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the university daily kansan 9A
Internet flaw could leave it open to hackers
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON
Researchers uncovered a serious flaw in the underlying technology for nearly all Internet traffic, a discovery that led to an urgent and secretive international effort to prevent global disruptions of Web surfing, e-mails and instant messages.
sages. The British government announced the vulnerability in core Internet technology yesterday.
Left unaddressed, experts said it could allow hackers to knock computers offline and broadly disrupt vital traffic-directing devices, called routers, that coordinate the flow of data among distant groups of computers.
"Exploitation of this vulnerability could have affected the glue that holds the Internet together," said Roger Cumming, director for England's National Infrastructure Security Coordination Centre.
The Homeland Security Department issued its own cyberalert hours later that attacks "could affect a large segment of the Internet community." It said normal Internet operations probably would resume after such attacks stopped.
Experts said there were no reports of attacks using this technique.
The risk was similar to Internet users "running naked through the jungle, which didn't matter until somebody released some tigers," said Paul Vixie of the Internet Systems Consortium Inc.
"It's a significant risk," Vixie said. "The larger Internet providers are jumping on this big time. It's really important this just gets fixed before the bad guys start exploiting it for fun and recognition."
ton. The flaw affecting the Internet's "transmission control protocol," or TCP, was discovered late
in Milwaukee.
Paul Watson said he identified a method to reliably trick personal computers and routers into shutting down electronic conversations by resetting the machines remotely.
last year by a computer researcher in Milwaukee.
remotely. Experts previously said such attacks could take between four years and 142 years to succeed because they require guessing a rotating number from roughly 4 billion possible combinations.
billion possible contact Watson said he can guess the proper number with as few as four attempts, which can be accomplished within seconds.
Routers continually exchange important updates about the most efficient traffic routes between large networks. Continued successful attacks against routers can cause them to go into a standby mode, known as "dampening," that can persist for hours.
Cisco Systems Inc., which
acknowledged its popular routers were among those vulnerable, distributed software repairs and tips to otherwise protect large corporate customers.
corporate customers.
Home users have few steps to take; Microsoft Corp. said it did not believe Windows users were too vulnerable and made no immediate plans to update its software.
Using Watson's technique to attack a computer running Windows "would not be something that would be easy to do," said Steve Lipner, Microsoft's director for security engineering strategy.
Already in recent weeks, some U.S. government agencies and companies operating the most important digital pipelines have fortified their own vulnerable systems because of early warnings communicated by some security organizations.
The White House has expressed concerns especially
online traffic. "Any flaw to a fundamental protocol would raise significant concern and require significant attention by the folks who run the major infrastructures of the Internet," said Amit Yoran, the government's cybersecurity chief.
about risks to crucial Internet routers because attacks against them could profoundly disrupt online traffic.
The flaw has dominated discussions since last week among experts in security circles.
The public announcement coincides with a presentation Watson expects to make tomorrow at an Internet security conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, where Watson said he would disclose full details of his research.
Watson predicted that hackers would understand how to begin launching attacks "within five minutes of walking out of that meeting."
Democrats question changes to overtime pay
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Republicans yesterday embraced election-year revisions to the nation's overtime pay rules, saying changes to an earlier Bush administration plan would take away extra pay from far fewer white-collar workers.
But Democrats questioned those claims, pointing to a lengthy list of jobs that the regulations, released yesterday, say are generally ineligible for overtime.
struggily managed. The administration, said Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, "simply is not trustworthy on the issue."
Those generally exempt from overtime include a broad range of professionals: pharmacists, funeral directors, embalmers, journalists, financial services industry workers, insurance claims adjusters and human resource managers.
Others are management consultants, executive and administrative assistants, dental hygienists, physician assistants, accountants and chefs.
Even athletic trainers with degrees or specialized training, computer system analysts, programmers and software engineers are generally exempt.
are generally exempt. The devil is in the details, and
we just got the details," said Harkin, who led Senate opposition to the earlier version of the proposed regulations.
But Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said "few, if any" workers would lose their overtime pay protections. Officials said legal challenges and case law show that those jobs aren't eligible for overtime pay anyway.
white-collar workers will be newly eligible for overtime, she said.
overtime pay any way,
Chao said that while about
107,000 white-collar workers
earning $100,000 or more a year
could lose their eligibility, that's
fewer than in a draft proposal
issued 13 months ago. Also,
about 1.3 million lower-wage,
"Workers will clearly know their rights and employers will clearly know their responsibilities," she said.
The revisions, which do not need congressional approval, will take effect in 120 days.
Lower-wage workers gaining overtime protections include lower-wage retail and restaurant managers. Middle-income workers such as office workers, cooks, inspectors, paralegals, licensed practical nurses and technicians "will have their rights better pro-
first responders. The revisions come at a time when jobs and pocketbook issues are among voters' chief concerns. President Bush has improved his standing in polls on domestic issues, but questions linger about the strength of the labor market and his plan to create jobs.
Police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians are identified as jobs that will not lose overtime protections in response to criticism from Democrats and labor unions, who said the initial plan was vague and could cut overtime pay for those "first responders."
LOS ANGELES — NASA launched into orbit yesterday a $750 million satellite conceived during the Eisenhower administration to test two of Albert Einstein's fundamental predictions about the universe.
The launch of the 6,800pound, Lockheed Martin Corp-built spacecraft marked the end of the longest development period of any mission in the history of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The Gravity Probe B satellite blasted off from an oceanside pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Delta II rocket. The satellite separated from the rocket 75 minutes later and began its 18-month mission, officials said.
and Space Explorers first proposed what became Gravity Probe B in 1959, a year after the launch of the first American satellite and the creation of NASA.
Over the decades, it weathered more than a half-dozen attempts at cancellation amid concerns over cost overruns and technical hurdles.
The Earth-orbiting satellite was built to test elements of Einstein's theory of general relativitv
learn theory of general relativity.
The mission is widely expected to prove Einstein right, producing what one NASA official called a "ho-hum" result.
NASA launches research satellite
The Associated Press
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