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Making older buildings safer during earthquakes
Buildings being built now in earthquake-prone regions are designed better to withstand tremors; trouble is, for a long while yet, most of the buildings in which people live and work were built before new earthquake-related design concepts and new materials were available; UC San Diego researchers look for ways to make these buildings safer
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DSL routers vulnerable to malware attacks
New reports says DSL modems are susceptible to attacks more typically associated with Web sites: Hackers can insert malware onto the victim’s computer or recruit the computer as a bot for a botnet
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FBI: Growing copper theft threatens U.S. critical infrastructure
The FBI says that, individually, isolated instances of copper theft cause big enough headaches of their own, but taken together, they present a significant problem for the United States — a threat to public safety and to U.S. critical infrastructure
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Day of 4G technology -- mobile WiMax -- nears
Clearwire and Sprint Nextel completes transaction to combine their next-generation wireless Internet businesses; companies announce $3.2 billion investment to launch 4G mobile Internet company
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European states to coordinate anti-cybercrime effort
The 27 member states of the EU are worried about the effects of cyber crimes on the European economy; new blueprint for fighting cybercrime calls for better cooperation among national law enforcement units
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Russian hackers attacked U.S. Central Command's networks
Russian hackers have been the prime suspects in sustained attacks on government networks and Web sites in Estonia and Georgia; now evidence emerges to implicate Russian hackers in sustained attacks on the computer system of the U.S. Central Command, which oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
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Making cloud computing safer
As the cost and other benefits of cloud computing become apparent, more and more companies move parts of their infrastructure out of their data centers; there is a need, though, to think long and hard about disaster-proofing the cloud
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Briefly noted
IT to get more attention in approval process for political appointees… More U.S. hospitals turn to palm biometircs for patient identification
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New CFIUS regulations
CFIUS issues final regulations governing national security reviews of foreign investment in the United States
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Queen's University nets £25 million funds for cybersecurity research
Belfast’s Queen University receives funding to open the new Center for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) which will do research in areas including data encryption, network security, wireless security, and “intelligent surveillance technology”
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Panel calls on Obama to appoint a cybersecurity czar
CSIS panel urges the incoming president to elevate handling of cyber security issues to the White House and not leave them with DHS, which is the current leader on these issues
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NIST releases final WTC 7 report
NIST releases final version of its investigation into the collapse of World Trade Center building 7; heating of floor beams and girders caused a critical support column to fail, initiating a fire-induced progressive collapse that brought the building down
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Encryption breakthrough: new way to generate random numbers
Encryption depends on random numbers, but generating random numbers is not easy; existing devices, which can typically only produce 10s or 100s of megabits of random numbers per second; researchers show new method that can generate truly random sequences at up to 1.7 gigabits per second
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Experts: Internet crime might cause global catastrophe
Damage caused by cyber crime is estimated at $100 billion annually; tech-savvy gangs from China, India, Eastern Europe, and Africa were coming up with ever more sophisticated ways of swindling money from vulnerable people
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Can China's future earthquakes be predicted?
To predict earthquakes, China relied on GPS data, which showed movements of two millimeters per year in certain areas of Szechwan province where a May 2008 earthquake killed 70,000 people (20,000 are still missing) and destroyed more than eight million homes; scientists examine a better way to predict disasters
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More headlines
The long view
Falling Space Debris: How High Is the Risk I'll Get Hit?
By Zulfikar Abbany, Julia Vergin, and Katja Sterzik
An International Space Station battery fell back to Earth and, luckily, splashed down harmlessly in the Atlantic. Should we have worried? Space debris reenters our atmosphere every week.
Using Drone Swarms to Fight Forest Fires
Forest fires are becoming increasingly catastrophic across the world, accelerated by climate change. Researchers are using multiple swarms of drones to tackle natural disasters like forest fires.
Strengthening the Grid’s ‘Backbone’ with Hydropower
By Michael Matz
Argonne-led studies investigate how hydropower could help add more clean energy to the grid, how it generates value as grids add more renewable energy, and how liner technology can improve hydropower efficiency.
LNG Exports Have Had No Impact on Domestic Energy Costs: Analysis
U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG) exports have not had any sustained and significant direct impact on U.S. natural gas prices and have, in fact, spurred production and productivity gains, which contribute to downward pressure on domestic prices.