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Submission + - Reuters: Snowden stashed "doomsday" cache as insurance policy against harm (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Dega704
Dega704 writes: US and British intelligence officials are concerned former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden has stored an online "doomsday" cache of extraordinarily sensitive classified information that will be unpacked in the event he is arrested or physically harmed, according to a report published Monday.

The article, headlined Spies worry over "doomsday" cache stashed by ex-NSA contractor Snowden, cited seven current and former US officials, as well as other sources briefed on the matter, who spoke on the condition they not be identified. The report claimed the cache contained documents generated by the NSA and other agencies that include previously unpublished names of US and allied intelligence personnel. One of the sources described the documents as an insurance policy against arrest or harm.

Ars was unable to confirm the claims in the article, and some of the reported details sounded technically implausible, at least as they were described.

Submission + - Why Microsoft's New CEO Needs to Get Mobile Right and Fast (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Need figures show in 2014 tablets will make up 50% of the entire PC market. In 2014 Windows will make up just 5% of that huge tablet market. This, in just two sentences, show just why the new Microsoft CEO needs to make mobile work....and fast

Submission + - Review: Puppet vs. Chef vs. Ansible vs. Salt

Submitted by snydeq
snydeq writes: InfoWorld's Paul Venezia provides an in-depth review of Puppet, Chef, Ansible, and Salt — four leading configuration management and orchestration tools, each of which takes a different path to server automation. 'Puppet, Chef, Ansible, and Salt were all built with that very goal in mind: to make it much easier to configure and maintain dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of servers. That's not to say that smaller shops won't benefit from these tools, as automation and orchestration generally make life easier in an infrastructure of any size. I looked at each of these four tools in depth, explored their design and function, and determined that, while some scored higher than others, there's a place for each to fit in, depending on the goals of the deployment. Here, I summarize my findings.'

Submission + - Here's a fake virus to get you out of work early (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: What better way to get out of work early than to fall victim to a virus that shuts down your PC? Well, being able to do that without actually suffering a virus.

That's the thinking behind the Happy Hour Virus, a simple service that makes your PC look like it has crashed so you can pretend to be really upset about missing out on the last three hours of your Friday afternoon before heading out to happy hour (I think that's where they got the name).

Colorado-based ad agency TDA_Boulder launched the service with a website, HappyHourVirus.com, that offers a pretty impressive menu of PC outages — a kernel panic, a notorious blue screen of death, or the trusty broken monitor, because you can't get your work done if you can't see it on your monitor.

Submission + - Dropbox lowers the wall between personal and business accounts (citeworld.com)

Submitted by mattydread23
mattydread23 writes: Dropbox keeps moving into the enterprise, bit by bit. Today, the company announced an update to Dropbox for Business that will let end-users see personal and business accounts in one place, as well as better auditing for IT managers, remote wipe, and the ability to transfer accounts when a person leaves the company. Chances are, your company's employees are using Dropbox already, so why make them switch? That question is getting harder and harder to answer.

Submission + - Google Earth is helping the UK government spot tax fraud (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the department of the British government tasked with collecting taxes, is zooming in on the property of those under investigation for tax collection to spot unreported expenses, such as home repairs or expensive vehicles. According to the Daily Mail, HMRC estimates that tax evasion costs the UK government more than $14 million per year.

This isn't the first time Google Earth has been used for this purpose, and it can be fruitful in uncovering tax fraud. In 2010, not long after suffering an economic collapse, the Greek government used Google Earth to find unreported property. It was particularly useful for identifying swimming pools that Greeks declined to report for taxes, discovering more than 16,000 that hadn't been on the books previously

Submission + - MacRumors Hacker Says Passwords Won't be Leaked (threatpost.com)

Submitted by msm1267
msm1267 writes: The hacker behind the MacRumors Forums breach said the attack was “friendly” and that none of the data accessed will be leaked. Editorial Director Arnold Kim confirmed to Threatpost that a post on the forums from the hacker is legitimate.

Kim posted an advisory on the forum on Monday informing users that a breach had occurred, and advising the site’s 860,000-plus members to change their passwords on the forum and anywhere else they might have used the same credential.

The hacker, who posted the portion of Kim’s password hash and salt as proof of his legitimacy, blamed a MacRumors Forums moderator whose credentials were stolen and used to access the password database.

“We’re not going to ‘leak’ anything. There’s no reason for us to. There’s no fun in that. Don’t believe us if you don’t want to, we honestly could not care less,” the hacker wrote. Kim said this afternoon that the site has no further details on the status of the investigation.

Submission + - Android KitKat could be a strong deterrent to cybercrime and spying (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: Two security features in Android 4.4 KitKat are particularly notable because they are Linux kernel developments. Security-enhanced Linux (SELinux) policies are fully enabled in KitKat, and dm-verity was added. Both features improve the integrity and trust of the Android operating system.

