On Wednesday I spent a day fishing, on a small boat out of Gloucester, MA. We caught many cod (none of which we could keep), and a bunch of hake and mackerel (all of which we could keep). And…I caught a squid! Near as I can tell, it’s a longfin squid, sometimes called a Boston squid (Doryteuthis (Amerigo) pealeii).
That night I cooked it over a barbecue grill—hot and fast. Delicious.
Clive Robinson • October 9, 2026 6:01 PM
@ Bruce, ALL,
The first prick of the pin?
An Australian AI startup company “Firmus” was supposed to undergo a $43.7billion IPO. The second largest IPO ever on the Auz Stockmarket (after : Telstra in 1997).
However it all went pear shaped and did not happen,
Thus the question,
Is it,
1, Just peculiar to Firmus / Auz
2, Start of AI Hype Bubble deflating
3, Start of AI hype Bubble exploding
4, Start of World economic recession
Or one or two other “portents of doom” such as the start of WWIII jitters.
Make your own mind up but I Suspect Oracle and friends to suffer some drag in the wake of it.
How Firmus’s plans for the biggest IPO in three decades fell over
It was supposed to be the second-biggest stock float in Australian history.
“Sydney-based AI startup Firmus Technologies was close to listing on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) at a $43.7 billion market capitalisation.
It would have been the biggest IPO since Telstra listed in 1997.
The company, founded in 2019 by Oliver Curtis, Tim Rosenfield and Jonathan Levee, had planned to raise about $7 billion by going public.
The intention was to list and then borrow more to build data centres across Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.“
The question I’ll be watching though, is what happens to Nvidia which was a backer of this Firmus attempted IPO… Because they do kind of act as the “seaweed barometer” in all things “AI Market” due to the fact they are the only High End chip supplier on which nearly all Data Center plans rest currently and real money flows through.
I just love that you caught a squid! Sounds delicious.
lurker • October 9, 2026 10:37 PM
@Anonymous
“Bill Gates dead 2026” : Microsoft founder killed by internet death hoax
‘https://en.mediamass.net/people/bill-gates/deathhoax.html
Steve • October 9, 2026 10:52 PM
Squidception
lurker • October 9, 2026 10:57 PM
Aaaw, naughty internet users “repeatedly act cruelly toward our models”, so our models will stop talking to naughty users.
Clive Robinson • October 10, 2026 1:32 AM
@ lurker, Anonymous,
I saw the Bill Gates died at 70 post from @Anonymous and thought,
“Well older than me, so I’ve still probably got some time.”
Yes I know it sounds mean but when you get to pension age or there abouts….
Then I noticed the link source being 4Chan, the home of grifters, parasites and worse… So I did not click on it I went and asked DuckDuck for “Bill Gates news”.
And it said Bill was giving a talk at some conference… So I thought it’s a fake announcement…
Much like I first did about the News that J.D. Vance had suspended Microsoft from the “Green Card” scheme for fraud the day before.
But I was busy, so did not have time to investigate Billy Boy further unlike I did yesterday with the JD Vance anouncment. Which I nearly dismissed because the news said Trump was giving Microsoft Head an award/medal at some ceremony that was on several major news sites. I thought “both stories can not be true especially as in reality the awards Trump was giving was to reward six “big Tech donors for contributing in his grifting scheme” at a science convention…
But I also found a couple of known news sites carrying the suspension story including the AP News link with a video clip of JD Vance giving it the orals.
The thing is there is another story that needs to be mentioned behind the madness that is…
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj20vkkx3rdvo
Which is not as the BBC portrays it… It is all about Trump’s vanity and venal behaviour, and the key to it is,
“The announcement came just hours after former ICC judge Navi Pillay was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote peace and international law.”
It’s about Trump’s craving for that Nobel Peace Prize, he is absolutely desperate for it… And has gone as far as getting the Israeli premier to nominate him for it…
Which tells you a lot about controlling a venal idiot and why the Middle East is in the state it is and the world economy is on the edge due to lack of energy…
Why is Trump behaving in this ludicrous way?
Well it’s because he’s a white supremacist style racist. And it all goes back to then President Obama humiliating Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner. Which you can watch,
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-QqVyd6WMg4
With a nearly accurate depiction of what Trump would do to the White House. And each year there after Trump got singled out by Obama.
