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Submission + - U.S. gets 233,000 H-1B petitions, a new record (computerworld.com)

Submitted by dcblogs
dcblogs writes: The U.S. received 233,000 H-1B petitions this year, believed to the highest number ever, and almost three times the number of available visas. Based on these numbers, only about 36% of the visa petitions will be approved.

Submission + - Linux Getting Extensive x86 Assembly Code Refresh 1

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: A massive x86 assembly code spring cleaning has been done in a pull request that is to end up in Linux 4.1. The developers have tried testing the code on many different x86 boxes, but there's risk of regression when exposing the code to many more systems in the days and weeks ahead. That being said, the list of improvements is excellent. There are over 100 separate cleanups, restructuring changes, speedups and fixes in the x86 system call, IRQ, trap and other entry code, part of a heroic effort to deobfuscate a decade old spaghetti assembly code and its C code dependencies.

Submission + - Windows exploit that Microsoft ignored in 1997 is back in new attack (thestack.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In 1997 Aaron Spangler discovered that a URL which began with the word 'file' (such as file://1.1.1.1/) could be used to prompt Windows OS to authenticate via SMB on a malicious authentication server, disclosing critical details such as hashed passwords, domains and user IDs. Microsoft never addressed the problem. Now researchers reveal [http://blog.cylance.com/redirect-to-smb] that hackers can build on the original vulnerability to steal personal data, herd victim computers into botnets or completely take over a computer. The newly-dubbed 'Redirect to SMB' exploit works on a variety of applications, including popular anti-malware and general security suites, programs from Apple, Adobe and Microsoft — and works perfectly in the Windows 10 preview.

Submission + - Trials using man-made DNA begin in battle against cancer, ebola, flu and HIV (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Pioneering new treatments for flu, Ebola and cancer are being developed by scientists using man-made DNA.

Experts have worked out how to create strands of artificial DNA, each mimicking a different killer disease, and inject them into patients.

The idea is that the patients' immune systems will then be able to recognize the threats and eliminate them.

Submission + - The brightest galaxy beyond our local group is really unusual

Submitted by StartsWithABang
StartsWithABang writes: Of course the closest galaxies to us are going to be the brightest, with Andromeda, the Magellanic Clouds and the Triangulum Galaxy all visible to the naked eye. But beyond our local group? The next brightest galaxy is an oddity: 29 million light-years away, half the diameter of our Milky Way, and containing properties of both spiral and elliptical galaxies. In unparalleled views, come take a look at the sombrero galaxy, and learn what makes it so phenomenal.

Submission + - New York State Spent Millions on Program for Startups That Created... 76 Jobs (dice.com)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: Last year, the New York state government launched Start-Up NY, a program designed to boost employment by creating tax-free zones for technology and manufacturing firms that partner with academic institutions. Things didn't go quite as planned. In theory, those tax-free zones on university campuses would give companies access to the best young talent and cutting-edge research, but only a few firms are actually taking the bait: According to a report from the state’s Department of Economic Development, the program only created 76 jobs last year, despite spending millions of dollars on advertising and other costs. If that wasn’t eyebrow-raising enough, the companies involved in the program have only invested a collective $1.7 million so far. The low numbers didn’t stop some state officials from defending the initiative. “Given the program was only up and running for basically one quarter of a year,” Andrew Kennedy, a senior economic development aide to Governor Cuomo, told Capital New York, “I think 80 jobs is a good number that we can stand behind.”

Submission + - Transforming robot gets stuck in Fukushima nuclear reactor

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The ability to change shape hasn’t saved a robot probe from getting stuck inside a crippled Japanese nuclear reactor. Tokyo Electric Power will likely leave the probe inside the reactor housing at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex north of Tokyo after it stopped moving. On Friday, the utility sent a robot for the first time into the primary containment vessel (PCV) of reactor No. 1 at the plant, which was heavily damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northern Japan. 'The robot got stuck at a point two-thirds of its way inside the PCV and we are investigating the cause,' a Tokyo Electric spokesman said via email. The machine became stuck on Friday after traveling to 14 of 18 planned checkpoints.

