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Saturday, March 30, 2013

'Biggest cyberattack in history' turns out to be overblown

Is it "the biggest cyberattack in history"? Or just routine flak that network-security providers face all the time?

News websites across the Western world proclaimed Internet Armageddon today (March 27), largely due to a New York Times story detailing a "squabble" between the spam-fighting vigilantes at Spamhaus and the dodgy Dutch Web-hosting company Cyberbunker.

"Fight Jams Internet," the Times headline said. "Global Internet slows," the BBC proclaimed in the wake of the Times' story. Both websites alleged that Netflix streaming was slowing down as a result.

The reality is less exciting, though still serious. The Internet disruptions, which were centered in Western Europe, appear to be largely over, and were largely unnoticed even when occurring.

But, if anything, the incident may prompt a fix for a basic security flaw in the Domain Name System that serves as one of the underpinnings of the Internet.

"Despite the work that has gone into making the Internet extremely resilient, these attacks underscore the fact that there are still some aspects of it that are relatively fragile," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at San Francisco-based network-security provider nCircle.

Too much information

Cyberbunker appears to be behind a massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack that first tried to first take down Spamhaus, then Spamhaus' network-reliability provider CloudFlare, and finally this past Saturday (March 23) hit CloudFlare's own bandwidth providers in Europe.

Boston-based Akamai Networks told the Times, and Spamhaus told the BBC, that the last round of attacks peaked at 300 gigabits per second, possibly the largest amount of bandwidth ever recorded during a DDoS attack.

According to a CloudFlare blog posting, the attack was launched on March 18 and immediately involved a tactic called DNS amplification, in which unprotected Domain Name System (DNS) servers are used to flood targeted servers with huge amounts of useless information, tying up bandwidth and processing time.

The attacks increased in volume during the week, finally peaking on Saturday when, according to CloudFlare, half of the infrastructure on the London Internet Exchange, an Internet node connecting several large-scale networks, was tied up by the attack. (CloudFlare is based in Palo Alto, Calif., but runs a global network.)

DNS servers are essentially the phone books of the Internet. Every Internet-connected device, from your computer to your smartphone, uses them to match a website address that humans use, such as "www.technewsdaily.com," with an Internet Protocol address that computers and routers use, such as "207.86.128.60."

DNS servers are essential, yet many remain "open," which means they will accept lookup requests from anyone, not just their specified clients.

Attackers make lookup requests using the IP addresses of their targets, then request tons of information, which ends up flooding the targeted servers with huge amounts of DNS information.

[5 (Probably) American Cyberweapons]

Did two wrongs make a bigger wrong?

Spamhaus, a group of related companies based in London and Geneva, was started in 1998 to track and combat email spam and spammers. It maintains a blacklist of Web-hosting companies known to host spammers, and a whitelist of known "clean" Web hosts.

Both lists are used by Internet service providers around the world, and Spamhaus is partly responsible for the huge drop in email spam in recent years.

Some Web-hosting companies have complained they've been unfairly placed on the Spamhaus blacklist. Spammers have launched DDoS attacks against Spamhaus' website and servers. (There's even a "Stophaus" website based in Russia and dedicated to combating what it calls Spamhaus' "underhanded extortion tactics.")

It appears Cyberbunker has both complained and attacked.

Cyberbunker bases its operations in a decommissioned NATO bunker, built to withstand a nuclear war, in the southern Netherlands. The company was founded in 1998 by a group of hackers who proclaimed the "Republic of Cyberbunker," a sovereign state "surrounded by the Netherlands on all borders."

The company pledges not to ask questions about what its clients are up to.

"In most cases we have no idea as to who or where our customers actually are," the Cyberbunker site proclaims. "Customers are allowed to host any content they like, except child porn and anything related to terrorism. Everything else is fine."

Such a policy has attracted some unsavory clients, including the file-sharing site The Pirate Bay, and, according to Spamhaus, the cybercrime gang known as the Russian Business Network. Cyberbunker also claims to have been raided by a Dutch police SWAT team, which apparently found nothing incriminating on the premises.

It was Cyberbunker's alleged hosting of spammers that caused Spamhaus to place both Cyberbunker and its ISP on the Spamhaus blacklist in the fall of 2011.

As a result, Cyberbunker's ISP dropped it as a client, but both the ISP and Cyberbunker posted long manifestos about why Spamhaus was evil.

The issue seems to have lain dormant until March 18, when a false Anonymous campaign called "Operation Stophaus" was proclaimed on the online bulletin board Pastebin.

It listed a litany of complaints against the "tax-circumventing self-declared Internet terrorists" of Spamhaus, then added a variant of the Anonymous "We Are Legion" tagline.

