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March 11, 2010
6:49
The Kingdom Tower Lobby, RiyadhCorinne Martin.
» ‎ ahmed's shared items (general)

I love walking trough the Kingdom Tower Lobby to get to The Four Seasons Restaurant. It’s so very grand but still authentic. Businessmen exchanging ideas in between tall palm tress. The scents of flowers are breathtaking .
4:42
هيئة السياحة: للتقبيل بأعلى سعرعزيز جدة
» ‎ ahmed's shared items (general)

تتوالى الضربات لأي مقوم قد يدعم السياحة الداخلية السعودية وتتزايد الخيبات يوماً بعد آخر من الهيئة العامة للسياحة والآثار والتي أصبحت قاب قوسين أو أدنى ملطشة للوزارات والإدارات الأخرى، فالخارجية تمنع إصدار تأشيرات سياحية إلا في أضيق الحدود، والداخلية تمنع إنشاء صالات للسينما، وهيئة الأوامر والنواهي تمنع ترميم الآثار وتسعى جاهدة لهدم بعضها، وإمارة عسير تمنع إقامة حفلات غنائية لا صلة للأمارة بها سوى المكان، بعد كل هذا وأكثر تأتي لنا الهيئة الموقرة وتدعو المواطن المكبوت المغلوب على أمره لقضاء إجازة سعيدة في ربوع الوطن! أي سياحة والمواطن لا يستطيع الوقوف على آثار آبائه وأجداده، وأي سياحة التي لا يُسمح له فيها بالتعرف على ثقافات أجنبية تزور البلاد وتجوبها، وأي سياحة التي تمنعه من حضور صالات تُقدم الحرام وذات الحرام في بيت المسئول قبل المواطن! أي سياحة وهو يرى أكثر المرددين والمشجعين للسياحة الداخلية يقضونها خارج البلاد، ربما ليأتوا لنا بأفكار سياحية جديدة! ربما! ألا تعلم الهيئة الموقرة أن المواطنين بأغلبيتهم من طبقة وسطى أقرب للطبقة الدنيا وهي بسياحتها في مصر وسوريا تقضي أضعاف المدة التي قد تقضيها في أبها الباردة وجدة الحارة لفُحش الغلاء! جدة التي كانت تتبختر يوماً بدرة عروسٍ مصونةٍ من الهيئة أتاها البلاء أيضاً، فماذا بقي لجدة سوى بحيرةُ مسكٍ علها تستقطب بعوضاً مواطناً يسيح بين أرجائها! لننظر إلى البحرين ودبي كمثال بجوها الحار والرطب لدرجة أنك تستنشق الماء في بعض أيامها وهي لا تستقطب السياح الأوروبيين فقط، بل حتى من بلادنا الحارة مثلهم والسبب بكل بساطة عدم تدخل كل من هب ودب في عمل دوائر السياحة هناك. لم أجد أي حلول عملية لهيئة سياحتنا، فكل الطرق مسدودة والجميع متكالبٌ عليها، كلٌ بعذره والتي لا تخرج بمجملها عن الدين والعادات. الحل الوحيد والذي قد يَدرُ مبلغاً جيداً ويوفر عن كاهلنا مصاريف لا طائل لها:
تقبيل الهيئة لأعلى سعر!
لكن من سيشتري! عزيز جدة
3:56
Discriminated against by a foreigner in my own countrySaudiwoman's Weblog
» ‎ ahmed's shared items (general)

I just had a really frustrating phone call. A friend of mine recommended a ballet instructor for my daughter. She gave me the number and I called to inquire and the lovely British ballet instructor informed me that she could not accept my daughter because we carry Saudi passports. I asked her why and she said that there is a directive that Saudi girls are not allowed to learn ballet. I asked her if she was ever provided with a written directive that Saudi girls weren’t allowed to learn ballet, and she said no that she was verbally instructed. I told her that that is not true and that there are ballet classes at some gyms here in Riyadh. So she changed the story and said that she had instructions that Saudis weren’t allowed on compounds. I told her that I’ve been in compounds. So she again changed the story. This time she had the audacity to say that she can only allow “western” passport holders, not only once but several times. I asked her what to you mean by western? How about Pakistanis? She retracted “oh no, I do allow Pakistanis.” Finally she said that that the compounds that she gave classes at required her to provide copies of the little girls’ passports. That is an outright lie because my son went to a daycare at a compound and never once was I asked to provide a copy of his passport. And then she started bumbling like a fool that in Saudi she has to wear a abaya. I said but that is not determined by your passport, every woman has to wear a abaya.

Anyway this is the new generation of Western expatriate workers here. Before 9/11, the attitude was very different. People who came here actually cared about making an impact, and getting to know the people of the country. Now so many of them strike me as money-hungry elitist who look down on “the ignorant locals”. When the ballet instructor told me that she has to endure discrimination too because she has to wear a abaya, as a Saudi woman, all I could think is that she has it easy. It’s her choice to stay or leave the country and naturally she wouldn’t be here unless she was being compensated for the inconvenience of wearing a abaya. As a foreigner, all that is required is that she have on this light black cloak when she’s out in public. She doesn’t even have to cover her hair. What about all those Saudi women and girls who are required to wear a heavy, below the ankles tent style abaya with their faces fully covered? And these Saudi girls aren’t here by choice nor are they financially compensated, and at the end of the day they don’t go home to a five star compound where they can walk around freely and enjoy the sun. Really, the ballet instructor is the one with the bad end of the stick? It’s bad enough getting it from the muttawa but when the same people who condemn us for not fighting for our freedom, practice discrimination against us, it gets really frustrating.
3:24
Human Rights Watch to Saudi Arabia: drop charges against Nasir al-Subai'iMy World and More ..
» ‎ ahmed's shared items (general)

Human Rights Watch have issued a statement urging the Saudi authorities to free blogger Nasir al-Subai'i.

All what Nasir did was complaining about the treatment his sick brother receive from the Minister of Health. His brother Mohamed had an accident in 2007 and been in a coma since, as a Saudi citizen he is allowed free treatment and if he dicided to go abroad to find a cure and that this treatment is not found inside the kingdom , then he could have all his expenses paid by the government. And that's what the higher authorities seems to do, they agreed to pay all the expenses, but the money never reach and that's why he complain and that's why he is been arrested now. Check his blog in Arabic .

______________________________________________ Saudi Arabia: Drop Charges for Publicizing Bureaucratic F ailures Blogging About Quest to Treat Comatose Brother Could Land Man in Jail March 10, 2010
(New York) - Saudi Arabia's Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecutions should immediately drop "cybercrimes" charges against Nasir al-Subai'i for writing about his bureaucratic ordeal as he tried to get the government to pay for his brother's medical care, Human Rights Watch said today.

In early 2009, al-Subai'i began blogging and speaking to the media about the lack of support he contends he received from Saudi officials as he tried to arrange care for his brother, Muhammad al-Subai'i, who had been in a coma after a traffic accident in Saudi Arabia in March 2007.
"Saudi prosecutors are trying to silence legitimate complaints, which Saudi citizens have the right to make public," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Public criticism of the government's alleged failures are an important check on its performance and a good tool for accountability."