Trump therefore thinks he has to be better than Obama in every way or at least be equal…
So that Nobel sticks in his craw like a Florida gator claw.
It’s a must have at any cost…
Only, the price is beyond his reach no matter how many dictators and worse he gets to vouch for him.
ResearcherZero • October 10, 2026 6:19 AM
The Australian Government has effectively abandoned its citizens after they were attacked at home by a foreign power. Despite government awareness and extensive medical testing that immediately followed the attacks that took place in Western Australia, both Federal and State governments have no program or processes to assist victims of “Havana Syndrome”.
Medical testing identified a range of neurological and physical impacts consistent with what was later discovered in the United States, and the attending medical practitioners were well aware of what had caused the resulting injuries, as they had discussed the device with the experts who examined the weapon immediately following each of the attacks.
Unlike the United States inquiries and subsequent assistance program, nothing exists in Australia to support or investigate the harm caused, or even recognize the symptoms. The attacks were all quietly swept under the rug and still continue to remain unacknowledged.
The attacks in Western Australia began in the second half of the 1980’s. An agent working for the GRU was witnessed conducting the first attack using the energy weapon in the city of Perth. Many of the same physical effects described in later accounts, were experienced by those attacked with the weapon over the next few years.
A loss of motor function and muscle control, the sensation of being drawn down towards the ground, nausea, cognitive impairment and the feeling that consciousness could slip away. In that first incident the subject did lose consciousness very quickly, as they were attacked while laying on a deck chair in the backyard of a suburban home. The attacker had leaned over the fence from the neighbouring property and aimed the emitter directly down over the head of the target, at near point-blank range.
The man who operated the device was quickly detained by members of the Western Australian police force at his property, which was located directly behind the neighbouring property from where he had leaned over the fence with the emitter. A thick insulated cable led from the emitter back to the modular units that controlled the power output and parameters, along with the power unit. The equipment that he had used was examined by experts from the Australian Signals Directorate. The ASD members were present in the same backyard as the subject who was attacked, when the incident took place, and they had witnessed the entire event unfold.
Further attacks followed. The same agent working for the GRU carried out each attack. The attacks took place at close proximity, with multiple witnesses present, who clearly saw the assailant aim the emitter directly at his chosen target. The man responsible was detained on another three occasions immediately following those incidents. The equipment was examined at the scene by the relevant experts on at least two of those occasions.
(The equipment was ordered to be handed back to the GRU agent by government prosecutors.)
The Australian government behaved in much the same way as the U.S. government. Immediate cover-up. The excuse given at the time by members of the government, was that they wanted to “avoid an international incident.” Repeated and unprovoked attack against unsuspecting members of the public, by undeclared agents operating on the behalf of a foreign power, is an international incident of great concern.
The weapon was being tested for its effectiveness against subjects in different situations (fixed/mobile), at varying ranges, lengths of exposure, and periods of frequency.
For some time after the attack, difficulty in performing tasks and concentration persisted. A dazed feeling similar to after a concussion, with memory loss and difficulty in recall. Impaired cognitive performance, intermittent lingual and grammatic difficulty, decreased energy, lowered situational awareness and sharpness.
The last known attack took place in Western Australia in 1992. It is possible that different settings for the weapon were also tested. Since that date, given the accounts of later victims from the United States, it appears the power and effect of the weapon is now more severe.
For some, areas of memory loss persisted for a very long time. With individuals forgetting names of people they knew, events, or periods of time that has passed in their lives. They were essentially robbed of formative experiences and periods in their lives, leaving them at a disadvantage and without important information vital to their safety and security.
Inadequate response by our own governments allowed the Russian government to improve the potency of their weapon system, using our citizens as unwitting test subjects for decades. No assistance was provided to Australian citizens who were attacked. No effort to help is being planned by the Australian Government.
Australia owes its service members and its citizens much greater respect and support. The Australian Government knowingly left people in harms way, when vulnerable and defenseless.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/oct/10/havana-syndrome-mystery-cia-russia
Ismar • October 10, 2026 6:31 AM
So nice to see you Bruce enjoying some sunshine and ocean breeze (especially this late in the season) and topping it all up with catching your favourite cephalopod
Cathy • October 10, 2026 6:48 AM
Nice one, Bruce! I don’t know if you’re even reading these comments, but I just wanted to let you know this brought a smile to my face.