Submission + - Coordinated Takedown Puts End to Simda Botnet (threatpost.com)

Submitted by msm1267
msm1267 writes: The Simda botnet, known for spreading banking malware and dropping a backdoor on hundreds of thousands of machines worldwide, was taken down last Thursday in a collaborative effort between international law enforcement bodies and private security and technology companies.

Thirteen command and control servers in four countries were seized, putting an end to a malware family that has infected more than 90,000 computers since January of this year alone.

Simda distributed several types of malware including financial Trojans and illicit software, and has been active since the end of 2012. The keepers of Simda make frequent functionality updates and constantly enhance its capabilities to evade detection by researchers and security software, making it an attractive option for cybercriminals, who buy only access to Simda-infected machines and then install additional malicious code on the machines.

The takedown was coordinated by the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation in Singapore, the Cyber Defense Institute, the FBI, the Dutch National High Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU), Microsoft, Kaspersky Lab and Trend Micro. Not only were officials able to seize command and control servers and domains, but were also able to sinkhole Simda traffic. That traffic shows a diverse set of victims in more than 40 countries, officials said.

Submission + - Linking The War on Terror to the War on Drugs

Submitted by Nicola Hahn
Nicola Hahn writes: As news of the DEA’s clandestine phone record collection program emerges into public view an article published by The Atlantic highlights the links and recurring themes between the so called long war (the global war on terror) and the global war on drugs:

“Both are brutally expensive and arguably un-winnable. And in both cases, use of the word ‘war’ is a deliberate and calculated language choice. Americans are taught that a war is something an entire nation must fight, and something that requires sacrifice for the greater good. Considered in the context of government surveillance, both ‘wars’ are euphemisms for a specific kind of government rationalization.”

Indeed it’s not surprising that the word “cyberwar” has likewise been conspicuously wielded by officials in a deliberate effort to both enhance government control and channel hundreds of billions of dollars to the patronage networks of the defense industry.

Submission + - Watch DARPA Artificial Intelligence Search For Crime On The 'Dark Web' (forbes.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Memex technology, named after an mechanical mnemonic dreamt up just as the Second World War was coming to a close, has already been put to use by a number of law enforcement agencies, who are looking to counter crime taking place on networks like Tor, where Hidden Services are protected by the privacy-enhancing, encrypted hosting, often for good, often for bad. In its first year, the focus at Memex has been on tracking human trafficking, but the project’s scope stretches considerably wider.

Submission + - Universities Pushing Back Against Patent Reform Bill (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: The Innovation Act is a bill winding its way through the U.S. Congress that aims to reign in abuses by patent trolls. But the Association of American Universities and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities are opposing the legislation, insisting that it be rewritten so that it's "narrowly tailored to address the abuses of this small minority of patent holders without substantially weakening the U.S. patent system as a whole."

Submission + - America's methane mystery: NASA set to investigate hotspot over the 4 corners (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: A 'hot spot' of the largest concentration of methane seen over the United States is in the area near the Four Corners intersection of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah and covers 2,500 square miles. The hotspot predates widespread fracking in the area.

Researchers from several institutions are now in the Four Corners region of the U.S. Southwest with a suite of airborne and ground-based instruments, aiming to uncover reasons for a mysterious methane 'hot spot' detected from space.

'With all the ground-based and airborne resources that the different groups are bringing to the region, we have the unique chance to unequivocally solve the Four Corners mystery,' said Christian Frankenberg, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, who is heading NASA's part of the effort.

Submission + - DARPA wants software that adapts, lasts over 100 years (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: The program, called Building Resource Adaptive Software Systems, or BRASS is expected to lead to significant improvements in software resilience, reliability and maintainability by developing the computational and algorithmic requirements necessary for software systems and data to remain robust in excess of 100 years.

Submission + - Microsoft creates a Docker-like container for Windows (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by angry tapir
angry tapir writes: Hoping to build on the success of Docker-based Linux containers, Microsoft has developed a container technology to run on its Windows Server operating system. The Windows Server Container can be used to package an application so it can be easily moved across different servers. It uses a similar approach to Docker's, in that all the containers running on a single server all share the same operating system kernel, making them smaller and more responsive than standard virtual machines.

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