The Unknowns "Looking from the outside": un'esperienza punk che scuote e incendia! Scopri il terzo album della band australiana che spacca!

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The Unknowns - Looking from the outside - In Your Eyes ezine

The Unknowns "Looking from the outside": un'esperienza punk che scuote e incendia! Scopri il terzo album della band australiana che spacca!

^{Reverend Shit-Man (In Your Eyes ezine)}

Introduction

Phishing and scams are dynamic types of online fraud that primarily target individuals, with cybercriminals constantly adapting their tactics to deceive people. Scammers invent new methods and improve old ones, adjusting them to fit current news, trends, and major world events: anything to lure in their next victim.

Since our last publication on phishing tactics, there has been a significant leap in the evolution of these threats. While many of the tools we previously described are still relevant, new techniques have emerged, and the goals and methods of these attacks have shifted.

In this article, we will explore:

• The impact of AI on phishing and scams
• How the tools used by cybercriminals have changed
• The role of messaging apps in spreading threats
• Types of data that are now a priority for scammers

AI tools leveraged to create scam content

Text

Traditional phishing emails, instant messages, and fake websites often contain grammatical and factual errors, incorrect names and addresses, and formatting issues. Now, however, cybercriminals are increasingly turning to neural networks for help.

They use these tools to create highly convincing messages that closely resemble legitimate ones. Victims are more likely to trust these messages, and therefore, more inclined to click a phishing link, open a malicious attachment, or download an infected file.

Example of a phishing email created with DeepSeek

The same is true for personal messages. Social networks are full of AI bots that can maintain conversations just like real people. While these bots can be created for legitimate purposes, they are often used by scammers who impersonate human users. In particular, phishing and scam bots are common in the online dating world. Scammers can run many conversations at once, maintaining the illusion of sincere interest and emotional connection. Their primary goal is to extract money from victims by persuading them to pursue “viable investment opportunities” that often involve cryptocurrency. This scam is known as pig butchering. AI bots are not limited to text communication, either; to be more convincing, they also generate plausible audio messages and visual imagery during video calls.

Deepfakes and AI-generated voices

As mentioned above, attackers are actively using AI capabilities like voice cloning and realistic video generation to create convincing audiovisual content that can deceive victims.

Beyond targeted attacks that mimic the voices and images of friends or colleagues, deepfake technology is now being used in more classic, large-scale scams, such as fake giveaways from celebrities. For example, YouTube users have encountered Shorts where famous actors, influencers, or public figures seemingly promise expensive prizes like MacBooks, iPhones, or large sums of money.

Deepfake YouTube Short

The advancement of AI technology for creating deepfakes is blurring the lines between reality and deception. Voice and visual forgeries can be nearly indistinguishable from authentic messages, as traditional cues used to spot fraud disappear.

Recently, automated calls have become widespread. Scammers use AI-generated voices and number spoofing to impersonate bank security services. During these calls, they claim there has been an unauthorized attempt to access the victim’s bank account. Under the guise of “protecting funds”, they demand a one-time SMS code. This is actually a 2FA code for logging into the victim’s account or authorizing a fraudulent transaction.
media.kasperskycontenthub.com/…Example of an OTP (one-time password) bot call

Data harvesting and analysis

Large language models like ChatGPT are well-known for their ability to not only write grammatically correct text in various languages but also to quickly analyze open-source data from media outlets, corporate websites, and social media. Threat actors are actively using specialized AI-powered OSINT tools to collect and process this information.

The data so harvested enables them to launch phishing attacks that are highly tailored to a specific victim or a group of victims – for example, members of a particular social media community. Common scenarios include:

• Personalized emails or instant messages from what appear to be HR staff or company leadership. These communications contain specific details about internal organizational processes.
• Spoofed calls, including video chats, from close contacts. The calls leverage personal information that the victim would assume could not be known to an outsider.

This level of personalization dramatically increases the effectiveness of social engineering, making it difficult for even tech-savvy users to spot these targeted scams.

Phishing websites

Phishers are now using AI to generate fake websites too. Cybercriminals have weaponized AI-powered website builders that can automatically copy the design of legitimate websites, generate responsive interfaces, and create sign-in forms.

Some of these sites are well-made clones nearly indistinguishable from the real ones. Others are generic templates used in large-scale campaigns, without much effort to mimic the original.

Phishing pages mimicking travel and tourism websites

Often, these generic sites collect any data a user enters and are not even checked by a human before being used in an attack. The following are examples of sites with sign-in forms that do not match the original interfaces at all. These are not even “clones” in the traditional sense, as some of the brands being targeted do not offer sign-in pages.

These types of attacks lower the barrier to entry for cybercriminals and make large-scale phishing campaigns even more widespread.

