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Submission + - New Rootkit Now Using Stuxnet Bug (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: The TDL4 rootkit, which reared its head last month as the latest evolution of the venerable TDSS malware family, is now using one of the Windows bugs that was first seen in use by Stuxnet.

The latest modification to TDL4 enables the rootkit to use the unpatched Windows Task Scheduler vulnerability on Windows 7 machines to escalate its privileges once it is resident on an infected PC, according to an analysis of the malware by Kaspersky Lab analyst Sergey Golovanov. TDL4 has been active for some time now, but recent samples of the malware have turned up with an exploit for the Task Scheduler bug.
The Internet

Submission + - How WikiLeaks Survived .. and Flourished (renesys.com)

Submitted by Barlaam
Barlaam writes: How has WikiLeaks managed not only to avoid takedown, but diversify its hosting to the point of virtual unstoppability? Renesys takes a look at the DNS mappings, routed IP prefixes, and service providers (and countries) that keep WikiLeaks on the air.

From the article:
"It's apparent that search and social infrastructure (Google and Twitter) now play a key role in re-spawning content that gets blocked in any one place, and drawing even more attention to the surviving copies. If suppressed content automatically goes viral, the Internet's construction basically guarantees that that content will have a home for the rest of time. If you attack DNS support, people will tweet raw IP addresses. If you take down the BGP routes to web content, people will put up more mirrors, or switch to overlay networks to distribute the data. You can't burn down the Library of Alexandria any more— it will respawn in someone's basement in Stockholm, or Denver, or Beijing."

Comment Re:Tom Flanagan, Idiot-I'm-not-laughing-at (Score 1) 579

by ansak (#34432412) Attached to: Moscow Has Eyes On WikiLeaks, Too

Moreover, I suspect a goodly chunk of the Canadian voting public (mostly West of Ontario) don't think what he says is really that outrageous.

I'm an exception then. I'm from west of Banff actually and I think what he said was outrageous. Perhaps it's time to start manufacturing Julian Assange masks, kind of like the "Anonymous" masks at certain kinds of protests -- which incidentally also relate closely to part of Mr. Assange's past at suburbia in Australia -- and "My name is Julian" T-shirts.

And I'm not particularly proud to be a canuck these days on every front, either. Hey, at least we're surviving the current Great Recession in somewhat better health than so many other places.

cheers...ank
Google

Google Caffeine Drops MapReduce, Adds "Colossus" 65

Posted by samzenpus from the time-to-upgrade dept.
An anonymous reader writes "With its new Caffeine search indexing system, Google has moved away from its MapReduce distributed number crunching platform in favor of a setup that mirrors database programming. The index is stored in Google's BigTable distributed database, and Caffeine allows for incremental changes to the database itself. The system also uses an update to the Google File System codenamed 'Colossus.'"

Comment Programmers are not "normal consumers" but... (Score 1) 952

by ansak (#31954026) Attached to: HDTV Has Ruined the LCD Market
... we are a market. I am using, right now, a 20" CRT running at 2048x1536. It draws 1.5A, less than the 2A drawn by the 17" CRTs downstairs, like the other 20" whose picture is deteriorating so that I can see the writing on the wall. I will have to replace these units. I am dreading this day for exactly the reason pointed out by TFA.

I desperately hope that someone at the LCD-display manufacturers will see the light before these two monitors (acquired for US$50 each, used) both need to be replaced. I am a software developer. I want to see the code, as much of it as possible. I want to see it all at once, now. And I want to be able to do this without getting neck strain from swinging my head from side-to-side on a 16:9 screen. This is a market: it's not as wildly profitable, perhaps as the widest possible consumer market, but there is demand for this kind of product as replies to TFA and some comments in this page make clear. Is anyone listening?

4:3 screens of higher resolution may, actually, all be going to other markets. On a recent knowledge-transfer trip to Israel, I saw a lot of quite high resolution 4:3 LCD screens on my colleagues desks. Is that all it is? Does someone know?

cheers...ank

Comment "Jesus" don't bless no beatings... (Score 0) 307

by ansak (#31419366) Attached to: European Parliament Declaring War Against ACTA
I presume we all knew this -- or mostly didn't care about it -- or whatever -- but I thought it worth re-iterating, just in case anyone who didn't know and did care about it was under any confusion on the idea.

... but I say to you, love your enemy, do good to the one who hates you, bless the one who uses you spitefully... I don't see no beatings there not, without re-writing the dictionary or some such jiggery-pokery (Hit me! Hit me! ... ah... that feels much better).

cheers...ank
Image

US Grants Home Schooling German Family Political Asylum Screenshot-sm 1324

Posted by samzenpus from the come-get-you-some-learnin dept.
A US judge has granted political asylum to a family who said they fled Germany to avoid persecution for home schooling their children. Uwe Romeike and his wife, Hannelore, moved to Tennessee after German authorities fined them for keeping their children out of school and sent police to escort them to classes. Mike Connelly, attorney for the Home School Legal Defence Association, argued the case. He says, "Home schoolers in Germany are a particular social group, which is one of the protected grounds under the asylum law. This judge looked at the evidence, he heard their testimony, and he felt that the way Germany is treating home schoolers is wrong. The rights being violated here are basic human rights."
Science

"Doomsday Clock" Moves Away From Midnight 287

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the of-course-now-some-horrible-despot-will-come-to-power dept.
Arvisp writes to tell us that the symbolic "Doomsday Clock," designed to represent how close civilization is to catastrophic destruction, has been moved away from midnight. "First set at seven minutes to midnight, the clock has been moved only 18 times since its creation in 1947. The group, which includes more than a dozen Nobel laureates, last moved the hands of the clock in 2007, from seven to five minutes before midnight to reflect the threat of a 'second nuclear age' and the challenges presented by global warming. Today, at a press conference in New York, the Bulletin announced that despite the looming threats of nuclear weapons and climate change, it would move the hands of the clock from five to six minutes before midnight."
Science

94 New Species Described By CA Academy of Sciences 52

Posted by samzenpus from the what's-in-a-name dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at the California Academy of Sciences traversed four continents and two oceans to uncover 94 new species in 2009, proving that while sometimes in this digital age the world can feel like a small place, much of it has yet to be explored. Among the 94 discoveries were 65 arthropods, 14 plants, 8 fishes, 5 sea slugs, one coral, and one fossil mammal. Why does it matter? As Dr. David Mindell, Dean of Science and Research Collections at the Academy, explained, 'Humans rely on healthy ecosystems, made up of organisms and their environments. Creating a comprehensive inventory of life on our planet is critical for understanding and managing resources. Yet a great many life-forms remain to be discovered and described.'"

Comment Alfred Johnson Sirleaf -- who's his mom? (Score 1) 117

by ansak (#29909031) Attached to: The Monrovian Analog Blogger
Now, I know people change their names out of admiration for or loyalty to someone in Liberia -- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's grandfather did that to her father -- so there's no guarantee that he's any relation of the president of Liberia but I wonder.

I looked around for the names of her four sons -- but couldn't find them. Even wikianswers had a post asking for their names, an as yet unanswered question. There's a certain amount of press-coverage density that's required before real transparency thrives. Liberia isn't there yet. Here's hoping it gets there before another tyrant starts wreaking havoc there.

"the word, "Mercy", is gonna have a new meaning when we are judged by the children of our slaves" ...ank

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