Tag Archive for: paradise

Moroccan Geeks Flock To ‘Paradise For Hackers’

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With its rows of sleek computers and ultra-modern study methods, Morocco’s 1337 campus is a dream come true for budding geeks, in a country where IT skills are in high demand.

Conceived as a paradise for coders, the centre offers project-based training on programming, innovation and building IT systems.

Tuition is free and students largely create their own curricula.

It all happens on a 24-hour campus reminiscent of Silicon Valley, complete with a canteen, graffiti art on the walls and games rooms offering swings and table football.

“It’s too beautiful to be true,” said Ismail El Mheki, who initially struggled to drag himself away from his screen to answer questions.

On discovering the institute, which ran its first courses in 2018, he thought it was a trick — so his reaction was to hack the system.

Conceived as a paradise for coders, 1337 offers project-based training on programming, innovation and building IT systems Conceived as a paradise for coders, 1337 offers project-based training on programming, innovation and building IT systems Photo: AFP / FADEL SENNA

But today, the slightly stooping 22-year-old is gushing.

“Everything here is incredible, starting with the teaching,” he said.

A self-declared “ethical hacker” (“white hat” in geek speak), Mheki taught himself with resources found in dark corners of the internet.

He dropped out of school before his final exams, much to his parents’ dismay.

“Everything bored me at school,” he said.

But after two years in Norway working for a cybersecurity firm, he took the entry test for 1337 and passed with flying colours.

Before he had even finished his course, he was offered a job as part of the school’s IT security team.

Morocco's 1337 campus is a dream come true for budding geeks, in a country where IT skills are in high demand Morocco’s 1337 campus is a dream come true for budding geeks, in a country where IT skills are in high demand Photo: AFP / FADEL SENNA

“He’s very strong, much stronger than an old man like me,” said Youssef Dahbi, the school’s technical chief — who is in his 30s.

“Cybersecurity is constantly evolving, so skills quickly become obsolete.”

Morocco’s phosphate giant OCP decided to set up the 1337 campus, converting a disused factory in the central mining town of Khouribga in a bid to address the country’s severe need for tech expertise.

The name of the centre comes from a system of modified spellings known as Leet Speak or “1337 5P34K”, used…

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Hacker’s paradise: Louisiana’s ransomware disaster far from over

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Building with tower overlooks its own reflection in lake.

Enlarge / Louisiana State Capitol, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at dusk. (credit: Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Louisiana has brought some of its services back as it recovers from a targeted ransomware attack using the Ryuk malware on November 18. The state’s Office of Motor Vehicles re-opened offices on Monday in a limited fashion. But OMV and other agencies affected—including the state’s Department of Health and Department of Public Safety—are facing a number of potential hurdles to restoring all services, according to people familiar with Louisiana’s IT operations.

The ransomware payload was apparently spread across agencies by exploiting Microsoft Windows group policy objects—meaning that the attackers had gained access to administrative privileges across multiple Active Directory domains. This is symptomatic of TrickBot malware attacks, which uses GPOs and PsExec (a Microsoft remote administration tool) to spread its payload.

This is the second major cybersecurity incident this year in Louisiana tied to Ryuk ransomware. In July, Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency and deployed the state’s cyber response team to assist seven parish school districts. There have been many other Ryuk attacks this year that have used TrickBot and, in some cases, the Emotet trojan—an attack referred to by some experts as a “Triple Threat” commodity malware attack. At least two Florida cities and Georgia’s Judicial Counsel and Administrative Office of the Courts were also hit by “Triple Threat” attacks.

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Biz & IT – Ars Technica

Unpatched TRENDnet IP cameras still provide a real-time Peeping Tom paradise

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Security is the reason to install a security camera, but if that live-streaming footage is made public for would-be criminals to study, then doesn’t pose a security risk? If a security camera is installed in a home, whether it is to watch the baby or the babysitter, if everyone who wanted to could also watch the surveillance footage as it happens, then isn’t that a privacy risk?
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