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Julia Roberts and Hugh Jackman are giving up control of their social media accounts!

Starting on Thursday (May 21), stars will be handing over their social accounts to COVID-19 experts as part of the #PassTheMic campaign.

Experts including Dr. Anthony Fauci will use the stars platforms to share facts and science-driven perspectives on the pandemic. The campaign will continue for several weeks and feature frontline workers as well as health, economic, and other experts.

Other stars that will be taking part in the campaign include Shailene Woodley, Danai Gurira, Millie Bobby Brown, Penelope Cruz, Rainn Wilson, Rita Wilson, David Oyelowo, Connie Britton, and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Beating the virus means listening to the experts and following the science, data and facts to get ahead of it. This impressive group of talent and experts from around the world will put a spotlight on the need for a global response to this pandemic, ONE Campaign President and CEO, Gayle Smith said in a statement. We need global cooperation and action to fight this pandemic especially for the people, communities, and countries that are least able to withstand the shock. Because none of us are safe until all of us are safe.

You can head to Pass the Mic for a full list of celebrities and experts that will be participating in the campaign.

Continue reading here:
Julia Roberts, Hugh Jackman, & More to Hand Over Social Media Accounts to COVID-19 Experts - Just Jared

ESET researchers detect a new way of misusing Accessibility Service, the Achilles heel of Android security

ESET researchers have analyzed an extremely dangerous Android app that can perform a host of nefarious actions, notably wiping out the victims bank account or cryptocurrency wallet and taking over their email or social media accounts. Called DEFENSOR ID, the banking trojan was available on Google Play at the time of the analysis. The app is fitted with standard information-stealing capabilities; however, this banker is exceptionally insidious in that after installation it requires a single action from the victim enable Androids Accessibility Service to fully unleash the apps malicious functionality.

The DEFENSOR ID app made it onto the heavily guarded Google Play store thanks to its extreme stealth. Its creators reduced the apps malicious surface to the bare minimum by removing all potentially malicious functionalities but one: abusing Accessibility Service.

Accessibility Service is long known to be the Achilles heel of the Android operating system. Security solutions can detect it in countless combinations with other suspicious permissions and functions, or malicious functionalities but when faced with no additional functionality nor permission, all failed to trigger any alarm on DEFENSOR ID.

By all we mean all security mechanisms guarding the official Android app store (including the detection engines of the members of the App Defense Alliance) and all security vendors participating in the VirusTotal program (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. According to the VirusTotal service, no security vendor detected the DEFENSOR ID app until it was pulled off the Play store

DEFENSOR ID was released on Feb 3, 2020 and last updated to v1.4 on May 6, 2020. The latest version is analyzed here; we werent able to determine if the earlier versions were also malicious. According to its profile at Google Play (see Figure 2) the app reached a mere 10+ downloads. We reported it to Google on May 16, 2020 and since May 19, 2020 the app has no longer been available on Google Play.

The developer name used, GAS Brazil, suggests the criminals behind the app targeted Brazilian users. Apart from including the countrys name, the apps name is probably intended to imply a relationship with the antifraud solution named GAS Tecnologia. That security software is commonly installed on computers in Brazil as several banks require it to log into their online banking. However, there is also an English version of the DEFENSOR ID app (see Figure 3) besides the Portuguese one, and that app has neither geographical nor language restrictions.

Playing further off the suggested GAS Tecnologia link, the app promises better security for its users. The description in Portuguese promises more protection for the users applications, including end-to-end encryption. Deceptively, the app was listed in the Education section.

Figure 2. The DEFENSOR ID app on Google Play Portuguese version (translates roughly as: Your new Defensor app available for: / Individuals / Legal entities / From now on you will have more protection when using your applications, encryption for end-to-end users)

Figure 3. The DEFENSOR ID app on Google Play English version

After starting, DEFENSOR ID requests the following permissions:

If an unsuspecting user grants these permissions (see Figure 4), the trojan can read any text displayed in any app the user may launch and send it to the attackers. This means the attackers can steal the victims credentials for logging into apps, SMS and email messages, displayed cryptocurrency private keys, and even software-generated 2FA codes.

