Security

• Google sours on legacy G Suite freeloaders, demands fee or flee

  Free incarnation of online app package, which became Workplace, is going away
  Thomas Claburn in San Francisco Thu 20 Jan 2022 // 02:11 UTC 1

  Google has served eviction notices to its legacy G Suite squatters: the free service will no longer be available in four months and existing users can either pay for a Google Workspace subscription or export their data and take their not particularly valuable businesses elsewhere.

  "If you have the G Suite legacy free edition, you need to upgrade to a paid Google Workspace subscription to keep your services," the company said in a recently revised support document. "The G Suite legacy free edition will no longer be available starting May 1, 2022."

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• SpaceX Starlink sat streaks now present in nearly a fifth of all astronomical images snapped by Caltech telescope

  Annoying, maybe – but totally ruining this science, maybe not
  Katyanna Quach Thu 20 Jan 2022 // 00:49 UTC

  SpaceX’s Starlink satellites appear in about a fifth of all images snapped by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), a camera attached to the Samuel Oschin Telescope in California, which is used by astronomers to study supernovae, gamma ray bursts, asteroids, and suchlike.

  A study led by Przemek Mróz, a former postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and now a researcher at the University of Warsaw in Poland, analysed the current and future effects of Starlink satellites on the ZTF. The telescope and camera are housed at the Palomar Observatory, which is operated by Caltech.

  The team of astronomers found 5,301 streaks leftover from the moving satellites in images taken by the instrument between November 2019 and September 2021, according to their paper on the subject, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters this week.

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• AI tool finds hundreds of genes related to human motor neuron disease

  Breakthrough could lead to development of drugs to target illness
  Katyanna Quach Wed 19 Jan 2022 // 22:40 UTC

  A machine-learning algorithm has helped scientists find 690 human genes associated with a higher risk of developing motor neuron disease, according to research published in Cell this week.

  Neuronal cells in the central nervous system and brain break down and die in people with motor neuron disease, like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, named after the baseball player who developed it. They lose control over their bodies, and as the disease progresses patients become completely paralyzed. There is currently no verified cure for ALS.

  Motor neuron disease typically affects people in old age and its causes are unknown. Johnathan Cooper-Knock, a clinical lecturer at the University of Sheffield in England and leader of Project MinE, an ambitious effort to perform whole genome sequencing of ALS, believes that understanding how genes affect cellular function could help scientists develop new drugs to treat the disease.

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• Need to prioritize security bug patches? Don't forget to scan Twitter as well as use CVSS scores

  Exploit, vulnerability discussion online can offer useful signals
  Thomas Claburn in San Francisco Wed 19 Jan 2022 // 21:22 UTC 1

  Organizations looking to minimize exposure to exploitable software should scan Twitter for mentions of security bugs as well as use the Common Vulnerability Scoring System or CVSS, Kenna Security argues.

  Better still is prioritizing the repair of vulnerabilities for which exploit code is available, if that information is known.

  CVSS is a framework for rating the severity of software vulnerabilities (identified using CVE, or Common Vulnerability Enumeration, numbers), on a scale from 1 (least severe) to 10 (most severe). It's overseen by First.org, a US-based, non-profit computer security organization.

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• Sniff those Ukrainian emails a little more carefully, advises Uncle Sam in wake of Belarusian digital vandalism

  NotPetya started over there, don't forget
  Gareth Corfield Wed 19 Jan 2022 // 20:01 UTC

  US companies should be on the lookout for security nasties from Ukrainian partners following the digital graffiti and malware attack launched against Ukraine by Belarus, the CISA has warned.

  In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said it "strongly urges leaders and network defenders to be on alert for malicious cyber activity," having issued a checklist [PDF] of recommended actions to take.

  "If working with Ukrainian organizations, take extra care to monitor, inspect, and isolate traffic from those organizations; closely review access controls for that traffic," added CISA, which also advised reviewing backups and disaster recovery drills.

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• Version 7 of WINE is better than ever at running Windows apps where they shouldn't

  Improved graphics card, multi-monitor, Direct3D, and 64-bit support
  Liam Proven in Prague Wed 19 Jan 2022 // 19:10 UTC 21

  Version 7 of the WINE compatibility tool for running Windows programs on various *nix operating systems is here, bringing notably improved 64-bit support.