Al-Subai'i claims Saudi officials in the Foreign Affairs and Health Ministries never implemented King Abdullah's orders to cover expenses for his brother's treatment in China, and to facilitate further treatment in the United States.
After Muhammad had been in a Saudi hospital for five months, al-Subai'i took him to China on October 5, 2007, for a specialized procedure at Beijing's Naval Hospital. From there, he sent a petition to the Saudi Royal Court, the administration directly under the king, applying for reimbursement of his brother's medical and travel expenses. Documents show that the Saudi embassy in Beijing transmitted al-Subai'i's request via the foreign affairs ministry in Riyadh and that there was initial approval to pay the expenses. But the payment was never made, nor was further treatment he requested for his brother approved.
Saudi Arabia funds necessary medical treatment for its citizens abroad if such treatment is unavailable in the kingdom. Many Saudi embassies have medical administrators on staff to facilitate medical arrangements, and occasionally provide services like transportation and per diems. According to a document provided to Human Rights Watch, King Abdullah, on November 21, 2007, approved paying for Muhammad al-Subai'i's treatment in Beijing and instructed the health minister to process payment. Responding to the king's instructions, the general manager for medical establishments and offices abroad under the Ministry of Health, Dr. Fahd bin Sulaiman al-Sudairi, ten days later requested detailed medical reports and expenses for Muhammad's treatment from the Saudi embassy in Beijing, another document Human Rights Watch obtained shows.
The Subai'is left Beijing for Saudi Arabia on January 7, 2008, without reimbursement for their expenses. The consul has told Human Rights Watch that he dutifully facilitated al-Subai'i's request, but that the matter had remained in the hands of the Ministry of Health without a decision. Al-Subai'i denies that the consul informed him about the initial consent of the Royal Court.
After returning from China, Nasir al-Subai'i sought further treatment options for his brother at London's Wellington hospital and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, both of which provided letters of acceptance, dated November 12, 2008 and April 20, 2009 respectively. According to another document provided to Human Rights Watch, on February 27, 2008, King Abdullah agreed that the state cover Muhammad's medical expenses for rehabilitation in the United States, but the Health Ministry never approved this treatment, al-Subai'i says. His brother remains in a Saudi hospital bed, receiving only nursing, but not specialized rehabilitative care.
Disappointed at what he perceived to be a lack of cooperation by some Saudi officials, on November 16, 2008, al-Subai'i filed a legal case against the Ministry of Health and Consul al-Shammari, seeking payment for Muhammad's treatment in China, and payment and facilitation of treatment in the US. The Board of Grievances, Saudi Arabia's administrative court, accepted only the part of the case against the Health Ministry, and only the part that sought future treatment in the US. The case is ongoing. Al-Suba'i subsequently created a blog, posted YouTube videos, and appeared on television shows of the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, and of Saudi Arabia's al-Iqtisadiya television, among others, decrying his failed attempts to have the state cover his brother's medical expenses in China and to provide further treatment in the United States. In particular, he criticized what he said was the lack of support from the Saudi consul in Beijing. Between March and May 2009, al-Subai'i had also sent complaints to the foreign affairs and interior ministries, as well as to the Royal Court.
Prosecutors at the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecutions in Khafji on the border with Kuwait summoned al-Subai'i in late July 2009 and told him to sign a pledge saying he would not post anything further about the matter on the internet. Although he signed, prosecutors called him two weeks later, saying he now faced unspecified charges under the Law to Combat Information Crimes over allegedly libelous comments he made against the Saudi consul, Majid al-Shammari. He was released on bail.
Saudi Arabia in March 2007 issued the Law to Combat Information Crimes, under which al-Subai'i was charged, which aims to "protect the public interest and morals," (art. 2). The law punishes "libeling others ... by various means of information technology" with sentences of up to one year in prison and up to 500,000 Saudi Riyals in fine (about US$135,000) (art. 3.5.), and "producing anything that of its nature contests public order ... or the inviolability of private life" (art.6.1.) with up to five years in prison and a fine of up to three million Riyals. The use of this overbroad law, violates the internationally protected right to freedom of expression, given that it is used in cases such as this when someone is commenting on a matter of public administration, Human Rights Watch said.
The United Nations General Assembly in March 1999 adopted a resolution on the rights of human rights defenders, that protects the right "to draw public attention to [all human rights and fundamental freedoms]," (art. 6), and the right of "everyone whose rights or freedoms are allegedly violated ... to complain to and have that complaint promptly reviewed in a public hearing before an independent, impartial and competent judicial or other authority established by law" (art. 9.2.).
Specifically, the resolution recognizes the right "[t]o complain about ... actions of individual officials and governmental bodies with regard to violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms" (art.9.3.a.). Any limitations on these rights must be "solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others ... in a democratic society" (art.17).
Human Rights Watch calls on Saudi Arabia to decriminalize all forms of peaceful expression, including abolishing the criminal charge of libel.
"The government has no business silencing exposure of alleged misdeeds by its officials by threatening to throw their critics in jail," Whitson said. "If anything, the state should tolerate a greater degree of criticism of public officials than ordinary citizens, without resorting to charges of criminal libel, which are so frequently used to silence critics."
2:58
انا ليبراليام صده
» ‎ ahmed's shared items (general)

قد يقف البعض و يقول (استغفر الله الله يهديك) حينما يقرأ العنوان دون دراية للاسف بمعنى هذا اللفظ ، فلا الوم احد اطلاقا نظرا لكمية الدجل و الادعاء الباطل الذي يمارسه اشخاص في مجتمعنا ضد الليبرالية ، حتى ان الليبرالية اصبحت سبة و دعوى للزنا حسب تعريف بعض الناس الذين يهمهم فرض سلطتهم على البشر تحت اي مسمى

الليبرالية كتفكير هي باختصار حرية الفرد المطلقة بالتفكير و الاعتقاد داخل دائرته الخاصة فالليبرالية لا تأبه لسلوك الفرد طالما أنه لم يخرج عن دائرته الخاصة من الحقوق والحريات ، ولكنها صارمة خارج ذلك الإطار لحفظ حقوق الاخرين ، داخل كل الاطر القانونية المسموح فيها ، فالرجل و المرأة على حد السواء احرار حر في اعتقادهم و مأكلهم و مشربهم و سفرهم طالما لم يتجاوزوا القوانين او يتعرضوا لحرية الاخرين

يعني الواحد يشرب خمر او يعبد بقرة كيفه ؟

اولا حصر هذا الفكر في مثل هذه الامثلة امر خاطئ و كانك تحصر الاسلام ذلك الدين العظيم في زواج الرجل من اربع و تطهيره عند الولادة او قبل البلوغ ، فالاصل في الليبرالية هو السلوك الصادر من الشخص دون التعرض لحرية الناس او القوانين هو امر خاص به ، فشارب الخمر و عابد البقرة لهم رب يحاسبهما و لنا حق في نصحهما طالما لم ينشرا هذا الشيء و لم يتعرضوا لحقوق الاخرين (سكران يسوق سيارة و يعرض الاخرين للخطر هذا غير مقبول ، يعبد بقر و يدعو لدينه هذا ايضا غير مقبول) تماما كالذي يعيش في مجتمع مسيحي و يمنع من اداء صلواته او العكس ، هذا كله يعتبر من الاخطاء، فالاصل كما اسلفنا هو حرية الفكر المطلقة بما انه لم يؤثر على الاخرين

