L’udienza di oggi riguarda il caso di “Libera”, paralizzata e impossibilitata ad autosomministrarsi il farmaco letale
“Se la Corte dovesse accogliere la questione di legittimità costituzionale, le persone malate che desiderano porre fine alle proprie sofferenze, ma che sono fisicamente impossibilitate all’autosomministrazione del farmaco e per questo oggi discriminate, potrebbero accedere alla morte volontaria”.
Stamattina, per la prima volta, la Corte costituzionale ha trattato il tema dell’eutanasia. La Corte, infatti, si è già espressa 4 volte negli ultimi 7 anni sul tema del fine vita, in particolare sul suicidio assistito, ma oggi per la prima volta il tema è stato quello dell’eutanasia e quindi del coinvolgimento diretto del medico nella somministrazione del farmaco letale a una persona malata che è in possesso di tutti i criteri indicati dalla sentenza 242 del 2019 sul caso “Cappato-Dj Fabo”.
In particolare, il caso discusso oggi è quello di “Libera” (nome di fantasia, da lei scelto a tutela della privacy), una donna toscana di 55 anni, affetta da sclerosi multipla progressiva, completamente paralizzata e mantenuta in vita da trattamenti di sostegno vitale.
Le condizioni di “Libera” sono state già verificate da parte dell’ASL e ha tutti i requisiti per l’accesso al suicidio medicalmente assistito stabiliti dalla sentenza 242 del 2019, però non è fisicamente in grado di assumere autonomamente il farmaco letale: è completamente paralizzata dal collo in giù, ha difficoltà nel deglutire e dipende dai suoi caregiver per tutte le attività quotidiane. Ha rifiutato la sedazione profonda perché vuole essere lucida e cosciente fino alla fine. Per questo, assistita dai suoi legali – il collegio è coordinato dall’avvocata Filomena Gallo, Segretaria nazionale dell’Associazione Luca Coscioni, ed è composto anche dagli avvocati Francesca Re, Alessia Cicatelli, Angioletto Calandrini e dal professor Giacomo D’Amico – ha presentato un ricorso d’urgenza al tribunale di Firenze, con un’azione di accertamento, affinché, alla luce dell’impossibilità di autosomministrarsi il farmaco letale, autorizzi il medico di fiducia alla sua somministrazione. Questo intervento diretto del medico però oggi integrerebbe il reato di omicidio del consenziente, punito dall’articolo 579 del codice penale, con la reclusione fino a 15 anni.
Il tribunale di Firenze, il 30 aprile scorso, ha quindi sollevato la questione di legittimità costituzionale sull’articolo 579 del codice penale (omicidio del consenziente), che punisce con la reclusione fino a 15 anni “chiunque cagiona la morte di un uomo col consenso di lui”, senza ammettere eccezione alcuna, a differenza dell’attuale formulazione dell’articolo 580 che depenalizza l’aiuto al suicidio per persone nelle condizioni di “Libera”.
Dichiara Filomena Gallo, avvocata che ha discusso in udienza pubblica dinanzi ai giudici della Corte costituzionale: “‘Libera’ ha seguito il percorso tracciato dalla legge 219/2017 e dalla sentenza 242/19 e successivi interventi, ha ottenuto le verifiche da parte delle strutture sanitarie pubbliche e ha individuato un medico disponibile su base volontaria ad assisterla, il dottor Malacarne.
Tuttavia, la sua condizione di immobilità le impedisce l’autosomministrazione del farmaco: un vincolo esclusivamente fisico che, in assenza di un intervento che modifichi la portata dell’articolo 579 del codice penale, si traduce in un limite giuridico, insuperabile e assoluto, e dunque in una discriminazione intollerabile. Non si tratta di cancellare l’articolo 579 del codice penale. Si tratta, come hanno già fatto i giudici costituzionale per l’articolo 580, di interpretarlo alla luce dei principi costituzionali, e di escluderne l’applicazione nei casi in cui la volontà suicidaria sia libera, consapevole, verificata, e l’unico ostacolo sia un limite fisico oggettivo.
‘Libera’ non chiede un diritto speciale. Chiede semplicemente che la sua libertà di autodeterminarsi non venga annientata dalla propria condizione fisica. Tocca ora alla Corte, con gli stessi strumenti utilizzati per la sentenza 242/19, colmare un vuoto che produce una ingiustizia concreta in attesa di una buona legge che rispetti la libertà di scelta della persona”.
@Signor Amministratore ⁂ Sì, è su "illimitato". In particolare c'è un post che mi taglia molto presto. Allego 2 screenshot: uno del post visualizzato nella scheda Profilo dal mio account Friendica (tema verde, post troncato) e uno dello stesso post aperto loggandomi dall'account Mastodon (tema blu, il post compare per intero). 🤔
@Signor Amministratore ⁂ Ok, si è perso il testo che avevo scritto... L'opzione è su "illimitato" I due screen si riferiscono allo stesso post, che viene troncato se lo apro nella scheda profilo loggandomi su poliverso.org ma viene visualizzato interamente se lo cerco dopo essermi loggato su mastodon.uno
@Signor Amministratore ⁂ ecco, è successo anche qui: ho riscritto il testo del post perché Raccoon mi visualizza solo una chiocciola, e poi le due immagini... Ma l'ho aperto da Mastodon e il testo c'è... 🤔🤔🤔
Comincia a essere chiaro a tutti quanto sia importante in questo momento STACCARSI DAI GRANDI MONOPÒLI americani.
Comincio dal n.1 nel commercio online: AMAZON (ma anche eBay). Oltre al sacrosanto 'andiamo nei negozi', ci sono "marketplace" alternativi? Non solo: c'è DI MEGLIO. Scopriamo insieme queste vere e proprie chicche!
1) commercioVirtuoso (tante categorie) Italiani, sostenibili e di qualità: i prodotti di questa giovane impresa promettono di venire incontro al commercio locale (acquisti dai negozi sul territorio), all'ambiente (la merce non deve percorrere mezzo mondo) e al valore della lentezza (opposta al "fast" del consumo usa-e-getta).
2) Bookdealer (libri) Comprare dalle librerie indipendenti con la comodità di ordinare online: è questo l'obiettivo di questa iniziativa, che permette di trovare un libro in una delle librerie aderenti sul territorio nazionale e farselo recapitare anche direttamente a domicilio.
3) Emarketworld (tante categorie - no libri) Un'altra startup italiana relativamente giovane, che si presenta come un marketplace onesto e con ottime recensioni, un vasto assortimento e la possibilità di trovare anche occasioni e prodotti ricondizionati.
4) PagineGialle Shop (tante categorie - no libri) Sorprendentemente poco conosciuto, il marketplace di Pagine Gialle è molto assortito. Come su Amazon, i prodotti possono essere venduti dai singoli venditori o direttamente dallo Shop. Vale la pena di esplorarlo bene. Da segnalare anche PagineGialle, che permette di trovare i negozi più vicini senza passare per Google Maps, e PGCasa, dove si possono reperire facilmente artigiani per tutti i piccoli e grandi lavori domestici.
5) Libri da Asporto (libri) Non è un vero marketplace, ma un sito che raccoglie molte librerie aderenti, permettendo di trovare facilmente le più vicine sul territorio e di mettersi in contatto direttamente con loro (via email o whatsapp) per ordinare e farsi recapitare i libri anche a domicilio.
6) Subito (tante categorie) Sicuramente più conosciuto (grazie anche alle campagne pubblicitarie), oltre ad essere un marketplace molto assortito, permette di pubblicare annunci e si configura perciò come una delle alternative nostrane che possono competere anche con eBay (tuttavia senza possibilità di asta).
7) Il Fedimercatino E per restare nel Fediverso, che dire di questa bella iniziativa no-profit federata, collegata alla comunità Lemmy @Il Mercatino del Fediverso 💵♻️? Il "Mercatino delle Pulci Online Eco-Sostenibile del fediverso" è un piccolo e giovanissimo spazio (in espansione!) nato per contrastare la cultura dello spreco, ridurre i rifiuti e promuovere la filosofia del "Regalo Consapevole" (ma è possibile vendere o acquistare prodotti con prezzi fino a 299€). Leggete bene la pagina about!
8) StrumentiMusicali / MercatinoMusicale (strumenti musicali, apparecchiature e accessori) Tra i tanti siti specializzati in una sola categoria, presento questo (anche per... deformazione professionale), che ho sempre trovato affidabile, ben fornito e di riferimento nel mondo musicale. Il Mercatino è inoltre un sito dove mettere e trovare annunci per ottime occasioni.
