NewsScan Daily, 1 December 2003 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 1 December 2003 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Is Moore's Law Destined to Hit the Wall?
        Internet Mapping Project Poses Artistic Challenge
        A Microsoft in Every Car?
        Asian Pirates Hawking 'Longhorn' Operating System
        Happy Holidays for Comparison Shopping Sites

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Honorary Subscriber: Frederick Childe Hassam
        Safe & Sound in the Cyber Age: Learning from Teaching

IS MOORE'S LAW DESTINED TO HIT THE WALL?
Researchers at Intel are predicting that Moore's Law will cease to be 
viable in about two decades. According to a recent Intel paper titled 
"Limits to Binary Logic Switch Scaling -- A Gedanken Model," semiconductor 
makers won't be able to shrink transistors much, if at all, beyond 2021. 
Transistor shrinkage has been one of the main drivers of Moore's Law, which 
posits that chipmakers can double the number of transistors on a given chip 
approximately every two years. "This looks like a fundamental limit," says 
Paolo Gargini, director of technology strategy at Intel. With shrinkage 
tapped out, chipmakers will need to find other ways to continue cranking 
out cheaper and more powerful processors. Theoretical possibilities include 
reusing electrons rather than destroying them as the reach the end of their 
path. "You simply transfer the electron to something else," says Gargini. 
"You can make a lot of calculations without destroying the electrons." 
Another concept involves using carbon nanotubes and silicon nanowires to 
construct transistors, although heat removal would continue to be an issue. 
Finally, a solution proposed by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, among 
others, is to make the chips bigger, perhaps layering the transistors in 
stacks to increase capacity. (CNet News/ZDNet 1 Dec 2003)
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5112061.html

INTERNET MAPPING PROJECT POSES ARTISTIC CHALLENGE
Networking engineer Barrett Lyon is hard at work on his Internet mapping 
project, dubbed Opte, with the goal of creating a comprehensive graphical 
representation of the Internet in just one day using a single computer and 
a standard networking program called "traceroute." "It started as a bet, 
but after I warmed up to the idea I found a lot of value in the project 
itself," says Lyon, who notes his maps could provide a useful overview of 
the Internet's structure and even pinpoint the effects of disruptions 
caused by real-world disasters. The traceroute software records the network 
addresses that a data packet traverses as it travels toward its 
destination. Lyon has modified the software to map only larger "class C" 
networks, and theorizes that by performing 194 traceroute searches per 
second, it should be able to scan the whole Net in a day. And while some 
question whether Lyon's schema will be capable of tracking every 
interconnection on the Net, Lyon says he's more concerned with the 
aesthetic aspect of the endeavor: "The project is art." (New Scientist 28 
Nov 2003)
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994434

A MICROSOFT IN EVERY CAR?
Microsoft has already invaded most of the PC-equipped households and 
businesses in the U.S. and is now eyeing its next conquest -- your 
automobile. "We'd like to have one of our operating systems in every car on 
Earth," says Dick Brass, VP of Microsoft's automotive business unit. "It's 
a lofty goal." The software giant already has its platform installed on 23 
different vehicle models, including the BMW 7 series, Daimler, Volvo, 
Subaru and Toyota. Brass says the myriad gadgets that drivers use to while 
away their commuting hours can all be connected via Microsoft's "TBox," 
which will also enable hands-free operation. "The idea is to make easy to 
bring phones and laptops into the car… and connect to networks around it." 
He also envisions using the TBox system to organize van pools and reduce 
traffic congestion. "It's possible to imagine setting a system in place 
with 5,000 to 10,000 vans and have a dramatic reduction in traffic. With 
GPS and TBox, we have the tools we would need to put this all together." 
But some critics have voiced concern over Microsoft's new venture: "I don't 
want Ford making PDAs, and I don't want Microsoft making cars," says one 
skeptic. (AP 1 Dec 2003)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20031201/D7V5D6JO2.html