حرية الفكر

اساس فكر الليبرالية هي عدم التدخل في شؤون الآخرين و اطروحاتهم و افكارهم و هناك حرية لطرح كل الافكار الغني منها و الفقير ، فاساس التحاور هو حرية الحوار و الفكر دون قيود ، فالفكرة لا تحارب الا بالفكرة ، فلماذا تمنع كتب و اصدارات فكرية تحت مسميات عديدة ، لماذا لا تصرف اموال المنع و لجان القص و اللزق على اصدار كتب مضادة للكتب و الافلام الممنوعة و مفكرين يتصدون لهذه الافكار بدلا من منعها ، بل ان القاعدة الاجتماعية تقول ان كل ممنوع مرغوب لذلك نرى ذلك الاقبال الرهيب على كل ما هو ممنوع

لماذا هذا الكلام الآن ؟

يأتي كلامنا هذا بسبب بسيط ان الناس بدأت تتداخل لديها المفاهيم لعدة اسباب اهمها سطوة التيار الديني الذي يحاور اقصاء اي فكر حر امامه ، فحرية الفكر اقترنت لدى الناس بالابتذال و العري للاسف ، و كاننا نقرن اي شيء اسلامي بالتفجير و الارهاب و العياذ بالله ، لذلك وجب التأكيد على ان اصل العقل البشري دائما هو حرية الفكر

حماية الدين لا تتم بمنع حرية الناس

كثيرا ما يردد علينا بعض الناس ان الحرية المطلقة سوف تهدم الدين او اخلاق المجتمع ، و الاصح ان هذا الاعتقاد خاطئ تماما ، الحرية الفكرية و الفردية مصطلح عام واسع يتغير بتغير الزمن ، ففي الثلاثينات من القرن الماضي مع بداية تأسيس المدارس في الكويت كان من المحرم على الرجال شرعا دراسة الفيزياء و الاحياء و الرياضيات لما تحتويه هذه العلوم على مس شيطاني و كان محرم على النساء اطلاقا العلم و المعرفة (راجع كتاب الدكتور خليفة الوقيان : الثقافة في الكويت بواكير و اتجاهات)

ففي ذاك الزمن كانت التعليم محرم باسم الدين ، بسبب جهل و سوء تفسير رجال الدين لهذه الامور ، بينما اليوم اصبح العلم واجبا بل اصبح امرا دينيا ضروريا يدعو اليه كل رجال الدين ، هنا نحن مقتنعين ان الاسلام لم يتغير انما رجال ادين هم من تغيروا.

الخلاصة

الليبرالية ليست نقيضا للدين الاسلامي ، بل هم يتماشون على خط متواز ، عدم التدخل في شؤون الناس و النظر خلف حرماتهم قاعدة دينية اساسية ، و حرية الفكر و الاعتقاد قاعدة ليبرالية اصيلة ، فلكل الناس دينهم و لكل الناس فكرهم و الله من يحاسب و يعاقب ، و دعوا البشر يعيشون و يفكرون !

بالنسبة للمدعي نبيل العوضي اقول : شكرا على مقالك الذي عرف الناس منه انت اكبر مدعي و متخيل و مفبرك للاحداث عرفته الصحافة الكويتية
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March 10, 2010
20:26
8 weird but cool Android apps
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

So you told your boss that you bought your Android smartphone so that you could track your business calls, be more effective when traveling for your company, have easy access to Gmail and keep your organization's Twitter feed current. But we know what's really going on -- you got that smartphone because it was cool and because you wanted to play with all the apps. (And possibly because it wasn't Apple or AT&T.) Just for the heck of it, I've gathered eight free apps that are just plain fun to use. A couple of them are also actually useful; another two are sort of useful (if you stretch the point a bit); the last four are just there to play with.
20:22
Schneier: Fight for privacy or kiss it good-bye
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

If the public wants online privacy it had better fight now for laws to protect it because businesses won't and individuals don't have the clout, security expert Bruce Schneier told RSA Conference. The longer information-privacy policies go unset, the more likely it is that they never will be set, says Schneier, an author of books about security and CTO of security consultant BT Counterpane. As young people grow up with broad swaths of information about them in the public domain, they will lose any sense of privacy that older generations have. And they will have no appreciation that lack of privacy shifts power over their lives from themselves to businesses or governments that do control their information. Laws protecting digital data that is routinely gathered about people are needed, he says. "The only lever that works is the legal lever," he says. "How can we expect the younger generation to do this when they don't even know the problem?"
20:21
Soft skills lacking in candidate-rich market
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

Recruitment firm Kelly Services says demand for skilled and experienced IT professionals continues, despite recent economic conditions. Late last year, Kelly Services conducted a workplace survey in 12 countries, including New Zealand, polling senior IT decision makers across many industries. In the New Zealand survey, approximately 71 percent of respondents reported an increase or no change in demand for IT staff. This was little different from Kelly Services' previous survey, carried out in July 2008, when 80 percent of respondents described the effects of the then-IT skills shortage as moderate to severe.
20:20
Zeus Botnet Dealt a Blow as ISP Troyak Knocked out
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

Internet service providers linked to the notorious Zeus botnet have been taken down, knocking out a third of the command-and-control servers that run the network of hacked machines. Two ISPs, named Troyak and Group 3, were home to 90 of the 249 known Zeus command-and-control servers. Zeus Tracker, a Web site that tracks the botnet, noticed the steep drop in servers on Wednesday morning. The Troyak network was itself an upstream provider to six networks, known to host a large number of cybercrime servers, including Web sites used in drive-by attacks and phishing sites, according to Kevin Stevens, a researcher with SecureWorks. "There's lots of Zeus and Fragus exploit kit [sites]," he said. Whoever was behind the takedown "just decided to knock out a large area of cybercirme, and this was probably one of the easiest ways to do it."
20:19
Twitter Becomes More Proactive About Phishing
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

Twitter is finally being proactive about the large number of phishing scams that have plagued the micro-blogging service in the past year. On Wednesday, Twitter introduced its own anti-phishing service designed to protect its users from these types of attacks. The new security measures will focus on Twitter direct messages (DMs) -- private tweets addressed to a specific user -- and corresponding e-mail notifications. Twitter believes DMs are the primary source of Twitter-based phishing attacks, and has not yet announced any plans to extend the new service to regular Twitter messages. DMs will now be routed through Twitter's anti-phishing service to "detect, intercept, and prevent the spread of bad links," Del Harvey, director of Twitter's trust and safety team, wrote in a recent blog post. After Twitter has approved a link, it will be delivered to users via a new 'twit.tl' URL instead of bit.ly, tinyURL or other link-shortening services. Twitter also claims that if a bad link gets through to a user via e-mail, the company would still "be able to keep that user safe."
20:19
Google Street View to cover 96 per cent of UK roads from tomorrow
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

