Google's augmented reality headpiece could go on sale by the holidays, Mobile World Congress gears up for new smartphones, and Nevada legalizes online gambling.
Movement in budget cuts battle?
Labels: Health
Sequestration poses threat to government agency budgets
For the first time since the waning days of the "fiscal cliff" battle in late December, President Obama reached out to congressional Republican leaders to talk about next week's impending budget cuts known as the sequester.
"He placed calls earlier today to [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell and [House] Speaker [John] Boehner," White House spokesman Jay Carney announced today. "Had good conversations, but I have no further readout of those calls for you."
Both Boehner's and McConnell's offices confirmed the calls took place but neither would give details about what was discussed. An aide to Boehner said "the last substantive conversation" he had with the president was on Dec. 28; McConnell's office told CBS News it was Mr. Obama's first outreach to McConnell since New Year's Eve.
Today on Rev. Al Sharpton's radio show, Mr. Obama said, "We continue to reach out to the Republicans and say 'this is not going to be good for the economy and it's not going to be good for ordinary people,' but I don't know if they're going to move. And that's what we're going to have to try to keep pushing over the next seven, eight days."
"Whether or not we can move Republicans at this point to do the right thing is what we're still trying to gauge," Mr. Obama said.
The calls come a day after Boehner wrote an op-ed criticizing the president charging that the public "might not realize from Mr. Obama's statements is that [the sequester] is a product of the president's own failed leadership."
The $1.2 trillion sequester cuts, which were initially set to kick in on Jan. 1, emerged out of Congress' 2011 budget negotiations. Congress agreed that if a congressional "supercommittee" couldn't come up with an acceptable deficit reduction plan, Congress would just slash $1.2 trillion from the budget over 10 years -- half coming from defense spending and half from non-defense. Nearly everyone in Washington agrees that indiscriminately slashing $1.2 trillion would damage the economy, but lawmakers can't agree on a deficit reduction package with which to replace the cuts.
Given the economic damage the sequester would inflict, Congress this year stalled the cuts for two months -- which is why they're set to go into effect on March 1. Unless Congress acts before then, $85 billion in across-the-board cuts will kick in this year.
Peterson Sentenced to 38 Years for 3rd Wife's Murder
Labels: Business
Former Illinois cop Drew Peterson yelled, "I did not kill Kathleen!" during the sentencing phase of his trial today -- and then a judge sentenced him to 38 years in jail for killing her.
The sentence came after Will County Judge Edward Burmila denied Peterson a re-trial in the killing of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in 2004.
Peterson had faced as many as 60 years in prison.
At his sentencing, after Peterson shouted that he did not kill his wife, someone in the courtroom yelled in reply, "Yes you did!" according to ABC News Chicago station WLS. Burmila then ordered that person to leave the courtroom.
Peterson went on to claim that police "altered evidence" in his case and "intimidated witnesses and scared my children."
"I love Kathy," he said. "She was a good mom. ... She didn't deserve to die."
He added that he was planning to get a tattoo on his back that would say, "No good deed goes unpunished."
Peterson's defense team had requested a re-trial after he was found guilty in September of killing Savio and making it look like an accident.
READ MORE: Drew Peterson Found Guilty of Killing Wife, Making It Look Like Accident
M. Spencer Green/AP Photo
The re-trial, Peterson's attorneys claimed, was warranted because his former lead trial counsel, Joel Brodsky, had "single-handedly" lost the trial last fall, according to attorney Steve Greenberg. Greenberg is a former colleague of Brodsky's, but the two have recently been embroiled in a bitter public feud.
Burmila today rejected all of the motions for a new trial and, as he said he would do, moved on to sentencing immediately.
It is the latest development in the bizarre story of Peterson, a former suburban Chicago police officer. In 2004, Peterson's third wife, Savio, was found dead in her bathtub, a death that was initially ruled an accident. But when his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared in 2007, Savio's body was exhumed and her death ruled a homicide.
Drew Peterson has never been charged in connection with Stacy Peterson's case.
Drew Peterson's murder trial last fall was marred by legal battles between his attorneys and prosecutors over what evidence was allowed in court. On three separate occasions, Peterson's defense team asked for a mistrial, but it was rebuffed every time by Burmila.
