Did NSA Save U.S. from Malware Apocalypse?; Windows XP Slowness Caused by Exponential Algorithm

To view a web version of this message, click here Send this message to a friend Did NSA Save U.S. from Malware Apocalypse? Windows XP Slowness Caused by Exponential Algorithm FreeBSD Playing Catch-up on Security, Says Theo De Raadt Disney Plays Grinch to Some Amazon Customers GM's CEO Rejects Repaying Feds for Bailout Losses Hot Comment: "Next thing the Government will want us to stop smoking, wear seatbelts and..." From the Vault: What's Wrong with Unix? Watch It: Long-Time Microsoft Watcher Talks Poll Booth: How much of your media do you store locally? Sponsored Resource: BYOD Without Tears Did NSA Save U.S. from Malware Apocalypse? During a "60 Minutes" segment, the National Security Agency claimed to have foiled a cataclysmic cyber threat that would have caused untold damage to the national and even global economy. The spy agency said it prevented a BIOS attack by working with computer manufacturers. Sound Off>> Windows XP Slowness Caused by Exponential Algorithm The Windows Update client components use an algorithm with exponential scaling when processing lists of historic patch information. Each additional superseded patch would double the time taken to process the list. With the OS now very old, those lists have grown long--making that processing very slow. Sound Off>> FreeBSD Playing Catch-up on Security, Says Theo De Raadt OpenBSD founder Theo de Raadt bristled at the question about whether his project would follow the steps taken by FreeBSD with regard to hardware-based cryptography. He said OpenBSD has already been doing it for a decade, adding that "I see nothing new in their changes. Basically, it is 10 years of FreeBSD stupidity." Sound Off>> Disney Plays Grinch to Some Amazon Customers Since 2011, Amazon Instant Video has sold a series of Christmas shorts from Disney, but this holiday season, Disney decided to make the shorts exclusive to its own channels. The company went so far as to retroactively withdraw the shows from Amazon, so that customers who have already paid for them no longer have access. Sound Off>> GM's CEO Rejects Repaying Feds for Bailout Losses General Motors' outgoing CEO Dan Akerson doesn't agree with the National Law and Policy Center's call for GM to repay the loss made by the U.S. Treasury from its bailout -- which cost the U.S. government $10 billion. Akerson's statement came in the wake of the announcement that the Treasury sold its last shares in GM.  Sound Off>> Leave our kids alone "Next thing the Government will want us to stop smoking, wear seatbelts and vaccinate our children against deadly diseases. Why do they think they know what is good for us?" --by masonc Read More>>   What's Wrong with Unix? Nine years ago, when Google published the GLAT (Google Labs Aptitude Test), the company asked an open-ended question about what is wrong with Unix and how you might fix it. aaron240 asked, "What insightful answers did the rest of Slashdot give when they applied to work at Google? To repeat the actual question, 'What's broken with Unix? How would you fix it?'" Read More>> Long-Time Microsoft Watcher Talks Preston Gralla has been reporting on Microsoft since the 1980s and has seen the company go through many changes -- good and bad. Find out what he has to say about Bill Gates, Windows and the best tablet. Watch the Video>>   How much of your media do you store locally? 0% to 20% 20% to 40% 40% to 60% 60% to 80% 80% to 100% I don't store any media Depends which cloud providers shut down this week Cast Your Vote>>   BYOD Without Tears This white paper looks at the challenges of integrating BYOD within corporate networks and avoid compromised connectivity or performance for established wired and wireless users. Find Out More>> Follow Slashdot on Twitter and Facebook. To unsubscribe, click here or send an email to: unsubscribe-213087@elabs10.com To ensure delivery of this newsletter to your inbox and to enable images, please add slashdot@newsletters.slashdot.org to your e-mail address book or safe senders list. Slashdot | 594 Howard Street, Suite 300 | San Francisco, CA 94105 To view our Privacy Policy click here.