Google will make a further 210,000 miles of UK roads available for your perusal on Street View this Thursday, adding to the 28,000 miles that are currently shown. That means you'll be able to see about 96 per cent of this leafy land's approximately 246,985 miles of thoroughfares. Twenty-four perfectly respectable UK settlements, as well as Sc**thorpe, enjoyed the Street View treatment when it launched in Blighty in March last year. Now you'll be able to virtually visit cities and hamlets -- at least the ones where the Google Street View car hasn't been forced to beat a speedy retreat by a pitchfork-wielding posse -- from Cornwall to the Shetlands.
20:18
EFF knocks Apple's 'secret' restrictive developer agreement
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

The first rule of Apple's App Club is: You do not talk about App Club. Any developer who writes an app for the App Store is forbidden from making any public statements about the iPhone Developer Program Licensing Agreement. Second rule of App Club is: Said developers also can't sell their apps to other app stores, even if that app is eventually rejected by Apple. Third rule of App Club: You can't reverse engineer anything having to do with the App Store software development kit (SDK) or the iPhone OS. Fourth rule: Apple retains the right to remove your app from the App Store at any time, for any reason. (Hello, Hottest Girls app; goodbye, Hottest Girls app.) Fifth rule: If you're sued because of your app, or if Apple screws up the app to the point where you lose money and/or customers, Steve Jobs' company is liable for only a whopping US$50 in damages -- an Apple self-insurance deductible, as it were.
20:15
Douglas Duchak charged over bid to damage US security database
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

A Colorado man has been charged with trying to sabotage a U.S. security database that holds sensitive information used for screening air travelers, the Justice Department said on Wednesday. Douglas Duchak, 46, had worked at a Transportation Security Administration operations center for five years, updating its computers with data from the Terrorist Screening Database and the U.S. Marshal's Service Warrant Information Network. The TSA is primarily responsible for screening passengers at U.S. airports and uses information from intelligence and law enforcement agencies to prevent people who pose a threat from boarding commercial flights. The agency has come under new pressure to ramp up security in the wake of a failed plot in late December to blow up a U.S. commercial jetliner.
20:14
No-Fly List Includes the Dead
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

You may be dying, figuratively, to get off the governmentâs no-fly list, but death wonât guarantee removal. The governmentâs no-fly list includes the names of dead suspects to help catch people who may try to assume the suspectâs identity, according to government officials who spoke with The Associated Press. The no-fly list has been shrouded in mystery since it was first developed after the 9/11 attacks. How people get on the list or get off it has been a closely guarded secret, with only bits of information made public during congressional hearings. The AP has pieced together the broad steps it takes for someone to get on the list, and some of the changes the list has undergone since it was created nine years ago.
20:08
New Gestures coming to iPhone/iPad: Triple tap and long press
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

On the surface, the latest iPhone 3.2 Beta 4 SDK didn't have much new information. Diving a little deeper however, we find some very exciting news. In the gestures folder, you'll see two new types of commands (3Tap.plist and LongPress.plist) that are certainly not implemented in the current 3.1 iPhone SDK. Apple is likely allowing developers to use these capabilities in the next versions of the OS. We might even see these in the shipping version of the iPad.
20:07
No Trace: How to Completely Erase Your Hard Drives, SSDs and USB Drives
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

With stories abounding of identity theft aided by information lifted from discarded storage devices, you want devices you no longer plan to use to have no usable information when they head out the door. Here's how to wipe them clean. Sure, you could erase the contents of the drive, but keep this in mind: the act of erasing a file does not remove it from a storage device. When you erase/delete a file from your computer, it's not really gone until the areas of the disk it used are overwritten by new information. If you use the normal Windows delete function, the "deleted" file is sent to the Recycle Bin until the space it uses is required by other files. If you use Shift-Delete to bypass the Recycle Bin, the space occupied by the file is marked as available for other files. However, the file could be recovered days or even weeks later with third-party data recovery software. As long as the operating system does not reuse the space occupied by a file with another file, the "deleted" file can be recovered.
20:06
How deep can Intel get inside the smart grid?
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

I think a lot about which companies that Iâve been covering for zillions of years will be around 10 years from now, as the Internet moves into its next phase of innovation around things like machine to machine communications, which is sort of personified in the smart grid. If you think Microsoft and IBM and Hewlett-Packard are invincible, pause a moment to memorialize Digital Equipment Corp. Clearly, many of the legacy IT companies â IBM, Microsoft, SAP, Oracle, to name a few â are all over the whole intelligent utility market like a bad suit. But what about that other kingpin of the personal computing movement, Intel, the company of the famous âInsideâ motto. Clearly, the company hopes to be deep inside the smart grid.
20:05
ARM Expects 50 Tablet Devices to Hit the Market This Year
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

ARM, a leading developer of microprocessor technologies for portable and consumer electronics, said at a press conference on Wednesday that this year around 50 tablet PC devices akin to Apple iPad released worldwide. While analysts agree that there may be a lot of slate-type PCs launched, far not all will become successful. âThe first tablet devices will launch in the second quarter by [mobile network] carriers. You will see a lot more in the third quarter,â said Roy Chen, ARM's worldwide mobile computing ODM manager, during a press meeting in Taipei, reports IDG News Services. There are so many tablet PCs incoming that ARM even had to book the additional space at Computex Taipei trade-show to demonstrate all the products, many of which will be launched by small companies that can hardly efficiently advertise their devices and do not have an established brand among consumers.
19:59
Sunâs open source chief leaves after Oracle merger
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

Sun's chief open source officer, Simon Phipps, has left the company following its acquisition by Oracle, the executive announced in his blog Tuesday. "Today is my last day of employment at Sun (well, it became Oracle on March 1st in the UK but you know what I mean)," Phipps wrote. "I am a few months short of my 10th anniversary there (I joined at JavaOne in 2000) and my 5th anniversary as Chief Open Source Officer." With the acquisition of Sun, Oracle is poised to become what some analysts think is the industry's most powerful open source vendor. But it will chart a new path in open source without Phipps. Phipps looks back fondly at successes at Sun, but admits some regrets for goals left unaccomplished. Phipps wrote that he and his colleagues "achieved some amazing things" such as changing Sun's attitude toward open source, kick-starting the "corporate blogging revolution" with Blogs.Sun.com, and releasing software such as Java under free licenses.
19:58
Turkish police detain 23 PKK hackers in 13 provinces
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

Police have detained 23 suspects in operations in 13 provinces, charging them with membership in a terror organization and attacking public institutionsâ Web sites, the daily Radikal reported Wednesday. The suspects, allegedly members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workersâ Party, or PKK, were taken to Diyarbak?r for questioning. The investigation of this case was still continuing when the Daily News went to print. A hacker team for the outlawed organization was captured previously, but the members reorganized and attacked roughly 300 Web sites belonging to public institutions.
19:57
Reader exploit prompts Adobe update alert
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