Login forms on fraudulent websites

Telegram scams

With its massive popularity, open API, and support for crypto payments, Telegram has become a go-to platform for cybercriminals. This messaging app is now both a breeding ground for spreading threats and a target in itself. Once they get their hands on a Telegram account, scammers can either leverage it to launch attacks on other users or sell it on the dark web.

Malicious bots

Scammers are increasingly using Telegram bots, not just for creating phishing websites but also as an alternative or complement to these. For example, a website might be used to redirect a victim to a bot, which then collects the data the scammers need. Here are some common schemes that use bots:

• Crypto investment scams: fake token airdrops that require a mandatory deposit for KYC verification

Telegram bot seemingly giving away SHIBARMY tokens

• Phishing and data collection: scammers impersonate official postal service to get a user’s details under the pretense of arranging delivery for a business package.

Phishing site redirects the user to an “official” bot.

• Easy money scams: users are offered money to watch short videos.

Phishing site promises easy earnings through a Telegram bot.

Unlike a phishing website that the user can simply close and forget about when faced with a request for too much data or a commission payment, a malicious bot can be much more persistent. If the victim has interacted with a bot and has not blocked it, the bot can continue to send various messages. These might include suspicious links leading to fraudulent or advertising pages, or requests to be granted admin access to groups or channels. The latter is often framed as being necessary to “activate advanced features”. If the user gives the bot these permissions, it can then spam all the members of these groups or channels.

Account theft

When it comes to stealing Telegram user accounts, social engineering is the most common tactic. Attackers use various tricks and ploys, often tailored to the current season, events, trends, or the age of their target demographic. The goal is always the same: to trick victims into clicking a link and entering the verification code.

Links to phishing pages can be sent in private messages or posted to group chats or compromised channels. Given the scale of these attacks and users’ growing awareness of scams within the messaging app, attackers now often disguise these phishing links using Telegram’s message-editing tools.

This link in this phishing message does not lead to the URL shown

New ways to evade detection

Integrating with legitimate services

Scammers are actively abusing trusted platforms to keep their phishing resources under the radar for as long as possible.

• Telegraph is a Telegram-operated service that lets anyone publish long-form content without prior registration. Cybercriminals take advantage of this feature to redirect users to phishing pages.

Phishing page on the telegra.ph domain

• Google Translate is a machine translation tool from Google that can translate entire web pages and generate links like https://site-to-translate-com.translate.goog/… Attackers exploit it to hide their assets from security vendors. They create phishing pages, translate them, and then send out the links to the localized pages. This allows them to both avoid blocking and use a subdomain at the beginning of the link that mimics a legitimate organization’s domain name, which can trick users.

Localized phishing page

• CAPTCHA protects websites from bots. Lately, attackers have been increasingly adding CAPTCHAs to their fraudulent sites to avoid being flagged by anti-phishing solutions and evade blocking. Since many legitimate websites also use various types of CAPTCHAs, phishing sites cannot be identified by their use of CAPTCHA technology alone.

CAPTCHA on a phishing site

Blob URL

Blob URLs (blob:example.com/…) are temporary links generated by browsers to access binary data, such as images and HTML code, locally. They are limited to the current session. While this technology was originally created for legitimate purposes, such as previewing files a user is uploading to a site, cybercriminals are actively using it to hide phishing attacks.

Blob URLs are created with JavaScript. The links start with “blob:” and contain the domain of the website that hosts the script. The data is stored locally in the victim’s browser, not on the attacker’s server.

Blob URL generation script inside a phishing kit

Hunting for new data

Cybercriminals are shifting their focus from stealing usernames and passwords to obtaining irrevocable or immutable identity data, such as biometrics, digital signatures, handwritten signatures, and voiceprints.

For example, a phishing site that asks for camera access supposedly to verify an account on an online classifieds service allows scammers to collect your biometric data.

Phishing for biometrics

For corporate targets, e-signatures are a major focus for attackers. Losing control of these can cause significant reputational and financial damage to a company. This is why services like DocuSign have become a prime target for spear-phishing attacks.

Phishers targeting DocuSign accounts

Even old-school handwritten signatures are still a hot commodity for modern cybercriminals, as they remain critical for legal and financial transactions.

Phishing for handwritten signatures

These types of attacks often go hand-in-hand with attempts to gain access to e-government, banking and corporate accounts that use this data for authentication.

These accounts are typically protected by two-factor authentication, with a one-time password (OTP) sent in a text message or a push notification. The most common way to get an OTP is by tricking users into entering it on a fake sign-in page or by asking for it over the phone.