That posting may have been cover for the DDoS attacks that began the same day. In a statement to the New York Times, Sven Olaf Kamphuis, who claimed to speak for Cyberbunker, and whose Google+ page gives his residence as "Republic Cyberbunker," affirmed that the Dutch hosting company was behind the attacks.

"Nobody ever deputized Spamhaus to determine what goes and does not go on the Internet," Kamphuis told the newspaper. "They worked themselves into that position by pretending to fight spam."

It's hard to see how such an attack can be legally justified. The Netherlands has famously lax laws governing the Internet and other digital communications, but odds are Cyberbunker will be facing another SWAT raid very soon.

Fixing a hole

For his blog posting, CloudFlare's Matthew Prince used the headline "The DDoS That Almost Broke the Internet." That's not entirely accurate, since the problems were rather localized.

However, the attack may prompt an overhaul of the DNS system. Prince and others have been vocal about the need to lock down most or all DNS servers so they no longer respond to lookup requests from anyone.

That move would go against the model of openness and accessibility that's guided the Internet for 40 years. The idea has always been that any Internet-connected device can reach any other using any path, and open DNS servers are essential to that model.

But the problem of DNS-amplified attacks has been growing exponentially in just the past few months.

The ongoing attacks against U.S. bank websites which began last September use the tactic, and have reached 100 Gbps at times.

If this week's unrelated attacks truly did hit 300 Gbps, the end to the open-DNS server model may be inevitable.

This story was provided by TechNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow Paul Wagenseil?@snd_wagenseil. Follow us?@TechNewsDaily,?Facebook?or?Google+.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/truth-behind-biggest-cyberattack-history-210723787.html

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Friday, March 29, 2013

U.S. law to restrict government purchases of Chinese IT equipment

By Alina Selyukh and Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress quietly tucked in a new cyber-espionage review process for U.S. government technology purchases into the funding law signed this week by President Barack Obama, reflecting growing American concerns over Chinese cyber attacks.

The law prevents NASA, and the Justice and Commerce Departments from buying information technology systems unless federal law enforcement officials give their approval.

A provision in the 240-page spending law requires the agencies to make a formal assessment of "cyber-espionage or sabotage" risk in consultation with law enforcement authorities when considering buying information technology systems.

The assessment must include "any risk associated with such system being produced, manufactured or assembled by one or more entities that are owned, directed or subsidized" by China.

The United States imports about $129 billion worth of "advanced technology products" from China, according to a May 2012 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

During a news conference on Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei urged the United States to abandon the law to help develop relations and trust on both sides.

"This bill uses Internet security as an excuse to take discriminatory steps against Chinese companies. It is not beneficial to mutual trust between China and the United States nor to the development of trade and economic relations," Hong said.

The amendment to the so-called "continuing resolution" to fund the government through September 30 originated in the Commerce, Justice and Science subcommittee of the House of Representatives, chaired by Virginia Republican Rep. Frank Wolf.

It had gotten little attention until a blog post this week by Stewart Baker, a partner in the Washington office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP and a former assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Writing in the "Volokh Conspiracy", one of the country's most prominent legal blogs, Baker wrote on Monday that the measure "could turn out to be a harsh blow" for Chinese computer-maker Lenovo and also "bring some surprises for American companies selling commercial IT gear to the government."

Lenovo Group Ltd, which bought IBM Corp's PC unit in 2005 and is now on track to become the world's largest PC maker, said it was aware of the bill and reviewing the specific language.

"Depending on how the language is interpreted, it could in fact apply very broadly to many companies across the IT industry from all around the world," Lenovo said in an emailed statement.

"We are very confident and comfortable that we will continue to be very successful in growing our business in the U.S. even as we and all of our competitors navigate new regulations."

U.S. concern about Chinese cyber-attacks has mounted in recent months, with top officials, including President Barack Obama, vocally condemning the practice.

Obama raised the issue in a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month, and told ABC News in an interview that some cyber-security threats are "absolutely" sponsored by governments.

"We've made it very clear to China and some other of the state actors that, you know, we expect them to follow international norms and abide by international rules," he said.

Xi said the United States and China should avoid making "groundless accusations" against each other about cyber-security and work together on the problem.

The exchange came after U.S. computer security company Mandiant said a secret Chinese military unit based in Shanghai was the most likely driving force behind a series of hacking attacks on the United States.

Last year, the House Intelligence Committee released a report urging U.S. telecommunication companies not to do business with Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp because it said potential Chinese state influence on the companies posed a threat to U.S. security.

Both companies took issue with the report, which Huawei spokesman William Plummer called "baseless."

Plummer said in an email their reading of the bill is that it "does not apply to Huawei based on the description of covered entities."

