First edition of the .aware e-zine has been released.

It looks like some really good articles in there. Check it out if you like security related articles on a par with Phrack quality writing.

Breakthrough! building memory cells so tiny.

Scientists have built a working memory chip that is roughly the size of a white blood cell — about 1/2000th of an inch on a side.

Although the memory chip is modest in capacity with 160,000 bits of information, the bits were crammed together so tightly that it is the densest ever made. The achievement points to one possible path for continuing the exponential growth of computing power even after current silicon chip-making technology hits fundamental limits in 10 to 20 years.

19kb'ish of memory.

Of course it's not about making a small cell as a peice of stand-alone technology, it's more than we still have a way forward with memory and transistors. Make sur e you read the article for the full story.

It's not all success though.

When the researchers tested a small portion of the chip, they found that only 30 percent of the bits actually worked.
...
The switches routinely broke after being flipped about 10 times.
..
The researchers readily admit that their chip is a demonstration, not imminent technology.

06:40 @<b14ck> I want more blogs on nulldigital to read :D
06:41 @<linkd> i dont have anything to post
06:41 @<b14ck> blog on sha1 :D
06:41 @<linkd> i dont know anything about it
06:41 @<b14ck> It got cracked Oo
06:41 @<b14ck> By a female Chinese security researcher.
06:41 @<b14ck> At a university.
06:41 @<linkd> everyone knew it was vunerable, everyone has known for yeeeeaaarrs
06:42 @<linkd> and i didnt know this news anyway
06:42 @<b14ck> But nobody could crack it.
06:42 @<b14ck> She cracked it, and the US government, microsoft, and other large vendors said they will stop using it.
06:42 @<b14ck> The race is on for a better hash method.

Like... SHA-512 and so on?

After SHA-1 was reported cracked, conversations like this one were common place.

Bruce Schneier explains what this means for everyone, and gives some excellent insight into the cryptanalysis' involved in this sort of activity (i.e. hash algorithm cracking).



Lets just hope no one figures out how to factor products of large primes fast. Or we'll all be back to the drawing board security wise.