Criminals have been able to hack into computer systems via the Internet and cut power to several cities, a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency analyst said this week.
Speaking at a conference of security professionals on Wednesday, CIA analyst Tom Donahue disclosed the recently declassified attacks while offering few specifics on what actually went wrong.
Criminals have launched online attacks that disrupted power equipment in several regions outside of the U.S., he said, without identifying the countries affected. The goal of the attacks was extortion, he said.
“We have information, from multiple regions outside the United States, of cyber intrusions into utilities, followed by extortion demands,” he said in a statement posted to the Web on Friday by the conference’s organizers, the SANS Institute. “In at least one case, the disruption caused a power outage affecting multiple cities. We do not know who executed these attacks or why, but all involved intrusions through the Internet.”
“According to Mr. Donahue, the CIA actively and thoroughly considered the benefits and risks of making this information public, and came down on the side of disclosure,” SANS said in the statement.
One conference attendee said the disclosure came as news to many of the government and industry security professionals in attendance. “It appeared that there were a lot of people who didn’t know this already,” said the attendee, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak with the press.
He confirmed SANS’ report of the talk. “There were apparently a couple of incidents where extortionists cut off power to several cities using some sort of attack on the power grid, and it does not appear to be a physical attack,” he said.
Microsoft used the Macworld conference on Monday to release its much-anticipated Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac software suite. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant promises the new suite will offer a unique and feature-rich Mac-like solution to Mac users for their personal, home office and business office needs. Han-Yi Shaw, lead program manager for Word in Microsoft’s Mac business unit, said the developers had four key goals in mind when developing the suite: discoverability, simplicity, professional output and compatibility. He added it was also important to Microsoft to create a product that would be Mac-like in its touch and feel.
Three different versions of Office 2008 for Mac are now available. The core suite is Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac and includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage, plus Microsoft Exchange Server support and Automator tools, at $539.95 for the full edition and $319.95 for upgrades. Microsoft Office 2008 for MacHome and Student edition includes up to three licenses for $199.95. And for the professional enthusiast, Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Special Media edition is $629.95, or $379.95 for the upgrade. Much like last year’s release of Microsoft’s Office 2007 for Windows, the Mac edition boasts a new user interface developers promise will be more intuitive for end users,along with an abundance of new features and capabilities. The only thing which needs to be fixed is obviously the price – I don’t know many people willing to pay so much for software…
Looking to build on the success of its iPod and iPhone devices, Apple Inc. introduced several new products including an ultra-thin laptop computer, dubbed the Macbook Air, and a much-anticipated online movie rental service. The new Apple notebook computer’s major attribute is its sleek profile: it’s about three-quarters of an inch thick and weighs three pounds. The Macbook Air features a full-sized keyboard, a 13-inch screen, a built-in camera, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, all powered by an Intel Corp. dual core chip. Appearing on stage at the company’s Macworld expo, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said the computer, which he called “world’s thinnest notebook,” will cost $1,799 and is scheduled to ship in about two weeks. Ultramobile notebooks represent about 6% of the 270 million notebooks expected to the sold this year. Apple may benefit from good timing. Asus International Ltd.’s recently introduced Eee PC has topped sales charts at Amazon.com and is usually sold out at retail stores.
Apple’s CEO also launched the computer maker’s much-anticipated online movie rental service and unveiled an updated Apple TV device that will let viewers bypass their computers and rent movies directly from their widescreen TVs. Mr. Jobs said iTunes users can rent new-release movies to watch over their computers, iPods or iPhones for $3.99 for a 30 day period. Older titles will rent for $2.99 for the same time period. The service has the support of all major Hollywood studios including Walt Disney Co., Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, Sony Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, News Corp.’s Fox, Lionsgate and New Line, Apple said. Mr. Jobs also disclosed Apple had sold more than four million iPhones worldwide in the 200 days since the company’s trend-setting smartphone was launched. Is this going to be an another year of big success for Apple? or not?
Supercomputer that could help answer some of science’s biggest questions will be unveiled on Monday. With the power of 12,000 desktop PCs, the mammoth machine called HECToR is the fastest computer in Great Britain and one of the most powerful in Europe. It can make 63 million million calculations per second, allowing scientists to conduct research into everything from climate change to new medicines. The purpose-built machine is housed in 60 wardrobe-sized cabinets in the University of Edinburgh’s advanced computing center near the Scottish capital. After years of development, Chancellor Alistair Darling is due to attend the official launch ceremony for the 113 million pound machine.
“HECToR will enable us to do research that we simply could not do in any other way,” said Jane Nicholson, of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the public body which acts as the project’s managing agent. “We want to push forward the boundaries of knowledge.” Researchers will tap into its power to study ocean currents, build tiny parts for advanced computers and make warplanes less visible to radar. Other projects include research into superconductors, combustion engines and new materials. Scientists working in fields ranging from cosmology and atomic physics to disaster simulation and health care will also use the computer. HECToR, which stands for High-End Computing Terascale Resource, was made by the U.S. manufacturer Cray Inc.
