Author: Michael

DARPA looks to GPUs to help process big data in the military

The US defence agency is appealing for developers to re-purpose XDATA cloud for military decision-making

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is looking to GPUs to help them master big data in support of governmental and military efforts.

Chris White, project manager at DARPA, told attendees at the GPU Technology Conference the agency is looking for people to help them understand real-world battlefields using GPUs.

DARPA has more than a dozen data science projects on the go, but at present, only two of them use GPUs – one of which is the agency’s XDATA cloud, which develops ways to process and analyse large data sets.

via DARPA looks to GPUs to help process big data in the military | IT PRO.

This is a great time to start a career in cybersecurity – Network World

This is a great time to consider a new career as a cybersecurity professional. According to CIO magazine, experts in cybersecurity are among the most sought-after professionals in the tech sector, with demand for workers in that field outpacing other IT jobs by a wide margin.

According to a recent report from Burning Glass Technologies, the demand for cybersecurity professionals has grown more than 3.5 times faster than the demand for other IT jobs over the past five years and more than 12 times faster than the demand for all other non-IT jobs. Current staffing shortages are estimated between 20,000 and 40,000 and are expected to continue for years to come.

In a recent Network World blog post, John Oltsik of The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) confirms the severe shortage of skilled people in this field. ESG just completed a survey on 2014 IT spending intentions, and results show that 42% of responding organizations intend to increase headcount in information security. This is the highest percentage of all IT skillsets in demand.

Moreover, 25% of all organizations surveyed claim to have a “problematic shortage” of information security skills. The shortage is especially acute in the government, manufacturing, financial services, retail/wholesale, and healthcare industries. This is not surprising, given the vast amount of sensitive (and monetizable) data in those organizations, and the high regulatory pressure to secure that data.

via This is a great time to start a career in cybersecurity – Network World.

Cyber-attacks increase leads to jobs boom

As the number and sophistication of cyber-attacks increase, so too does the demand for people who can prevent such digital incursions. Cyber-security is having a jobs boom.But there aren’t enough people with the necessary skills to become the next generation of cyber-cops.According to the most recent US Bureau of Labor statistics, demand for graduate-level information security workers will rise by 37% in the next decade, more than twice the predicted rate of increase for the overall computer industry.

via BBC News – Cyber-attacks increase leads to jobs boom.

MS-DOS & Word for Windows original source code released

The original source code for two of Microsoft’s most widely-used products, MS-DOS and Word For Windows, has been made publicly available for the first time.This means developers and home computing hobbyists can now get their hands on the source code for the version 1.1 1982 edition of MS-DOS, as well as version 2.0 that dates back to 1983.

via MS-DOS & Word for Windows original source code released | IT PRO.

Experts Explain Why Big Data is a Big Deal

Expert speakers participating in a recent seminar at the University of California, San Diego discussed the rapid growth of big data and how it is affecting people’s daily lives. California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology director Larry Smarr pointed to a typical Google search on a smartphone, whose operation requires more computing power than all of the Apollo space missions put together. “Never in our history have we had a sustained period of this kind of exponential growth [in computer science],” Smarr said. “What we’re talking about is something humanity has never tried to deal with before.” The key theme of the seminar was speculation on the future changes that big data will usher in. Fellow speaker and San Diego Supercomputer Center director Michael Norman discussed the center’s Gordon supercomputer, which is a repository that moves, houses, and analyzes data with vast volumes of flash-based memory. The research areas Gordon is used for include climatology, finance, food production, big industry, physics, biological science, and government. Norman says the three central functions of big data are the volume of data, the speed of information produced, and the variety of data that is readily available.

Experts Explain Why Big Data is a Big Deal.

Adobe: Super subs

Plenty of big software firms—and ones in other industries—are developing cloud strategies too. But few have been as bold in their approach as Adobe. “The transformation of its business model has been pretty drastic,” says Brent Thill of UBS, an investment bank. So has the transformation of its bottom line. Instead of forking out up to $2,600 for Creative Suite, its flagship design package, on a disc, customers can now use its Creative Cloud service, which offers the same applications (plus a few additional ones) online, with a 12-month subscription costing $50 a month, or a month-by-month fee of $75. This has caused Adobe’s profits to crater in the short term, but investors are betting that they will rebound over time, as the subscription model attracts many new customers who had balked at the prices of its packaged software.

via Adobe: Super subs | The Economist.

Lawmakers call for more computer science in California schools

Half a dozen bills before the state Legislature address the growing concern that California students don’t have the computer science skills necessary to thrive in the modern workforce.Educators and tech industry leaders would like high schools to teach students more than just how to use a computer – the goal now is for students to be able to program one. Computer science shouldn’t be a niche field for the highly educated any longer, advocates say.

via Lawmakers call for more computer science in California schools | EdSource Today.

New authenticated encryption algorithm is resistant to multiple misuse

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and the University of Fukui have jointly developed an authenticated encryption algorithm offering robust resistance to multiple misuse.

via New authenticated encryption algorithm is resistant to multiple misuse.

Networks Course Password Cracking Challenge

During the March 18th, 2014, Networks lecture (CS3C03/SE4C03), I posed the challenge of cracking the password corresponding to the following command:

htpasswd -bnm netsec2014 <password>

which yielded:

netsec2014:$apr1$tWaYGBoQ$v1osblq2UdOs0rNURdUhW0

Note several things about this line:

  • apr1 means the result of an Apache-specific algorithm using an iterated (1,000 times) MD5 digest of various combinations of a random 32-bit salt and the password; you can find more about it here: Apache Password Formats.
  • tWaYGBoQ (i.e., the string between the second and third $‘s) is the salt; a 32 bit binary value encoded in Base64. This salt is randomly generated each time the htpasswd command is invoked, and hence, each time htpasswd is invoked it yields a different output, even though it is invoked on the same login/password pair.
  • v1osblq2UdOs0rNURdUhW0, (i.e., the string following the last $) is the actual hash.

How can you check whether a particular password works? You can do so with the command:

openssl passwd -apr1 -salt tWaYGBoQ <password>

As of March 19, 9am, no one was able to break this password. I expect this to be very difficult. On the other hand, the first challenge was successfully cracked by Adam Brousseau: the crypt password corresponding to seed 3z and hash f2laisA/GQ6 is abracadabra, and since only the first 8 characters count, abracada. Adam used open source C code John The Ripper on his own Linux machine, with processor AMD 4 core 3.4GHz (Single core used; Phenom II X4 965 BE). The crack took 23 minutes 10 seconds.