Here’s a fossil of a 150-million year old fish that choked to death on a belemnite rostrum: the hard, internal shell of an extinct, squid-like animal.
Original paper.
As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.
lurker • April 3, 2026 8:46 PM
Uffizi Galleries in Florence have confirmed they were subject to a cyber-attack – but denied that the security systems protecting their famous works had been compromised.
Conflicting stories that infiltrators traversed internal systems seeking weak points, and stole the entire photographic database. The Gallery is currently in denial mode.
David • April 3, 2026 10:49 PM
That photo in the first link is very cool but unfortunately the photo credit is “Google Gemini” and doesn’t appear in the paper itself…
Snarki, child of Loki • April 4, 2026 1:51 PM
“Next up on CSI Paleo Crimes Division…”
lurker • April 4, 2026 5:24 PM
Colateral damage: this past month there has been a significant increase in OTH radar fouling the shortwave broadcast bands
ResearcherZero • April 5, 2026 8:25 AM
Iran has hit dozens of energy facilities in the region. Worryingly, much of Gulf freshwater supply comes from a comparatively low number of vital desalination plants that would take months to repair. Plants in Bahrain and Kuwait have been targeted and Iran is threatening to hit more.
Iran can potentially place a large amount of pressure on, and inflict a great deal of damage to, oil producing nations in the neighborhood.
“The GCC’s desalination plants are large, fixed, open-air industrial complexes. Mostly concentrated along the coast within 350 kilometers of the Islamic Republic”
https://www.csis.org/analysis/could-iran-disrupt-gulf-countries-desalinated-water-supplies
Winter • April 5, 2026 8:27 AM
@ResearcherZero
While the Washington has strained relationships with allies, Beijing and Moscow have improved connections and partnerships with their allies.
To quote a Conservative Saint: Stupid is as Stupid Does
As the Greek already wrote: “Evil appears as good in the minds of those whom god leads to destruction.”
Or in the English version:
Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad
The GOP sowed the seeds of the destruction of the USA when Reagan and Gingrich started their full blown attack on the Democrats and Democracy.
Now they reap the harvest.
Clive Robinson • April 5, 2026 9:05 AM
@ Bruce, ALL,
The gift that keeps on giving
It’s been about a dozen years since RowHammer demonstrated that “bubbling up attacks” from the lowest of physical layers could cause significant security issues.
Worse RowHammer also demonstrated that via “reach around / end run” attacks these significant security issues were viable for any user to exploit.
Thus is it really surprising that this has happened,
New Rowhammer attacks give complete control of machines running Nvidia GPUs
GDDRHammer, GeForge and GPUBreach hammer GPU memory in ways that hijack the CPU.
“The cost of high-performance GPUs, typically $8,000 or more, means they are frequently shared among dozens of users in cloud environments. Three new attacks demonstrate how a malicious user can gain full root control of a host machine by performing novel Rowhammer attacks on high-performance GPU cards made by Nvidia.“
I could make a long list of why this was almost guaranteed to happen and why I’m surprised it’s taken as long with GPU’s… But as I’m in hospital currently and the brain is “sub-par” due to various substantial reasons I’ll leave it to others for now.
Clive Robinson • April 5, 2026 11:47 AM
@ ResearcherZero, Winter,
With regards,
Iran has hit dozens of energy facilities in the region. Worryingly, much of Gulf freshwater supply comes from a comparatively low number of vital desalination plants that would take months to repair.
But…
Iran has been cautious unlike the USA. Iran can argue that their activities so far have been of “necessity” unlike the US. Plus their targeting has been interesting Iran can argue what it has attacked is significantly for “war capabilities” by the USA and others.
Thus unlike the USA Iran’s hands are clean as far as war crimes are concerned.
As I’ve previously pointed out whilst the USA Executive is making fools of themselves Iran is behaving as a “rational actor”.
The fact that nobody else want’s to get in this US/IDF war is telling and why I’ve said the US is in effect “loosing”.
The recent replacement of senior US Command Staff with shall we say less rational actors tends to suggest politics is not working out for the US Executive…
Especially when the Trumper goes around insulting allies.
He has refered to UK carrier in derogatory terms. But nobody has talked about the US using them because they are not designed for US activities.
What has been asked for is UK anti mine/drone ships. For some reason the US despite having been taught a hard lesson about mines and more recently drones in forty years it has not developed anti technology…
So perhaps we should sing a verse or two of,
“There’s a hole in your bucket…”
For the US carrier and other military capabilities that are now having to “stand off” outside of an effective range.
