Electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) are usually associated with warfare. The idea is to use a blast of energy to fry the enemy’s computers and telecommunications gear. One common way proposed to do this is with an atomic bomb. In a less extreme fashion, however, EMPs have peaceful uses. They are already employed industrially to shape soft and light metals, such as aluminium and copper. Now a group of researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology in Chemnitz, Germany, has found a way to use an EMP device to shape and punch holes through industry’s metallic heavyweight–steel. This could transform manufacturing by doing away with the need to use large, heavy presses to make goods ranging from cars to washing machines
Updated Hackers who breached the defences of Google, Adobe Systems and at least 32 other companies used a potent vulnerability in all versions of Internet Explorer to carry out at least some of the attacks, researchers from McAfee said Thursday. The previously unknown flaw in the IE browser was probably just one of the vectors used in the attacks, McAfee CTO George Kurtz wrote in a blog post. Using a sophisticated spear-phishing campaign, the perpetrators included malicious links exploiting the bug in emails and instant messages sent to employees from at least three of the targeted companies. Contrary to previous speculation, there was no evidence vulnerabilities in Adobe’s Reader or Acrobat applications were used in any of the attacks, Kurtz said. In its own statement, Adobe concurred, saying researchers have not been able to obtain any evidence to indicate that Adobe Reader or other Adobe technologies were used as the attack vector in this incident
. Kurtz said his findings were based on malware samples taken from three to five
of the targeted companies and he stressed that other zero days or exploits could have been used against other victims
The dangerous Internet Explorer attack code used in last month’s attack on Google’s corporate networks is now public. The code was submitted for analysis Thursday on the Wepawet malware analysis Web site, making it publicly available. By Friday, it had been included in at least one publicly available hacking tool and could be seen in online attacks, according to Dave Marcus, director of security research and communications at McAfee. The attack is very reliable on Internet Explorer 6 running on Windows XP, and it could possibly be modified to work on more recent versions of the browser, Marcus said. The game really changes now that it’s hosted publicly,
he said
John Hunter wants to shoot stuff into space with a 1,000-metre gun. And he’s dead serious — he’s done the math. Making deliveries to an orbital outpost on a rocket costs $5,000 per pound, but using a space gun would cost just $250 per pound. Building colossal guns has been Hunter’s pet project since 1992, when, while a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, he first fired a 130-metre gun he built to test-launch hypersonic engines. Its methane-driven piston compressed hydrogen gas, which then expanded up the barrel to shoot a projectile. Mechanical firing can fail, however, so when Hunter’s company, Quicklaunch, released its plans last fall, it swapped the piston for a combustor that burns natural gas. Heat the hydrogen in a confined space and it should build up enough pressure to send a half-ton payload into the sky at 21,000 kph
VeriSign’s iDefense security lab has published a report with technical details about the recent cyberattack that hit Google and over 30 other companies. The iDefense researchers traced the attack back to its origin and also identified the command-and-control servers that were used to manage the malware. The cyber-assault came to light on Tuesday when Google disclosed to the public that the Gmail Web service was targeted in a highly-organized attack in late December. Google said that the intrusion attempt originated from China and was executed with the goal of obtaining information about political dissidents, but the company declined to speculate about the identity of the perpetrator. Citing sources in the defense contracting and intelligence consulting community, the iDefense report unambiguously declares that the Chinese government was, in fact, behind the effort
As mobile phones get more sophisticated, hi-tech criminals are dusting off some old tricks. Security companies have noticed a rise in trojans known as diallers that used to be popular during the days of dial-up net access. On a smartphone the diallers are being used to call premium rate lines leaving victims with a big bill. Experts say the diallers are proving popular as a quick way for criminals to cash in
Although Gmail has long supported HTTPS as an option, Gmail announced their decision yesterday to switch everyone to HTTPS by default: We initially left the choice of using it up to you because there’s a downside: https can make your mail slower since encrypted data doesn’t travel across the web as quickly as unencrypted data. Over the last few months, we’ve been researching the security/latency tradeoff and decided that turning https on for everyone was the right thing to do
— via Slashdot
LG Display has developed a flexible electronic-paper screen that’s almost as large as a tabloid newspaper. The screen measures 25 centimeters by 40 centimeters, which translates into a 19-inch diagonal screen size, and is 0.3 millimeters thin so it can bend. LG Display managed to make it flexible by utilizing a metal foil instead of the more traditional glass substrate. The South Korean company said the screen is the largest flexible e-paper display yet produced
Internet giant Google has said it may end its operations in China following a sophisticated and targeted
cyber attack originating from the country. It did not accuse Beijing directly, but said it was no longer willing to censor its Chinese search engine — google.cn. This could result in closing the site, and its Chinese offices, Google said
