VIP Area Deleted
The entire VIP Area tab has been deleted on account of its incessant low quality posting and functioning as a cesspool for rep-hungry members. Its removal has been pending for some time. The only section retained is Bragging Rights which can be found under Personal Life in the Common tab. >>Source
Index Tabs Renamed
In suspected preperation for the new theme and in effort to boost mobile compatibility, every tab on the index page has been trimmed. General is now known as Common, Hacking as Hack, Computing as Tech, Coding as Code, Gaming as Game, Webmaster as Web, Graphics As GFX, Marketplace as Market, and Money remains unchanged. On another note, the Threads/Posts column on forums has been merged.
---Omni's Phat Wallet - Omniscient ---Ever wondered who had the most Omnicoin in their wallet? Check that out here!
---What is your favorite hobby? - Transcendent ---Interested in what other Hack Forums users are into doing or interested in sharing about yourself? Then check out this thread!
---A Mesomorphs Journey to maintaining 7% BF - Yous ---The user Yous documents their body fat percentage in this thread! If this interests you, check it out! It is regularly updated.
Informational Threads
---How to Successfully file a Deal Dispute - - Sam - ---The user - Sam - has created a guide in the name of Archive regarding the correct way to file a deal dispute. Use this thread for reference.
Astute: Hello Realizm! Welcome to the 245th Edition of the HF News. Any shoutouts before we begin? Realizm: Hi! I'd like to give a shoutout to iHydra, Prada, and everybody in Titans for helping with our new event! Also Nobility :)
Astute: Mentioning your new event, let's talk about that first. What was the purpose of this event? Why is Titans hosting it? Realizm: Well Titans is all about having fun, and we like to involve the entire HF community because the more the better right? The purpose was just to have fun and get people having fun.
Astute: That's good. How's the event (Titans Carnival) going so far? Have there been any significant difficulties that Titans has had to deal with yet? Realizm: The event is going really great, we have an average of 15-20 members playing games every hour! There have been a few difficulties with figuring out the points system, but I think we have a fairly solid point system now.
Astute: Speaking about your points system, would you care to explain what exactly had inspired Titans to come up with the name for the points (formally known as "Tittens")? Realizm: Hahaha well it was really just a joke where people thought of Kittens, Titans, and eventually Titties was brought up. You put all of those together and you get Tittens.
Astute: Haha! That's interesting. So Realizm, after the Carnival event, what are some of your future plans with Titans? How exactly are you going to involve the HF community more with what Titans does in the future? Realizm: Well Titans will definitely be hosting more events in the future. You can expect a much better Casino Event, along with a couple of other ideas we are working on. I don’t want to release much more than that until we have everything a little more concrete. We plan to bring new and innovative ideas to Hack Forums and it’s members like we always have, and most importantly, we plan to have fun!
Astute: Nice! Now, let's step away a little bit from the Carnival event, and talk about Titans in general. How would you describe the member base that comprises the group? Realizm: Well I would have to say that these are some of the most fun, caring, and friendly members I have ever met on the forum. We all get along and work together like gears in a brand new engine lol.
Astute: Sweet. What do you see yourself doing in the future on HF? Realizm: Well, I really only plan on running Titans, and maybe helping out some other groups like Archive and Writers :)
Astute: How exactly do you plan on helping out other groups while simultaneously focusing on your own? Realizm: Well Titans has a very different goal than most other groups, so I can focus on helping groups such as Archive that want to help HF and Void who discuss various topics related to the SRPP section.
Astute: Sounds good. Finally, just to clarify for our folks reading this interview, will Titans EVER have a buy-in? Realizm: Titans will never have buy-ins, leaderspots sold, etc. If I wanted to make money I would focus on my irl business haha.
Astute: Unfortunately, we've run out of time here Realizm. Are there any last comments you'd like to make? Realizm: Everyone can look forward to many more events hosted by Titans. Thank you for having me in the HF News Astute! And thank you everybody who is helping and participating in our most recent event, the Carnival!
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Airport Hackers Ground a Polish Plane
On Sunday, June 21st, a group of unknown hackers successfully gained access to the ground control computer systems at Warsaw's Chopin airport. The systems that were accessed were the same computers used to issue flight plans. As a result, 10 of the flights, bothin incoming and outgoing, were required to be cancelled as to forgo any harm the hackers may have done while inside the system. Several other flights, even though they had already taken off, had to be grounded. If the hackers had got in to change the flight plans, or to contact other airports, it would be devastating. The airline company, LOT, has generously provided those affected by the mischievous hackers with hotel rooms for the night, despite the fact that it was the airport that was attacked. The hackers stayed in the systems for an entire five hours before they discovered how to sever their communication, however, LOT's spokesman Adrian Kubick has assured us that the safety of the flights was never jeopardized. The upside is that no other airports were affected, but one must wonder, if accessing the sophisticated networks of airports has become somewhat of a banality, what else can they control?