Raccoon for Friendica sarebbe un'ottima app per poter accedere a tante delle numerose funzionalità di Friendica dallo smartphone. Peccato che più lo uso e più saltano fuori problemi... Già in un post precedente ho segnalato come ogni tanto il testo di alcuni post sparisca, o venga troncato dopo poche righe. Inoltre, anche la timeline ogni tanto (ma anche dopo meno di un giorno dal login) sparisce completamente, mentre le altre schede continuano a mostrare contenuto. Il workaround è fare logout e login andando sulla scheda profilo, ci vuole un attimo con le credenziali memorizzate nel browser ma senza dubbio è una bella rottura di scatole. Ora, stamattina ho aperto la schermata dei tracker rilevati da uno dei miei dispositivi /e/OS (un Teracube 2e che tengo senza SIM) e, con mia grande sorpresa, Raccoon era in cima alla lista con ben 4 tracker! Ho aperto la relativa schermata e vi rimando all'immagine per i dettagli. Vedo inoltre che anche l'App Lounge di sistema mostra 2 tracker, mentre per Fedilab non ne viene rilevato nessuno. La cosa strana è che questo lo vedo solo su questo dispositivo. Sul mio telefono principale (un Murena One su cui gira esattamente la stessa versione di /e/, la 3.0.1), né Raccoon né l'App Lounge mostrano tracker. Per completezza, l'analisi Exodus dei certificati di firma dei tracker ne rileva in Raccoon solo uno, Sentry, che non è nessuno dei 4 mostrati da /e/... Qual è la verità?
Sono scese dalla valle di Rhêmes per salire, in serata, prima a Cogne e poi, domani, all'alpeggio del Grauson. In queste ore il gregge fa tappa ad Aymavilles
In the comments of a recent article, the question came up as to where to find projects from the really smart kids the greybeards remember being in the 70s. In the case of [Will Dana] the answer is YouTube, where he’s done an excellent job of producing an ISS-tracking lamp, especially considering he’s younger than almost all of the station’s major components.*
There’s nothing ground-breaking here, and [Will] is honest enough to call out his inspiration in the video. Choosing to make a ground-track display with an off-the-shelf globe is a nice change from the pointing devices we’ve featured most recently. Inside the globe is a pair of stepper motors configured for alt/az control– which means the device must reset every orbit, since [Willis] didn’t have slip rings or a 360 degree stepper on hand. A pair of magnets couples the motion system inside the globe to the the 3D printed ISS model (with a lovely paintjob thanks to [Willis’s girlfriend]– who may or may be from Canada, but did show up in the video to banish your doubts as to her existence), letting it slide magically across the surface. (Skip to the end of the embedded video for a timelapse of the globe in action.) The lamp portion is provided by some LEDs in the base, which are touch-activated thanks to some conductive tape inside the 3D printed base.
It’s all controlled by an ESP32, which fetches the ISS position with a NASA API. Hopefully it doesn’t go the way of the sighting website, but if it does there’s more than enough horsepower to calculate the position from orbital parameters, and we are confident [Will] can figure out the code for that. That should be pretty easy compared to the homebrew relay computer or the animatronic sorting hat we featured from him last year.
A Houston, in Texas, c’è un pezzo di Italia che sta guadagnando spazio nelle strette maglie dell’industria della difesa americana. Si tratta di Roboze, società deep tech con base a Bari e specializzata nella stampa 3D industriale di materiali compositi ad
Il rumore degli uomini soli – cronaca dell’individualismo imperante freezonemagazine.com/articoli/… Nelle notti infuocate e insonni di quest’ennesima estate — che sarà, di certo, meteorologicamente da dimenticare — il pensiero continua a rivolgersi agli accadimenti degli ultimi tre anni. Addormentarsi diventa ancora più difficile, perché il fardello che dobbiamo portare è sempre più pesante e la via d’uscita sembra non
Inseguito dai tedeschi riuscii a nascondermi rannichiandomi dietro una roccia
Buggio, Frazione del comune di Pigna (IM) Pagasempre [n.d.r.: Arnolfo Ravetti, in seguito capo di Stato Maggiore della V^ Brigata d’Assalto Garibaldi “Luigi Nuvoloni” della II^ Divisione “Felice Cascione”], che doveva far parte del gruppo di Fragola-Doria [n.d.r.: Armando Izzo, comandante, poco tempo dopo i fatti qui narrati, della V^ Brigata “Luigi Nuvoloni”], era riuscito a scappare dal campanile [n.d.r.: della Chiesa Parrocchiale di Pigna] e a raggiungere il gruppo di retroguardia [n.d.r.: l’autore non mette date, ma qui dovrebbe trattarsi del 10 ottobre 1944, quando la Repubblica Partigiana di Pigna era ormai caduta e la maggior parte dei patrioti combattenti imperiesi, non solo quelli attestati in Alta Val Nervia, ma anche coloro del resto della provincia, si erano ormai avviati, per sfuggire ai rastrellamenti nazifascisti, verso Fontane in Piemonte, in quella che è rimasta nella storia come un’epica ritirata strategica]. È lui, il testimone oculare dei fatti che sto per narrare. «Stavo per raggiungere il gruppo di Fragola-Doria, dopo aver visto dall’alto del campanile i vari gruppi dirigersi verso Langan. Erano riusciti a sganciarsi bene ed il ripiegamento avveniva con ordine, anche merito mio che sparavo dal campanile e del gruppo di Fragola-Doria che compiva eccellentemente il compito di retroguardia». «Hai visto il gruppo di Carabalona? [n.d.r.: Stefano “Leo” Carabalona, già comandante di Distaccamenti, era di lì a diventare capo della Missione Militare (dei Partigiani Garibaldini) presso il Comando Alleato a Nizza]». «L’ho visto dirigersi verso il cimitero e scomparve alla mia vista». «Continua nella tua narrazione». «Inseguito dai tedeschi riuscii a nascondermi rannichiandomi dietro una roccia e vidi Fragola-Doria, che ad una curva sul ciglio di un dirupo si era fermato, aveva fatto un passo indietro per caricare il mitra e mettersi in migliore posizione di tiro, ma aveva messo un piede in fallo, mentre una raffica mi parve l’avesse colpito, e precipitò nel burrone sottostante. Eravamo presso la Madonna di Passoscio. Quando lo andai a prelevare, alcuni giorni dopo, mi disse che era stato ferito e nel rotolare, ridotto all’inazione, non sapeva orientarsi anche perchè aveva rotto gli occhiali. Due ausiliari tedeschi, probabilmente polacchi o cecoslovacchi, lo avevano raggiunto in fondo alla scarpata e lo avevano piantonato in attesa di ordini dal loro comandante, sulla sua sorte. Era stordito, dolorante, esausto, quasi semincosciente e gli pareva di udire i nazisti che gli chiedevano di portarli con lui perchè volevano farsi partigiani. Ma il loro comportamento dichiarò le loro intenzioni. Lo abbandonarono lasciandogli la pistola e la borsa con le carte topografiche». Intanto Pagasempre, rimasto solo, all’alba, dopo aver passato la notte al riparo degli alberi, si avviava verso Buggio. Sentiva sopra, verso il Torraggio, le mitragliatrici, che lui pensava fossero di Moscone [n.d.r.: Basilio Mosconi, comandante di un Distaccamento, poi comandante del II° Battaglione “Marco Dino Rossi” della V^ Brigata], attestate all’incrocio della strada militare del Torraggio, verso Pietravecchia, che respingevano i tedeschi. Giunto a Spegli fu accolto da alcuni carbonari, dove incontrò il maggiore Zoroddu, con la moglie e le due bambine. Era stato un pastore, un suo conoscente che lo aveva guidato là, ritenendo la posizione sufficientemente sicura. Fu quello stesso pastore che nei giorni successivi li avvertiva delle posizioni dei tedeschi, e di aver visto i partigiani camminare con passo normale e ben affardellati verso Langan, da diverse strade. Rimanevano però nei dintorni di Pigna e di Castelvittorio molti uomini sbandati ed il rastrellamento nazista insisteva. Bisognava abbandonare la zona. Zoroddu e Pagasempre decisero di raggiungere alcune campagne di Castelvittorio, dove il maggiore contava degli amici. Con prudenza il gruppo viaggiava di buon mattino e la sera, per non essere visti. Raggiunsero Gordale. Qui li raggiunse il partigiano Ammiraglio (Rebaudo Stefano) ad annunciare che Fragola-Doria era stato raccolto da un pastore, in cattive condizioni di salute. Rivolgendosi in particolare a Pagasempre. lo pregava di organizzare un suo recupero. Fu un abitante di Castelvittorio, il paese degli uomini generosi, che si prestò, col suo mulo ad andare a prendere Fragola-Doria. Lo trovarono in vere condizioni pietose. Ciò che più lo affliggeva era il non aver più gli occhiali. Aveva una larga ferita alla coscia destra ed era in suppurazione. Riprende Fragola-Doria: «Le ragazze che mi assistevano, mi portarono dei libri, da