Where all your phone spam comes from

Lawrence points to an interesting "datacenter":

This seems like a story that should have gotten a lot more attention than it has. “Secret Service Dismantles Weaponized SIM Farms Designed To ‘Shut Down’ NYC Cell Networks.”

Hours before President Donald Trump’s address to the United Nations General Assembly, the U.S. Secret Service announced that it had dismantled a massive, decentralized SIM farm network, just 35 miles from New York City, hidden inside five abandoned apartment buildings. The telecommunications stealth weapon was capable of paralyzing regional cell networks through denial-of-service attacks.

My first instinct was that this was a State Actor prepping some sort of cyber attack.  Now I think it's a Phone Spam datacenter:

SIM farms allow “bulk messaging at a speed and volume that would be impossible for an individual user,” one telecoms industry source, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the Secret Service’s investigation, told WIRED. “The technology behind these farms makes them highly flexible—SIMs can be rotated to bypass detection systems, traffic can be geographically masked, and accounts can be made to look like they’re coming from genuine users.” 

Bastards.  95% of all the calls I get are along the lines of "You have been pre-approved ...".  I don't even answer a call where I don't recognize the number anymore.

Dad Joke CCCLXI

Tuna sends in another one:

My card got declined at the Sweater Store. They had to run my cardigan. 

No word yet from Glen Filthie ... 

Clouds In Space!

Well, this is the 21st Century after all:

Axiom Space and Spacebilt have announced plans to add optically interconnected Orbital Data Center (ODC) infrastructure to the International Space Station (ISS).

The company plans to launch two Axiom Orbital Data Center (AxODC) Nodes by the end of 2025, with at least three running by the end of 2027. It all sounds very exciting until you consider that Axiom Data Center Unit One (AxDCU-1), which eventually launched to the ISS in August, was a prototype that was roughly the size of a shoebox.

AxDCU-1 is more of a demonstrator to show that the concept works – think of an edge device on-orbit that can host hybrid cloud and applications, as well as cloud-native workloads. The AxODC Nodes are altogether more serious beasts. In addition to being interconnected, the hardware will be supported by an Optical Communication Terminal (OCT), allowing service to be provided to any spacecraft or satellite equipped with compatible OCTs.

So Cloud Computing for spacecraft.  It will be interesting to see where this goes, and how they handle the power demands of an orbiting data center. 

 

Happy Hobbit Day!

Why yes - I am a nerd.  Why did you ask? 

In Memoriam Charlie Kirk

Charlie Kirk gets laid to rest today.  He was a man of faith who always reached out to the greater crowd.  I like to think that he would think that this song speaks to how he lived his life.

Rest in peace. 

Apple or Android for security?

Glen Filthie left a comment asking what I like for vendors providing good phone security. I replied:

I think that Apple is much more serious about their customer's privacy than Google is. Apple has repeatedly told governments to get bent when they demand encryption backdoors; Google seemingly couldn't care less.

Also, I think that Apple's update model is superior (it certainly was just a few years ago; I don't get the sense that this is a big area of concern to Google).

Your mileage may vary, void where prohibited, do not remove tag under penalty of law.

And here's an example of how Apple's update model is superior:

Samsung has fixed a critical flaw that affects its Android devices - but not before attackers found and exploited the bug, which could allow remote code execution on affected devices.

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-21043, affects Android OS versions 13, 14, 15, and 16. It's due to an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in libimagecodec.quram.so, a parsing library used to process image formats on Samsung devices, which remote attackers can abuse to execute malicious code.

"Samsung was notified that an exploit for this issue has existed in the wild," the electronics giant noted in its September security update.

Note that you get this patch from Samsung, not Google.  Samsung is the phone handset manufacturer, and has customized the (Google supplied) Android OS so they rolled the patch.  Now customizing the OS isn't bad per se, but it's fair to ask who has a better security group: Apple or Samsung.  Same question for Motorola and all the Android phone vendors.

So I like my chances better with Apple, at least for security.  And notice that this is only looking at the patching cadence.  Apple has a history of standing up to governments who ask for encryption backdoors (by my count this is the US.gov, the UK.gov, and the EU.gov).  Each time, Apple told them not just "no" but "Hell, no".

