A new Google technical report, Trends in Circumventing Web-Malware Detection documents that it has become difficult to identify malicious Web sites as antivirus software is becoming less effective against them. The researchers analyzed four years' worth of data from 160 million Web pages using its Safe Browsing service, which warns users when they attempt to visit a site thought to have malware. Attackers have developed evasion techniques to avoid having their sites flagged as malicious. ACM TechNews notes that

"One of the ways hackers get around virtual machine-based detection is to require the victim to perform a mouse click, which triggers the site to automatically execute an attack. Browser emulators can malfunction when the malicious code is scrambled. A new, more complex JavaScript code is designed to stop emulated browsers and make manual analysis of the code more difficult, according to the Google engineers. Google also has come across IP cloaking, where a malicious Web site will refuse to serve harmful content to specific IP ranges, especially those used by security researchers. In August 2009, Google found that about 200,000 sites were using IP cloaking."

See also an article on NetworkWorld.

A new Google technical report, Trends in Circumventing Web-Malware Detection documents that it has become difficult to identify malicious Web sites as antivirus software is becoming less effective against them. The researchers analyzed four years' worth of data from 160 million Web pages using its Safe Browsing service, which warns users when they attempt to visit a site thought to have malware. Attackers have developed evasion techniques to avoid having their sites flagged as malicious. ACM TechNews notes that

"One of the ways hackers get around virtual machine-based detection is to require the victim to perform a mouse click, which triggers the site to automatically execute an attack. Browser emulators can malfunction when the malicious code is scrambled. A new, more complex JavaScript code is designed to stop emulated browsers and make manual analysis of the code more difficult, according to the Google engineers. Google also has come across IP cloaking, where a malicious Web site will refuse to serve harmful content to specific IP ranges, especially those used by security researchers. In August 2009, Google found that about 200,000 sites were using IP cloaking."

See also an article on NetworkWorld.

The Project MUSE beta site offers access to over 300 free sample books. Browse and search this selection of books, along with MUSE journals, as a preview of the combined book and journal content that will be coming to MUSE on January 1, 2012. Explore books and journals on the Project MUSE beta site at http://beta.muse.jhu.edu.

Highlights of Project MUSE Beta Site

• Access to over 300 free sample books.


• New search box at the top of each page. Suggested search terms appear as you type in your search.


• Enhanced search results page showing both books and journals.


• Faceted searching. Refine search results with options to broaden or narrow results.


• Search the contents of a book and view results without leaving the book home page.


• Easy linking to content by subject area, most recently downloaded, most recently issued.


• Tiered structure for exploring subject areas.


• Enhanced Browse displays books and journals by subject area, title, or publisher.

The beta site will be available through the end of this year giving you an opportunity to become familiar with the new MUSE platform and particularly, with the new enhanced search.

You can access the sample e-books from off-campus with no authentication. To view UMBC subscriptions as well as the sample e-books from off-campus, please login via VPN first (http://vpn.umbc.edu). Click on the "UMBC Library Homepage" link, then follow the link under "News & Events" on the library homepage. For more info on remote access, see http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/services/remoteaccess.php

Opportunities in Computational Materials Science

Juana Moreno and Randall Hall

Center for Computation and Technology
Louisiana State University

1:00pm Friday 9 September 2011, ITE 227

The White House Materials Genome Initiative intends to double the speed with which we discover, develop, and manufacture new materials. In order for this initiative to be successful an unprecedented collaboration between computer scientists, applied mathematicians, computational scientists, and engineers with expertise in each of the aspects of the simulation-guided design of modern materials must be established. We must also take advantage of the enormous national investments in the next generation of hyperparallel, heterogeneous, multicore supercomputers to develop experimentally verified algorithms. In this talk I will describe new collaborative efforts in Louisiana towards developing a State-wise team of scientist to attack the challenges in the design of new materials, and the current opportunities at the undergraduate and graduate level.

Dr. Juana Moreno is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at LSU. She received her Ph.D. in condensed matter physics from Rutgers University and was faculty at the University of North Dakota before joining CCT. Her research focuses on modeling, using a variety of computational tools, the transport and magnetic properties of correlated electron systems, including diluted magnetic semiconductors, heavy fermion compounds and low-dimensional systems.

Dr. Randall Hall received his B.S. in Chemistry from UC Berkeley and his PhD in Chemistry with Bruce Berne from Columbia University. He was a postdoctoral associate with Peter Wolynes at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He joined the faculty at LSU in 1986. He is currently the Webster Parish Chapter Alumni Professor at LSU. He is a co-PI of the Louisiana Alliance for Simulation-Guided Materials Appliations (LA-SiGMA).

Host: Yelena Yesha

Thanks to Top News

If you are a woman reading this… chances are your heart is going to kill you.

Nice personification, right? But surprising to many, heart disease is the number one cause of death for women… young and old.

Why is this killer after women? Because it’s harder to spot. Men and women have different heart attack symptoms, as Mayo Clinic describes:

Women may have all, none, many or a few of the typical heart attack symptoms. For women, the most common heart attack symptom is still some type of pain, pressure or discomfort in the chest. But women are more likely than are men to also have heart attack symptoms without chest pain, such as:

-Neck, jaw, shoulder, upper back or abdominal discomfort
-Shortness of breath
-Nausea or vomiting
-Abdominal pain or “heartburn”
-Sweating
-Lightheadedness or dizziness
-Unusual or unexplained fatigue

One of this biggest complaints from doctors of heart attack victims is the fact that they didn’t get to the hospital fast enough. Don’t try to tough it out or doubt any pain.

What’s the difference between heart disease and attack? An attack is often a good indicator of the disease, but for instance in the case of women, let’s not take any chances.

For Kim Kachmann-Geltz, recognizing her case, which she may have inherited from her mother, was extremely difficult:

It was 30 seconds that changed my life. It was the first time I felt acknowledged. This is real, it’s not in my head, it’s not some pregnancy thing. I shake when I think about it.

So as we here at US Democrazy always say, eat your fruits and vegetables and exercise. In addition, let’s not rule out atypical symptoms or cases (i.e. understand what a panic attack is vs. a heart attack). Plus there are some natural remedies available.

It’s hard to miss the commercials for heart health and the cute hearts that decorate boxes of Cheerios and cans of Coca Cola. For the good of your own health, take heart of these messages.