Users of Adobe PDF Reader should check they are running the latest version of the software after the discovery of an exploit that takes advantage of a serious flaw patched only three weeks ago. According to Microsoft's Threat Research and Response blog, its researchers have discovered a circulating PDF-based attack that hooks into the publicised flaw, CVE-2010-0188, to download a Trojan backdoor capable of taking control of the affected system. The warning relates mainly to Adobe Acrobat and Reader up to 9.3.0 for Windows, Apple and Unix. older versions of Acrobat and Reader, 8.2.0 (used by anyone unable to update to 9.3.x), are also affected on Windows and Apple and should be patched to 8.2.1.
19:56
Android native development kit updated
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

Developers of the Google-backed Android mobile application platform have released revision 3 of Android NDK (Native Development Kit), which complements Android SDK by enabling developers to build performance-critical portions of an application in native code. Release of NDK r3 was noted in a posting on the Android Developer Blog on Monday. Version 3 includes OpenGL ES (Open Graphics Library for Embedded Systems) 2.0 native library support. Also featured is a sample application making use of OpenGL ES 2.0 vertex and fragment shaders. "[OpenGL ES 2.0] brings the ability to control graphics rendering through vertex and fragment shader programs using the GLSL shading language," said David Turner, a member of the Google technical staff, in the Android Developer Blog.
19:52
Four over-rated security technologies
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

The security community has grown to depend on some basic technologies in the fight against cyber thieves, such as antivirus software and firewalls. But are practitioners clinging to tools that outlived their usefulness long ago? Were those tools ever really useful to begin with? CSOonline.com recently conducted an unscientific survey on the matter, asking those questions to a variety of security forums on LinkedIn and following it up with e-mails and phone conversations. What follows are four technologies several cited as overrated in today's security fight. We'll follow up next week with security technologies many believe are underrated. It's safe to predict that some of the technologies on this list will also appear there.
19:51
The top 10 geek anthems of all time
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

Geeks rock. When Buddy Holly jerked onstage as a bespectacled counterpoint to the pelvis-swiveling cool of Elvis, it carved out a spot in rock and pop music for the kids more inclined to admire Stephen Hawking than Steven Tyler or Bill Gates than Billy Idol. The South by Southwest Interactive conference kicks off Friday in Austin, Texas, offering up as pure a convergence of geek and rock sensibilities as you're apt to find. Started in 1987 to showcase Austin's burgeoning alt-rock scene, South by Southwest added interactive and film gatherings in 1994.
19:50
LED lights may be the future of broadband
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

German scientists say they've created a data connection that uses light produced by lamps to encode a wireless broadband signal. The researchers, led by Jelena Vucic of the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications at the Heinrich-Hertz-Institute in Berlin, say getting a broadband connection might be as simple as turning on a lamp. Currently, most wireless connections are achieved through a radio-frequency WiFi connection. But the scientists say WiFi has limited bandwidth, and it's unclear where to find more in the already-crowded radio spectrum. By contrast, they say visible-frequency wireless has all the bandwidth one could want.
19:49
Our Apps Are Vulnerable -- And Constantly Attacked
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

If you worry that your organization's applications are vulnerable to attack, then you're not alone, according to study results released yesterday. In a survey at the RSA Conference 2010 in San Francisco last week, researchers from security vendor Fortify found that most security pros are stressed about potential attacks on their apps. In fact, 73 percent of respondents thought the applications in their companies had vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit. In fact, most agreed it would be "ignorant" to say they didn't. Twenty-six percent said they either did not know the answer or did not want to disclose the information.
19:49
'Jihad Jane' Exposes Web's Dark Side
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

News flash: Terrorists are using the Internet to communicate and recruit fresh blood to their ranks. OK, not exactly news, and certainly not a revelation to anyone who frequents this site. Hard to believe it's been almost a year since Shannen Rossmiller outlined her own online jihadi-hunting ventures on IE Radio, and talked about the dark side of the global phenomenon that is the Internet. Women and terrorism are back in the headlines again this week, but on the opposite side from where Rossmiller sits. Colleen "Jihad Jane" LaRose was formally charged this week with agreeing to carry out murder overseas and providing material support to terrorists and using email, YouTube videos, and phony documents to get the job done.
19:48
New Zealand's internet filter goes live
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

The Department of Internal Affairs' (DIA) internet filter is now operational and is being used by internet providers (ISPs) Maxnet and Watchdog. Thomas Beagle, spokesperson for online freedom lobby Tech Liberty says he's "very disappointed that the filter is now running, it's a sad day for the New Zealand internet". He told Computerworld the filter went live on February 1 but DIA has delayed announcing that until it held a meeting with its Independent Reference Group. He says he's disappointed the launch was conducted in such a "stealthy mode". The manager of the Department of Internal Affairs' Censorship Compliance Unit, Steve O'Brien, denies any subterfuge in the launch, saying the trial has been going on for two years and that has been communicated to media for "quite some time".
19:47
12% of employees knowingly violate company IT policies
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

By now, it's practically a mantra that the biggest problem with corporate IT security is the employees themselves. However, we usually assume that's due to ignorant users or poorly enforced policies. Not so for a chunk of the US working populationâaccording to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive, 12 percent admitted to knowingly violating IT policy in order to get work done. The survey of 1,347 employed adults was conducted on behalf of Fiberlink, a company that hawks services that "help enterprises connect, control and secure laptops and mobile devices." Needless to say, the survey results fit perfectly into the company's agenda, but they are hardly surprising. After all, how many of us know someone who has left a work laptop in an unattended vehicle, sent unencrypted e-mails without permission, or reused the same three passwords over and over instead of choosing new ones every 90 days?
19:46
F-Secure: Hackers love to exploit PDF bugs
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

Hackers adore Adobe Reader, and have pushed it into first place as the software most often exploited in targeted attacks, a Finnish security company said today. Helsinki-based F-Secure also urged users to update to the newest version of Reader to protect themselves against new attacks taking advantage of a vulnerability patched just three weeks ago. According to F-Secure, 61% of the nearly 900 targeted attacks it's tracked in the first two months of 2010 exploited a vulnerability in Reader, Adobe's popular PDF viewer. By comparison, Microsoft's Word was exploited in just 24% of the attacks, and bugs in its Excel spreadsheet and PowerPoint presentation maker were leveraged only a combined 14% of the time.