leggere, di Nino Salvaneschi. La notizia che io fossi lì si sparse. Devo ancora narrare un episodio che denotava il mio stato febbrile. Le ragazze mi portavano delle fette di pane biscottato all’olio e me le mandava la madre di Ammiraglio, un nostro partigiano. Nel mio rifugio vi erano dei grossi topi ed una notte ebbi l’impressione che mi volessero aggredire. Per allontanarli presi un pane e lo scaraventai contro di loro. Ho visto che i topi si erano precipitati su quel pane. Allora ho capito che i topi sentivano l’odore del pane condito impastato con l’olio. In quella grotta sentivo dei dolori acuti in tutto il corpo. Pagasempre seppe del mio rifugio e venne con dei muli e mi portò dove lui si trovava, in Gordale, dove fui visitato e curato dal dottore Prof. Moro, che mi disse: “Tu fisicamente ora sei guarito, ma sei ridotto a sole ossa. Devi curarti”. Mi curarono Pagasempre ed il maggiore Zoroddu ed altri partigiani che non avevano seguito gli altri in Piemonte». A conferma di questo continua Pagasempre. «Fu il Prof. Moro di Castelvittorio che si prestò a medicare e a curare Fragola-Doria. Egli, da una narrazione del tempo, era stato, dopo l’abbandono dei due ausiliari tedeschi, per qualche giorno immobile. Solo la notte si trascinava attorno in cerca di castagne per cibarsi. Gli occorse un mese per guarire». Rio Gordale In Gordale si radunarono molti sbandati e formarono il distaccamento del tenente Lilli [Fulvio Vicàri, medaglia d’argento alla memoria], ma non avevano mezzi di sussistenza, né collegamenti con il grosso delle forze avviate verso il Piemonte. I tedeschi avevano occupato tutta la zona e bisognava stare in guardia. Il maggiore Zoroddu incarica Pagasempre di recarsi a Poggio di Sanremo con un biglietto di presentazione per i signori Nino Ghersi e Corrado Mancini, facenti parte del C.L.N. onde avere mezzi di sussistenza. Altro scopo della missione era di procurare gli occhiali a Fragola-Doria. Il viaggio fu lungo e non privo di avventure, degno di un racconto a parte. Ecco il suo racconto: « Giunto a Poggio e fattomi riconoscere, mi portarono in una casa di campagna sopra il campo sportivo di Sanremo. Stetti tre giorni. Mi consegnarono gli occhiali per Fragola-Doria ed una forte somma di danaro da consegnare a Zoroddu. Giunto a Gordale, con quello che avevo portato, l’esistenza divenne più umana. Comperammo un vitello per sfamare il distaccamento e farina e pane. Curammo Fragola-Doria che con una alimentazione buona si rimise in forze. I tedeschi si erano accorti dell’esistenza del gruppo di Gordale. Lo aveva comunicato un tale di Castevittorio, che aveva osservato un ufficiale tedesco che teneva puntato un cannocchiale sul luogo. I tedeschi a Pigna e a Castelvittorio erano molti, ma anche i partigiani di Castevittorio erano rimasti sul luogo ed avevano rafforzato il distaccamento, tenendosi sbandati ma ben collegati. I tedeschi, per la sempre misteriosa voce di informatori prezzolati, sapevano che a Gordale viveva Zoroddu, che essi credevano il capo dei partigiani della zona ed erano anche a conoscenza che Fragola-Doria era ferito. Inoltre sapevano che il dott. prof. Moro curava i feriti partigiani e lo ricercavano. Partì da Castelvittorio una spedizione tedesca. I partigiani di Gordale fecero in tempo a rintanarsi. Lilli non aveva voluto seguirli e fu scoperto una mattina con la sua donna. Si salvò per aver lanciato alcune bombe a mano e fuggì con alcuni dei suoi uomini. Per ritorsione i tedeschi catturarono tredici persone trovate nei campi a lavorare. Vi erano tra essi donne e bambini. Il parroco del luogo, Don Aldo Caprile, si offerse vittima per loro, ma i tedeschi fucilarono [3 dicembre 1944] i tredici, senza pietà, su un costone sopra il paese». don Ermando Micheletto, La V ^ Brigata d’Assalto Garibaldi “Luigi Nuvoloni” (Dal Diario di “Domino nero” – Ermando Micheletto), Edizioni Micheletto, Taggia (IM), 1975, pp. 199-202
In our previous article we dissected penetration testing techniques for IBM z/OS mainframes protected by the Resource Access Control Facility (RACF) security package. In this second part of our research, we delve deeper into RACF by examining its decision-making logic, database structure, and the interactions between the various entities in this subsystem. To facilitate offline analysis of the RACF database, we have developed our own utility, racfudit, which we will use to perform possible checks and evaluate RACF configuration security. As part of this research, we also outline the relationships between RACF entities (users, resources, and data sets) to identify potential privilege escalation paths for z/OS users.
This material is provided solely for educational purposes and is intended to assist professionals conducting authorized penetration tests.
RACF internal architecture
Overall role
z/OS access control diagram
To thoroughly analyze RACF, let’s recall its role and the functions of its components within the overall z/OS architecture. As illustrated in the diagram above, RACF can generally be divided into a service component and a database. Other components exist too, such as utilities for RACF administration and management, or the RACF Auditing and Reporting solution responsible for event logging and reporting. However, for a general understanding of the process, we believe these components are not strictly necessary. The RACF database stores information about z/OS users and the resources for which access control is configured. Based on this data, the RACF service component performs all necessary security checks when requested by other z/OS components and subsystems. RACF typically interacts with other subsystems through the System Authorization Facility (SAF) interface. Various z/OS components use SAF to authorize a user’s access to resources or to execute a user-requested operation. It is worth noting that while this paper focuses on the operating principle of RACF as the standard security package, other security packages like ACF2 or Top Secret can also be used in z/OS.
Let’s consider an example of user authorization within the Time Sharing Option (TSO) subsystem, the z/OS equivalent of a command line interface. We use an x3270 terminal emulator to connect to the mainframe. After successful user authentication in z/OS, the TSO subsystem uses SAF to query the RACF security package, checking that the user has permission to access the TSO resource manager. The RACF service queries the database for user information, which is stored in a user profile. If the database contains a record of the required access permissions, the user is authorized, and information from the user profile is placed into the address space of the new TSO session within the ACEE (Accessor Environment Element) control block. For subsequent attempts to access other z/OS resources within that TSO session, RACF uses the information in ACEE to make the decision on granting user access. SAF reads data from ACEE and transmits it to the RACF service. RACF makes the decision to grant or deny access, based on information in the relevant profile of the requested resource stored in the database. This decision is then sent back to SAF, which processes the user request accordingly. The process of querying RACF repeats for any further attempts by the user to access other resources or execute commands within the TSO session.
Thus, RACF handles identification, authentication, and authorization of users, as well as granting privileges within z/OS.
RACF database components
As discussed above, access decisions for resources within z/OS are made based on information stored in the RACF database. This data is kept in the form of records, or as RACF terminology puts it, profiles. These contain details about specific z/OS objects. While the RACF database can hold various profile types, four main types are especially important for security analysis:
User profile holds user-specific information such as logins, password hashes, special attributes, and the groups the user belongs to.
Group profile contains information about a group, including its members, owner, special attributes, list of subgroups, and the access permissions of group members for that group.
Data set profile stores details about a data set, including access permissions, attributes, and auditing policy.
General resource profile provides information about a resource or resource class, such as resource holders, their permissions regarding the resource, audit policy, and the resource owner.
The RACF database contains numerous instances of these profiles. Together, they form a complex structure of relationships between objects and subjects within z/OS, which serves as the basis for access decisions.
