New IBM supercomputer achieves petaflop

The petaflop era has begun.

IBM has devised a new Blue Gene supercomputer--the Blue Gene/P--that will be capable of processing more than 3 quadrillion operations a second, or 3 petaflops, a possible record. Blue Gene/P is designed to continuously operate at more than 1 petaflop in real-world situations.

Blue Gene/P marks a significant milestone in computing. Last November, the Blue Gene/L was ranked as the most powerful computer on the planet: it topped out at 280 teraflops, or 280 trillion operations a second during continuous operation.

Put another way, a Blue Gene/P operating at a petaflop is performing more operations than a 1.5-mile-high stack of laptops.

New IBM supercomputer achieves petaflop | CNET News.com

Dell apologizes for remove-this-blog-post-or-else nastygram

A blog post at Consumerist.com offering tips on buying from Dell drew a nasty cease-and-desist letter from the company's attorney and then, in quick succession, a chastened apology from a Dell manager.

The original post, titled "22 Confessions Of A Former Dell Sales Manager," appeared last Thursday. The same afternoon, Dell attorney Tracy J. Holland sent a nastygram to Consumerist saying the post must be deleted because "it contains information that is confidential and proprietary to Dell."

Dell apologizes for remove-this-blog-post-or-else nastygram | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

BBC, Yahoo invite developers to hack Web apps

BBC, Yahoo invite developers to hack Web apps

The event is a series of open days held around the world by Yahoo for anyone such as computer programmers and developers to attend and come up with new innovative applications.

The latest event has been held over the last 24 hours in London, staged by Yahoo and the British Broadcasting Corporation for anyone to develop new projects that use either of the media group's programs.

BBC, Yahoo invite developers to hack Web apps | CNET News.com

New Gimp packages fix arbitrary code execution

A buffer overflow has been identified in Gimp's SUNRAS plugin in
versions prior to 2.2.15.  This bug could allow an attacker to execute
arbitrary code on the victim's computer by inducing the victim to open a
specially crafted RAS file.

For the stable distribution (etch), this problem has been fixed in
version 2.2.13-1etch1.

New Gimp packages fix arbitrary code execution

Symantec launches next-generation anti-virus beta

Symantec will launch the first public beta of its next-generation corporate
anti-virus software, Endpoint Protection 11.0, at its annual Symantec Vision conference next week.

The product has been available to a select group of beta testers since March, under the codename Hamlet. Symantec would not reveal Hamlet's official product name, but it is listed on the Vision conference website. Hamlet will be a follow-up to Symantec's AntiVirus Corporate Edition, version 10.

The new software is a major advance for Symantec, which has been working
for more than a year to integrate firewall, zero-day protection and network access control features into its anti-virus product.

Symantec launches next-generation anti-virus beta - ComputerworldUK - The Voice of IT Management

NBC tests prompt investigation into U.S. armor

NBC tests prompt probe into U.S. armor - Military Affairs - MSNBC.com

On May 3 at a ballistics laboratory in Germany, NBC News testing showed that Dragon Skin, made by privately held Pinnacle Armor Inc., outperformed Interceptor, the Army’s standard-issue armor. Before the results were aired, a retired U.S. general reviewed the testing conducted in simulated combat conditions.

Google: Attack code more likely on Microsoft IIS

Web sites running Microsoft Corp.'s Web server software are twice as likely to be hosting malicious code as other Web sites, according to research from Google Inc.

Last month, Google's Anti-Malware team looked at 70,000 domains that were either distributing malware or hosting attack code. "Compared to our sample of servers across the Internet, Microsoft IIS features twice as often as a malware-distributing server," wrote Google's Nagendra Modadugu, in a Tuesday blog posting.

Together, IIS (Internet Information Services) and Apache servers host about 89 percent of all Web sites, but collectively they're responsible for 98 percent of all Web-based malware.

Google: Attack code more likely on Microsoft IIS

Spotlight on staff security risks as data watchdog probes C&W breach

A BBC Newsnight investigation found that customer details had been used by call centres abroad to approach Bulldog customers and obtain credit card details. Cable & Wireless and current Bulldog owner Pipex have issued a High Court injunction requiring the former employee and call centres to cease using the data.

The ICO said it had received a response from Cable & Wireless last month explaining how the breach occurred and would begin a dialogue with the company in the coming weeks to ensure that it does not happen again.

Analysts advised organisations to assess the risks to their confidential data in the light of the incident.

Spotlight on staff security risks as data watchdog probes C&W breach - 04/Jun/2007 - ComputerWeekly.com

Password-cracking contest proves theory

Quote:

The password hacking contest I started 10 months ago is two-thirds over. We have a winner for the second of three hash challenges... I just don’t know who that person is.

On July 17, 2006, I challenged Security Adviser blog readers to a password hash cracking contest. The prizes were nominal (US$100 and free copies of my books), but the main challenge was to prove my password theories wrong and to live on in infamy through internet blogs (yeah, right, Roger).

Password-cracking contest proves theory