102267764
submission
Mike Bouma writes:
As already reported by OSNews.com:
"Our results provide very strong evidence that operatingsystem
structure has a strong effect on security. 96% of critical
Linux exploits would not reach critical severity in a
microkernel-based system, 57% would be reduced to low
severity, the majority of which would be eliminated altogether
if the system was based on a verified microkernel.
Even without verification, a microkernel-based design alone
would completely prevent 29% of exploits.
Given the limited number of documented exploits, we
have to assume our results to have a statistical uncertainty
of about nine percentage points. Taking this into account,
the results remain strong. The conclusion is inevitable: From
the security point of view, the monolithic OS design is
flawed and a root cause of the majority of compromises. It
is time for the world to move to an OS structure appropriate
for 21st century security requirements."
102225084
submission
dmoberhaus writes:
Last month, two Indian physicists posted a paper to arxiv claiming to have demonstrated superconductivity at room temperature. If this paper is legitimate, it would represent a breakthrough in a problem that has existed for superconductivity for 100 years. Understandably, the paper shook the physics world, but when researchers started digging into the data they noticed something wasn't quite right--the noise patterns in two independent measurements exactly correlated, which is basically impossible in a random system. The Indian researchers are doubled down on their data, and things only got weirder from there. This is a look inside the biggest drama to happen in physics in nearly a decade.
101568034
submission
hackingbear writes:
China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), China's foremost military electronics company, announced that its groundbreaking quantum radar has achieved capability of tracking high altitude objects, likely by increasing the coherence time entangled photons. CETC envisions that its quantum radar will be used in the stratosphere to track objects in "the upper atmosphere and beyond" (including space). Quantum can identify the position, radar cross section, speed, direction and even 'observe' on the composition of the target such as differentiating between an actual nuclear warhead against inflatable decoys.. Importantly, attempts to spoof the quantum radar would be easily noticed since any attempt to alter or duplicate the entangled photons would be detected by the radar. The news is an important illustration of a larger trend of Chinese advancement in the new, crucial area of quantum research. Other notable projects in China's quantum technology include the Micius satellite, and advances by Alibaba and the Chinese University of Science and Technology in a world record of entangling 18 photons (a quantum supercomputer would require about 50 entangled photons), such that China arguably leads the world in quantum technologies.
101550412
submission
Mr.Intel writes:
Fliers may have a tough time recovering damages for invasive screenings at U.S. airport security checkpoints, after a federal appeals court on Wednesday said screeners are immune from claims under a federal law governing assaults, false arrests and other abuses. In a 2-1 vote, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia said Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners are shielded by government sovereign immunity from liability under the Federal Tort Claims Act because they do not function as “investigative or law enforcement officers.”
The decision, the first on the issue by a federal appeals court, was a defeat for Nadine Pellegrino, a business consultant from Boca Raton, Florida. She and her husband had sued for false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution over a July 2006 altercation at Philadelphia International Airport. According to court papers, Pellegrino had been randomly selected for additional screening at the Philadelphia airport before boarding a US Airways flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Pellegrino, then 57, objected to the invasiveness of the search, but conditions deteriorated and she was later jailed for about 18 hours, the papers show. Criminal charges were filed, and Pellegrino was acquitted at a March 2008 trial.
101357742
submission
TopSpin writes:
The Sanmen 1 nuclear reactor in Zhejiang Provice, China has been synchronized to the power grid and is generating power. The reactor has been under construction for nine years and became the first AP1000 in the world to achieve criticality on June 21, 2018. The AP1000 design recieved final design certification from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2005 and has a net output of 1.117 GWe. Three other AP1000 reactors are under construction in China at the Sanmen and Haiyang sites and two reactors are under constrution in the US at the Vogtle Electric plant in Georgia.
On June 29 the Taishan 1 reactor became the first Areva EPR design to generate power. Four EPR reactors are under construction in Finland, France and China.
100445112
submission
SonicSpike writes:
If cash, check or credit card seems too old-fashioned, Seminole County, Florida Tax Collector Joel Greenberg said this week his office will begin accepting bitcoin as payment for new IDs, license plates and property taxes starting next month.
Greenberg said accepting bitcoin and bitcoin cash as a payment method will promote transparency and accuracy in payment.
“There’s no risk to the taxpayer,” said Greenberg, who has often raised eyebrows since his 2016 election by moves including encouraging certain employees with concealed-weapons permits to carry a firearm openly as a security measure. “Blockchain technology is the future of the whole financial industry.”
Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies like it, aren’t issued by the government or regulated by a bank and exist solely online. Detractors of the digital currency say its volatility makes it risky.
100324296
submission
hackingbear writes:
Chinese scientists demonstrated the first two-dimensional quantum walks of single photons in real spatial space, which may provide a powerful platform to boost analog quantum computing. Scientists at Shanghai Jiaotong University reported in a paper published on Friday in the journal Science Advances a three-dimensional photonic chip with a scale up to 49x49 nodes, by using a technique called femtosecond direct writing. Universal quantum computers, under developed by IBM, Google, Alibaba and other American and Chinese rivals, are far from being feasible before error correction and full connections between the increasing numbers of qubits could be realized. In contrast, analog quantum computers, or quantum simulators, can be built in a straightforward way to solve practical problems directly without error correction, and potentially be able to beat the computational power of classical computers in the near future.
71744105
submission
jones_supa writes:
As part of an effort to make encryption a standard component of every application, Linux Foundation has launched its Let's Encrypt project (announcement) along with its intention to provide access to a free certificate management service. Jim Zemlin, executive director for the Linux Foundation, says that the goal for the project is nothing less than universal adoption of encryption to disrupt a multi-billion dollar cracker economy. While there may never be such a thing as perfect security, Zemlin says it's just too easy to steal data that is not encrypted. In its current form, encryption is difficult to implement and a lot of cost and overhead is associated with managing encryption keys. Zemlin claims that the Let's Encrypt project will reduce the effort it takes to encrypt data in an application down to two simple commands. The project is being hosted by the Linux Foundation, but the actual project is being managed by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG). This work is sponsored by Akamai, Cisco, EFF, Mozilla, IdenTrust, and Automattic, which all are Linux Foundation patrons. Visit Let's Encrypt official website to get involved.
