The New Microsoft Walled Garden

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For the first time in the history of the PC, Microsoft is rolling out a new Windows ecosystem for which they will be the sole software distributor. If you buy Windows 8, the only place you will be able to download software that integrates with its new user interface will be the official Windows Store. Microsoft will have complete control over what software will be allowed there.

via Critical Detail.

This article has a very lengthy description of Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS describing  past evolution of the PC to where it is now going.  In essence, Microsoft want to be like Apple.  It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the next year.  Here’s another blurb:

Now, this is apparently a point of some contention. Perhaps because Microsoft has not made a bigger deal about it in their press releases, not everyone believes that distributing software for the modern UI will require developers to get Microsoft’s permission. But they are wrong. In order to set the record straight once and for all, a complete, thoroughly researched analysis of Microsoft’s official publications on the subject is included as Appendix B to this article. It demonstrates that there is no method for developers to distribute modern UI applications to the internet at large without receiving explicit approval from Microsoft.

Pirate Bay Moves to The Cloud, Becomes Raid-Proof

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“If one cloud-provider cuts us off, goes offline or goes bankrupt, we can just buy new virtual servers from the next provider. Then we only have to upload the VM-images and reconfigure the load-balancer to get the site up and running again.”

via Pirate Bay Moves to The Cloud, Becomes Raid-Proof | TorrentFreak.

The load balancer and transit-routers are still owned and operated by The Pirate Bay, which allows the site to hide the location of the cloud provider. It also helps to secure the privacy of the site’s users.

Next-Generation Malware: Changing The Game In Security’s Operations Center

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In a nutshell, the process of malware analysis and defense has evolved from a “set it and forget it” task into a skills-intensive, do-it-yourself research project. And that shift is having a profound effect on the staffing and day-to-day activities of the enterprise security department.

via Next-Generation Malware: Changing The Game In Security’s Operations Center – Dark Reading.

In the meantime, however, the best strategy for stopping next-generation malware is not to rely too heavily on any one technology, Manky advises. A combination of signature-based tools, behavior-based tools, traditional perimeter defenses, and next-generation application defenses can create such a muddle of problems for attackers that can discourage them — and send them looking for easier pickings elsewhere, he says.

Chips Race to Absorb the Line Card

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EZchip and Netronome both sell network processors — chips specifically designed for networking equipment — and both say they’re expanding their scope to cover Layers 2 through 7, thanks to their new chip designs. That means they can target switching, routing, security, deep packet inspection — pretty much all the intelligence in a network element.

via Light Reading – Optical Networking – Chips Race to Absorb the Line Card – Telecom News Analysis.

Trolls filed 40% of patent infringement lawsuits in 2011

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A new study helps to fill the gap by providing systematic data on the growth of patent troll litigation. Robin Feldman, a professor at UC Hastings College of Law, teamed up with Lex Machina, a Stanford Law spinoff that collects data on patent litigation, to compile a systematic survey of patent litigation. Their results are striking: the fraction of lawsuits filed by troll-like entities grew from 22 percent in 2007 to 40 percent in 2011.

via Trolls filed 40% of patent infringement lawsuits in 2011 | Ars Technica.

Is a Wireless Data Center Possible?

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In a new paper, a team of researchers from Cornell and Microsoft concluded that a data-center operator could replace hundreds of feet of cable with 60-GHz wireless connections—assuming that the servers themselves are redesigned in cylindrical racks, shaped like prisms, with blade servers addressing both intra- and inter-rack connections.

via Is a Wireless Data Center Possible?.

Although many 60-GHz technologies are under consideration (IEE 802.15.3c and 802.11ad, WiGig, and others), the authors picked a Georgia Tech design with bandwidth of between 4-15Gbps and and effective range of less than or equal to 10 meters. Beam-steering wasn’t used because of the latencies involved in reinstating a dropped connection, although both time and frequency multiplexing were. (Because the team couldn’t actually build the design, they chose Terabeam/HXI 60-GHz transceivers for a conservative estimate.)

Dodging 5 Dangerous Database Default Settings

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Because database configurations can make all the difference between safeguarding data stores and leaving them dangerously vulnerable to big data breaches, security experts recommend taking a look at all of your database’s default settings for weakness. But, in particular, the following defaults pose the biggest risks.

via Dodging 5 Dangerous Database Default Settings – Dark Reading.

  1. Default Passwords And Accounts
  2. Allowing Direct Table Access
  3. Keeping Default Stored Procedures
  4. Encryption Keys Stored With Database
  5. Unnecessary Services and Applications

Cyber War? Bring It On!

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Ever since our own government’s WWI propaganda machine portrayed the Germans as evildoers intent on raping and pillaging the USA, Washington has managed to make the public fearful about one sort of impending doom or another. When I was a kid we were all going to be blown to smithereens by a Russian nuke. “DUCK and cover!” Then came the domino theory of communist takeovers. There were riots, crime sprees, gangsters, Russians, Communists, evil Birchers, Iraqis, Hezbollah, all out to doom the country.

Now looms the horrible cyberattack from God knows who.

via Cyber War? Bring It On! | News & Opinion | PCMag.com.

NASA to Demonstrate Communications Via Laser Beam

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It currently takes 90 minutes to transmit high-resolution images from Mars, but NASA would like to dramatically reduce that time to just minutes. A new optical communications system that NASA plans to demonstrate in 2016 will lead the way and even allow the streaming of high-definition video from distances beyond the Moon.

via NASA – NASA to Demonstrate Communications Via Laser Beam.

The LCRD is the next step in that direction, Israel said, likening the emerging capability to land-based fiber-optic systems, such as Verizon’s FiOS network. “In a sense, we’re moving FiOS to space.”