Attackers know users are now more aware of phishing threats, so they have started to offer “protection” or “help for victims” as a new social engineering technique. For example, a scammer might send a victim a fake text message with a meaningless code. Then, using a believable pretext – like a delivery person dropping off flowers or a package – they trick the victim into sharing that code. Since the message sender indeed looks like a delivery service or a florist, the story may sound convincing. Then a second attacker, posing as a government official, calls the victim with an urgent message, telling them they have just been targeted by a tricky phishing attack. They use threats and intimidation to coerce the victim into revealing a real, legitimate OTP from the service the cybercriminals are actually after.

Fake delivery codes

Takeaways

Phishing and scams are evolving at a rapid pace, fueled by AI and other new technology. As users grow increasingly aware of traditional scams, cybercriminals change their tactics and develop more sophisticated schemes. Whereas they once relied on fake emails and websites, today, scammers use deepfakes, voice cloning and multi-stage tactics to steal biometric data and personal information.
Here are the key trends we are seeing:

• Personalized attacks: AI analyzes social media and corporate data to stage highly convincing phishing attempts.
• Usage of legitimate services: scammers are misusing trusted platforms like Google Translate and Telegraph to bypass security filters.
• Theft of immutable data: biometrics, signatures, and voiceprints are becoming highly sought-after targets.
• More sophisticated methods of circumventing 2FA: cybercriminals are using complex, multi-stage social engineering attacks.

How do you protect yourself?

• Critically evaluate any unexpected calls, emails, or messages. Avoid clicking links in these communications, even if they appear legitimate. If you do plan to open a link, verify its destination by hovering over it on a desktop or long-pressing on a mobile device.
• Verify sources of data requests. Never share OTPs with anyone, regardless of who they claim to be, even if they say they are a bank employee.
• Analyze content for fakery. To spot deepfakes, look for unnatural lip movements or shadows in videos. You should also be suspicious of any videos featuring celebrities who are offering overly generous giveaways.
• Limit your digital footprint. Do not post photos of documents or sensitive work-related information, such as department names or your boss’s name, on social media.

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If your guitar needs more distortion, lower audio fidelity, or another musical effect, you can always shell out some money to get a dedicated piece of hardware. For a less conventional route, though, you could follow [Brek Martin]’s example and reprogram a handheld game console as a digital effects processor.

[Brek] started with a Sony PSP 3000 handheld, with which he had some prior programming experience, having previously written a GPS maps program and an audio recorder for it. The PSP has a microphone input as part of the connector for a headset and remote, though [Brek] found that a Sony remote’s PCB had to be plugged in before the PSP would recognize the microphone. To make things a bit easier to work with, he made a circuit board that connected the remote’s hardware to a microphone jack and an output plug.

[Brek] implemented three effects: a flanger, bitcrusher, and crossover distortion. Crossover distortion distorts the signal as it crosses zero, the bitcrusher reduces sample rate to make the signal choppier, and the flanger mixes the current signal with its variably-delayed copy. [Brek] would have liked to implement more effects, but the program’s lag would have made it impractical. He notes that the program could run more quickly if there were a way to reduce the sample chunk size from 1024 samples, but if there is a way to do so, he has yet to find it.

If you’d like a more dedicated digital audio processor, you can also build one, perhaps using some techniques to reduce lag.

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hackaday.com/2025/08/13/runnin…

Un aggiornamento critico di sicurezza è stato rilasciato da Google Chrome, il quale risolve sei vulnerabilità di sicurezza che potrebbero essere sfruttate per eseguire codice arbitrario sui sistemi coinvolti. È stato quindi distribuito un aggiornamento di sicurezza in emergenza.

L’aggiornamento alla versione stabile 139.0.7258.127/.128 per Windows e Mac e 139.0.7258.127 per Linux contiene patch per diverse falle di sicurezza di elevata gravità che pongono rischi significativi per i dati degli utenti e l’integrità del sistema.

L’aggiornamento di sicurezza prende di mira tre vulnerabilità di elevata gravità che potrebbero causare l’esecuzione di codice arbitrario. Il CVE-2025-8879 rappresenta una vulnerabilità di heap buffer overflow nella libreria libaom, che gestisce le operazioni di codifica e decodifica video.

Questo tipo di vulnerabilità consente agli aggressori di scrivere dati oltre i limiti di memoria allocati, sovrascrivendo potenzialmente informazioni critiche del sistema. Invece il CVE-2025-8880 risolve una condizione di competizione nel motore JavaScript V8 di Google, segnalata dal ricercatore di sicurezza Seunghyun Lee.

Le condizioni di competizione si verificano quando più processi tentano di accedere simultaneamente a risorse condivise, creando un comportamento imprevedibile che gli aggressori possono sfruttare.

La terza falla di gravità elevata, CVE-2025-8901, riguarda una vulnerabilità di scrittura fuori dai limiti in ANGLE (Almost Native Graphics Layer Engine), che traduce le chiamate API OpenGL ES in API supportate dall’hardware.

