Messages

16

Faculty Forum / US experts helped develop virus that hit Iran

« on: November 24, 2013, 02:00:32 AM »

 Computer malware to sabotage Iran’s nuclear programme and stop Tehran developing an atomic bomb was designed by American and Israeli experts, it was claimed yesterday.

The Stuxnet computer worm, the most sophisticated cyberweapon ever made, crippled uranium enrichment facilities across Iran last year and set the country back five years in the nuclear arms race.

Source: Internet (James Hider, The Times)

17

Faculty Forum / Oil terminal disconnected after ‘computer virus attack’

« on: November 24, 2013, 01:56:14 AM »

Iran said yesterday that its oil industry had become the latest target of cyber-attacks by enemies of the Islamic republic.

Officials claimed that the oil ministry and the national oil company had been attacked by a computer virus reminiscent of the Stuxnet worm unleashed against Iran’s nuclear programme two years ago. The country’s main export terminal had been disconnected from the internet as a precaution, they added.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the Stuxnet virus, but the regime has blamed Israel and the United States for that and for the recent assassinations of several nuclear scientists.

Source: Internet (Martin Fletcher, The Times)

18

Faculty Forum / Gang stole $45m from bank with computers

« on: November 24, 2013, 01:52:36 AM »

An international criminal organisation stole $45 million in a giant bank heist that has been uncovered by British investigators and law enforcement agencies from New York to Kuala Lumpur.

The robbery targeted two Middle Eastern banks and was carried out in co-ordinated strikes on December 22 last year and again over two days in February.

No gelignite exploded to crack a safe wall, no guards were taken hostage, no getaway car was required to spirit away the cash. Instead, the criminal gang behind one of the largest bank heists in history stole the money by withdrawing it from cash machines.

Source: Internet (Will Pavia, The Times)

19

Faculty Forum / Scientists to build entire ‘human brain’

« on: November 24, 2013, 01:50:25 AM »

 S cientists are to create the world’s first simulation of a whole human brain, using the most powerful computer built.

The machine will allow researchers to study the brain right down to the level of individual cells and the molecules within them.

A key aim of the Human Brain Project, funded by the European Union, will be to find new insights into neurological diseases ranging from Alzheimer’s to depression, and to test novel drugs and other treatments. Another will be to see if such a machine might be able to generate a new form of human-like intelligence.

“The aim is to simulate the entire human brain,” said Professor Henry Markram, head of the neural microcircuitry laboratory at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, who is leading the project.

“The complexity of the brain, with its billions of interconnected neurons, makes it hard for neuroscientists to truly understand how it works.

Source: Internet (Jonathan Leake, The Times)

20

Faculty Forum / China ‘develops viruses to attack computers’

« on: November 24, 2013, 01:43:56 AM »

China has established special “information warfare units” to develop viruses that can attack targeted computer systems and networks, according to a Pentagon report on Chinese military capabilities published yesterday.

Examining the increasing threat posed by Chinese cyber warfare activities, the Pentagon revealed that the new units are run by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) but are also linked to the country’s civilian information technology professionals.

The report, which is an annual review for Congress of China’s military modernisation programme, said last year numerous computer systems around the world, including in the US, were the target of “intrusions”.

Source: Internet (Michael Evans, The Times)

21

Faculty Forum / ‘Happy’ girl hanged herself after arguing with twin about the family Computer

« on: November 24, 2013, 01:41:58 AM »

 A “happy and outgoing” 12-year-old girl hanged herself in protest after being sent to bed for arguing with her brother about use of the family computer, an inquest ruled yesterday.

Jessica Jevons was found hanging by a pink dressing gown chord by her twin brother Patrick on the landing of the family home 15 minutes after a “demonstration of annoyance”, Bolton Coroners Court heard. She was already dead.

Police concluded that she had positioned herself so that the next person to ascend the staircase would be “shocked into responding”.

Source: Internet (John Simpson, The Times)

22

Faculty Forum / Iran ‘faked British chemical weapons plot’

« on: November 24, 2013, 01:40:31 AM »

 INVESTIGATORS suspect that Iran may be involved in an attempt to smear the West by hacking a British security company and faking a plot in which the firm was asked to deploy chemical weapons in Syria.

False emails created as part of the sophisticated cyberattack claimed the plot had been sanctioned by Washington and indicated a desire to frame Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president.

If Assad used chemical weapons against his own people, it would potentially trigger military retaliation by America and Britain.

The hacking of Britam Defence, a company run by former SAS chiefs with many Middle Eastern clients, is being investigated by cybercrime and counterterrorism specialists at Scotland Yard. The security services are also believed to be studying the breach.

Those familiar with the hack say it bears similarities to a cyberattack last year on Saudi Arabia’s biggest oil company, which US intelligence officials have blamed on Iran.

Source: Internet (Dipesh Gadher, The Times)

23

Faculty Forum / Digital footprint traps Nama man

« on: November 24, 2013, 01:39:06 AM »

 Like any commercial IT system, the computer servers at the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) record staff members’ visits to Facebook, tweets and emails.

Any employee key stroke leaves a digital footprint.

Enda Farrell, a former Nama executive now being investigated by gardai, clearly did not understand this concept.

