Let's talk some more about the joy of cryptocurrency and cybercrime

Last month, Amazon lost control of 256 IP addresses for three hours due to BGP security flaws. This enabled cybercrooks to take over credentialing authentication and steal $234,000 in cryptocurrency from an exchange called Celer Bridge. 32 accounts were victimized.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/09/how-3-hours-of-inaction-from-amazon-cost-cryptocurrency-holders-235000/


In the UK, three men were arrested after a community resident reported suspicious activity. Found in their car was a fake police uniform, an imitation firearm, a real taser and baseball bat. Their intent: "...pay a surprise visit to a 19-year-old hacker known by the handles “Discoli,” “Disco Dog,” and “Chinese.” In December 2020, Discoli took credit for hacking and leaking the user database for OGUsers, a forum overrun with people looking to buy, sell and trade access to compromised social media accounts."

Discoli happened to be not at home, and the thugs were so obvious about not being police that they fled and got the real police notified.

Impersonating police and that fake firearm is really going to ratchet up the sentencing.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/09/botched-crypto-mugging-lands-three-u-k-men-in-jail/


"A Florida teenager who served as a lackey for a cybercriminal group that specializes in cryptocurrency thefts was beaten and kidnapped last week by a rival cybercrime gang. The teen’s captives held guns to his head while forcing him to record a video message pleading with his crew to fork over a $200,000 ransom in exchange for his life. The youth is now reportedly cooperating with U.S. federal investigators, who are responding to an alarming number of reports of physical violence tied to certain online crime communities."

Kidnapped, beaten, and forced to record a video begging for $200,000 with two pistols pressed against his head. Florida.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/09/sim-swapper-abducted-beaten-held-for-200k-ransom/

Library Stuff: The Joy of Competent HVAC Technicians

No, what's that other word? NOT.

There's a reason why we try to keep libraries on the cold side. It helps control mold and insects.

When winter ended, and we didn't have much of one, we noticed that the library was warmer than it should be. We called the HVAC people for a service call. They couldn't fix it, and the news was very bad. I don't know what the exact diagnosis was, but it was to the extent that basically it would require a major fund allocation and practically an RFP to fix it. It took MONTHS before the money was properly shuffled and people could come out and do the actual fix.

That started this week! Yay?

We have a supply closet next to our kitchen, both of them pretty small rooms. The supply closet has the ladder that goes up to the roof. Thursday I'm going in to the kitchen, and one of the HVAC techs is in the closet, they're lowering tools and stuff down on a rope. I ask him how's it going. He tells me they're pretty much done for the day, they're pumping down the new compressor with a vacuum pump overnight and it should be good Friday.

WAAAH?

Turns out that the only problem was a failed compressor. Something had failed inside it - a winding, whatever that is - and it had lost all its coolant.

The never-sufficiently cursed original tech had completely bollixed the initial diagnosis and we had been for FOUR(?) MONTHS with underperforming AC! Being able to recognize a failed compressor that had dumped all its coolant should be a pretty basic diagnosis, this dude really needs to go back to school!

Friday's library temperature?

SEVENTY DEGREES.

Peak temperature during the height of summer? 84ish.

Today was the first day in three+ months that I wore my genuine Norwegian Wool Cardigan.

I am not happy. That was a badly botched evaluation. I don't have a clue how to look for damage to our collection, no idea if four months at 80f may have damaged it.