13:51
What Will It Take To Cut A Deal?
» ‎ Mideast Youth - Thinking Ahead (general)

President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu may soon embark on yet another round of peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis. Each leader, in his own way, faces daunting challenges, in part because he must answer to ideological constituencies which are vehemently opposed to the concessions which are part and parcel of the peace process. Netanyahu, for example, will face an uphill fight convincing his right-wing coalition to compromise on Jerusalem. And in a similar vein, Abbas could be relegated “traitor status” for compromising on such contentious issues as the “right of return.” And yet, a successful outcome of these talks could be the spark that lights the fire of change in the region, and for that matter, in the world as a whole.
As difficult as it will be to contain dissent from within, so much more so will it be difficult to contain dissent from without. Due to a number of factors, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict has been accorded a symbolic significance way beyond the four corners of the conflict itself. Chances are good that if the conflict would have been limited to a territorial dispute between two peoples, an equitable agreement could have been reached long ago. But because so many other players forced themselves into the picture, players who were not and are not directly involved, the prospects for peace have remained dim at best. And thus, parties outside the conflict itself, including extremist elements, have helped to keep the conflict alive, for their own purposes, and for a whole host of reasons, including the desire to divert attention from internal problems of governance, and as a way of consolidating political support for governments and groups which may otherwise have failed to garner such support.
The question arises, therefore: Given this debilitating cocktail of internal opposition and external pressure, what will Abbas and Netanyahu need to do to maneuver through this politically charged ideological minefield, in an effort to broker a peace deal? The answer may be that the negotiations themselves will have to be strategically positioned within the context of a higher and brighter vision for the future, within a Vision of Hope, so as to rise above the political fray, and beyond the restraints that have been imposed by domestic and foreign players. In other words, because the Israeli/Palestinian conflict has been manipulated to embody the ideological imperatives of so many diverse constituencies, Abbas and Netanyahu, if they are to succeed on peace, will have no choice but to sell a new vision to the man on the street, so as to elevate the negotiations themselves to a higher level, a level that rises above the crippling narrow agendas of the past.
What sort of vision would be required to give the peace talks a chance? Such a vision, a Vision of Hope, would have to be multi-faceted so as to address all the various impediments to peace. A Vision of Hope would include five parts, like the five fingers of your hand:
Ideology: If there are ideological forces at work which seek to impede the peace process, Abbas and Netanyahu should formulate and use a new ideology, a new framework for rational discourse, An Ideology of Common Sense, to speak to one another, and to the world for that matter, with common sense and with a sense of personal dignity. Words matter, and the right kind of words, used in just the right kind of way, can inspire a sense of hope, which will help raise the level of discourse to a much higher level. Instead of believing in what we want to believe, it may well be time to start believing in what makes sense. Instead of jumping to false belief and rationalizing why we’re right, why not use rationality in the fist place to arrive at what is worth believing in? In a more perfect world, common sense, the collective wisdom born of shared experience, will inspire our thinking and inform our speech. In our fractured world, common sense is the common denominator.
Investment: If extremist groups on both sides of the political fence use charitable handouts to consolidate political support, Abbas and Netanyahu should discuss, as part of the negotiations, using international investment dollars to create jobs: jobs which grow their economies, jobs which protect the environment, and jobs which help to weaken the hold of extremist thinking. The idea here is to win hearts and minds by giving everyone a place at the table, a stake in his or her future, in a sustainable world.
Hope: If the extremists in the region have worked to engender and sustain a sense of dread about the future, then Abbas and Netanyahu would do well to use An Ideology of Common Sense along with some well placed Investment Dollars to sell their people on a Vision of Hope, a vision of Peace, Prosperity, and Freedom. Luckily, the formula for world peace is not all that complicated: Ideology plus Investment equals Hope, and with hope all things are possible, even the impossible dream of peace.
Public Diplomacy: If the extremists continue to use their propaganda machine to disseminate hate, then Abbas and Netanyahu should not only sell a Vision of Hope, but should sustain a sense of hope by launching a series of public diplomacy programs which are specifically designed to prop the vision up, and to carry it forward, such as: a program to Empower Women, a Student Exchange, a Cultural Exchange, an expanded version of the Peace Corps, a Media Campaign, and a set of International Conferences. Take, for example, the program to Empower Women by financing female entrepreneurs and promoting women’s rights. Empower Palestinian and Israeli women in ways that they deem appropriate, and you will have changed the dynamics of the conflict. Who are women? They are the givers of life and the caretakers of life and as such are uniquely qualified to reconstitute their societies consistent with a Vision of Hope.
The Willingness to Fight: If the extremists, on both sides of the fence, use terror to impede peace, then Abbas and Netanyahu would do well to collaborate militarily, perhaps as part of a regional military and economic alliance, to stave off the threats from extremist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and even groups in Israel which lean toward violence. If we already have to fight against the forces of extremism, and we do, then we will fight, and fight hard, but we will also position the fight within a Vision of Hope. We will raise the fight on the ground to a higher moral plain by giving the fight a moral clarity of purpose. People will fight harder if they know what they’re fighting for. We are not fighting a “war against terror.” We are fighting a war to realize a Vision of Hope. There’s a big difference.
If the upcoming negotiations are to succeed, there is no choice but to win the war for hearts and minds. Abbas and Netanyahu can maximize the chances for success on the peace front by daring to embody a Vision of Hope, and selling the vision to the man on the street. In fact, given the heavy weight from within and without, that attaches itself to the peace process, and the ideological extremism that has prevented any success in this regard, these two leaders will have to develop strategies to beat the odds, by beating the extremists at their own game. If they play their cards right, they can co-opt the extremists’ strategy and thereby marginalize them in the eyes of their own people. So, for example, if the extremists are ideological about Jihad, or a Greater Israel, or what have you, we will be ideological about Common Sense. If they invest in charity, we will invest in jobs. If they sell a vision of hope for martyrdom, or paradise, or additional settlements, we will sell a Vision of Hope for Peace, Prosperity, and Freedom. At every turn we will cut them off at the pass and beat them at their own game. In the final analysis, the ideological extremists on both sides will not be able to capture the public’s imagination, once people begin to imagine a better life for themselves. Some will say that all this may be a bit naïve or over the top. But as we are fond of saying: This may well be the time, before time runs out, to dream the impossible and to make the impossible come true.
For more information please visit our website www.sellingavisionofhope.org Your comments there would be greatly appreciated.

12:34
A creative way to keep Saudi women from drivingSabria's Out of the Box
» ‎ ahmed's shared items (general)

It never ceases to amaze me the goofiness of some people who feel they must find a creative way to deal with the "Saudi women's driving problem."

Instead of a coherent approach to the issue of Saudi women driving, like, say, give them a driver's license and set them loose on the roads (they can't drive any worse than men), do-gooders like the Dubai-based Saudi Center for Studies and Media have come up with an alternative to establish women-only buses. The center, you see, has made the shocking discovery that 35 percent of a Saudi woman's income goes to pay for taxis or private drivers.

Really, now? It's taken an organization 30-odd years to realize that Saudi women fritter away a third of their annual income on strangers to drive them around Saudi Arabia.

The center's proposal, which apparently is now before Saudi Arabia's Shoura Council for consideration, seeks to develop a 600-bus system within five years that is capable of carrying about 2.5 million women. It also will create jobs for 3,000 male drivers. It's a proposal that is likely attractive to conservatives who will do anything to prevent Saudi women from driving a car. The bus system will be called "Hafilati" or "My Bus."

I call it "Idhlali" or "My Humiliation." Here's why:

— Hafilati, or Idhlali, will delay for years the hopes of Saudi women to drive their own cars. There will be no incentive for Saudi society to permit women to drive if a women-only bus system is in place.

— Men will still be driving around women. Jamal Banoun, director of the center, states the obvious: "The primary aim of this is to provide protection for women against moral problems and sexual harassment that they sometimes face from taxi drivers." Does Mr. Banoun honestly think sexual harassment by drivers will end because women are going to switch from a taxi to a bus?