Il team di sicurezza di Chrome ha utilizzato diverse metodologie di rilevamento avanzate per identificare queste vulnerabilità, tra cui AddressSanitizer per rilevare bug di danneggiamento della memoria, MemorySanitizer per letture di memoria non inizializzate e UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer per rilevare comportamenti indefiniti nel codice C/C++.

L’aggiornamento incorpora anche i meccanismi di integrità del flusso di controllo e i risultati dei framework di test libFuzzer e AFL (American Fuzzy Lop).

L'articolo Aggiornamento Critico per Google Chrome: Patch per varie Vulnerabilità proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

Agosto Patch Tuesday: Microsoft rilascia aggiornamenti sicurezza che fixano 107 vulnerabilità nei prodotti del suo ecosistema. L’aggiornamento include correzioni per 90 vulnerabilità, classificate come segue: 13 sono critiche, 76 sono importanti, una è moderata e una è bassa.

In particolare, nessuna di queste vulnerabilità è elencata come vulnerabilità zero-day attivamente sfruttata, il che offre un certo sollievo agli amministratori IT. Le vulnerabilità rientrano in diverse categorie, tra cui Esecuzione di codice remoto (RCE), Elevazione dei privilegi (EoP), Divulgazione di informazioni, Spoofing, Denial of Service (DoS) e Manomissione.

Il 12 agosto 2025, Microsoft ha rilasciato i suoi aggiornamenti di sicurezza mensili Patch Tuesday, risolvendo un numero significativo di vulnerabilità nel suo ecosistema di prodotti.

Le vulnerabilità di esecuzione di codice remoto dominano il Patch Tuesday di questo mese, con 36 vulnerabilità corrette, 10 delle quali classificate come Critiche. Queste falle potrebbero consentire agli aggressori di eseguire codice arbitrario, compromettendo potenzialmente interi sistemi.

Le principali vulnerabilità di esecuzione di codice remoto includono:

• DirectX Graphics Kernel (CVE-2025-50176 , critico) : un difetto di type confusion nel Graphics Kernel consente l’esecuzione di codice locale da parte di un aggressore autorizzato.
• Microsoft Office ( CVE-2025-53731 , CVE-2025-53740 , Critico) : molteplici vulnerabilità di tipo use-after-free in Microsoft Office consentono ad aggressori non autorizzati di eseguire codice localmente.
• Componente grafico di Windows ( CVE-2025-50165 , critico) : un dereferenziamento di puntatore non attendibile nel componente grafico di Microsoft consente ad aggressori non autorizzati di eseguire codice su una rete.
• Microsoft Word ( CVE-2025-53733 , CVE-2025-53784 , Critico) : difetti in Microsoft Word, tra cui la conversione errata del tipo numerico e problemi di tipo use-after-free, consentono l’esecuzione di codice locale.
• Windows Hyper-V (CVE-2025-48807, Critico) : una restrizione impropria dei canali di comunicazione in Hyper-V consente l’esecuzione di codice locale.
• Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) (CVE-2025-50177, Critico; CVE-2025-53143, CVE-2025-53144, CVE-2025-53145, Importante) : diverse vulnerabilità, tra cui difetti di tipo use-after-free e di confusione dei tipi, interessano MSMQ, consentendo l’esecuzione di codice basato sulla rete.
• GDI+ ( CVE-2025-53766 , Critico) : un heap buffer overflow in Windows GDI+ consente l’esecuzione di codice basato sulla rete.
• Servizio Routing e Accesso Remoto di Windows (RRAS) (CVE-2025-49757, CVE-2025-50160, CVE-2025-50162, CVE-2025-50163, CVE-2025-50164, CVE-2025-53720, Importante) : heap buffer overflow basati su heap in RRAS consentono l’esecuzione di codice basato sulla rete.
• Microsoft Excel (CVE-2025-53741, CVE-2025-53759, CVE-2025-53737, CVE-2025-53739, Importante) : heap buffer overflow e i problemi di tipo use-after-free in Excel consentono l’esecuzione di codice locale.

L'articolo Verso un ferragosto col botto! 36 RCE per il Microsoft Patch Tuesday di Agosto proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

Nell’ambito degli aggiornamenti di sicurezza di agosto 2025 del tipo Patch Tuesday, è stata aggiornata una vulnerabilità critica di Remote Code Execution (RCE) nel software di collaborazione Teams prodotto da Microsoft.

La falla critica, monitorata come CVE-2025-53783, potrebbe consentire a un aggressore non autorizzato di leggere, scrivere e persino eliminare messaggi e dati degli utenti eseguendo codice su una rete. Un aggressore potrebbe sfruttare questa falla per sovrascrivere dati critici o eseguire codice dannoso nel contesto dell’applicazione Teams.

