Month: May 2013

Google and Adobe Contribute Open Source Rasterizer to FreeType

alancronin writes with this excerpt from a PC World article: “Users of Android, Chrome OS, Linux, and iOS devices may not realize it, but FreeType open source software is used to render fonts on more than a billion such devices. Not only that, but the FreeType project this week got a significant update from none other than Adobe and Google. Specifically, Google and Adobe on Wednesday released into beta the Adobe CFF engine, an advanced Compact Font Format (CFF) rasterizer that ‘paves the way for FreeType-based platforms to provide users with richer and more beautiful reading experiences,’ as Google put it in an online announcement on the Google Open Source Blog. The new rasterizer is now included in FreeType version 2.4.12. Though it’s currently off by default, the technology is ‘vastly superior’ to the old CFF engine and will replace it in the next FreeType release, the project says.” The article features examples of how the new engine improves font rendering; for more explanation of the CFF, see this blog post from Adobe. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Google and Adobe Contribute Open Source Rasterizer to FreeType

Oxford has a bell that’s been ringing for 173 years

A bell has been ringing at Oxford for nearly two hundred years. Because no one is willing to stop the bell, and the demonstration that it represents, no one knows the exact mechanism that’s making it ring. Learn of the mysteries of the Oxford Electric Bell. Read more…        

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Oxford has a bell that’s been ringing for 173 years

Windows 8 and Keygens

​As we first reported in the Microsoft Security Report Volume 13 , Keygens have become the number one threat reported by users of Microsoft antimalware products. The research also indicates that 76 percent of users that downloaded Keygen or software cracks were also exposed to other, more dangerous malware.   Keygens are typically not very dangerous on their own. However, malware authors are having great success using deceptive downloads that either pretend to be Keygens or contain them as well as other malware to spread their malicious payloads. Customers reporting Keygens have higher rates of additional malware infections compared to other threats.  Some of these threats try to trick users into paying for software that’s distributed for free from trusted sources. Figure 36: Detection trends for a number of notable and potentially unwanted software families in 2012. Keygens are different from most other threats, they’re more likely to affect the latest operating systems than older ones. They are used to generate software keys particularly when setting up new computers.  They account for a large portion of the threats affecting Windows 8 and Windows 7, as seen in the Security Intelligence Report Version 14 . Figure 37: The malware and potentially unwanted software families most commonly detected by Microsoft antimalware solutions in 4Q12, and how they ranked in prevalence on different platforms.    In addition to using up-to-date real-time security software as detailed in the Intelligence report, please be sure to only get software from trustworthy suppliers. Joe Faulhaber MMPC  

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Windows 8 and Keygens

Chinese Hackers Infiltrate US Army Database, Compromise Safety of Dams

coolnumbr12 writes “Chinese hackers have infiltrated a sensitive U.S. Army database that contains information about the vulnerabilities of thousands of dams located throughout the United States. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ National Inventory of Dams (NID) has raised concerns that information gathered in the hack could help China carry out a cyber-attack on the national electrical power grid.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Chinese Hackers Infiltrate US Army Database, Compromise Safety of Dams

A 3D printed cybernetic ear that even a transhumanist would love

Generating organs and tissue with 3D printers is nothing new. But this bioengineered ear is unique in that it utilizes embedded electronics that allow it to pick up radio frequencies outside the range of normal human hearing. Read more…        

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A 3D printed cybernetic ear that even a transhumanist would love

How High Speed Traders Use Microwaves to Make Money

The days of traders shouting orders on the New York Stock Exchange’s floor may soon be over. A new breed of investing, known as High Frequency Trading, has taken hold of the equities market—one that relies on computerization and automation to exploit momentary price changes for an investor’s financial gain. And where latency is the primary measure of success, calculated in milliseconds, fiber might not even be fast enough. But that’s where the microwave radios come in. Read more…        

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How High Speed Traders Use Microwaves to Make Money

Defense contractor pwned for years by Chinese hackers

QinetiQ , a UK-based defense contractor, has its fingers all over some of the US Defense Department’s most sensitive systems. The company’s subsidiaries provide robots, diagnostic systems, intelligence systems for satellites, drones, and even “cyber-security” to the US Department of Defense. The parent company, which was created as a privatized spinoff of the British Defense Evaluation and Research Agency—what was the UK’s equivalent of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency—is often cited as the inspiration for James Bond’s “Q.” But for at least three years, QinetiQ was apparently unintentionally supplying its expertise to another customer: China. In multiple operations, hackers tied to the People’s Liberation Army have had the run of QinetiQ’s networks, stealing sensitive data from them and even using them to launch attacks on the systems of government agencies and other defense contractors. E mails uncovered by the hack of security firm HBGary revealed that Chinese hackers had the run of the company’s networks starting in 2007. Bloomberg’s Michael Riley and Ben Elgin report that in one effort that lasted for over three years, “Comment Crew”—the group tied to the recent hacking of the New York Times and other news organizations, plus a host of attacks on other defense contractors and technology businesses—managed to gain access to “most if not all of the company’s research.” The company was notified on multiple occasions by government agencies of ongoing breaches, starting with a report from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in December of 2007 that “a large quantity of sensitive information” was being stolen from two computers at the company’s US subsidiary, QinetiQ North America (QNA). A month later, NASA informed QNA that one of the company’s computers was being used in a cyberattack on its network. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Defense contractor pwned for years by Chinese hackers