Sun Microsystems will plunk down $1 billion to buy MySQL, the maker of a popular open-source database. Sun said Wednesday that it will pay about $800 million in cash for MySQL’s privately held stock and will assume about $200 million worth of options. MySQL CEO Marten Mickos will join Sun’s senior executive team after the transaction closes. The acquisition is a bold move for Sun, which has embraced open-source software and development practices in an effort to garner more revenue from its software business. Until now, it has sold support services for a competing open-source database, PostgreSQL. Company executives said they will continue to support PostgreSQL and continue to partner with database giant Oracle. MySQL, founded in 1995, is one of the most successful open-source companies. It’s part of the popular combination of open-source development products referred to as LAMP, for Linux, Apache Web server, MySQL and the PHP development language, which is broadly used on the Internet and within companies. Mickos had previously said that the company intended to go public rather than be acquired. Its business model is to give away the source code and its database for free and to charge customers an ongoing subscription fee for support and services. Speaking during a conference call, Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi said he estimated MySQL’s revenue over the past year was in the $60-$70 million range. Who said you can’t make money with free software?
Crystal Island is a name for one of the world’s biggest building projects that has been officially granted for building in Moscow on the peninsula between Moscow River and Andropov Avenue. It will be 450m high, covering a floor area of 2.5 million square meters and near half a million square meters. The cost of building Crystal Island will sum $4 billions.
The Crystal Island is not just an unusual huge building, it is a building-city. How comes? Well if you take the fact that this building will host about 3000 hotel rooms, about 900 serviced apartments, a school, exhibition spaces, theaters, retail and catering businesses, two public viewing platforms, at 150 meters and 300 meters, it’s not just a building anymore. It’s small city. The exterior facade will use solar responsive panels which, along with wind turbines, will generate electricity for the huge tower. Natural ventilation will be provided thanks to numerous strategically placed large atriums.
This entire project was initiated by Norman Foster, founder and chairman of Foster + Partners. Regarding the Crystal Island project, Norman Foster said: “Crystal Island is one of the world’s most ambitious building projects and it represents a milestone in the 40 year history of the practice. It is the largest single building in the world, creating a year-round destination for Moscow and a sustainable, dynamic new urban quarter. It is a paradigm of compact, mixed-use, sustainable city planning, with an innovative energy strategy and ‘smart’ skin which buffers against climate extremes.”
Security experts are warning about a stealthy Windows virus that steals login details for online bank accounts. In the last month, the malicious program has racked up about 5,000 victims – most of whom are in Europe. The malicious program is a type of virus known as a rootkit and it tries to overwrite part of a computer’s hard drive called the Master Boot Record (MBR). Once installed the virus, dubbed Mebroot by Symantec, usually downloads other malicious programs, such as keyloggers, to do the work of stealing confidential information. Most of these associated programs lie in wait on a machine until its owner logs in to the online banking systems of one of more than 900 financial institutions.The Russian virus-writing group behind Mebroot is thought to have created the torpig family of viruses that are known to have been installed on more than 200,000 systems. This group specialises in stealing bank login information. Security firm iDefense said Mebroot was discovered in October but started to be used in a series of attacks in early December. Between 12 December and 7 January, iDefense detected more than 5,000 machines that had been infected with the program. As it installs through security holes in Microsoft Explorer, it’s just another reason to use Firefox or Opera…
Logitech announced a new addition to its Harmony line of universal remote controls with the new Logitech Harmony One.
One thing that makes this different from most other Harmony remotes is that it features a 2.2-inch color touchscreen, most of which had a color display but used buttons beside the screen to select items that were being displayed.
The Harmony One will be available in February for $249.99
ASUSTeK Computer Incorporated (or Asus as they’re commonly called) has long been a favorite motherboard manufacturer for PC enthusiasts building or upgrading their own computers. Most recently they struck gold with their Eee PC line of small, inexpensive laptops.
There’s a lot more to Asus than just motherboards and tiny laptops, though, and to help build the company they have decided to split the company into three different units:
Asus will make only Asus-branded computers.
Pegatron will handle OEM, motherboards, and component manufacturing.
Unihan will handle cases, modules and other non-PC manufacturing.
Looking to build on the success of its iPod and iPhone devices, 
Apple’s CEO also launched the computer maker’s much-anticipated online movie rental service and unveiled an updated Apple TV device that will let viewers bypass their computers and rent movies directly from their widescreen TVs. Mr. Jobs said iTunes users can rent new-release movies to watch over their computers, iPods or iPhones for $3.99 for a 30 day period. Older titles will rent for $2.99 for the same time period. The service has the support of all major Hollywood studios including 
