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Serial rabbit killer uses Google maps to find victims German police are concerned that the person killing rabbits may go on to kill human beings Roger Boyes in Berlin The roll call of victims is growing longer by the day. They have names like Rocco, Fussel, Marianne and Fluffy — and a five-man police unit has a file on each and every one. The so-called “bunny murders” — 40 domestic rabbits killed at night in their hutches, heads and sometimes paws sliced off, their bodies drained of blood — is stunning communities across western Germany. “Nobody knows where the killer...

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - One in three information technology professionals abuses administrative passwords to access confidential data such as colleagues' salary details, personal emails or board-meeting minutes, according to a survey. U.S. information security company Cyber-Ark surveyed 300 senior IT professionals, and found that one-third admitted to secretly snooping, while 47 percent said they had accessed information that was not relevant to their role. "All you need is access to the right passwords or privileged accounts and you're privy to everything that's going on within your company," Mark Fullbrook, Cyber-Ark's UK director, said in a statement released along with the survey...

Jim Louderback, CEO of internet TV network Revision3, is considering legal action against anti-piracy firm MediaDefender after an internal investigation revealed it to be the source of a Memorial Day weekend Denial of Service attack against Revision3’s computer network.

Computer hackers in China, including those working on behalf of the Chinese government and military, have penetrated deeply into the information systems of U.S. companies and government agencies, stolen proprietary information from American executives in advance of their business meetings in China, and, in a few cases, gained access to electric power plants in the United States, possibly triggering two recent and widespread blackouts in Florida and the Northeast, according to U.S. government officials and computer-security experts. One prominent expert told National Journal he believes that China’s People’s Liberation Army played a role in the power outages. Tim Bennett, the...

YouTube law fight 'threatens net' YouTube is owned by search giant Google A one billion dollar lawsuit against YouTube threatens internet freedom, according to its owner Google. Google's claim follows Viacom's move to sue the video sharing service for its inability to keep copyrighted material off its site. Viacom says it has identified 150,000 unauthorised clips on YouTube. In court documents Google's lawyers say the action "threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information" over the web. The search giant's legal team also maintained that YouTube had been faithful to the requirements of the 1998 Digital...

MediaDefender attacks and cripples Revision3 for locking out its spy-bots Posted by Cory Doctorow, May 29, 2008 10:14 AM | permalink MediaDefender, the thugs paid by the entertainment industry to spy on file-sharers and attempt to cripple file-sharing networks, attacked a legitimate Internet TV company called Revision3 over the weekend, launch as massive denial-of-service attack in retaliation for having their spy-bots locked out of R3's BitTorrent trackers: Revision3 runs a tracker expressly designed to coordinate the sharing and downloading of our shows. ItÂ’s a completely legitimate business practice, similar to how ESPN puts out a guide that tells viewers how...

    To be exceptionally honest with you, Ultrasonic Batgoggles don't exactly need any pimping from us. What you see above is a homegrown device that enables humans to discover how bats must feel when using echolocation in order to judge how far away certain objects are. The main components are an Arduino microcontroller clone, Devantech ultrasonic sensor and a set of welding goggles -- oh, and a sick poker face to really round things out. Check out the links below to get a gist of the background as well as a step-by-step guide to concocting your own. EXCERPTED....

Indispensable in hot kitchens: the nanotube Oxford chemists have found a way of using carbon nanotubes to judge the heat of chilli sauces. The technology might soon be available commercially as a cheap, disposable sensor for use in the food industry. Professor Richard Compton and his team at Oxford University have developed a sensitive technique to measure the levels of capsaicinoids, the substances that make chillies hot, in samples of chilli sauce. They report their findings in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal The Analyst. The current industry procedure is to use a panel of taste-testers, and is highly...

Doom-filled warnings arrive from AT&T this week. The company says that without substantial investment in network infrastructure, the Internet will essentially run out of bandwidth in just two short years. Blame broadband, says AT&T. Decades of dealing with the trickle of bandwidth consumed by voice and dialup modems left AT&T twiddling its thumbs. The massive rise of DSL and cable modem service in the 2000s has had AT&T facing a monstrous increase in the volume of data transmissions. And that's set to increase another 50 times between now and 2015. That's enough, says AT&T, to all but crash the system....

Four or five years ago, ZigBee had a burst of publicity. Why has it gone quiet since then? ZigBee promised to integrate wireless sensors - light switches, burglar alarms and just about everything else - into mesh networks, using economical low-power, low-speed connections. Using links defined by IEEE 802.15.4, it promised networked devices with a battery life of five or ten years, that could be installed and left to run. But what's happened? We've yet to see any ZigBee installations, and we keep hearing of competitors, including proprietary technology like Z-Wave's Zensys, new systems that use IP over 802.15.4, and...

