ConfusedGuy - Slashdot User

Are Liquid Explosives on a Plane Feasible? 875

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday August 17, 2006 @04:05PM from the shaken-not-stirred dept.

permaculture writes "The Register describes the difficulty of mixing up a batch of liquid explosives on a plane. Further, it opines that such a plot might work in a Hollywood film, but not in the real world. Liquid explosives were used for the 7/7 London bombings in 2005, according to the official account — or not, as now seems more likely." This story selected and edited by LinuxWorld editor for the day Saied Pinto.

Comment What? Actors? (Score 1) 322

by ConfusedGuy on Monday August 14, 2006 @11:58AM (#15903267) Attached to: Biometric Terrorist Detector

Part of the difficulty developing a system like this is lack of real data. I mean, they've built more of an actor detector than a terrorist detector. Unless you have the biometric responses of terrorists who were actually trying to board a plane you're always going to have high false-positive rates just to be on the safe side.

RSS and Web Feeds a Risk? 94

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Sunday August 06, 2006 @07:48PM from the risk-around-every-cyber-corner dept.

A followup whitepaper [PDF] to a recent talk at the blackhat security conference has been released outlining the risks associated with web based feeds such as RSS and Atom. From the article: "Attackers could exploit the problem by setting up a malicious blog and enticing a user to subscribe to the RSS feed. More likely, however, they would add malicious JavaScript to the comments on a trusted blog, Auger said. "A lot of blogs will take user comments and stick them into their own RSS feeds," he said."

PR Firm Behind Al Gore YouTube Spoof? 777

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Sunday August 06, 2006 @06:11PM from the new-intarweb-trolls dept.

mytrip writes to tell us ABC News is reporting that a supposed amateur video posted to YouTube.com may have actually been designed and posted by a Republican public relations firm called DCI. From the article: "Public relations firms have long used computer technology to create bogus grassroots campaigns, which are called 'Astroturf.' Now these firms are being hired to push illusions on the Internet to create the false impression of real people blogging, e-mailing and making films."

Windows Games on Macs Without Windows 316

Posted by Zonk on Thursday August 03, 2006 @05:39PM from the holy-land dept.

Dotnaught writes "TransGaming Inc. is making its 'Cider' portability engine for Apple's Intel-based Macs available to Windows game developers. The software promises to let Windows games run on Intel Macs without Windows or Apple's Boot Camp. 'Cider works by directly loading a Windows program into memory on an Intel-Mac and linking it to an optimized version of the Win32 APIs,' the company claims. Cider is a software for game developers, not end-users. Cider-enhanced games are scheduled to appear as soon as October. If Cider works well, will there be any more Mac-specific game development? And if not, will it matter?"

Xbox 360 Wins Through 2009? 306

Posted by Zonk on Friday June 30, 2006 @11:40AM from the more-fun-with-analysts dept.

simoniker writes "As part of a recent MI6 Conference presentation, IDG's Jason Anderson made predictions on the North American installed base of the next-gen consoles through 2008. He predicts that the Xbox 360 will continue to hold a lead into 2009, with the PS3 just behind and the Wii trailing significantly. In particular: 'In 2008, Anderson suggests 15.5 million units in homes for the Xbox 360, 13.5 million for PS3, and 6.8 million for Wii.' Is the Wii really going to trail by so much, or do the analysts not 'get it'?"

Cell Phones Responsible For Next Internet Worm? 109

Posted by Zonk on Friday April 28, 2006 @01:19PM from the i-guess-they're-tasty dept.

nitsudima writes "The mobile devices you know and love are great for productivity, but they have completely changed the vulnerability state of our networks. Norm Laudermilch tells you why you should be afraid, very afraid." From the article: "The new and largely unexplored propagation vector for malicious code distribution is mobile devices. With 802.11, Bluetooth, WiFI, WiMAX, MMS, Infrared, and cellular data capabilities on almost all new models, these devices provide a wealth of opportunity for the transmission of data. With no notion of user access levels in the compact mobile operating systems, a lack of effective authentication, and no data encryption, these environments are prime targets for the incubation of malicious code."

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