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February 2006 - Vol. 49 No. 2

February 2006 issue cover image

Features

Opinion Editorial pointers Feb 1 2006

Editorial Pointers

It too often follows that as applications and implementations of computer technology escalate in sophistication and usage, so too do their abuses. Indeed, it is such abuses and a growing incidence of illegal intrusions that necessitated the development of computer forensics as a way to obtain evidence of criminal activity supported by a computer. But […]
Architecture and Hardware
News News track Feb 1 2006

News Track

NASA will sponsor the Telerobotic Construction Challenge—a competition to award $250,000 to teams developing technologies that enable robots to perform complex tasks with minimal human intervention. The contest will be conducted in an arena containing scattered structural building blocks; the task will be to assemble the structure using multiple robotic agents remotely controlled by humans. […]
Computing Applications
Opinion Forum Feb 1 2006

Forum

We’ve all contributed to the crisis in computer science described in Maria Klawe’s and Ben Shneiderman’s "Viewpoint" ("Crisis and Opportunity in Computer Science," Nov. 2005). Instead of pushing the CS frontier with new discovery, we’ve acquiesced, becoming a "mature" science while turning the applied-science productivity crank. For 50 years, we’ve built programs that put legions […]
Computing Applications
Opinion Hot links Feb 1 2006

Top 10 Downloads from ACM’s Digital Library

Communications of the ACM Volume 49, Number 2 (2006), Pages 39-40 Hot links: Top 10 downloads from ACM’s digital library Diane Crawford Table of Contents Tables Back to Top Tables Table. The Top 10 Most Popular Papers from ACM’s Refereed Journals and Conference Proceedings Downloaded in November 2005 Table. The 10 Most Popular Courses at […]
Computing Applications
Research and Advances Next-generation cyber forensics Feb 1 2006

Introduction

As with any discipline, changes in mind-set and technology are often met with resistance. Cyber forensics is no exception. With initial roots traced back to what may now be considered simplistic unsound post mortem data recovery methods, cyber forensics has quickly evolved into a series of complex controlled procedures ultimately allowing for near real-time analysis […]
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Computing Applications
Research and Advances Next-generation cyber forensics Feb 1 2006

Standardizing Digital Evidence Storage

Investigators have an increasing need to share digital evidence between different organizations and analysis tools. But today’s investigators are hindered by a variety of independently developed and incompatible formats used to store digital evidence. Problems arise when dealing with different disk image formats, and the difficulties are exacerbated when dealing with diverse kinds of evidence, […]
Computing Applications
Research and Advances Next-generation cyber forensics Feb 1 2006

Digital Evidence Bag

The process of digital investigation and analysis is complex and arduous at best. The dramatic increase in the capacity of hard drives and the availability of firewire devices in just the past few years has necessitated a new requirement for digital investigation. There is currently a need to capture and analyze transmissions from portable computing […]
Computing Applications
Research and Advances Next-generation cyber forensics Feb 1 2006

State and Local Law Enforcement Is Not Ready For a Cyber Katrina

After witnessing such a dismal response to Hurricane Katrina last September, a hurricane of a different dimension still hovers over the infrastructure of U.S. computer networks. Cyber Katrina, if you will, is posed to hit the U.S. and authorities are indeed not ready [2, 5] to handle the aftermath. Today there are simply not enough […]
Computing Applications
Research and Advances Feb 1 2006

Wireless Commons Perils in the Common Good

In the last few years, high-speed wireless access to the Internet has grown rapidly. Surprisingly, this growth has not come through cellular phone networks as many had expected, but through IEEE 802.11 standards-based wireless local area networks (WLANs). This rise of WLANs can be partly linked to the creation of a series of open standards, a precipitous fall in the costs of related hardware, and the explosive growth of home networking. WLANs have become commonplace in the education, transportation, and manufacturing sectors and are rapidly embraced in the retail, hospitality, and government sectors.
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Architecture and Hardware
News Student de-charter notice Feb 1 2006

Student De-Charter Notice

ACM is considering the de-charter of the following chapters due to inactivity. Members interested in revitalizing their chapters should contact Lauren Ryan, Local Activities Coordinator, at local_activities@acm.org. ACM will terminate the chapters listed below after 90 days unless interested volunteers express a desire to reactivate their chapter by redoing their bylaws and preparing acceptable revitalization […]
Computing Applications
Opinion Inside risks Feb 1 2006

Trustworthy Systems Revisited

System trustworthiness is in essence a logical basis for confidence that a system will predictably satisfy its critical requirements, including information security, reliability, human safety, fault tolerance, and survivability in the face of wide ranges of adversities (such as malfunctions, deliberate attacks, and natural causes). Our lives increasingly depend on critical national infrastructures that depend […]
Computing Applications

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