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Mystery grows over Google US barges

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 06 November 2013 | 23.58

5 November 2013 Last updated at 10:08 ET

Mystery surrounds two barges that Google has moored off the coast of America.

The barges have a four-storey structure on deck and rumours are circulating about what the company plans to use them for.

One suggestion is that they could be turned in to floating data centres powered by wave action.

Others believe they could be fitted out with new showrooms for Google Glass with a "party deck" on top.

So far Google has declined to comment on what the vessels are being used for. But the company does have a patent from 2009 for a "water-based" data centre.

"It's an interesting concept," said Nick Layzell, of Telehouse, a data centre provider.

"Cooling is the big cost for any data centre, so perhaps they're trying to take advantage of having some water on tap."

But he added that water was the biggest threat to data centres because of the damage it could cause to equipment.

One of the barges is anchored at Pier 1, Treasure Island Marina in San Francisco.

The authority in charge of projects within San Francisco Bay confirmed that it had met with Google officials several times in recent months. Its chief executive Larry Goldzband said that Google had been "less than specific" about its plans.

"When they decide to let us know what they plan to do with it, or hope to do with it, then we can decide if it's allowable," he told AP.

Documents revealed following a freedom of information request by the The Day newspaper in Connecticut show Google is also linked to a barge near Maine on the eastern coast of the United States.

According to the paper, the documents did not explain what the barge would be used for but detailed a plan to "operate" the barge in different ports around the United States starting in New York.


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Bitcoin 'at risk' of network attack

5 November 2013 Last updated at 07:21 ET

The Bitcoin virtual currency is vulnerable to a "selfish" attack that would let someone gradually take control of the digital cash system.

The theoretical attack tries to subvert the way that computers involved in Bitcoin share information.

It plays upon the fact that everyone involved in keeping track of Bitcoin assumes all participants are honest.

Such an attack could already be happening, said the US researchers who discovered the vulnerability.

"Bitcoin is broken, " wrote Prof Emin Surer, one of the Cornell University scientists who developed the attack, in a blogpost describing the work.

Mining coins

The weakness he and Dr Ittay Eyal uncovered is fundamental to the way that Bitcoin works, he said, and emerges from the way that people find or mint new coins.

Typically new Bitcoins are generated by getting lots of computers to tackle a complicated cryptographic puzzle. At any given moment thousands of computers are involved in tackling this puzzle.

Roughly every ten minutes one group involved in solving this puzzle is rewarded with Bitcoins. The process is known as "mining" because, like miners, those who take part have to sift a lot of dross before they find a valuable nugget. As soon as the new coins are found, the news is circulated and everyone starts working on the next puzzle. One Bitcoin is currently worth about £145.

The Cornell attack involves one large mining group that does not say when it has been rewarded with new Bitcoins. This "selfish" mining group then begins working on the cryptographic puzzle that will eventually release the next reward.

This gives it an advantage because every other mining group will still be working on a puzzle that has already been solved. By leveraging this advantage and being careful about when they release information about new Bitcoins they have mined, the group could gradually take control of the entire mining system.

"Once the system veers away from the happy mode where everyone is honest, there is no force that opposes the growth of really large pools that command control of the currency," wrote Prof Surer. The pair pointed out that there were already mining groups big enough to mount a selfish attack on the protocol.

The two researchers have also proposed updating the protocol to limit the size of mining groups and make the whole system less susceptible to a selfish attack.

Vitalik Buterin, technical editor of Bitcoin Magazine, said the attack was "highly theoretical" because no software currently existed that could turn an honest mining group into a selfish one.

At the moment Bitcoin software shares information about what different miners are doing with the entire community. For a group to become selfish they would have to change this fundamental Bitcoin software in order to manipulate this information flow.

In addition, he said, only the biggest pools could try to subvert the system and the communication demands of the network would likely stymie those attempts.

In addition, he said, the rewards of selfish behaviour were outweighed by the benefits of being honest.

"No honest (or semi-honest) miner would want to join a selfish pool," he suggested. "Even if they do have a small incentive to [join], they have an even greater incentive to not break the Bitcoin network to preserve the value of their own Bitcoins and mining hardware."


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'Sweetie' catches online predators

5 November 2013 Last updated at 07:56 ET Angus CrawfordBy Angus Crawford BBC News
Image of computer generated 10-year-old girl called 'Sweetie'

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Sweetie, the computer avatar catching online predators

More than 100 Britons were among 1,000 men caught trying to pay a computer-generated child to perform sex acts online, after a Dutch children's charity set up a fake profile.