— What woman in her right mind is going to stand at a bus stop in 45-centigrade heat with her kids and wait for a bus that may or may not show up on time?

— Idhlali further encourages the employment of expatriates when the focus should be placed on employing Saudi men and women.

As much as I love Jeddah and the place of my birth, Madinah, neither city is the model of public transportation infrastructure. And this is the reason why a public transit system for women will fail. If Idhlali is to be based on the current public transit model, then Saudi families should prepare to lose a female family member or two to death or serious injury.

We are, frankly, a nation of unenforceable traffic laws. At least by driving a car, a woman can employ defensive driving skills and assume some responsibility for her own safety.

Today's bus drivers operate their buses like kids driving bumper cars at an amusement park. Like every other driver on the road, they don't bother themselves with posted speed limits or lane-changing etiquette. Posted bus stops are inconsistent from neighborhood to neighborhood. The buses are death traps. They are poorly maintained and I imagine that the records on tire and brake safety are not accurate. The current buses are filthy and rattle so much the fillings in your teeth will fall out. If there is rhyme or reason to our current public transit system, I have not seen it.

Yet we are to expect that Idhlali, which presumably will be based on our current bus system, will not have these problems. I don't think Saudi women are going to have to bother with these troublesome questions. I suspect this recommendation will go nowhere like so many other wonderful proposals to better integrate Saudi Arabia's National Treasures into society. Anybody want to revisit the proposal to employ women in lingerie shops? And even if Idhlali manages to get implemented I wonder just how many Saudi women are going to subject themselves to the inconvenience of bus travel after years of being chauffeured in a car.

The real issue of this half-baked plan, though, is that it diverts our attention away from the core question of just when will women be permitted to drive in Saudi Arabia.

Some female professionals have endorsed Idhlali as a step forward. It's not a step forward. It's a diversion designed to reduce the pressure on Saudi society to permit women to drive. I'm all for public transit. I'm all for women-only buses. But give women the right to drive first, and then implement a women-only bus system. Saudis can demonstrate real sincerity by granting women the basic, fundamental right to choose her own mode of transportation.

This Band-Aid approach to solving the expense issue of transportation and sexual harassment by male drivers weakens the voice of Saudi women advocating for their right to drive. If Saudi women settle for a seat on the bus they will never get behind the wheel of a car.

March 09, 2010
19:28
Building a Linux Incident Response / Forensic Disk
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

There are many Linux distributions readily available. This however should not stop you creating your own version of a UNIX forensic tools disc. Whether you are on Solaris, HP-UX or any other variety of UNIX it is simple to create a forensic tools CD that can go between systems. The added benefit of this method is that the tools do not need to be left on the production server. This in itself could be a security risk and the ability to unmount the CD and take it with you increases security. The ability to create a customized CD for your individual system means that the analyst can have their tools available for any UNIX system that they need to work with. It may also be possible to create a universal forensic CD. Using statically linked binaries, a single DVD or CD could be created with separate directories for every UNIX variety in use in the organization that you are working on. For instance, the same CD could contain a directory called â/Solarisâ which would act as the base directory for all Solaris tools. Similarly, base directories for Linux (/Linux), HP-UX (/HPUX10, /HPUX9) and any other variety of UNIX in use in your organization could be included on the same distribution allowing you to take one disk with you but leaving you ready at all times.
19:27
UK still lousy on electronic nosiness
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

A new report highlights a depressingly consistent drift towards ever greater control of the population using new technologies. There are few surprises in the 2010 report, entitled The Electronic Police State, issued yesterday. It shows Russia and the United States within a couple of points of each other when it comes to electronic policing and surveillance, North Korea just overtaking China to gain top prize, and the United Kingdom leading the rest of the West â after the US. The report's authors at CryptoHippie do, of course, have a product to shift. It is a US-based company providing what it describes as "superior privacy enhancing technologies". However, it has also been putting a regular toe in the water to test the degree of electronic surveillance going on worldwide, and while it may not be the most unbiased of observers, it is at least producing a consistent data stream that allows the rest of us to debate the issues and monitor trends.
19:27
Five Best VPN Tools
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

VPN software brings the security of a private network to an insecure network, and allows you to access private local networks from anywhere. As we've explained in the past, you can do things between computers on your local network you can't from out on the internet: like listen to a shared iTunes library or access files in shared folders. Virtual private network applications give you access to your computer from anywhere on the internet as if you were home on your local network. Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite software for establishing and maintaining virtual private networks. We rounded up the votes, and now we're back with the five most popular VPN applications. If you're new to the idea of virtual private networks, you can read up on the technical nitty-gritty at the Wikipedia entry for VPNs. Note: This Hive Five contains both VPN server applications (the apps that create virtual private networks on your local network so it's accessible from the outside world) and VPN client applications (the apps that connect to virtual private networks from the outside world). In many instances companies produce VPN servers, VPN clients, VPN servers with accompanying clients, or VPN clients that are designed to work with a variety of servers.
19:26
Researchers dissect ZeuS botnet blueprint
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

A little knowledge and a few thousand dollars is all it takes to build a fully functional botnet, according to security experts. Cisco researchers Patrick Peterson and Henry Stern told delegates at the 2010 RSA conference in San Francisco that a botnet running the infamous ZeuS malware could be built for US$2,500 ($2,753.50). ZeuS is primarily a data-gathering and botnet control tool, but has become particularly loathed in the security community because it directly injects content into pages and intercepts credentials before they are sent to legitimate sites. Making matters worse, the monetary and technical thresholds for running Zeus are particularly low. Peterson and Stern said that a current version of Zeus can be had for roughly US$700, while older versions can be obtained for free.
19:25
Feds Move to Break Voting-Machine Monopoly
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

Citing anti-competitive concerns, the Justice Department sued Election Systems & Software in order to force the company to divest itself of the voting machine assets it obtained from Premier Election Solutions last year. The departmentâs antitrust division, along with nine state attorneys general, filed the civil antitrust lawsuit (.pdf) in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., charging that the acquisition threatened competition. The department proposed a settlement that, if accepted, would dissolve the merger and force ES&S to sell its Premier business to a buyer approved by the Justice Department.
19:24
1024-bit RSA encryption cracked by carefully starving CPU of electricity
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

Since 1977, RSA public-key encryption has protected privacy and verified authenticity when using computers, gadgets and web browsers around the globe, with only the most brutish of brute force efforts (and 1,500 years of processing time) felling its 768-bit variety earlier this year. Now, three eggheads (or Wolverines, as it were) at the University of Michigan claim they can break it simply by tweaking a device's power supply. By fluctuating the voltage to the CPU such that it generated a single hardware error per clock cycle, they found that they could cause the server to flip single bits of the private key at a time, allowing them to slowly piece together the password. With a small cluster of 81 Pentium 4 chips and 104 hours of processing time, they were able to successfully hack 1024-bit encryption in OpenSSL on a SPARC-based system, without damaging the computer, leaving a single trace or ending human life as we know it. That's why they're presenting a paper at the Design, Automation and Test conference this week in Europe, and that's why -- until RSA hopefully fixes the flaw -- you should keep a close eye on your server room's power supply.
19:24
Limewire taps AVG for virus free torrents
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

