Ray Sinclair

222 Followers
171 Following
143 Posts

Husband, father, gearhead, & security guy.

Spent a couple of lifetimes at MSFT, now at F5. I am a sucker for enterprise security problems. Lucky enough to lead a team that wants to "do cool stuff with smart people".

Usual disclaimer - Nothing I say is on the behalf of my employers past, present, or future.

https://twitter.com/RayMSinclair

Good article taking apart that “three million toothbrushes” story and concluding that it’s pretty certain to be merely a hypothetical scenario rather than something that actually happened. Much of the reasoning matches what I thought as well.

Edit: There is now a confirmation from Fortinet about this being a hypothetical scenario.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/no-3-million-electric-toothbrushes-were-not-used-in-a-ddos-attack/

Yes, it would have been hilarious. And we are still heading towards a world where millions of vulnerable toasters can do serious damage. But we aren’t just there yet.

No, 3 million electric toothbrushes were not used in a DDoS attack

A widely reported story that 3 million electric toothbrushes were hacked with malware to conduct distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks is likely a hypothetical scenario instead of an actual attack.

BleepingComputer

When Roses Aren't Red

Image Credit & Copyright: Tommy Lease (Denver Astronomical Society)

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240209.html #APOD

APOD: 2024 February 9 - When Roses Aren't Red

A different astronomy and space science related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation.

i made a youtube playlist with a bunch of 90s rock/alt/industrial music videos, MTV promos, MTV idents, random 90s commercial segments.

i put it on the big screen tv connected to my computer, and put it on shuffle

let's all live in the past until the end

Did you know that JPL has a whole gallery of beautifully illustrated Halloween posters, based on real science? Perfect to print and decorate your space, use as a wallpaper on your computer or phone, or as a Zoom background.

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/alien-worlds/galaxy-of-horrors/

Galaxy of Horrors | Explore – Exoplanet Exploration: Planets Beyond our Solar System

NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program, the search for planets and life beyond our solar system.

Exoplanet Exploration: Planets Beyond our Solar System
#NASAWebb has had a busy year, and what better way to celebrate the telescope’s two years in space than to remember the science headlines it made in 2023! Credit: STScI.
https://youtu.be/G5x-LbnVG2Q
Webb Telescope Year in Review 2023 - Launch Anniversary

YouTube
Happy new year from the BICEP team at the South Pole! #cosmology #cmb #southpole #antarctica

@lienrag I completely agree that there are exceptions, where video does make a ton more sense than plain text. If those videos made up even half of what was being produced, I would not have any complaint.

On the latter note, I know what you mean, but I don’t think that, in itself, justifies the video being the top of the search results. I produce a lot of written procedures in my professional life, and I’m big on inline (still) visuals alongside the text.

If this seems harsh, think of it this way: it’s not so much that I want these creators to be harmed, as I want them to no longer be incentivized to ruin my experience and obfuscate the information I need.

And if that’s still too harsh? Tough shit. They started it.

My sincere wish for the new year is that everyone who makes how-to videos instead of writing concise articles gets demonetized.