Terre des Hommes carried out a 10-week sting near Amsterdam, posing on video chat rooms as "Sweetie", a 10-year-old Filipina girl.

Some 20,000 men contacted her, with 1,000 found to have offered her money.

The names of these men - including 110 Britons - were passed to police.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

We did not solicit anything unless it was offered to us"

End Quote Hans Guyt, Terre des Hommes

When I visited the charity's operations room - in a warehouse on the outskirts of Amsterdam - I watched as a researcher logged on to a chat room as Sweetie - incredibly life-like but created by a computer.

Within seconds, like sharks, men were circling.

Of the 1,000 men who were willing to pay Sweetie to take off her clothes in front of a webcam, 254 were from the US, followed by 110 from the UK and 103 from India.

Researchers used evidence including profiles on Skype and social media to identify the suspects.

Project director Hans Guyt told a news conference in the Hague on Monday that the crime "requires a new way of policing".

"The predator won't come forward. The victim won't come forward," he said.

"We identified ourselves as 10-year-old Filipino girls.

"We did not solicit anything unless it was offered to us."

Worst-case scenario

Terre des Hommes has launched a global campaign to stop "webcam sex tourism".

Managing director, Albert Jaap van Santbrink, said: "Our worst-case scenario is that the same will happen with this phenomenon as with child pornography, which is now a multi-billion industry in the hands of criminal gangs."

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Working with our international law enforcement partners, we will now look at the information being passed on by Terre des Hommes"

End Quote Andy Baker, National Crime Agency

The charity has now handed over its findings to police and has said it will provide authorities with the technology it has developed.

But European policing agency Europol has expressed reservations about the findings.

"We believe that criminal investigations using intrusive surveillance measures should be the exclusive responsibility of law enforcement agencies," spokesman Soren Pedersen told the Reuters news agency.

Andy Baker, of the UK's National Crime Agency, also said that "tackling child sex abusers is best left to specialist law enforcement agencies".

But he praised the campaign, saying it had "widened awareness of a global child sex abuse threat".

"Working with our international law enforcement partners, we will now look at the information being passed on by Terre des Hommes," he added.

Sweetie will not be used again. She has done her job - showing the predators that they can easily become prey.


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Telecom firms under spying scrutiny

5 November 2013 Last updated at 08:49 ET

Privacy International has asked the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to investigate telecoms companies over the alleged interception of private data on their networks.

It follows allegations from whistle-blower Edward Snowden that fibre-optic networks were accessed as part of mass surveillance programmes.

His latest leaks suggest that data was intercepted on British territory.

The privacy group wants more information about how this was done.

Privacy right

"With each passing day, the public finds out more and more how private companies are colluding with governments to operate mass surveillance programs that intercept our daily phone calls, text messages, emails and personal data," said Eric King, head of research at Privacy International.

"Far from being coerced, it appears some of the companies have gone well beyond their legal responsibility by colluding with GCHQ on its Tempora [data collection] programme.

"We call on these companies to do the right thing and halt their involvement with mass surveillance," he added.

Privacy International wants companies such as Level 3, BT, Verizon, Vodafone Cable, Viatel and Interoute to explain all the steps they took to oppose or challenge requests from GCHQ, the UK's intelligence gathering headquarters, in Cheltenham.

It also wants them to cease any voluntary compliance with GCHQ and introduce policies to ensure that further requests do not interfere with what it calls "the fundamental right to privacy".

In response BT said that it would study the details of "any complaint we receive".

"We are clear that matters of national security are for governments, not telecommunications providers. As a company, we comply with the law," it told the BBC.

Level 3 said: "All of the countries where we deliver services have law enforcement and security concerns, and we are periodically compelled by in-country government authorities to assist in their investigations.

Our policy is the same everywhere. We comply with applicable local law, including all the applicable laws in the UK, while taking all reasonable steps to protect our customers' privacy."

Meanwhile Interoute declined to comment.

"The particular concern of Privacy International is that phone companies and [internet service providers] went beyond what the law required, either because they wanted a quiet life or because they thought that it was a good thing to do," said digital forensic expert Prof Peter Sommer.

Unwinding what legislation had been used and whether warrants had been issued for each intercept could be tricky though, he added.

"One of the puzzling things is how does it happen politically? Do the spooks go to their political masters and say, 'We are going dark. We can't follow the people we want to follow,' and ask for special warrants?"

"And if these are granted why aren't the politicians asking whether it is a good idea or not?"

Muscular programme

Last week the Washington Post alleged that the US National Security Agency had worked with British counterpart GCHQ to access the private data networks of Yahoo and Google.

The paper said it did not know exactly how the interception had worked only that it "happens on British territory".