POPULAR P2P FILE SHARING SERVICE Limeware has enlisted the help of anti-virus outfit AVG to offer its Pro users with free file scanning. If the likes of the MPAA and the RIAA are to be believed, the only people who use Bittorrent sites are so called 'pirates' scouring the underbelly of cyberspace trying to get hold of the latest movies and music for free, robbing poor defenceless artists of their livelihoods in the process. With this in mind you might think that these downloaders deserve any form of malware their PCs get infected with in their pursuit of ill-gotten gains, but Limeware appears to disagree and has licensed the AVG Anti-Virus SDK engine and integrated the anti-virus and anti-spyware protection into LimeWire Pro.
19:23
Physicists Find Way to See Through Paint, Paper, and Other Opaque Materials
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

Materials such as paper, paint, and biological tissue are opaque because the light that passes through them is scattered in complicated and seemingly random ways. A new experiment conducted by researchers at the City of Paris Industrial Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution (ESPCI) has shown that it's possible to focus light through opaque materials and detect objects hidden behind them, provided you know enough about the material. The experiment is reported in the current issue of Physical Review Letters, and is the subject of Viewpoint in APS Physics by Elbert van Putten and Allard Mosk of the University of Twente. In order to demonstrate their approach to characterize opaque substances, the researchers first passed light through a layer of zinc oxide, which is a common component of white paints. By studying the way the light beam changed as it encountered the material, they were able to produce a numerical model called a transmission matrix, which included over 65,000 numbers describing the way that the zinc oxide layer affected light.
19:20
The Basics of SAN Security
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

Itâs important to protect your organization from malicious threat and from preventing hackers access to sensitive data. You also want to ensure that your organization is compliant with security regulations. When implementing infrastructure projects itâs necessary to ensure that all of the components of the implementation are secure. Storage Area Network, or SAN, is one of these components. In laymenâs terms, a SAN is a network that enables storage devices to communicate with other storage devices and computer systems. A SAN uses a high performance network, like fibre channel or Ethernet to communicate, and it typically connects disks and tape drives, RAID subsystems, robotic libraries, and file servers. As SAN technology becomes more popular, organizations are continuing to evolve their technologies and reap the benefits that SAN has to offer. We all know that computers are attached to some type of storage, but the benefit of a SAN is that it enables Universal Storage Connectivity; the ability to connect many computers to a lot of storage devices allowing computers to negotiate device ownership and share data.
19:19
Army plans enterprise email system
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

The Army is planning to cut its $400 million-a-year email bill by consolidating its email systems and outsourcing the operation. In a draft solicitation request, the Army said it plans to build the entire system on Microsoft Exchange 2010. Lt. Gen Jeffery Sorenson, the Army's chief information officer who is spearheading the effort, said he'd like to see the entire Defense Department use the system. It's a massive undertaking for the Army which supports 950,000 accounts. When a soldier moves from one location to another, he or she currently has to get a new email address, and the old one has to be deleted. And these multiple accounts open many doors for cyber hackers. Warren Suss, president of Suss Consulting, a federal information technology consulting firm, estimates the Army could cut its $400 million operating bill in half with this new plan.
19:19
Microsoft skips patch for PowerPoint add-on
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

Microsoft fixed eight flaws in Windows and Office today, but passed on patching one Windows component because it cannot be automatically updated. The eight bugs patched today were far from the near-record 26 that Microsoft fixed last month when it delivered 13 security updates. Both of today's bulletins were ranked "important," the second-highest rating in Microsoft's four-step severity scoring system, even though the company acknowledged that the eight vulnerabilities could be used to completely compromise a Windows PC. Although security experts recommended that users deploy the Office fix first, several argued today that the Windows update was more interesting because Microsoft declined to patch one of the two pieces of involved software.
19:18
Symantec Offers New Approach to Mobile Security
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

Symantec showed off a new approach to mobile security here at company headquarters during a media event this week. Symantec Mobile Reputation Security (SMRS) is a prototype for what the company calls a next-generation solution to mobile security developed by its research labs. John Kelly, Symantec's (NASDAQ: SYMC) senior director of technology and business development, said mobile security requires a unique approach that both preserves open access to applications and provides assurance that those applications are safe to run. "Symantec believes the future of mobile operating systems is openness and open APIs," he said. "Today, the applications are pre-vetted by companies like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) for the iPhone, but in the future that will change with Android and others."
19:17
Top Five Tips for Securing your Business Reputation
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

There have been recent reports of how a Twitter scam has affected some well known UK politicians, issuing embarrassing Tweets from their personal accounts. Whilst these headlines may seem amusing, Lloyd Borrett, the Marketing Manager at AVG (AU/NZ), says it is worth considering the potential impact of this type of scam on your business reputation. Reputation is everything in the world of a small business, often taking years to establish. Being targeted by a similar scam can have a detrimental effect on the reputation of your company. In a recent NCSA (National Cyber Security Alliance) study on small business security, 69% of small business owners said they would let their customers know if they suffered a security breach, whilst almost half agreed that their customers are concerned about the IT security of their business.
19:16
Hackers target freshly uncovered Internet Explorer hole
» ‎ Hack In The Box (general)

Microsoft on Tuesday warned that hackers are targeting a freshly-uncovered weakness in some earlier versions of its Internet Explorer (IE) Web browser software. Microsoft said it is investigating a hole that cyber attackers are taking advantage of in IE 6 and IE 7. "At this time, we are aware of targeted attacks attempting to use this vulnerability," Microsoft said in an advisory posted along with a routine release of patches for Windows and Office software. "We will continue to monitor the threat environment and update this advisory if this situation changes." Hackers could use the flaw to remotely seize control of computers. The new IE 8 Web browser and an old IE 5 version are not affected, according to the US software colossus.

16:50
وداعا أيها الشيخ القديم.. السعوديون يلقون القبض على فتاوى التشددصحيفة الوطن السعودية :: كتاب اليوم
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وداعا أيها الشيخ القديم.. السعوديون يلقون القبض على فتاوى التشددصحيفة الوطن السعودية :: كتاب اليوم
16:16
Man in police uniform arrested for ‘homosexuality’arabnews - Saudi Arabia
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JEDDAH: Police here confirmed on Tuesday a man was arrested in January for dressing up in a police uniform, engaging in “inappropriate acts” and posting the video online.
16:00
مقصورات الصلاة على الخطوط السعودية - نجيب عصام يمانيصحيفة عكاظ - كتاب ومقالات
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خصصت السعودية مكانا في مؤخرة الطائرة لأداء الصلوات، فبعض الركاب يصلون في مقاعدهم، ولا يتحقق معهم أر...
16:00
الغذامي مازال شيخ طريقة - صالح إبراهيم الطريقيصحيفة عكاظ - كتاب ومقالات
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روى الدكتور عبدالله الغذامي في حواره الذي أجراه بجريدة الرياض يوم الجمعة الماضية عن خيبته بالأندية ...

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