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Tag: University of Toronto

  • Apple Sues NSO Group Over Pegasus Spyware

    Apple Sues NSO Group Over Pegasus Spyware

    Apple has sued NSO Group, as well as its parent company, in an attempt to hold it responsible for the Pegasus spyware incident.

    NSO Group made headlines when The Washington Post exposed the fact its Pegasus software was being used by regimes to target journalists and human rights activists. The company claims it only sells its software for legitimate law enforcement and anti-terrorism uses, but the Post’s exposé showed there was far more to it.

    In response, AWS banned the company from its services and the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) added the company to its Entity List, banning it.

    Apple is now adding to NSO Group’s woes, suing the company for endangering iPhone users.

    “State-sponsored actors like the NSO Group spend millions of dollars on sophisticated surveillance technologies without effective accountability. That needs to change,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Apple devices are the most secure consumer hardware on the market — but private companies developing state-sponsored spyware have become even more dangerous. While these cybersecurity threats only impact a very small number of our customers, we take any attack on our users very seriously, and we’re constantly working to strengthen the security and privacy protections in iOS to keep all our users safe.” 

    Apple is also donating $10 million, along with any damages from the lawsuit, to further cybersecurity research, a move applauded by privacy proponents.

    “Mercenary spyware firms like NSO Group have facilitated some of the world’s worst human rights abuses and acts of transnational repression, while enriching themselves and their investors,” said Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. “I applaud Apple for holding them accountable for their abuses, and hope in doing so Apple will help to bring justice to all who have been victimized by NSO Group’s reckless behavior.”

  • Toronto Flash Mob – University of Toronto Chancellor Surprised at Retirement Celebration

    This was truly a heartwarming gesture from the students at the University of Toronto, who said goodbye to their long-term chancellor with style. The student led flash mob disrupted the final convocation ceremony and moved the chancellor to tears.

    The video was posted on YouTube and drew the support of many current and former students, who left heart-felt regards for the man, calling him a “tireless volunteer” and an “extraordinary ambassador” for the university. Adding, “He says something personable to literally every single graduate that shakes his hand at the convocations, often a quick joke or asking you what you’re going to do next :-)”

    The mob included a choir, a full band and a saxophone solo to the tune of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” and finished with a standing ovation by all those that attended the convocation. “I’ve changed my mind, I’m not leaving,” Peterson said at the end, tears still stuck to his face.

    “It’s this infectious optimism and the confidence of the kids that I’ll miss the most,” he said to the Toronto Star after the cerimony.

    [via: Huff Post]

  • $114,000 Debt Paid in Cash: Mystery Student Steps Forward

    A $114,000 debt paid in cash has left a lot of people stumped. Who would do such a thing? they wondered. More importantly, why would someone go through the hassle of paying off their student loan in cash? Was this person trying to prove a point? The whole ordeal, which was brought to the attention of the masses courtesy of a Reddit post, was quickly blown out of proportion by those who felt the gentleman in question was attempting to flaunt how “rich” and “successful” he was.

    Business Insider, inspired by the sheer number of comments their article received, decided to track down the culprit. Enter Alex Kenjeev, a 2009 graduate from the University of Toronto and venture capitalist for O’Leary Ventures. Kenjeev thought it would be amusing to pay off his debt in cash, and decided to post the receipt of the transaction to his Facebook page after the fact. However, everything changed once someone shared the image with the Reddit community.

    “I was feeling very good about finally being debt-free,” Kenjeev explained. “Some people have taken it pretty offensively. I actually think they have a point. It hadn’t really occurred to me.”

    The reason he doesn’t feel that great about being debt-free: public reaction. The litany of insulting comments aimed directly at the successful graduate was almost instantaneous; individuals who claimed to have attended law school with Kenjeev began to take shots at the poor guy, all because he had enough money in his bank account to rid himself of the school loans hanging metaphorically above his head.

    Here’s how the whole thing went down: Kenjeev stopped by his bank and, after a few days of processing, managed to secure the amount of his loan in cash. He then walked a few blocks down to another bank, presented a satchel of cash to the manager, and effectively erased that burden from his conscious. Since he thought the whole situation was kind of amusing, he shared his accomplishment with his friends on Facebook, thus birthing a gaggle of little green monsters.

    My advice to Mr. Alex Kenjeev: Enjoy your freedom. You’ve destroyed a beast that most college students won’t slay for several long years. However, the next time you decide to drop an insane amount of cash on a single transaction, maybe it’s best to celebrate in privacy. After all, haters are, in theory, gonna hate.

    (image)

  • Evidence of Pre-Human Fire Usage Found

    Evidence of Pre-Human Fire Usage Found

    A team of archaeologists studying caves in South Africa have announced their findings that human ancestors were using fire to cook long before humans evolved.

    The study, to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows traces of wood ash along with animal bones and stone tools in an area dated to one million years ago.

    “The analysis pushes the timing for the human use of fire back by 300.000 years, suggesting that human ancestors as early as Homo Erectus may have begun using fire as part of their way of life,” said Michael Chazan, a University of Toronto anthropologist and co-director of the project.

    The excavation project involves the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa, where this evidence of fire use was found. Wonderwerk Cave is a large cave system near the edge of the Kalahari desert where evidence of human occupation had previously been found. The project is international, led by the University of Toronto and Hebrew University.

    Evidence of fire usage was found by a research project doing analysis of material excavated from Wonderwerk Cave. The team found ashed plant remains and burned bone fragments in sediment from the cave. They also found evidence of surface discoloration consistent with burning.

    A view from the excavated portion of Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa

    The Abstract for the study reads:

    The ability to control fire was a crucial turning point in human evolution, but the question when hominins first developed this ability still remains. Here we show that micromorphological and Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy (mFTIR) analyses of intact sediments at the site of Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape province, South Africa, provide unambiguous evidence—in the form of burned bone and ashed plant remains—that burning took place in the cave during the early Acheulean occupation, approximately 1.0 Ma. To the best of our knowledge, this is the earliest secure evidence for burning in an archaeological context.

    The study states that although it had been suspected that human ancestors, including Homo erectus, used fire, it had not been confirmed in any way until now.

    “The control of fire would have been a major turning point in human evolution,” said Chazan. “The impact of cooking food is well documented, but the impact of control over fire would have touched all elements of human society. Socializing around a camp fire might actually be an essential aspect of what makes us human.”