Slides supplied by Edward Snowden appeared to show that the NSA had tools that could pull apart data packages sent across Yahoo and Google's internal networks.

The project, referred to as Muscular, was operated by GCHQ and offered "large international access located in the United Kingdom", according to the slide.

Companies such as Google have multiple data centres worldwide to share the load of the vast amount of traffic generated daily, making it easier and quicker for consumers to access the data they want.

"The allegations are that the spooks are able to get inside these networks, decode the information and reap the benefits," said Prof Sommer.

"The UK is a good place to do it because London and Manchester are huge hubs for telecom and internet data," he said.


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'123456' tops Adobe password list

5 November 2013 Last updated at 08:58 ET

"123456" was the most popular password among the millions of Adobe users whose details were stolen during an attack on the company.

About 1.9 million people used the sequence, according to analysis of data lost in the leak.

Online copies of the data have let security researchers find out more about users' password-creating habits.

The analysis suggests that many people are making it easy for attackers by using easy-to-guess passwords.

Word games

On 4 October, Adobe reported that its systems had been penetrated by attackers who had stolen the online credentials for millions of its users.

Early reports suggested about 2.9 million records had been compromised.

Continue reading the main story
  • 123456
  • 123456789
  • password
  • adobe123
  • 12345678
  • qwerty
  • 1234567
  • 111111
  • photoshop
  • 123123
  • 1234567890
  • 000000
  • abc123
  • 1234
  • adobe1
  • macromedia
  • azerty
  • iloveyou
  • aaaaaa
  • 654321

On 30 October, this figure was revised, with Adobe saying information about 38 million active users had gone astray.

In total, information about more than 150 million accounts was stolen - but many of the other accounts were disused, abandoned or duplicates.

Adobe has now shut down all the compromised accounts, saying it will only reopen them once passwords have been changed.

Copies of the data that was exposed by the breach have begun circulating online and inspired security researcher Jeremi Gosney to go through it working out which password was most popular.

Top of the list, with 1.9 million entries, was the "123456" string of numbers. Second was the slightly longer "123456789" sequence.

Other popular easy-to-guess passwords included "adobe123", "qwerty" and "password".

Mr Gosney said the results of the analysis should be treated with caution because, so far, no-one had access to the keys that Adobe used to encrypt the data.

However, he added, flaws in the way Adobe had stored and encrypted passwords along with clues in the giant file of data had made it possible to draw up a list that he was "fairly confident" was accurate.

Computer security researchers who study password-creating habits have also seized on the data dump as a way to refine the word lists they use to attack login systems in a bid to make them more secure.

Lists of passwords and email addresses are a boon to attackers not just because they can be used to get access to the systems they were supposed to secure. Many people re-use the same password for different services potentially giving attackers a way into other networks.


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Microsoft warns of hacker attacks

5 November 2013 Last updated at 21:21 ET

Microsoft has warned that hackers could exploit a "vulnerability" in its operating system to gain user rights to the affected computers.

It said attackers could exploit this by requesting users to preview or open a specially crafted email or web content.

Microsoft said it was "aware of targeted attacks" and was investigating.

The issue affects Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Office 2003 - 2010, and Microsoft Lync.

Recent versions of Microsoft Windows and Office are not affected by the issue - which centres on a graphics component. Details of which products are at risk are listed on the firm's site.

Microsoft said it would take appropriate action to address the issue, which "may include providing a security update through our monthly release process or providing an out-of-cycle security update, depending on customer needs".

In the meantime, it has advised customers to apply workarounds - a setting or configuration change that "does not correct the underlying issue but would help block known attack vectors before a security update is available".

'Requires user interaction'
Continue reading the main story

An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the logged on user"

End Quote Dustin Childs Microsoft

According to Microsoft, the flaw lies in the handling of the Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) image files by a graphics processing component in the affected software versions.

In a blog post on the Microsoft Security Response Centre, Dustin Childs a communications manager, said any move by hackers "requires user interaction".

He said that the attacks are disguised as an email requesting potential targets to open a specially crafted Word attachment.

If the attachment is opened or previewed, it attempts to exploit the issue using a malformed graphics image embedded in the document.

"An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the logged on user," Mr Childs said.

Microsoft added that hackers could also exploit the issue via a web-based attack.

"An attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit this vulnerability and then convince a user to view the website," it said.

However, it added that an attacker would have "no way to force users to view the attacker-controlled content".

"Instead, an attacker would have to convince users to take action, typically by getting them to click a link in an email message or in an Instant Messenger message that takes users to the attacker's website."


