Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Scant Brain Power Behind Massive DDoS Attack


It may be the most disturbing thing about last week's historic denial of service attack on a Dutch anti-spam organization -- the fact that the technology involved wasn't that complicated. That's one of the findings of security professionals studying the attack methods used on Spamhaus, along with the knowledge that the hackers used the Internet's own structure to extend their assaults on the group.
One of the largest denial of service attacks in the history of the Internet didn't take rocket science to execute. The offensive was conducted over several days last week after the anti-spam group Spamhaus placed a Dutch hosting service, located in a former NATO bunker, on a blacklist reserved for spammers.
A group calling itself STOPhaus is claiming responsibility for the series of attacks which, at their height, reached bandwidths of 300 Gbps. A 10 Gbps attack will bring most websites down.
To reach those bandwidth levels, the attackers exploited the Internet's architecture and the Domain Naming System to expand the scope of their assaults. They essentially used open servers used to resolve DNS addresses on the Internet like megaphones to amplify their attacks.
The technique was used earlier this year in a series of attacks on U.S. financial websites.

Perl Used By Swine?

Despite the magnitude of the onslaughts, security experts said they can be launched with a relatively low level of technical knowledge. "The technique isn't particularly difficult," said Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare. Prince's company came to Spamhaus's aid when the attacks threatened to overwhelm its website.
"The amount of code you'd need to write to launch this attack can almost be done in a line of Perl," Prince told TechNewsWorld. The most difficult part of the campaign is finding open resolvers to use in your attack because it requires scanning billions of IP addresses.
"It takes a lot of reconnaissance, but not a whole lot of technology itself," Henry Stern, a threat researcher with Cisco told TechNewsWorld. That reconnaisance may have gotten easier. A group calling itself the Open DNS Resolver Project has published a list of 27 million open or semi-open resolvers on the Net. The group's intentions are good ones; it wants server operators to check their IP addresses at the site and restrict access to any of their servers they find on the list.

Blowfish12@2013 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.

Android Powered $99 Ouya Games Console Shipped To First Supporters



A new games console which industry experts say could disrupt the industry has begun shipping to kickstarter backers who helped the Android-based project get going last year. For the rest of us, there’s an official retail release date: June 4.
Games on the system will be a fraction of the cost of traditional console games, more comparable to those found on mobiles and tablets. However, it may struggle to muscle in on a market dominated by big players such as PlayStation and Xbox, one analyst predicted.
The Ouya was financed using crowdfunding website Kickstarter, where it attracted over $8m (£5.3m) in funding from 63,416 backers.

The company has begun sending out consoles to the first supporters of the project – while other interested gamers can pre-order the device.
About 55 games will be available with today’s release, according to [Ouya founder Julie] Uhrman. The cube-shaped player uses a version of Android that requires developers to create applications and games just for the device. Games must be free, offer a free trial or have free add-ons, the company said. … Ouya plans to keep 30 percent of game sales, with developers getting the rest.

Blowfish12@2013 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.

Fact for the day: 2.4.2013


Can openers invented 48 years after cans

Cans were opened with a hammer and chisel before the advent of can openers. The tin canister, or can, was invented in 1810 by a Londoner, Peter Durand.

Blowfish12@2013 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R

Monday, April 1, 2013

How top Techies celebrated April Fool's Day


April 1st is celebrated as April Fool’s Day or All Fools Day in many countries. People usually play prank on others and celebrate it. Tech companies also have celebrated April fools Day and, here is a list how the have done it this year.
bmw-royal-baby-carriage
BMW: ROYAL BABY CARRIAGE
BMW said today that “we are proud to announce the launch of our limited edition BMW P.R.A.M. (Postnatal Royal Auto Mobile)” to coincide with the birth of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s first child
guardian-goggles
THE GUARDIAN: GUARDIAN GOGGLES
Playing on Google Goggles, The Guardian newspaper released its own set of smart frames.
google-maps-treasure-map
Google: Closing of YouTube, Treasure layer in Google Maps, Google Nose, Gmail Blue, Add emotions to Google+ pictures, Levity algorithm
Google is the master of humorous tech pranks for April Fools’ Day. We clearly don’t believe anything Google tells us on March 31 and April 1, but here’s a roundup of Google’s pranks:
Closing of YouTube
Treasure layer in Google Maps
Google Nose
Gmail Blue
Levity algorithm
Google+ emotions
Finally, the Google+ team added the ability to add “emotions” to pictures.
ikea-grassax
IKEA: FLAT-PACK LAWNMOWER
IKEA launched a “brand new, fully flat-pack GRÄSSAX lawnmower.”
nokia_microwave
NOKIA: TOUCHSCREEN LUMIA MICROWAVES
If you can’t win the people with Lumia Windows Phones, maybe it’s time to try pitching them onsmart microwaves?
RUNKEEPER FOR IPAD
Runkeeper brings its iPhone app for tracking your exercise to the iPad.
SPHERO: PEACEKEEPER EDITION
The Sphero robotic ball that can be controlled from your phone has been modified to help crush objects and trip runners. It costs $10,000.
SONY: PET TECHNOLOGY INCLUDING CAT HEADPHONES AND TVS FOR DOGS
Sony launched a set of technology for pets including Cat Cansspeakers for your hamster, andTVs for dogs.
sony-pet-tech
THINKGEEK: PLAY-DOH 3D PRINTER AND EYE OF SAURON DESK LAMP
3D printing is super hot. Why not a 3D printer that works with Play-Doh? Oh, and how about a sweet “Eye of Sauron Desk Lamp” while you’re already ordering?
play-doh-3d-printer
TWITTER: CHARGING TO USE VOWELS
It’s now going to cost to use vowels on Twitter, no more “LOL” for you freeloaders. You’ll just have to use smiley faces.
VIRGIN ATLANTIC: GLASS-BOTTOMED PLANE
Maybe the most scary sounding prank we’ve heard today is Virgin Atlantic’s proposed glass-bottom plane.
virgin-atlantic-glass-bottom-plane
LET US KNOW WHAT WE MISSED
Other companies will surely have their own April Fools’ pranks today. Let us know in the comments what we missed or what you found particularly funny.

Blowfish12@2013 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R

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