Logical structure of RACF database profiles
Each profile is composed of one or more segments. Different profile types utilize different segment types.
For example, a user profile instance may contain the following segments:
BASE: core user information in RACF (mandatory segment);
TSO: user TSO-session parameters;
OMVS: user session parameters within the z/OS UNIX subsystem;
KERB: data related to the z/OS Network Authentication Service, essential for Kerberos protocol operations;
and others.
User profile segments
Different segment types are distinguished by the set of fields they store. For instance, the BASE segment of a user profile contains the following fields:
PASSWORD: the user’s password hash;
PHRASE: the user’s password phrase hash;
LOGIN: the user’s login;
OWNER: the owner of the user profile;
AUTHDATE: the date of the user profile creation in the RACF database;
and others.
The PASSWORD and PHRASE fields are particularly interesting for security analysis, and we will dive deeper into these later.
RACF database structure
It is worth noting that the RACF database is stored as a specialized data set with a specific format. Grasping this format is very helpful when analyzing the DB and mapping the relationships between z/OS objects and subjects.
As discussed in our previous article, a data set is the mainframe equivalent of a file, composed of a series of blocks.
RACF DB structure
The image above illustrates the RACF database structure, detailing the data blocks and their offsets. From the RACF DB analysis perspective, and when subsequently determining the relationships between z/OS objects and subjects, the most critical blocks include:
The header block, or inventory control block (ICB), which contains various metadata and pointers to all other data blocks within the RACF database. By reading the ICB, you gain access to the rest of the data blocks.
Index blocks, which form a singly linked list that contains pointers to all profiles and their segments in the RACF database – that is, to the information about all users, groups, data sets, and resources.
Templates: a crucial data block containing templates for all profile types (user, group, data set, and general resource profiles). The templates list fields and specify their format for every possible segment type within the corresponding profile type.
Upon dissecting the RACF database structure, we identified the need for a utility capable of extracting all relevant profile information from the DB, regardless of its version. This utility would also need to save the extracted data in a convenient format for offline analysis. Performing this type of analysis provides a comprehensive picture of the relationships between all objects and subjects for a specific z/OS installation, helping uncover potential security vulnerabilities that could lead to privilege escalation or lateral movement.
Utilities for RACF DB analysis
At the previous stage, we defined the following functional requirements for an RACF DB analysis utility:
The ability to analyze RACF profiles offline without needing to run commands on the mainframe
The ability to extract exhaustive information about RACF profiles stored in the DB
Compatibility with various RACF DB versions
Intuitive navigation of the extracted data and the option to present it in various formats: plaintext, JSON, SQL, etc.
Overview of existing RACF DB analysis solutions
We started by analyzing off-the-shelf tools and evaluating their potential for our specific needs:
Racf2john extracts user password hashes (from the PASSWORD field) encrypted with the DES and KDFAES algorithms from the RACF database. While this was a decent starting point, we needed more than just the PASSWORD field; specifically, we also needed to retrieve content from other profile fields like PHRASE.
Racf2sql takes an RACF DB dump as input and converts it into an SQLite database, which can then be queried with SQL. This is convenient, but the conversion process risks losing data critical for z/OS security assessment and identifying misconfigurations. Furthermore, the tool requires a database dump generated by the z/OS IRRDBU00 utility (part of the RACF security package) rather than the raw database itself.
IRRXUTIL allows querying the RACF DB to extract information. It is also part of the RACF security package. It can be conveniently used with a set of scripts written in REXX (an interpreted language used in z/OS). However, these scripts demand elevated privileges (access to one or more IRR.RADMIN.** resources in the FACILITY resource class) and must be executed directly on the mainframe, which is unsuitable for the task at hand.
Racf_debug_cleanup.c directly analyzes a RACF DB from a data set copy. A significant drawback is that it only parses BASE segments and outputs results in plaintext.
As you can see, existing tools don’t satisfy our needs. Some utilities require direct execution on the mainframe. Others operate on a data set copy and extract incomplete information from the DB. Moreover, they rely on hardcoded offsets and signatures within profile segments, which can vary across RACF versions. Therefore, we decided to develop our own utility for RACF database analysis.
Introducing racfudit
We have written our own platform-independent utility racfudit in Golang and tested it across various z/OS versions (1.13, 2.02, and 3.1). Below, we delve into the operating principles, capabilities and advantages of our new tool.
Extracting data from the RACF DB
To analyze RACF DB information offline, we first needed a way to extract structured data. We developed a two-stage approach for this:
The first stage involves analyzing the templates stored within the RACF DB. Each template describes a specific profile type, its constituent segments, and the fields within those segments, including their type and size. This allows us to obtain an up-to-date list of profile types, their segments, and associated fields, regardless of the RACF version.
In the second stage, we traverse all index blocks to extract every profile with its content from the RACF DB. These collected profiles are then processed and parsed using the templates obtained in the first stage.
The first stage is crucial because RACF DB profiles are stored as unstructured byte arrays. The templates are what define how each specific profile (byte array) is processed based on its type.
Thus, we defined the following algorithm to extract structured data.
Extracting data from the RACF DB using templates
We offload the RACF DB from the mainframe and read its header block (ICB) to determine the location of the templates.
Based on the template for each profile type, we define an algorithm for structuring specific profile instances according to their type.
We use the content of the header block to locate the index blocks, which store pointers to all profile instances.
We read all profile instances and their segments sequentially from the list of index blocks.
For each profile instance and its segments we read, we apply the processing algorithm based on the corresponding template.
All processed profile instances are saved in an intermediate state, allowing for future storage in various formats, such as plaintext or SQLite.
The advantage of this approach is its version independence. Even if templates and index blocks change their structure across RACF versions, our utility will not lose data because it dynamically determines the structure of each profile type based on the relevant template.
Analyzing extracted RACF DB information
Our racfudit utility can present collected RACF DB information as an SQLite database or a plaintext file.
RACF DB information as an SQLite DB (top) and text data (bottom)
Using SQLite, you can execute SQL queries to identify misconfigurations in RACF that could be exploited for privilege escalation, lateral movement, bypassing access controls, or other pentesting tactics. It is worth noting that the set of SQL queries used for processing information in SQLite can be adapted to validate current RACF settings against security standards and best practices. Let’s look at some specific examples of how to use the racfudit utility to uncover security issues.
Collecting password hashes
One of the primary goals in penetration testing is to get a list of administrators and a way to authorize using their credentials. This can be useful for maintaining persistence on the mainframe, moving laterally to other mainframes, or even pivoting to servers running different operating systems. Administrators are typically found in the SYS1 group and its subgroups. The example below shows a query to retrieve hashes of passwords (PASSWORD) and password phrases (PHRASE) for privileged users in the SYS1 group. select ProfileName,PHRASE,PASSWORD,CONGRPNM from USER_BASE where CONGRPNM LIKE "%SYS1%"; Of course, to log in to the system, you need to crack these hashes to recover the actual passwords. We cover that in more detail below.
Searching for inadequate UACC control in data sets
The universal access authority (UACC) defines the default access permissions to the data set. This parameter specifies the level of access for all users who do not have specific access permissions configured. Insufficient control over UACC values can pose a significant risk if elevated access permissions (UPDATE or higher) are set for data sets containing sensitive data or for APF libraries, which could allow privilege escalation. The query below helps identify data sets with default ALTER access permissions, which allow users to read, delete and modify the data set. select ProfileName, UNIVACS from DATASET_BASE where UNIVACS LIKE "1%"; The UACC field is not present only in data set profiles; it is also found in other profile types. Weak control in the configuration of this field can give a penetration tester access to resources.
RACF profile relationships
As mentioned earlier, various RACF entities have relationships. Some are explicitly defined; for example, a username might be listed in a group profile within its member field (USERID field). However, there are also implicit relationships. For instance, if a user group has UPDATE access to a specific data set, every member of that group implicitly has write access to that data set. This is a simple example of implicit relationships. Next, we delve into more complex and specific relationships within the RACF database that a penetration tester can exploit.
RACF profile fields
A deep dive into RACF internal architecture reveals that misconfigurations of access permissions and other attributes for various RACF entities can be difficult to detect and remediate in some scenarios. These seemingly minor errors can be critical, potentially leading to mainframe compromise. The explicit and implicit relationships within the RACF database collectively define the mainframe’s current security posture. As mentioned, each profile type in the RACF database has a unique set of fields and attributes that describe how profiles relate to one another. Based on these fields and attributes, we have compiled lists of key fields that help build and analyze relationship chains. User profile fields
SPECIAL: indicates that the user has privileges to execute any RACF command and grants them full control over all profiles in the RACF database.
