Monday, October 24, 2016

On Friday, a network of diverse Internet-connected devices targeted the Dyn domain registration service provider. It took down Dyn clients, including several popular websites such as Twitter, Netflix, Spotify, Reddit, New York Times, and Wired.

The attack involved targeting Dyn’s domain name system servers with a large volume of requests, rendering it incapable of serving replies to legitimate requests — a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack. Users’ browsers and other clients sent requests to Dyn to resolve the respective web sites’ domain names to an IP, but did not get a reply within the time required.

The first attack started at about 7am local time (UTC-4) and was resolved in two hours. A second attack started at mid-day, and a third attack started at about 4pm local time. Tens of millions of malicious request sources were observed, interfering with legitimate Dyn traffic.

The reports noted the malicious devices included internet-connected devices — not only servers and desktops, but also webcams, digital video recorders, routers — referred to as the Internet of Things.

On Friday evening Dyn said a security company Flashpoint and a cloud services provider Akamai identified symptoms of malware Mirai participating in the attacks. The malware infects the devices by brute forcing their passwords. This strategy may work as a consequence of users’ negligence towards password security of stationary devices, which the users do not directly interact with in their everyday life while leaving them exposed to the Internet.

Matthew Prince, the CEO of an Internet infrastructure company Cloudflare said it’s a known issue, “There’s nothing really new about [this type of DDoS attack]. We’ve seen them for at least the last three years, they tend to be difficult to stop”.

Public release of Mirai source code was announced at Hackforums on September 30.

Dyn’s corporate headquarters are in New Hampshire.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Charges against the five rail bosses accused of manslaughter on four people who died in the Hatfield, England train crash, have been dropped at the Old Bailey.

Alistair Cook, 50, Sean Fugill, 50, Keith Lea, 53, and two executives from Balfour Beatty — Anthony Walker, 46, and Nicholas Jeffries, 53 — all denied the manslaughter charges. A charge of corporate manslaughter has also been dropped against the engineering firm Belfour Beatty.

But the five men and their employers, Balfour Beatty and Railtrack, still face health and safety charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Four people were killed and many more were injured when a high speed train travelling from Leeds to London derailed just outside Hatfield on 17 October 2000. An investigation after the crash found that a cracked section of rail caused the train to come off the tracks.

After five months on trial, the judge Mr Justice Mackay told the jury to find the men not guilty, saying:

“It is not open to you to convict any of the six defendants on charges of manslaughter”

He added: “I must ask you to accept my ruling, which does not affect one way or the other the important decisions you will have to make when considering verdicts on the health and safety counts.”

Mr Justice Mackay made the decision after reviewing the evidence and listening to submissions.

The collapse of yet another high-profile corporate case will more than likely put pressure for changes to current laws to make it easier to prosecute in corporate manslaughter cases. Work on new corporate manslaughter legislation has been under way for more than a decade in response to the problems encountered in bringing successful prosecutions. The latest proposals would criminalise gross management failure and the government has promised legislation before the end of next year.

Friday, October 23, 2020

Wikinews accredited reporter William S. Saturn reached out to Unity Party of America presidential nominee Bill Hammons of Colorado to discuss Hammons’s 2020 campaign for President of the United States.

Hammons, a former Newsweek manager and owner of the website “Bill’s List”, founded the Unity Party in 2004 with supporters of General Wesley Clark’s unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. The party, which describes itself as centrist, advocates in its constitution for, among other things, a balanced budget amendment, elimination of the federal income tax, tax deduction for health care costs, a global minimum wage for fair trade, term limits for Congress and judges, lowering the voting age, DC statehood, and expanded space exploration.

Hammons has grown the party with various campaigns for public office.  He ran for US Congress in 2008 and 2010, US Senate in 2014 and 2016, and for Governor of Colorado in 2018.  Last year, Hammons embarked on a presidential campaign and became the Unity Party’s first presidential nominee. Engineer Eric Bodenstab, the party’s 2018 nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Colorado was picked to be his running mate. Bodenstab spoke to Wikinews last August. The Hammons-Bodenstab ticket has qualified for ballot access in Colorado, Louisiana, and New Jersey.