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Apple lists government data requests

5 November 2013 Last updated at 23:54 ET

Apple has revealed details of requests it has received from governments across the globe to share customer data.

The US government, which made between 1,000 and 2,000 requests in the six months to 30 June, topped the list.

The firm said the US requests affected 2,000 to 3,000 accounts, adding it gave out data on zero to 1,000 accounts.

This is the first time Apple has shared such data, but it is still not allowed to reveal the exact number of requests relating to US national security.

Apple said the most common "requests involve robberies and other crimes or requests from law enforcement officers searching for missing persons".

It said the response usually involves disclosing information about an account holder's iTunes or iCloud account "such as a name and an address".

"In very rare cases, we are asked to provide stored photos or email. We consider these requests very carefully and only provide account content in extremely limited circumstances," the firm said.

The UK was second on the list, with 127 requests. Spain, Germany and Australia also featured in the top five.

The tech giant added that since its main business was "not about collecting information", the vast majority of requests it received from law enforcement agencies were about information on "lost or stolen devices".

The company logs these requests under a separate category as "device requests" which, it said, "never include national security-related requests".

Apple received more than 3,500 such requests in the US between January and June this year.

'Gag order'
Continue reading the main story

We will continue to aggressively pursue our ability to be more transparent"

End Quote Apple

Apple also used the report to call for more freedom to disclose the details of such requests to customers.

It said that currently the US government did not allow it to disclose "except in broad ranges, the number of national security orders, the number of accounts affected by the orders, or whether content, such as emails, was disclosed".

"We strongly oppose this gag order," it added.

It said it had asked the government to ease these restrictions but so far had not seen any major changes.

"Despite our extensive efforts in this area, we do not yet have an agreement that we feel adequately addresses our customers' right to know how often and under what circumstances we provide data to law enforcement agencies".

Earlier this year, Google, Facebook and Microsoft asked the US government to allow them to disclose the security requests they receive to hand over user data.

The move by these companies came after leaks by whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed mass surveillance programmes by the National Security Agency (NSA) and associated agencies.

Apple said it had filed a letter with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court supporting a group of cases requesting greater transparency.

"We will continue to aggressively pursue our ability to be more transparent."


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Blogger hits trial tweeting target

6 November 2013 Last updated at 07:42 ET

A blogger who turned to crowdfunding website Indiegogo to raise money to tweet from the UK's phone-hacking trial has hit his target.

Peter Jukes has raised more than £4,000 to pay "his living expenses" for the trial's duration.

The trial of News of the World staff including ex-editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson has attracted huge media interest.

Mr Jukes has followed the case for some years, including writing a book.

He attended court in London to hear the prosecution's opening remarks and posted details of proceedings, expressing surprise that live tweeting was allowed for the rest of the trial.

While he wanted to continue, he said on his blog that he would have to stop "for financial reasons".

"I'm broke (mortgage-defaulting broke to be honest) and so will have to seek other work in the months ahead," he wrote.

But following many requests to continue he decided to turn to crowdfunding to raise money to cover his basic costs.

"Despite a bit of embarrassment, I'm going to put pride to the side and see if I can do that," he said on his Indiegogo page.

A day later, Mr Jukes hit his target, with six days of funding left to run. He said the amount would allow him to continue covering the case until Christmas.

The trial is expected to last for up to six months. There are eight defendants - some are charged with phone hacking or conspiracy to commit misconduct and others with perverting the course of justice. All the charges are denied.

The judge, Justice Saunders, has already made clear his feelings about the importance of the trial, saying that the case puts UK justice on trial as well as the defendants.

Mr Jukes has been following the case for online publication The Daily Beast and has also written a book The Fall of the House of Murdoch.


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Call of Duty faces frame-rate issues

6 November 2013 Last updated at 07:52 ET

Reviews of the latest Call of Duty video game have reported problems with the graphics on the PlayStation 4 edition of the title.

Testers said that its frame rate dropped at several points during the game causing a stutter-effect.

The PS4 version of CoD: Ghosts is the only console edition that renders its images in 1080p high definition. The Xbox One and Wii U versions create less processor-intensive 720p resolutions.

Publisher Activision has not commented.

Although the PS4 version of the game is already on sale, Sony's console itself will not be released until 15 November in North America and 29 November in Europe.

That potentially gives Activision time to release a software patch if the issue can be fixed.

Multiplayer problems

Ghosts is the 10th first-person shooter game in the main CoD series.

Its predecessor, Black Ops II, earned $1bn (£621m) in its first 15 days of release, making it the second fastest-selling game of all time after Grand Theft Auto 5.