The fact the trojan can steal both the victims credentials and also can control their SMS messages and generated 2FA codes means DEFENSOR IDs operators can bypass two-factor authentication. This opens the door to, for example, fully controlling the victims bank account.

To make sure the trojan survives a device restart, it abuses already activated accessibility services that will launch the trojan right after start.

Figure 4. The permission requests by DEFENSOR ID

Our analysis shows the DEFENSOR ID trojan can execute 17 commands received from the attacker-controlled server such as uninstalling an app, launching an app and then performing any click/tap action controlled remotely by the attacker (see Figure 5).

Figure 5. The list of commands DEFENSOR ID may get from its C&C server

In 2018, we saw similar behavior, but all the click actions were hardcoded and suited only for the app of the attackers choice. In this case, the attacker can get the list of all installed apps and then remotely launch the victims app of their choice to either steal credentials or perform malicious actions (e.g. send funds via a wire transfer).

We believe that this is the reason the DEFENSOR ID trojan requests the user to allow Modify system settings. Subsequently, the malware will change the screen off time-out to 10 minutes. This means that, unless victims lock their devices via the hardware button, the timer provides plenty of time for the malware to remotely perform malicious, in-app operations.

If the device gets locked, the malware cant unlock it.

When we analyzed the sample, we realized that the malware operators left the remote database with some of the victims data freely accessible, without any authentication. The database contained the last activity performed on around 60 compromised devices. We found no other information stolen from the victims to be accessible.

Thanks to this data leak, we were able to confirm that the malware really worked as designed: the attacker had access to the victims entered credentials, displayed or written emails and messages, etc.

Once we reached the non-secured database, we were able to directly observe the apps malicious behavior. To illustrate the level of threat the DEFENSOR ID app posed, we performed three tests.

First, we launched a banking app and entered the credentials there. The credentials were immediately available in the leaky database see Figure 6.

Figure 6. The banking app test: the credentials as entered (left) and as available in the database (right)

Second, we wrote a test message in an email client. We saw the message uploaded to the attackers server within a second see Figure 7.

Figure 7. The email message test: the message as written (left) and as available in the database (right)

Third, we documented the trojan retrieving the Google Authenticator 2FA code.

Figure 8. The software generated 2FA code as it appeared on the devices display (left) and as available in the database (right)

Along with the malicious DEFENSOR ID app, another malicious app named Defensor Digital was discovered. Both apps shared the same C&C server, but we couldnt investigate the latter as it had already been removed from the Google Play store.

Read the rest here:
Insidious Android malware gives up all malicious features but one to gain stealth - We Live Security

Daix (France), May 25, 2020 Inventiva (Euronext: IVA), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing oral small molecule therapies for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) and other diseases with significant unmet medical need, today announced that the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) granted a new patent directed at the use of lanifibranor for the treatment of several fibrotic diseases in China until June 2035.

This new patent covers, among others, the use of the Companys lead product candidate lanifibranor for the treatment of NASH, hepatic fibrosis, chronic renal failure and fibrotic pulmonary disorder. It thereby expands the protection of the molecule in China, the worlds second largest market for the pharmaceutical industry1, and builds on a previously granted New Chemical Entity (NCE) patent.

Inventiva currently holds patents for lanifibranor in Asia, the United States and Europe.

Pierre Broqua, Ph.D., CSO and cofounder of Inventiva, said: "The granting of this patent is excellent news, expanding our protection of lanifibranor in several fibrotic diseases, including NASH, in China, and supports the innovative approach that we are pursuing in this treatment area. It also enables us to strengthen our positioning in regions where the need for treatment of fibrotic diseases is very high. This milestone builds on the significant progress achieved in our NASH program throughout 2019 and follows the last patient visit in our Phase IIb NATIVE clinical trial for which we are expecting the release of topline results next month.

