Multiple airlines, including Delta, Southwest and United, experienced computer outages on Monday morning, according to the airlines' Twitter accounts. According to the airlines and to the Federal Aviation Administration, the problem has been resolved and flights have resumed with some delays. The outage was due to a technical issue with a program called AeroData, according to a statement from the FAA. The third-party contractor measures weight and balance to determine whether flights can take off, according to ABC News. The FAA wrote that JetBlue and Alaska were also among the airlines affected. It's unknown how many flights were impacted.
2 Albany cyber attack affecting records, police
All city services except for getting birth, death and marriage certificates will resume Monday morning after a cyber attack over the weekend, according to Mayor Kathy Sheehan. Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan said in a social media post Saturday that the city experienced a ransomware cyber attack but didn't give details about the extent of it. A ransomware attack happens when a hacker denies an owner access to system or personal files, and demands a ransom for the victim to regain access. Typically, ransomware hackers demand payment via cryptocurrency or credit card. "City officials have been working throughout the weekend responding to this incident," Sheehan tweeted in an update late Sunday.
3 2 million credit card numbers stolen from Earl Enterprise restaurants in 10-month breach
The parent company of restaurants such as Planet Hollywood, Buca di Beppo, and Mixology has confirmed that it experienced a security breach after security researchers found more than 2 million stolen credit card numbers being sold online. KrebsOnSecurity says that it contacted the company in February after it discovered “strong evidence” that customer credit card and debit card numbers were being sold online. Hackers used “malware installed on its point-of-sale systems” to steal 2.15 million credit and debit card numbers, expiration dates, and some cardholder names from restaurant locations in 40 states. Earl Enterprises says that the breach took place between May 23rd, 2018 and March 18th, 2019, and that “the incident has now been contained.”
4 How 5G will change the future of farming
5G has the potential to disrupt a huge number of industries, including one of the world's oldest: Farming. Next-generation 5G networks can be 100 times faster than 4G, making communication between devices and servers much quicker. 5G can also carry much more data than other networks. That makes the technology ideal for transmitting information from remote sensors and drones, key tools that are being tested by farmers. 5G is also helping to automate farming processes. Drones that use 5G are helping to improve potato production in the Netherlands. And in Japan, 5G sensors are used to monitor the water temperature and salt concentration of oyster farms.
5 Reddit’s r/Games closes on April Fools’ Day to protest bigoted, ‘vitriolic’ users
The moderators of Reddit’s popular r/Games subreddit are using April Fools’ Day to protest bigoted and “awful” comments. The subreddit, which boasts 1.7 million members, is closing for the day. Posts and comments are locked. In an announcement, the moderators highlight what they call a growing problem with discrimination, harassment, and vitriolic attacks. “This April Fools’, we decided to take things a little more seriously and shed some light on a growing, pervasive issue that has affected the community of r/Games and gaming communities as a whole,” the moderators wrote in a post. “What has been intended to be a forum for the potential spread of knowledge and involvement in video games has instead become a battleground of conflicting ideas … when that argument descends into vitriolic attacks between individuals on a regular basis with no chance at deescalation, that’s when, put simply, something’s got to give.”
6 March Madness Scams Give Attackers Fast Break
With the 2019 NCAA tournament’s Final Four around the corner, researchers are urging viewers to be wary of a slew of March Madness-related phishing attacks, adware installers and other security threats. While security concerns regarding popular sporting events – from the World Cup to the Super Bowl – is nothing new, researchers say that cybercriminals are becoming ever more trickier in avoiding detection. Making matters worse, because many March Madness games have tipped off during work hours, viewers have been streaming them during office hours – opening businesses to all kinds of risks should they click on the wrong link.
7 Head of Money Mule Operation Extradited to the United States
A Ukrainian man accused of being the head of a money laundering and fraud operation was extradited to the United States after being arrested in South Korea, the U.S. Department of Justice announced. The man, Aleksandr Musienko, aka “Oleksandr Serhiyovych Musiyenko,” “Robert Davis,” and “Ply,” conducted the illicit operation from 2009 through at least 2012, the DoJ indictment claims. The international money laundering and fraud scheme targeted U.S. corporations and individuals. According to the indictment, Musienko worked with overseas cybercriminals who had hacked and stolen money from the online bank accounts of numerous individual and corporate victims in the United States.
8 Chinese-speaking phone scammers stole $40 million, mostly from Chinese targets in the U.S., FBI says
The FBI has received a rash of complaints from scammers who claimed to be calling from the Chinese embassy, then threatened legal action if call recipients didn’t pay them, the bureau said. In a public service announcement released Thursday, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reports that victims have reported receiving phone calls and text messages from people speaking in a Chinese-dialect claiming to be from the Chinese embassy, consulate or a shipping company. The scammers often tell victims they have a package waiting for them at the embassy, and that they are under investigation by Chinese law enforcement. From there, the victim is transferred to an “investigator,” who tells the victim they need to send money to China or Hong Kong to resolve the situation. Other versions of the scam involves callers posing as representatives from Chinese credit card companies and demanding payment on an outstanding balance, otherwise they say the police will be called.
9 Researchers Trick Tesla to Drive into Oncoming Traffic
Steering a Tesla car off the normal driving lane, potentially on a collision path, is possible without hacking the vehicle's advanced driver-assistance system, better known as the Enhanced Autopilot. By painting interference patches on the road, researchers demonstrated that a Tesla Model S 75 can follow a fake path without asking the driver for permission, as the Autopilot component does in the case of changing lanes. The auto-driving feature in Tesla cars uses a sophisticated computer network to interpret environmental data and interpret it in real time so it can take action. Collecting the info is mainly through cameras, ultrasonic sensors, and radar.
10 Firefox to run experiment to reduce push notification permission spam
Mozilla intends to run two experiments over the course of this month, April 2019, to determine the most adequate way of dealing with push notification spam, a growing problem that is slowly deteriorating the web experience for everyone. The experiments will run in Firefox Nightly (v68) and Firefox Beta (v67). The purpose of the Firefox Nightly experiment is to test new mechanisms of showing notification prompts, while the Firefox Beta experiment will only focus on collecting data on how users interact with the current push notification permission prompts.