Microsoft sostiene che un exploit funzionante per questo bug potrebbe comportare conseguenze significative per la segretezza, l’integrità e l’accessibilità dei dati di un utente, consentendo all’attaccante di acquisire i diritti di lettura, scrittura e cancellazione dei dati.

La vulnerabilità è un heap buffer overflow, un tipo di debolezza di corruzione della memoria in cui un’applicazione può essere costretta a memorizzare dati oltre lo spazio di memoria allocato.

L’azienda sottolinea che lo sfruttamento di questa falla presenta un elevato grado di complessità (AC: H), che richiede all’aggressore di raccogliere informazioni specifiche sull’ambiente di destinazione.

Inoltre, per un attacco riuscito è necessaria l’interazione dell’utente, il che significa che il bersaglio dovrebbe probabilmente cliccare su un collegamento dannoso o aprire un file creato appositamente.

All’atto della dichiarazione, la falla di sicurezza non era stata resa pubblica né sfruttata in modo attivo. Secondo la stima di Microsoft sulla possibilità di sfruttamento, quest’ultimo è considerato “Meno plausibile”.

L’azienda ha già rilasciato una correzione ufficiale e invita utenti e amministratori ad applicare gli ultimi aggiornamenti di sicurezza per mitigare il rischio.

Questa vulnerabilità di Teams è stata una delle 107 falle risolte nella versione Patch Tuesday di questo mese , che includeva anche una correzione per una vulnerabilità zero-day divulgata pubblicamente in Windows Kerberos.

L'articolo Vulnerabilità RCE critica in Microsoft Teams: aggiornamento urgente necessario proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

29.000 server Exchange sono vulnerabili al CVE-2025-53786, che consente agli aggressori di muoversi all’interno degli ambienti cloud Microsoft, portando potenzialmente alla compromissione completa del dominio.

Il CVE-2025-53786 consente agli aggressori che hanno già ottenuto l’accesso amministrativo ai server Exchange locali di aumentare i privilegi nell’ambiente cloud connesso di un’organizzazione falsificando o manipolando token attendibili e richieste API. Questo attacco non lascia praticamente alcuna traccia, rendendolo difficile da rilevare.

La vulnerabilità riguarda Exchange Server 2016, Exchange Server 2019 e Microsoft Exchange Server Subscription Edition nelle configurazioni ibride.

La vulnerabilità è correlata alle modifiche apportate nell’aprile 2025, quando Microsoft ha rilasciato linee guida e un hotfix per Exchange nell’ambito della Secure Future Initiative. In quell’occasione, l’azienda è passata a una nuova architettura con un’applicazione ibrida separata che ha sostituito l’identità condivisa non sicura utilizzata in precedenza dai server Exchange locali ed Exchange Online.

In seguito, i ricercatori hanno scoperto che questo schema lasciava aperta la possibilità di attacchi pericolosi. Alla conferenza Black Hat , Outsider Security dimostrò un simile attacco post-exploit.

“Inizialmente non l’ho considerata una vulnerabilità perché il protocollo utilizzato per questi attacchi era stato progettato tenendo conto delle caratteristiche discusse nel rapporto e mancava semplicemente di importanti controlli di sicurezza”, afferma Dirk-Jan Mollema di Outsider Security.

Sebbene gli esperti Microsoft non abbiano trovato alcun segno di sfruttamento del problema in attacchi reali, la vulnerabilità è stata contrassegnata come “Sfruttamento più probabile“, il che significa che l’azienda prevede che gli exploit appariranno presto.

Come avvertono gli analisti di Shadowserver , ci sono 29.098 server Exchange sulla rete che non hanno ricevuto le patch. Di conseguenza, sono stati trovati più di 7.200 indirizzi IP negli Stati Uniti, oltre 6.700 in Germania e più di 2.500 in Russia.

Il giorno dopo la divulgazione del problema, la Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) degli Stati Uniti ha emesso una direttiva di emergenza ordinando a tutte le agenzie federali (inclusi i dipartimenti del Tesoro e dell’Energia) di affrontare urgentemente la minaccia.

In un bollettino di sicurezza separato , i rappresentanti della CISA hanno sottolineato che la mancata correzione di CVE-2025-53786 potrebbe portare alla “completa compromissione di un cloud ibrido e di un dominio on-premise”.

Come spiegato da Mollema, gli utenti di Microsoft Exchange che hanno già installato l’hotfix menzionato e seguito le raccomandazioni di aprile dell’azienda dovrebbero essere protetti dal nuovo problema. Tuttavia, coloro che non hanno ancora implementato le misure di protezione sono ancora a rischio e dovrebbero installare l’hotfix e seguire anche le istruzioni di Microsoft ( 1 , 2 ) sull’implementazione di un’app ibrida di Exchange separata.