About lanifibranor

Lanifibranor, Inventivas lead product candidate, is an orally-available small molecule that acts to induce anti-fibrotic, anti-inflammatory and beneficial vascular and metabolic changes in the body by activating all three peroxisome proliferatoractivated receptor (PPAR) isoforms, which are wellcharacterized nuclear receptor proteins that regulate gene expression. Lanifibranor is a PPAR agonist that is designed to target all three PPAR isoforms in a moderately potent manner, with a wellbalanced activation of PPAR and PPAR, and a partial activation of PPAR. While there are other PPAR agonists that target only one or two PPAR isoforms for activation, lanifibranor is the only panPPAR agonist in clinical development. Inventiva believes that lanifibranors moderate and balanced panPPAR binding profile contributes to the favorable safety and tolerability profile that has been observed in clinical trials and preclinical studies to date.

Inventiva is currently evaluating lanifibranor in a Phase IIb clinical trial for the treatment of NASH, a common and progressive chronic liver disease, for which there is currently no approved therapy.

About Inventiva

Inventiva is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of oral small molecule therapies for the treatment of NASH, MPS and other diseases with significant unmet medical need.

Leveraging its expertise and experience in the domain of compounds targeting nuclear receptors, transcription factors and epigenetic modulation, Inventiva is currently advancing two clinical candidates, as well as a deep pipeline of earlier stage programs.

Lanifibranor, its lead product candidate, is being developed for the treatment of patients with NASH, a common and progressive chronic liver disease. Inventiva is currently evaluating lanifibranor in a Phase IIb clinical trial for the treatment of this disease for which there are currently no approved therapies.

Inventiva is also developing odiparcil, a second clinical stage asset, for the treatment of patients with MPS, a group of rare genetic disorders. A Phase Ib/II clinical trial in children with MPS VI is currently under preparation following the release of positive results of the Phase IIa clinical trial in adult MPS VI patients at the end of 2019.

In parallel, Inventiva is in the process of selecting an oncology development candidate for its Hippo signalling pathway program. Furthermore, the Company has established a strategic collaboration with AbbVie in the area of autoimmune diseases. AbbVie has started the clinical development of ABBV157, a drug candidate for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis resulting from its collaboration with Inventiva. This collaboration enables Inventiva to receive milestone payments upon the achievement of pre-clinical, clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, in addition to royalties on any approved products resulting from the collaboration.

The Company has a scientific team of approximately 70 people with deep expertise in the fields of biology, medicinal and computational chemistry, pharmacokinetics and pharmacology, as well as in clinical development. It also owns an extensive library of approximately 240,000 pharmacologically relevant molecules, approximately 60% of which are proprietary, as well as a whollyowned research and development facility.

Inventiva is a public company listed on compartment C of the regulated market of Euronext Paris (Euronext: IVA ISIN: FR0013233012). http://www.inventivapharma.com

Contacts

Inventiva

Frdric CrenChairman & CEOinfo@inventivapharma.com+33 3 80 44 75 00

Brunswick GroupYannick Tetzlaff / Tristan Roquet Montegon /Aude LepreuxMedia relationsinventiva@brunswickgroup.com+33 1 53 96 83 83

Westwicke, an ICR CompanyPatricia L. BankInvestor relationspatti.bank@westwicke.com +1415513 1284

Important notice

This press release contains forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates with respect to Inventivas clinical trials, clinical development plans, and anticipated future activities of Inventiva. Certain of these statements, forecasts and estimates can be recognized by the use of words such as, without limitation, believes, anticipates, expects, intends, plans, seeks, estimates, may, will and continue and similar expressions. Such statements are not historical facts but rather are statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management's beliefs. These statements reflect such views and assumptions prevailing as of the date of the statements and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause future results, performance or future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Actual events are difficult to predict and may depend upon factors that are beyond Inventiva's control. There can be no guarantees with respect to pipeline product candidates that the clinical trial results will be available on their anticipated timeline, that future clinical trials will be initiated as anticipated, or that candidates will receive the necessary regulatory approvals. Therefore, actual results may turn out to be materially different from the anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements, forecasts and estimates. Given these uncertainties, no representations are made as to the accuracy or fairness of such forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates. Furthermore, forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates only speak as of the date of this press release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements.

