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AnonTechie writes:

From Ars Technica:

On Saturday the New York Times reported that "senior American officials briefed on the investigation" confirmed a hack of the White House's unclassified network last year. The breach "was far more intrusive and worrisome than has been publicly acknowledged," officials said, telling the Times that the perpetrators were likely Russians with ties to the government, if not with direct backing from Russia.

The White House's classified network, on which message traffic from President Obama's Blackberry is kept, was not breached, but e-mails he sent to the unclassified network from that device (as well as e-mails sent from that network to him) were obtained.

The Times noted that many senior staffers have two computers in their offices: "one operating on a highly secure classified network and another connected to the outside world for unclassified communications." The most highly secure material shared between "the White House, the State Department, the Pentagon, and intelligence communities" is kept on a system called Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS), which was not breached. JWICS also gives access to the front-end for XKeyscore, a system that collects, manages, and processes the massive amounts of data collected by the NSA.

The White House discovered the breach in October 2014 and partially shut down the unclassified e-mail system until the end of the month when system administrators were sure that the hackers no longer had access to the system.

Hugh Pickens writes:

Stephen Jordan reports at the National Monitor that four of the world's greatest poker players are going into battle against a computer program that researchers are calling Claudico in the "Brains Vs. Artificial Intelligence" competition at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh. The pros — Doug Polk, Dong Kim, Bjorn Li and Jason Les — will receive appearance fees derived from a prize purse of $100,000 donated by Microsoft Research and by Rivers Casino. Claudico, the first machine program to play heads-up no-limit Texas Hold'em against top human players, will play nearly 20,000 hands with each human poker player over the next two weeks. "Poker is now a benchmark for artificial intelligence research, just as chess once was. It's a game of exceeding complexity that requires a machine to make decisions based on incomplete and often misleading information, thanks to bluffing, slow play and other decoys," says Tuomas Sandholm, developer of the program. "And to win, the machine has to out-smart its human opponents." In total, that will be 1,500 hands played per day until May 8, with just one day off to allow the real-life players to rest.

Aroused For Debian 8 "Jessie" reports:

Debian 8 "Jessie" was released on 25 Apr. A link to the Debian release page shows the changes and you can follow the release in 'real-time' should you desire to do so.

This release will be supported for 5 years and includes "improvements" to the UEFI software (both 32- and 64-bit) introduced in the previous version, "Wheezy". It also is the first release to use systemd as default init system replacing the earlier sysvinit, which is still available in the repos should you wish to revert the change. What effects such a change might have on the remainder of the system is not clear. Improvements to the support of Debian software include the ability to browse and search all source code distributed in the latest release.

takyon writes:

Doctors in California have removed a tumor that they described as an "embryologic twin" from deep inside the brain of a woman:

Yamini Karanam, 26, a PhD student in Indiana, had been experiencing difficulties with drowsiness, reading and concentration. The discovery was made when doctors performed a newly-developed form of surgery to remove the tumour. The growth, known as a teratoma[*], had bone and hair.

[...] Some medical experts have questioned whether it could be called a twin, but the doctor told the BBC it was "accurate, technically speaking" to call it an embryologic twin. He added that she would have died if she hadn't had the surgery.

The rare growth was removed using a minimally-invasive "keyhole" surgery that uses fibre-optics to burrow deep into the brain and perform the operation. "Traditionally they would have had to cut her from ear-to-ear, bring the scalp down in the back, and then open up the entire back of the skull," Dr Shahinian said. Instead, the doctor used a half-inch incision in the back of the skull.

[*] Teratoma:

A teratoma is a tumor with tissue or organ components resembling normal derivatives of more than one germ layer. Although the teratoma may be monodermal or polydermal, its cells may differentiate in ways suggesting other germ layers. The tissues of a teratoma, although normal in themselves, may be quite different from surrounding tissues and may be highly disparate; teratomas have been reported to contain hair, teeth, bone and, very rarely, more complex organs or processes such as eyes, torso, and hands, feet, or other limbs.

