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+ - Attackers Install DDoS Bots On Amazon Cloud->

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett (1594911) writes "Attackers are exploiting a vulnerability in distributed search engine software Elasticsearch to install DDoS malware on Amazon and possibly other cloud servers. Last week security researchers from Kaspersky Lab found new variants of Mayday, a Trojan program for Linux that's used to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. The malware supports several DDoS techniques, including DNS amplification. One of the new Mayday variants was found running on compromised Amazon EC2 server instances, but this is not the only platform being misused, said Kaspersky Lab researcher Kurt Baumgartner Friday in a blog post."
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+ - Google's mapping service under scanner in India->

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec (2231454) writes "The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India has ordered for a preliminary enquiry (PE) against Google for violating Indian laws by mapping sensitive areas and defence installations in the country. As per the PE, registered on the basis of a complaint made by Surveyor General of India’s office to the Union Home Ministry, Google has been accused of organizing a mapping competition dubbed ‘Mapathon’ in February-March 2013 without taking prior permission from Survey of India, country’s official mapping agency. The mapping competition required citizens to map their neighbourhoods, especially details related to hospitals and restaurants. The Survey of India (SoI), alarmed by the event, asked the company to share its event details. While going through the details the watch dog found that there were several coordinates having details of sensitive defence installations which are out of the public domain."
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+ - Fove Head Mounted Display Expands Possibilities With Eye-Tracking Technology->

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula (1870348) writes "Back in 2011, Google filed a patent for an unlock system for Google Glass that would use eye-tracking technology. Tokyo-based startup Fove believes the combination of a head mounted display (HMD) and eye-tracking technology has far wider applications and is working on just such a device aimed at the consumer market. Microsoft apparently agrees, having accepted the company into its Ventures Accelerator in London earlier this month."
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+ - Oracle Offers Custom Intel Chips And Unanticipated Costs->

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh (300774) writes "For some time, Intel has been offering custom-tweaked chips to big customers. While most of the companies that have taken them up on this offer, like Facebook and eBay, put the chips into servers meant for internal use, Oracle will now be selling systems running on custom Xeons directly to end users. Those customers need to be careful about how they configure those systems, though: in the new Oracle 12c, the in-memory database option, which costs $23,000 per processor, is turned on by default."
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Google News Sci Tech: Microsoft First Out of the Xbox After China's Ban Falls - Bloomberg->

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Reuters UK
Microsoft First Out of the Xbox After China's Ban Falls
Bloomberg
It's game on in China, as Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Xbox One becomes the first entertainment console to hit the market after the end of a 13-year ban. Microsoft today began taking orders for its new game console from online retailer JD.com Inc. (JD) via...
Microsoft says government officials make sudden visit to China officesReuters
Xbox One goes on sale in China, FINALLYITProPortal
Microsoft says government officials make sudden visits to China officesReuters Canada
Maine News-Techie News
all 75 news articles

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+ - World's largest amphibious aircraft goes into production

Submitted by stephendavion
stephendavion (2872091) writes "Chinese aircraft manufacturer China Aviation Industry General Aircraft (CAIGA) has started trial production of its TA600 amphibious aircraft, claimed to be the world's largest of its kind. With an expected maiden flight late next year, the Chinese plane would replace Japan's ShinMaywa US-2 short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft as the largest of its kind globally."

+ - The Oculus Rift DK2, In-Depth Review and DK1 Comparison->

Submitted by Benz145
Benz145 (1869518) writes "The hotly anticipated Oculus Rift DK2 has begun arriving at doorsteps. The DK2s enhancements include optical positional tracking and a higher resolution panel, up from 1280×800 to 1920×1080 (1080p) and moved to a pentile-matrix OLED panel for display duties. This means higher levels of resolvable detail and a much reduced screen door effect. The panel features low persistence of vision, a technology pioneered by Valve that aims to cut motion artefacts by only displaying the latest, most correct display information relative to the user’s movements – as users of the DK1 will attest, its LCD panel was heavily prone to smearing, things are now much improved with the DK2."
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Google News Sci Tech: Google's Nexus saga continues: Motorola's 5.9-inch 'Shamu' tipped to be Nexus 6 ->

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Firstpost
Google's Nexus saga continues: Motorola's 5.9-inch 'Shamu' tipped to be Nexus 6
Firstpost
While we were made to believe that Google plans to pull the plug on its celebrated Nexus lineup in favour of the new Android Silver series, several reports circulating the web have been suggesting otherwise. In this conundrum over whether Nexus will survive...
Nexus 6 opposing the Galaxy Note 4 and S5Product Reviews
5.9 Inch Nexus Smartphone Shows Up On Google's Issue TrackerTechtree.com
Google's 'Nexus 6' smartphone could be a 5.9-inch jumbo device from Motorola ... IBNLive
Fudzilla-NDTV
all 147 news articles

