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Submission + - IBM Shrinks Bit Size to 12 Atoms (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: IBM researchers say they've been able to shrink the number of iron atoms it takes to store a bit of data from about one million to 12, which could pave the way for storage devices with capacities that are orders of magnitude greater than today's devices. Andreas Heinrich, who lead the IBM Research team on the project for five years, said the team used the tip of scanning tunneling microscope and unconventional antiferromagnetism to change the bits from zeros to ones. By combining 96 of the atoms, the researchers were able to create bytes — spelling out the word THINK. That solved a theoretical problem of how few atoms it could take to store a bit; now comes the engineering challenge: how to make a mass storage device perform the same feat as scanning tunneling microscope.
Microsoft

Submission + - Ray Ozzie re-emerges with startup Cocomo (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: Lotus Notes creator and former Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie is coming back with a startup named Cocomo that seems to be focused on mobile communication. After waiting out his non-compete agreement with Microsoft that expired at the end of 2011, Ozzie opened a Twitter account (@rozzie) this week and started hinting about his next venture.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft patch blows 'perfect game' but sends imp (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
colinneagle
colinneagle writes: "Although it must have been a painful moral blow to Microsoft's security team, issuing the company's first and only out-of-band security patch of 2011 late last week may actually bring some optimism for the entire Microsoft IT community heading into the new year.

In case you missed it while traveling back and forth between holiday parties, Microsoft administered an unscheduled patch on Dec. 29, a critical patch dubbed MS11-100, to address a vulnerability in the .Net framework that researchers Alexander Klink and Julian Walde publicly exposed on Dec. 28. Issued with just two days left in 2011, the patch was the first of the year not to come as part of Microsoft's infamous Patch Tuesdays. Even worse, MS11-100 was the company's 100th on the year, pushing its total out of the sentimentally valuable double digits.

Klink, who works for German security consultancy n.runs, and Walde, who attends Darmstadt Technical University, put the impetus on Microsoft by shining a light on a vulnerability affecting web apps based on .Net. The two researchers explained that the hash tables on many .Net web app frameworks do not feature a randomized hash function and don't recognize attacks that use multi-collisions. This allowed hackers to target .Net-based web apps with denial-of-service attacks quite easily, flooding them with data with just a single HTTP request.

Having been called out, Microsoft responded and issued the patch just one day later.

So that's how, with two outs in the ninth inning Microsoft gave up its first hit. But it doesn't answer one important question: Why not wait to address it?"
Security

Submission + - Security guru calls Windows 8 picture password "Fi (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: The Windows 8 feature that logs users in if they touch certain points in a photo in the right order might be fun, but it's not very good security, according to the inventor of RSA's SecurID token. "It's cute," says Kenneth Weiss, who now runs a three-factor authentication business called Universal Secure Registry. "I don't think it's serious security." The major downside of the picture password is that drawing a finger across a photo on a touch screen is easy to video record from a distance — making it relatively easy to compromise, he says.
Science

Submission + - NASA create cannon harpoon to collect comet sample (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: NASA's solution to collecting subsurface samples from a comet is not to even attempt to have a craft come into contact with it. Instead, they intend to develop a surgically precise harpoon system that can be fired into the comet rock multiple times without undue risk for the spacecraft tasked with transporting those samples back to Earth.
Entertainment

Submission + - Best & worst celebrity technology moments of 2 (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: You might think Charlie Sheen is the most dangerous celebrity around, but no, McAfee says it’s actually a supermodel turned TV show star (based on the amount of malware that pops up when you search her name). But plenty of other celebrities also proved to be dangerous when technology was put at their disposal. Others, meanwhile, integrated technology with their creative sides to deliver new products and funny bits. Here’s a look back at the Best & Worst from 2011
Technology

Submission + - Dropbox was data thief heaven, researchers saysay (networkworld.com)

Submitted by tdog17
tdog17 writes: Files entrusted to cloud-storage provider Dropbox were susceptible to unauthorized access via three attacks devised by security researchers, but the provider has since closed the vulnerabilities.

Dropbox could also be used as a place to store documents clandestinely and retrieve them from any Dropbox account controlled by an attacker.
Security

Submission + - A hack that could make your water undrinkable (networkworld.com)

Submitted by tdog17
tdog17 writes: A demo at Black Hat next week will remotely hack a car alarm, unlock the doors and start the vehicle, but that's just a parlor trick to call attention to a bigger problem that has the Department of Homeland Security on alert. The same techniques could take down critical infrastructure like power grids and water supplies.

Submission + - Black Hat Pwnie winner will be a criminal (networkworld.com)

Submitted by tdog17
tdog17 writes: Law enforcement may be interested to see if anyone actually shows up this year to accept the annual Pwnie Award for Epic Ownage at Black Hat, since all the nominees face possible criminal charges.
Supercomputing

Submission + - Coming: Supercopputing as a service (networkworld.com)

Submitted by tdog17
tdog17 writes: Researchers at Rutgers have developed a platform to deliver supercomputing as a service, adding and dropping resources on the fly as needed. They say such a service will be available commercially as soon as this fall.
Security

Submission + - Expect trouble from LulzSec hack grads (networkworld.com)

Submitted by tdog17
tdog17 writes: The hacker school set up by LulzSec will graduate its first class soon, and that will mean a discernible uptick in cyber crime activity, according to a security expert who ran afoul of the group.

Submission + - Perpetual attacks on Northrup Grumman (networkworld.com)

Submitted by tdog17
tdog17 writes: For years, about a dozen separate legions of organized hackers have been constantly trying to break into aerospace and defense company Northrop Grumman to steal sensitive information

Submission + - Pentagon sharing cyber secrets (networkworld.com)

Submitted by tdog17
tdog17 writes: Defense contractors sit on so many military secrets that the Department of Defense just started sharing its cyber-threat info with them in an effort to prevent leaks.

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