Archive for 2012/05/22

The NCSA Blue Waters petascale supercomputer is getting massive amounts of Spectra Logic tape library storage

Posted: 2012/05/22 in Education / Awareness, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

It will start with four 17-frame Spectra T-Finity tape libraries for near-line data archive needs in the first year. Two more will be installed the following year. This means a raw capacity of 328PB and read/write performance of up to 2.2PB/hour with IBM TS1140 tape drives, the LTO format having lucked out.

The data stored will have been or will be processed by applications such as:

  • predicting the behaviour of hurricanes and tornadoes
  • analysing complex biological systems
  • understanding how the cosmos evolved after the Big Bang
  • designing new materials at the atomic level
  • simulating complex engineered systems like the power distribution system in airplanes and automobiles.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/22/blue_waters_spectra_logic/

4 Years In Prison For Armenian Bredolab Botnet Operator

Posted: 2012/05/22 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Jurisprudence, Network Security, Stats / reports

In October last year the Dutch Team High Tech Crime pulled the plug on the Bredolab infrastructure which was hosted at Dutch hosting provider Leaseweb. Malware distribution, coordinated from that location, managed to infect millions of PCs worldwide.

The operator of the botnet, Georgy A. had leased 143 servers at a price of 20,000 EUR per month. He also allowed other criminals to make use of his infrastructure.

Georgy A. could be located via the Facebook account of his girlfriend. An Armenian Court has found Georgy A. guilty of computer sabotage as he also used the botnet network for Denial of Service attacks as well as spam rounds involving the distribution of billions of spam messages.

Dutch language news article:
http://www.security.nl/artikel/41590/1/Beheerder_Bredolab-botnet_krijgt_4_jaar_cel.html

Previously:
http://vrritti.com/?s=bredolab&submit=Search

An investigation by the Congress has exposed counterfeit electronic parts being used by major aircraft corporations Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky

Posted: 2012/05/22 in Education / Awareness, Stats / reports

http://www.rt.com/news/us-air-force-counterfeit-electronics-879/

12 children rescued in international abuse probe. 55 pedophiles arrested

Posted: 2012/05/22 in Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Stats / reports

The department said that in October 2010 its censorship compliance unit found significant amounts of child sexual abuse and exploitation pictures being exchanged via social network sites, including Facebook, Socialgo, and grou.ps.

It provided evidence of the illegal activities to 20 countries and worked with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations directorate, and Interpol.

“Our investigators and ICE identified a large number of groups on Facebook engaging in the display or distribution of objectionable child sexual material.”

The 20 countries with identified targets are Australia, Bosnia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, England, Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, The Netherlands, Tunisia, Turkey, United States and Venezuela.

Much more:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/6966816/Children-rescued-in-international-abuse-probe

The data on Kim Dotcom’s personal computer is encrypted, and he will only hand over passwords if he can also access the data (MegaUpload)

Posted: 2012/05/22 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Litigation, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reports

Try “w0rldd0m1n4t10n”

And so it winds on further: in the latest installment to the Aotearoan legal battle, Kim Dotcom’s lawyer that he will only hand over his passwords as part of a “proper judicial process”.

Dotcom, head of Megaupload and accused by the FBI of racketeering and copyright infringement, is resisting extradition to the USA and seeking the return of computers and other property seized when his rented mansion in New Zealand was raided by the Feds and New Zealand police.

More:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/22/dotcom_password_court_fight/

Why Google Won’t Protect You From Big Brother (video)

Posted: 2012/05/22 in Education / Awareness, Google, Privacy / Data Protection

TiVo streaming coming to iOS this summer

Posted: 2012/05/22 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Tech Evolution

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/apple/tivo-streaming-coming-to-ios-this-summer/12986

Anonymous has apparently hacked the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics and posted 1.7GB of data belonging to the agency on The Pirate Bay

Posted: 2012/05/22 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness

The hacktivist group Anonymous claims to have leaked 1.7GB of data belonging to the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). The file, which has been uploaded as a torrent and posted on The Pirate Bay, reportedly contains internal e-mails as well as the website’s “entire database dump.”

More:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/anonymous-hacks-bureau-of-justice-leaks-17gb-of-data/12260

MPAA’s Chris Dodd About Piracy: “We’re going to have to be more subtle and consumer-oriented. We’re on the wrong track if we describe this as thievery”

Posted: 2012/05/22 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Legislation, New Business Models, Stats / reports

“We’re in a transformative period with an explosion of technology that’s going to need content,” he said.

But Internet companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter campaigned effectively against the legislation, mobilizing users on grounds that the new rules would impede the free flow of information on the Internet.

“Google chose wisely by making Hollywood the enemy,” Dodd said ruefully.

He said Saturday that the industry will need to take a far more nuanced approach to promoting future antipiracy legislation.

More:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118054314

See also:

MPAA Head Thinks Piracy Shouldn’t Be Called “Theft”
http://gizmodo.com/5912057/mpaa-head-thinks-piracy-shouldnt-be-called-theft

DNA privacy is a fine example of law-making failing to keep up with technology

Posted: 2012/05/22 in Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Legislation, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

An explosion in biological understanding and medical engineering makes it extremely easy to obtain genetic profiles, and old codgers in the law haven’t paid attention.

http://gizmodo.com/5911992/how-private-is-your-dna

Multimillionaire Software Exec Arrested in LEGO-Thieving Bar-Code Scam

Posted: 2012/05/22 in Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Stats / reports

Ah, power. You give a person too much and they will abuse it. Such is the case with Thomas Langenbach, a 47-year-old VP at Palo Alto-based software company SAP Labs, who has been arrested for the nerdiest crime in recent memory. His abuse of power: computer skill-based.

It is reported that Langenbach had been using his computer savvy to reproduce bar code stickers, the kind Target uses to price their items, which he placed over the original bar codes so he could purchase LEGOs at a lower cost.

The multimillionaire software exec sold the LEGO sets on eBay, under the username TomsBrickYard. (For whatever it’s worth, he is a top-rated seller with excellent feedback.) His seller page shows 1,475 completed sales in all, with the most recent feedback left today and the earliest dating back to May 1, 2011.

More:
http://gizmodo.com/5912141/multimillionaire-software-exec-arrested-in-lego+thieving-bar+code-scam

How Amazon is changing the rules for books and movies

Posted: 2012/05/22 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Stats / reports

The online retail giant is tapping its huge customer base and vast technical underpinnings to reshape the way books, movies, and television programs are made.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57438541-93/how-amazon-is-changing-the-rules-for-books-and-movies/

Business world gets a new way to monitor employee text messages

Posted: 2012/05/22 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reports

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/05/business-world-gets-a-new-way-to-monitor-employee-text-messages/

The Supreme Court won’t reduce the US$675,000 verdict against a Boston University student who illegally downloaded 30 songs and shared them on the Internet

Posted: 2012/05/22 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Jurisprudence, Litigation, Stats / reports

The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Joel Tenenbaum, of Providence, R.I., who was successfully sued by the Recording Industry Association of America for illegally sharing music on peer-to-peer networks. In 2009, a jury ordered Tenenbaum to pay $675,000, or $22,500 for each song he illegally downloaded and shared.

A federal judge called that unconstitutionally excessive, but the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the penalty at the request of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Brothers Records Inc. and other record labels represented by the RIAA.

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120521/verdict-firm-for-student-who-downloaded-music-120521/20120521/?hub=CalgaryHome