Android cellphone spyware maker shuts down after hackers trash their servers!

Polish spyware maker LetMeSpy made Android spyware that gave the installer pretty much a full copy of what was going on with the target phone: copies of text messages, call logs, real-time location data. It did require password access to the phone, and the software was almost impossible to detect and remove because there was no visible home screen icon.

They were hacked a couple of months ago, and the hackers - after removing the database containing the data the company had stolen - trashed their servers. LetMeSpy has thrown in the towel and is ceasing operations as of the end of the month.

Another interesting bit from the article: "A copy of the database was obtained by nonprofit transparency collective DDoSecrets, which indexes leaked datasets in the public interest, and shared with TechCrunch for analysis. The data showed that LetMeSpy, until recently, had been used to steal data from more than 13,000 compromised Android devices worldwide, though LetMeSpy’s website claimed prior to the breach that it controlled more than 236,000 devices."

I'm guessing either they did not have good backups of their operational and development data, or the PR light is too bright for them. Regardless, good riddance to bad rubbish.

This is the second spyware company that has shut down after reporting by Tech Crunch!

https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/05/letmespy-spyware-shuts-down-wiped-server/

https://it.slashdot.org/story/23/08/07/2036229/spyware-maker-letmespy-shuts-down-after-hacker-deletes-server-data


I prefer iPhones over Android, and this is one reason. While they are not impervious to spyware, it's much harder for such software to take root. Not that I'm terribly concerned about being a target for such.

Farm's Race - a Kickstarter game that looks like fun!

Think Settlers of Catan - but with NUKES! Why go for Longest Road when you can go for Nukiest?!

You play one of four (or five, with the deluxe edition) farm animal races with a mutation trying to take over the countryside from other animals and those pesky men.

It's really a fun Kickstarter to read about, and I'm backing it. It launched today, and has already made its base funding TIMES TEN! The project has another month to go. The base game is $40 with two higher tiers, which you'll have to read about as they're pretty funny. They have stretch goals planned, which should be great.

I'm definitely getting the deluxe - it gives you a 5th player race - Wascally Wabbits - and more mutations. Plus better quality components.

Oh, and it's from the people who make Cards Against Humanity, so you know it'll be a nice, pleasant, non-controversial game. :-)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mediumbrowgames/farms-race

Boeing sued over allegedly stealing a torque wrench - for the SLS rocket

*SMH* Why didn't they just buy or lease the damn thing?

The company suing Boeing, Wilson Aerospace, is suing Boeing for theft of intellectual property. Wilson makes a special torque wrench, the Fluid Fitting Torque Device-3, which is ideal for monster bolts and high torque specifications in hard to reach places, such as inside a rocket booster assembly. Boeing needed such a device desperately to properly attach the engines to the SLS rocket. So they asked Wilson to come out for a demonstration. Little did they know that seven or more alleged Boeing employees were actually engineers for Wilson competitors who engaged in a hands-on demo, who went on to build a wrench for Boeing.

I really wish the article listed dollar amounts involved, I can't imagine paying competitors to develop the equivalent device was less expensive than buying or leasing it from the people who invented it. And it's not like Boeing hasn't already wasted a billion dollars or more on this project.

And here's another thing: lawsuit. Discovery process. So much is going to come out of this discovery process that will make Boeing look like absolute idiots that Fox News is going to be looking at them saying "See! We're not the only idiots out there!"

https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/06/supplier-sues-boeing-over-alleged-theft-of-sls-rocket-tools/