“Suspicious” event routes traffic for big-name sites through Russia | Ars Technica

Russia briefly hijacked key Internet sites Wednesday through manipulation of BGP, the Internet’s routing tables. In a war, you can bet that the Internet will be one of the first targets. Is Russia testing its plans?

Traffic sent to and from Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft was briefly routed through a previously unknown Russian Internet provider Wednesday under circumstances researchers said was suspicious and intentional.

The unexplained incident involving the Internet’s Border Gateway Protocol is the latest to raise troubling questions about the trust and reliability of communications sent over the global network. BGP routes large-scale amounts of traffic among Internet backbones, ISPs, and other large networks. But despite the sensitivity and amount of data it controls, BGP’s security is often based on trust and word of mouth. Wednesday’s event comes eight months after large chunks of network traffic belonging to MasterCard, Visa, and more than two dozen other financial services were briefly routed through a Russian government-controlled telecom, also under suspicious circumstances.

Source: “Suspicious” event routes traffic for big-name sites through Russia | Ars Technica

Japan coastguard rescuing more North Korean ‘ghost ships’ as sanctions, food shortages drive fishermen into farther waters | South China Morning Post

A severe shortage of food and foreign currency amid harsh international sanctions are contributing to rising numbers of North Korean “ghost ship” fishing vessels washing up in Japanese waters, analysts said.

Dozens of North Korean fishing vessels wash up on Japan’s coast ever year, but last month Japanese coastguards registered 28 cases, the highest monthly number since records began in 2014.

Meanwhile, there have been multiple cases of “ghost ships” found packed full of bodies, with 18 corpses recovered so far this year. During the same period, there has been a record number of North Korean fishermen rescued alive – 42 this year compared to zero in 2016.

Japanese authorities say it is often hard to determine exactly how they died as the boats often drift for months before washing up in Japan.

“Fishermen are desperate to meet annual catch goals, which are elevated to higher levels every year,” said Toshimitsu Shigemura, professor emeritus of Waseda University and North Korea expert.

Source: Japan coastguard rescuing more North Korean ‘ghost ships’ as sanctions, food shortages drive fishermen into farther waters | South China Morning Post

US F-22s intercept Russian jets over Syria, fire warning flares – CNNPolitics

This is one of the most underreported stories. For over 40 minutes, U.S. fighters escorted Russian fighters who had strayed beyond the agreed-upon demilitarization line. Such encounters could very, very easily end in tragedy. Russia is taunting us.

Two US F-22 stealth fighters intercepted two Russian aircraft Wednesday after the Russian jets crossed the Euphrates River in Syria, flying east of the “de-confliction line” that is supposed to separate Russian and US-led coalition aircraft operating over Syria, two US defense officials told CNN.

The US jets fired warning flares during the intercept of the two Russian Su-25 close air support jets according to the officials after they crossed the de-confliction line multiple times.

One of the officials said a Russian Su-35 fighter jet was also involved and that the aerial encounter lasted “several minutes.”

Source: US F-22s intercept Russian jets over Syria, fire warning flares – CNNPolitics

AIM taught us how to communicate in real-time online – Houston Chronicle

AOL shut down AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) today. Rest in peace, h0tgrits.

Toward the mid-1990s, America Online (by then going by its nickname, AOL) was the company through which most Americans accessed the Internet. As many as half of the CD-ROMs produced at the time bore the near-ubiquitous AOL logo, offering early computer users the opportunity to surf the Internet for a flat fee – at the time, US$19.99 for unlimited monthly access.

With nearly half of U.S.-based Internet traffic flowing through AOL, the stage was set for a social evolution of sorts that shifted our collective relationship with technology and each other. AOL Instant Messenger, or AIM, was launched in May 1997 as a way for AOL users to chat each other in real time, via text.

The service’s Dec. 15 shutdown was announced, notably, on a new real-time text communication channel, Twitter. That is just one testament to AIM’s lasting effects on how people use technology to connect today.

Source: AIM taught us how to communicate in real-time online – Houston Chronicle

North Korean TV appears to show early ‘A-bomb photo’ – BBC News

Remarkable. I’ve long suspected that North Korea has always been further along with its nuclear capability than the rest of the world realizes. Could this photograph be proof, or is this another case of NK “accidentally” exposing information to keep us all guessing?

On a related note, I’m fascinated with North Korea.

North Korean TV footage of an arms and munitions industry conference appears to show the country’s former leader Kim Jong-il inspecting one of the country’s first ever atomic bombs.

A 30-minute bulletin showing the 12 December conference in the capital Pyongyang has North Korea watchers agog at the picture’s appearance in the conference hall.

The photograph, never before seen in the West, is visible for only a few seconds as the camera sets the scene for the industry conference, attended by Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, the son of the late Kim Jong-il. It hangs among others showing North Korea’s “achievements” in arms production, alongside scale models of ballistic missiles.Because of its fleeting appearance from a distance, experts are holding fire on a positive identification of the device as an atomic weapon. But the photograph has notable similarities to recent photographs of Kim Jong-un inspecting the country’s first (claimed) hydrogen bomb.

Source: North Korean TV appears to show early ‘A-bomb photo’ – BBC News

Here’s what the new Disney/Fox merger looks like – Axios

I’m not too happy about the proposed merger between Disney and 20th Century Fox. Pretty sure we need less media consolidation, not more!

Walt Disney Company announced Thursday that it has agreed to acquire the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox, including Fox’s movie studio and entertainment television networks, as well as Fox’s international TV assets.

Why it matters: The new mega-media company will have better leverage to compete with tech giants like Netflix for entertainment viewership and more opportunities to expand Disney’s legacy sports brand, ESPN.

Source: Here’s what the new Disney/Fox merger looks like – Axios