A BusinessWeek probe of rising attacks on America's most sensitive computer networks uncovers startling security gaps The e-mail message addressed to a Booz Allen Hamilton executive was mundane—a shopping list sent over by the Pentagon of weaponry India wanted to buy. But the missive turned out to be a brilliant fake. Lurking beneath the description of aircraft, engines, and radar equipment was an insidious piece of computer code known as "Poison Ivy" designed to suck sensitive data out of the $4 billion consulting firm's computer network. The Pentagon hadn't sent the e-mail at all. Its origin is unknown, but the...

The Speedos that could be just a bit too speedyBy MARK FLEMING - More by this author » Last updated at 21:42pm on 29th March 2008  A revolutionary bodysuit that British swimmers hope will help them power to medals at the Beijing Olympics could be banned.  The skintight Speedo LZR Racer costume, which was developed with help from Nasa scientists, has been worn in 16 world record-breaking swims in just six weeks since its launch, and now swimmers are clamouring to try it. But the sport's governing body is worried that, because it apparently helps swimmers go faster, wearing...

State reportedly offers $100,000 to forestall lawsuits over massacre RICHMOND, Va. - Families of those killed in the Virginia Tech massacre would receive $100,000 each under a settlement the state is proposing to prevent lawsuits, according to a victim's relative who received a copy of the proposal. Medical and counseling expenses would be provided to the families of the 32 killed and dozens of surviving victims, said the person, who asked Monday to remain anonymous because those involved were told not to discuss the settlement. Families would also have the opportunity to question the governor and university officials about the...

Apple today released Security Update 2008-002 which is recommended for all users and improves the security of Mac OS X. Previous security updates have been incorporated into this security update. Security Update 2008-002 is available via Software Update and also as standalone installers. More info and download links:• Security Update 2008-002 v1.0 (Leopard) - 50MB• Security Update 2008-002 v1.0 (Universal) - 103MB• Security Update 2008-002 v1.0 Server (Leopard) - 108MB• Security Update 2008-002 v1.0 Server (PPC) - 82MB• Security Update 2008-002 v1.0 Server (Universal) - 107MB For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307562.

eBay scripting trick used to boost seller ratings Shockwave redirection ploy in mystery auction attack By John Leyden → More by this author    Published Tuesday 18th March 2008 17:04 GMT Hackers have been caught using a malicious scripting scam in an apparent attempt to boost their rating on eBay.An auction for a 4WD car on eBay.co.uk featuring the ruse was brought to our attention by Reg reader John early on Monday. eBay pulled the auction on Monday afternoon but The Reg has this screenshot.The auction for a 2007 Range Rover Sport HSE offered a car valued at £40K for...

Identifying Manipulated Images New tools that analyze the lighting in images help spot tampering. By Erica Naone   True or false? The tool used above spots whether an image has been manipulated by modeling the lighting in the image based on an analysis of visible surfaces. To analyze an image, a user indicates the surfaces to consider using contour lines (shown above in white). The system checks for inconsistencies in the way that those surfaces are lit. Credit: Micah Kimo Johnson, Hany Farid Photo-editing software gets more sophisticated all the time, allowing users to alter pictures in ways both...

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Maryland Senate shot down a proposal to make room in the state's budget to repeal a highly criticized tax on computer services on Wednesday, but rising heat from the industry has lawmakers considering ways to soften the blow. On a day when opponents rallied against the so-called "Tech Tax," Sen. David Brinkley, R-Frederick, proposed an amendment to the Senate's budget bill to make up for an estimated $214 million the tax is estimated to generate.(snip) "This was a bad idea from the start," Brinkley said. "The question now is what do we do ... How do...

US high-tech companies are being forced to outsource more jobs overseas because of outdated restrictions on immigration, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates told Congress Wednesday. Gates, echoing a longstanding complaint from the technology sector, told a congressional panel that the US immigration system "makes attracting and retaining high-skilled immigrants exceptionally challenging for US firms." "Congress's failure to pass high-skilled immigration reform has exacerbated an already grave situation," Gates said in remarks prepared for delivery to a hearing of the House of Representatives Science and Technology Committee. "As a result, many US firms, including Microsoft, have been forced to locate staff in...

Everyone is talking about HDMI with the release of the PS3, and it's worth talking about; many people don't know that much about the cables or the connections. Heck, I've talked to people who don't realize that their PS3 will look better if they upgrade their composite cables that come with the system. I'm not going to try to break down the entire issue of cabling because it's a broad one, but if you're looking to buy an HDMI cable, just pay attention to the fact that there are stores that will rob you and others that won't. When I...

The Offshoring of America's Top Jobs Many of America's top jobs are moving offshore. Which jobs are most likely to be hit by "offshoring" and what can you do to protect and safeguard your career?Jobs that are most likely to be moved offshore have these Characteristics: Work is highly repetitive (accounting) Work is predictable and well defined (customer service) Can be broken down into small manageable projects (software development) Can be turned into a routine (Tele-marketing) Proximity to the end customer is not important (phone based tech support of consumer products) End customer has already moved offshore (semiconductor sales) Jobs...