“In questo caso, non è sufficiente applicare semplicemente una patch; sono necessari ulteriori passaggi manuali per migrare a un servizio principale dedicato”, ha spiegato Mollema. “L’urgenza dal punto di vista della sicurezza è determinata dall’importanza per gli amministratori di isolare le risorse di Exchange on-premise da quelle ospitate nel cloud. Nella vecchia configurazione, il sistema Exchange ibrido aveva pieno accesso a tutte le risorse di Exchange Online e SharePoint”.

Lo specialista ha inoltre sottolineato ancora una volta che lo sfruttamento di CVE-2025-53786 avviene dopo la compromissione, ovvero l’aggressore deve compromettere in anticipo l’ambiente locale o i server Exchange e disporre dei privilegi di amministratore.

L'articolo 29.000 server Exchange a rischio. L’exploit per il CVE-2025-53786 è sotto sfruttamento proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

If you learned to type anytime in the mid-part of the 20th century, you probably either had or wanted an IBM Selectric. These were workhorses and changed typing by moving from typebars to a replaceable wheel. They were expensive, though worth it since many of them still work (including mine). But few of us could afford the $1,000 or more that these machines cost back in the day, especially when you consider that $1,000 was enough to buy a nice car for most of that time. [Tech Tangents] looks at something different: a clone Selectric from the sewing machine and printer company Juki.

The typewriter was the brainchild of [Thomas O’Reilly]. He sold typewriters and knew that a $500 compatible machine would sell. He took the prototype to Juki, which was manufacturing typewriters for Olivetti at the time.

Although other typewriters used typeballs, none of them were actual clones and didn’t take IBM typeballs. Juki even made their own typeballs. You’d think IBM might have been upset, but they were already moving towards the “wheelwriter,” which used a daisywheel element. Juki would later make a Xerox-compatible daisywheel printer, again at a fraction of the cost of the original.

Even the Juki manual was essentially a rip-off of the IBM Selectric manual. Sincerest form of flattery, indeed. It did appear that the ribbon was not a standard IBM cartridge. That makes them hard to find compared to Selectric ribbons, but they are nice since they have correction tape built in. The video mentions that you can find them on eBay and similar sites.

There were a few other cost savings. First, the Juki was narrower than most Selectrics. It also had a plastic case, although if you have ever had to carry a Selectric up a few flights of stairs, you might consider that a feature.

The Juki in the video doesn’t quite work, but it is a quirky machine with an odd history. Today, you can print your own typeballs. We wonder if these would be amenable to computer control like the Selectrics?

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hackaday.com/2025/08/12/thats-…

We would like to share the amazing news that the European Citizen initiative created by the Stop killing games community has reached the required threshold of 1 million signatures across Europe! And you can still add your signature until the end of the month!

At the European Pirate Party, defending digital rights is at the heart of our mission. We believe that when people purchase a videogame, they should be guaranteed the right to use it – not left at the mercy of arbitrary shutdowns by publishers. Consumers should not be treated as renters of entertainment they’ve paid for. That’s why we decided to endorse the Initiative after it launched.

As we noted before, this campaign calls for clear legal obligations: once a game is sold, it must remain in a playable state, even if the publisher steps away. No one should wake up to find their purchased game disabled by a remote switch. We find this unacceptable. We’re encouraged by the grassroots energy behind this effort. From independent developers to influential streamers like Ross Scott, who spearheaded the push, to public figures like PewDiePie, who has previously expressed support for Pirate Party values – this is a powerful coalition of gamers, creators, and digital freedom advocates.

While it seemed unclear for months if the initiative would gather enough signatures before the deadline, it suddenly gathered a huge wave of support in the last week, and today it reached the target of 1 million signatures! At this point it is clear that the European Union will have to address the initiative, and the more signatures we get above the required threshold the bigger the chance that they will decide to actually address the problem with games being killed by the publishers. You can easily see the current numbers of signatures with this tracker.

Let’s further ensure that the voices of European gamers and citizens are heard loud and clear in Brussels! Let’s protect digital ownership! Let’s defend access! Let’s stop the silent destruction of the digital heritage!

Sign the European citizens inititative here: https://eci.ec.europa.eu/045/public/#/screen/home

If you are a UK citizen there’s a separate petition there: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/702074/

If you want to join the Stop killing games community for the end stretch of the campaign, they have a lovely discord server that you can check out.

salon-linke.de/2025/07/03/skg-…

[Menadue] had a vintage Compucorp 326 calculator with an aging problem. Specifically, the flex cable that connects the button pad had turned corroded over time. However, thanks to the modern PCB industrial complex, replacing the obscure part was relatively straightforward!