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Google News Sci Tech: Windows Phone 8.1 could get support for folders and smart cases in first update ->

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TechOne3
Windows Phone 8.1 could get support for folders and smart cases in first update
TechOne3
While Windows Phone 8.1 update has just arrived on Nokia Lumia smartphones, buzzes of its first update started roaming in news. The first update, codenamed as Windows Phone 8.1 GDR1, is said to bring support for folders on Start screen and is rumoured...
Microsoft Reveals More About The Windows Phone 8.1 GDR 1 UpdateTechtree.com
Windows Phone 8.1 update supports folders, smart cases, and 7-inch tabletsTrustedReviews
HTC Reportedly Working On Windows Phone Version of One (M8)Argyll Free Press
International Business Times UK
all 51 news articles

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+ - Almost 1 in 10 Android Apps Are Now Malware

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "Cheetah Mobile Threat Research Labs analyzed trends in mobile viruses for Q1 and Q2 of 2014. Pulling 24.4 million sample files they found that 2.2 million files had viruses, roughly 9% of the total. Compared to previous years, this is a 153% increase from the number of infected files in 2013. Asia and select parts of Western Europe have undoubtedly had the highest rates of infection during the past six months. This is due in part to the prevalence of third party app stores in these regions, which have very lax checks to ensure that applications do not contain viruses."

+ - Ask Slashdot: Where can I obtain resources to program for Palm OS 5?

Submitted by baka_toroi
baka_toroi (1194359) writes "I got a Tungsten E2 from a friend and I wanted to give it some life by programming for it a little bit. The main problem I'm bumping with is that HP thought it would be awesome to just shut down every single thing related to Palm OS development. After googling a lot I found out CodeWarrior was the de facto IDE for Palm OS development... but I was soon disappointed as I learned that Palm moved from the 68K architecture to ARM, and of course, CodeWarrior was just focused on Palm OS 4 development.

Now, I realize Palm OS 4 software can be run on Palm OS 5, but I'm looking to use some of the "newer" APIs. Also, I have the Wi-fi add-on card so I wanted to create something that uses it. I thought what I needed was PODS (Palm OS Development Suite) but not only I can't find it anywhere but also it seems it was deprecated during Palm OS's lifetime. It really doesn't help the fact that I'm a beginner, but I really want to give this platform some life.
Any general tip, book, working link or even anecdotes related to all this will be greatly appreciated."

+ - Cool gatling rubber band machine gun plans and guide->

Submitted by melarky
melarky (3767369) writes "This is a fun weekend project that most nerds will appreciate. Step by step instructions and also a handy video will make the construction of this project fast and easy. I have seen lots of plans for sale (or actual guns/kits for sale), but couldn't seem to find any plans for free. I played around with a few different designs (even cut my first few on a homemade CNC machine) and finally landed on this design. I made the guide more accessible to the general public (no need for a CNC machine here), so if you've ever dreamed of ending friendships because of hundreds of rubber band welts, nows your chance!"
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+ - Book review: Introduction to Cyber-Warfare: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Submitted by benrothke
benrothke (2577567) writes "Introduction to Cyber-Warfare: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Author: Paulo Shakarian, Jana Shakarian and Andrew Ruef

Pages: 336

Publisher: Syngress

Rating: 9/10

Reviewer: Ben Rothke

ISBN: 978-0124078147

Summary: Outstanding overview and guide to cyberwarfare





Cyberwarfare is a controversial topic. At the 2014 Infosec World Conference, Marcus Ranum gave a talk on Cyberwar: Putting Civilian Infrastructure on the Front Lines, Again.



Whether it was the topic or just Marcus being Marcus, about a third of the participants left within the first 15 minutes. They should have stayed, as Ranum, agree with him or not, provided some riveting insights on the topic.



While a somewhat broad term, in Wikipedia, cyberwarfare (often called information warfare)is definedas politically motivated hacking to conduct sabotage and espionage. It is a form of information warfare sometimes seen as analogous to conventional warfare.



The authors define cyber war as an extension of policy by actions taken in cyber space by state or nonstate actors that either constitute a serious threat to a nation's security or are conducted in response to a perceived threat against a nation's security.



As to a book on the topic, for most readers, cyberwarfare is something that they may be victims of, but will rarely be an actively part of.



In Introduction to Cyber-Warfare: A Multidisciplinary Approach, authors Paulo Shakarian, Jana Shakarian and Andrew Ruef provide an excellent overview of the topic. The book takes a holistic, or as they call it multidisciplinary, approach to the topic. It looks at the information security aspect of cyberwarfare, as well the military, sociological and other aspects of the topic.