With Wikinews, Hammons discusses his background, campaign, the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Supreme Court, and Black Lives Matter, among other issues.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Protests which began Monday escalated to a riot on Wednesday consisting of over 10,000 people in Chi?in?u, the capital of Moldova, protesting the results of Sunday’s 2009 Moldovan parliamentary election, which showed an apparent, narrow victory for the Communist Party (Partidul Comuni?tilor din Republica Moldova, PCRM). Demonstrators claim the victory was the result of electoral fraud.

The demonstration escalated to a “flash mob” of between 10,000 to 15,000 communicating via online tools like email, micro-blogging tool Twitter, and social-networking website Facebook. “We sent messages on Twitter but didn’t expect 15,000 people to join in. At the most we expected 1,000”, said Oleg Brega of the activist group Hyde Park.

Police deployed tear gas and water cannons, and fired blanks into the crowd. The rioters threw stones at the riot police and took control of the parliament building and presidential office. A bonfire was built out of parliamentary furniture and all windows below the 7th floor were broken.

Approximately one hundred protesters and 170 police officers are reported as injured. There have been conflicting reports as to whether a female protester died during the altercation.

193 protesters “have been charged with looting, hooliganism, robbery and assault,” said an Interior Ministry spokesperson. This announcement sparked another protest by those demanding the release for those detained.

There is wide speculation about who was to blame for the rioting.

President Vladimir Voronin has expelled the Romanian ambassador from Moldova, blaming Romania for the violent protests. “We know that certain political forces in Romania are behind this unrest. The Romanian flags fixed on the government buildings in Chisinau attest to this” said Voronin. “Romania is involved in everything that has happened.“ Voronin also blamed the protests on opposition leaders who used violence to seize power, and has described the event as a coup d’état.

Protesters initially insisted on a recount of the election results and are now calling for a new vote, which has been rejected by the government. Rioters were also demanding unification between Moldova and Romania. “In the air, there was a strong expectation of change, but that did not happen”, said OSCE spokesman Matti Sidoroff.File:Dorin Chirtoaca.jpg

“The elections were fraudulent, there was multiple voting” accused Chi?in?u mayor Dorin Chirtoac? of the Liberal Party. “It’s impossible that every second person in Moldova voted for the Communists. However, we believe the riots were a provocation and we are now trying to reconcile the crowd. Leaders of all opposition parties are at the scene,” said Larissa Manole of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) proclaimed the PCRM to have won 61 seats in initial counts, enough to guarantee a third term in power for Voronin, who has held the position since 2001. But the Central Election Commission has received evidence of election violations, according to RIA Novosti, and upon recounts conducted of disputed polls, the commission reported that the Communists achieved 49.48% of the Moldovian vote, giving them 60 parliamentary seats — one short of the total needed to win the presidential election. “The electoral commission also granted opposition parties permission to check voter lists, fulfilling one of their chief demands,” said Yuri Ciocan, Central Election Commission secretary.

Voronin will step down in May, however his party could elect a successor with 61 parliamentary seats without any votes from outside parties as well as amend the Constitution. With the PCRM garnering 60 seats, the opposition will have a voice in the presidential election for a new successor.

The western part of Moldova was a part of Romania from the Romania’s independence until the region was detached by the USSR in 1940 to form the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. On independence in 1990 the country sought union with Romania but the eastern, Russian- and Ukrainian-inhabited areas of the country declared themselves independent from Moldova and formed the state of Transnistria and movement toward union was halted.

Moldova is Europe’s poorest country, where average income is less than $250 (£168) a month. The country’s neighbours are Romania and Ukraine. Romania is a European Union (EU) state.

