Communications of the ACM
An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.
From ACM Careers
Pentagon Paying Techies to Think Like Terrorists
To stop a terrorist, it helps to think like one.
From ACM News
Gps and the World's First 'space War'
Twenty-five years ago U.S.-led Coalition forces launched the world’s first "space war" when they drove Iraqi troops out of Kuwait.
From ACM TechNews
Csi: Cyberattack Scene Investigation--a Malware Whodunit
Forensic probes of cyberattacks can uncover their modus operandi and severity, but finding perpetrators is a difficult proposition.
From ACM Opinion
Wikipedia Turns 15
It must be difficult for the roughly half a billion people who visit Wikipedia every month to remember a world without the free online encyclopedia.
From ACM News
A Quick Guide to the Cybersecurity Bill Passed By the .s. Senate
After more than a year of bickering, stalling and revising, the Senate passed its most significant cybersecurity bill to date 74–21.
From ACM News
Cryptographers Brace For Quantum Revolution
It is an inevitability that cryptographers dread: the arrival of powerful quantum computers that can break the security of the Internet. Although these devices...
From ACM News
A Computer's Heat Could Divulge Top Secrets
The most secure computers in the world can't "Google" a thing—they are disconnected from the Internet and all other networks.
From ACM Opinion
What Is the Big Secret Surrounding Stingray Surveillance?
Given the amount of mobile phone traffic that cell phone towers transmit, it is no wonder law enforcement agencies target these devices as a rich source of data...
From ACM News
Here's What a Cyber Warfare Arsenal Might Look Like
The Pentagon has made clear in recent weeks that cyber warfare is no longer just a futuristic threat—it is now a real one.
From ACM TechNews
How Cybersecurity Became Your Problem
Cyberattacks threaten to rise in frequency and complexity, which makes every person using modern technology a potential target.
From ACM News
Cryptographers Could Prevent Satellite Collisions
In February 2009 the U.S.'s Iridium 33 satellite collided with the Russian Cosmos 2251, instantly destroying both communications satellites.
From ACM News
Human Traffickers Caught on Hidden Internet
In November 2012 a 28-year-old woman plunged 15 meters from a bedroom window to the pavement in New York City, a devastating fall that left her body broken but...
From ACM News
Shopping Habits Reveal Personal Details in 'anonymized' Data
Details about where and when you use your credit card could help reveal your identity to data thieves—even if they don't know your name, address and other personal...
From ACM News
'ambiguous' Warfare Buys Upgrade Time For Russia's Military
Unmarked Russian soldiers who seized Ukraine's Crimea region earlier this year gave every appearance of military professionals well equipped with modern body armor...
From ACM News
Squiggly Lines Secure Smartphones
To protect your financial and personal data, most mobiles come with PIN-based security, biometrics or number grids that require you to retrace a particular pattern...
From ACM News
Electric Grid, You Have Software pdates Available
The electric grid was designed as a one-way highway, with power cascading out from big power plants to cities and towns at the end of the line.
From ACM News
Bitcoin Vies with New Cryptocurrencies as Coin of the Cyber Realm
At a bitcoin conference in Miami this January, Jeffrey Tucker, a laissez-faire economist and libertarian icon, made an unexpected observation.
From ACM News
Fact or Fiction?: Your Car Is Hackable
When your home computer is hacked, the things at risk are your identity, finances and other digital assets.
From ACM Opinion
How Microsoft's 1 Percenters Balance Basic Research with Short-Term Success
When Microsoft launched its research labs in 1991, the personal computer was just beginning to blossom into a worldwide phenomenon, thanks in no small part to Windows...
From ACM News