Briefly noted

Laser raygun plane gets $30m extended evaluation

Boeing has been awarded an extra $30 million by the U.S. Air Force to keep its Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) raygun aeroplane in operation, following the original “technology demonstration” deal under which it was built. The technology appears yet to be demonstrated, as no inflight lasing has taken place.

Security wonks warn of cell phone zombie uprising

In terms of computers, zombie armies, or botnets, are collections of online PCs that have been infected with malware that makes them do a hacker’s bidding — launching denial of service attacks, sending spam, etc. Often, the computers are infected without the owner’s knowledge. A new report warns about the risks that may come up once hackers start drawing cell phones into their fold.

Aladdin’s cyber security center

Aladdin Knowledge Systems (NASDAQ: ALDN) has launched the Aladdin Attack Intelligence Research Center, a facility for Internet security cybercrime investigation. Based at Aladdin’s headquarters in Israel, the Attack Intelligence Research Center comprises global security researchers and law enforcement and cybercrime specialists.

Gartner: Top 10 strategic technologies for 2009

Gartner, Inc. analysts highlighted the top 10 technologies and trends that will be strategic for most organizations. Gartner defines a strategic technology as one with the potential for significant impact on the enterprise in the next three years. Factors that denote significant impact include a high potential for disruption to IT or the business, the need for a major dollar investment, or the risk of being late to adopt.