Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
January 2011
From ACM TechNews
Why Are Health Data Leaking Online? Bad Software, Study Says
A recent Dartmouth College study found that sensitive health care data is being leaked online through peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing services. In addition, the researchers found that many people were using P2P services to find…
From ACM News
Keeping Women in Science on a Tenure Track
More women are obtaining Ph.D.s in science than ever before, but those women—largely because of pressures from having a family—are far more likely than their male counterparts to “leak” out of the research science pipeline…
From ACM News
Hackers Find New Way to Cheat on Wall Street
High-frequency trading networks, which complete stock market transactions in microseconds, are vulnerable to manipulation by hackers who can inject tiny amounts of latency into them.
From ACM News
The New Speed of Money, Reshaping Markets
A substantial part of all stock trading in the United States takes place in a warehouse in a nondescript business park just off the New Jersey Turnpike.
From ACM News
And Then There Were Five: Nist Names Sha-3 Crypto Competition Finalists
Out of the original 64, there now are five candidates left in the ongoing multi-year competition overseen by NIST to create the next 'hash' algorithm to protect the integrity of electronic information.
From ACM News
Reauthorization of Competes Act Brings Changes to Nist
President Obama on Tuesday (Jan. 4) signed the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, which provides several important updates to NIST funding, programs and leadership.
From ACM TechNews
Car Theft by Antenna
A method for breaking into and stealing cars that have keyless entry and starting systems has been found by ETH Zurich researchers, who were able to gain entry to and drive 10 cars by intercepting and relaying signals from the…
From ACM TechNews
Nanowriting a Big Step in Electronics
The ability to write metal lines that are less than 5 nanometers wide has been demonstrated by a University of Illinois research team, and this could impact the future fabrication of nanoelectronics and quantum devices.
From ACM TechNews
Network Defense Gone Wrong
Many companies use content-delivery networks as a defense against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, but Michael Rabinovich of Case Western Reserve University found that such networks could make websites more vulnerable…
From ACM News
The Power of 'convergence'
In white paper, MIT scientists discuss potential for revolutionary advances in biomedicine and other fields.
From ACM News
Make Way for Mathematical Matter
We already have solid, liquid, gas, plasma and Bose-Einstein condensate. Now it seems we may be on the verge of discovering a whole host of new forms of matter - all based on mathematics.
From ACM News
Utah's $1.5 Billion Cyber-Security Center Under Way
Today's groundbreaking for a $1.5 billion National Security Agency data center is being billed as important in the short term for construction jobs and important in the long term for Utah's reputation as a technology center…
From ACM News
IBM's Jeopardy Strategy: Divide and Conquer
When it comes tackling a challenge as tough as answering a human question, the best computational approach may be to break the job down into multiple parts and run them all in parallel, IBM is betting.
From ACM News
Beyond Surveillance: Darpa Wants a Thinking Camera
It’s tough being an imagery analyst for the U.S. military: you’re drowning in pictures and drone video, with more pouring in endlessly from the tons of sensors and cameras used on planes, ships and satellites.
From ACM News
Nist Publications Recommend Organization-Wide It Security Risk Management
Two new draft publications from NIST provide the groundwork for a three-tiered risk-management approach that encompasses computer security risk planning from the highest levels of management to the systems level.
From ACM News
IPv6 Guide for Secure Deployment of Next-Generation Internet Protocol
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have issued a guide for managers, network engineers, transition teams and others to help them deploy the next generation Internet Protocol (IPv6) securely.
From ACM TechNews
Can Cash Prizes For Innovation Get the Economy Rolling Again?
Contests for innovation are back in vogue and are a major component of the Obama administration's agenda for federal government support of private-sector R&D.
From ACM TechNews
Girls-Only Computer Class Hits Refresh on It's Geeky-Male Image
Canada's Cardinal Leger Secondary School teacher Dan Harmer put all the girls into a single computer science class, hoping that the single-sex environment would create a less intimidating atmosphere. It worked.
From ACM TechNews
Total Recall: Data Diaries Explain Who You Really Are
The collection, archival, and search of everyday personal experiences that are recorded by cameras and other devices could support the digital diaries envisioned by Microsoft scientist Gordon Bell and others.
From ACM TechNews
'sms of Death' Could Crash Many Mobile Phones
Low-end mobile phones are vulnerable to hackers using short message service (SMS) communications, according to research presented at a recent conference in Germany.
From ACM TechNews
Interactive Window Shopping
Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications researchers have developed a three-dimensional camera system that enables consumers to interact with items inside window displays using hand and facial gestures.
From ACM TechNews
3-D Steps Up to Decode Mobility
Stanford University researchers are using computer-generated 3-D simulations of human mobility to improve the lives of people with disabilities. The technique can help reveal the source of a problem and provide a platform for…
From ACM TechNews
Graphics Ability Is the New Goal For Chip Makers
Computer chip makers will highlight the improved visual performance of their technology at this year's Consumer Electronics Show.
From ACM News
More Schools Embracing Ipad as Learning Tool
A growing number of schools across the United States are embracing the iPad as a teaching tool. Some parents and scholars have raised concerns that schools are rushing to invest in iPads before their educational value has been…
From ACM News
The Surprising sefulness of Sloppy Arithmetic
A computer chip that performs imprecise calculations could process some types of data thousands of times more efficiently than existing chips.
From ACM News
Graphics Ability Is the New Goal For Chip Makers
In the good old days, it was all about speed.
From ACM News
Berkeley Lab To Help China Improve Energy Efficiency of Data Centers
The U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has started working with China to improve the energy performance of its data centers.
From ACM Opinion
Don't Track Me, Bro
Here is how Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, describes the current state of affairs on the Internet: "Say I’m walking through a mall. And there’s a guy following me. He doesn't know my name, but…
From ACM News
The American Wikileaks Hacker
Jacob Appelbaum fights repressive regimes around the world—including his own.
From ACM News
Wipro Building India's Fastest Supercomputer For Space Agency
Wipro Ltd. is building what will become India's fastest supercomputer for the Indian Space Research Organisation, giving the agency critical muscle to crunch large volumes of data as it designs more complex launch vehicles…