3,800 Vulnerabilities Detected In FAA's Web Apps 88
ausekilis sends us to DarkReading for the news that auditors have identified thousands of vulnerabilities in the FAA's Web-based air traffic control applications — 763 of them high-risk. Here is the report on the Department of Transportation site (PDF). "And the FAA's Air Traffic Organization, which heads up ATC operations, received more than 800 security incident alerts in fiscal 2008, but still had not fixed 17 percent of the flaws that caused them, 'including critical incidents in which hackers may have taken over control of ATO computers,' the report says. ... While the number of serious flaws in the FAA's apps appears to be staggering, Jeremiah Grossman, CTO of WhiteHat Security, says the rate is actually in line with the average number of bugs his security firm finds in most Web applications. ... Auditors were able to hack their way through the Web apps to get to data on the Web application and ATC servers, including the FAA's Traffic Flow Management Infrastructure system, Juneau Aviation Weather System, and the Albuquerque Air Traffic Control Tower. They also were able to gain entry into an ATC system that monitors power, according to the report. Another vulnerability in the FAA's Traffic Flow Management Infrastructure leaves related applications open to malware injection."
Star Trek's Warp Drive Not Impossible 541
Trunks writes "No doubt trying to ride the hype train that's currently going for the new Star Trek film, Space.com has a new article detailing how warp drive may not be impossible to acheive. From the article: '"The idea is that you take a chunk of space-time and move it," said Marc Millis, former head of NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project. "The vehicle inside that bubble thinks that it's not moving at all. It's the space-time that's moving." One reason this idea seems credible is that scientists think it may already have happened. Some models suggest that space-time expanded at a rate faster than light speed during a period of rapid inflation shortly after the Big Bang. "If it could do it for the Big Bang, why not for our space drives?" Millis said.' Simple, right?"
Comment FUCK YEAH (Score 0) 187
Posting in a legendary discussion.
Comment Re:Kobayashi Maru (Score 1) 284
On a day to day basis I work with Cisco, and with their product lines. While they don't open source their own code, they do showcase how relevant Linux is as a platform to deploy critical network systems on.
They are moving everything, from routers, to firewalls, to voice system on Linux kernels (as well as providing the proper credit). From this foundation they run their own proprietary code. Their is nothing ignorant or hostile with using and crediting open source software, while still retaining intellectual property rights to your own software.
Comment Padmasree is forward thinking, and the best pick (Score 2, Insightful) 284
As Cisco's CTO Padmasree Warrior has led many changes inside of Cisco.
1. Green DataCenter initiatives - She has led the charge in lowering power consumption of existing DataCenters by utilizing new technologies, as well as consolidating sites. This has a direct financial impact, as well as being good for the environment.
2. Focus on collaborative tools and teams - she has really pushed to break down the silo's between teams by providing the tools and technologies to seamlessly share information between teams.
Most importantly, she is a forward thinking technologist, not a bureaucrat. If I am going to trust anybody to drive the technical vision of the federal government, I am going to trust Padmasree.
Comment Sound better then 5/80 (Score 2, Insightful) 1055
Seriously though, does anybody actually work only 40 hours a week?
Comment Cisco already makes a product to do this - WAAS (Score 5, Informative) 291
It is like Rsync on steroids. Cisco's Wan optimization and Application Acceleration product allows you to "seed" your remote locations with files. It also utilizes some advanced technology called Dynamic Redundancy Elimination that replaces large data segments that would be sent over your WAN with small signatures.
What this means in a functional sense is that you would push that 4 Gig file over the WAN one time. Any subsequent pushes you would only sync the bit level changes. Effectively transferring only the 10 megabytes that actually changed.
While it is nice to get the propeller spinning, there is no sense reinventing the wheel.
Cisco WAAS - http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps5680/Products_Sub_Category_Home.html
Internet Sites Biased Towards Supporting Suicide 358
Believe It Or Not, I Care About You writes "According to a new study in the British Medical Journal which examined the search results for various suicide-related search terms, the most common results supported or encouraged suicide. Wikipedia was one of the most prevalent sources of information, particularly on suicide methods, although the Wikimedia Foundation itself does not encourage suicide. Other studies have shown that media coverage has an effect on suicide particularly with respect to influencing the method chosen. Interestingly, this study notes that suicide rates actually decreased with increased Web usage in England, perhaps because support is readily available to anyone who wants it."
Network Solutions Suspends Site of Anti-Islam Film 874
h4rm0ny notes the furor over an anti-Islamic movie due to be released on the Web in the next week. After Pakistan disrupted YouTube worldwide over an interview with right-wing Dutch MP and filmmaker Geert Wilders, Network Solutions, acting as host as well as registrar, has suspended Wilders's site promoting the 15-minute film "Fitna" (a Koranic term translated as "strife"). The site now displays a notice that it is under investigation for possible violations of NetSol's acceptable use policy. According to the article the company's guidelines include "a sweeping prohibition against 'objectionable material of any kind or nature.'" The article describes the site's content before NetSol pulled the plug as a single page with the film's title, an image of the Koran, and the words "Coming Soon." No one but Wilders has seen the film to date. The Dutch government has distanced itself from the film, fearing Muslim backlash. A million Muslims live in The Netherlands. Wilders's party, which controls 9 of 150 seats in the Dutch parliament, was elected on an anti-immigration platform.
Bookmark Challenges integrating VMware into Cisco networks | Colin McNamara - CCIE 18233 (colinmcnamara.com)
US Plans "Disposable" Nuclear Batteries 297
holy_calamity writes "A US government program is in the works to design small nuclear reactors for use by developing countries. The work continues despite fears about security and nuclear proliferation. Plans include having reactors supplied with fuel by the US and other trusted nations, or to build reactors with their whole lifetime of fuel packaged securely inside — like a giant non-user replaceable radioactive battery.' '"
Bookmark Cisco is using Linux virtualization and 40 core CPUs for its next generation rou (colinmcnamara.com)
MacBook Air Confuses Airport Security 550
Ant writes "MacNN reports that the thin design of Apple's MacBook Air is causing some confusion for the technically ignorant, according to one blogger who says that the ultra-portable caused him to miss his flight. When going through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport security checkpoint, blogger Michael Nygard was held up as security staff gathered around his MacBook Air, trying to make sense of the slender laptop/notebook. One of the less technically knowledgeable staff points out the lack of standard features as cause for alarm..."
State Lawmaker Wants To Ban Anonymous Posting Online 471
bfwebster writes "According to a local news article from last week, Kentucky state lawmaker Tim Couch wants to ban anonymous posting on the internet in order to 'cut down on online bullying', which he says has been 'a particular problem in eastern Kentucky.' His bill would require posters to register with their real names and e-mail addresses under threat of fines. Looks like another battle in the right for anonymous free speech."
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