Hackers threaten electrical grid

The Homeland Security Department improperly disclosed details about a serious threat to the US electrical grid to industry researchers, just days after it produced a video showing simulated hackers remotely seizing control of a $1 million diesel-electric generator, reports Washington Post.

In the image from video released by the Department of Homeland Security, smoke pours from an expensive electrical turbine during a demonstration, in March, by the Idaho National Laboratory, which was simulating a hacker attack against the US electrical grid.

Worried that technical details could leak among terrorists or unfriendly foreign governments before equipment makers could fix the problem, the Bush administration contacted the small group of researchers afterward and urged them not to reveal anything they had been told.

Facebook, the second-largest social networking site, must respond within "a few weeks" to requests by state attorneys-general that it does more to protect kids from sexual predators, says Connecticut attorney-general Richard Blumenthal, according to USA Today.

"If Facebook slams the door, we would consider legal options," says Blumenthal, who has negotiated with Facebook. He says the company must verify users' ages, among other things, and he expects a response within a month.

Blumenthal notes that Facebook "talked the right talk" at a meeting on 17 September, but "it has a long way to go before we'll be satisfied".

Windows PC maker Gateway is making another attempt to appeal to consumers, who might otherwise consider Apple's iMac, with its new Gateway One, an all-in-one design that is the successor to Gateway's Profile series PCs, reports PC World.

The Gateway One features a 19-inch widescreen LCD display, wireless keyboard and mouse. The unit is designed to work with a minimum of visible wires; USB and Ethernet interfaces connect to the computer through the same brick that carries power, using only one cable.

The Gateway One also comes equipped with a built-in Webcam, 802.11n wireless networking, Intel Core 2 Duo processor and "hidden" stereo speakers integrated into the front panel. Two latches in the back provide users with access to components inside, and the Gateway One can be upgraded with standard SATA desktop hard drives.

America Online is working on a patch for what security researchers are calling a "major vulnerability" in the company's popular instant messenger application, says Information Week.

Researchers at Core Security Technologies disclosed a bug that they say could severely impact the millions of registered users of AOL's instant messaging service, AIM.

The flaw, according to Core Security, would enable a series of attacks, allowing a remote hacker to execute malicious code, exploit Internet Explorer bugs, and inject scripting code in the IE browser.