Once again, your mileage may vary, void where prohibited, do not remove tag under penalty of law. But Glen did ask.

Hey, remember that Apple iOS fix last month?

It looks like the Bad Guys are attacking older devices as well:

Apple backported a fix to older iPhones and iPads for a serious bug it patched last month – but only after it may have been exploited in what the company calls "extremely sophisticated" attacks.

The latest security update, pushed on Monday, fixes an out-of-bounds write issue tracked as CVE-2025-43300 in the ImageIO framework, which Apple uses to allow applications to read and write image file formats. It's available for iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPad 5th generation, iPad Pro 9.7-inch, and iPad Pro 12.9-inch 1st generation, and the iThings maker on August 20 patched the same CVE in its newer devices.

Well done to Apple for this.  iPhone 8 was released a long time ago, but they're still supporting it with security fixes.  Bravo. 

Tagged with my Apple Sucks tag because this time they absolutely do not. 

 

Seen in the neighborhood

 

All I've ever seen before in this neighborhood are the usual run-of-the-mill printed campaign signs, and only during election season.

Something is different. 

A message to commenter "DTWND" (and people who think like him

I recently posted The Lamps Are Going Out All Over America.  For the two of you (likely including DTWND), the reference was to the beginning of World War I, when the politicians realized that the New World that they had created was basically everyone standing is a room filled with gasoline waving lit matches around.  We know how that turned out.

My post was not inflammatory; it was sad. Nonetheless, reader DTWND left the following comment:

Those of you on the right are really, REALY [sic] hoping that something in the shooter’s background will tie him to the leftist, liberal side of politics. Meanwhile, you’ll continue to deny and obfuscate the truth that this was one of your own. Just like the group that planned to kidnap Michigan’s governor Whitmer; the guy that shot and killed the two Minnesota legislators: the folks that marched in Charlottesville: the shootings at the LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando: the ‘peaceful demonstators’ [sic] at the Capitol on January 6th; etc.

I find it telling that all the former presidents, Democrats and Republican, issued messages of condolence, condemnation of the event, and calls to end political violence, while the current president condemned the violence but also expressed the point that those of the left persuasion need to under scrutiny and should not be trusted.

As Mr Kirk had stated, “Prove me wrong.”

Here is the pertinent part of my original post, and my replied to Mr. DTWND:

Who would have figured 24 years ago that society would be destroyed from within?

[Memes deleted]

If you don't know the people who don't understand that sentence, then they are the ones who you need to not know. 

Not particularly well said, but perfectly understandable.  And so you clearly failed on multiple levels: 

1. It sure as shootin' looks like the shooter was a leftist freak.  The 72 hour rule applies here, which you either ignored, didn't know, or skated past because you were angry.
2. It "wasn't one of our own", it was exactly what you'd expect from a rabid Left baying for the blood of conservatives.  See #1, above.  Nicely done, getting two own goals from the same ball, though.
3. The group that was going to kidnap Governor Crazy Eyes was led by a FBI asset.  Sorry you're so behind on this, but not really surprised.
4. The rest is IQ-90 level Leftist boilerplate.  Ashley Babbit would reply but could not be reached for comment, as she was shot in the back by a Capitor Hill police officer on January 6.  Some of us are aware on the rules for the use of Deadly Force; you clearly are not, but thought this was a winning argument for "conservative violence".  Dumbass. 
5. Former Presidents call for the end of political violence?  Gosh, why might this be hard to believe?
    
   
6. Most significantly, you (a) did not reply to the content of my original post and (b) chose to try to insult me and hijack my site for your absurd political dogma.

Fine, then - let it be so.  DTWND, go away and don't come back.  We don't need your thoughts polluting this site. You're banned.  Go hang out with your leftie assassins.

The lamps are going out all over America

Who would have figured 24 years ago that society would be destroyed from within?

If you don't know the people who don't understand that sentence, then they are the ones who you need to not know.

We Swore to Remember

Another declassified NSA Cryptanalysis doc

This one is from 1965 (i.e. it was classified for 60 years!) [PDF warning].

It's the output from a computer program (from 1965!) that takes an encrypted cypher stream and performs tricks of the trade like frequency analysis of each character and other statistical analysis.  The test was for the cryptanalyst to use this to identify which language was being enciphered.  Essentially, it was a training class for Secret Squirrels. 

