Techmeme: Why the Sony hack is unlikely to be the work of North Korea. (Marc Rogers/Marc's Security Ramblings)

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December 18, 2014, 8:50 PM

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Marc Rogers / Marc's Security Ramblings:

Why the Sony hack is unlikely to be the work of North Korea. — Everyone seems to be eager to pin the blame for the Sony hack on North Korea. However, I think it's unlikely. Here's why:1. The broken English looks deliberately bad and doesn't exhibit any of the classic comprehension mistakes …

More: Business Insider, Help Net Security, PandoDaily, BBC, Krypt3ia, New York Magazine and CNNMoney.com

Tweets: @kennethn, @mindbrix, @stevelussier, @violetblue and @trey_menefee

John Biggs / TechCrunch:

Sony Pictures' internal systems still haven't fully recovered, forcing some employees to work with decades-old tech — Sony Pictures Employees Now Working In An Office “From Ten Years Ago” — It's been different for everyone," she said. She was upbeat, optimistic …

More: New York Times, ABC News, Washington Post, Fortune, MacDailyNews, TUAW, 9to5Mac, Bloomberg, Associated Press and GeekWire

Tweets: @mikebutcher, @benedictevans and @chrismessina

Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica:

State-sponsored or not, Sony Pictures malware “bomb” used slapdash code

More: Wall Street Journal, AP News Archive, GeekWire, Slate, TechSpot, Cisco Blog, CNET, PC Magazine and BuzzFeed

Tweets: @peterwsinger, @rickhholland and @futureidentity

Dave McNary / Variety:

Sony Has ‘No Further Release Plans’ for ‘The Interview’

More: tech.co, Guardian, TorrentFreak, TIME, Re/code, The Next Web, blog.chron.com, Gizmodo, Deadline, AVC, /Film, Fortune, Ubergizmo, FiveThirtyEight, Tech Times, The Huffington Post, The Verge, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and Gizmodo

Tweets: @tomgara and @jeffersongraham

See also Mediagazer

Russell Brandom / The Verge:

Sony leaks reveal how Hollywood aims to achieve SOPA-style DNS blocking under existing laws

More: Techdirt, The Huffington Post and Neowin

Tweets: @tomwarren, @backlon, @dangillmor and @trevortimm

Reuters:

Google will build Android Auto software directly into cars with Android M, no smartphone needed — Exclusive: Google aiming to go straight into car with next Android - sources — (Reuters) - Google Inc (GOOGL.O) is laying the groundwork for a version of Android that would be built directly into cars …

More: 9to5Google, Gigaom, Engadget, The Verge, The Next Web, PhoneDog.com, Pocket-lint, Droid Life, Android and Me, iDownloadBlog.com and Android Central. Tweets: @engadget

Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:

Uber Strikes Deal With Portland to Suspend Service for Three Months — Uber reached an agreement with Portland to suspend operations in the city for three months while regulators work to revise rules around taxis that currently prohibit ridesharing apps. — The city agreed to let Uber …

More: Uber Blog, The Verge, GeekWire, Gigaom and The Next Web

Richard Bilton / BBC:

BBC investigation finds Apple repeatedly not meeting its supply chain standards on workers' hours, ID cards, dormitories, work meetings and juvenile workers — Apple ‘failing to protect Chinese factory workers’ — The undercover reporter filmed workers falling asleep on 12-hour shifts

More: The Daily Dot, Forbes, AppleInsider, ZDNet, iMore, The Verge, iLounge, Bedfordshire News, MK News, MacDailyNews, iDownloadBlog.com, iPhone in Canada Blog, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, Cult of Mac, Electronista and App Advice

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Longtime Internet Explorer leader Dean Hachamovitch is leaving Microsoft — Dean Hachamovitch is leaving Microsoft. And yes, of course, there is an IE shirt associated with this milestone, too. The longtime Internet Explorer leader, who led the efforts to modernize and revitalize Microsoft's web browser …

More: The Verge, Learning and Re/code. Tweets: @maryjofoley. Thanks:@mnickelsburg

Michael Mimoso / Threatpost:

Vulnerability in embedded web server software from 2002 leaves about 12M home routers exposed — 12 Million Home Routers Vulnerable to Takeover — More than 12 million devices running an embedded webserver called RomPager are vulnerable to a simple attack that could give a hacker man …

More: Re/code, Ars Technica, The Register, Computerworld, Techworld.com, SC Magazine and Marketwire

Lizette Chapman / Wall Street Journal:

