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The Lovebug Virus after 10 Years

2010-05-06T09:41:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago today, on May 4, 2000, a security team with MessageLabs, a provider of messaging security services, came in to work and discovered the number of viruses its system had intercepted in the last several hours was off the charts.

MessageLabs security team was the first to stop and name LoveBug, a mass-mailing worm later reckoned to have infected 45 million computer users worldwide. As a result of the malware outbreak the percentage of viruses in email surged overnight from just one in every 1000 emails to one in 28 on 4 May 2000. Email servers worldwide ground to a halt under the onslaught.

Infected messages appeared as messages from contacts of an intended mark with the subject line "ILoveYou", and an infected attachment called "LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs". Crucially, a security shortcoming of the time means the final .vbs extenuation was hidden by default from Windows users, who were therefore easily duped into thinking the email contained only an innocuous txt file attachment.

Users tempted to open these infected message attachments were exposed to a Windows-based malware payload that harvested email addresses from compromised machines and sent out more infected messages, continuing the spread of the worm. The worm used infection routines written in VBScripts, helping to popularise a technique that was then comparatively unusual.

Evidence from the malware pointed the finger of blame for the creation of the worm towards Filipino student Onel de Guzman, who was arrested and quizzed by police but escaped prosecution because of a lack of relevant cybercrime laws in the Philippine at the time. Computer hacking laws were rushed through Parliament in the Philippines and introduced weeks after the outbreak in July 2000, but weren't backdated, allowing de Guzman to avoid prosecution.

The LoveBug, and the less successful but nonetheless virulent Melissa worm that preceded it, marked the heyday of mass-mailing worms that used social engineering trickery to spread. Such attacks are now very rare with targeted Trojan attacks and botnet clients now the mainstay of the threat environment. In some way the LoveBug recalls an earlier, more innocent, age before cybercrooks and state-sponsored parties took over the scene.

To mark the anniversary MessageLabs, now Symantec hosted services, commissioned an artist Alex Dragulescu to create an image of the malware. The resulting image - which looks a bit like a pollen seed.

Image generated by Alex Dragulescu using actual LoveBug virus code

Time travel will exist proclaims Hawking

2010-05-06T08:13:00.000-07:00

For more than 100 years astronomers, cosmologists and philosophers have debated whether intelligent life other than our own exists in the universe. Those that fell on the side against intelligent life argued that life itself is exceedingly rare. They looked at the data and proclaimed that too many things had to happen in the right order at the right time for any life—let alone intelligent life—to exist.

The opposite camp thought the possibility remained that, given the age of the cosmos, the number of galaxies, stars in those galaxies and probable planets around those stars, life was inevitable, even intelligent life.

Hawking jumps into the fray

After decades of self-imposed silence on the subject, world-renowned theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking, decided to throw his metaphorical hat into the debate.

He came down on the side of intelligent life.

But the sometimes quirky scientist went farther than that. He also attached a warning aimed at all those scientists eager for contact with aliens from another star system: be careful what you wish for.

Hawking sees contact with intelligent aliens as not only dangerous, but foolhardy.

Could fleets of alien ships really invade Earth, subjugate us, convert us or turn us into food? Hawking thinks anything is possible and much of it could be bad.

His warning made world headlines and it's still reverberating to such a degree in some colleges and universities that the ivy has shaken right off the walls.

Now the 68 year old has passed judgment on another scientific debate. Time travel.

Admitting he kept quiet for many years out of fear of accusations of heresy by colleagues and other established physicists, he finally decided to throw caution to the wind. Now that he has, the wind threatens to become a hurricane.

Really getting away from it all

Hawking, referring to Einstein's relativity theory on the compression of time as mass approaches the speed of light, extrapolates that achieving speeds of 650 million miles per hour (98% the speed of light) will be achievable in the far off future. One day—on board a spaceship traveling at that speed—will equal the passage of a year on Earth. He points out that attaining such a velocity makes it possible to reach the outskirts of the Milky Way in about 80 years.

Such a space time vessel might travel a million-even millions of years into the future. The scientist thinks that when the time travelers return, if they discover the human race has disappeared, they can repopulate the Earth.

Such bold prognostication raises eyebrows-and not just amongst colleagues. Hawking only laughs, claiming he held back for years fearing being labeled a crank. "These days I'm not so cautious," he admits.

Although effectively time travel, the traveling would only be in one direction: forward. No erstwhile chrononaut could fulfill his or her fantasy of walking the streets of ancient Rome or attending the inaugural ceremonies of George Washington.

While the concept of compressing time and skipping ahead millions of years is fascinating, being unable to go backwards throws cold water on some people's personal dream … traveling back in time to the 1970s and picking up several thousand shares of Apple stock.

Holy man claims not to have eaten or drank water for 65 years

2010-05-06T06:18:00.000-07:00

How many days can you last without drinking water? 4 or 5 day’s maximum, but if this holy man is to be believed he is still surviving without food and water for about 65 years.

Prahlad Jani, an Indian from Gujarat claims he was blessed by goddess when he was 8 years old. He lives on spiritual life force.

If what Prahlad Jani claims is true it could be a breakthrough in medical science. Once the exact process is known it could help millions survive during natural calamities.

Currently Prahlad is being closely monitored by the Indian defence force. It has been more than a week now and there is no sign of thirst or hunger in fact there is no sign of physiology changes at all.

If what Jani claims is a hoax he may die within next 2 weeks his muscles will shrink and lead to serious dehydration and even organ failure.

According to G. Ilavazhagan, director of the Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Sciences the methods used by Jani if found to be true can help in future mission to mars.

The scientists are trying to find the energy source that is keeping Jani alive. Jani claim he gets the energy by meditating.

Jani is monitored 24x7 with video camera in his room and a mobile camera that follows Jani when he moves outside.

Video : Holy Man Under Medical Inspection

Plasma Rocket travel to mars in just 39 days !

2010-05-06T06:13:00.000-07:00

NASA is looking forward to flying a plasma-powered rocket to survey an asteroid that could take astronauts to Mars in a little over a month's time.

The rocket called Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) is a twin of one being developed for testing aboard the International Space Station.

VASIMR technology uses radio waves to ionise propellants like argon, xenon or hydrogen, and heat the resulting plasma to temperatures 20 times hotter than that on solar surface. It uses magnetic fields instead of metal nozzles to control the direction of the exhaust.

Equipped with an electric propulsion system, the rocket is being built to transport astronauts to Mars in 39 to 45 days someday - a fraction of the six to nine months the trip would take with conventional chemical rockets.

Shorter travel time for astronauts means reduced exposure to potentially deadly cosmic and solar radiation which currently is a big hurdle for missions to Mars.

"All of a sudden, the future is here," Discovery News quoted VASIMR inventor and physicist Franklin Chang-Diaz as saying. Chang-Diaz is a seven-time shuttle flier who left NASA in 2005 to start his own full time venture dedicated to developing the rocket.
His Houston-based Ad Astra Rocket Co., which has raised millions of dollars from private investors, reached a significant milestone last year when it successfully operated a demonstrator VASIMR at full power in a vacuum chamber.

"The engine is actually firing right now," said Chang.

"We have lots of hurdles and challenges; we have lots of work to do. But if you look at what has happened in the last five years since we left NASA, it's been amazing," he added.

Ad Astra plans to launch its flight version VASIMR to the space station in 2014. As a backup, Chang-Diaz intends to manufacture two engines in case of a launch accident or any other major problem.