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Satellite phone company Iridium acquired for $591 million
Iridium made a name for itself for going bankrupt eight years ago and being bought for $25 million; it later donated satellite phones to first responders in the aftermath of Katrina; now it is being acquired for half a billion dollars
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GPS vulnerable to spoofing
GPS technology is ubiquitous in civilian and military applications; Cornell University researchers raise uncomfortable questions by demonstrating how GPS navigation devices can be readliy duped by transmission of fake GPS signals that receivers accept as authentic ones
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Cyber Storm II drill shows ferocity of virtual attack
In March governments from Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States ran the largest-ever cyber war games, Cyber Storm II; the drill tested critical infrastructure including dam walls, telecommunications, and government computer networks
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NATO in major anti-terror drill
NATO will hold a two-week comprehensive anti-terrorrism drill in Sardinia; 15 nations, 10 agencies will coordinate land, air, sea, space assets in an effort to smooth communication, information sharing, and operational execution
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Briefly noted
Aussie cyber security needs work… D.C. policy carry iPhones… Surveillance radar in Indonesian straits… HUD awards Iowa critical infrastructure funds…
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"Thought helmets" for silent, secure communication among soldiers
U.S. Army funds research into helmets with embedded sensors which “read” a soldier’s thoughts (well, brain waves) and transmit them, telepathy-like, to their intended target
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Keep IT security simple
New study of corporate security breaches says that 87 percent of all security breaches could have been avoided “if reasonable security controls had been in place at the time of the incident”
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India eases foreign borrowing rules to aid infrastructure
The U.S. infrastructure is often described as “aging” or “crumbling”; in india they refer to the country’s “ramshackle infrastructure”; the Indian government, as part of a move to have $500 billion invested in improving the country’s infrastructure, eases borrowing rule, allowing Indian companies involved in infrastructure improvement to borrow more money abroad
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Briefly noted
Debating whether DHS should have cybersecurity responsibilities… FDA revisits refused foods issue… DoD tests contractors’ ID cards
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USPS to deploy IPv6-capable video surveillance
The U.S. Postal Services wants to increase security inside the more than 40,000 post offices around the country; it will install IPv6-capable CCTV systems — complying with the federal government encouragment of agnecies to migrate to IPv6
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GE, Google to collaborate on smart grid
The two companies, saying that existing U.S. infrastructure has not kept pace with the digital economy and the hundreds of technology opportunities that are ready for market, will focus on improving power generation, transmission, and distribution of energy;
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GAO: U.S. computer emergency readiness team is not ready
Government Accounting Office criticizes US-CERT for lacking “a comprehensive baseline understanding of the nation’s critical information infrastructure operations” and for not exhibiting “aspects of the attributes essential to having a truly national capability,” among other things
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IBM shows hardware-based encryption tool
System x Vault protects data when a server’s hard drive is disposed or stolen, without affecting server performance
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Forrester boosts 2008 tech spending forecast
For the technology sector, it may be a case of good news now and so-so news later; one wild card for the tech sector is the poor health of the nation’s banks and other financial-services companies, which account for about 18 percent of the U.S. technology market
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CTO defends researcher's decision to reveal SCADA exploit
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) software controls critical U.S. infrastructure; in June, a researcher released attack code which takes advantage of a stack-based buffer overflow bug in SCADA software; security patches have been provided, but the community debates whether the researcher acted responsibly
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More headlines
The long view
Falling Space Debris: How High Is the Risk I'll Get Hit?
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
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.