Dependency Update Broke NPM Build Chain.
Also Robot Cabs and Password Lockouts

The Sandworm from Accounting

Our external vendor, the widely used package manager known as NPM, has had a slight internal filing issue. This filing issue is currently being referred to as the Shai-Hulud malware attack because, much like a tiny bit of sand in the air conditioning vent, it managed to shut down all mission critical systems. The 'Shai-Hulud' incident involves the compromise of over forty different NPM packages, including the popular tinycolor library and several that were apparently related to CrowdStrike.

This is a classic supply chain mishap, the digital equivalent of someone replacing the sugar in the office kitchen with drywall dust. A single, tiny, forgotten JavaScript component now carries a massive, ecosystem destroying payload; a consequence of everyone relying on anonymous contributors and a decade of dependency bloat. Management is currently drafting a memo about the need for 'increased vigilance' and 'multi-factor access for third party color-palette libraries.' The irony of an attack on a supply chain being named after a giant, unstoppable desert creature seems to be entirely lost on the industry.

Robot Taxi Gets Badge Access to the Executive Lounge

Waymo, the self-driving cab service, has successfully filed the correct paperwork with the state's transport commission. The result is a pilot permit that allows for full commercial operations at SFO. An autonomous taxi will now be officially permitted to attempt navigating one of the most complex, high-stress, human-driven logistical environments in the country: a major international airport.

The challenge is no longer the road; it is the human. The car has to deal with jet lagged travelers, stressed airline employees, and the sheer volume of chaotic activity that only a public air travel hub can provide. If a human taxi driver manages to survive this gauntlet by relying on frantic hand gestures and horn honks, a self-driving car must do it with carefully calculated risk matrices. The entire process feels like asking a machine to help sort the mailroom on its first day by giving it a map and a compliance manual written in Haskell.

Local Admin Refuses to Hand Over Key to Filing Cabinet

A man in a privacy standoff with the FBI is reportedly jailed for refusing to decrypt his Tor node, citing a violation of parole. The story suggests he is holding the line on compelled decryption, which is the technological equivalent of demanding the SysAdmin cough up the root password to the legacy email server.

We do not know what is on the node, but the principles are clear: The State wants the password; the citizen has misplaced it, forgotten it, or perhaps encrypted it with an unreasonably long string that is written on a Post-It under the monitor. Either way, the admin is being punished for not being compliant with a highly technical request that is fundamentally opposed to the core ethos of secure systems design. You must admire the dedication to the principle of "need to know."

Briefs

• DIY Radio Hacking: A surprisingly long list of things you can do with a Software Defined Radio includes listening to airplane chatter and monitoring the local weather station; useful for anyone who finds their current job insufficiently tedious.
• Java's Quarterly Release: Oracle has pushed out Java 25 officially released. The headline confirms that the Earth has continued its rotation and enterprise software is still, inevitably, built in Java.
• Phishing as a Service: Someone was scammed out of $130K after receiving a fake Google call, a spoofed Google email, and a subsequent authorization sync. Google has achieved such a high level of brand recognition that its name is now a legitimate, trusted component of complex, multi-stage financial crimes.