islanduniverse - Slashdot User

Submission + - Scientist make quantum encryption breakthrough

Submitted by

Madas

on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @02:50PM

Madas writes: "Scientists working in Cambridge, England have managed to make quantum encryption completely secure by putting decoy pulses in the key transmission stream. According to the story this paves the way for safe, encrypted high-speed data links. Could this allow completely private transmission of data away from snooping eyes and ears? Or will it mean film studios can stop movies from being copied when travelling on the internet?"

Who Pays For Credit Card Breaches? 313

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @02:36PM from the buck-stops-where? dept.

PetManimal writes "A scheme to steal customers' credit and debit card information at a New England supermarket chain highlights a little-understood fact about credit card security: Customers still think that the credit-card companies have to eat fraudulent charges, but since the PCI DSS standards were adopted, it's actually the merchant banks and merchants who have to pay up. And, according to the blogger writing in the latter article, it's a good thing." "The main reason PCI exists is that there are tens of thousands of merchants who don't understand the basics of information security and weren't even taking the very minimum steps to secure their networks and the credit card information they stored... PCI pushes that burden downstream and forces merchants to... put in a properly configured firewall, encrypt sensitive information and maintain a minimum security stance or be fined by their merchant banks... [T]he credit card companies have taken the bulk of the financial burden off of themselves and placed it on the merchants, which is where much of it belongs...'"

Submission + - Open vs. Closed Source Security

Submitted by

ChelleChelle

on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @02:29PM

ChelleChelle writes: "Which is more secure — open or closed source systems? It's a question sure to start a heated argument among any group of developers. But why bother to argue if you don't know all the facts? This article takes a close look at this debate and defines its essential elements."

Feed Aussies Ban Old-Style Bulbs (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @02:12PM

Australia decrees a nationwide replacement of incandescent light bulbs with energy-efficient flourescents, one step, it says, in the battle against global warming. By the Associated Press.

Submission + - HD DVD Cracking Software Released

Submitted by

fattmatt

on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @01:58PM

fattmatt writes: "Newsfactor.com reporting on commercial HD cracking software now available from Slysoft for the masses... Blue Ray on the way..."

Don't Believe What You See at the Movies 441

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @01:58PM from the made-the-star-wars-movies-possible dept.

MattSparkes writes "Many images you see in a magazine are Photoshopped, and it's getting less and less likely that what you see at the cinema is any more genuine. In the film 'Blood Diamond', tears were added to Jennifer Connolly's face after a scene was shot. According to The Times, digital effects artists can even change actors' expressions. 'Opening or closing eyes; making a limp more convincing; removing breathing signs; eradicating blinking eyelids from a lingering gaze; or splicing together different takes of an unsuccessful love scene to produce one in which both parties look like they are enjoying themselves.' The article mentions the moral qualms digital effects people have over performing these manipulations, and the steps actors are taking to protect their digital assets."

Submission + - Vista - Ubuntu Install Comparison

Submitted by

Cokeisbomb

on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @01:51PM

Cokeisbomb writes: "Andrew Thomas, at the Inqurier has recently installed both Vista and the latest version of Ubuntu on his desktop and has compared the install process and initial setup. Although he has been using computers for 30+ years, his findings were different than what many of us might expect. From the article: "Well, I've only been playing with computers since 1972 and I couldn't make it work. Linux can see the Windows boxes and vice versa, but any attempt to access files is met with a login dialogue box that refuses any username and password I enter. So I've done what any normal person would do in the circumstances — give up"."

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