Texas D.A. Won't Prosecute Alleged Braindumper

<font size="3">Texas D.A. Won't Prosecute Alleged Braindumper</font>

The longest-standing criminal investigation of an alleged braindumper has come to an end without any charges being filed.

Almost two years ago, San Antonio police seized the business and personal assets of former TestKiller.com and TroyTec.com owner Garry Neale during a criminal investigation of a complaint made by Microsoft alleging that he sold Microsoft certification exam questions, in violation of Texas theft of trade secret statutes.

Full Story: certcities.com

Flaw Leaves Internet Open to Attacks

<font size="3">Flaw Leaves Internet Open to Attacks </font>

A security researcher has developed a new attack for a well-known flaw in the TCP protocol that allows an attacker to effectively shut down targeted routers and terminate existing TCP sessions at will. The scenario has many security experts worried, given the ubiquity of TCP and the fact that there's an attack tool already circulating on the Internet.

The basic problem lies in the fact that existing TCP sessions can be reset by sending specially crafted RST (reset) or Syn (synchronization) packets to either of the machines involved in the session. This is in fact an intended feature of the protocol.

Full Story: eweek.com

New Internet speed record set

<font size="3">New Internet speed record set</font>

The new record, announced Tuesday at the Spring 2004 Internet2 member meeting in Arlington, Va., was for transmitting data over nearly 11,000 kilometers at an average speed of 6.25 gigabits per second. This is nearly 10,000 times faster than a typical home broadband connection. The network link used to set the record reaches from Los Angeles to Geneva, Switzerland. Internet2 is a consortium of more than 200 universities working with industry and government to develop next-generation Internet technology. The Internet2's contest, which began in 2000, is open and ongoing, and it tests researchers' ability to build the highest-bandwidth, end-to-end Internet Protocol network.

Full Story: news.com

Teenager comes to Microsoft's aid

<font size="3">Teenager comes to Microsoft's aid</font>

A teenage computer whizz from Aberdeen has averted a potential crisis at software giant Microsoft. IT specialist Matt Thompson was barely out of college when he discovered a security glitch in Microsoft's Windows operating system.

The 19-year-old informed the company and worked with them for six months to solve the problem. But all he received for helping protect Microsoft from hackers was a mention on its website.

Mr Thompson discovered a flaw in the company's Jet Database Engine while carrying out work for a client at the firm where he works, Aberdeen IT. The bug allowed an attacker to take complete control of an affected system, install programs, and view, change, or delete data.

Mr Thompson said that he initially had difficulty convincing Microsoft it had a problem. He said: "At first I was put through to a load of different departments because they thought I...

New Web Protocol May Leave DSL in the Dust

<font size="3">New Web Protocol May Leave DSL in the Dust</font>

With the click of a BIC, speeding along the information superhighway may begin to feel like zooming down Germany's no-holds-barred Autobahn. BIC-TCP (binary increase congestion transmission control protocol) is a new data-transfer protocol that "makes today's high-speed digital subscriber line (DSL) connections seem lethargic," say computer science researchers at North Carolina State University (NCSU).

In a recent Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) study, BIC-TCP "consistently topped the rankings in a set of experiments that determined its stability, scalability and fairness in comparison with other protocols," explained NCSU spokesperson Jon Pishney. SLAC researchers tested six other new protocols from such universities as the California Institute of Technology and University College, London. "BIC can achieve speeds roughly 6,000 times that of DSL and 150,000 times...

DVD Forum punts blue laser HD-DVD

DVD Forum punts blue laser HD-DVD

The DVD Forum has begun to promote its second-generation DVD specification to Taiwanese drive manufacturers.

The organisation, which oversees the DVD format, approved a blue laser-based format, to be called HD-DVD, last November. The technology came from Toshiba and NEC, rather than the Blu-ray format backed by Sony, Pioneer, Samsung, Matsushita Electric, Philips and others.

Unlike Blu-ray, the Toshiba/NEC system retains backwards compatibility with today's DVD specification, allowing HD-DVD machines to play older discs and ensuring disc manufacturers can more easily re-tool their production lines for the new format.

By contrast, Blu-ray requires all-new equipment. However, supporter companies are already offering Blu-ray machines. Sony shipped its pro-oriented rewriteable 23GB Professional Disc for Data (PDD) last December, and is preparing a second-generation 50GB consumer version which it will use in...

Cisco bug could put hackers in driver's seat

<font size="3">Cisco bug could put hackers in driver's seat</font>

Networking giant Cisco Systems warned customers on Wednesday about a security flaw that could compromise two products used to manage wireless local area network devices and data center switches.

The company said in the warning posted on its Web site that a preset username and password coded into its Wireless LAN Solution Engine (WLSE) and Hosting Solution Engine (HSE) could give attackers complete control of the devices. Attackers could use this control to add new users, modify details of existing users or even change the device's configuration, the company said.

Full Story: cnet-news.com

Exam 70-285 now available

<font size="3">Exam 70-285 now available for MCSE: Messaging on Windows 2003 candidates</font>

Microsoft on March 26 released the latest exam in its MCSE roster, 70-285, Designing a Exchange Server 2003 Organisation. The exam counts as an elective toward the MCSE on Windows 2003, but it also counts as a core exam aimed specifically at messaging specialists planning to obtain the MCSE: Messaging on Windows 2003 title.

According to the exam guide, candidates who plan to take 70-285 should have at least one year of experience planning, designing and managing an enterprise-scale, Exchange-based messaging system.

News Source: mcpmag.com

Thunderbolt and lightning, very very... cooling?

<font size="3">Thunderbolt and lightning, very very... cooling?</font>

Scientists are working on a method to cool down chips that is based on the same principles as an electrical storm

Researchers at Purdue University said Thursday that they have come up with a way to cool computer chips by using the power of electrical storms.

Mechanical engineers at Purdue have filed patents for technologies that eventually could be used to create a device that would cool computer chips by generating lightning and wind on a microscopic level using carbon nanotubes. The patents arose from a research project funded in part by the National Science Foundation.

The researchers have only demonstrated the idea conceptually, but they assert that it could help future computer builders tackle the growing problem of chip generated heat in a more reliable way than they could through liquid cooling.


Michael Kanellos
CNET News.com
March 26,...

CompTIA Releases New Server+ Objectives; Reviewing Network+

<font size="3">CompTIA Releases New Server+ Objectives; Reviewing Network+ </font>

CompTIA recently posted the objectives for the upcoming revision of its Server+ certification exam.

Server+ is a one-exam title exam that certifies candidates' skills on a variety of vendor-neutral server technologies. CompTIA announced in February that it would be updating the exam this year.

The new objectives can be downloaded in PDF format here. The revised objectives contain a new category -- General Server Hardware Knowledge -- that encompasses 30 percent of the material covered. It includes 15 sub-objective items covering knowledge of various system architectures, server types and technologies like ATA, SCSI and clustering. The exam will continue to be 90 minutes long.

Full Story:...