NewsScan Daily, 13 January 2005 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 13 January 2005 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
       Security I: Vandalism of College Networks
       Security II: Attack on T-Mobile
       Security III: The Criminal Class
       Security IV: New FBI Software Unusable
       Libraries Get $11 Million From Gates Foundation

FEATURES
       Flash Card
       Worth Thinking About: Food Storage

SECURITY I: VANDALISM OF COLLEGE NETWORKS
     Early this month an intruder penetrated a central computer at George
Mason University and attempted to access GMU's 130 other servers -- which
hold such information as grades, financial aid, and payrolls. In the past
two years, similar attacks have occurred at the universities of Georgia,
Texas, Missouri, and California. To resist such attacks, some schools are
beginning to use software that scans individual computers before they are
allowed to connect to campus networks, and other institutions are setting up
multiple smaller networks that house sensitive data, keeping them separate
from the main networks. (Washington Post 12 Jan 2005)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5188-2005Jan12.html>

SECURITY II: ATTACK ON T-MOBILE
     A network vandal broke into the network of wireless carrier T-Mobile
over a seven-month period and read e-mails and personal computer files of
hundreds of customers -- including those of the Secret Service agent
investigating the hacker himself. The online activities of the vandal,
21-year-old computer engineer Nicolas Lee Jacobsen of Santa Ana, were traced
to a hotel where he was staying in Williamsport, N.Y. Although Jacobsen was
able to view the names and Social Security numbers of 400 customers (all of
whom were notified in writing about the break-in), customer credit card
numbers and other financial information never were revealed, and T-Mobile
says it "immediately took steps that prevented any further access to this
system." (AP/12 Jan 2005)
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/10633193.htm>

SECURITY III: THE CRIMINAL CLASS
     In an interview with journalist John Markoff of the New York Times,
security expert Bruce Schneier suggests that the problem of Web vandalism
has fundamentally changed in the last several years. Previously, hackers
were mainly kids, engaging in hacking as a kind of intellectual challenge or
a sport, but more recently hackers are coming mainly from criminals "in
Third World countries, from Africa, South America, Asia, and the former
Soviet Union" -- a development that makes life much harder for security
officials. Schneier, whose latest book is "Beyond Fear," is founder and
chief technology officer of Counterpane Internet Security. (New York Times
13 Jan 2005)
<http://tech.nytimes.com/pages/technology/index.html>

SECURITY IV: NEW FBI SOFTWARE NOT USABLE
     A new FBI computer system called Virtual Case File, designed to help
agents share information to ward off terrorist attacks, may have to be
discarded because it doesn't work as designed. The agency will be soliciting
proposals for new software from outside contractors for new software. Sen.
Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee,
calls the development "a stunning reversal of progress" and adds: "If the
software has failed, that sets us back a long way. This has been a
fits-and-starts exercise, and a very expensive one for a very long time.
There are very serious questions about whether the FBI is able to keep up
with the expanding responsibility and the amount of new dollars that are
flowing into it. We have fully funded it at its requested levels." Science
Applications, the company that developed the system, says it "successfully
completed" delivery of the initial version of the Virtual Case File software
last month. (Los Angeles Times 13 Jan 2005)
<http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-na-fbi13jan13,1,2171776.story?coll=la-headlines-technology>

LIBARIES GET $11 MILLION FROM GATES FOUNDATION
     The Gates Foundation, established by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and
his wife, is giving $11 million in cash grants to public libraries in 37
states and the District of Columbia to buy computers and software and pay
for faster Internet connections. The grants, which will be matched partially
with other money from state and federal sources, are intended to ensure that
public libraries can continue to offer patrons free access to technology.
Susan Hildreth, the state librarian in California, which got $416,800 from
the Gates Foundation, says: "We are the first resort for Internet access,
particularly in low-income areas. People expect computers to be available at
the library, at the highest technological level." (AP/USA Today 13 Jan 2005)
<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-01-13-gatesfnd-libraries_x.htm>

*****

FLASH CARD
     "Mock Pate de Foi Gras. Saute half pound of chicken livers gently in
butter or chicken fat. Add 2 onions sliced and fried, and 2 fresh onions
with water to cover. Cook for an hour or until chicken livers are very soft
and liquor is reduced. Fry mushrooms cut in small pieces and mash all
together. Place clove garlic in press and add juice. Add onion juice, lemon
juice to taste, pinch of oregano and marjoram. " (Michael Grinor)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: FOOD STORAGE
     In his book about human accomplishment, social scientist Charles Murray
takes us back to the way it was 8,000 years ago:
     "What kind of people were they? In the important ways, just like us.
That doesn't mean that people of -8000 perceived the world as we do, but the
differences were caused by cultural and educational gulfs, not smaller brain
size. All of us had our counterparts in the world of -8000 -- people as
clever, handsome, aesthetically alert, and industrious as any of us, with
senses of humor as witty or ribald. Humans of -8000 were so like us that one
of their infants raised in 21C would be indistinguishable from his
playmates.
     "The humans of -8000 had already accomplished much. Fire had been not
just tamed, but manipulated, adapted for uses ranging from lamps to the
oxidation of pigments. Stone tools were sophisticated, including finely
crafted hammers and axes, and spears and arrows with razor edges. The
technology for acquiring and working the materials for such objects had
evolved remarkably by -8000. There is evidence of underground mining of
chert, a quartz used for spearheads and arrowheads, as early as -35,000. "By
-8000, humans already had fully developed languages, the most advanced of
which expressed ideas and emotions with precision. A few of them apparently
had begun to work fibers into textiles. They knew how to grind seeds to make
flour. The first tentative efforts to work copper had already occurred. And
the human spirit was manifesting itself. Burial of the dead, drawings,
sculptures, the conscious use of color, concepts of gods and cosmic
mysteries were all part of human cultures scattered around the earth in
-8000.
     "These were large accomplishments, and already set Homo sapiens apart
from other living creatures. And yet most of the world's population in -8000
lived a daily life that in its physical dimensions was only marginally
different from that of the animals they hunted. Humans had learned to find
shelter from the cold and wet, but nothing we would find much more
comfortable than the dens used by other animals. They had tools for hunting
and gathering, but food nonetheless had to be obtained continually, by
tracking and killing game or by finding wild vegetables and fruits. It was
not always an exhausting life. When food was plentiful, Paleolithic man
actually had a considerable amount of leisure time. But the tiny surpluses
humans accumulated by smoking or salting their meat were stopgaps for
emergencies."
                               ***
     [To find a library copy of Charles Murray's "Human Accomplishment: The
Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950," visit
RLG's RedLightGreen service at:
<http://www.redlightgreen.com/ucwprod/servlet/ucw.servlets.UCWController?ACTION=EDITION&WORKID=40773521&LANGUAGE=ENG&> -- or to purchase a copy go to:
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/006019247X/qid=1105540309/newsscancom/ref=nosim>
Note: We donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult literacy
programs.]

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