OPERATIONS: indicates whether the user has authorized access to all RACF-protected resources of the DATASET, DASDVOL, GDASDVOL, PSFMPL, TAPEVOL, VMBATCH, VMCMD, VMMDISK, VMNODE, and VMRDR classes. While actions for users with this field specified are subject to certain restrictions, in a penetration testing context the OPERATIONS field often indicates full data set access.
AUDITOR: indicates whether the user has permission to access audit information.
AUTHOR: the creator of the user. It has certain privileges over the user, such as the ability to change their password.
REVOKE: indicates whether the user can log in to the system.
Password TYPE: specifies the hash type (DES or KDFAES) for passwords and password phrases. This field is not natively present in the user profile, but it can be created based on how different passwords and password phrases are stored.
Group-SPECIAL: indicates whether the user has full control over all profiles within the scope defined by the group or groups field. This is a particularly interesting field that we explore in more detail below.
Group-OPERATIONS: indicates whether the user has authorized access to all RACF-protected resources of the DATASET, DASDVOL, GDASDVOL, PSFMPL, TAPEVOL, VMBATCH, VMCMD, VMMDISK, VMNODE and VMRDR classes within the scope defined by the group or groups field.
Group-AUDITOR: indicates whether the user has permission to access audit information within the scope defined by the group or groups field.
CLAUTH (class authority): allows the user to create profiles within the specified class or classes. This field enables delegation of management privileges for individual classes.
GROUPIDS: contains a list of groups the user belongs to.
UACC (universal access authority): defines the UACC value for new profiles created by the user.
Group profile fields
UACC (universal access authority): defines the UACC value for new profiles that the user creates when connected to the group.
OWNER: the creator of the group. The owner has specific privileges in relation to the current group and its subgroups.
USERIDS: the list of users within the group. The order is essential.
USERACS: the list of group members with their respective permissions for access to the group. The order is essential.
SUPGROUP: the name of the superior group.
General resource and data set profile fields
UACC (universal access authority): defines the default access permissions to the resource or data set.
OWNER: the creator of the resource or data set, who holds certain privileges over it.
WARNING: indicates whether the resource or data set is in WARNING mode.
USERIDS: the list of user IDs associated with the resource or data set. The order is essential.
USERACS: the list of users with access permissions to the resource or data set. The order is essential.
RACF profile relationship chains
The fields listed above demonstrate the presence of relationships between RACF profiles. We have decided to name these relationships similarly to those used in BloodHound, a popular tool for analyzing Active Directory misconfigurations. Below are some examples of these relationships – the list is not exhaustive.
Owner: the subject owns the object.
MemberOf: the subject is part of the object.
AllowJoin: the subject has permission to add itself to the object.
AllowConnect: the subject has permission to add another object to the specified object.
AllowCreate: the subject has permission to create an instance of the object.
AllowAlter: the subject has the ALTER privilege for the object.
AllowUpdate: the subject has the UPDATE privilege for the object.
AllowRead: the subject has the READ privilege for the object.
CLAuthTo: the subject has permission to create instances of the object as defined in the CLAUTH field.
GroupSpecial: the subject has full control over all profiles within the object’s scope of influence as defined in the group-SPECIAL field.
GroupOperations: the subject has permissions to perform certain operations with the object as defined in the group-OPERATIONS field.
ImpersonateTo: the subject grants the object the privilege to perform certain operations on the subject’s behalf.
ResetPassword: the subject grants another object the privilege to reset the password or password phrase of the specified object.
UnixAdmin: the subject grants superuser privileges to the object in z/OS UNIX.
SetAPF: the subject grants another object the privilege to set the APF flag on the specified object.
These relationships serve as edges when constructing a graph of subject–object interconnections. Below are examples of potential relationships between specific profile types.
Examples of relationships between RACF profiles
Visualizing and analyzing these relationships helped us identify specific chains that describe potential RACF security issues, such as a path from a low-privileged user to a highly-privileged one. Before we delve into examples of these chains, let’s consider another interesting and peculiar feature of the relationships between RACF database entities.
Implicit RACF profile relationships
We have observed a fascinating characteristic of the group-SPECIAL, group-OPERATIONS, and group-AUDITOR fields within a user profile. If the user has any group specified in one of these fields, that group’s scope of influence extends the user’s own scope.
Scope of influence of a user with a group-SPECIAL field
For instance, consider USER1 with GROUP1 specified in the group-SPECIAL field. If GROUP1 owns GROUP2, and GROUP2 subsequently owns USER5, then USER1 gains privileges over USER5. This is not just about data access; USER1 essentially becomes the owner of USER5. A unique aspect of z/OS is that this level of access allows USER1 to, for example, change USER5’s password, even if USER5 holds privileged attributes like SPECIAL, OPERATIONS, ROAUDIT, AUDITOR, or PROTECTED.
Below is an SQL query, generated using the racfudit utility, that identifies all users and groups where the specified user possesses special attributes: select ProfileName, CGGRPNM, CGUACC, CGFLAG2 from USER_BASE WHERE (CGFLAG2 LIKE '%10000000%'); Here is a query to find users whose owners (AUTHOR) are not the standard default administrators: select ProfileName,AUTHOR from USER_BASE WHERE (AUTHOR NOT LIKE '%IBMUSER%' AND AUTHOR NOT LIKE 'SYS1%'); Let’s illustrate how user privileges can be escalated through these implicit profile relationships.
Privilege escalation via the group-SPECIAL field
In this scenario, the user TESTUSR has the group-SPECIAL field set to PASSADM. This group, PASSADM, owns the OPERATOR user. This means TESTUSR’s scope of influence expands to include PASSADM’s scope, thereby granting TESTUSR control over OPERATOR. Consequently, if TESTUSR’s credentials are compromised, the attacker gains access to the OPERATOR user. The OPERATOR user, in turn, has READ access to the IRR.PASSWORD.RESET resource, which allows them to assign a password to any user who does not possess privileged permissions.
Having elevated privileges in z/OS UNIX is often sufficient for compromising the mainframe. These can be acquired through several methods:
Grant the user READ access to the BPX.SUPERUSER resource of the FACILITY class.
Grant the user READ access to UNIXPRIV.SUPERUSER.* resources of the UNIXPRIV class.
Set the UID field to 0 in the OMVS segment of the user profile.
For example, the DFSOPER user has READ access to the BPX.SUPERUSER resource, making them privileged in z/OS UNIX and, by extension, across the entire mainframe. However, DFSOPER does not have the explicit privileged fields SPECIAL, OPERATIONS, AUDITOR, ROAUDIT and PROTECTED set, meaning the OPERATOR user can change DFSOPER’s password. This allows us to define the following sequence of actions to achieve high privileges on the mainframe:
Obtain and use TESTUSR’s credentials to log in.
Change OPERATOR’s password and log in with those credentials.
Change DFSOPER’s password and log in with those credentials.
Access the z/OS UNIX Shell with elevated privileges.
We uncovered another implicit RACF profile relationship that enables user privilege escalation.
Privilege escalation from a chain of misconfigurations
In another example, the TESTUSR user has READ access to the OPERSMS.SUBMIT resource of the SURROGAT class. This implies that TESTUSR can create a task under the identity of OPERSMS using the ImpersonateTo relationship. OPERSMS is a member of the HFSADMIN group, which has READ access to the TESTAUTH resource of the TSOAUTH class. This resource indicates whether the user can run an application or library as APF-authorized – this requires only READ access. Therefore, if APF access is misconfigured, the OPERSMS user can escalate their current privileges to the highest possible level. This outlines a path from the low-privileged TESTUSR to obtaining maximum privileges on the mainframe.
At this stage, the racfudit utility allows identifying these connections only manually through a series of SQLite database queries. However, we are planning to add support for another output format, including Neo4j DBMS integration, to automatically visualize the interconnected chains described above.
Password hashes in RACF
To escalate privileges and gain mainframe access, we need the credentials of privileged users. We previously used our utility to extract their password hashes. Now, let’s dive into the password policy principles in z/OS and outline methods for recovering passwords from these collected hashes.