  WINE has come a long way. It took 18 years to get to version 1.0 and another nine years to get to version 2, but since version 3 in 2018, it's averaged roughly one major release per year. The project is now mature, stable, and quite functional. A lot of Windows programs work fine that formerly didn't. It's not limited to Linux – it also supports macOS and FreeBSD, and Linux relatives ChromeOS and Android.

  This may in part be due to its corporate backing. The project has had several business sponsors over the decades, including Corel, which invested substantial effort to help port WordPerfect Office, and later Google, which did the same so that the now-cancelled Picasa would work better on Linux.

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• Vulnerabilities and censorship tools among hot new features in Beijing's Olympics app

  Visitors have to install it 14 days prior to arrival in China until their departure
  Laura Dobberstein Wed 19 Jan 2022 // 18:11 UTC 15

  Toronto-based Citizen Lab has warned that an app required by Beijing law to attend the 2022 Olympics contains vulnerabilities that can leak calls and data to malicious users, as well as the potential to subject the user to scanning for censored keywords.

  "To support the successful delivery of the Games and the safety of all Games participants, Beijing 2022 has developed the 'My 2022' application, which includes information provided by the Organising Committee, the City of Beijing and also general information," reads the International Olympic Committee's Beijing 2022 playbooks.

  The playbooks [PDF], which are documents that serve as info guides for Olympics-goers, instruct international visitors to download the app and use it to monitor health for 14 days prior to their departure for China.

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• Party on Semiconductor Street as worldwide 2021 revenues top record half a trillion dollars

  Gartner reports 25.1% growth off the back of supply chain pain
  Richard Speed Wed 19 Jan 2022 // 17:05 UTC 3

  Semiconductor giants enjoyed soaring revenues in 2021 as global sales topped the half-trillion-dollar mark for the first time against a backdrop of squeezed supply chains.

  Preliminary numbers by tech analyst Gartner put revenues at $583.5bn for 2021, a jump of 25.1 per cent on the previous year with demand and raw material costs pushing up average selling prices (ASPs).

  There was also change at the top as Intel's crown was snatched back by Samsung. The US chipmaker's revenues were almost static, growing by a mere half a per cent (the lowest among the top 25 vendors) to $73.1bn. Sammy, on the other hand, leapt by 31.6 per cent to $75.95bn.

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• Japan solves 5G airliner conundrum: Keep mobe masts 200m from airport approach paths. That's it

  (And maintain a guard band.) US airliners melt down as rest of world moves on
  Gareth Corfield Wed 19 Jan 2022 // 16:16 UTC 15

  American aviation regulators have banned the use of autoland at some of their country's airports as the local debate about 5G phone mast emissions and airliners continues – while Japan claims to have solved the problem a year ago.

  This morning Emirates, the largest airline of the United Arab Emirates, declared it was suspending flights to nine US airports as mobile network operators in the States said they were suspending their planned switch-on of 5G services. It follows Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan Airlines and Air India, according to the Daily Mail.

  Yet in Japan itself the solution was straightforward, with local scientists telling the International Civil Aviation Organisation last year: "To avoid the blocking of radio altimeters, the location of the high-power 5G base station should be avoided within 200m from the approaching route of aircraft."

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• UK data watchdog slaps Ministry of Justice with Enforcement Notice for breaking GDPR law

  ICO threatens £17.5m fine over late processing of subject access requests
  Paul Kunert Wed 19 Jan 2022 // 15:32 UTC 7

  The UK's data watchdog has issued the Ministry of Justice with an Enforcement Order [PDF] after the government department broke data protection laws by failing to process thousands of subject access requests (SARs) without undue delay.

  The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said it was made aware of the backlog by the MoJ – the data controller – in January 2019 and spoke to the ministry over the course of the year, mulling potential action. Then the pandemic hit, leading to a change in the ICO's approach to regulatory action, and it paused the probe.

  By October 2020, the ICO asked for an update on the number of outstanding SARs, but the MoJ said it too was struggling under the COVID-19 outbreak and had sought to prioritise requests that were "urgent" due to legal proceedings like immigration hearings or police investigations.

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• Fire in Berlin factory won't 'significantly' impact output, says ASML

  Dutch semiconductor lithography bigwig reports net sales up by a third
  Jude Karabus Wed 19 Jan 2022 // 14:45 UTC 2

  ASML – the outfit that oufits the chipmakers with chipmakers – believes the recent fire at its Berlin factory on 2 January will not have a "significant impact" on its output in 2022.

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