Earlier this week, the head of Activision's Infinity Ward studio - which developed the newest title - told the BBC that his team had made delivering smooth animations a priority.

"One of the key pillars of Call of Duty has been 60 frames per second... and ensuring that was of utmost importance, and the resolutions that appear are geared around that," said Mark Rubin.

Elsewhere he suggested that the different way the new consoles handled memory had contributed to a decision to support 1080p graphics on Sony's machine but not Microsoft's.

However, some reviews have suggested the PS4 version does not maintain a consistent frame rate as desired.

"The PlayStation 4 version... has noticeable technical issues, sometimes slowing to a crawl, particularly during set-piece moments with multiple effects," reported Joystiq.

"Frame rate hitches happen throughout the campaign on PlayStation 4 and, in a series known for its Hollywood-inspired bombast, it detracted from the experience."

Now Gamer added that it was particularly concerned about the issue occurring during the title's online multiplayer mode.

"It's rare - it only happened once every few matches - but it is definitely present," it said.

"It's not something we've seen in any Call of Duty multiplayer before, so it stood out as particularly odd and unfortunate, given the frame-rate stutter is significant enough to let targets escape to safety or see you killed during the general mayhem."

The blog Gearnuke has gathered together other complaints of a similar nature.

Although Activision has yet to provide a statement, Mr Rubin had previously acknowledged: "There's enormous amounts of work ahead of us in perfecting our game engines on both [Sony and Microsoft's] platforms."

Early days

Sony has not commented on the subject.

However, Microsoft has addressed the fact the Xbox One version of Ghosts renders graphics in half the resolution of the PS4, despite the fact both consoles support the 1080p format.

"Once people have the chance to play the games and experience Xbox One for themselves, we believe they'll realise that great-looking visuals are only part of the experience," said a spokesman.

"Launch is the first of many steps into the new console generation, and we fully expect our developers to continue to break new ground and surpass previous limitations in the years ahead."

Reviews of the Xbox One version of Ghosts remain under embargo until 12 November.


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Concept car ditches steering wheel

6 November 2013 Last updated at 11:41 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

Toyota has suggested motorists of the future could ride about in a vehicle inspired by a horse.

It has announced a concept car that drivers would control by shifting their body weight while standing, doing away with the need for a steering wheel.

One analyst said the current design posed too many safety issues, but did point towards future developments.

The FV2 vehicle will make its official debut at the Tokyo Motor Show in two weeks' time.

'Imagination piece'

Toyota suggested leaning forwards, backwards or to the side to determine the FV2's direction would be "intuitive", adding that voice and facial recognition sensors would bring up information to assist users in their journeys.

Suggested destinations and other data would be shown on an augmented reality display presented on the windscreen, it said.

The aim was to develop aspects of trust and understanding between the vehicle and the rider "similar to those a rider will have with a horse".

"This is an imagination piece rather than something that will be seen in production in the next few years," a spokesman told the BBC.

"But some of the technologies we're suggesting could be introduced further down the line - say in five to 10 years' time."

Testing the water

Carmakers often release images and models of imagined futuristic vehicles to coincide with motor shows.

Although they are sometimes little more than a publicity stunt, they can be valuable as a way of seeking early feedback and helping determine where research and development funds should be invested.

It can still take a long time for successful ideas to come to fruition.

For example, Toyota first showed off the idea of making a hybrid - combining both an internal combustion engine and an electrical propulsion system - in 1977 when it unveiled a special version of its Sports 800 GT at the Tokyo show.

It was 20 years later that it released its first hybrid for sale to the public - the Prius - in Japan.

Other examples of tech first seen in concept vehicles include panoramic glass roofs, now found in some Renault and Mercedes cars among others, and using touchscreen panels to do away with dashboard buttons, as is the case in Tesla's Model S.

New thinking

One expert said the Toyota's latest design was intended to address a problem worrying the industry at large.

"Lots of carmakers are very frightened by the fact many young people can't afford a car and insurance, and the whole concept of a traditional motor vehicle doesn't really appeal to them," said Paul Newton from the consultants IHS Automotive.

"I think in practical terms the FV2 won't see the light of day - if you are standing up and leaning to move it, my first thought would be, what if you hit something? The likelihood of it being licensed in today's safety-conscious environment is zero.

"But concepts are the proving ground for lots of technologies that do come into mainstream production, and many things will happen in the next 25 years that will redefine what we've probably spent a good part of century looking at as the norm."

Mitsubishi, Nissan, Suzuki and Honda are among the other firms who have announced they will be unveiling concept vehicles at the Tokyo Motor Show, which runs from 22 November to 1 December.


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