The Russian DNC hackers are now targeting think tanks and NGOs

The same group that hacked and leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee during the campaign is focusing on a new set of targets, according to new research from security firm Volexity reported by Brian Krebs and Motherboard. The group, dubbed “The Dukes” by Volexity researchers, has been sending malware-laced emails to think tanks and non-governmental organizations throughout Washington, presumably in an effort to steal and publish email archives. According to Volexity, two of the emails were dummied to look like forwards from the Clinton Foundation, with one offering a PDF on “Why American Elections Are Flawed.” Targets included Radio Liberty, the Atlantic Council, the RAND Corporation, and the State Department.

The attacks began before the election, growing most active during August of 2016, but they have continued even after Election Day. The most recent set of emails were sent just six hours after election results named Trump the presumptive winner. According to Volexity, the attacks are considered to be ongoing.

Earlier this year, the US Intelligence Community formally blamed the Russian government for the attacks on the DNC email system, an attribution that raises the stakes for Volexity’s findings. President-elect Trump has publicly questioned that attribution, saying the culprit could just as easily be “someone sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.” At the same time, Russian officials today confirmed that they have been in contact with members of Trump’s staff throughout the campaign.

Notably, the attackers did not employ any previously undisclosed vulnerabilities in the attack, relying instead on malicious macros that typically pass through anti-virus systems undetected.

“This is a well-funded and in some respects professional organization,” Volexity CEO Steven Adair told Krebs. “What they’re doing takes time and effort, and for eight plus years now they’ve been in continuous development of new backdoors. They’re continually targeting different verticals — universities, NGOs and governments — and they learn from others, retool and modify their attacks constantly.

Star Wars: Rogue One’s international trailer gives us a better look at Vader

An international trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has hit the web, giving us our best look yet at the franchise’s iconic villain, while also providing a bit more of a glimpse into Jyn Erso’s backstory.

The new trailer includes new footage from the upcoming film, giving us some additional details about the Erso family, from their separation to Jyn's desire to try and find her father as they're working to locate the plans for the space station.

While this film is supposed to stand alone from the rest of the franchise’s Saga storyline, it’s interesting to see just what major connections it has to the larger story. Case in point is Darth Vader, whom we’ve already seen in previous trailers, whose presence seems to loom over the story, even as he doesn't appear to have a major role in the film. There's also an interesting reference to the Force, as Jyn's mother hands her a crystal as a child.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters on December 16th.

These new emoji are a sign of our time

Since its release in 2015, the thinking face emoji has been ubiquitously used as a symbol for sarcasm or response to ironic statements. It replaced the shruggie when we had no words to better describe absurdity; Max Read described it as the “perfect non-response.” But with 51 new emoji added to added to the shortlist for Unicode 10, we’re about to get the emoji we deserve for the year to come.

Introducing the “shocked face with an exploding head.”

This was the emoji we could’ve used when election results came in. When the reality of a Trump presidency sank in, and when we learned — yet again — that the electoral college isdeeply flawed.

But there’s more! Unicode 10 will also supply us with the barfing emoji, shushing face, and a cursing face for when slamming your keyboard with your best “fsadajlsnfjkdd” just isn’t enough.

There will also be more hopeful forms of expression. In the wake of the election on Tuesday, violence has already been reported against Muslims, leading some to publicly share their fearof wearing religious garments. Unicode 10 will make that symbol more visible, with an emoji of a woman in a hijab. You could argue that it may be the most woke emoji the Consortium’s added to Unicode.

The new emoji won’t be available until much later in 2017, but they give us a glimpse at the future symbols we’ll use and need for the year ahead.

Zuckerberg: the idea that fake news on Facebook influenced the election is “crazy”

After a day of criticism over his company’s role in spreading fake news about political candidates, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg rejected the idea that the News Feed had tilted the election in favor of Donald Trump. “Personally I think the idea that fake news on Facebook, which is a very small amount of the content, influenced the election in any way — I think is a pretty crazy idea. Voters make decisions based on their lived experience.”

Zuckerberg was speaking at the Technonomy conference, where interviewer David Kirkpatrick pressed him on Facebook’s growing power as a distributor of news and information. He said people who reacted with shock to Trump’s victory had underestimated his support. “I do think there is a certain profound lack of empathy in asserting that the only reason someone could have voted the way they did is they saw some fake news,” Zuckerberg said. “If you believe that, then I don’t think you have internalized the message the Trump supporters are trying to send in this election.”

“THERE IS A PROFOUND LACK OF EMPATHY IN ASSERTING THE ONLY REASON SOMEONE COULD HAVE VOTED THE WAY THEY DID IS THEY SAW SOME FAKE NEWS.”

Zuckerberg suggested that one reason fake news could not have influenced the election is that false and inaccurate articles were posted about Trump and Hillary Clinton. “Why would you think there would be fake news on one side and not the other?” he said. But a BuzzFeedinvestigation earlier this year found that the top right-wing Facebook news outlets published false or misleading stories 38 percent of the time, compared to 20 percent for top left-wing outlets.