A large part of the testimony in that trial was hearsay, based on comments that Savio and Stacy Peterson made to friends that portrayed Peterson as a violent and threatening husband.
Peterson said at his sentencing today that hearsay was "a scary thing" because people are not accountable for the truth, according to WLS. An emotional Peterson, his voice shaking at times, blamed the media for portraying him as a monster.
Ultimately, the jury convicted Peterson, noting that it had reached a decision it believed was "just."
READ MORE: Drew Peterson Jury Says Hearsay Convinced Them to Convict
Savio's nephew Michael Lisak said afterwards that his aunt "can finally rest in peace."
"Today is a day for battered women, not just Kathleen Savio," Lisak said. "Your voice will be heard. My aunt's voice was heard through the grave. She would not stop. They will listen to you now."
Peterson's sister Cassandra Cales had a blunt message for the newly convicted murderer.
"Game over, Drew," she said. "He can wipe the smirk off his face. It's time to pay."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
French, Malian forces fight Islamist rebels in Gao
Labels: WorldGAO, Mali (Reuters) - French and Malian troops fought Islamists on the streets of Gao and a car bomb exploded in Kidal on Thursday, as fighting showed little sign of abating weeks before France plans to start withdrawing some forces.
Reuters reporters in Gao in the country's desert north said French and Malian forces fired at the mayor's office with heavy machineguns after Islamists were reported to have infiltrated the Niger River town during a night of explosions and gunfire.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told a news conference in Brussels that Gao was back under control after clashes earlier in the day.
"Malian troops supported by French soldiers killed five jihadists and the situation is back to normal," he said.
In Kidal, a remote far north town where the French are hunting Islamists, residents said a car bomb killed two. A French defense ministry source reported no French casualties.
French troops dispatched to root out rebels with links to al Qaeda swiftly retook northern towns last month. But they now risk being bogged down in a guerrilla conflict as they try to help Mali's weak army counter bombings and raids.
"There was an infiltration by Islamists overnight and there is shooting all over the place," Sadou Harouna Diallo, Gao's mayor, told Reuters by telephone earlier in the day, saying he was not in his office at the time.
Gao is a French hub for operations in the Kidal region, about 300 km (190 miles) northeast, where many Islamist leaders are thought to have retreated and foreign hostages may be held.
"They are black and two were disguised as women," a Malian soldier in Gao who gave his name only as Sergeant Assak told Reuters during a pause in heavy gunfire around Independence Square.
Six Malian military pickups were deployed in the square and opened fire on the mayor's office with the heavy machineguns. Two injured soldiers were taken away in an ambulance.
French troops in armored vehicles later joined the battle as it spilled out into the warren of sandy streets, where, two weeks ago, they also fought for hours against Islamists who had infiltrated the town via the nearby river.
Helicopters clattered over the mayor's office, while a nearby local government office and petrol station was on fire.
A Gao resident said he heard an explosion and then saw a Malian military vehicle on fire in a nearby street.
Paris has said it plans to start withdrawing some of its 4,000 troops from Mali next month. But rebels have fought back against Mali's weak and divided army, and African forces due to take over the French role are not yet in place.
Islamists abandoned the main towns they held but French and Malian forces have said there are pockets of Islamist resistance across the north, which is about the size of France.
CAR BOMB
Residents reported a bomb in the east of Kidal on Thursday.
"It was a car bomb that exploded in a garage," said one resident who went to the scene but asked not to be named.
"The driver and another man were killed. Two other people were injured," he added.
A French defense ministry official confirmed there had been a car bomb but said it did not appear that French troops, based at the town's airport, had been targeted.
Earlier this week, a French soldier was killed in heavy fighting north of Kidal, where French and Chadian troops are hunting Islamists in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains, which border Algeria.
Operations there are further complicated by the presence of separatist Tuareg rebels, whose rebellion triggered the fighting in northern Mali last year but were sidelined by the better-armed Islamists.
Having dispatched its forces to prevent an Islamist advance south in January, Paris is eager not to become bogged down in a long-term conflict in Mali. But their Malian and African allies have urged French troops not to pull out too soon.
