All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
Get WIRED's daily briefing in your inbox. Sign up here
Hackers have been quietly infiltrating mobile networks around the world
Over a dozen mobile network providers in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East have been quietly compromised by hackers since 2012, as a result of unpatched vulnerabilities on public-facing servers that were exploited (CNET).
Security researchers from Cybereason say that, although the hackers had sufficient access to disrupt mobile networks, they instead focused on espionage, quietly gaining access to call records and location data belonging to hundreds of millions of users. The researchers say that the methods used indicate that the perpetrator is likely to be connected to China's government-linked APT10 hacking group.
HIV researchers call for international assistance for North Korea
North Korea was widely believed to be one of the only countries with zero cases of HIV infection but recent research from North Korea’s National AIDS Commission estimates that 0.069% of the population has been infected with HIV (Science).
While that's very low compared to most of the rest of the world, there are concerns that the disease may be being spread by poor sterilisation practices at mobile blood donation units in rural areas. Korean-American health experts from US non-profit DoDaum and their colleagues at the North Korean Ministry of Public Health have called on the international community to provide assistance in order to head off a potential epidemic.
FedEx is suing the US government over package screening requirements
FedEx is suing the US Department of Commerce over laws that make it responsible for ensuring the packages sent through its services are fully compliant with US Export Administration Regulations which, the company says, compel it to either violate mail privacy laws or hold it responsible for unseen contents that turn out to be illegal (Ars Technica). Although the action follows a series of seizures and redirections involving documents and equipment relating to Huawei, it may not strictly be related; FedEx has also recently been fined over export-control violations in 2011 and 2012.
How a PTSD expert developed a viable cure for heartbreak
A psychologist who has studied PTSD for decades has developed a therapy to heal what he calls “romantic betrayal” (WIRED). In his lab at McGill University in Montréal, Canada, Alain Brunet studies victims of “romantic betrayals” using reconsolidation therapy, a method combining medical treatment and therapy sessions. And it works: 70 to 84 per cent of the participants in a study Brunet concluded in November 2018 have experienced relief following their post-break-up stress.
SpaceX caught a Falcon Heavy nose cone in a giant net
After a successful Falcon Heavy launch that sent up a deep-space atomic clock and confirmed its usefulness to the US Department of Defence for future military launches, SpaceX topped off its day by successfully catching half of the rocket's fairing in a ship-board net (The Verge). The capture boat, Ms. Tree (formerly Mr. Steven) successfully kept pace with a nose cone half as it parachuted down, catching it in a net that's been enlarged since earlier trials.
What is Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency really about?
Listen now, subscribe via RSS or add to iTunes.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
