The Register

Ingenious device, or fake bomb from 1980s cop movie? Police in London have put away a fraudster who was using a bizarre homemade device to con people out of the contents of their bank accounts.… READ MORE HERE…

Cisco gracefully says it won’t charge for the privilege UK security training company Hacker House briefly had its site blocked after being mistaken for malware by Cisco’s security wing Talos’ smart “threat intelligence” software.… READ MORE HERE…

Liberty and pals seek to prove intrusive spy powers can never be justified A band of human rights organisations have appealed against a top European court’s ruling on bulk surveillance, arguing that any form of mass spying breaches rights to privacy and free expression.… READ MORE HERE…

Windows, Office, Acrobat, SAP… you know the deal Microsoft, Adobe, and SAP are finishing up the year with a flurry of activity, combining to patch more than 140 CVE-listed security flaws between them.… READ MORE HERE…

‘Entirely preventable’ theft down to traffic-monitoring certificate left expired for 19 months A US Congressional report outlin]ing the breakdowns that lead to the 2017 theft of 148 million personal records from Equifax has revealed a stunning catalog of failure.… READ MORE HERE…

Malware hides cheap Android clicks as high-end Apple traffic An enterprising malware writer has been masquerading infected Android devices as Apple gear in order to make a few extra bucks.… READ MORE HERE…

Yeah, how about you work for us… Digital minister Margot James reckons Brits need to “get over” their concerns about privacy and cyber security and let the government assign them with ID cards.… READ MORE HERE…

Plus, congress wants more cybersec training, better breach laws Roundup  This week, we saw Linux get pwned, a teen hacker go down, and Julian Assange vowing to stay right where he is.… READ MORE HERE…

First proof-of-concept, SplitSpectre, requires fewer instructions in victim Analysis  You’ve patched your Intel, AMD, Power, and Arm gear to crush those pesky data-leaking speculative execution processor bugs, right? Good, because IBM eggheads in Switzerland have teamed up with Northeastern University boffins in the US to cook up Spectre exploit code they’ve dubbed SplitSpectre.… READ MORE HERE…

It’s the least they could do. Really. The bare minimum Hotel-chain turned data faucet Marriott says it will help some customers cover the cost of replacing stolen documents.… READ MORE HERE…