The US is hemorrhaging not just money but capability and it’s “magazine depth” is not looking good with it in effect “stealing back” the South Korean “Terminal High Altitude Area Defense”(THAAD) anti ballistic missile and similar systems from the South China Seas, Ukraine and other vulnerable regions defense systems,
https://www.newsweek.com/iran-war-us-forced-take-thaad-defenses-asia-11652200
In effect the US Executive has by it’s brain dead activity stopped it’s ability to claim a “Pyrrhic victory” even with industrial grade spin.
But the thing to remember is that the Iranian’s are effectively Persians, and they have a very very long history. In essence no matter how hated their leaders by the people, if the country is attacked they fight back in ways few can stand upto…
Iran is not an Arab country, which many do not realise, so when headlines mention Iran alongside Saudi Arabia or the UAE, many assume they are all Arab nations. The geography seems similar. The religion, largely Islam, appears similar too. So the assumption feels natural. But it is wrong very wrong. Iran sees those Arab nations as enemies not allies…
Back in the 1980’s it was something that Iraqi leader Sadam Hussein had to learn the hard way.
Clive Robinson • April 5, 2026 3:06 PM
@ ResearcherZero, Winter, lurker,
It took me a little while to re-find this,
Iranian strikes target the infrastructure behind US airpower
A U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry, an airborne warning and control system, was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia — one of several strikes on the installation since Operation Epic Fury began Feb. 28.
Two weeks earlier, on March 13, five KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft were damaged on the flight line, two U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal, as reported by Military Times.
“Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, said the pattern points to deliberate targeting, rather than opportunism. The strikes are systematic and target three “distinct functional categories,” she said, including radar and communications infrastructure, aerial refueling tankers and now the AWACS.
…
“Each is a critical enabler of U.S. air operations,” Grieco told Defense News. “That’s not random. That’s a target set derived from an understanding of how U.S. airpower functions and where it is most exposed. The pattern suggests deliberate doctrine, or something close enough to it, not opportunism.”“
The point is it also keeps Iran inside of various treaties and international agreements, something the US apparently can not do…
Dave • April 5, 2026 3:54 PM
@ResearcherZero, Clive
I see all this information in a different context than you do.
https://houseofsaud.com/iran-war-ai-psychosis-sycophancy-rlhf/
Here the House of Saud is blaming the war losses on AI.
See, it’s all about the blame game. If the US comes out looking like a loser nobody in the current administration is going to accept the blame. They will deflect by blaming it on those vengeful Russians, those meddling Chinks, those incompetent nerds. This has been Trump’s and social conservatives strategy for decades: heads I win tales you lose. And given that their base is low information voters it always seems to work.
I don’t doubt that Russia really is vengeful or that the Chinese really are meddling. I would expect no less. But that’s not why these narratives are being published. They are being published to shift blame.
Clive Robinson • April 5, 2026 6:05 PM
@ Dave,
Funny peculiar that you should say,
“Here the House of Saud is blaming the war losses on AI.”
AI, What AI?
Apparently there really is not much AI even in the US nor is their likely to be because Trump can not add two and two and come up with the correct answer…
Trump ignores biggest reasons his AI data center buildout is failing
Nearly 50% of data center projects delayed as China holds key to power infrastructure.
“Donald Trump is facing significant hurdles after declaring, in a series of executive orders last year, that rapid construction of AI data centers was among his top priorities to ensure the US wins the AI race against China.
Perhaps most likely to frustrate the president, his aggressive tariffs on Chinese imports are reportedly hindering most data center projects.
…
These parts, which China has primarily manufactured for US manufacturers “for decades,” used to take between 24 and 30 months to get delivered prior to 2020. Now, they can require wait times up to five years, Bloomberg reported. That lag could matter, since China is reportedly about five years behind the US in the AI race.
Rather than rely on China, Trump would prefer that the US manufacture its own equipment. However, currently, “US manufacturing capacity for these devices cannot keep up with demand,” Bloomberg reported.
…
For Trump, the March order requiring firms to pay power bills was meant to address concerns in communities that increasingly oppose any data center construction that might spike electricity costs in areas neighboring facilities.
But Trump is seemingly losing ground fast on that front, too, as community fears that extend beyond utility costs are helping enact moratoriums on data center construction gain traction at local, state, and national levels.“
Anyone else smelling the aroma of burnt sock as Trump takes target practice at his own feet?