Mobile analytics firm Mixpanel raises $65M Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz at an $865M valuation — Mixpanel Raises $65 Million to Build Predictive Data Tech — Suhail Doshi has big dreams for his mobile and Web analytics company Mixpanel Inc. and has just raised $65 million …

More: Mixpanel, TechCrunch and VentureBeat

Tweets: @fmanjoo, @mims and @howardlindzon

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Secret is relaunching as a faster anonymous social network with chat — Talk to any of Secret's 15 million users in just two taps — When Secret launched in February, it quickly became the most talked-about new social network in Silicon Valley. Like other '"anonymish" social networks …

More: Medium, Re/code, Engadget, TechCrunch, The Daily Dot, iMore, Wired, 9to5Google, Business Insider, SlashGear, The Next Web, VentureBeat, TechnoBuffalo and Gigaom

Tweets: @elitereporter, @kessler, @chrismessina, @ario, @caseynewton, @rsarver, @mikeisaac, @piercedavid and @joshconstine

Junio C Hamano / Gmane:

Vulnerability in Git, Mercurial allows for arbitrary code execution on OSX, Windows; affects Visual Studio, Github client app, among others — Subject: [ANNOUNCE] Git v2.2.1 (and updates to older maintenance tracks) — Newsgroups: gmane.linux.kernel, gmane.comp.version-control.git

More: GitHub, VentureBeat, The New Stack, MSDN Blogs and WordPress Tavern

Tweets: @markmc_ and @wilkieii

Katie Benner / Bloomberg View:

Jawbone delays UP3 fitness band release until after holidays, offers discounts to preorderers — Jawbone's Missing Christmas — If you wonder how long the market can support richly valued startups, and what sorts of corporate stress might test investor enthusiasm, look no further than Jawbone …

More: Wareable, TechCrunch, Macworld, Electronista, Ubergizmo, Wearable Tech Insider, SlashGear, Wearable World News, App Advice and Gigaom

Tweets: @ldignan and @ktbenner

Craig Timberg / Washington Post:

Critical vulnerabilities in SS7 telephony protocol found; tested techniques can decrypt cell phone calls and texts — German researchers discover a flaw that could let anyone listen to your cell calls. — German researchers have discovered security flaws that could let hackers …

More: Gizmodo. Tweets: @acarvin and @csoghoian

John Cook / GeekWire:

Redfin raises $70.9M to continue national real estate expansion … Redfin today announced $70.9 million in fresh funding, money that the Seattle real estate brokerage will use to continue its national expansion. Total funding in the 10-year-old company now stands at $166 million.

More: Wall Street Journal, Redfin, Business Wire, Inman News, PE Hub Blog, bizjournals, Bloomberg and TechCrunch

Ginny Marvin / Search Engine Land:

Google Launches “Store Visits” Metric In AdWords, To Help Prove Online-To-Offline Impact — It's been well known that Google has been working on a solution to tie clicks on search ads back to in-store traffic and sales as part of Estimated Total Conversions in AdWords.

More: Inside AdWords, ScreenwerkScreenwerk, Search Engine Watch, Marketing Land and WebProNews

Tweets: @larrykim, @wilreynolds and @dannysullivan

Matthew Wee / Yahoo:

The Yahoo App Adds Local News, Commenting, and More on Android and iOS in the U.S. — Want to know more about what's going on around you? Today we're bringing local news to your fingertips with the Yahoo App. As you move around the country, you'll be able to see what's going on in your area.

More: VentureBeat, WebProNews, 9to5Google, App Advice and 9to5Mac

Cyrus Farivar / Ars Technica:

US telcos can operate in Cuba as part of new reform, White House says — As part of a surprise move to normalize relations between the United States and Cuba, the White House announced that it would be “initiating new efforts” to help the island nation access the Internet.

More: New York Times, eWeek, The White House, Light Reading, Engadget, RCR Wireless News and Gigaom. Tweets: @greghendershott

Amar Toor / The Verge:

Amazon launches Prime Now for Prime subscribers in New York City: one hour delivery of select items costs $7.99, two hour delivery is free — Amazon brings one-hour delivery to New York City with Prime Now — Service rolls out in select areas of Manhattan today, with other cities coming in 2015

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Skytap Raises $35M For Its Cloud-Based Enterprise Development And Testing Service — Skytap is a service that aims to help dev and test teams in the enterprise work more efficiently (and test their code more often). The company today announced that it has raised a $35 million funding round led …

More: GeekWire, PR Newswire, SD Times, PE Hub Blog and Brier Dudley's blog

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