The primary password authentication methods in z/OS, based on RACF, are PASSWORD and PASSPHRASE. PASSWORD is a password composed by default of ASCII characters: uppercase English letters, numbers, and special characters (@#$). Its length is limited to 8 characters. PASSPHRASE, or a password phrase, has a more complex policy, allowing 14 to 100 ASCII characters, including lowercase or uppercase English letters, numbers, and an extended set of special characters (@#$&*{}[]()=,.;’+/). Hashes for both PASSWORD and PASSPHRASE are stored in the user profile within the BASE segment, in the PASSWORD and PHRASE fields, respectively. Two algorithms are used to derive their values: DES and KDFAES.
It is worth noting that we use the terms “password hash” and “password phrase hash” for clarity. When using the DES and KDFAES algorithms, user credentials are stored in the RACF database as encrypted text, not as a hash sum in its classical sense. Nevertheless, we will continue to use “password hash” and “password phrase hash” as is customary in IBM documentation.
Let’s discuss the operating principles and characteristics of the DES and KDFAES algorithms in more detail.
DES
When the DES algorithm is used, the computation of PASSWORD and PHRASE values stored in the RACF database involves classic DES encryption. Here, the plaintext data block is the username (padded to 8 characters if shorter), and the key is the password (also padded to 8 characters if shorter).
PASSWORD
The username is encrypted with the password as the key via the DES algorithm, and the 8-byte result is placed in the user profile’s PASSWORD field.
DES encryption of a password
Keep in mind that both the username and password are encoded with EBCDIC. For instance, the username USR1 would look like this in EBCDIC: e4e2d9f140404040. The byte 0x40 serves as padding for the plaintext to reach 8 bytes.
This password can be recovered quite fast, given the small keyspace and low computational complexity of DES. For example, a brute-force attack powered by a cluster of NVIDIA 4090 GPUs takes less than five minutes.
The hashcat tool includes a module (Hash-type 8500) for cracking RACF passwords with the DES algorithm.
PASSPHRASE
PASSPHRASE encryption is a bit more complex, and a detailed description of its algorithm is not readily available. However, our research uncovered certain interesting characteristics.
First, the final hash length in the PHRASE field matches the original password phrase length. Essentially, the encrypted data output from DES gets truncated to the input plaintext length without padding. This design can clearly lead to collisions and incorrect authentication under certain conditions. For instance, if the original password phrase is 17 bytes long, it will be encrypted in three blocks, with the last block padded with seven bytes. These padded bytes are then truncated after encryption. In this scenario, any password whose first 17 encrypted bytes match the encrypted PASSPHRASE would be considered valid.
The second interesting feature is that the PHRASE field value is also computed using the DES algorithm, but it employs a proprietary block chaining mode. We will informally refer to this as IBM-custom mode.
DES encryption of a password phrase
Given these limitations, we can use the hashcat module for RACF DES to recover the first 8 characters of a password phrase from the first block of encrypted data in the PHRASE field. In some practical scenarios, recovering the beginning of a password phrase allowed us to guess the remainder, especially when weak dictionary passwords were used. For example, if we recovered Admin123 (8 characters) while cracking a 15-byte PASSPHRASE hash, then it is plausible the full password phrase was Admin1234567890.
KDFAES
Computing passwords and password phrases generated with the KDFAES algorithm is significantly more challenging than with DES. KDFAES is a proprietary IBM algorithm that leverages AES encryption. The encryption key is generated from the password using the PBKDF2 function with a specific number of hashing iterations.
PASSWORD
The diagram below outlines the multi-stage KDFAES PASSWORD encryption algorithm.
KDFAES encryption of a password
The first stage mirrors the DES-based PASSWORD computation algorithm. Here, the plaintext username is encrypted using the DES algorithm with the password as the key. The username is also encoded in EBCDIC and padded if it’s shorter than 8 bytes. The resulting 8-byte output serves as the key for the second stage: hashing. This stage employs a proprietary IBM algorithm built upon PBKDF2-SHA256-HMAC. A randomly generated 16-byte string (salt) is fed into this algorithm along with the 8-byte key from the first stage. This data is then iteratively hashed using PBKDF2-SHA256-HMAC. The number of iterations is determined by two parameters set in RACF: the memory factor and the repetition factor. The output of the second stage is a 32-byte hash, which is then used as the key for AES encryption of the username in the third stage.
The final output is 16 bytes of encrypted data. The first 8 bytes are appended to the end of the PWDX field in the user profile BASE segment, while the other 8 bytes are placed in the PASSWORD field within the same segment.
The PWDX field in the BASE segment has the following structure:
In the profiles we analyzed, we observed only the value E7D7E66D
4–7
4 bytes
Hash type
In the profiles we analyzed, we observed only two values: 00180000 for PASSWORD hashes and 00140000 for PASSPHRASE hashes
8–9
2 bytes
Memory factor
A value that determines the number of iterations in the hashing stage
10–11
2 bytes
Repetition factor
A value that determines the number of iterations in the hashing stage
12–15
4 bytes
Unknown value
In the profiles we analyzed, we observed only the value 00100010
16–31
16 bytes
Salt
A randomly generated 16-byte string used in the hashing stage
32–39
8 bytes
The first half of the password hash
The first 8 bytes of the final encrypted data
You can use the dedicated module in the John the Ripper utility for offline password cracking. While an IBM KDFAES module for an older version of hashcat exists publicly, it was never integrated into the main branch. Therefore, we developed our own RACF KDFAES module compatible with the current hashcat version.
The time required to crack an RACF KDFAES hash has significantly increased compared to RACF DES, largely due to the integration of PBKDF2. For instance, if the memory factor and repetition factor are set to 0x08 and 0x32 respectively, the hashing stage can reach 40,000 iterations. This can extend the password cracking time to several months or even years.
PASSPHRASE
KDFAES encryption of a password phrase
Encrypting a password phrase hash with KDFAES shares many similarities with encrypting a password hash. According to public sources, the primary difference lies in the key used during the second stage. For passwords, data derived from DES-encrypting the username was used, while for a password phrase, its SHA256 hash is used. During our analysis, we could not determine the exact password phrase hashing process – specifically, whether padding is involved, if a secret key is used, and so on.
Additionally, when using a password phrase, the PHRASE and PHRASEX fields instead of PASSWORD and PWDX, respectively, store the final hash, with the PHRASEX value having a similar structure.
Conclusion
In this article, we have explored the internal workings of the RACF security package, developed an approach to extracting information, and presented our own tool developed for the purpose. We also outlined several potential misconfigurations that could lead to mainframe compromise and described methods for detecting them. Furthermore, we examined the algorithms used for storing user credentials (passwords and password phrases) and highlighted their strengths and weaknesses.
We hope that the information presented in this article helps mainframe owners better understand and assess the potential risks associated with incorrect RACF security suite configurations and take appropriate mitigation steps. Transitioning to the KDFAES algorithm and password phrases, controlling UACC values, verifying access to APF libraries, regularly tracking user relationship chains, and other steps mentioned in the article can significantly enhance your infrastructure security posture with minimal effort.
In conclusion, it is worth noting that only a small percentage of the RACF database structure has been thoroughly studied. Comprehensive research would involve uncovering additional relationships between database entities, further investigating privileges and their capabilities, and developing tools to exploit excessive privileges. The topic of password recovery is also not fully covered because the encryption algorithms have not been fully studied. IBM z/OS mainframe researchers have immense opportunities for analysis. As for us, we will continue to shed light on the obscure, unexplored aspects of these devices, to help prevent potential vulnerabilities in mainframe infrastructure and associated security incidents.
@Notizie dall'Italia e dal mondo Progetti Usa e israeliani alimentano ulteriormente il sospetto di un piano di espulsione della popolazione palestinese in via di elaborazione L'articolo Campi “umanitari” e città recintate: l’architettura della pulizia etnica a Gaza proviene da
@Informatica (Italy e non Italy 😁) Chi lavora in questo campo da tempo suggerisce di intervenire, aumentando gradualmente l’utilizzo di energia rinnovabile senza influire sulle operazioni critiche. Ecco come implementare il Green It, per massimizzare al contempo sia l'efficienza operativa che la
@Informatica (Italy e non Italy 😁) I vertici di Airbus, BNP Paribas, Carrefour e Philips sono fra i 44 firmatari di una lettera aperta a Ursula von der Leyen, per richiedere la sospensione temporanea dell'Ai Act definito una "bomba a orologeria normativa". I motivi
@Notizie dall'Italia e dal mondo In Turchia la polizia ha arrestato altri sindaci dell'opposizione e il primo cittadino di Istanbul, principale sfidante di Erdogan alle presidenziali, rimane in prigione con accuse di corruzione L'articolo Turchia: nuova pagineesteri.it/2025/07/08/med…
Gli scienziati dell’Università del Queensland hanno presentato un’invenzione insolita che può accelerare significativamente le operazioni di ricerca e soccorso. Hanno trasformato i comuni coleotteri (Zophobas morio) in veri e propri insetti cibernetici, dotandoli di microchip miniaturizzati e di un sistema di controllo remoto.