The book is divided into 3 parts and 13 densely packed and extremely well-researched and footnoted chapters, namely:



Part I: Cyber Attack

Chapter 2: Political Cyber Attack Comes of Age in 2007

Chapter 3: How Cyber Attacks Augmented Russian Military Operations

Chapter 4: When Who Tells the Best Story Wins: Cyber and Information Operations in the Middle East

Chapter 5: Limiting Free Speech on the Internet: Cyber Attack Against Internal Dissidents in Iran and Russia

Chapter 6: Cyber Attacks by Nonstate Hacking Groups: The Case of Anonymous and Its Affiliates



Part II: Cyber Espionage and Exploitation

Chapter 7: Enter the Dragon: Why Cyber Espionage Against Militaries, Dissidents, and Nondefense Corporations Is a Key

Component of Chinese Cyber Strategy

Chapter 8: Duqu, Flame, Gauss, the Next Generation of Cyber Exploitation

Chapter 9: Losing Trust in Your Friends: Social Network Exploitation

Chapter 10: How Iraqi Insurgents Watched U.S. Predator Video—Information Theft on the Tactical Battlefield



Part III: Cyber Operations for Infrastructure Attack

Chapter 11: Cyber Warfare Against Industry

Chapter 12: Can Cyber Warfare Leave a Nation in the Dark? Cyber Attacks Against Electrical Infrastructure

Chapter 13: Attacking Iranian Nuclear Facilities: Stuxnet





The book provides numerous case studies of the largest cyberwarfare events to date. Issues around China and their use of cyberwarfare constitute a part of the book. Chapter 7 details the Chinese cyber strategy and shows how the Chinese cyber doctrine and mindset is radically different from that of those in the west.



The book compares the board games of chess (a Western game) and Go (a Chinese game) and how the outcomes and strategies of the games are manifest in each doctrine.



The chapter also shows how the Chinese government outlawed hacking, while at the same time the military identified the best and most talented hackers in China, and integrated them into Chinese security firms, consulting organizations, academia and the military.



One of the more fascinating case studies details the cyber war against the corporate world from China. The book provides a number of examples and details the methodologies they used, in addition to providing evidence of how the Chinese were involved.



For an adversary, one of the means of getting information is via social networks. This is often used in parallel by those launching some sort of cyberwarfare attack. LinkedIn is one of the favorite tools for such an effort. The authors write of the dangers of transitive trust; where user A trusts user B, and user B trusts user C. Via a transitive trust, user A will then trust user C based simply on the fact that user B does. This was most manifest in the Robin Sageexercise.



This was where Thomas Ryan created a fictitious information security professional names Robin Sage. He used her fake identity and profile to make friends with others in the information security world, both commercial, federal and military and he was able to fool even seasoned security professionals. Joan Goodchild wrote a good overview of the experiment here.



In chapter 10, the book details how Iraqi insurgents viewed Predator drones video feeds. Woody Allen said that eighty percent of success is just showing up. In this case, all the insurgents had to do was download the feed, as it was being transmitted unencrypted. Very little cyberwarfare required.



When the drone was being designed, the designers used security by obscurity in their decision not to encrypt the video feed. They felt that since the Predator video feeds were being transmitted on frequencies that were not publically known, no access control, encryption or other security mechanisms would be needed.



The downside is that once the precise frequency was determined by the insurgency, in the case of the Predator drone, the Ku-band, the use of the SkyGrabber satellite internet downloader made it possible for them to effortless view the video feeds.



The only negative about the book is a minor one. It has over 100 pictures and illustrations. Each one states: for the color version of this figure, the reader is referred to the online version of the book. Having that after every picture is a bit annoying. Also, the book never says where you can find the online version of the book.



How good is this book? In his review of it, Krypt3ia said it best when he wrote: I would love to start a kickstarter and get this book into the hands of each and every moron in Congress and the House. The reality is that this book should indeed be read by everyone in Washington, as they are making decisions on the topic, without truly understanding it.



For most readers, this will be the book that tells them everyone they need to know that their congressman should know. Most people will never be involved with any sort of warfare, and most corporate information security professional will not get involved with cyberwarfare. Nonetheless, Introduction to Cyber-Warfare: A Multidisciplinary Approachis a fascinating read about a most important subject.







Reviewed by Ben Rothke"

Google News Sci Tech: Microsoft's Strategy For Nokia Becomes Clearer - Forbes->

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Forbes
Microsoft's Strategy For Nokia Becomes Clearer
Forbes
News from Microsoft in the last few days – 4Q14 earnings, an announcement of 18,000 layoffs, and the release of a memo from Microsoft's EVP of devices Stephen Elop about rightsizing – has brought about a clearer picture of Microsoft's plans for Nokia's...
Nadella Has Only Two Possible Outcomes: Hero or LoserSlashGear
Microsoft Layoffs' Ripple Effect: Even Richer ExecutivesChannel Partners
Microsoft leadership signals new directionTheChronicleHerald.ca
The Gamer Headlines-GuruFocus.com
all 15 news articles

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Man must shape his tools lest they shape him. -- Arthur R. Miller

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