Please refer to the Universal Reference Document filed with the Autorit des Marchs Financiers on February 7, 2020 under n D.20-0038 for additional information in relation to such factors, risks and uncertainties.

Except as required by law, Inventiva has no intention and is under no obligation to update or review the forward-looking statements referred to above. Consequently, Inventiva accepts no liability for any consequences arising from the use of any of the above statements.

1 Market size measured in terms of sales. Source: IQVIA Institute: The Global Use of Medicine in 2019 and Outlook to 2023.

Link:
Inventiva secures a new patent for lanifibranor in China expanding the protection of its lead product candidate - GlobeNewswire

We didn't dwell on these barbs. This was an email response, after all, not written for publication. And he had good reason to be prickly after years of shall we say pointed critiques. Quinn is a human being, lest we forget, and it's hard not to take that stuff personally.

But to the extent these animated comments reflected his beliefs, they were bothersome for deeper reasons, which reasons have been lately dramatized in Technicolor by the coverage of, and commentary around, the Plain Dealer's death. Quinn cited in that email, for example, (as professional gatekeepers are wont to do), a "long list of standards" that had supposedly evolved in the journalism industry, and said Scene adhered to none of them. "By no journalistic standard is the content produced there anything but the lowest quality," he wrote.

Who knows what standards he was talking about. Probably stodgy maxims about "fair and balanced coverage" and a prohibition on cuss words.

"In the elite presson cable news, in newspaper opinion sectionsyou can say the most monstrous things imaginable, as long your language is polite," wrote Alex Pareenerecently in The New Republic, on the subject of professional standards. "What you cant do is rudely express a desire for a more just world."

Well, that's more or less what we're trying to do here on the Scene news desk. Quinn should know that beyond what is a basic business proposition to attract and sustain an audience (for the benefit of advertisers), typically by informing and entertaining them, the more ennobling journalistic purpose has to do with the pursuit of truth. This is sometimes confused with a pursuit of facts, but that's only the first step. Facts can of course be selectively presented and interpreted in more ways than one.

Quite apart from professional standardsScene has no dress code, for examplewhat we aspire to do is tell the truth based on the facts as we understand them and expose lies when we see them, particularly from those in power.We need look no further than Quinn's latest column to demonstrate what we mean.

Chris Quinn is the most powerful media figure in Northeast Ohio. That now goes without saying. He has become the lone editor of the metro daily operation, a so-called "unified newsroom" which consists of cleveland.com and the four Plain Dealer News Guild members who opted not to take voluntary buyouts last month, when fleeting editor Tim Warsinskey threatened them with reporting assignments in outlying counties to force their hand. Reporter Julie Washington was hired back as well in what we presume was a damage control maneuver when the company realized it had laid off all its Black women.

Quinn's column, Thursday, introduced these five veteran reporters to the cleveland.com audiencelike Quinn, we are overjoyed that they'll still be workingand proclaimed that the confusing dual newsroom situation in Cleveland had hereby come to an end! [Cue the balloons.]

One must take a moment to recall that history is written by the victors. And here, in the immediate wake of the Plain Dealer News Guild's final dismantling, Quinn writes it slanted, twisting the recent news in a stunning spectacle of revisionism.

"To lose any of these five writers would have been a blow to the region," he wrote. "When I heard that Local 1 of the News Guild, the union that represented the reporters at The Plain Dealer, expressed its disinterest in representing the bargaining unit and its desire to terminate the collective bargaining agreement, I feared John, Susan, Steve and Terry might decide to stop writing or go somewhere else."

As described, it appears the Guild is the one who kicked its reporters to the curb. It's the Guild who was sick and tired of representing the PD journalists and wanted to kill the agreement they'd bargained hard for. Quinn prances in to save the day, in this version. He feared these poor veteran reporters, in the distress of their abandonment, might give up the field all together.