ZTE officials declined to comment on the latest U.S. law, while Huawei officials were not available for comment.

Baker, a technology security lawyer, said he believed the language would live on in future appropriations bills and possibly get tougher over time.

"Once a provision ends up in the appropriations bill...it tends to stay there unless there's a good reason to take it out," Baker said. "We could easily see (the appropriation committees) tighten up some of the language in the future."

China could challenge the measure as a violation of World Trade Organization rules, but may have a tough time making that case because it is not a member of the WTO agreement setting international rules for government procurement.

The WTO agreement also contains a national security exemption that could be another U.S. line of defense against a possible Chinese challenge, Baker said.

It is possible other countries could raise objections because of the potential for the provision to prevent purchases of Lenovo computers manufactured in Germany or Huawei handsets designed in Britain, he said. But they may decide to tolerate it because of their own concerns about Chinese hacking, Baker said.

"The goal is not to hurt American and European companies that have operations in China," said a congressional aide who worked on the House bill where the wording originated. "It was really targeting entities that are directed by Beijing," said the aide, who asked not to be identified.

The federal government's purchases, which are funded by taxpayers' money, are often urged to give preference to vendors that offer the cheapest services.

The congressional aide said China may heavily subsidize some companies to present the U.S. market with a much lower price.

"It's a helpful reminder to look at the supply chain" of U.S. firms, the aide said. "The cheap option may be artificially lowered because potentially there are ulterior motives."

(Additional reporting by Lee Chyen Yee in HONG KONG and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Fred Barbash, Bernard Orr and Matt Driskill)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-law-restrict-government-purchases-chinese-equipment-083520519.html

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Demi Lovato Will Return To 'X Factor'

'I couldn't be happier that Demi wants to come back this year,' Simon Cowell confirms in a statement.
By Jocelyn Vena

Demi Lovato
Photo: Albert L. Ortega/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704520/demi-lovato-x-factor-season-three.jhtml

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The risk of autism is not increased by 'too many vaccines too soon'

Public release date: 29-Mar-2013
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Contact: Becky Lindeman
journal.pediatrics@cchmc.org
513-636-7140
Elsevier Health Sciences

Cincinnati, OH, March 29, 2013 -- Although scientific evidence suggests that vaccines do not cause autism, approximately one-third of parents continue to express concern that they do; nearly 1 in 10 parents refuse or delay vaccinations because they believe it is safer than following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) schedule. A primary concern is the number of vaccines administered, both on a single day and cumulatively over the first 2 years of life. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers concluded that there is no association between receiving "too many vaccines too soon" and autism.

Dr. Frank DeStefano and colleagues from the CDC and Abt Associates, Inc. analyzed data from 256 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 752 children without ASD (born from 1994-1999) from 3 managed care organizations. They looked at each child's cumulative exposure to antigens, the substances in vaccines that cause the body's immune system to produce antibodies to fight disease, and the maximum number of antigens each child received in a single day of vaccination.

The researchers determined the total antigen numbers by adding the number of different antigens in all vaccines each child received in one day, as well as all vaccines each child received up to 2 years of age. The authors found that the total antigens from vaccines received by age 2 years, or the maximum number received on a single day, was the same between children with and without ASD. Furthermore, when comparing antigen numbers, no relationship was found when they evaluated the sub-categories of autistic disorder and ASD with regression.

Although the current routine childhood vaccine schedule contains more vaccines than the schedule in the late 1990s, the maximum number of antigens that a child could be exposed to by 2 years of age in 2013 is 315, compared with several thousand in the late 1990s. Because different types of vaccines contain varying amounts of antigens, this research acknowledged that merely counting the number of vaccines received does not adequately account for how different vaccines and vaccine combinations stimulate the immune system. For example, the older whole cell pertussis vaccine causes the production of about 3000 different antibodies, whereas the newer acellular pertussis vaccine causes the production of 6 or fewer different antibodies.

An infant's immune system is capable of responding to a large amount of immunologic stimuli and, from time of birth, infants are exposed to hundreds of viruses and countless antigens outside of vaccination. According to the authors, "The possibility that immunological stimulation from vaccines during the first 1 or 2 years of life could be related to the development of ASD is not well-supported by what is known about the neurobiology of ASDs." In 2004, a comprehensive review by the Institute of Medicine concluded that there is not a causal relationship between certain vaccine types and autism, and this study supports that conclusion.
###

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

The risk of autism is not increased by 'too many vaccines too soon' Public release date: 29-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Becky Lindeman
journal.pediatrics@cchmc.org
513-636-7140
Elsevier Health Sciences

Cincinnati, OH, March 29, 2013 -- Although scientific evidence suggests that vaccines do not cause autism, approximately one-third of parents continue to express concern that they do; nearly 1 in 10 parents refuse or delay vaccinations because they believe it is safer than following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) schedule. A primary concern is the number of vaccines administered, both on a single day and cumulatively over the first 2 years of life. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers concluded that there is no association between receiving "too many vaccines too soon" and autism.