OS X and iOS Vulnerability Remains Unpatched
Nine months of a known vulnerability of this magnitude going unpatched is absurd. In September of 2014, a group of iOS security analysts had discovered a way for applications to interact with other apps' resources and stored information allowing them to potentially steal private data. The team was able to upload the customized Apple-oriented malware to the app store and pass the vetting process without triggering any alerts. The malware, when installed on a victim's phone or other device, raids the keychain to steal passwords for services including iCloud, Evernote, and Mail apps, as well as the passwords stored within Google Chrome. The long-lived myth that "Macs don't get viruses" should have died long ago, but at least now we have an easily explainable and detrimental vulnerability to explain to the naysayers who still believe the Mac to be impenetrable. A YouTube Video performing the attack on an up-to-date OS X Yosemite and was able to achieve the goal of extracting user passwords through the default keyring.
[More] US Federal Employees Data Stolen
Last week, I wrote an article pertaining to a breach of data at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) wherein several hundred thousand government employee records had been stolen in an unencrypted database. Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse, we have been notified that there have been not one, but two independent and distinct breaches into their systems. One held the Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF) and the other held the software suite used by the OPM's Federal Investigative Services. This means that not only have the attackers stolen private information from hundreds of thousands of government workers, but they know exactly what the investigators would be looking for, and therefore how to obscure the evidence to make it difficult, perhaps even impossible, to trace. To make matters even worse, new evidence has come to light indicating that over 3.2 million records have been acquired as opposed to mere thousands, and it is estimated to affect 14 million people, including military and intelligence personnel; it is the largest doxing event in internet history.
Google Launches Android Security Rewards for Nexus Devices
Tech giant Google announced on Tuesday that they are expanding their security vulnerability program to include Nexus devices. In addition to security vulnerabilities, Google will also pay out rewards for develop bypasses found in the native security in the Android security mechanism. The new reward program was announced at the Black Hat Mobile Summit in London. Android Security Engineer Jon Larimer noted that the only eligible devices are the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9. Google was proud to say that the Nexus phone is the first to have a mobile bug bounty program. Google said, “We designed the program to make sure that the entire Android ecosystem will benefit from this vulnerability research,” Larimer said. “In addition to paying rewards for vulnerabilities, this program offers even larger rewards for security researchers that invest in tests and patches that will make the entire ecosystem stronger.” The highest tier, critical bugs, offer up to a $40,000 reward. This includes single exploit or a chain of attacks that compromise the Android TrustZone or Verified Boot from an installed app. Remote code execution or remote attacks are worth $30,000 in addition to as much as $8,000 for the initial bug, proof of concept code, test cases, or patch. Local attacks that lead to kernel attacks from an installed app are worth $20,000. Exploits that defeat memory protections such as ASLR, the Android sandbox, or the NX server, are also eligible for the highest rewards. “We’ll reward up to 1.5x the base amount if the bug report includes standalone reproduction code or a standalone test case (e.g., a malformed file),” Google said. “If the bug report includes a patch that fixes the issue or a CTS test that detects the issue, we’ll apply up to a 2x reward modifier. If there is both a CTS test and a patch, there’s a potential 4x reward modifier.”, said Google. Google did exclude a few vulnerabilities in their scope, such as bugs that cause apps to crash and phishing. >>Source
Reddit Announces Move to HTTPS
It's been two years since the NSA's deep penetration into internet security was revealed. This has lead to movements pushing for an encrypted web and it looks like Reddit will be joining the ranks. Reddit has announced that by the end of June, all of their services and sites will force users to use HTTPS connections. Reddit is currently the tenth most popular website in the United Sates and thirty-first in the whole world. Reddit has decided to follow Apple, Google, and many others and force HTTPS. Google has forced HTTPS for years in G-Mail, Apple has begun pushing developers to use only HTTPS connections in their apps and Microsoft has moved implement encrypted links and Perfect Forward Secrecy in many of its cloud services. The White House also announced that all U.S. Government Sites will force HTTPS by the end of 2016. This change to Reddit will offer better baseline security for users on the site. While it doesn't offer invincibility for users, but it will hopefully improve security. Reddit began offering fully functional SSL connections over a year ago but did not force it upon users until now. >>Source
LastPass Network Breach
Well known password manager LastPass announced on Monday that their network was breached. They have advised all users to change their master password and to enable multifactor authentication. CEO and Founder Joe Seigrist said in a security notice last Friday that they had discovered some suspicious activity on the network, but that no encrypted data was stolen and no accounts were compromised. However, the attacks did compromise LastPass account e-mail addresses, password reminders, per-user salts, and authentication hashes. The company said it was confident that its encryption was strong enough that a majority of users will be fine. Salt (random data) is added to passwords which are hashed cryptographically. The purpose of the salt is to make it exponentially more difficult for attacks to launch dictionary based attacks. “LastPass strengthens the authentication hash with a random salt and 100,000 rounds of server-side PBKDF2-SHA256, in addition to the rounds performed client-side,” Siegrist said. “This additional strengthening makes it difficult to attack the stolen hashes with any significant speed.” A UK Researcher said despite the hackers having stolen the salts and hashes, that the issue is not of great concern. The researcher said that if the hashes are strong enough, there's virtually no risk. LastPass is in the process of notifying users by e-mail. Any user who's IP address has changed or connects with a new IP address will be required to verify their account via e-mail or multifactor authentication. >>Source
Electronic Entertainment Exposition Edition
All news from this edition comes from the Electronic Entertainment Exposition, a yearly gaming expo where publishers share their plans for future and current games.