The thing is Trump rushes out this “numpty nonsense” without thought and without checking…
So things end up going badly for him in the eyes of those it counts (which is not the US voters, but corporates with the cash he wants to pay off his debtors like any other corrupt politician).
lurker • April 5, 2026 7:33 PM
@Clive Robinson
re the aroma of burnt sock
Modbot won’t let me name the place I heard learned Professors discussing the Iran incursion, the transcript is possibly searchable. One described a feat of contortion current POTUS may well be capable of, saying he “had shot himself on the back.”
Winter • April 6, 2026 1:15 AM
@lurker, Clive, Dave
“had shot himself on the back.”
MALYAW
Make America Lose Yet Another War
Clive Robinson • April 6, 2026 2:03 AM
@ Winter,
With respect to MALYAW and MAFIA Don’s behaviour.
I Would not normally care tuppenny ha’ppeny for how many wars the US looses due to their idiot politicians strutting around like brainless roosters crowing madly.
What I care about is the “lost opportunity cost and associated human costs.
Humans are mankind’s most valuable assets and whilst few will ever reach great heights of endeavor it’s the idiot politicians that are mostly responsible for this not the people themselves.
George Orwell was not the first to realise the evil that politicians are and their desperate need for an enemy far away to blame for their own failings.
If you want to see classic examples of such low lifes in the UK we have Jacob Rees-Mogg, Peter Mandelson, Boris Johnson and many others currently including the current batch of Idiots In Supposed Charge. Many of whom would be criminals if people just had the good sense to prosecute them and keep them away from “Public Life”.
A dispassionate view of their respective “skill sets” reveals much of the worst of mankind with “back stabbling” being just one of many undesirable traits. Sadly whilst there are oh so many more way worse they tend to get venal and vindictive if you “mention the obvious”…
So much so that the old Russian Joke about a comedian being locked up for life after telling a joke about the competence of a minister for “selling state secrets” appears to have come true in the UK…
Winter • April 6, 2026 3:31 AM
@Clive
I Would not normally care tuppenny ha’ppeny for how many wars the US looses due to their idiot politicians strutting around like brainless roosters crowing madly.
Narcissism kills. Their voters are the accomplices.
If you want to see classic examples of such low lifes in the UK we have Jacob Rees-Mogg, Peter Mandelson, Boris Johnson and many others currently including the current batch of Idiots In Supposed Charge. Many of whom would be criminals if people just had the good sense to prosecute them and keep them away from “Public Life”.
Those who voted for these and their counterparts are the real criminals who hide in the shadows.
It’s like thieves and their fence. Those who voted for the Mad Red Hatter are the people who paid the hit man.
ResearcherZero • April 6, 2026 8:04 AM
@Winter, Clive Robinson, ALL
I’m sure everyone can clearly identify who is responsible for ordering US forces to attack Iran. Trump has talked about invading Iran for the last 40 years. His rhetoric on Iran is rather “strategically unambiguous”.
When newly elected governments enter into office, the Persian Gulf and past events like the 20% reduction of output by OPEC, is used to explain US security strategy.
Defence really doesn’t like politicians fooling around in the Middle East or near vital choke points. But often politicians don’t pay much attention to the government reviews and assessments that they themselves, or the former front bench ministers, commissioned.
If it seems like an issue that may affect a future government, the response is often, “Why should I worry about something that could happen when I am no longer in office?”
Presumably said politician will still be alive and hence they can rest assured, that they and their brood will feel the impact of any event that has an effect on the living. There is an equally good chance that the politician will be returned to office, or the opposition ranks, to blame the then, or previous government, for the outcome. An outcome they are responsible for.
The current Australian opposition is blaming the government for decisions the opposition made to reduce domestic fuel storage and oil refining, after being briefed about the one day likelihood of the current scenario occurring.
Often such short sightedness happens behind closed doors, not out in the open. Yet there are those that like to let it all hang out in the open, ensuring a record of their posterior.
Some need little incentive or assistance to be and act like a complete d–khead on their own.
Start a war, slash the cyber defence budget, do a drive-by and behave like a baffoon. Generally make an ass of themselves and everyone else who cops a face full of s–t as they pass by.
Then slash the cyber defence budget again…
Winter • April 6, 2026 9:26 AM
@ResearcherZero
Trump has talked about invading Iran for the last 40 years. His rhetoric on Iran is rather “strategically unambiguous”.