Questi “super soccorritori” sono dotati di zaini rimovibili dotati di componenti elettronici che permettono di indirizzare gli insetti nella giusta direzione. Il controllo avviene tramite joystick simili a quelli utilizzati nei videogiochi. Grazie a questo, è possibile controllare con precisione i movimenti dei coleotteri senza danneggiarli o comprometterne la durata di vita.
L’idea di utilizzare gli insetti in compiti complessi come la rimozione di detriti da edifici crollati o da miniere non è nata per caso. Secondo il responsabile del progetto, il Dott. Tang Vo-Doan, i coleotteri possiedono già di per sé straordinarie capacità naturali. Si muovono agilmente su superfici complesse, si insinuano nelle fessure più strette e si arrampicano con sicurezza su superfici verticali, laddove le attrezzature tradizionali e persino i robot in miniatura sono impotenti.
Gli zaini sono costruiti utilizzando elettrodi che inviano segnali alle antenne del coleottero o alle sue elitre, le placche protettive rigide che ricoprono le sue ali. In questo modo, il team riesce a far muovere gli insetti nella giusta direzione. Sono già stati condotti test con successo: i coleotteri si muovono con sicurezza sia orizzontalmente che verticalmente verso l’alto e sono persino in grado di sollevare un carico aggiuntivo pari al loro peso. Uno Zophobas morio, o tenebrione, dotato di uno zaino con microchip rimovibile che i ricercatori possono utilizzare per sollecitare i movimenti. Sebbene alcuni test siano attualmente in corso utilizzando una fonte di alimentazione esterna, gli sviluppatori stanno già preparando prototipi migliorati con batterie compatte e telecamere miniaturizzate. Ciò consentirà non solo di monitorare i movimenti dell’insetto, ma anche di ricevere immagini in tempo reale dalla scena, fondamentale per le operazioni di soccorso.
Il team prevede di testare la nuova tecnologia in situazioni di emergenza reali nei prossimi cinque anni. Se il progetto supererà con successo le fasi di implementazione, i cyber-bug saranno in grado di ispezionare rapidamente le macerie, trovare sopravvissuti e trasmettere informazioni ai soccorritori, il che accelererà significativamente l’erogazione dei soccorsi.
Il lavoro degli scienziati dell’Università del Queensland si inserisce in una tendenza globale volta a creare tecnologie bioibride. Sviluppi simili sono già in corso in diversi Paesi. Ad esempio, gli specialisti della Nanyang Technological University di Singapore trasformano gli scarafaggi in “robot” controllati in pochi minuti, e diversi anni fa i bioingegneri hanno creato una versione cibernetica della pianta di Venere acchiappamosche, in grado di afferrare con delicatezza piccoli oggetti.
E' stato emesso dal Ministero delle Imprese e del Made in Italy. E' disponibile, da oggi e per 60 giorni, allo sportello filatelico delle Poste di Aosta
EDRi has responded to the European Commission’s consultation on the GDPR ‘simplification’ proposal. The plan to remove documentation safeguards under Article 30(5) risks weakening security, legal certainty and rights enforcement, and opens the door to broader deregulation of the EU’s digital rulebook.
Non riesco a far funzionare i "!bang". Volevo cercare una parola usando il bang "!translate" e SearXNG di devol.it mi ha dato un errore, ho pensato fosse un caso particolare ma provandone altri mi sembra che ci sia effettivamente qualcosa che non va (o qualcosa che non capisco io nel funzionamento dei bang).
Metto un esempio nella screenshot qui sotto, in cui provo a fare una ricerca della parola "albero" su Wikipedia.
SearXNG rappresenta una delle alternative più potenti e rispettose della privacy nel panorama dei motori di ricerca attuali. Questa guida vi illustrerà come configurare e utilizzare l'istanza italiana ospitata da Devol (searxng.devol.
Il divano dei fratelli Knopfler freezonemagazine.com/rubriche/… Nel maggio del 1973, Mark Knopfler lascia Leeds e l’Università dove si è laureato in Letteratura Inglese alla volta di Londra. Quando parte è un giovane professore precario di 24 anni e un giornalista praticante del quotidiano Yorkshire Evening Post. Gli piace la musica e impara a suonare la chitarra da solo aiutato in questo […] L'articolo Il divano dei fratelli Knopfler proviene da FREE
L'articolo proviene da #Euractiv Italia ed è stato ricondiviso sulla comunità Lemmy @Intelligenza Artificiale “Nell’era del cloud computing e dell’intelligenza artificiale (IA) è paradossale che la macchina legislativa europea funzioni
1) Questo link poliverso.org/community che ti mostra i contenuti prodotti dagli utenti del solo server Poliverso 2) Questo link poliverso.org/community/global che ti mostra i contenuti prodotti dagli utenti di server diversi da Poliverso 3) Questo link poliverso.org/network dove vedrai gli aggiornamenti dei tuoi contatti; e se anche non hai ancora contatti (e quindi non vedrai nulla nella pagina principale), puoi dare un'occhiata ai link a sinistra, dove troverai un filtro sui contenuti, in base alla tua lingua, gli ultimi contenuti pubblicati oppure tag come #Art #Socialmedia e #USA. 4) Questo link poliverso.org/calendar che ti mostra gli eventi federati condivisi da persone del tuo server o dai contatti dei tuoi contatti
I dieci comandamenti di Friendica. Cosa fare con l’account che abbiamo aperto su Poliverso?
Ecco una sorta di decalogo su Friendica. Ci sono molti link che possono appesantire la lettura, ma speriamo che vi piaccia e soprattutto ci auguriamo che lo troviate utile!
Polymarket Gamblers Go to War Over Whether Zelenskyy Wore a Suit
Polymarket, an online betting marketplace that bills itself as the future of news, can’t decide whether or not Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelenskyy wore a suit during a recent appearance in Europe. The gambling site is set to make a final judgement about the question in a few hours and more than $160 million in crypto is riding on it.
Polymarket is a gambling website where users predict the outcome of binary events. It gained prominence in the runup to the 2024 election, signed an exclusivity deal with X in June, and sees itself not just as an online betting parlor, but as an arbiter of truth. Its founder, Shayne Coplan, thinks that the future of media belongs to a website made for degenerate gamblers to make silly bets. playlist.megaphone.fm?p=TBIEA2… And yet this arbiter of truth had trouble figuring out if Zelenskyy wore a suit at the end of June during a NATO summit. The bet, started on May 22, is simple: “Will Zelenskyy wear a suit before July?” The answer, it turns out, is pretty hard. When Zelenskyy showed up at a NATO summit wearing a tailored jacket and a button up shirt, a stark contrast to his more casual military style garb, a community-run Polymarket account posted, “President Zelenskyy in a suit last night.”
But people who bet “no” cried foul, complaining that he wasn’t actually wearing a suit on social media and in Polymarket hosted chat rooms. Zelenskyy’s “suit” was an all black get-up with no tie and four cargo-style pockets, some pointed out. The jacket was suit shaped, but it didn’t quite fit everyone’s definition of formal dress. And, perhaps most telling on the side of “not an actual suit,” he was wearing tennis shoes.
According to the “rules” underneath the bet, the market would resolve as a “yes” if the Ukrainian president is photographed or videotaped wearing a suit. “The resolution will be the consensus of credible reporting.”
All the credible reporting around the scene described Zelenskyy’s outfit as a suit. He’s known for wearing military style outfits so the sudden formal outfit generated a lot of headlines. Reuters said the outfit was “suit-style,” a Fox News pundit joked that Trump won’t recognize Zelenskyy because he’s wearing a suit, and the NY Post said that he ditched a “T-shirt for a suit.” There were many more media outlets that noted the fashion upgrade.
At first, the betting market agreed with them. It resolved the bet as a “yes,” but the site’s “no” holders flagged the issue for a disputed resolution. Polymarket kicked the question to a third party, which considered the issue and changed the outcome to a “no.”