"gewg_" writes:

This would be considered a seriously large earthquake if it was in a place with strict building codes like the USA. For comparison, the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake which damaged 80 bridges was a 6.9. The last "Big One" in California, the Fort Tejon event of 1857, was a 7.9.

US Geological Survey: Worldwide events by magnitude

Al Jazeera reports:

The government of Nepal has declared a state of emergency after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the country and killed hundreds of people, touching off a deadly avalanche on Mount Everest.

Officials said that more than 1,800 people were known to have died on Saturday in Nepal's most powerful quake in decades.

The epicentre was 80km northwest of Kathmandu. The Kathmandu valley is densely populated with nearly 2.5 million people and poorly enforced building regulations.

As aftershocks continued throughout Saturday, the toll was was expected to rise significantly as the scale of the disaster became clear.

[...] The earthquake destroyed many historical landmarks, including the UNESCO World Heritage temples at Basantapur Durbar Square and the Dharara tower, both in central Kathmandu.

[...] Emergency workers and army and police personnel, with the help of residents and bystanders, continued to work tirelessly on Saturday to clear the rubble from these sites and to rescue any survivors from under the debris, although [mostly corpses were] being pulled out.

As night fell [over] the country, thousands of people were staying outdoors and found refuge in Kathmandu's open spaces, in fear that subsequent aftershocks may cause further damage.

The Associated Press news agency cited a senior guide as saying that an avalanche swept a mountain near the Everest base camp. Al Jazeera has learned that at least 10 people were killed in the incident, which also left many climbers trapped.

Live Updates: Guardian, NYT, BBC, USGS, Wikipedia.

aristarchus writes:

So, it has come to this! Universities are now offering courses on how to argue against climate change denialists! (Note, even mentioning such courses could be illegal in Florida, but fortunately this is in Australia.)

You know you've made it when they start teaching about you in college! Well done, climate change deniers!!!
And a MOOC? Hmmm, is there a "certificate" one might earn?

sigma writes:

In case you needed another reason to pirate movies, Microsoft is introducing a new hardware-based DRM scheme called PlayReady to lock down 4k content on Windows PCs. The user-restricting tool will only be available on Windows 10, ensuring users orphaned on earlier versions of the OS will need to upgrade to view the high-definition format.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2908089/all-about-playready-30-microsofts-secret-plan-to-lock-down-4k-movies-to-your-pc.html

From the article:

“Dad?! What’s going on? Why do we have to watch this movie in crappy standard-def?” The name of the movie might as well be Digital Rights Management: The New Nightmare. It stars Microsoft, who is working with chip vendors Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and Qualcomm to protect Hollywood’s movies from piracy as they travel through your PC. The technology it’s promoting is called PlayReady 3.0.

Hugh Pickens writes:

Ben Yeager writes in Outside Magazine that Italian explorer Alex Bellini plans to travel to Greenland’s west coast, pick an iceberg, and live on it for a year as it melts out in the Atlantic. But it is a precarious idea. Bellini will be completely isolated, and his adopted dwelling is liable to roll or fall apart at any moment, thrusting him into the icy sea or crushing him under hundreds of tons of ice. His solution: an indestructible survival capsule built by an aeronautics company that specializes in tsunami-proof escape pods.

"I knew since the beginning I needed to minimize the risk. An iceberg can flip over, and those events can be catastrophic.” Bellini plans to use lightweight, indestructible floating capsules, or “personal safety systems" made from aircraft-grade aluminum in what’s called a continuous monocoque structure, an interlocking frame of aluminum spars that evenly distribute force, underneath a brightly painted and highly visible aluminum shell. The inner frame can be stationary or mounted on roller balls so it rotates, allowing the passengers to remain upright at all times.