ASIAN PIRATES HAWKING 'LONGHORN' OPERATING SYSTEM
Microsoft's next-generation operating system, code-named "Longhorn," won't 
be released before 2005, but an early version is already on sale in 
southern Malaysia for $1.58 (6 ringgit). The software was demonstrated and 
distributed at a conference for Microsoft programmers in October, but the 
company's corporate attorney says, "It's not a ready product. Even if it 
works for awhile, I think it's very risky" to install it on a home or 
office computer. Longhorn purportedly promises new methods of storing 
files, tighter links to the Internet, greater security and fewer annoying 
reboots. (Reuters 1 Dec 2003)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=BTOVWIGRBA1NOCRBAEOCFEY?type=technologyNews&storyID=3915420

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FOR COMPARISON SHOPPING SITES
Comparison shopping sites such as Shopping.com and BizRate are anticipating 
an explosion in growth this holiday season, fueled by an increasing number 
of online bargain hunters. According to Nielsen/NetRatings, about 21 
million U.S. Internet users surfed through one or more comparison shopping 
sites last August, up 34% from the same time a year earlier. And Jupiter 
Research predicts that a significant portion of the 21% growth in 
online-shopping revenues expected this season -- to $16.8 billion -- will 
result from wider use of comparison shopping sites. Although early versions 
of automated shopping assistants, such as MySimon, fizzled due to errors in 
data, slow connections, and consumers' reluctance to submit their credit 
card information online, today's major retailers have committed major 
resources to the Web, including staff that feed real-time pricing data to 
the comparison sites. Some retailers, such as JC Penney, are building their 
own comparison capabilities into their Web pages so that consumers can 
price multiple items without leaving its site. And analysts anticipate 
market consolidation over the coming year, as e-commerce heavyweights such 
as Amazon and eBay float offers to buy Shopping.com and its rivals. 
(BusinessWeek Online 25 Nov 2003)
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2003/tc20031125_1528_tc136.htm

*****

FLASH CARD
      "             !" (Marcel Marceau)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: FREDERICK CHILDE HASSAM
      Today's Honorary Subscriber is the American painter and printmaker 
Frederick Childe Hassam (1859-1935). Like the French Impressionists he 
studied while at the Académie Julien in Paris, Hassam portrayed the leisure 
life of the middle and upper classes and used rapid brushwork, diagonal 
perspectives, large expanses of open space, and cut forms.
      When Hassam returned from Paris in 1889, he settled in New York City, 
where he painted people scurrying along snowy streets, as in Street Scene 
in Winter (1901; Metropolitan Museum, New York City), or strolling under 
flowering trees along broad avenues. Hassam was sensitive to the play of 
light and the subtlety of color patterns in landscapes and seascapes such 
as Sunny Blue Sea (1913; National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, 
D.C.). In 1898 he joined a group of American impressionists called "The 
Ten," which also included John Twachtman and Alden Weir. Hassam took to 
painting in brilliant color with touches of pure pigment, and his works are 
distinctive for their freshness and clear luminous atmosphere. Scenes of 
New York life remained his favorite subject matter--e.g., "Washington Arch, 
Spring" (1890; Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.), but he also painted 
landscapes of New England and rural New York that, with their intense blue 
skies, lush foliage, and shimmering white light, became quite popular.
      Hassam was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and began his artistic 
career in 1876 as an illustrator for newspapers and magazines such as 
Scribner's, Century, and Harper's. In the early 1880s he studied with a 
local, Munich-trained artist, developing a style that reflected both 
academic realism and Barbizon School influence. By the mid-80s, responding 
to contemporary trends in landscape painting, Hassam was working with a 
carefully limited palette to produce evocative urban scenes, especially of 
gray, rainy days. In 1886, he went to Paris for three years, where he 
entered the Académie Julien to refine his figure technique and, outside the 
Académie, absorbed the influence of Impressionism, enhancing his sense of 
color and light. His April Showers, with its loose brushwork and 
spontaneous texture, clearly shows his debt to European Impressionism while 
at the same time remaining true to his penchant for depicting inclement 
weather, in this instance the effects of rain on the street and the people.
      No other American Impressionist ever surpassed the quality and 
variety of Hassam's output as a painter and draftsman. Equally talented in 
oils, watercolors, and prints, he explored rain-swept city scenes, glorious 
gardens, exquisite women, and stirring flag-lined streets.

See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0789205874/newsscancom/ref=nosim 
for "Childe Hassam: Impressionist" -- or look for it in your favorite 
library. (We donate all revenue from our book suggestions to adult literacy 
programs.)

