explores Apple TV+ Bundle Deals.” The article highlights a business wizard named Tom Connolly and his Quibi experience. The article says:
… At Hulu, Connolly led negotiations with Spotify to bundle the music service with Hulu at no extra cost to the customer. He also worked on Hulu’s live TV deals and led advertising and partnerships at Quibi.
Quibi was available to DarkCyber because we have a T-Mobile account. No one ever accessed the service. But that’s just the quirky DarkCyber team. The real news outfit The Guardian did and published in the depth of Rona “The Fall of Quibi: How Did a Starry $1.75bn Netflix Rival Crash So Fast?”
The point is that Apple sees value in an executive with Quibi experience. DarkCyber wonders if other quick biters will covert their valuable experience with the quick biters into new opportunities.
Stephen E Arnold, September 8, 2020
DarkCyber for September 8, 2020: Innovation, Black Hat SEO, Drovorub, Sparks Snuffed, and Killer Drones
September 8, 2020
DarkCyber Video News for September 8, 2020, is now available. You can view the video on YouTube, Facebook, and the DarkCyber blog.
The program covers five stories:
First, the Apple-Fortnite dispute has created some new opportunities for bad actors and their customers. The market for stolen Fortnite accounts is robust. Accounts are for sale on the Dark Web and the Regular Web. Some resellers are allegedly generating six figures per month by selling hapless gamers’ accounts.
Second, you can learn how to erode relevance and make a page jump higher in the Google search results lists. Pay $50 and you get information to set up an Amazon or eBay store with little or no investment. No inventory has to be purchased, stored, and shipped. Sound like magic?
Third, the FBI and NSA have published a free analysis of Drovorub malware. If you are responsible for a Linux server, requesting a free copy of the publication may save you time, money, and loss of important data.
Fourth, a team of international law enforcement professionals shut down the Sparks video piracy operation. The impact of the shut down hits pirate sites and torrents. Three of the alleged operators have been identified. Two are under arrest, and the third is fleeing Interpol.
Finally, in this program’s drone report, DarkCyber explains how drug lords are using consumer drones in a novel and deadly way. Consumer-grade drones are fitted with explosives and a detonator. Each drone comes with a radio control unit and a remote trigger for the explosive’s on drone detonator. The purpose is to fly the drone near a target and set off the explosive. To ensure a kill, each of the weaponized drones carries a container of steel ball bearings to ensure the mission is accomplished.
DarkCyber is a production of Stephen E Arnold and the DarkCyber research team.
Kenny Toth, September 8, 2020
Is YouTube Search Broken? Does Anyone Care?
September 5, 2020
“The Ultimate List of YouTube Channels to Boost your Web Development and Programming Skills” illustrates one of the ways in which YouTube search does not work. The write up is a compendium of YouTube presenters with information of interest to Web developers. The list consists of more than 80 YouTube “channels” with useful information. The list is curated; that is, one or more individuals dug through the digital swamp to locate content on the topic and of value to the list compilers.
Can this list or an approximation of it be produced using the YouTube search system?
The answer is, “No.”
Before offering some observations, let me offer an illustration the DarkCyber team encountered about eight days ago. One of my group wanted to do a review of free video editing software. She ran into a “dark pattern” problem and ended up trying to contact the company’s technical support, obtain information about fixing the issue, and moving forward with the review. The company (an outfit called FXHome) finally roused itself and refunded the money. No explanation about the problem was offered.
As part of that interaction, another team member went looking for information about FXHome on Web search engines. One interesting source was YouTube. We quickly learned that the YouTube search engine cannot display a comprehensive list of results with date and time stamps. My researcher reported, “YouTube doesn’t work.”
You may have had your own experiences with YouTube, but I think most people just take what the recommendation system offers.
Observations:
- For a company in the search business, YouTube search seems flawed
- Locating videos on a topic or by a company is next to impossible
- When lists are displayed, vital information about date, time, and running time are not presented.
YouTube generates a ton of money for Alphabet Google. It also opens the door to curated lists like the one cited above. The YouTube search function does generate frustration.
Stephen E Arnold, September 5, 2020
Monoculture and Monopoly Law: Attraction to a Single Point Occurs and Persists
September 2, 2020
Did you hear the alarm clock ring? “Zoom Is Now Critical Infrastructure. That’s a Concern” makes it clear that even the deep sleepers can wake up. What’s the tune on these wizards’ mobile phone? Maybe a fabulous fake of “Still Drowsy after All These Years.” (Sorry, Mr. Simon.)
The write up makes clear that the Brookings community and scholars have been told the following:
- Zoom is the information superhighway for education
- Zoom content is visible to Zoom
- Zoom is fending off the likes of Apple and Facetime, Google Meet and Hangouts, and Microsoft Teams (Skype shoved its hands in the barbeque briquettes, thus making that service less interesting.)
- Zoom goes down, thus wrecking havoc.
The write up does not suggest that Zoom is up to fancy dancing with authorities from another nation state. The write up does not delve into the tale of the stunning Alex Stamos, a human Swiss Army Knife of security. The write up does not articulate this Arnold Law:
A monoculture and a monopoly manifest attraction to a single online point.
A corrolary is:
That single point persists.
In the absence of meaningful oversight, Zoom is, according to the write up:
By contrast, a successful cyber attack targeting Zoom could bring education and an enormous amount of business activity to a complete halt.
And what about the Zoom data? Useful to some perhaps?
Stephen E Arnold, September 2, 2020
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