Last week, Cian Ferriter, a barrister for Nama, told the High Court that Farrell sent emails containing “highly confidential and commercially sensitive information” from his work account to third parties including Alice Kramer, his Belgian-born wife. Farrell made no attempt to hide his activities.

Among the dossiers Farrell allegedly removed were spreadsheets on loans acquired by Nama and details of strategies the agency had devised to sell certain assets. The loans involved amount to several billion euros. Ferriter said Farrell had acted in a premeditated fashion, and claimed there was no defence for his actions.

Source: Internet (John Mooney, The Times)

24

Faculty Forum / Second byte at success for cheapest computer gadget

« on: November 24, 2013, 01:26:15 AM »

The launch of the world’s cheapest computer tablet in India a year ago won international attention and praise for the government-funded effort to distribute the £21 device to millions of students.

But, borne aloft on a wave of hype, the Aakash — Hindi for sky — subsequently crashed to earth. Users complained about unresponsive screens, dying batteries and a processor seemingly incapable of doing two things at once.

Now, however, an updated version of the world’s cheapest tablet is being readied for another attempted take-off.

Source: Internet (Francis Elliott, The Times)

25

Faculty Forum / On which quiz show did computers eliminate humans?

« on: November 24, 2013, 01:23:31 AM »

 Generations of science-fiction writers have imagined the portentous moment when machines would first assert their dominance over mankind, triggering all kinds of nasty scenarios, from war between robots and human beings to awkward confrontations with the dishwasher.

None seems to have considered that the turning point might come when a computer dared to appear on a TV quiz show, demonstrating extraordinary knowledge of popular trivia and winning the $1 million prize. This scenario played out this week, when millions watched a computer called Watson appear on Jeopardy!, the decades-old game show that is an institution of US television.

Source: Internet (Will Pavia, The Times)

26

Faculty Forum / China link to ‘spectacular’ cyberattack on French Finance Ministry computers

« on: November 24, 2013, 12:50:47 AM »

 The French Finance Ministry has suffered a “spectacular” attack on its computers by hackers with a possible Chinese connection.

Described as the biggest cyber attack on the French state to date, it appeared to be aimed at retrieving information on France’s handling of the Group of 20 developed and emerging powers, which President Sarkozy chairs this year.

About 10,000 computers were temporarily switched off over the weekend in an operation to secure the system following the breach.

Source: Internet (Charles Bremner, The Times)

27

Faculty Forum / Sony agrees to pay up after intern sues

« on: November 24, 2013, 12:38:35 AM »

Sony, the entertainment and electronics giant, has given £4,600 to an unpaid intern for three months’ work after he sued.

Chris Jarvis, a video games design graduate from Milton Keynes, worked for Sony Computer Entertainment in Cambridge last autumn, commuting three hours a day from his family home to secure work experience. He soon discovered that, rather than shadowing a designer and learning about the business, he was testing 3-D artwork for games from 9.30am until 6pm.

Source: Internet (Rosemary Bennett, The Times)

28

Faculty Forum / Spy ‘planned to sell Nato secrets to Russia for £7m’

« on: November 24, 2013, 12:36:14 AM »

Nato is overhauling its security procedures after the discovery of two spies in one week in Germany who downloaded top-secret data from computers. The damage could have been “unlimitable”, said a security official, putting in peril secret forces operations in Afghanistan and the battle order of land forces across the world.

The first spy is a 60-year-old Nato civilian worker at the Ramstein Air Force Base in western Germany whose name was given only as Manfred K. He is suspected of being part of a plot to sabotage the base, which is home to the US Air Force in Europe.

Source: Internet ( Allan Hall, The Times)

29

Faculty Forum / World’s fastest camera captures speed of light

« on: November 24, 2013, 12:31:07 AM »

 The pace of life seems to be getting faster every day. Now American scientists have invented a camera which can capture it — at the speed of light.

The superfast camera can clearly show a bullet-shaped pulse of light speeding from one end of a laboratory flask to another in trillionths of a second.

Disappointingly for those seeking to capture the blurry excitement of opening presents this Christmas, the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) says you cannot expect the camera to be under the tree this year.

Not least, the Meccano-like contraption would have to be reduced substantially from the size of a dustbin before it could be added to your smartphone.

The scientists at MIT’s “blue- sky science” think tank, who helped to pioneer the practical applications of the internet, predict that the benefits of superfast photography will be widely felt within about 10 years.

Source: Internet (John Harlow, The Times)

30

Faculty Forum / Smartphone apps spy on your children

« on: November 24, 2013, 12:28:39 AM »

 Smartphone applications designed for children allow the companies that produce them to harvest information about youngsters’ movements, their photographs and even who they are talking to.

Small print in the terms and conditions that users must agree when downloading the apps delivers permission to access potentially sensitive details about their lives, interests and friends.

The Sunday Times examined the top 200 apps for children available for Google’s Android smartphone and found the terms and conditions of more than 170 provided the right to access some level of information stored on the handset.

This comes amid concern about the data collected by companies online which can, for example, be used to target advertisements at internet users. Last week it emerged that the app for Twitter, the social networking site, had been secretly gathering the address books of some users.

Source: Internet (Robin Henry, The Times)