Pretty cool in a very crypto geeky way.  It took me back to some training I had as a larval engineer as the class of new hires waited for their clearances to be approved.  I wasn't great at it (I was an electrical engineer, not a linguist).  The Queen Of The World eats this sort (cryptograms in the newspaper) of stuff for breakfast.

(via) 

War Department bans Chinese nationals from Cloud environments

This is an area that has needed reform for years:

The Pentagon will no longer allow Chinese nationals to support Department of Defense (DOD) cloud environments, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a video posted to X on Aug. 27.

Hegseth said the arrangement – part of a Microsoft program known as “Digital Escorts” – allowed coders from China, remotely supervised by U.S. contractors, to assist with sensitive DOD cloud systems. He called the setup an “unacceptable risk” to national security.

Well, yeah. 

Here's how the rules have been bent for years.  Initially what was mandated was that only U.S. Citizens could work in these environments.  After lots of complaints from tech companies (*cough* Jobs Americans won't do *cough*) this was changed to "US Persons".  This added both Green Card holders and H1-B Visa holders to the list of acceptable people allowed into the environments.

Fast forward a decade and Silicon Valley has so gamed the H1-B system that the US imports a huge number of foreign workers while laying off US citizens.  So the question is how much loyalty to the USA do these people have?

Green Card holders?  Probably a lot.

H1-B holders?  Dunno.

Chinese H1-B holders?  Per the SECDEF, they represent an overwhelming security risk. 

Like I said, this area has been ripe for reform for years.  We will see if this policy gets extended from the War Department for Fed.Gov in general. 

Dad Joke CCCLX

You've heard of Pop Tarts.  Why aren't there Mom Tarts?

Because of the Pastry-archy. 

How the USA won the Cold War

We did it by treated German POWs held in the USA well.  Not just the US Government, but the American people treated them well.  They had been told by the Nazis that America was weak, divided, and a mongrel race.  The POWs saw the American people and society with their own eyes and then went home after the war.

And then built modern Germany.

We came to America as enemies, as Nazis, as believers in a lie.  We left as friends, as democrats, as men who had seen the truth.   

Many of the POWs who were employed on Kansas farms corresponded for decades with the families who showed them friendship as POW workers.

Playback has been disabled for this video (from which I got the quote above), but I encourage every reader to go watch it.  If you don't - like I did - end up with watery eyes then we just cant be friends anymore.  And to those who think this video is a one-off, there are more.  So many more.  You can watch them at the link (from Youtube suggestions) or you can watch this: 

And a note to the Usual Suspects who fancy themselves as "Anti Nazi": this is what anti-Nazi is really about.  This is how you turn actual, you know - Nazis - into anti-Nazis.  It must really bust your chops to have Primary Sources telling you that your philosophy of life is full of shiest.  You Commie Bastards.

Oh, this will too (note the substitution of the word freiheit - freedom - for freunde -  I could translate for you but I wouldn't want to insult you; me, I think that Schiller would have approved of Bernstein's substitution at the fall of the Berlin Wall).

Things I don't understand, vol. MCCXVI

So an Irish chap (Graham Lineham) who is a resident of Arizona posted some stuff to Twitter.  And so the British authorities arrested him at Heathrow airport essentially for exercising his First Amendment rights in America.

So how is it possible that the Administration has not summoned His Magesty's Ambassador and given them 24 hours to free him and drop all charges?  Or. Else.

I really don't understand the political optics here.  Sure, sure - "all politics is local" and all that.  I understand why His Magesty's Government would be happy to stick a thumb in Trump's eye, but what's up with Trump?

I mean there's no domestic downside to bringing the hammer down - nobody here cares about Europe, everyone here loves free speech, everyone here hates the woke censors, and Trump has been going after the DEI (woke censor) brigade here on these shores.

How on earth is it possible that they are letting this golden opportunity slide?  I mean, it's not like the UK has made themselves our greatest ally over the last decade.  And it's not like Kier Starmer wouldn't fold like a house of cards over this. 

Dad Joke CCCLVIIII

Why aren't any boys born on Labor Day?

There's no male delivery.