Fallout 4 and Fallout Shelter
Fallout 4, the next installment in the epic series by Bethesda, will be released on November 10 of this year. The game is set to start in the time before the nuclear war, showcasing a part of the Fallout universe unseen in previous game. Players will still be able to decide the gender of their character along with their various facial features. Some functions that are being added to the game that haven’t been seen in past games are the abilities to create building establishments and craft extensive weapon modifications from the junk found in the game world. Some facets of Fallout 3 and New Vegas that are returning are the Pip Boy, albeit with a much nicer look; VATS, the combat system that has been said to be more advanced than in past games, although specific information is vague at this time past what has been shown; and companions to the player, most notably the dog shown in the trailer and gameplay demonstrations. There has also been footage of the player manning a machine gun in a sort of aerial vehicle, but it is not yet known how this sort of vehicle will completely function in the game. Along with Fallout 4 is the new free-to-play mobile game Fallout Shelter, which allows the player to be an Overseer for their own Vault populated by characters stylized like the Pip Boy. This game is available now on iOS. >>Source
Call of Duty: Black Ops III
Since earlier this year it has been known that the next title in the Call of Duty franchise will be Black Ops III; however, one large change to the franchise is its new “home” being on the Sony Playstation 4, as opposed to the Microsoft Xbox One. Players on the Playstation 4 will get the beta first, along with map pack availability a month before Xbox One owners. One new facet that is being added to the campaign is the ability to play it with three other people for a total of four, whereas in the past it was restricted to two players. The game itself is going to have a version of the Exo Suits that were presented in Advanced Warfare, albeit scaled down for a more familiar type of gameplay for older Call of Duty players. With new grenades that are merely tweaks of the old and character skills that don’t make or break a player, Black Ops III is ”a better game than past Call of Duty titles, but it's not radically different.” A new addition to multiplayer is the introduction of the Specialist characters, characters who you can select to play as in multiplayer that have their own unique skills attached to them. Another new addition to multiplayer is the ability to design your own unique weapon variants in Gunsmith and share them with friends. >>Source>>Source>>Source
Rock Band 4
Rock Band 4, the fourth installment in the ill-fated Rock Band video game series, adds many changes to the series in the hopes of once again increasing its popularity. The game is to take an RPG sort of take on the life of a rock band by traveling the world, gaining fans, and possibly even selling out to large music labels. “When we started looking at all the new features we have in the game, mechanically, it just made sense for us to build this epic, branching story where instead of taking one rise to fame path through the world,” said Designer Alli Thresher. “You know, you go from your hometown to being the biggest band in the world, you choose…what kind of band you are.” How you want to manage your band determines how your game will be played, with more corporate jobs increasing the amount of money you have while lessening your artistic integrity. It’s through pathways like this that the players will be able to make their way through a story mode that, for arguably the first time in Rock Band history, has a small bit of meaning to the player. >>Source
Samsung Mobile Devices Vulnerable To New Security Flaw
As many as 600 million Samsung phones may be vulnerable to attacks that allow hackers to surreptitiously monitor the camera and microphone, read incoming and outgoing text messages, and install malicious apps, a security researcher said.