(Additional reporting by Emanuel Braun in Gao, Adama Diarra in Bamako, David Lewis and John Irish in Dakar and Adrian Croft in Brussels; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Jason Webb and Roger Atwood)
Tennis: Anger drives Wozniacki into Dubai semi-finals
Labels: Technology
DUBAI: Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki reached the Dubai Open semi-finals on Thursday with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over Marion Bartoli, shrugging off a code violation in the process.
Wozniacki was warned for illegal coaching as the match boiled up to a thrilling finish, apparently because she was talking to her father Piotr.
"I'm not sure if it's coaching if I talk to the coach, but apparently that's new rules, so I guess that I can't say anything nowadays," commented Wozniacki.
"I was telling him things, and all of a sudden I hear I get a code violation. I'm like, okay."
Then she turned the aggravation into laughter.
"I was telling him what I was doing wrong. There's not much he can say because he knows that if he says yes, then he's in trouble, and if he says no, he's in trouble too."
Wozniacki will tackle Petra Kvitova for a place in the final after the 2011 Wimbledon champion underlined her new status as the unofficial tournament favourite by ending the title defence of Agnieszka Radwanska.
The Czech Republic player again showed that she is in her best form since winning her only Grand Slam title 19 months ago, out-hitting and out-serving the third-seeded Pole, 6-2, 6-4.
It followed her victory over former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic on Wednesday -- and her near-success against Serena Williams last week in Qatar -- and was her best win in 15 months.
"I've played three great matches so far," said Kvitova, who believes that more fitness work with a new trainer has made an important difference to her least impressive area, her movement.
"And that's something I really need -- to play more matches this season. I hope this will help me for the rest of the year."
Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani, the world's top doubles pair, will put their lifelong friendship to one side on Friday when they clash in the other semi-final.
Vinci, who had accounted for one former Grand Slam winner and one seeded player already, beat the seventh-seeded former US Open champion, Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-4 to reach the last four.
Errani, who had played one long three-set match already, had another, beating Nadia Petrova, the former world number three from Russia, 6-4, 0-6, 6-3.
Vinci said it would be like "playing my sister," and Errani pointed out how strange it might feel as they spend about 300 days together during the year.
"I'm number one in the world in doubles, so it's incredible for me," said Vinci who is ranked 17 in singles.
"I'm probably playing singles in a more relaxed way, and so I'm playing better."
She added: "It was a great match for me, great performance. I played a good game today like yesterday," she said, referring to her straight sets win over Angelique Kerber, the fourth seed from Germany.
- AFP/fa
Images of alleged Retina iPad mini appear on Chinese forum
Labels: Lifestyle
Apple's iPad mini
(Credit:
Apple)
Photos posted to a Chinese Internet forum of what appears to be the back casing of a future iPad mini are leading some to speculate that the next version of Apple's smaller tablet may have a retina display.
On the forum, the images show what seems to be an
iPad mini rear casing with a blue Apple logo and the word "iPad" in blue. Current iPad minis, Apple Insider points out, have either black or silver detailing.
But the photos also seem to show that the casing is thicker than that used on the current-generation iPad mini, and that has led to theories that, because the full-sized retina-quality iPad was thicker than its non-retina predecessor, the next mini would also have an upgraded display.
This, of course, would be just the latest fodder for those who think Apple will release an iPad mini with a retina display. Rumors to that effect began appearing just days after the first version of the device went on sale. In November, the Chinese-language DoNews site predicted that iPad Mini display maker AUO is working on a 2,048x1,536 pixel resolution display for the next iteration of the device.
And more recently, there's been talk in Asia that if Apple does release an iPad mini with a retina display, the
tablet would carry a higher price than the original model.
Pistorius prosecution: Error in "testosterone" testimony
Labels: HealthPRETORIA, South AfricaThe investigating officer in the Oscar Pistorius murder case made an error in his court testimony Wednesday when he identified a substance found in the athlete's bedroom as testosterone, the national prosecutor said.
Medupe Simasiku, the spokesman for South Africa's National Prosecution Agency, told The Associated Press that it was too early to identify the substance as it was still undergoing laboratory tests.