This shit is totally divorced from reality. (The encouraging news is, many readers recognized it as such.) It's doubly sickening, though, because the PD staffers who were just laid off can't chime in to correct the record without potentially breaching a non-disparagement agreement upon which the continuation of their health care benefits is based.

That situation should be recognizable as a power imbalance. It's been in effect since 2013, but especially since the fatal contractions of 2020, and it has created a situation where Quinn gets to control the story. Who can forget his entry from one month ago, in which he said the best reporters in town were members of his own newsroom. (N.B. these local broadsides can get a little esoteric, but his implication was that his crew was way better than the has-been knights-errant on the print side five of whom, incidentally, will now have the honor of working under him).

Cleveland.com reporters and editors "dont build cult followings on social media with nonstop messages about their crusading roles," Quinn's most quoted paragraph read. "They believe that journalism is about what others do and don't use social media to call attention to themselves."

It's perhaps needless to mention that former members of the Guild have been seething with rage and sorrow through this whole mess, and that their enforced silence has made matters worse. The Guild as an entity, though, in the face of Quinn's lies, attempted to explain what actually went down in an official statement Thursday evening. We quote it at length here in the interest of clarity.

The agreement ultimately ratified that led to disclaimer of interest was a heavily negotiated document.

The Plain Dealer sought to have the Guild agree to the following: the Union expressed its desire to no longer represent the bargaining unit.

The Guild refused to include that language - four times - because it was not true. The Guilds message to the company said: If your sides view is that the Guild must simply state that it has expressed its desire to no longer represent the bargaining unit, without any further context, then we have no deal, because that has never been the Guilds position.

While Chris Quinn, vice president of content for Cleveland. com was not directly involved in negotiations, he was aware of the process because his job offers were made at the behest of the Guild, which insisted on our members having those offers before any agreement was made.

Now Chris Quinn has inaccurately resurrected that language. Dont trust him.

The company's repeated attempts to secure an agreement on language that the Guild "expressed its desire to no longer represent the bargaining unit" seems designed for one purpose: to give Quinn and cleveland dot com power to discredit the Guild after the fact. See! They'd be able to say. It was the Guild who desired this outcome all along. It was the Guild that committed suicide.

An important point for journalists and readers to understand is that even if that language had been agreed upon, that wouldn't make it true. The fact that Quinn is using this language in spite of its rejection, to say nothing of its falsity, is lowdown indeed, even by his own enlightened standards.

Both Quinn and Tim Warsinskey, though, have been working overtime to obscure this truth from local audiences. Quinn made a big show, Thursday, of apologizing for the confusion of the two newsrooms in Cleveland "People with news tips did not know which newsroom to call. They did not know which newsroom operated which platforms," he wrote but presents the unification as a response to that confusion instead of the only possible outcome to the PD's dissolution.

"No more," he writes, absent context. "Starting today, its all in one place. A single newsroom, overseeing all of our platforms, print and digital."

The editor of this new, unified newsroom is stating a set of facts here. But Chris Quinn is not telling the truth.

***Sign up for Scene's weekly newsletters to get the latest on Cleveland news, things to do and places to eat delivered right to your inbox.

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Chris Quinn is the Most Powerful Media Figure in Northeast Ohio. And He Won't Tell the Truth. - Cleveland Scene

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump has had many targets in his war against the media, but perhaps none is more surprising than the Voice of America, the venerable U.S.-funded institution created during World War II to broadcast independent news and promote American values to the world.

Trump and his supporters have accused the outlet of disgraceful reporting and are now pushing hard to install their choice to run the government agency that oversees VOA and its affiliates. That battle is about to hit Congress, where partisan lines have been drawn amid a debate that could have a significant impact on the future of the global broadcaster.

Over the objections of Democrats, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee plans Thursday to vote on Trumps nominee to head the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which runs VOA and its sister outlets like Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Cuba-focused Radio Marti. The Republican-controlled committee is expected to vote on party lines to advance the nomination.