Rontea • October 10, 2026 8:55 AM
This is, of course, a classic example of security through obscurity: the cod refused to be caught openly, while the squid just infiltrated your bait network unnoticed. Later, you grilled the squid hot and fast—because, as in cryptography, speed and heat are the best ways to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks… by seagulls.
Clive Robinson • October 10, 2026 12:05 PM
@ ResearcherZero,
With regards,
“The Australian Government has effectively abandoned its citizens after they were attacked at home by a foreign power. “
Many Western Nations “abandon their citizens” for many reasons.
Take the UK Russia’s Putin has been “offing expats” for decades in the UK (and I assume elsewhere).
The Russian’s living in the UK that I’ve spoken to have told me that there gave been at least 30 in this century alone, that have been “offed by Putin’s agents” even though the UK Met police have said “accident” or “suicide” that was pushed down from the woman who was “Minister for the Home Office”
The reason “don’t scare off
Russian Money” invested in the UK…
As for HS I’ve been through the technical reasoning on thus blog of how to make it work and it’s not exactly difficult to design and build. And that was before the US panel of experts that said it was not possible was even convened.
So yeah the sweeping under the carpet continues even unto 2day.
Anonymous • October 10, 2026 4:21 PM
I imagine https://www.netflix.com/de/title/81652677 must be right up your alley 🦑
Jon • October 11, 2026 10:31 AM
When the reporter becomes the story…
Clive Robinson • October 11, 2026 10:59 AM
@ Bruce, ALL,
Did they not get the memo?
Some may remember that fun thing called Stuxnet from more than a decade and a half ago…
And the Warnings that arose about “Industrial Control Systems”(ICS) and all those other systems relating to them…
The security issues then as now are fundamentally three fold,
1, None of the systems are even remotely secure.
2, None of the communications used encryption or authentication.
3, Nearly all were connected directly or indirectly to public access networks like the Internet or International phone systems.
So instructions were sent out from various National Governments to amongst others Infrastructure suppliers of the “Get your act sorted out NOW” sort way back then…
I think you can guess how many have actually responded proactively.
Well now we have AI systems capable of successfully attacking anything that can be reached directly or indirectly folks would have picked the game up a little…
Well,
AI systems are fully capable of carrying out nightmare attacks against infrastructure and nobody’s ready
Meanwhile, AI agents move robotic arms, ‘make OT device operator screens lie’
“Autonomous AI systems are fully capable of carrying out a nightmare cyberattack scenario – finding and attacking critical operational technology and industrial equipment, and shutting down access to water, power, and other daily life necessities.
If this happens, defenders may only have minutes to detect and block it, according to a Booz Allen Hamilton report.
The consulting firm’s operational technology (OT) lab tested eight scenarios to examine advanced models’ capabilities within an autonomous, AI-enabled OT attack chain. The models achieved the objectives across all eight scenarios, turning digital access into physical actions – in one case finding and moving a robotic arm in just minutes.
In another test, the models progressed from a perimeter compromise to actions inside an industrial control network in just over 16 minutes.“
Preceding those memos the first widely read report on the Stuxnet worm was Brian Krebs’s blog post on 15 July 2010.
The thing is these AI attacks on industrial control systems, is they can not be stopped if,
1, The AI is given direct or indirect agency.
2, The systems can be reached directly or indirectly.
The only solution “against all agents foreign and domestic” is realistically,
“Mitigation by full segregation.”
If not the AI attacks will get in and “obscurity” really will not stop them…
Ferentarius • October 11, 2026 12:49 PM
Re: culture as content
To paint, to carve, to write was to wrest a fragment of eternity from the abyss of time. But when everything is content, nothing is form.
cybershow • October 11, 2026 3:21 PM
Well done on your actual squid catch Bruce, sounds like a lovely way to spend the afternoon.
