You’re hereby warned: over the next weekend will thousands of hackers gather in cities around the globe to test out their latest tools and perhaps come up with some new ones. They are invited by Google, Microsoft, NASA, Yahoo! and The World Bank.
“It is an opportunity to meet and work with top software developers and disaster experts, to create and improve open source applications that enable communities to recover from disasters.”
My New Desktop
What! I had to read it twice. It turns out the three rulers of the internet, together with NASA and The World Bank, is inviting software developers, private hackers and students to participate in an event called “Random Hacks of Kindness,” (RHoK) to create some kind of disaster recovery application.
If you too have trouble believing your own eyes, here’s the link to the blog post at Google Code Blog.
Come Hack for Humanity! the Google-guy writes.
And leaves me with more questions than a European Stability Mechanism.
First: What disaster is he talking about?
In fact, according to the blog post, this is the third time, these four institutions invite hackers to this kind of event. The first one took place in November last year and the second in June this summer.
Google Code Blog writes:
“RHoK brings together volunteer programmers and experts in disaster response for a two-day hackathon to create software solutions that focus on problems related to disaster risk and response. It is an opportunity to meet and work with top software developers and disaster experts, to create and improve open source applications that enable communities to recover from disasters, and to possibly win prizes.”
The winner in 2009 was a mobile phone application that enables you to send out a “broad” message (email, SMS, Facebook, etc.) to as many people as you want, by just pressing one single button.
Earlier this year the friendly hacker prize was awarded a prediction model (algorithm), that outputs visualization, interpretation and identification of landslide risk reduction measures.
Well, that’s all mighty fine. But still; why just disaster applications?
And why do Microsoft, Google – and NASA (!) – need to call on amateurs and private hackers? Isn’t these companies supposed to have some of the best computer experts available in this part of the world on their payrolls?
Will All The Chinese Raise Their Hands, Please?
RHOK will be held simultaneously in many locations around the world on December 4 and 5.
The five main stages will be in Chicago, Sao Paolo, Aarhus, Nairobi and Bangalore; and there will be over a dozen satellite events in other global cities.
The satellite connections will be set up here:
New York, New York, U.S.A
Lusaka, Zambia
Berlin, Germany
Toronto, Canada
Bogota, Colombia
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.
Jakarta, Indonesia
Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Birmingham, U.K.
Singapore
Tel Aviv, Israel (Dec. 3rd/4th)
Mexico City, Mexico
San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
Juarez, Mexico
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. (Dec. 5 only)
(More info about the “Random Hacks of Kindness” here)
I also wonder who really turns up at these events. I strongly doubt that the most creative, sophisticated and competent private hackers will register, sign in and log on to this special purpose system just for the sake of humanity.
You’ve probably noticed that besides Indonesia and Singapore, there is no Asian participation.
Hack - The definition
I could go on asking stupid questions for a page or three more, but I probably wouldn’t get any answers anyway.
However, an old saying from back in the 60’s comes to mind:
“Fighting for freedom is like fucking for virginity”
In this case I think the following re-write is suitable:
“Hacks for humanity is like a homepage for the homeless”
.
Related Articles:
- Calling all women: The RHoK 20% challenge and a Yahoo! scholarship (developer.yahoo.com)
- NASA, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, World Bank team to offer hackathon (networkworld.com)
- Random Hacks of Kindness weekend set for developers (infoworld.com)
EconoTwist's 
And Here We Go: Nasdaq Stock Exchange Hacked!
This is exactly what I’ve been waiting for – and have been warning about – that hackers would gain access to the major financial market places. Well, now it has become a reality. according to The Wall Street Journal, quoting people familiar with the matter, US federal authorities are investigating repeated intrusions into the computer network that runs the NASDAQ Stock Exchange.
“So far, the perpetrators appear to have just been looking around.”
Hackers have repeatedly penetrated the computer network of the company that runs the NASDAQ Stock Market during the past year, and federal investigators are trying to identify the perpetrators and their purpose, according to people familiar with the matter. The exchange’s trading platform—the part of the system that executes trades—wasn’t compromised, according to the sources. However, it couldn’t be determined which other parts of Nasdaq’s computer network that has been accessed.
Investigators are considering a range of possible motives, including unlawful financial gain, theft of trade secrets and a national-security threat designed to damage the exchange, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The Nasdaq situation has set off alarms within the government because of the exchange’s critical role, which officials put right up with power companies and air-traffic-control operations, all part of the nation’s basic infrastructure.
Other infrastructure components have been compromised in the past, including a case in which hackers planted potentially disruptive software programs in the U.S. electrical grid, according to current and former national-security officials.
“So far, [the perpetrators] appear to have just been looking around,” says one person involved in the NASDAQ matter.
Another person familiar with the case said the incidents were, for a computer network, the equivalent of someone sneaking into a house and walking around but—apparently, so far—not taking or tampering with anything.
A probe into the matter was initiated by the Secret Service and now includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation, WSJ.com writes.
The mystery surrounding the hackers and their motives is worrying investigators, who remain unsure whether they have been able to plug all potential security gaps—especially since invaders typically seek new ways to breach systems.
The case involving New York-based Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. is part of what cyber-crime authorities see as a broader problem of hackers nosing around corporate computer networks, with varying degrees of success.
U.S. companies are a continual target, and sometimes their public websites are vandalized.
It is rarer for perpetrators to penetrate internal systems. Such breaches rarely come to light because companies fear that acknowledging them would alarm customers or encourage copycats.
Tom Kellermann, a former computer security official at the World Bank who now works at a firm called Core Security Technologies, says the most advanced hackers in the world are increasingly targeting financial institutions, particularly those involved in trading.
“Many sophisticated hackers don’t immediately try to monetize the situation; they oftentimes do what’s called local information gathering, almost like collecting intelligence, to ascertain what would be the best way in the long term to monetize their presence,’‘ he says.
People familiar with the NASDAQ matter said the Secret Service first began investigating last year.
Investigators have informed White House officials of the case, according to the people familiar with the situation, who said that such a move is typical in hacking investigations, particularly in the early stages of the probes.
Authorities haven’t yet been able to follow the trail to any specific individual or country.
Those familiar with the case says that some evidence points toward Russia, but the person or people responsible could be almost anywhere, perhaps using computers in Russia merely as a conduit.
The case poses two concerns for authorities: preserving the stability and reliability of computerized trading, and ensuring that investors have full faith in that system.
Stock exchanges know they are frequently targets for hackers.
“We take any potential threat seriously and we are continually working to ensure that our systems operate at the highest levels of security and integrity,” Ray Pellecchia, a spokesman for NYSE Euronext, which operates the New York Stock Exchange, says.
Yeah, right!
Well, let me point out a few things:
NASDAQ’s website was hacked already back in 1999 – almost 12 years ago. What do you think the hackers were trying to do? Paint graffiti on the ticker board?
Keep in mind that who ever made the Stuxnet worm spent about 10 years to develop the first prototype.
The new generation of malware has the capability to hide itself from any known antimalware tools, or disable them. If discovered, the malware mutate itself, disguise itself as a totally different file in a totally different area of the system.
Meanwhile – market participants and regulators keep blaming the high frequency traders for all the flash crashes and computer failures that has occurred lately. Just like the hedge funds was – at first – blamed for the whole financial crisis. (And a bit more…).
And, as I understand it, the incident described above happened a year ago. Why hasn’t the market been informed of this before?
Talking about investors confidence in the stock exchange systems….
Now, please get your fat fingers out of your asses and face the real world!
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