Just as we’re about to get a new Star Wars show in the form of Andor—the second of three shows this year, if you need reminding—the movie side of the franchise took another noticeable hit. Rogue Squadron, a film originally planned to be directed by Wonder Woman’s Patty Jenkins for a December 2023 release, has been…
Kiwi Farms, a forum that’s long been accused of fostering targeted online and real-world harassment campaigns, says that someone hacked its proxy service and website. As noted by cybersecurity researcher Kevin Beaumont, it told users in a Telegram message that all avatars had been changed to the logo of another website (said to be another purported “free speech” forum) and that “each node on the forum index was deleted one at a time.”
While Kiwi Farms apparently has backups and none of the forum data has been permanently deleted, users’ personal information may have been compromised. Founder Joshua Moon told users to assume that their email and password information has been obtained, as well as the IP address of any device they’ve used to access Kiwi Farms in the last month.
Kiwi Farms’ proxy service and Kiwi Farms itself has been hacked.
My guess would be users might want to change their passwords and consider DMs etc may be compromised. pic.twitter.com/NU6EJPKFou
— Kevin Beaumont (@GossiTheDog) September 18, 2022
“I do not know for sure if any user information was leaked. In my access logs, they attempted to download all user records at once,” Moon wrote in a statement on the Kiwi Farms website. “This caused an error and no output was returned. I shut everything off soon after. If they scraped information through some other mechanism, I cannot say with any confidence either way.”
The hacker is said to have used an injected script to gather data from users’ systems. Moon said they accessed his admin account as a result of this method. Moon added that he would restore the site from a backup, but noted that the process (as well as reviewing Kiwi Farms’ security procedures) would take some time. However, he noted on Telegram today that he had to leave for a week to deal with a family emergency. Some Kiwi Farms users are turning on Moon over the incident.
After the site was compromised and user data leaked due to bad coding by Joshua Moon, Kiwi Farms users are turning against him. pic.twitter.com/9jm3E75lC2
— Clara Sorrenti (@keffals) September 18, 2022
Earlier this month, Kiwi Farms was effectively forced off of the open web following an effort to take down the forum. Streamer and political commentator Clara “Keffals” Sorrenti, a prominent target of a harassment campaign that allegedly stemmed from the website, started the movement to bring down Kiwi Farms. While Moon was later able to bring the forum back online through other means.
Cloudflare, a DDoS protection company, kicked Kiwi Farms off its service due to a significant increase in targeted threats originating on the site. That seems to have played a role in this weekend’s hack. “Cloudflare not only provided DDoS protection, they also accounted for many popular exploits like this,” Moon wrote.
The James Webb Space Telescope is still snapping its first pictures of Solar System planets, and the latest batch could be particularly useful. NASA and the ESA have shared early images of Mars, taken on September 5th, that promise new insights into the planet’s atmosphere. Data from the near-infrared camera (NIRCam) is already offering a few surprises. For starters, the giant Hellas Basin is oddly darker than nearby areas at the hottest time of the day, NASA’s Giuliano Liuzzi and Space.comnoted — higher air pressure at the basin’s lower altitude has suppressed thermal emissions.
The JWST imagery also gave space agencies an opportunity to share Mars’ near-infrared atmospheric composition using the telescope’s onboard spectrograph array. The spectroscopic ‘map’ (pictured at middle) shows the planet absorbing carbon dioxide at several different wavelengths, and also shows the presences of carbon monoxide and water. A future research paper will provide more detail about the Martian air’s chemistry.
It was particularly tricky to record the images. Mars is one of the brightest objects the James Webb telescope can see — a problem for an observatory designed to study the most distant objects in the universe. Researchers countered this by capturing very short exposures and using special techniques to analyze the findings.
This is only the initial wave of pictures and data. It will take more observations to reveal more about Mars. However, the spectral info already hints at more information about the planet’s materials. Liuzzi also thinks JWST studies could settle disputes over the presence of methane on Mars, potentially signalling that the Red Planet harbored life in its distant past.
Pentagon officials are looking into the Department of Defense’s own secret use of social media to stoke pro-U.S. sentiments overseas, according to a report from The Washington Post. The alleged review follows news from last month that Twitter and Meta have both uncovered and removed a linked network of dozens of fake,…
With just six weeks to go before Halloween, it’s high time you started integrating tricks and treats into your movie viewing. Your annual favorites are a given, but why not branch out beyond Hocus Pocus and Beetlejuice this year? We’ve assembled a list of 10 new or slightly less-well-known horror movies, including …
Washington D.C. tech industry group The App Association boldly refers to itself as, “the leading industry voice on the app economy,” and says it represents more than 5,000 app makers and connected device companies spread out around 27 countries worldwide. What The App Association’s website doesn’t say is that more…
Uber has published additional information about how it was hacked, claiming that it was targeted by LAPSUS$, a cybercriminal gang with a hefty track record that is thought to be composed largely of teenagers.
The American Firearms Association recently called on supporters to prepare for “battle” at the U.S. Capitol amid gun control talks.
Are you tired of your magicians being wise old sages and beatific fonts of knowledge? Let me fix that. Here are nine books where the main characters are both magical and absolute disasters. The fact that we have such an incredible selection of these sorts of dumbasses that also happen to be queer is just the best…
There’s no green on the British flag — but the legend behind the country’s iconic racing color is one of auto racing’s top stories.
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