The basic idea was simple enough: measure the original flex cable, and recreate it with the flat-flex PCB options available at many modern PCB houses that cater to small orders and hobbyists. [Menadue] had some headaches, having slightly misjudged the pitch of the individual edge-connector contacts. However, he figured that if lined up just right, it was close enough to still work. With the new flex installed, the calculator sprung into life…only several keys weren’t working. Making a new version with the correct pitch made all the difference, however, and the calculator was restored to full functionality.

It goes to show that as long as your design skills are up to scratch, you can replace damaged flex-cables in old hardware with brand new replacements. There’s a ton of other cool stuff you can do with flex PCBs, too.

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hackaday.com/2025/08/12/creati…

Fluid-Implicit-Particle or FLIP is a method for simulating particle interactions in fluid dynamics, commonly used in visual effects for its speed. [Nick] adapted this technique into an impressive FLIP business card.

The first thing you’ll notice about this card is its 441 LEDs arranged in a 21×21 matrix. These LEDs are controlled by an Raspberry Pi RP2350, which interfaces with a LIS2DH12TR accelerometer to detect card movement and a small 32Mb memory chip. The centerpiece is a fluid simulation where tilting the card makes the LEDs flow like water in a container. Written in Rust, the firmware implements a FLIP simulation, treating the LEDs as particles in a virtual fluid for a natural, flowing effect.

This eye-catching business card uses clever tricks to stay slim. The PCB is just 0.6mm thick—compared to the standard 1.6mm—and the 3.6mm-thick 3.7V battery sits in a cutout to distribute its width across both sides of the board. The USB-C connection for charging and programming uses clever PCB cuts, allowing the plug to slide into place as if in a dedicated connector.

Inspired by a fluid simulation pendant we previously covered, this board is just as eye-catching. Thanks to [Nick] for sharing the design files for this unique business card. Check out other fluid dynamics projects we’ve featured in the past.

hackaday.com/2025/08/12/leds-t…

During last Sunday’s Pirate National Committee meeting, members voted to endorse the campaign of Timothy Grady, independent candidate for Governor of Ohio in his 2026 gubernatorial race.

Having joined out meeting, which you can catch the recap of here, Mr. Grady gave us his best pitch for not only why we should endorse his campaign, but also an opportunity for Ohio voters to hear from the independent candidate.

After a long meeting and opportunity to ask questions, the decision was unanimous: the US Pirate Party will support the Grady campaign!

You can see the official announcement from Timothy Grady’s page here.

It should be noted that Tim Grady is not running as a proxy of the Ohio Pirate Party (which is active but unofficial), nor is the Grady campaign strictly a Pirate campaign. The United States Pirate Party values honest campaigns, person-first agendas and anyone who fights for free and open.

The 2026 election cycle will feature explicitly Pirate candidates, running as independents, DINOS/RINOS and explicitly as Pirates. While Timothy Grady is not one of those Pirate candidates, we are happy to throw our support towards a candidate who shares our values.

Ohio, you have a chance to say “Enough is enough”.

Timothy Grady, Victory is Arrrs

uspirates.org/endorsed-timothy…

If you want to get active out on the water, you could buy a new kayak, or hunt one down on Craigslist, Or, you could follow [Ivan Miranda]’s example, and print one out instead.

[Ivan] is uniquely well positioned to pursue a build like this. That’s because he has a massive 3D printer which uses a treadmill as a bed. It’s perfect for building long, thin things, and a kayak fits the bill perfectly. [Ivan] has actually printed a kayak before, but it took an excruciating 7 days to finish. This time, he wanted to go faster. He made some extruder tweaks that would allow his treadmill printer to go much faster, and improved the design to use as much of the belt width as possible. With the new setup capable of extruding over 800 grams of plastic per hour, [Ivan] then found a whole bunch of new issues thanks to the amount of heat involved. He steps through the issues one at a time until he has a setup capable of extruding an entire kayak in less than 24 hours.

This isn’t just a dive into 3D printer tech, though. It’s also about watercraft! [Ivan] finishes the print with a sander and a 3D pen to clean up some imperfections. The body is also filled with foam in key areas, and coated with epoxy to make it watertight. It’s not the easiest craft to handle, and probably isn’t what you’d choose for ocean use. It’s too narrow, and wounds [Ivan] when he tries to get in. It might be a floating and functional kayak, just barely, for a smaller individual, but [Ivan] suggests he’ll need to make changes if he were to actually use this thing properly.

Overall, it’s a project that shows you can 3D print big things quite quickly with the right printer, and that maritime engineering principles are key for producing viable watercraft. Video after the break.