Kirkpatrick also pressed Zuckerberg on whether Facebook created a so-called “filter bubble” — an echo chamber where Hillary supporters only see views from fellow Hillary supporters, and Trump supporters only see views from fellow Trump supporters. “All the research we have suggests that this isn’t really a problem,” he said. Zuckerberg cited a study of 10.1 million politically affiliated Facebook users that the company published in Science last year. It found that liberals and conservatives see about 1 percent less news from the opposing sidethan they would if Facebook didn't tweak the news feed.

One hard truth that did emerge from the study is that people are simply less likely to click on articles that do not reinforce their previously held beliefs. “I think we would be surprised by how many things that don’t conform to our worldview, we just tune out,” Zuckerberg said. I don’t know what to do about that.”

“I WANT WHAT WE DO TO HAVE A GOOD IMPACT ON THE WORLD.”

Still, the study had several flaws, as noted by researcher Zeynep Tufekci and others. Among them: the study was conducted not on a random sample of users, but instead “a small, skewed subset of Facebook users who chose to self-identify their political affiliation on Facebook and regularly log on to Facebook, about ~4% of the population available for the study.” Another: because Facebook’s data is inherently private, it is difficult if not impossible for researchers to do additional, independent work on the problem. (Still, the Wall Street Journal recently found significant differences in the News Feed content distributed to liberals and conservatives.)

Zuckerberg said he is deeply concerned about how Facebook could affect democracy, and said there were (unspecified) things the company could do better in the future to improve the way it distributes news. “I really care about this. I want what we do to have a good impact on the world. I want people to have a diversity of information.”

Peter Thiel will reportedly join Donald Trump’s transition team

Peter Thiel, Silicon Valley billionaire and Hulk Hogan helper, is reportedly set to join Donald Trump’s transition team. Ex-Fortune editor Dan Primack cites sources that say Thiel has agreed to join the president-elect’s team, but declines to mention in what capacity he will operate.

The Huffington Post had reported earlier in the day that Thiel was being considered for chair of Trump’s transition team — a position currently held by New Jersey governor Chris Christie — but Primack says people close to Thiel would be “surprised” if he wanted such a hands-on role.

Thiel is a billionaire venture capitalist, Facebook board member, and co-founder of PayPal, but he’s become most famous in recent months as the man responsible for bringing down Gawker, having quietly funded wrestler Hulk Hogan’s legal battles against the site. He was also one of the few Silicon Valley figures to throw his support behind Donald Trump during the election campaign. Thiel made an appearance on stage at this year’s Republican National Convention, and donated millions of dollars to pro-Trump campaigns, saying in October that no matter the outcome of the election, what Trump represented was “not going away.”

Spy shots reveal facelift version of 2017 Skoda Superb

Skoda is expected to announce a new 2017 version of the Superb as a few spy shots have revealed a new facelift version of the sedan. The company had recently launched the new Superb so a new version would mean minor changes.

A few pictures of the test car show a reworked nose, a new front grille with a centre section and a smoother bumper. At the back everything seems to look the same but the camouflage leaves little to the imagination. The 2017 Skoda Superb is expected to feature a similar cabin and dash layout as the recently leaked Kodiaq with minor changes. The infotainment system will sit in a more plush display surround.

                                           

The current version of the Superb uses a four-wheel-drive system and a 276bhp powertrain of the Seat Leon Cupra 280. The new car might just use a turbocharged 2.0-litre unit of the Cupra 290, which produces 10bhp more, giving the new car 286bhp of power.

While we have no official confirmation from the Czech manufacturer about the official launch date, expect the new facelift version to arrive by early 2017. Skoda is also expected to launch its new SUV called the Kodiaq as a few teaser images were out in the open.

Inspired by Pokémon Go, Sony gears up to launch 5 mobile games by 2018

Pokémon Go’s success has Sony all hot and bothered. The company, which stopped making mobile games years ago, is set to make a comeback in that segment in 2018.Nikkei reports that Sony will launch at least 5 mobile games by March 2018 and that these games will be available in Japan and parts of Asia. Sony’s mobile game arm, ForwardWorks, will handle the distribution, adds the report.

As a gamer, I’m overjoyed. I’m tired of great gaming experience being restricted to PC and console and it’s nice to see a company with one of the best rosters of developers getting back to mobile games again.Sony has a lot of IPs (Intellectual Properties) that will work very well on mobile phones. This includes the likes of God of War and Uncharted.

                                      

I may be jumping the gun here, but I certainly expect Sony to bring its A-game to mobile (AAA?). I don’t know how many of you remember that old God of War java game that was available on certain Symbian40 devices. Even at that time, it was among the most polished and enjoyable games of its time.

Sadly, we’ll have to wait until 2018 before we see the first games from them. Worse still, the games will release in Japan first and will make their way to the rest of the markets later.