In retaliation against Microsoft's Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor (COFEE), which frequently helps law enforcement officials extract data from password-protected or encrypted sources, two talented developers have created what they call "Detect and Eliminate Computer Assisted Forensics" (DECAF), to be used as a counter intelligence tool. It was specifically designed to thwart the Microsoft forensic toolkit. DECAF works by monitoring the computer it's been installed on for any indications that COFEE may be operating on the machine and does everything in its power- which is quite a bit- to stop COFEE from getting through. More specifically, the program goes about deleteing COFEE's temporary files, killing its processes, erasing all COFEE logs, disabling USB drives, and even contaminating or spoofing a variety of MAC addresses in order to muddy its own forensic tracks. DECAF can be directed... --
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You probably already know that your computer can talk to you. Text to speech is fairly commonplace for listening to texts while keeping your hands on the wheel while driving. Many business computer services use text to speech in many applications for small business IT support. It helps when you need both hands free but need to keep on computing. But did you know that you can also talk back to your computer and have it listen? Computer users have had this capability for a while. The name of this powerful tool is Windows Speech Recognition.
Skinput is a system from Carnegie Mellon's Chris Harrison that monitors acoustic signals on your arm to translate gestures and taps into input commands. Just by touching different points on your arm, hand, or fingers you can tell your portable device to change volume, answer a call, or turn itself off. Even better, Harrison can couple Skinput with a pico projector so that you can see a graphic interface on your arm and use the acoustic signals to control it. Courtesy of slashdot.com... --
The Texas Department of State Health Services routinely collected blood samples from newborns to screen for a variety of health conditions, before throwing the samples out. But beginning in 2002, the DSHS contracted Texas A&M University to store blood samples for potential use in medical research. These accumulated at rate of 800,000 per year. The DSHS did not obtain permission from parents, who sued the DSHS, which settled in November 2009. Now the Tribune reveals that wasn't the end of the matter. As it turns out, between 2003 and 2007, the DSHS also gave 800 anonymized blood samples to the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory to help create a national mitochondrial DNA database.... --
A federal judge on Monday ordered the Pennsylvania school district accused of spying on its students to stop activating the cameras in school-issued MacBook laptops. According to the original complaint, Blake Robbins was accused by a Harriton High School assistant principal of 'improper behavior in his home' and shown a photograph taken by his laptop as evidence. In an appearance on network television last Saturday, Robbins said he was accused by the assistant principal of selling drugs and taking pills — but he claimed the pictures taken by his computer's camera showed him eating candy. Also on Monday, the company selling the software used by the school district to... --
The United States Capitol Building[/caption] The House passed a new cybersecurity bill with an overwhelming majority vote. The Cybersecurity Enhancement Act, H.R. 4061 has a number of interesting provisions. Representative Michael Arcuri, a Democrat of New York who sponsored the bill called cybersecurity the 'Manhattan Project of our generation' and estimated the US needs 500 to 1,000 more 'cyber warriors' every year in order to keep up with potential enemies. The new bill 'authorizes one single entity, the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to represent the government in negotiations over international standards and orders the White House office of technology to convene a cybersecurity university-industry... --
Old fashioned coupons[/caption] "Everyone wants to save,"... --
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