Aeronautical engineer Julian Sharpe, founder of Survival Capsule, got the idea for his capsules after the 2004 Indonesian tsunami. He believes fewer people would have died had some sort of escape pod existed. Sharpe hopes the products will be universal—in schools, retirement homes, and private residences, anywhere there is severe weather. The product appeals to Bellini because it’s strong enough to survive a storm at sea or getting crushed between two icebergs.

Bellini will spend almost all of his time in the capsule with the hatch closed, which will pose major challenges because he'll have to stay active without venturing out onto a slippery, unstable iceberg. If it flips, he’ll have no time to react. “Any step away from [the iceberg] will be in unknown territory,” says Bellini. “You want to stretch your body. But then you risk your life.”

tonyPick writes:

Spotted at Hackaday is a link to a flip top display built entirely from Lego.

The display is programmed by arranging single-unit bricks on a template to either turn on or off a pixel. A set of fingers raise up, the new template slides in, and the fingers are lowered onto the template to set the display dot discs

The article links to youtube videos of the complete display in action and a single pixel mechanism showing the on/off sequence.

There is detailed information on the way it works in this forum posting, which links to further information on Chebyshev's Lambda Mechanism and the Dwell Mechanism used in the construction of the feeder.

AnonTechie writes:

On Wednesday, at the RSA conference in San Francisco, Microsoft veep Scott Charney outlined a new security mechanism in Windows 10 called Device Guard ( https://blogs.windows.com/business/2015/04/21/windows-10-security-innovations-at-rsa-device-guard-windows-hello-and-microsoft-passport/ ). We've taken a closer look.

The details are a little vague – more information will emerge at the Build event next week – but from what we can tell, Device Guard wraps an extra layer of defense around the operating system to prevent malware from permanently compromising a PC.

Device Guard, when enabled by an administrator, checks to see if each and every application is cryptographically signed by Microsoft as a trusted binary before it is allowed to run. Device Guard itself runs in its own pocket of memory with its own minimal instance of Windows, and is protected from the rest of the system by the IOMMU features in the PC's processor and motherboard chipset.

These IOMMU features (outlined here by the Minix project http://www.minix3.org/docs/szekeres-iommu.pdf ) wall off Device Guard from the computer's hardware, so it cannot be tampered with by other software, no matter how low level that software is.

If the Windows 10 kernel, which has control over the PC, is compromised, Device Guard will remain fire-walled off, and cannot be subverted into allowing unauthorized code to run. A hypervisor running beneath the kernel and Device Guard enforces this.

(In theory, that is – similar "secure execution environments" have been defeated in the past.)
http://atredispartners.blogspot.com/2014/08/here-be-dragons-vulnerabilities-in.html
http://blog.azimuthsecurity.com/2013/04/unlocking-motorola-bootloader.html

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/04/23/microsoft_windows_10_device_guard/

Do you think that Microsoft can make this work as described?

takyon writes:

Just days after setting a world speed record of 581 km/h, a Japan Railways Group maglev train set a new speed record of 603 km/h (375 mph):

In terms of actual travel, it will be some time before the actual speeds achieved this week translate into real train journeys. The first commercial maglev trains will run between Tokyo and Nagoya in 2027, and will likely run at 500KPH [sic], taking 40 minutes to connect the two cities.

Until then Japanese passengers will have to make do with the existing 320KPH bullet trains that take twice as long.

Those Stateside may also have reason to celebrate: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is due to push the train technology in Washington DC later this month, proposing a high-speed link between America's capital and New York City.

Were that to happen it would reduce current travel time from about four hours to under an hour.

Some question the necessity of newer, faster trains:

One argument against Japan's plan to install new high-speed routes is the country's declining population. Bloomberg reported that the nation's population may fall to 117 million by 2027, down 10 million from the current population. By 2060, the population could be as few as 80 million according to current projections by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research. The country simply does not have the demand, said Edwin Merner, president of Atlantis Investment Research Corp. in Tokyo.

