IQ2US : The Cyber War Debate
Rethink your point of view with Intelligence Squared US, Oxford-style debates live in New York City. Launched in 2006, IQ2US can be heard on over 200 NPR stations across the country, and seen on the Bloomberg Television network. From global warming and the financial crisis, to Afghanistan/Pakistan and the death of mainstream media, IQ2US brings together the world's leading authorities on the day's most provocative issues. Witness an exciting battle of ideas, wit, and persuasion as the experts on both sides challenge your convictions. Best of all, your vote decides who has carried the day.
India Developing New OS
The Indian government is still intent on developing its own operating system so it can own the source code and architecture rather than rely on Western technologies.
Dr V K Saraswat, scientific adviser to India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said that the Indian OS is needed to protect India’s economic framework. While we admire India’s decision to write its own OS, the decision seems to be driven by paranoia about Western technology.
Saraswat said earlier this month that Western hardware and software are likely to be "bugged". By bugged, he doesn’t mean that Windows is chock full of unsecure hackable exploits. Saraswat specifically thinks that our technology is bugged so weAcan spy on India.
"Unfortunately even today we import most of these items. They are coming from various countries. So there is possibility that these hardware parts are already bugged," said Saraswat.
"So we have started doing design and development of our own hardware. We are trying to build it in our own country," he said.
"Second part is software. Most of us use commercial software available in the country. We have got Windows and some use Linux. These software packages are likely to be bugged."
Posted: December 21st, 2010
at 1:39pm by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: computers,development,security
Comments: No comments
Ali Baba, Waldo and the Dining Cryptographers
Teach your children the story of Ali Baba: how he managed to convince the NSA that he knew where Waldo was without disclosing his location, how later he joined him for a dinner with other fellow cryptographers, how they discovered their banquet was already been paid by someone who wanted to stay anonymous, and how they figured out a way to assess if the Amphitryon was among the table companions or was the NSA itself - and other variations around advanced concepts in cryptography.
Web’s Achilles’ Heel
A routing table is a table of routes to particular network destinations, such as servers. Routing tables are created by routing protocols. They are used to generate the information for forwarding tables, which contain only the routes chosen by routing algorithms as preferred routes for forwarding packets of information over a network. A tainted table misdirects traffic to a destination the originator of the information packets or messages being transmitted over the network did not select.
Norwegian Traders Convicted
Two Norwegian day traders who hoodwinked a trading system in the US for their own financial gain, have been handed suspended prison sentences.
The Norwegian traders, Svend Egil Larsen and Peder Veiby, were handed suspended prison sentences and fines for market manipulation after outsmarting the trading system of Timber Hill, which is a unit of US-based Interactive Brokers.
The two men managed to work out how the computerised system would react to certain trading patterns. This allowed them to influence the price of low-volume stocks for their own gain.
Robert McEliece Quantum Proof Code
Nobody has built a quantum computer much more powerful than a pocket calculator but that hasn’t stopped people worrying about the implications of the post-quantum computing world. Most worried are the people who rely on cryptographic codes to protect sensitive information. When the first decent-sized quantum computer is switched on, previously secure codes such as the commonly used RSA algorithm will become instantly breakable.
Which is why cryptographers are scurrying about looking for codes that will be secure in the post-quantum world. Today, Hang Dinh at the University of Connecticut and a couple of pals show that cryptographers have been staring at one all along. They say that a little-used code developed by the CalTech mathematician Robert McEliece in 1978 can resist all known attacks by quantum computers.
First, let’s a make a distinction between symmetric and asymmetric codes. Symmetric codes use identical keys for encrypting and decrypting a message. Quantum computers can dramatically speed up an attack against these kinds of codes. However, symmetric codes have some protection. Doubling the size of the key counteracts this speed up. So it is possible for code makers to stay ahead of the breakers, at least in theory. (Although in practice, the safe money would be on the predator in this cat and mouse game. )
Goldman Sachs’ "Slang" Spinoff
Goldman Sachs’ plan to spin off its proprietary trading business has run into an unexpected technology glitch that has sent the Wall Street firm scrambling to hire computer programers and project managers.
As reported earlier Thursday by CNBC, Goldman could spin off part of its prop trading operations into an independent hedge fund as soon as Friday. The move is an attempt to comply with new rules limiting Wall Street firms from betting their own money in financial markets.
The problem is that Goldman’s traders use a special computer language called "Slang" that was developed for internal use only. That language plays a vital role in Goldman’s prop trading, including it’s computer driven high-frequency trading.
Goldman has decided the new spin-off won’t get the rights to Slang, according to a person familiar with the matter.
As a result, Goldman is rushing to translate its trading programs into a more standard computer code usable by the new spin-off trading company.
Posted: August 6th, 2010
at 1:16pm by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: myninjaplease,computers,weaponry,"ninja",trade,security
Comments: No comments