This builds on Google's earlier work to tighten Android’s defenses against attackers, such as full-disk encryption (dm-crypt) added to Android 3.x and Address Space Layout Randomization (ADLR) and Data Execution Protection (DEP) in Android 4.1.

SELinux policies that were first tested in Jelly Bean are fully enabled in KitKat. A policy limits a program’s use of files, privileges, resources and interaction with other apps and libraries. Consider, for example, an exploit that inserts malicious code into one of Android’s system functions that is designed to misappropriate user data and send it via the internet to the perpetrator. If the system function’s use of the internet is not configured as an SELinux policy, the exploit might run, but it will fail without internet access.

Submission + - How helium will yield higher-capacity hard drives (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: Western Digital has been at the forefront of high-capacity drives, and it came up with an interesting solution: helium. The company on Monday introduced a 6TB drive called the Ultrastar He6 that packs seven platters into the space usually filled by five. The helium inside the drives keeps them from overheating and minimizes the friction of the heads as they move over the platters. The helium means less drag by the platters, so the motors don't have to burn as much energy spinning them.

The new drive runs quieter and consumes 23% less power when idle. It has to be hermetically sealed to keep the helium in, something the company said was a major challenge. It will be interesting to see how customers use the drive, since there are very few drives on the market that are hermetically sealed. This means a lot of scalability over the old max of 4TB in a 3.5-inch form factor. After all, you are talking about a 50% improvement in capacity in the same space with less power drawn. So you can take up less space, or more likely deploy more storage.

Submission + - Brazil Admits To Spying On US diplomats After Blasting NSA Surveillance (theverge.com) 3

Submitted by cold fjord
cold fjord writes: The Verge reports, "Brazil this week admitted to spying on diplomats from countries including the US, Russia, and Iran as part of a domestic program launched 10 years ago ... The program was first revealed in a Monday report from the newspaper Folha de São Paulo, which obtained documents from the Brazilian Intelligence Agency, commonly known as ABIN. The revelations come at a sensitive time for current Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, who has been among the most outspoken critics of the widespread surveillance conducted by the US National Security Agency (NSA). According to Folha, Brazilian intelligence spied on rooms rented out by the US embassy in Brasilia from 2003 to 2004. ... The report also claims that ABIN targeted Russian and Iranian officials, tracking their movements within the country ... Rousseff's office acknowledged Monday that the spying took place, but stressed that the operations were carried out within the law. The administration added that publishing classified documents is a crime in Brazil, and that those responsible "will be prosecuted according to the law." ....the revelations may put Rousseff in an awkward position. The Brazilian president cancelled a state dinner with Barack Obama earlier this year ... and lashed out against US spying in an impassioned speech to the UN in September."

Submission + - Google Relying on People Power for 'Helpouts' (slashdot.org)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: While Google built its highly profitable search business atop a complex mix of algorithms and machine learning, its latest initiative actually depends on people power: Helpouts, which allows users (for a fee) to video-chat with experts in particular fields. Google has rolled out the service with a few brands in place, such as One Medical and Weight Watchers, and promises that it will expand its portfolio of helpful brands and individuals over the next several months. Existing categories include Cooking, Art & Music, Computers & Electronics, Education & Careers, Fashion & Beauty, Fitness & Nutrition, Health, and Home & Garden. Some Helpouts charge nothing for their time; for example, the “Cooking” section of the Website already features a handful of chefs willing to talk users through baking, broiling, slicing and dicing for free. A few vendors in the Computers & Electronics section, by contrast, charge $2 per minute or even $200 per Hangout session for advice on WordPress setup, Website design, and more. So why is Google doing this? There are plenty of Websites that already dispense advice, although most rely on the written word—Quora, for example, lets its users pose text-based questions and receive answers. There’s also rising interest in Massive Open Online Courses, also known as MOOCs, in which thousands of people can sign online to learn about something new. In theory, Helpouts (if it’s built out enough) could make Google a player in those markets, as well as specialized verticals such as language learning—and earn some healthy revenue in the process. And just as long as some enterprising doctor doesn’t try to conduct a Helpout in organ removal, this latest Google initiative should remain controversy-free.

Submission + - Microsoft Kinect turns sign language into spoken language in real time (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: The latest bit of genius comes from the folks at Microsoft Research, who created the Kinect Sign Language Translator to translate sign language into spoken language and vice versa in real time.

Kinect captures the gestures while machine learning and pattern recognition programming help interpret the meaning. The translation is bidirectional, so a deaf person can converse in sign language with a person who does not read sign but speaks vocally. Although right now the technology only works in Chinese, there are plans to start branching out into different languages.

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