Apple Computer said it fixed a security flaw at its online store late last week that could have enabled attackers to hijack customers' accounts and place fraudulent orders.
The flaw, discovered by an anonymous Canadian security researcher who uses the nickname "Null," potentially allowed malicious users to change Apple Store customers' passwords and gain control of the victims' account data.
Information stored by Apple includes customers' names, mailing addresses, telephone numbers, order histories and credit card information.
Apple representatives said the company corrected the problem Friday, but declined to provide details of the fix. Spokesman Bill Evans said Apple does not believe any customers were affected by the vulnerability.
News source: Wired news
The flaw, discovered by an anonymous Canadian security researcher who uses the nickname "Null," potentially allowed malicious users to change Apple Store customers' passwords and gain control of the victims' account data.
Information stored by Apple includes customers' names, mailing addresses, telephone numbers, order histories and credit card information.
Apple representatives said the company corrected the problem Friday, but declined to provide details of the fix. Spokesman Bill Evans said Apple does not believe any customers were affected by the vulnerability.
News source: Wired news
Silicon Substitute
This is the first time light has ever been generated from a molecule by applying electricity, said Phaedron Avouris, manager of nanometer-scale science at IBM Research's Watson Labs.
Light, already the foundation of today's high-speed communication networks, could someday be used to process data in computers and other electronic devices, as engineers run out of ways to cram more performance into silicon chips. Carbon nanotubes with semiconductor properties can be made into transistors much smaller than current silicon transistors, increasing the number of transistors that can be placed on a single chip.
Silicon, the main material used in semiconductors, does not emit light, and therefore can't be used in optoelectronic products, Avouris said. The capability of these nanotubes to generate light means the same type of material is suitable for both electronic and optoelectronic uses, he said. Optoelectronic components include solar cells, light-emitting diodes (LED), and optical-fiber communications products.
Current optical-fiber communications devices are much larger than those that could be constructed from carbon nanotubes, said David Tomanek, professor of physics at Michigan State University. Carbon nanotubes could allow the manufacture of extremely small optical fibers, allowing a greater number of fibers to be placed in a smaller device, he said.
The more fibers in a communications device, the larger the pipe for information to flow through, Tomanek said.
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