Some disputes on Polymarket, like this one, are resolved through a blockchain based third party system called UMA. In this system, the question of how to resolve a disputed market gets thrown to people who hold UMA tokens and who are, in theory, impartial. Holding a UMA token buys you a voice in the debate, which plays out in Discord servers and can be watched by the public.
On social media and in Discord, people are accusing UMA token holders of placing side bets on the suit question and attempting to manipulate the market so one side wins. The Discord conversation is full of people claiming UMA has failed and that Polymarket’s administrators are manipulating it directly.
“At the time of this clarification, 09:33am ET July 01, a consensus of credible reporting has not confirmed that Zelenskyy has worn a suit,” Polymarket administrators wrote below the bet. It did not elaborate on what amounted to a “consensus of credible reporting” and it didn’t return 404 Media’s request for a comment on the issue.
Unhappy “yes” betters disputed this resolution and it’s still in review at the time of publication. According to a timer on the bet, Polymarket will issue a final answer to the question by the end of the day.
So. Is it a suit or isn’t it? According to menswear expert and prolific fashion poster Derek Guy, it’s both. “If I were writing an article about Zelenskyy's dress, I would call it a suit because it's the shortest, easiest way to describe his outfit without getting into the history of men's tailoring. But I would also recognize this is not what most people recognize as a suit,” Guy said in a thread about the controversy on X.
The suit, then, is in the eye of the beholder. The problem is that people have bet more than $160 million on the outcome of the question.
Il fondo per l’acquisto dei libri di testo da parte delle famiglie meno abbienti, in base alla legge di bilancio del 2023, stanziava, per l’anno 2024, 133 milioni di euro, a cui vanno aggiunti ulteriori 4 milioni di euro che il #MIM ha destinato a ta…
Il fondo per l’acquisto dei libri di testo da parte delle famiglie meno abbienti, in base alla legge di bilancio del 2023, stanziava, per l’anno 2024, 133 milioni di euro, a cui vanno aggiunti ulteriori 4 milioni di euro che il #MIM ha destinato a ta…
#ScuolaFutura, il campus itinerante del #MIM organizzato, nell’ambito del #PNRR Istruzione, per promuovere l’innovazione didattica e digitale delle scuole italiane, ha fatto tappa a Pesaro dal 4 al 7 luglio.
#ScuolaFutura, il campus itinerante del #MIM organizzato, nell’ambito del #PNRR Istruzione, per promuovere l’innovazione didattica e digitale delle scuole italiane, ha fatto tappa a Pesaro dal 4 al 7 luglio.
LUNEDÌ 7 LUGLIO 2025, ORE 17 – Sala dell’Istituto di S. Maria in Aquiro – Piazza Capranica, 72 – Roma APERTURA Sen. Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata, Presidente Commissione Politiche dell’UE del Senato della Repubblica RELAZIONI E INTERVENTI Andrea Cangini, Segretario Generale Fondazione Luigi Einaudi Fiamma
Il governo libanese sta camminando letteralmente su un campo minato nel tentativo di conciliare le richieste americane – e israeliane – di disarmare Hezbollah con le esigenze di stabilità interna che non possono prescindere dalle legittime garanzie r…
The Open-Source Software Saving the Internet From AI Bot Scrapers
For someone who says she is fighting AI bot scrapers just in her free time, Xe Iaso seems to be putting up an impressive fight. Since she launched it in January, Anubis, a “program is designed to help protect the small internet from the endless storm of requests that flood in from AI companies,” has been downloaded nearly 200,000 times, and is being used by notable organizations including GNOME, the popular open-source desktop environment for Linux, FFmpeg, the open-source software project for handling video and other media, and UNESCO, the United Nations organization for educations, science, and culture.
Iaso decided to develop Anubis after discovering that her own Git server was struggling with AI scrapers, bots that crawl the web hoovering up anything that can be used for the training data that power AI models. Like many libraries, archives, and other small organizations, Iaso discovered her Git server was getting slammed only when it stopped working.
“I wasn't able to load it in my browser. I thought, huh, that's strange,” Iaso told me on a call. “So I looked at the logs and I figured out that it's restarted about 500 times in the last two days. So I looked in the access logs and I saw that [an] Amazon [bot] was clicking on every single link.”
Iaso knew it was an Amazon bot because it self identified as such. She said she considered withdrawing the Git server from the open web but that because she wants to keep some of the source code hosted there open to the public, she tried to stop the Amazon bot instead.
“I tried some things that I can’t admit in a recorded environment. None of them worked. So I had a bad idea,” she said. “I implemented some code. I put it up on GitHub in an experimental project dumping ground, and then the GNOME desktop environment started using it as a Hail Mary. And that's about when I knew that I had something on my hands.”
There are several ways people and organizations are trying to stop bots at the moment. Historically, robots.txt, a file sites could use to tell automated tools not to scrape, was a respected and sufficient norm for this purpose, but since the generative AI boom, major AI companies as well as less established companies and even individuals, often ignored it. CAPTCHAs, the little tests users take to prove they’re not a robot, aren’t great, Iaso said, because some AI bot scrapers have CAPTCHA solvers built in. Some developers have created “infinite mazes” that send AI bot scrapers from useless link to useless link, diverting them from the actual sites humans use and wasting their time. Cloudflare, the ubiquitous internet infrastructure company, has created a similar “AI labyrinth” feature to trap bots.
Iaso, who said she deals with some generative AI at her day job, told me that “from what I have learned, poisoning datasets doesn't work. It makes you feel good, but it ends up using more compute than you end up saving. I don't know the polite way to say this, but if you piss in an ocean, the ocean does not turn into piss.”
In other words, Iaso thinks that it might be fun to mess with the AI bots that are trying to mess with the internet, but in many cases it’s not practical to send them on these wild goose chases because it requires resources Cloudflare might have, but small organizations and individuals don’t.
“Anubis is an uncaptcha,” Iaso explains on her site. “It uses features of your browser to automate a lot of the work that a CAPTCHA would, and right now the main implementation is by having it run a bunch of cryptographic math with JavaScript to prove that you can run JavaScript in a way that can be validated on the server.”
Essentially, Anubis verifies that any visitor to a site is a human using a browser as opposed to a bot. One of the ways it does this is by making the browser do a type of cryptographic math with JavaScript or other subtle checks that browsers do by default but bots have to be explicitly programmed to do. This check is invisible to the user, and most browsers since 2022 are able to complete this test. In theory, bot scrapers could pretend to be users with browsers as well, but the additional computational cost of doing so on the scale of scraping the entire internet would be huge. This way, Anubis creates a computational cost that is prohibitively expensive for AI scrapers that are hitting millions and millions of sites, but marginal for an individual user who is just using the internet like a human.
Anubis is free, open source, lightweight, can be self-hosted, and can be implemented almost anywhere. It also appears to be a pretty good solution for what we’ve repeatedly reported is a widespread problem across the internet, which helps explain its popularity. But Iaso is still putting a lot of work into improving it and adding features. She told me she’s working on a non cryptographic challenge so it taxes users’ CPUs less, and also thinking about a version that doesn’t require JavaScript, which some privacy-minded disable in their browsers.
The biggest challenge in developing Anubis, Iaso said, is finding the balance.
“The balance between figuring out how to block things without people being blocked, without affecting too many people with false positives,” she said. “And also making sure that the people running the bots can't figure out what pattern they're hitting, while also letting people that are caught in the web be able to figure out what pattern they're hitting, so that they can contact the organization and get help. So that's like, you know, the standard, impossible scenario.”
Iaso has a Patreon and is also supported by sponsors on Github who use Anubis, but she said she still doesn’t have enough financial support to develop it full time. She said that if she had the funding, she’d also hire one of the main contributors to the project. Ultimately, Anubis will always need more work because it is a never ending cat and mouse game between AI bot scrapers and the people trying to stop them.
Iaso said she thinks AI companies follow her work, and that if they really want to stop her and Anubis they just need to distract her.
“If you are working at an AI company, here's how you can sabotage Anubis development as easily and quickly as possible,” she wrote on her site. “So first is quit your job, second is work for Square Enix, and third is make absolute banger stuff for Final Fantasy XIV. That’s how you can sabotage this the best.”
"Nepenthes generates random links that always point back to itself - the crawler downloads those new links. Nepenthes happily just returns more and more lists of links pointing back to itself."
Buggio, Frazione del comune di Pigna (IM)
We don't need AI. AI needs us.
in reply to Max 🇪🇺🇮🇹 • • •