Engineers at Symantec Corp.’s research and development organization have built a new database security appliance that could eventually lead the Cupertino, Calif.-based company into the database security business. The project has been tested by a handful of Symantec customers since September, and the company is expected to decide within the next few months whether to bring it to market.

The unnamed appliance is a preconfigured server that sits on a network and monitors database traffic, looking for inappropriate queries. “We’re providing ‘Big Brother’ in a box, if you like, to just keep a gentle eye on people. And if people deviate from their normal patterns, we can flag that,” said Gerry Egan, group product manager for Symantec’s Advanced Concepts Group.

The appliance, which has been under development for several years, monitors network traffic using the same underlying “sniffing” engine as Symantec’s Network Security 7100 Series intrusion-prevention appliance. But the 15 engineers working on the project developed their own software that then analyzes database queries.

The current version of the Symantec appliance does not actually block suspicious queries — it simply monitors and reports on what the database is up to — but that feature is being considered for a future version, Egan said

Source: ComputerWorld

Al-Qaida has adopted online tactics that mirror its offline techniques for evading discovery: reliance on a constantly shifting collection of Internet sites and hostile takeovers of Web servers where propaganda can be posted. Last year, a server operated by the Arkansas highway office was hijacked and used to distribute 70 files including videos featuring Osama bin Laden.

During the past few years, according to terrorism analysts, al-Qaida has embraced the Internet as a new tool for organizing, training and propagandizing. A group believed to be al-Qaida’s Web-based propaganda arm recently debuted a weekly state-of-affairs Webcast and is reportedly searching online for recruits to aid with the coverage–meaning that the group will need to find more hijacked computers to distribute the additional content.

Source: News.com

Two years ago Ian Rosenberg, from London, was told he had two and a half months to live. The 59-year-old had pioneering stem cell treatment which enabled his heart to repair damaged tissue.

“After the first treatment, I started to get better immediately. They take injections from the bone marrow in my hipbone. When they have enough cells they take it to a lab for “witchcraft,” as I call it. I don’t really know what they do there but two hours later I have a treatment that is a bit like an angiogram. Instead of using a stent, though, they inject the cells into the arteries in my heart.

Basically, the heart regrows the dead tissue. Even with so much scarring, my heart is pretty good now. I can go cruising, travel to America where I spend about six months of the year and walk a lot further than previously. I still can’t play 18 holes of golf; I do nine instead now.”

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Source: CNN

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