Klaus Schmeh • October 11, 2026 5:25 PM
Here’s a cartoon series about IT security:
https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23eviandden&origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED
lurker • October 12, 2026 1:14 AM
We were delighted to receive this letter from His Majesty King Charles III on the occasion of our tenth anniversary, recognising how the NCSC delivers on making the UK the safest place to live and work online.
For practical cyber security advice visit ncsc.gov.uk
“This letter” is presented as a screenshot in a post on X. My search engines are still on weekend hours so I can’t read what HM actually said …
Robin • October 12, 2026 7:00 AM
Three major French supermarkets suffered a cyberattack which raised their refrigerator temperatures to around 50C. The refrigeration control systems manufactured by Danfoss, which are used by Intermarché, Leclerc and Coopérative U, are reported to have been hacked. Costs could rise to several millions of euros across France.
Source (in French):
h t t ps://www.ladepeche.fr/2026/10/12/intermarche-leclerc-et-super-u-vises-par-une-cyberattaque-la-temperature-des-frigos-est-montee-jusqua-50-degres-des-degats-considerables-attendus-13596843.php
ResearcherZero • October 12, 2026 7:42 AM
@Clive
I knew some of the UK residents murdered by Russian spies. They were very kind and gracious, and treated my wife and I very well. The lack of concern for their security that was demonstrated by the UK government was extremely disappointing, given the warnings of the level of threat that was being directed at them.
The response was sadly far too familiar, as I had seen the same lack of concern for many Australian citizens demonstrated time and again by the Australian police and politicians.
When a pattern of inadequate response and lack of concern for lives facing very significant danger is repeated over and over again by an institution, its leadership is dysfunctional. A
dysfunctional institution cannot by nature, effectively respond to a threat to public safety.
Nor can a dysfunctional institution quantify that threat.
Due to the framing of “Mystery” regarding attacks by energy weapons and the revisiting of old tropes by the media, such articles miss the larger point of the operations that were taking place. The Russians were largely targeting people who worked in counter-espionage, and they were also running other operations. Part of a much larger campaign conducted by Russia, with a far more serious set of objectives at play.
The elected figures and government officials determined to hide their failings, continue to ignore an ongoing threat within their own house and territory, ensuring they overlook vital pieces of the larger picture.
Gaslighting the victims, and the downplaying of the seriousness of what has occurred, ensured that the surrounding RIS operations and vital information about the long-term goals of the Kremlin went ignored.
If you believe what you are seeing and hearing is s–t, then that is all you will see in everything that surrounds an event. No words will sway you, for your perception is now shaped by your internal dialogue. When this is true of leadership, then that leadership will produce s–t outcomes.
‘https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/oct/10/havana-syndrome-mystery-cia-russia
Another tactic used by the Kremlin to intimidate – defecation in a target’s home.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/10/05/kremlins-dirty-tricks-reach-finnish-mps-lavatories/
Anonymous • October 12, 2026 7:49 AM
@clive
Well it’s because he’s a white supremacist style racist.
*Well it’s because he’s a fake white supremacist style racist
ftfy
Are we enjoying the theater yet???
Clive Robinson • October 12, 2026 8:53 AM
@ Robin, Bruce, ALL,
With regards,
“Three major French supermarkets suffered a cyberattack which raised their refrigerator temperatures to around 50C. “
I don’t know if you were aware the the on base discount stores in the US had a similar fridge incident a little while back,
Clive Robinson • October 12, 2026 9:08 AM
@ ResearcherZero,
With regards,
“When a pattern of inadequate response and lack of concern for lives facing very significant danger is repeated over and over again by an institution, its leadership is dysfunctional.”
I think that was true of,
1, Then minister for UK Home Office
2, Then chief for UK Met Police
Both of whom showed their inadequacies / failings quite clearly when “Novichok Nerve Agent” was used in early march 2018 in Salisbury, against Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Because I assume Putin thought the message was not getting through loud enough.
eindgebruiker • October 12, 2026 12:15 PM
Hardware crypto wallet company Ledger is hit by a supply chain attack. A hardware implant reads the seed from the screen and sends it over LTE. https://www.tibane.net/research/ledger-nano-x-implant
lurker • October 12, 2026 1:23 PM
@Robin, ALL
The French Fridge meltdown just made my local radio news with a breathless BBC commentator saying
“Whoever would have thought all these refrigerators were controlled remotely …”
Well, obviously the bad guys thought it.
