A speaker (Kris Kaspersky – who I don’t think is affiliated with Kaspersky Labs) at the upcoming “Hack in the Box” Security Conference in Malaysia is garnering headlines with his presentation, “Remote Code Execution through Intel CPU Bugs.” Kaspersky is saying that bugs in Intel Core 2 and Itanium processors allow hackers to remotely control or crash any systems using the chips. In his session, he will outline methods that bad guys can use to convert systems running these procs into robots or, best case I guess, just crash the systems outright. He will also discuss his new CPU malware detection research, which was funded by Endeavor Security.

  Kaspersky’s most outlandish claim is that these bugs can be exploited locally or remotely regardless of any operating system safeguards or security software. He also states that there aren’t any existing workarounds or SW solutions to close the security holes. Hmm…this sounds pretty nasty and is, from a computing standpoint at least, end-of-world type stuff. But, before we give in to panic and start the looting and burning, let’s consider this for a moment…..

Don’t just download our papers and scroll through our disjointed rants… listen to Dan Olds, GCG Principal Analyst, talk data center hardware and strategy with host Ashlee Vance of The Register. 

From the The Register:

Episode 17 of Semi-Coherent Computing takes a look at the "white box killer" hardware available with Chris Hipp and Dan Olds joining yours truly for an action-packed discussion.

The show starts off by probing IBM's new iDataPlex unit and then moves to Dell's custom Cloud program. We also explore Microsoft's decision to go hog wild with data centers in shipping containers.

Overall, these service provider-friendly systems build on a lot of the high performance computing work done over the years at labs and big businesses. So, once again, we're seeing HPC goodness makes its way downstream.

Dan is so enamored with this the trend that he's planning to set up a data center van, which will let him go from customer site to customer site for on location analysis. "All I need from you, Mr. Customer, is an outlet, a hose and perhaps a storm drain," he said.

The show wraps up with a chat about Citrix's struggles to pull meaningful revenue away from VMware. We wonder if Microsoft will have any more luck once it gets its act together.

Truly a must-listen! http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/22/scc_17_idataplex/

http://www.hpcwire.com/features/The_New_Science_of_Visual_Analytics.html

Anything with “Analytics” in the title is going to make us sit up and pay attention. We at GCG are keeping watch on the growth of decision-making based on statistical analysis of huge data sets of information, and its sweeping effect on pretty much everything, from the course of treatment your doctor prescribes to the way a movie studio chooses to end the film you’re watching.

So what’s visual analytics? According to Jim Thomas, Director of the National Visualization and Analytics Center (NVAC), "Visual analytics is the science of analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive visual interfaces." Uhhh… ok. Anyone else need an example? HPCwire’s John E. West illustrates:

Consider the news stream at CNN.com and imagine that you are an analyst employed by Amalgamated Office Buildings to monitor what your competition, ACME Builders, is up to. You might be interested in news about big real estate deals, large purchases of steel, new metropolitan construction projects, and so on. But ACME is smart, and they know not to let news of their future projects into the press before they have the contract. There are clues, and any of these news stories individually might give a hint about what your competition is doing. The whole story, however, won't be clear until you put all the pieces together.