@tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca cover
@tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca avatar

tim_lavoie

@tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca

Working in infosec, from my island paradise.
Fascinated by how tech is (ab)used in real life, and how it might help, or hinder our lives.
Love messing with programming languages, photography, getting outside.

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cwebber , to Random stuff
@cwebber@octodon.social avatar

I'm in a documentary on PBS Nova! https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/secrets-in-your-data/

It was really fun being filmed for this. I... haven't watched it yet! I'm a little afraid to, but friends are going to come over and we're going to have a pizza party watching it tonight!

tim_lavoie ,
@tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca avatar

@cwebber @alexshendi Worked here too!

I did cringe when they mentioned Bluesky as a decentralized alternative...

mattblaze , to Photography
@mattblaze@federate.social avatar

Hallway, NYC, 2014.

All the pixels, subdivided several times, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/13337114073

tim_lavoie ,
@tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca avatar

@mattblaze imagine living there and having any sort of emergency. Fire, ambulance…

tim_lavoie ,
@tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca avatar

@mattblaze Oh, the job gets done for sure.
I did rural EMS for some years, still do fire. An occasional house might be cramped, but otherwise have the luxury of wide open spaces.

GossiTheDog , to Random stuff
@GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social avatar

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

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    tim_lavoie ,
    @tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca avatar

    @GossiTheDog Any idea how X-Plane compares these days? Been quite a while since I used it, but it did have quite a few features for enabling things to go wrong.

    thetyee , to Random stuff
    @thetyee@mstdn.ca avatar

    Hey Mastodon users, are you also on Bluesky? Or do you have Bluesky pals? ☁️

    Good news — The Tyee is officially trialling the platform!
    Follow us here! 👇🏽

    https://bsky.app/profile/thetyee.ca

    tim_lavoie ,
    @tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca avatar

    @thetyee I don't, but am still waiting for your RSS feed to cease its Cloudflare blocking of non-browser clients. You know, like feed readers. 🤔

    tim_lavoie ,
    @tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca avatar

    @thetyee Hey, IT WORKS!

    Awesome, thanks! Glad to see my feed filling up with Tyee stories again.

    arstechnica , to Random stuff
    @arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

    Amazon Ring stops letting cops get doorbell footage without a warrant

    Warrantless access may still be granted during vaguely defined "emergencies."

    https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/01/amazon-ring-stops-letting-cops-get-doorbell-footage-without-a-warrant/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

    tim_lavoie ,
    @tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca avatar

    @arstechnica So while there may still be access, defaults matter. This should still be good progress.

    dangoodin , to Random stuff
    @dangoodin@infosec.exchange avatar

    Does anyone know of any attacks, either PoC or in the wild, that use malicious printer cartridges to infect printers? I saw this article from 2022

    https://www.action-intell.com/2022/10/05/hp-bug-bounty-program-finds-reprogrammable-chips-open-printers-to-malware/

    It says that HP's Bug Bounty program found such attacks are possible, but there are no details about who reported the bug that made such attacks possible. I remain skeptical about the accuracy.

    Any help from experts in the form of pointers to attacks or analysis about whether printer cartridges are a viable infection vector would be much appreciated.

    tim_lavoie ,
    @tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca avatar

    @dangoodin Silly question perhaps, but if a printer was susceptible to attack from an ink cartridge's code, wouldn't the true resolution be to fix the printer's firmware?

    This "threat to HP's IP" from reprogrammable chips seems like pretty transparent gaslighting.

    arstechnica , to Random stuff
    @arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

    Famous xkcd comic comes full circle with AI bird-identifying binoculars

    Swarovski AX Visio, billed as first "smart binoculars," names species and tracks location.

    https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/01/famous-xkcd-comic-comes-full-circle-with-ai-bird-identifying-binoculars/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

    tim_lavoie ,
    @tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca avatar

    @arstechnica I've got a bird feeder with a built-in camera. Either the camera or the app (haven't checked which) will attempt to identify North American birds from a decent still image.

    I got it as a present, but can guarantee that it was nowhere near $5K CAD.

    jerry , to Random stuff
    @jerry@infosec.exchange avatar

    Watching the emergence of topical AI bots on mastodon is both fascinating and a bit alarming. The ones I am seeing are somewhat easy to detect, but it’s not hard to think those rough edges will get smoothed over soon

    tim_lavoie ,
    @tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca avatar

    @jerry So it's been... disemvowelled?

    slashdot , to Random stuff
    @slashdot@mastodon.cloud avatar

    Law Firm That Handles Data Breaches Was Hit By Data Breach https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/01/04/208204/law-firm-that-handles-data-breaches-was-hit-by-data-breach?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

    tim_lavoie ,
    @tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca avatar

    @slashdot Were those 637,000 people data breach victims before the law firm had their data, or as a result?

    jerry , to Random stuff
    @jerry@infosec.exchange avatar

    For some reason, I am reminded of some sage advice from a comedian whose name I forgot:

    You only have to vacuum your driveway twice per year to keep your neighbors away.

    tim_lavoie ,
    @tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca avatar

    @jerry I had a neighbor we observed vacuuming his front lawn, with a shop vac. I never really felt the need to discuss this with him since, or anything else.
    (So, I guess the theory works.)

    mattblaze , to Random stuff
    @mattblaze@federate.social avatar

    I just discovered, in a closet, a VERY large powered subwoofer left behind by the previous occupant of my house. I now have an efficient way to become the least popular person in the neighborhood.

    tim_lavoie ,
    @tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca avatar

    @mattblaze An antique place nearby had a huge air horn thing for sale, possibly from a train, big ship, perhaps a lighthouse.

    I had to walk away without asking more about it, lest I bring it home. It could only be used for evil.

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