Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
Security

Submission + - New Linux kernel flaw allows null pointer exploits (threatpost.com) 6

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: A new flaw in the latest release of the Linux kernel gives attackers the ability to exploit NULL pointer dereferences and bypass the protections of SELinux, AppArmor and the Linux Security Module. Brad Spengler discovered the vulnerability and found a reliable way to exploit it, giving him complete control of the remote machine. This is somewhat similar to the magic that Mark Dowd performed last year to exploit Adobe Flash. Threatpost.com reports: "The vulnerability is in the 2.6.30 release of the Linux kernel, and in a message to the Daily Dave mailing list Spengler said that he was able to exploit the flaw, which at first glance seemed unexploitable. He said that he was able to defeat the protection against exploiting NULL pointer dereferences on systems running SELinux and those running typical Linux implementations."
Security

Submission + - SPAM: Reporters Find U.S. Gov't Data in Ghana Market

Submitted by
narramissic
narramissic writes: "'Hundreds and hundreds of documents about government contracts,' were found on a hard drive purchased at a market in Ghana for the bargain basement price of $40, said Peter Klein, an associate professor with the University of British Columbia, who led an investigation into the global electronic waste business for the PBS show Frontline. The hard drive had belonged to U.S. government contractor Northrop Grumman and in a made-for-TV ironic twist, 'some of the documents talked about how to recruit airport screeners and several of them even covered data security practices,' Klein said. 'Here were these contracts being awarded based on their ability to keep the data safe.'"
Link to Original Source
Privacy

Submission + - Lenovo Software Update Stealthily Installs Adware

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A recent Lenovo automatic software update has the great feature of displaying annoying pop-up ads for Lenovo products. Whats worse, it appears that many users are unable to turn the advertisement "feature" off, subjecting them to pop-ups every couple of hours. Gee guys, a note about your 20% off sale in my e-mail wouldn't have bothered me that much, but you really had to pop up over top of my powerpoint slides? I'm sure that all of my office colleagues will be running to order ThinkPads...
Censorship

Submission + - Google Suggest Disabled in China Due to Porn (nytimes.com)

Submitted by
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes: "The Chinese government has asked Google to disable Google Suggest because it has been suggesting that people search for pornography based on its analysis of the most popular search terms in China. This comes on the heels of a fake CCTV interview being used to support the government requirement that all new computers ship with the 'Green Damn' internet censoring program, which is still in force, despite reports to the contrary. Understandably, average Chinese citizens are not very happy about any of this."
Patents

Obama Taps IBM Open Source Advocate For USPTO 88

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the baby-steps dept.
langelgjm writes "President Obama has announced his intent to nominate David Kappos, a VP and general counsel at IBM, to head the US Patent and Trademark Office. This move is particularly notable not only because of IBM's much friendlier attitudes towards open source compared with some of their rivals, but also because Kappos himself is open source-friendly: 'We are now the biggest supporters of the open source development project,' explains David. 'Admittedly this policy is not easily reconcilable with our traditional IP strategy, but we are convinced that it is the way to go for the future.' Not just a lawyer, Kappos earned an engineering degree before working in the legal field. Kappos has been described as 'critical of the American approach to patent policy.' Given his background, could this mean a new era for US patent policy?"
Medicine

Submission + - Swine Flu Vaccine now Available (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
ravjen
ravjen writes: "Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG said that they successfully produced a swine flu vaccine weeks ahead of their expectations. The vaccine was made in cells, rather than grown in eggs as is usually the case with vaccines."
Software

Submission + - Are code reviews worth it? 1

Submitted by JamaicaBay
JamaicaBay writes: I'm a development manager, and yesterday my boss and I got into an argument over whether it's worth doing code reviews. In my shop we've done both a code review or two, and a few design reviews. They are all programmer-led. What we've found is that code reviews take forever and tend to reveal less than good UI-level testing would. The payback on design reviews is meanwhile tremendous. Our code is intended for desktop, non-critical use, so I asked my boss to consider whether it was worth spending so much time on examining built code, given our experience not getting much out of it. I'm wondering whether the Slashdot crowd's experience has been similar?
Microsoft

Submission + - Ballmer Threatens to Pull Out of U.S. 2

Submitted by
theodp
theodp writes: "Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is threatening to move Microsoft employees offshore if Congress enacts President Obama's plans to curb tax avoidance by U.S. corporations. 'It makes U.S. jobs more expensive,' complained billionaire Ballmer. 'We're better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S. as opposed to keeping them inside the U.S.' According to 2006 reports, Microsoft transferred $16 billion in assets to secretive Dublin subsidiaries to shave billions off its U.S. tax bill. 'Corporate tax is part of the overall advantage of doing business in Ireland,' acknowledged Ballmer in 2005. 'It would be disingenuous to say otherwise.' Tax havens, tax havens, tax havens!"
NASA

Submission + - Astronauts Begin Final Spacewalk To Repair Hubble

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Astronauts John Grunsfield and Andrew Feustel began the fifth and final spacewalk of their Hubble Space Telescope repair mission this morning at 8:20AM. During their spacewalk the two will install the second battery group replacement in an equipment bay above the Wide Field Camera 2 and next to the compartment where the first battery set was installed on the second spacewalk. Each of the battery module weighs 460 pounds and contains three batteries. The batteries provide electrical power to support Hubble's operations during the night when there's no sun to power the solar arrays.

Slashdot Top Deals

What this country needs is a dime that will buy a good five-cent bagel.

Close