Researcher Ryan Welton, who uncovered the flaw residing in the pre-installed keyboard of some Samsung phones, demonstrated his findings during a Black Hat Mobile Security Summit presentation, titled “Abusing Android Apps And Gaining Remote Code Execution,” June 16 in London. Welton was able to corrupt the process of updating one of the virtual keyboards found on many Samsung devices, ultimately allowing him to listen in on phone conversations, look through text messages and contact information and even turn on the microphone to capture audio. >>Source
Google's New Standalone Clock App Hits the Play Store
If you are not pleased with the native clock app on your phone, or if you just want to check out Google’s take on time management, then grab the clock app from the Play Store. The app, with version 4.0.1, is the same as what you’ll find in the Android M developer preview. Clock, as it’s simply called, is an effective way to set alarms, add timers, run a stopwatch and keep track of times across the globe. It’s all Material Design-y, which is to say it is very minimal, featuring a few animation flourishes and bright colors.
It's like Google is making what we commonly refer to as "stock" Android another skin, but in separate apps so that users can choose exactly what they want. Since last April, users have been able to install a standalone Camera app built by Google, while Gmail, Maps, Messenger and Calendar have their own individual software, too. >>Source
Dell to Start Selling Linux Powered Machines
Could Dell finally be serious about promoting and selling a full line of laptops with the Linux OS? Maybe "full line" is taking it a bit far. After all, they're only selling the non-touch version of the Inspiron 14 and 15, and compared to most modern Dell PCs, these are fairly low spec'd machines.
Dell has recently announced that the Inspiron 14 3000 and 15 3000 Series are now available for purchase. The new laptops were available at a rather small price already, but now Dell is slashing their cost some more, offering the difference in price as a voucher for other purchases. This means that the laptop now costs $199 (€176), if you take the $20 voucher into consideration. The company is really making a push with this new laptop, which is one of the cheapest available on the market right now. >>Source
Yulin Dog Festival Under Way
Every year China holds a festival - Yulin dog festival. The festival is a large dog festival in which dogs are killed for their meat. It is estimated over 10,000 dogs will be killed during the festival. China remains adamant that the dogs are killed in a humane way but it its noted that any pictures you view of the festival are working against this excuse. An online petition went up to battle against the cruelty and received more than 3.8 million votes but the festival is still under full swing. Many Chinese celebrities are also speaking out over the festival. It appears the festival won't be stopped though and it will continue as normal with many arguing the point that this is a cultural difference. The same way as the west breeds cows in confined spaces for meat. Either way both are cruel. >>Source
Taliban Attack Afghan Parliament
A co-ordinated attack on the Afghan parliament by Taliban gunmen have ended with all six gunmen dead. The attack happened in Kabul where a large car bomb was detonated by the attackers which blew up the gates to the building. The gunmen then charged in and started attacking, with 18 people reported to be injured. No MP's are reported to have been hurt in the attack and everyone was led out to safety. The gun fight only lasted an hour before the gunmen were killed. Even by Afghan standards these attacks were quite dramatic and were being shown live on local news channels. It has not been reported that anyone harmed in the attack was critically injured. >>Source
Charleston Church Shooting
9 people have been killed by a racial attack on a church in Charleston. Dylann Roof, 21, was the main suspect in the crime and has been caught by police, he is currently being dubbed as the "racist terrorist". There has been an outcry from the black community since the attacks and even in today's century racism still remains rooted in some people. President Obama calls for shift in US attitudes to gun violence with this being one of the latest nationally upsetting incidents to happen saying: "At some point, we as a country have to reckon with the fact that this type of massacre does not happen in other advanced countries". Unfortunately this is one of many recent incidents which are being viewed as "hate crime" and it is deeply upsetting. >>Source
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Send iHydra a message by clicking here and including an imgur link of your battlestation!
Though it's cold and lonely in the deep dark night.
I can see paradise by the dashboard light.
Though it's cold and lonely in the deep dark night.
Paradise by the dashboard light.
Jun 23, 2015 05:53 PM (This post was last modified: Jun 23, 2015 05:53 PM by Terry A. Davis.)
Quote:Fallout 4, the next installment in the epic series by Bethesda, will be released on November 10 of this year. The game is set to start in the time before the nuclear war, showcasing a part of the Fallout universe unseen in previous game
"previous game"
Fallout
Fallout 2
Fallout Tactics
Fallout Brotherhood of Steel
Fallout 3
Fallout New Vegas.
games.
Quote:One new facet that is being added to the campaign is the ability to play it with three other people for a total of four, whereas in the past it was restricted to two players.
Wrong, World at War allowed a 4 player co-op.
I know Call of Duty are branded it like they've never done it before, but maybe fix it anyway.
can I have the grammar Nazi award now?
My life's goal is to bully Stanley into admitting he's only here to steal bytes.
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