SAFE & SOUND IN THE CYBER AGE: LEARNING FROM TEACHING
      Regular readers of NewsScan will know that your faithful security 
columnists have been less than faithful and somewhat irregular of late. 
We'd like to say the lack of columns lately was due to an extended 
Caribbean vacation, but no such luck. The simple truth is we have been busy 
with a bunch of different projects. Chey was finishing up her latest book, 
"Cryptography for Dummies" (expected to be in bookstores by March). Stephen 
has been on the conference circuit promoting his company's SpamSquelcher 
product. And both of us have been working on the Master of Science in 
Information Assurance program (MSIA for short) at the University of 
Norwich, Vermont. For those not familiar with the term, information 
assurance is like a superset of computer security and information security, 
encompassing all aspects of both areas.
      Not that either of us has actually set foot on the University of 
Norwich campus. This is a virtual program. You can participate, as a 
student or professor, from virtually anywhere. In fact, Norwich has one of 
the few, if not the only, post-graduate, distance-learning, degree programs 
in information security (if you're interested, check out 
www3.norwich.edu/msia). Students take 6 seminars, each from 10 to 12 weeks 
in length, over an 18-month period. Each seminar involves weekly lectures 
and discussions, occasional multiple-choice tests, 10 short weekly essays 
and one big end-of-seminar essay. We have written most of the weekly 
lectures for half of the seminars, about 30 in total, give or take a few 
guest spots for colleagues such as the disaster recovery and incident 
management expert, Michael Miora.
      In addition, Stephen has just finished a stint as instructor on one 
seminar and is now starting out on another. So, we have been busy living 
and breathing information assurance. Not that we feel terribly re-assured, 
and here's why. One of the clever ideas that Dr. Mich Kabay, the principal 
architect of the MSIA program, has incorporated into the learning process 
is workplace analysis. In other words, when students are studying viruses, 
they write about the virus situation at their place of work (all of the 
students on this post-graduate course are working in information security 
positions).
      This means, and here is the un-reassuring part, that we learn quite a 
lot about how bad things are out there, usually in big companies or large 
government agencies, some of them closely related to the health and safety 
of our nation. Not that the intent of the exercise is to assemble an 
indictment of the information security status quo. The whole thrust of the 
degree program is to assess and improve security status, applying what the 
student is learning in the program. But along the way you learn some grim 
facts. Like the costly beating many organizations suffered this year at the 
hands of virus and worm outbreaks. Or the persistent tendency of 
organizations to put mission-critical IT functions at risk by putting them 
on the Internet (or making them dependent on technology that uses the 
Internet to the extent that, if the 'net goes down, so will the function).
      Not that all the news is bad. Some organizations are doing a stellar 
job in some areas: comprehensive document classification, company-wide 
security policies, centralized security event reporting, mandatory 
sanctions against employees who violate policy, and so on. There is an 
interesting mix of good news/bad news from both the public and private 
sectors. Some government agencies are clearly taking security very 
seriously, others are not. The same can be said of companies, even within 
the same sector. No side seems to be clearly ahead at this point.
      And there are some generalizations we can make about relative 
weaknesses (although we hesitate to point out anything so specific that it 
could be helpful to anyone out there who is contemplating malicious 
activity). For example, local entities appear to be more exposed than state 
or regional entities, which are in turn less on the ball than national or 
international entities. There are exceptions, of course, but it would 
appear that the 'low-hanging fruit' for criminal hackers today is at the 
city and county level, whether it is government agency or financial 
institution. That said, it should be noted that there are some dedicated 
people, some of whom we have had the privilege of teaching, who are working 
in their communities to try and rectify this, often in the face of a lack 
of funding and support. In coming columns, which we hope to deliver on 
something closer to a weekly schedule, we will try to provide some low cost 
approaches to getting the security job done at the local level.
      [Chey Cobb, CISSP, the author of Network Security for Dummies, is an 
independent consultant (www.cheycobb.com) and a former senior technical 
security advisor to the NRO. She can be emailed as chey at patriot dot net. 
Stephen Cobb, CISSP, who helped develop SpamSquelcher, a new network 
perimeter security service (www.SpamSquelcher.com) can be emailed as scobb 
at eprivacygroup dot com.]

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