Skip to content
I T S S
  • Welcome
  • Hardware
  • Internet
  • Networking
  • Security
  • Data Recovery
  • Support
  • Contact
  • Webmail

A Nice Little Cryptography Primer

By itss | 28/06/2021
0 Comment

Pun Intended.

Category: Technology
Post navigation
← pfSense / Wireguard / Bad Code / Close Call Why Quake3 was so fast : Fast Inverse Square Root →

Recent Posts

  • Hardware Exploits?
  • Why Quake3 was so fast : Fast Inverse Square Root
  • A Nice Little Cryptography Primer
  • pfSense / Wireguard / Bad Code / Close Call
  • Apple Continues Its Trip To The Dark Side With The Release of MacOS 17 (Big Sur)

Slashdot

News for nerds

  • Bitcoin Drops Again. Skeptical Investment Strategist Calls It 'Useless'
    by EditorDavid on 27/06/2026 at 8:00 am

    Friday Bitcoin closed at just $59,948 — dropping 19% just for June and more than 50% lower than its record high in October of $124,310. To commemorate the occasion CNBC interviewed long-time bitcoin skeptic Jeremy Grantham, reporting that the 87-year-old cofounder/chief investment strategist of the massive asset-management firm GMO is "predicting it will gradually fade into irrelevance over decades." [The] longtime market commentator known for his calls on asset bubbles said bitcoin is a "useless, speculative" asset without intrinsic value, speaking on CNBC's "Squawk Box" Friday. He also said bitcoin hasn't outperformed during a bull market and questioned its practical use. "[Over] years and years, decades and decades, it will dwindle away, I suspect — not with a bang, but a whimper," he said. "It's not a stable form of value — it just halved ... for no particular reason in a strong economy, so you can't depend on it in that way." He added that gold has still delivered solid gains over the same period, even after pulling back from its highs. Bitcoin not only hasn't proved itself as a useful asset to speculate on, it doesn't provide any real world utility either, Grantham argued. "People don't use it to make serious trades, they don't use it to buy their dinner and pay at the supermarket. ... What it does is allows crooks to move money around," he said. Bitcoin has become notorious over the years for its dramatic bear market crashes, which has taken it down at least 70% from its peak in every cycle. The article adds that "many investors believe the current price slump could drag on for several more months." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  • Astronomers Find Biggest Super-Puff Planets Yet That Are Lighter Than Cotton Candy
    by BeauHD on 27/06/2026 at 5:00 am

    Astronomers have discovered two Jupiter-sized exoplanets with densities lower than cotton candy, making them the lightest known worlds of their size. The rare "super-puffs," located about 1,110 light-years away, are likely composed mostly of hydrogen and helium, with follow-up observations by the James Webb Space Telescope expected to probe their atmospheres. The Associated Press reports: [University of Oxford's George Dransfield] suspects these fluffy, wispy worlds are probably white or blue, depending on whether the skies there are cloudy -- no shades of cotton-candy pink. The planets are probably mostly hydrogen and helium, although it will take follow-up observations by NASA's Webb Space Telescope to confirm their chemical makeup. Detected by NASA's Tess satellite over the past decade, these two especially puffy-puffs orbit a star in the southern constellation Volans, known as the flying fish. The researchers studied the planets' orbits using telescopes on Earth to determine their density, from 1,110 light-years away. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles (9.7 trillion kilometers). Jupiter, by comparison, is as much as 35 times denser than these two lightweights. Considered rare in the cosmos, super-puffs are thought to form around the disk of gas and dust around a newborn star where there is more gas than dust. They shed much of the material over time, stripping down even more. NASA's tally of worlds outside our solar system currently stands at nearly 6,300 confirmed. Fewer than 40 are super-puffs, according to Dransfield. The findings have been published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  • US Government Allows Anthropic Limited Release of 'Mythos' AI Model, Saying 'Appropriate Safeguards are in Place"
    by EditorDavid on 27/06/2026 at 2:09 am