“Danfoss said that their software had not been updated with the latest patch to prevent this sort of problem … ”
Ah, no. This sort of problem is mitigated, not prevented, by getting all that stuff off the internet. And these days a VPN doesn’t cut it. An AI Agent will soon find you an access token from some contractor’s laptop.
Clive Robinson • October 12, 2026 2:52 PM
@ lurker, Robin, ALL,
“Whoever would have thought all these refrigerators were controlled remotely…”
Anyone who knew even anything about corporations and making profit, should have known.
Think about “Industrial Control Systems”, the whole point of them was to “reduce manpower” thus save one of the largest costs to a corporation.
Over a series of steps from the mid 1980’s through the 1990’s the job of many engineers was to design “Remote Telemetry Units”(RTUs) and “Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition”(SCADA) systems to be placed in remote control centers to replace manual controls and ladder logic. By “remote” it was with regards to the industrial / petrochem site and closer to corporate HQ or equivalent.
Initially such systems were expensive due to the cost of communications from RF UHF links or leased line “Plain Old Telephone Systems”(POTS) set up as 4-wire interface. However modems and 2-wire consumer style phone lines brought the cost down. Eventually in the late 1990’s putting things “on the Internet” was ridiculously low cost.
So guess what the Corporate Bean-Counters did.
Apart from bandwidth going up, security has gone down ever since. The underlying communications is almost always “plain-text” and can be controlled by what many call an RS232 telnet connection.
No encryption, no authentication and no authorisation…
All the “security” happens at “the edge of the network” via VPN boxes and similar if you are lucky.
On older systems it will be a serial or modem card in a desktop PC with bespoke software, that is how should I put it,
“The worst of roll your own security”
I know this because I used to work in that industry and there was never any budget for security. In fact the mantra was “no security as it is insufficiently reliable”.
So knowing that are you really surprised that thus fridge/freezer system is the way it is?
If you doubt me how about I tell you about “heavy plant equipment”, “rolling stock” and even ships that have VHF or UHF radios that allow “remote control” from a box that hangs from a remote operators waist…
It’s the way it is done currently, but I suspect it won’t be long before sufficient nefarious people take advantage of it… And after lots of argument it will be changed. But of course not as part of the system but just bolted on the comms interfaces.
PEE PEE HOLE • October 12, 2026 4:04 PM
PUT YOUR EAR ON MY 4NUS
YOU CAN HEAR THE SEA
PUT YOUR EAR ON MY PEE PEE HOLE
OUT POPS A PEARL!
“WHAT A WHIRL!” SAID THE GIRL AS SHE STABBED THE BLOATED CORPSE.
“I THINK I’LL HAVE ANOTHER!” SHE GIGGLED AS SHE LICKED THE BLADE CLEAN WITH ONE FOUL SWIPE OF THE TONGUE.
IN A TIME, IN A PLACE, IN A MOMENT
OUR DREAMS SQUEEZE OUT AS TEARS
BITTER DROPS OF SALTY WATER
READY FOR THE PEE PEE LUBRICATION!
I DISROBE AND YOU CAN SEE MY TURKEY-HEADED PEN|S.
I AM NOT SHY, I FLAUNT IT. IT EVEN HAS WINGS!
IF I COULD FLY, I WOULD TRY, BUT I KNOW I’D ONLY SEE
CLOWNS.
freedom • October 12, 2026 5:58 PM
I knew some of the UK residents murdered by Russian spies.
You keep talking about how evil the Russian government is. Or maybe all of Russia?
I can’t help but wonder your opinion on the so called “british” empire?
And are the Russians using Mexico as a proxy to conquer the U.S.? You know, like the west is using ukraine.
And speaking of Mexico, what percentage of Mexico was stolen by the U.S.? What happened to the “territorial integrity” of Mexico? Or Hawaii?
How many countries were invaded by england in the last, say, three hundred years.
Subscribe to comments on this entry
Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.
ResearcherZero • October 9, 2026 4:59 PM
Resource scarcity: The role of the amygdala and cortex in regulating emotional behaviour.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-10/us-to-sanction-icc-after-trump-overlooked-for-peace-prize/107250264