A person who succeeded in bankrupting a casino can also succeed in making the world’s most powerful army from the world’s richest country lose a war with a third world country.
The March of Folly is really an insightful book. You can wrestle defeat from the jaws of victory. Look at Hegseth and the Orange would be King.
Ismar • April 7, 2026 1:40 AM
@ResearcherZero
Many analysts today are making the same mistake of trying to attribute some sort of strategic plan Trump has had for the current situation we’re all in, choosing to ignore the obvious fact the guy is mentally unhinged and prone to being manipulated by others who will quietly disown him when the shit hits the fan
Winter • April 7, 2026 7:07 AM
@Ismar
Many analysts today are making the same mistake of trying to attribute some sort of strategic plan Trump has had for the current situation we’re all in,…
The Mad Red Hatter is beyond planning. He has progressive dementia and has neither the wherewithal nor the mental acuity to plan anything that doesn’t involve plastering his name on something public.[1]
However, there are many others that have plans for him, eg, the authors of Project 2025.
[1] cf. his obsession with his bathroom.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-can-t-stop-posting-about-his-bathroom/ar-AA1Q0lgy
ResearcherZero • April 8, 2026 7:35 AM
The billionaires in American have to keep all the paying consumers in line somehow. For that they have the police, a captured DoJ and an AI powered surveillance state. Fool’s are useful in the short run for achieving the personal objectives of few unscrupulous people.
Sure, in the long run, everyone will have to pay the cost. The cost in a dog-eat-dog world, where some want it all, is pretty high. Little is left when the whole pie is eaten, except for the 40 trillion-odd tab and the added expenses, which might be quite uncomfortable.
The number of Americans targeted by surveillance has been quietly growing, with biometric, data analytics, aerial, cell-site simulators, cell phone data acquisition tools, drones, cameras and automatic license plate readers, phone and social media surveillance, adding to the number of data points captured. There are plans to aggregate much of this data.
‘https://floridatimes.com/ctzrmb-inside-ice-s-expanded-surveillance-arsenal-to-track-suspects-and-protesters
A mass location tracking infrastructure powered by artificial intelligence.
https://theconversation.com/cameras-have-quietly-appeared-in-thousands-of-us-cities-now-their-integration-with-ai-is-sounding-alarms-276928
A Chinese breach of FBI systems revealed details of targets of domestic surveillance.
https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2026/04/suspected-chinese-breach-fbi-system-exposed-surveillance-targets-phone-numbers/412612/
ResearcherZero • April 8, 2026 7:38 AM
The SAVE bill and 702 are up for consideration again next week.
A centralized national database of personal information could allow government to scrutinize the lives of Americans using AI, allowing computers to search for patterns and make decisions about citizens rights to conduct lawful and protected activities, access government services, or remove those rights entirely.
To do this the DoJ is handing records to DHS to build a national citizenship database.
https://www.salon.com/2026/04/06/ai-is-raising-the-stakes-in-the-government-surveillance-debate/
The Trump administration wants to remove voters from electoral rolls at its own discretion.
The first step, purge voters before the Midterm elections, by pinning the SAVE bill to the passing of Section 702. Hopefully fuel bills will be lower by then and no-one will notice.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/05/politics/trump-voter-database-election-fraud
ResearcherZero • April 8, 2026 7:56 AM
Every type of personal data is included and accessible thanks to new tooling.
Forgot your ID? Don’t worry about it, it’s covered with predictive AI policing.
To fill a targeting list for arrest quotas or flag an individual, AI is very efficient.
If the machine identifies you as a criminal then you can appeal to its cold logic.
‘https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/15/hacked-data-homeland-security
The FBI has restarted buying bulk location data on Americans for warrant-less surveillance.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/fbi-started-buying-americans-location-data-again-kash-patel-confirms/
cata • April 8, 2026 10:31 AM
https://sourceforge.net/p/veracrypt/discussion/general/thread/9620d7a4b3/
yep.after Wireguard’s creator has their Microsoft account suspended.
we can see some patterns emerging…
lurker • April 8, 2026 2:35 PM
@ResearcherZero
It’s OK if “we” do it to “our” citizens.
It’s not OK if $FOREIGN_GOVT does it to $FOREIGNERS.
Hypocrisy: an essential political tool.
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Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.
Ismar • April 3, 2026 5:22 PM
Not good for either the fish or the squid so probably no wander both went extinct 🙂