"[High-speed transportation is] good for growing, developing countries, but not for Japan that's decreasing in population," Mr. Merner told Bloomberg. "It's mis-allocation of resources. Demand for bullet trains will be limited."

takyon writes:

A man who landed a small drone carrying slightly radioactive sand onto the roof of the Japanese Prime Minister's office in Tokyo has turned himself in to authorities:

Yasuo Yamamoto, 40, was protesting over the Japanese government's nuclear energy policy. He turned himself in late on Friday, police said. No-one was hurt. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was out of the country.

The drone landing triggered a security alert and raised fears of extremists using drones to carry out attacks. The small amount of sand in the drone - which was equipped with a small camera - carried traces of radiation. Police said the radioactive material was likely to be caesium but the levels were too low to be harmful to human health.

Yasuo Yamamoto said that he was protesting the restart of nuclear reactors across Japan. Prime Minister Abe is backing the restart of Japan's nuclear reactors, which have been offline since the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

Yamamoto claimed that the sand came from Fukushima Prefecture (福島県), and was carrying some of the sand and a drone controller when he surrendered himself to police. He faces a maximum of three years in prison if convicted of "obstruction of official business". The drone is said to be a DJI Phantom 2.

fliptop writes:

Bruce Schneier has written about The Further Democratization of QUANTUM, the NSA's program for packet injection:

...when I was working with the Guardian on the Snowden documents, the one top-secret program the NSA desperately did not want us to expose was QUANTUM. This is the NSA's program for what is called packet injection­ -- basically, a technology that allows the agency to hack into computers. Turns out, though, that the NSA was not alone in its use of this technology. The Chinese government uses packet injection to attack computers. The cyberweapons manufacturer Hacking Team sells packet injection technology to any government willing to pay for it. Criminals use it. And there are hacker tools that give the capability to individuals as well. All of these existed before I wrote about QUANTUM. By using its knowledge to attack others rather than to build up the Internet's defenses, the NSA has worked to ensure that anyone can use packet injection to hack into computers.

And now it's become a homework assignment:

Michalis Polychronakis at Stony Book has assigned building QUANTUM as a homework assignment. It's basically sniff, regexp match, swap sip/sport/dip/dport/syn/ack, set ack and push flags, and add the payload to create the malicious reply. Shouldn't take more than a few hours.

The assignment is due May 1st.

AnonTechie writes:

Students from the University of Leicester ( http://www.le.ac.uk ) have calculated how much paper would be required to physically print the Internet as we know it — and have found that, despite the Internet's enormous size, less than 1 per cent of the Amazon rainforest's trees would be required to accomplish it.

In order to work out how much paper would be required to print the Internet, students Evangeline Walker and George Harwood from the University of Leicester's Centre for Interdisciplinary Science investigated how many trees would be needed, using the Amazon rainforest as an example given its unprecedented scale on Earth.

The Amazon rainforest, situated in South America, is the largest rainforest on Earth, spanning 5.5 million square kilometres and housing approximately 400 billion trees.

The students used the English version of the popular website Wikipedia as an example of a website containing a large amount of data. They took ten random articles from Wikipedia, which provided an average of 15 pages required to print each article. They then multiplied this by the number of pages on Wikipedia alone — estimated to be roughly 4,723,991 at the time of writing — which resulted in 70,859,865 paper pages.

Applying this to the Internet at large, the students suggest that approximately 4.54 billion pages of paper would be required to print the Internet as we know it.

http://phys.org/news/2015-04-amazon-rainforest-internet.html

[Paper]: http://www.physics.le.ac.uk/jist/index.php/JIST/article/view/100/57

sigma writes:

A study by European IT security experts suggests that the EU should also fund or participate in the development of open source software to ensure end-to-end encryption solutions. Using open source is not a universal remedy, they state, but it is an “important ingredient in an EU strategy for more security and technological independence.” The experts say support for open source will increase the EU’s technological independence.

A second study for this committee meeting argues that the use of open source computer operating systems and applications reduces the risk of privacy intrusion by mass surveillance.

https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/ep-study-%E2%80%9Ceu-should-finance-key-open-source-tools%E2%80%9D