Dr. Frank DeStefano and colleagues from the CDC and Abt Associates, Inc. analyzed data from 256 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 752 children without ASD (born from 1994-1999) from 3 managed care organizations. They looked at each child's cumulative exposure to antigens, the substances in vaccines that cause the body's immune system to produce antibodies to fight disease, and the maximum number of antigens each child received in a single day of vaccination.

The researchers determined the total antigen numbers by adding the number of different antigens in all vaccines each child received in one day, as well as all vaccines each child received up to 2 years of age. The authors found that the total antigens from vaccines received by age 2 years, or the maximum number received on a single day, was the same between children with and without ASD. Furthermore, when comparing antigen numbers, no relationship was found when they evaluated the sub-categories of autistic disorder and ASD with regression.

Although the current routine childhood vaccine schedule contains more vaccines than the schedule in the late 1990s, the maximum number of antigens that a child could be exposed to by 2 years of age in 2013 is 315, compared with several thousand in the late 1990s. Because different types of vaccines contain varying amounts of antigens, this research acknowledged that merely counting the number of vaccines received does not adequately account for how different vaccines and vaccine combinations stimulate the immune system. For example, the older whole cell pertussis vaccine causes the production of about 3000 different antibodies, whereas the newer acellular pertussis vaccine causes the production of 6 or fewer different antibodies.

An infant's immune system is capable of responding to a large amount of immunologic stimuli and, from time of birth, infants are exposed to hundreds of viruses and countless antigens outside of vaccination. According to the authors, "The possibility that immunological stimulation from vaccines during the first 1 or 2 years of life could be related to the development of ASD is not well-supported by what is known about the neurobiology of ASDs." In 2004, a comprehensive review by the Institute of Medicine concluded that there is not a causal relationship between certain vaccine types and autism, and this study supports that conclusion.
###

[ | E-mail | Share ]
?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/ehs-tro032613.php
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Toilets in Video Games Are All Pretty Gross

Though most video games never involve a player having to drop a deuce, video game worlds always seem to have dirty toilets in even dirtier restrooms. Who uses these toilets and why are they universally dirty! Video Game Toilets rounds up the toilets found in video games—it spans from like the early 80's until now—in a hilarious Tumblr. Here are a few we love (the one above is from F.E.A.R. 3). More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/9K_WFNlypTU/toilets-in-video-games-are-all-pretty-gross

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Friday, March 15, 2013

Winners & Losers: Supercell's Clash of Clans Tripled Its U.S. Marketshare, Report Shows

Clash of Clans, the title that’s made Finland’s Supercell the new darling of the mobile gaming industry, has doubled its marketshare among U.S. iPhone users over the last six months, according to Onavo, an app tracking company that can actually see active usage. The data is part of a monthly report Onavo does on winners and losers in marketshare — which is defined as the percentage of U.S. iPhone users who open an app at least once in a 30-day period. The last time Supercell publicly shared its revenues was last fall when it said it was pulling in $500,000 per day about five months ago?– when Clash of Clans’ marketshare was one-third of what it is now. But from sources in the industry, we hear that figure is much higher now, in the $1 to $1.3 million range per day.?Generally, the?top grossing games are doing about four times what they were pulling in a year ago. With the iOS base of devices growing, we could see a $2 million per day for a single developer by summer.?The big question for a lot of observers in the industry is if and when Supercell will raise a massive funding round off the back of its success. Meanwhile, the bootstrapped husband-and-wife team at Imangi looks like they are making a successful sequel transition with Temple Run 2 picking up market share where the original game left off. Sequels can be pretty risky for studios if they’re not executed properly because they cannibalize players from the original. And if the sequel isn’t good at retaining users, then the entire franchise can suffer. EA Popcap’s Plants Vs. Zombies also made a big comeback this month after the company made the paid title free. Many developers behind the older, popular titles on iOS from several years ago are making their original games free. Rovio just made the original Angry Birds game free this month. Perhaps it’s a bid to rekindle interest in these games, or perhaps it’s a recognition of the huge shift in the industry toward free-to-play games. More midcore games are also climbing in active usage. Phoenix Age, the quiet studio behind Castle Age HD, saw its title triple its marketshare over the past month. The developer, which often has titles in the top-grossing charts, hasn’t publicly announced any funding to date and is based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. Meanwhile,

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/rsNhOXKHInM/

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New details of atomic structure of water under extreme conditions found

Public release date: 14-Mar-2013
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