emergency
Senate Panel: 80 Percent of Cyber Attacks Preventable
If network administrators simply instituted proper configuration policies and conducted good network monitoring, about 80 percent of commonly known cyber attacks could be prevented, a Senate committee heard Tuesday. The remark was made by Richard Schaeffer, the NSA’s Information Assurance Director, who added that simply adhering to already known best practices would sufficiently raise the security bar so that attackers would have to take more risks to breach a network, “thereby raising [their] risk of detection.” The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security heard from a number of experts offering commentary on how the government should best tackle securing government and private-sector critical infrastructure networks. Larry Clinton, president of the Internet Security Alliance told senators that public apathy and ignorance played as much a role in the current state of cybersecurity as the unwillingness of corporate entities to take responsibility for securing the public’s data.
Continue reading »Cell-Tracking Bills Require Info Dump for Missing Persons
Mobile phone companies would have to immediately turn over location data to emergency responders to help them quickly track missing persons, if any one of the four bills floating in the House get traction. The law already allows, but does not automatically require, phone companies to turn over ping data from cell towers in emergency situations absent court warrants. The proposals would require telcos to promptly hand over the information if authorities tell them that harm or death are imminent.
Continue reading »Nuclear Plants Cautiously Phase Out Dial-Up Modems
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is asking the operators of America’s 66 nuclear power plants to voluntarily upgrade the on-site monitoring systems that report plant conditions to the government. That upgrade to the 16-year-old Emergency Response Data System? Replacing telephone dial-up modems with VPN appliances.
Continue reading »Farting bull gores Bernie Madoff in the assets
P2P net had a pic of the day, this’d be it. “Chinese artist Chen Wenling critiques the global financial crisis in What You See Might Not Be Real, on display at a Beijing gallery,” says the BBC caption to this Associated Press photo, adding: “The bull is said to represent Wall Street, while the man pinned to the wall represents jailed financier Bernard Madoff.” Or as the San Francisco Chronicle puts it: “In Beijing, the sculpture ‘What You See Might Not Be Real’ by artist Chen Wenling portrays the golden bull of Wall Street goring a horned Bernie Madoff in the assets.” The work is part of the artist’s one-man exhibition called Emergency Exit at the JoyArt Laboratory in Beijing’s 798 Art District. It’s on until October 11.
Continue reading »Record Label Embraces Pirate Party BitTorrent Tracker
Last week the fledgling Canadian Pirate Party launched its very own BitTorrent tracker to show how this great technology can empower artists to get their material heard by a wider audience. “We’re starting a BitTorrent tracker to show artists how to properly use P2P technology in order to gain access to a cheap and efficient marketing and distribution network,” Pirate Party spokesman Jake Daynes explained to TorrentFreak. Just a couple of days later and already Canadian record label Thorny Bleeder Records is showing its support for the party and its new RivetTracker -based distribution system.
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