September 27, 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin with a $100,000 check from Andy Bechtolsheim (co-founder of SUN Microsystems) started Google in Susan Wojcicki’s garage. Susan is Sergey’s sister-in-law and current VP at Google.

 

There is ongoing and heated debate over who should be in charge of Federal cybersecurity policy, a yet-to-be named CZAR in the White House, a Defense/Intelligence agency, or Department of Homeland Security that now has jurisdiction over many of the important civilian and private sector functions. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) is preparing cybersecurity legislation that would give DHS and not the White House primary authority to protect Federal civilian and private computer networks from attacks. http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090925_9014.php?oref=topnews

 

Ant use “swarming intelligence” to deter intruders, when one ant detects a threat, he is soon joined by many others to overwhelm their opponent. Now the strategy is being incorporated into security software at Wake Forest University. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6236631/Cyber-security-experts-learn-from-ant-tactics.html

 

Chinese hacktivists (politically motivated hackers) have launched a targeted malware attack against foreign news correspondents, attempting to trick them into executing a malware-embedded PDF attachment coming from a non-existent editor working for the Straits Times. China is celebrating the 60^th anniversary of the PRC.

 

Cybersecurity experts will soon be able to exchange information on network attack forensics and vulnerabilities using a standard vocabulary and message exchange system. An International Telecommunications Union (ITU) security standard group agreed on a cybersecurity information exchange framework based on standards from government agencies and industry.  The ITU and the Forum for Incident Response and Security Team (FIRST) will also start work together to produce the first worldwide web-based directory of cybersecurity organizations and centers.

 

The transition of the Federal Web portal USA.gov to the cloud, where a vendor maintains the infrastructure and applications, has been successful enough that the General Services Administration is considering the same approach for sites such as Data.gov

 

An article in the National Defense magazine states that the Army is taking a painfully slow approach in letting its soldiers use new networking technology on the battlefield. The Army’s “Land Warrior” Systems connects a small group of soldiers into a command-and-control network and shows the location of each soldier on digital eyepieces that the troops can use without voice communication. As currently designed and regulated, Land Warrior can only be used by soldiers who have a secret clearance. BG. Peter N. Fuller, the Army’s Program Executive Officer Soldier, said it is not practical for every soldier and marine to have a security clearance to tap into databases they use in day-to-day operations. He says that the restrictions are “killing us” because they impede Army efforts to deploy wireless systems, and much more.

 

Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) is asking immigration officials to toughen their demands for evidence from companies hiring visa workers. Senator Grassley writes, “Employers need to be held accountable so that foreign workers are not flooding the market, depressing wages, and taking jobs from qualified Americans.”

 

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s SENSEable city lab are curious about the pattern and cost of urban waste disposal. They placed tags on 3,000 pieces of trash in New York, Seattle, and London. The preliminary result showed the movement of the tagged trash which was illustrated on visual paths superimposed on satellite images of the cities – they found out that trash travels a lot farther than one might think.

 

Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, kicked off National Cybersecurity Awareness Month by announcing that the department has new authority to hire 1,000 cybersecurity professionals over the next three years.

 

The keeper of domain names and IP address has gone global. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the U.S. Department of Commerce said the agency will no longer have ties to the U.S. government and will remain a private not-for-profit organization. It is expected that ICANN will expand beyond “.com, .gov and .org” and big companies will pay large amounts of money for custom domain names. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/26/AR2009092600128.html?sub=AR

 

In an article titled “Let it Rise” about cloud computing in Economist.com, they write,

“In the beginning computers were human then they took the shape of metal boxes, filling rooms before becoming ever smaller and more widespread.  Now they are evaporating altogether and becoming accessible from anywhere.”

 

There are many different definitions given for cloud computing.  I won’t try to find a new one; instead I’d like to show you some beautiful and rare cloud formations:

 http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OhaHEeWqYU0/SpJU8G4akyI/AAAAAAAAFkg/rMeNdTpdBwA/s1600-h/morninggloryclouds_petroff_big.jpg

 

Age is an issue of mind over matter, if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. -- Mark Twain

 

A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman’s birthday but never remembers her age. -- Robert Frost

 

An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have, the older she gets the more interested he is in her. -- Agatha Christie