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Security

Submission + - TSA Facing Death By A Thousand Cuts (house.gov)

Submitted by OverTheGeicoE
OverTheGeicoE writes: The Transportation Security Administration is getting a lot of negative attention, much of it from the US government itself. A recent congressional report blasted TSA for being incompetent and ineffective (PDF). A bill to force TSA to reduce its screening of active duty US military members and their families was approved unanimously by the House of Representatives. After a TSA employee was arrested for sexually assaulting a woman while in uniform, a bill has been introduced to prevent TSA from wearing police-style uniforms and badges or using the title 'officer'. The bill's sponsor calls these practices 'an insult to real cops.' The FBI is getting involved by changing its definition of rape in a way that might expose TSA's 'enhanced pat-down' screeners to prosecution. Lastly, public support for TSA's use of X-ray body scanners drops dramatically when people realize there is a cancer risk.
Programming

Submission + - Java apps have most flaws, Cobol least (computerworld.com) 1

Submitted by dcblogs
dcblogs writes: An analysis of 745 applications for violations of good architectural and coding practices, found that Java applications had the most problems and Cobol-built systems, the least. Some 365 million lines of code were analyzed by Cast Software, which makes tools for this, to assess “technical debt,” or the cost to fix the violations. Java was calculated at $5.42 per line of code, while Cobol did best at $1.26. Cobol code had the least number of violations because programmers “have been beating on it for 30 years,” said Cast. As far as Java goes, “there are many people going into Java now that really don’t have strong computer science backgrounds,” said its chief scientist, Bill Curtis.
Science

Submission + - Higgs hunt enters final stage (nature.com)

Submitted by
gbrumfiel
gbrumfiel writes: "For forty years, the Higgs boson has remained a theoretical construct, but by Christmas, scientists may have a pretty good idea of whether it's real or not. Nature News reports that a new analysis has further narrowed the Higgs range, and data gathered this autumn at the LHC should be enough to show a faint signal from a Higgs, if it's there. (Already one signal has disappeared earlier in the year.) Physicists hope to finish their analysis of the autumn data by the year's end, but even if they come up empty-handed it won't be the end of the story. The Higgs is commonly referred to as the particle that endows others with mass, but its real appeal is the ability to unify the weak nuclear force with electromagnetism. If there is no Higgs, some other mechanism for creating a unified "electroweak" force should be found inside the LHC."
Technology

Submission + - Raspberry Pi PCB layout and scale model available (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Yesterday, the final Raspberry Pi printed circuit board (PCB) layout was revealed. The word “packed” comes to mind as this is one very complicated looking board. The reason for that is just how much Raspberry Pi has strived to save money on the machine by using complex routing to keep things small and cheap.

The Raspberry Pi team don’t believe the design is going to change again unless they missed something. With that in mind, they revealed the final board is exactly the same size as a credit card, measuring 85.65 x 53.98mm.

Raspberry Pi has a very active community on its forums, and it didn’t take long for someone to print a 1:1 scale copy of the final design on a sheet of card. The images below give you a good idea of just how small this PC is going to be. Although once the ports have been added the thickness is obviously going to increase.
Facebook

Submission + - Despite Audit, Facebook Holds Back Personal Data (itworld.com)

Submitted by
itwbennett
itwbennett writes: "Facebook has reduced the amount of personal data it releases to users as required by European Union law. Due to the volume of requests since Europe v. Facebook began its campaign, Facebook is no longer sending CDs to people. Facebook said in a statement that the CD mailout 'contains a level of detail that is less useful for the average user — it is a much rawer collection of data.' Instead, users are now directed to a page where they can download their personal 'archive,' which according to Facebook is a copy of 'all of the personal information you've shared on Facebook.' But rather than the 57 categories of data early data requesters received, the new tool downloads just 22 categories."
Android

Barnes & Noble Names Microsoft's Disputed Android Patents 386

Posted by timothy from the cartels-invite-escape dept.
Julie188 writes "B&N is really blowing the lid off of what Microsoft is doing and how they are forcing money from Android. It has accused Microsoft of requiring overly restricted NDA agreements from those even entering into patent license talks. Because it is disputing Microsoft's claims, and the restrictions of its own NDA signed with Redmond, B&N has gone public. It has named in detail six patents that it says Microsoft is using to get Android device makers to pay up. Plus, B&N is also trying to force open Microsoft's other plans for stomping out Android, including the agreement Redmond made with Nokia, and Nokia's patent-troll MOSAID."
Encryption

Submission + - Hiding Messages in VoIP Packets (net-security.org)

Submitted by Orome1
Orome1 writes: A group of researchers from the Warsaw University of Technology have devised a relatively simple way of hiding information within VoIP packets exchanged during a phone conversation. The called the method TranSteg, and they have proved its effectiveness by creating a proof-of-concept implementation that allowed them to send 2.2MB (in each direction) during a 9-minute call. IP telephony allows users to make phone calls through data networks that use an IP protocol. The actual conversation consists of two audio streams, and the Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) is used to transport the voice data required for the communication to succeed. But, RTP can transport different kinds of data, and the TranSteg method takes advantage of this fact.
Botnet

Submission + - Massive Botnet 'Indestructible,' Say Researchers (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
CWmike
CWmike writes: "A new and improved botnet that has infected more than four million PCs is 'practically indestructible,' security researchers say. TDL-4, the name for both the bot Trojan that infects machines and the ensuing collection of compromised computers, is 'the most sophisticated threat today,' said Kaspersky Labs researcher Sergey Golovanov in a detailed analysis on Monday. Others agree. 'I wouldn't say it's perfectly indestructible, but it is pretty much indestructible,' Joe Stewart, director of malware research at Dell SecureWorks and an internationally-known botnet expert, told Computerworld on Wednesday. 'It does a very good job of maintaining itself.' Because TDL-4 installs its rootkit on the MBR, it is invisible to both the operating system and more, importantly, security software designed to sniff out malicious code. But that's not TDL-4's secret weapon. What makes the botnet indestructible is the combination of its advanced encryption and the use of a public peer-to-peer (P2P) network for the instructions issued to the malware by command-and-control (C&C) servers. 'The way peer-to-peer is used for TDL-4 will make it extremely hard to take down this botnet,' said Roel Schouwenberg, senior malware researcher at Kaspersky. 'The TDL guys are doing their utmost not to become the next gang to lose their botnet.'"

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