criticism

Smarter is not always better--at least when it comes to utilities.

More than a decade after initial reports said critical infrastructure in the U.S. is vulnerable to cyberattack, the situation has only worsened as utilities move their control systems closer to the Internet and install smart-grid technology, according to security experts.

Questions about the security of infrastructure in the United States arose this week following a Wall Street Journal report that said the nation's electricity grid has been compromised by foreign hackers. And several experts said in interviews this week that some energy systems have, in fact, gotten … Read more

The administration of President Barack Obama will be hiring a new national cyber adviser, according to the agenda for homeland security released on his first full day in office.

The Agenda for Homeland Security, released Wednesday, lists goals for defeating terrorism and improving intelligence gathering, as well as for protecting the nation's information networks and critical infrastructure.

The top item under protecting information networks is to strengthen leadership on cyber security by establishing a "position of national cyber advisor who will report directly to the president and will be responsible for coordinating federal agency efforts and development of … Read more

It's year-end time, and the critics are weighing in with their year-end lists, from the maddening mix of obscure and popular at Pitchfork to the back-and-forth over at Slate.

I'm not a music critic, so I don't get to listen to hundreds of new CDs for free. That means I've missed plenty of the music on these critics' list, though I know I hate No Age and am indifferent to Girl Talk.

Even so, without checking the data, this year seemed pretty good: TV on the Radio, Beach House, and Portishead all made strong impressions, and … Read more

Mozilla has released updates to its popular Firefox browser, its Thunderbird e-mail client, and its SeaMonkey application suite, aiming to address highly critical security flaws that could expose users' sensitive information.

Users are advised to update to version 3.0.5 of Firefox, which was released Tuesday. They are also advised to update to version 2.0.0.19 of Thunderbird and version 1.1.14 of SeaMonkey.

The vulnerabilities were found in earlier versions of Firefox 3, as well as in versions of Firefox 2.

According to a research note released Wednesday by security researcher Secunia:

Some vulnerabilities have … Read more

Stuart Cohen made news by declaring that the open-source business model is broken (when, in fact, it's not: just one particular, outdated and out-moded model is).

Now Alan Frazier, a prominent venture capitalist, is declaring that the venture capital model is broken.

Meanwhile, pundits are also declaring that the auto industry is broken (It is.), the finance industry is broken, the housing market is broken, health care is broken, and so on.

Have you caught the chorus yet? "Everything is broken" is how it goes.

Easy words when the world appears to be falling apart. But we … Read more

Asked which industry is the biggest target for cyberattack, critical infrastructure insiders in the U.S., Canada, and Europe point to the energy sector.

The energy industry also is the most vulnerable to cyberattacks and would have the most detrimental breach, while the financial sector is the best prepared in the case of a cyberattack, according to the survey sponsored by security firm Secure Computing. All other industries were deemed to be "not prepared" by greater than 50 percent of the respondents.

Survey participants from the U.S. and Canada were also asked how soon major exploits of … Read more

The riveting YouTube film, in which an officer of the NYPD appears to be auditioning for the linebacker job at NYG or NYJ, is raising blood pressure readings in many parts of the community.

It appears to quite clearly tell the story of an assault by a police officer on a cyclist. But is that the only story it tells?

Unlike many movies, which give you everything in one sitting, this film seems to have a significant amount of European art house about it. There are questions left unanswered.

No one who sees it could deny that the NYPD officer … Read more

Clarification: I mistakenly dropped a word when commenting on whether the officer made any hand gestures to signal the bicyclist to stop. The sentence should have read that the officer made no hand gestures.

Kudos to The Smoking Gun for posting a copy of the arrest report filed by New York City policeman Patrick Pogan.

He's the officer who a tourist videotaped body slamming a bicyclist in what appears to be an unprovoked attack last Friday. The case is rapidly playing out on YouTube, where the clip has been watched nearly 900,000 times since Sunday night, when it … Read more

A New York City police officer was stripped of his gun and badge after a video posted on YouTube showed him body-checking a bicyclist during Friday's Critical Mass bicycle ride.

The video (see below), which was shot by a tourist and posted on the video-sharing site Sunday, shows bicyclists whizzing past uniformed officers during the Times Square protest. One officer begins to stride across the street, picking up speed and violently tackling a bicyclist into a crowded sidewalk.

The video sparked an immediate public outcry and led the department to place the officer, identified by several news agencies as … Read more