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The next version of FISMA
The first version of the Federal Information Security Act (FISMA) of 2002 placed much emphasis on auditing and reporting; it is time to move on beyond checking compliance boxes and concentrate on making sure that the security of government departments is not compromised
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Researchers inadvertently release IE7 attack code
Chinese researchers fail to note that the last security patch released by Microsoft did not take care of a problem they had earlier identified; thinking the problem has been fixed, the researchers release code that might be misused to exploit an unpatched IE 7 vulnerability
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Hackers target rich content files
New security report says that PDF and Flash files will be used by cybercriminals much more in 2009
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U.K. launches dedicated network for emergency communication
The U.K. government has contracted with BT to develop the National Resilience Extranet — which will enable the secure exchange of information in response to civil emergencies such as floods and outbreaks of agricultural diseases
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Defining on line attacks and cyberwar
The growing number of cyberattacks — for political reasons (Estonia, Georgia) and for profit — prompts calls to define the threat more clearly
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Economic downturn may force software engineers into crime
Eugene Kaspersky says economic crisis would create a situation in which unemployed software engineers could become the latest threat to corporate IT security
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Twenty-one million German bank accounts for sale
Criminals steal 21 million German bank records; reporters posing as buyers working for a gambling business managed to strike a a price of €0.55 per record, or €12 million for all the data
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Day of smart grid nears
Major blackouts may be a thing of the past: the world’s first high-voltage Li-ion system can connect to the grid, without a transformer, and immediately turn on if there is a disruption in power
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Briefly noted
The principles which should guide Obama’s $700 billion infrastructure plan… Cisco becomes infrastructure player on Obama tech focus… EU piracy mission chief calls for more surveillance equipment
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U.K. government grants itself even more data sharing power
A U.K. government proposal debated in Parliament this week would increase the ability of different government arms to share data
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Here they go again: China demands access to Western computer security
Another crisis in U.S.-China trade relations looms, as China, again, is about to introduce rules which would allow Chinese companies to steal Western industrial secrets, and would allow the Chinese government more tightly to monitor what the Chinese people say and read
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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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The long view
Virtual Models Paving the Way for Advanced Nuclear Reactors
Computer models predict how reactors will behave, helping operators make decisions in real time. The digital twin technology using graph-neural networks may boost nuclear reactor efficiency and reliability.