Friday, June 6, 2008

While nearly all coverage of the 2008 Presidential election has focused on the Democratic and Republican candidates, the race for the White House also includes independents and third-party candidates. These prospects represent a variety of views that may not be acknowledged by the major party platforms.

Wikinews has reached out to these candidates throughout the campaign. We now interview the Prohibition Party Presidential nominee Gene Amondson, a preacher, artist and prohibition activist.

Why do you want to be President?

With one out of nine blacks between twenty and thirty-four in prison, Prohibition will come again for the fourth time.

Have you ever run for political office before? (President, senate, congress, city councilor, school trustee… etc.) Have you ever been a member of a political party, other than the one you’re currently in?

I grew up Republican; my brother was [a] state Senator.

What skills or ideas do you bring from this position, or previous positions, that will benefit the Oval Office?

I run because no one else will help America with its number one problem: where is the church? That had one Sunday set aside each year to get kids to take a pledge – never to drink (that was 60 years ago).

Campaigning for the American presidency is one of the most expensive exercises in the world. How do you deal with the cost and fundraising?

If we could cut off the money that goes to Dobson, the Salvation Army, Union Gospel Vision, World Vision, Graham, America could save our children from drunk parents. Ohio has a quarter of a million children abused each year by a drunk parent.

[Even] with MADD Mothers and millions of dollars, drunk driving has not gone down in ten years.

What are you/were you looking for in a running mate?

I have a running mate, but would like Newt Gingrich.

Can you win the 2008 Presidential election?

Third party people do not win but we say wise things.

If you can’t make it into the Oval Office, whom would you prefer seeing taking the presidency?

We need McCain to get good Supreme Court judges, not the Democrats. Jewish people must be wise like, Mayor Ed Koch. I have to vote Republican, or kiss Israel goodbye. Of the three front runners, only McCain will help Israel.

What should the American people keep in mind, when heading to the polls this November?

Liberal Democrats win because they promise everything, like: America can give you everything; you do not even have to work; let anyone come across our borders; eat, drink and be merry.

Anything else you want to add?

We are America’s third oldest party, [we have been around for] 137 years. Your kids need you sober. You booze you lose. Like crime and drugs: keep selling alcohol. America’s greatest years were the fourteen years of prohibition: our prisons and mental institutions [were] emptied. If you had a dog that bit every third person what would you do?

You would shoot that dog. Alcohol has no taste….I[f] I don’t like you sober, I won’t like [you] with a few beers. Responsible drinking – responsible smoking – dumb and dumber.

We need your help [contact me] at http://www.geneamondson.com [or call] 206-463-6333.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

The Ontario Liberal Party created a new Ontario trillium logo at a cost of $219,000 dollars. Many people and the PC Party of Ontario call it a waste of time and money. They replaced the logo with a version of the flower similar to the party’s trademark. The picture can be seen here [1].

Now the Progressive Conservatives have started a new website. The website is a petition to save the old trillium logo. The website just started yesterday. PC leader John Tory had lots of interviews today.

“You just don’t arbitrarily tamper with it under cover of darkness,” PC Leader John Tory said yesterday, launching the website savethetrillium.ca. “It survived more or less intact through seven governments under all parties until Dalton McGuinty and his partisan pork barrellers got their hands on it,” said John Tory. He also said “it is wasting time and money fiddling with marketing and logos while gun violence and energy problems go unattended”. Tory calls it a useless use of funds and an inappropriate change because the new logo too closely resembles the flower seen in the Liberal Party banner.

The logo was introduced in 1964. It has undergone minor redesigns, but always remained a stylized T-shaped trillium. The latest version, designed by Toronto advertising agency Bensimon Byrne, is more angular and has no border.

“It’s awful,” Keith Rushton, a professor of design at the Ontario College of Art and Design. “It was a drastic change. It’s a very aggressive, hostile logo.”

The Liberals have defended the logo revamp saying “it was time to modernize the symbol in order to attract new business to the province”.

For now, the Torys will leave it to the Canadian public.