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hackaday.com/2025/08/12/3d-pri…

È stata individuata una vulnerabilità nel sistema di accesso online per i concessionari di una delle più grandi case automobilistiche al mondo: è bastato scavare un po’ nel codice della pagina. Il ricercatore di sicurezza Eaton Zwer di Harness ha riferito di essere riuscito a sfruttare la vulnerabilità per creare un account amministrativo con diritti di accesso completi al portale interno del produttore. La violazione ha consentito di ottenere dati riservati dei clienti, informazioni sul veicolo e persino di controllare da remoto le funzioni dell’auto, incluso lo sblocco.

Zwer, che in precedenza aveva individuato bug nei sistemi delle case automobilistiche , scoprì il problema per caso, durante un progetto personale svolto nel fine settimana. Scoprì che, al caricamento della pagina di login, il browser del cliente caricava un codice errato che poteva essere modificato per bypassare tutti i meccanismi di autenticazione. Ciò rese possibile la creazione di un account di “amministratore nazionale” che dava accesso a oltre 1.000 concessionarie negli Stati Uniti.

Attraverso questa interfaccia, era possibile visualizzare i dati personali dei clienti, inclusi i recapiti e alcune informazioni finanziarie, nonché gestire i servizi relativi ai veicoli. Tra le altre cose, ciò includeva il monitoraggio in tempo reale dei veicoli aziendali e trasportati, l’utilizzo di sistemi telematici e persino l’annullamento delle spedizioni dei veicoli.

Uno degli elementi più inquietanti del sistema era lo strumento di ricerca clienti, che richiedeva solo nome e cognome per accedere alle informazioni su un’auto specifica e sul suo proprietario. Zver ha utilizzato come esempio il numero di telaio di un’auto parcheggiata in strada e ha confermato che questo era sufficiente per associare l’auto a una persona specifica. Secondo lui, era possibile avviare la procedura di trasferimento dell’auto sotto il controllo di un altro utente semplicemente confermando la propria intenzione, senza alcuna verifica. Ha testato questo scenario con il consenso di un amico ed è riuscito a controllare efficacemente l’auto di qualcun altro tramite un’app mobile.

Non meno pericolosa era la possibilità di accedere ai sistemi collegati di altri concessionari utilizzando un unico login. Grazie al meccanismo SSO (Single Sign-On), l’account amministratore creato poteva non solo spostarsi tra diverse parti dell’infrastruttura, ma anche imitare l’accesso di un altro utente. Ciò consentiva l’accesso ai diritti, ai dati e ai sistemi del dipendente preso di mira a sua insaputa: un meccanismo simile era già stato utilizzato in precedenza nel portale dei concessionari.

Il ricercatore ha definito l’architettura una “bomba a orologeria“, osservando che gli utenti potevano visualizzare e utilizzare informazioni critiche, tra cui accordi, lead e analisi interne, senza essere scoperti. L’azienda avrebbe corretto la vulnerabilità entro una settimana dalla divulgazione privata del problema nel febbraio 2025. Tuttavia, un’indagine ha dimostrato che l’exploit non era mai stato utilizzato prima: Zwer sarebbe stato il primo a scoprire e segnalare le falle nel sistema.

Secondo Zver, la radice del problema era ancora una volta qualcosa di banale: falle nel sistema di autenticazione API. Solo due vulnerabilità hanno messo a nudo l’intero mondo interno della rete di concessionari. Zver ritiene che questo sia un ulteriore promemoria: non appena il controllo degli accessi crolla, crolla tutto.

L'articolo Vulnerabilità nel sistema di accesso online per concessionari auto: un ricercatore trova falle di sicurezza proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

The 2025 One Hertz Challenge is really heating up with all kinds of projects that do something once every second. [The Baiko] has given us a rather abstract entry that looks like a plane…if you squint at it under the right conditions.

It’s actually quite an amusing abstract build. If you’ve ever seen planes flying in the night sky, you’ve probably noticed they all have similar lights. Navigation lights, or position lights as they are known, consist of a red light on the left side and a green light on the right side. [The Baiko] assembled two such LEDs on a small sliver of glass along with an ATtiny85 microcontroller.

Powered by a coin cell, they effectively create a abstract representation of a plane in the night sky, paired with a flashing strobe that meets the requirements of the contest. [The Baiko] isn’t exactly sure of the total power draw, but notes it must be low given the circuit has run for weeks on a 30 mAh coin cell.

It’s an amusing piece of PCB art, though from at least one angle, it does appear the red LED might be on the wrong side to meet FAA regulations. Speculate on that in the comments.

In any case, we’ve had a few flashers submitted to the competition thus far, and you’ve got until August 19 to get your own entry in!

hackaday.com/2025/08/12/2025-o…