SECURITY NEWS THIS WEEK: FACEBOOK SQUASHES 19-YEAR-OLD BUG THAT STILL PLAGUES THE WEB

THE BIGGEST STORY in tech this week—and maybe this year—was net neutrality, which the FCC effectively abolished by rolling back Obama-era rules that prevented the creation of internet “fast lanes.” They did so despite overwhelming evidence that the mandatory public comment period was overrun with bots, form letters, and over maladies. How bad was it? We tracked down all 39 Nicholas Thompsons who commented, and could only confirm that three were humans.

This week also saw the resolution of last year’s biggest cybersecurity story, the DDoS attack that took down much of the internet for the East Coast one Friday afternoon last fall. The culprits, who pleaded guilty Wednesday, turned out to be acting not on behalf of a nation-state, but in service of a Minecraft hustle.

We also took a look at what might be behind Apple’s recent high-profile security lapses, as well as new malware that targeted a critical infrastructure company in the Middle East. It’s only the third observed malware that’s built to cause physical damage, and also an escalation over previous efforts like Stuxnet and Crash Override, in that it targets the safety systems that help prevent direct harm to humans.

An exclusive look at ISIS’s weapons supply chain shows where the Islamic State gets its advanced munitions. And Moxie Marlinspike, the creator of end-to-end encrypted chat app Signal, is backing a new cryptocurrency called MobileCoin, which aspires to be the first of its kind that’s easy to actually, you know, use.

But, wait, there's more! As always, we’ve rounded up all the news we didn’t break or cover in depth this week. Click on the headlines to read the full stories. And stay safe out there.

Source :-https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-squashes-19-year-old-bug-security-news-this-week/