Democrats fear that candidate, conservative filmmaker and former educator Michael Pack, could turn the organization into a Trump propaganda machine funded with more than $200 million a year in taxpayer money. Trump has mused about his desire to control a media outlet. At his confirmation hearing last September, Pack dismissed concerns he would allow that to happen, but the recent furor has reignited those concerns.

The spat has dismayed many who watch U.S. international broadcasting closely, including some who believe the USAGM and VOA are in need of reform, particularly as changes to the agencys governing rules mean the its next chief will be able to bypass its board in making personnel and policy decisions.

All of this is a distraction from what I think is a legitimate debate about what its role should be, said Tom Kent, a former Associated Press editor who went on to head Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. It needs to be clear whether VOAs role is to advocate for democracy and American values in general or whether it is supposed to be a PR agent for the president and the State Department on current issues.

The White House did not respond to inquiries about Packs nomination or the VOA controversy.

The Democrats stated objections to Pack, a one-time associate of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon who used to work for the conservative Claremont Institute in California, center in part on his refusal to answer questions about his previous business dealings.

Yet, the uproar among conservatives over Voice of America and its recent coverage of Chinas handling of the coronavirus pandemic is likely to feature prominently in GOP support for Packs confirmation. It has become a touchstone in the Trump administrations efforts to criticize Chinese authorities for the outbreak and deflect criticism of the U.S. response as the 2020 presidential campaign heats up.

Trump and his allies have long viewed VOA and some of its affiliates with suspicion, regarding them as elements of a deep state that is trying to thwart their policies. But the hostility burst into the open April 9 when Trump communications adviser Dan Scavino posted a VOA story about China to his official Twitter account with the comment American taxpayerspaying for Chinas very own propaganda, via the U.S. Government funded Voice of America! DISGRACE!!

The story that VOA posted was actually an Associated Press report, but the following day, an official White House publication accused VOA of using taxpayer money to speak for authoritarian regimes because it had covered the lifting of the lockdown in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the new coronavirus first emerged. Trump weighed in days later, calling VOAs coverage disgusting and demanding that the Senate confirm Pack.

VOAs director Amanda Bennett fired back. One of the big differences between publicly funded independent media, like the Voice of America, and state-controlled media is that we are free to show all sides of an issue and are actually mandated to do so by law as stated in the VOA Charter, she said in a statement on April 10.

But VOAs overseers stayed silent.

A representative of the State Department, which holds a seat on the USAGM board, advised the agency to avoid doing anything that would appear to endorse Bennetts response, which it did, according to three people familiar with the matter. And, an April 14 virtual meeting of the USAGM board came to no conclusion about how, or if, to respond, according to those people who were not authorized to discuss the meeting publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

All USAGM networks, including VOA, know they have the full support of the agency, the agencys current CEO Grant Turner said in an email statement provided to AP. We have, and will continue to serve the American public by staying true to our mission informing, engaging and connecting our audiences in support of freedom and democracy.

Bennett, meanwhile, sent a note of encouragement to VOA staffers on Monday, urging them to remain professional amidst what she termed uncomfortable scrutiny.

This kind of scrutiny, however uncomfortable it may be, is also a great opportunity for us, she wrote in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by The AP. Difficult times call for us to be our best selves to redouble our commitment to be the ethical, professional journalists that we know we all are.

Watching from the wings, former officials who follow the matter are concerned.

Matt Armstrong, a former Republican appointee to the board of the USAGMs predecessor, the Broadcasting Board of Governors, said the Trump administration had shown a gross misunderstanding the agencys mission in attacking VOA. He also questioned why the administration was using the controversy to push for Packs nomination when it could have made personnel changes already.

I think theyre snowflakes, pretending to be upset about something that they shouldnt be, he said. The Trump administrations tantrum over VOA is huffing and puffing over something they could have done years ago. This episode further reveals their inability to manage the government they are in charge.

See original here:
Trumps surprising target in war on media: Voice of America - The Spokesman-Review