ACM interview with Eugene H. Spafford

As a pioneering Internet security researcher and a well-known skeptic about achieving truly secure systems, are you optimistic about efforts to build a more secure network? No, I’m not. I see two problems associated with this approach. First, any significant network that is developed will need to accommodate existing (legacy) systems in some manner, and be operated by some of the same people we have now — there is simply too much invested in legacy systems. This will lead to participating organizations continuing to make poor choices about their priorities for security (and privacy). Many security problems come about because of user error, misconfiguration, poor patching, indirect attacks, and a failure to properly prioritize and fund appropriate safeguards — it isn’t only the design of the networks. A new set of network protocols and connections will not address the full range of issues.

via March 11, 2014: People of ACM: Eugene H. Spafford — Association for Computing Machinery.

Google’s Project Loon: The gamble that’s so crazy it might work

Google’s Project Loon, in which high-altitude balloons circle the globe using wind currents and solar power to provide WiFi connectivity to remote locations in developing markets, officially launched this past week, with balloons headed out around the world from a remote location in New Zealand. If you’re so inclined, there’s even a way to follow along online in real-time as winds blow these balloons at 25 mph along the 40th parallel in the Southern Hemisphere.

via Google’s Project Loon: The gamble that’s so crazy it might work.

Report finds D.C. area a hotbed for cybersecurity jobs

Burning Glass conducts daily reviews of job postings across 32,000 online sites. In a report released last week, the company said that the Washington metropolitan area had more than 23,000 job postings for cybersecurity positions in 2013, a figure that far surpasses the number of such postings in any other region. New York had the second-highest number with just over 15,000. The San Francisco-San Jose metro area, which includes Silicon Valley, had more than 12,000.

via Report finds D.C. area a hotbed for cybersecurity jobs – The Washington Post.

The next wave of cars may use Ethernet – Computerworld

As in-vehicle electronics become more sophisticated to support autonomous driving, cameras, and infotainment systems, Ethernet has become a top contender for connecting them.For example, the BMW X5 automobile, released last year, used single-pair twisted wire, 100Mbps Ethernet to connect its driver-assistance cameras.

via The next wave of cars may use Ethernet – Computerworld.

IT Jobs: Best Paying Titles Of 2014

If you’re sticking with an IT job you hate, ask yourself one question. Why? For tech professionals, 2014 looks bright.

Hiring increased, according to a report from IT career site Dice. Seventy-three percent of tech-focused hiring managers and recruiters reported they plan to fill more IT positions this year, and nearly one quarter indicated a “substantial” rise in hiring numbers.

Employers continue to prioritize talent retention, and this works in your favor. For example, 40% reported an increase in counter-offers from existing employers, and 34% saw candidates reject job offers, according to the report.

via IT Jobs: Best Paying Titles Of 2014 – InformationWeek.

Hiring Managers Advise Job Seekers to Contribute to Open-source Projects

Contributing to open-source projects can give software developers an edge over other applicants in the competitive IT job market, say hiring professionals.”The phrase we use is ‘code is the new resume,'” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. “Open source has truly become a juggernaut as of late. Within the last five years in particular it’s just become the dominant form of development.”Open source, he noted, is behind Google’s Android mobile OS, which is based on the Linux kernel, and open-source programs like Hadoop and NoSQL play key roles in the data-science movement. With open source in the mainstream, contributing to a community gets the attention of hiring managers.

via Hiring Managers Advise Job Seekers to Contribute to Open-source Projects – CIO.com.

Hackers take control of 300,000 home routers

A world-spanning network of hijacked home routers has been uncovered by security researchers. The network involves more than 300,000 routers in homes and small businesses that have been taken over through loopholes in their core software. Discovered by researchers at Team Cymru, the network is thought to be one of the biggest involving such devices.

via BBC News – Hackers take control of 300,000 home routers.

Automatic Exploit Generation – Communications of the ACM

Attackers commonly exploit buggy programs to break into computers. Security-critical bugs pave the way for attackers to install trojans, propagate worms, and use victim computers to send spam and launch denial-of-service attacks. A direct way, therefore, to make computers more secure is to find security-critical bugs before they are exploited by attackers.

via Automatic Exploit Generation | February 2014 | Communications of the ACM.

Demand for Linux skills rises

Cloud infrastructure is largely Linux-based, and cloud services’ overall growth is increasing Linux server deployments. As many as 30 percent of all servers shipped this year will be cloud services providers, according to IDC. This shift may be contributing to Linux hiring trends reported in a recent Dice study, which found that 77 percent of hiring managers have put hiring Linux talent on their list of priorities, up from 70 percent last year. In the third quarter of 2013, Linux servers accounted for 28 percent of all server revenue, compared to 21.5 percent in the same time frame of 2012. “The utilization of the Linux operating system is moving more and more up the stack,” says Dice president Shravan Goli. Linux is clearly the preferred platform for cloud computing deployments, notes Pund-IT analyst Charles King. Overall, 93 percent of the managers surveyed in the Dice report plan to hire Linux professionals in the next six months, while 86 percent of the Linux professionals responding in the survey said Linux proficiency has provided them with more career opportunities.

Demand for Linux skills rises – Computerworld.

Contagious wi-fi virus created by Liverpool researchers

A computer virus that can spread via wi-fi like a “common cold” has been created by researchers in Liverpool. In densely populated areas with lots of wi-fi networks, the virus can go from network to network finding weaknesses. Once in control of a wi-fi access point, it leaves computers on the network extremely vulnerable.

via BBC News – ‘Contagious’ wi-fi virus created by Liverpool researchers.