Google is opening up its Docs hosted office productivity suite so that users can store any type of file in it, giving the popular software-as-a-service product an important online storage component. The functionality will be rolled out over the coming weeks to all Docs users, both the ones who use the stand-alone suite as well as those who use it as part of the broader communication and collaboration Apps suite for organisations. Now, Docs users will be able to store all their important files in a single place online, where they can access them from anywhere and share them with other people, according to Google
Most consumers are aware that they’re entitled to have goods replaced if they prove faulty early in their life after purchase, but just how long does that period last? In the case of Vodafone and mobile phones, the answer now turns out to be more than two weeks
thanks to an ACCC court ruling that should help everyone who owns a mobile phone. The ACCC has sought and received court enforceable undertakings from Vodafone that it will not automatically tell consumers that they are entitled only to a repair on faulty phones any time two weeks after purchase, a policy apparently adopted by some 3 stores prior to its merger with Vodafone and one which violates the Trade Practices Act. The decision is interesting even if you’re not a Vodafone customer, as it essentially defines reasonable periods for demanding a replacement phone (as opposed to a repair) when things go wrong
Researchers have demonstrated a simple, cheap way to create self-assembling electronic devices using a property crucial to salad dressings. It uses the fact that oil- and water-based liquids do not mix, forming devices from components that align along the boundary between the two. The idea joins a raft of approaches toward self-assembly, but lends itself particularly well to small components. Crucially, it could allow the large-scale assembly of high-quality electronic components on materials of just about any type, in contrast to “inkjet printed” electronics or some previous self-assembly techniques
A promising push toward a novel, biologically-inspired chemical computer
has begun as part of an international collaboration. The wet computer
incorporates several recently discovered properties of chemical systems that can be hijacked to engineer computing power. The team’s approach mimics some of the actions of neurons in the brain. The 1.8m-euro project will run for three years, funded by an EU emerging technologies programme
Privacy is no longer a social norm, according to the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg commenting on the rise of social networking
Macquarie University has revealed plans to ditch its inferior
Novell GroupWise staff email platform and replace it with Google’s Gmail offering, following an earlier successful roll-out among students
The December malware threat reports are trickling in from vendors — and they all appear to be different. Fortinet, Sunbelt Software, and Kaspersky all published their lists of the most prevalent malware strains for the last month of 2009, but they didn’t match up, leading to an admission that users will inevitably be confused by the results. For example, in its malware report for last month, Fortinet said that W32/PackBredolab.C!tr topped the charts of malware variants detected in December, accounting for two-thirds of malware activity in December. It was a new entry to the malware table, the company said. Kaspersky highlighted three versions of the Kido worm, known more popularly as Conficker, in the top three slots of its own malware threat report for December. Sunbelt listed Trojan.Win32.Generic!BT in the top malware slot as part of its own report, with almost 20% of the activity for December. A quick scan of the other top 10 malware entries for each company reveals few if any matches
Google executive Andy Rubin said on Friday that the next version of the Nexus One phone, which was made by handset manufacturer HTC, will be for enterprise users and might have a physical keyboard. Such a device could potentially pose a competitive threat to BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, which has a strong position in the enterprise mobile phone market
The Roads and Traffic Authority has begun using facial recognition technology designed to catch out licence cheats, the NSW government says. Anyone applying for a driver’s licence or photo card will now have their photo matched against the entire RTA photo database, Assistant Transport Minister David Borger says. The system is designed to prevent people who have had their licence taken away from applying for a second one
Every day, 7,000 times a day, Stanford Hospital staff turn to pneumatic tubes, cutting-edge technology in the 19th century, for a transport network that the Internet and all the latest Silicon Valley wizardry can’t match: A tubular system to transport a lab sample across the medical center in the blink of an eye. In four miles of tubing laced behind walls from basement to rooftop, the pneumatic tube system shuttles foot-long containers carrying everything from blood to medication. In a hospital the size of Stanford, where a quarter-mile’s distance might separate a tissue specimen from its destination lab, making good time means better medicine
Commonwealth Bank of Australia said that it intended to extend its network of contactless payment terminals by 15,000 before the end of the year. The bank said last year that it would implement 2000 readers by the end of the year, but just missed its target, only reaching 1900. The bank had not then known exactly how many terminals it intended on rolling out this year. The bank has around 160,000 terminals in total, meaning that only around 10 per cent would be equipped with the new technology, allowing holders of cards with relevant technology to pay bills quickly by card. Instead of swiping a card and then entering a PIN or providing a signature, those customers just tap their cards on the reader for purchases under $100
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