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Security

Government Begins Securing Root Zone File 198

Posted by kdawson from the not-before-time dept.
Death Metal notes a Wired piece on the US government beginning the process of securing the root zone file. This is in service of implementing DNSSEC, without which the DNS security hole found by Dan Kaminsky can't be definitively closed. On Thursday morning, a comment period will open on the various proposals on who should hold the keys and sign the root — ICANN, Verisign, or the US government's NTIA.
The Courts

Judge Tosses Telco Suit Over City-Owned Network 281

Posted by kdawson from the why-not-sue-the-state-for-building-roads dept.
tsa sends along news of the city of Monticello, Minnesota, which was sued by their local telco, Bridgewater Telephone Company, because the city chose to build a fiber optics network of their own. The judge dismissed their complaint of competition by a governmental organization. Quoting: "The judge's ruling is noteworthy for two things: (1) the judge's complete dismissal of Bridgewater Telephone Company's complaint and (2) his obvious anger at the underfunding of Minnesota's state courts. Indeed, the longest footnote in the opinion is an extended jeremiad about how much work judges are under and why it took so long to decide this case."
Mozilla

Firefox 3.1 Alpha "Shiretoko" Released 385

Posted by CmdrTaco from the get-your-compile-on dept.
Just as you were getting used to 3.0, those Mozilla guys have announced 3.1's Alpha release. FTA "Built on the pre-release version of the Gecko 1.9.1 platform, Shiretoko includes a variety of new features. Called an 'early developer milestone,' the release includes bug fixes, improved Web standards support, Text API for the Canvas Element, support for border images and JavaScript query selectors, and improvements to the tab-switching function and the Smart Location Bar." You can download it if you dare.
It's funny. Laugh.

The Ridiculous LexisNexis Search that the Justice Department Used 589

Posted by CmdrTaco from the your-government-ruining-america dept.
jamie writes "The politicization of Bush's Justice Department, which this week was officially determined to be illegal, has a funny side too. Sometime in 2005-2006, White House Liaison Jan Williams attended a seminar on LexisNexis searches, and wrote one herself. When she left, she passed it on to her successor Monica Goodling in an email. Justin Mason, author of SpamAssassin, is skeptical about its accuracy:

[First name of a candidate]! and pre/2 [last name of a candidate] w/7 bush or gore or republican! or democrat! or charg! or accus! or criticiz! or blam! or defend! or iran contra or clinton or spotted owl or florida recount or sex! or controvers! or racis! or fraud! or investigat! or bankrupt! or layoff! or downsiz! or PNTR or NAFTA or outsourc! or indict! or enron or kerry or iraq or wmd! or arrest! or intox! or fired or sex! or racis! or intox! or slur! or arrest! or fired or controvers! or abortion! or gay! or homosexual! or gun! or firearm!

Needless to say, when asked about it, Williams first said she didn't remember ever seeing it, then said she'd used an edited version just once. LexisNexis records show she used it, as shown, 25 times." Note that 'sex!' appears twice in the query. Must be VERY important.
Security

DNS Attack Writer a Victim of His Own Creation 196

Posted by CmdrTaco from the what-goes-around dept.
BobB writes "HD Moore has been owned. Moore, the creator of the popular Metasploit hacking toolkit, has become the victim of a computer attack. It happened on Tuesday morning, when Moore's company, BreakingPoint, had some of its Internet traffic redirected to a fake Google page that was being run by a scammer. According to Moore, the hacker was able to do this by launching what's known as a cache poisoning attack on a DNS server on AT&T's network that was serving the Austin, Texas, area. One of BreakingPoint's servers was forwarding DNS (Domain Name System) traffic to the AT&T server, so when it was compromised, so was HD Moore's company."
The Internet

Police Shame Pranksters On YouTube 390

Posted by CmdrTaco from the because-they-can dept.
Barence writes "British police are shaming hoax 999 callers and time-wasters on YouTube in an effort to cut down on non-emergency calls. Video clips uploaded include a lady phoning police to ask what year the internet started, the dramatic tale of a man whose wife would only provide salmon sandwiches for lunch, and another worried soul who had lost her glasses and could not see properly to peel potatoes. Anyone else think the chance of YouTube fame is more likely to encourage copycats than educate people about the wrongs of hoax calling?"
Sci-Fi

Are We Searching Google, Or Is Google Searching Us? 346

Posted by kdawson from the eye-to-eye dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The folks at the Edge have published a short story by George Dyson, Engineer's Dreams. It's a piece that fiction magazines wouldn't publish because it's too technical and technical publications wouldn't print because it's too fictional. It's the story of Google's attempt to map the web turning into something else, something that should interest us. The story contains some interesting observations such as, 'This was the paradox of artificial intelligence: any system simple enough to be understandable will not be complicated enough to behave intelligently; and any system complicated enough to behave intelligently will not be simple enough to understand.' After you read it, you'll be asking the same question the author does — 'Are we searching Google, or is Google searching us?'"
Security

Emergency Workaround For Oracle 0-Day 152

Posted by kdawson from the maybe-somebody-shorted-the-stock dept.
Almost Live writes "Oracle has released an out-of-cycle alert to offer mitigation for a zero-day exploit that's been posted on the Internet. The emergency workaround addresses an unpatched remote buffer overflow that's remotely exploitable without the need for a username and password, and can result in compromising the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the targeted system." Whoever published the vulnerability and matching exploit code did not contact Oracle first.

Feed Engadget: Ultra-portable MacBook display rumors surface (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Laptops

Apple rumor mill aficionados, prepare for action. According to reports that are making their way out into the public arena today, the Cupertino monolith has placed orders for a new type of 13.3-inch LED backlight unit, destined to be used in an as-yet-unannounced product... like, say, a new ultra-portable MacBook. The "news" here, as divulged by "industry sources" is that Kenmos Technology and Taiwan Nano Electro-Optical Technology (Nano-Op) have recently become suppliers to both Apple and Dell for the aforementioned goods -- meant to be used in "high-end models" -- with a shipment of over 90,000 units this month. Those numbers are expected to rise to 200,000 before year's end, and 300,000 during Q1 of 2008. Whether or not this tips the scales in favor of a new Apple MacBook is questionable, but it certainly provides some food for thought.

[Via AppleInsider]

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