    "The US government has allowed Anthropic to release its powerful Mythos AI model to select companies and organizations," reports CNN, "revising license requirements after ordering an export block earlier this month in the wake of national security fears." Since the export ban earlier in June, "Anthropic has worked with the US government to address risks associated with the Covered Models," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick wrote to the company in a letter dated Friday. In light of progress in that work, Lutnick wrote, "I have determined that appropriate safeguards are in place to permit certain trusted partners to access the Claude Mythos 5 Model." The letter does not include permission for Anthropic to release Fable, a less powerful version of Mythos. "We received notice from the US government that Mythos 5, our strongest cybersecurity model, can be redeployed to a small group of cyber defenders and infrastructure providers," Anthropic said in a statement... Conversations between Anthropic and the government are expected to continue into the weekend, with an eye to restoring access to Fable, as well, a source familiar with the discussions told CNN. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  • Microsoft Adds Another Year To Windows 10 Extended Update Program
    by BeauHD on 26/06/2026 at 8:00 pm

    Microsoft has quietly extended free Windows 10 security updates for consumers by another year, pushing the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program's end date from October 12, 2026, to October 12, 2027. "The ESU support page was updated with that date, and Microsoft's blog post on the program has a new editor's note confirming the change," reports Ars Technica. From the report: The prevalence of Windows across so many devices and form factors has given Microsoft a massive customer base for decades, but it has also stymied the company's efforts to roll out new operating systems. Microsoft famously extended the support window for Windows XP numerous times throughout the 2010s as it became apparent that millions of PCs would never be updated. Windows 10 isn't quite as entrenched as XP was, but it has still been a slog getting people to upgrade to Windows 11 even nearly five years after release. Unlike many past Windows updates, Windows 11 required some users to buy new PCs with specific CPU technologies and a Trusted Platform Module (TPM). Microsoft was widely criticized for excluding perfectly serviceable PCs, and that's turning into a problem in 2026. The AI-driven shortage of storage and memory has made system upgrades vastly more expensive, potentially slowing upgrades. Some have also avoided Windows 11 due to Microsoft's intense focus on AI features. The result is that Windows 10 remains stubbornly popular. According to StatCounter data, Windows 10 is still running on about 26 percent of PCs, while Windows 11 sits at 72 percent. That means there are still hundreds of millions of active Windows 10 installs, but those machines will be up to date for at least an additional year. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  • Airbus Is Ordered To Inspect 16 Jets After Cracks Are Found In Wings
    by BeauHD on 26/06/2026 at 3:00 pm

    schwit1 shares a report from The Wall Street Journal: The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has ordered (PDF) urgent inspections of 16 Airbus A380 planes operated by Emirates and Qantas, after cracks were found in a wing component on some aircraft (source paywalled; alternative source).. Cracks were found during earlier inspections of the wing spars structure, a key component of the wing, EASA said in a directive effective Wednesday. EASA determined that they "could reduce the structural integrity of the wing." "To address this potential unsafe condition, Airbus determined that an additional special detailed inspection has to be accomplished," EASA said. The first group of five aircraft, operated by Emirates, need to be inspected immediately, while the second group of 11 aircraft can be inspected later but within 25 flight cycles, EASA said in a separate statement. From the second group, 10 are operated by Emirates and one by Qantas, the aviation safety agency said. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  • Notion Mail Is Shutting Down
    by BeauHD on 26/06/2026 at 11:00 am

    Notion announced that it will shut down its email client on September 22. The company says more than half of users already manage email through Notion's AI agents without opening their inbox, so it is shifting its focus from a traditional email client to agent-run workflows. Engadget reports: It has published an FAQ for users to make sure that they don't lose any messages or data in the transition. Most emails will still exist in a Gmail inbox, but customers will need to manually export their drafts, scheduled emails, snippets and auto label instructions. Notion first began offering Notion Mail after acquiring startup Skiff in 2024. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Archives

  • September 2022
  • November 2021
  • June 2021
  • March 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • October 2019
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • April 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • August 2015
  • May 2015

Categories

  • Innovation
  • Security
  • Software
  • Technology

Tags

backdoor cisco coding json laziness patterns public information announcement security vulnerability
© 2017 IT Sales & Services Ltd
Quality IT solutions in Tanzania since 2010
Iconic One Theme | Powered by Wordpress