NSA Open Sources Tokeneer Research Project

October 07 12:05:01 PM, Slashdot

An anonymous reader writes to mention that the Tokeneer research project has been released to the open source community by the US National Security Agency. The main goal of this project was to show how highly secure software can be developed cost-effectively. "Tokeneer has been written in SPARK Ada, a high level programming language designed for high-assurance applications. Originally a subset of the Ada language, it is designed in such a way that all SPARK programs are legal Ada programs. Ada is the natural choice for mission-critical, high-integrity systems due to its combination of flexibility, reliability and ease of use, and SPARK further adds a static verification toolset that combines depth, soundness, efficiency and formal guarantees."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source

Fewer Than 1% Arrested From TSA's "Behavior Detection"
An anonymous reader writes "Fewer than 1% of airline passengers singled out at airports using the much vaunted 'suspicious behavior detection' techniques are arrested, Transportation Security Administration…
Google's virtual world Lively to die next month
AP - Lively, a virtual reality service from Google Inc., is dying.
Google picks Austria village for new European server farm
AFP - Google has bought a 75 hectare (185 acre) property in the north of Austria to erect a new European server farm within two years, the US Internet search engine giant said Thursday.
Certification credited with boosting online confidence
CNET - Extended certificate validation for Web sites has boosted online confidence in 2008, according to a statement released Thursday by the Authentication and Online Trust Alliance (AOTA).
Emerging markets to drive mobile growth: British watchdog
AFP - The top emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China will drive mobile services growth in the coming years, a new report by Britain's telecoms regulator Ofcom said Thursday.
Sun receives complaint about Java vetting process
InfoWorld - Sun Microsystems has heard from a company concerned about the vetting process of Java and open source, a Sun official said on Wednesday.
A future without programming
InfoWorld - A few years ago, self-proclaimed nondeveloper Kevin Smith worked for a software company that tried to build a project tracking tool using Microsoft .Net. Some 15 developers spent a year with…
Virgin Media sees mobile broadband as complementary
Reuters - British cable operator Virgin Media said it did not believe mobile broadband had mass appeal in the short term, but it entered the market to offer the service in its high-end mobile, broadband…
Towards a World Wide Grid?
Roland Piquepaille writes "In recent months, the concept of 'cloud computing' was all the buzz. European researchers think about another name, the World Wide Grid, which could run on top of the Internet.…
When Agile Projects Go Bad
blackbearnh writes "CIO Magazine has an article up looking at some of the ways that Agile projects can fail, or Agile can be misapplied in organizations. Some of the issues raised may not be new, but folks…
Guns N' Roses album to debut on MySpace
CNET - Updated at 8:55 p.m. PST to reflect that NPR Music had the streaming debut of Paul McCartney's album.
U.S. woman posed as teen online, teased girl: attorney
Reuters - A Missouri woman established a fake identity online to torment a vulnerable teenage girl who later committed suicide, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday in a trial that is being closely watched…
Review: New BlackBerrys cool but can't beat iPhone
AP - With the recent releases of three new BlackBerrys across three different wireless providers, Research In Motion Ltd. has fired back at Apple Inc. in the Great Smart Phone Skirmish of 2008.
Physicist Admits Sending Space-Related Military Secrets To China
piemcfly writes "Chinese-born physicist Shu Quan-Sheng Monday pleaded guilty before a US court to violating the Arms Export Control Act by illegally exporting American military space know-how to China.…
Review: New BlackBerrys cool but can't beat iPhone
AP - With the recent releases of three new BlackBerrys across three different wireless providers, Research In Motion Ltd. has fired back at Apple Inc. in the Great Smart Phone Skirmish of 2008.
Microsoft lets Zune music subscribers keep tunes
AP - Microsoft Corp. is giving an early holiday gift to people who pay for all-you-can-listen access to the Zune digital music store: 10 songs to keep each month, included in the $14.99 monthly subscription…
Interviewing Experienced IT People?
thricenightly writes "After more than 20 years in IT I've learned that the most valuable people in a team are frequently the old timers. Young pups straight out of college might (think they) know all the…
New Xbox Experience Launched To Battle Sony's Offering
NewsFactor - Microsoft launched its New Xbox Experience on Wednesday, expanding the existing service to compete with Sony in turning the video-game console into an entertainment hub.
China's Baidu.com fights to rescue reputation
AP - Baidu.com has been the star of China's Internet world. But now the search engine dubbed "China's Google" is scrambling to rescue its reputation after state TV accused it of letting unlicensed suppliers…
Microsoft, Novell eye Moonlight beta, system management
InfoWorld - Marking the two-year anniversary of their controversial interoperability agreement, Microsoft and Novell this week are announcing upcoming availability of both the beta version of Moonlight,…
Microsoft's 'New Xbox Experience' Goes Live
PC Magazine - Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled a revamped Xbox gaming console that includes streaming HD movies from Netflix, a revamped dashboard, and movie and game purchases via Xbox.com.
`Fake Steve Jobs' stops blogging as the 'Real Dan'
AP - It was bad enough when Dan Lyons stopped sharing his musings about the technology scene in a hilarious satire of what Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs would be like as a blogger.
McColo Briefly Returns, Hands Off Botnet Control
A week ago we discussed the takedown of McColo (and the morality of that action). McColo was reportedly the source of anywhere from 50% to 75% of the world's spam. On Saturday the malware network briefly…
Ballmer dismisses Yahoo buyout but open on search
AP - Microsoft Corp. is no longer interested in buying all of Yahoo Inc., CEO Steve Ballmer said Wednesday, though he told shareholders that the company would still be "very open" to a collaboration on…