"It is not certain (what it is) until the forensics." Simasiku said, adding that it wasn't certain if it was "a legal or an illegal medication for now."
Pistorius case: Police say they found testosterone, needles in bathroom
Olympic athlete charged with murder
Detective Warrant Officer Hilton Botha, the investigating officer, said earlier in court during Pistorius' bail hearing that police found two boxes of testosterone and needles in the bedroom of the Olympic athlete, who is charged with premediated murder in the Feb. 14 shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
It was a mistake to identify the substance now, Simasiku said, as it was still unknown. He said the discovery of needles was in Botha's statement, however.
Pistorius denies murder, saying in an affidavit Tuesday that the Valentine's Day shooting was accidental because he thought there was an intruder in his house.
In response to Botha's claim, the defense said Wednesday, the second day of Pistorius' bail hearing at Pretoria Magistrate's Court, that the substance found was not a steroid or a banned substance but an herbal remedy.
Pistorius' lawyer Barry Roux had slammed Botha's testimony earlier, saying police "take every piece of evidence and try to extract the most possibly negative connotation and present it to the court."
International Paralympic Committee spokesman Craig Spence told the AP soon after the substance claims that Pistorius — the world's most famous disabled athlete — was drug tested twice in London last year by the IPC, on Aug. 25 and Sept. 8. Both test results were negative, Spence said.
The Aug. 25 test was an out-of-competition test, and the Sept. 8 one in-competition, a day before the end of the London Paralympics.
The International Olympic Committee said it didn't test Pistorius at the Olympics, but referred the AP to the IPC's negative tests. International athletics body the IAAF and the World Anti-Doping Agency would not comment because it was an ongoing legal case.
"Bearing in mind the ongoing police investigation, WADA must refrain from making any statement at present," WADA said.
Giving testimony, Botha said police made the discovery of testosterone in bedroom of the double-amputee runner and multiple Paralympic champion's upscale Pretoria house after the shooting of Steenkamp but offered no further details or explanation. State prosecutor Gerrie Nel also had to correct Botha when he initially called it "steroids."
Simasiku later told the AP that the detective, Botha, thought it was testosterone by reading the first few letters of the label.
Pistorius' lawyer Roux, said on questioning the detective — who has 16 years' experience as a detective and 24 years with the police — that it was not a banned substance and that police were trying to give the discovery a "negative connotation."
"It is an herbal remedy," Roux said. "It is not a steroid and it is not a banned substance."
The debate over the substance added another dramatic twist to a case that has already gripped the world's attention since Steenkamp's killing at Pistorius' home last Thursday.
Prosecutor Nel also had to clarify that police were not saying that Pistorius was using the substance, only that it was discovered along with the needles in his bedroom.
Pistorius said Tuesday in a written affidavit and read in court by Roux that he mistakenly killed model Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day when he fired four shots into a locked toilet door, hitting his girlfriend three times after thinking she was a dangerous intruder.
The prosecution claims Pistorius intended to kill the 29-year-old Steenkamp after they had a fight.
Arias Can't Remember Gory Death of Ex-Boyfriend
Labels: Business
Accused murderer Jodi Arias told an Arizona jury today that her ex-boyfriend became enraged when she dropped his new camera, body slammed her to a tile floor and threatened to kill her, and in the frantic struggle that followed she remembers a gun being fired accidentally but does not remember stabbing him.
Her version of Travis Alexander's death was the culmination of more than a week of testimony in which Arias, 32, has tried to convince the jury she killed Alexander, 27, in self-defense during a violent episode in what she has described as an increasingly abusive relationship. She is on trial for murder and could face the death penalty if convicted.
Arias said that Alexander lost his temper when she dropped his camera on his bathroom floor while taking nude photos of him. Enraged, he picked her up and body slammed her onto the floor, screaming at her, she told the jury.
She said she ran to his closet to get away from him, and then exited through the closet's second door into Alexander's office where she grabbed a gun that she knew he kept on a top shelf. She could hear Alexander's footsteps coming after her down the hall, she said.
She tried to keep running, but as Alexander came after her she said she pointed the gun at him in an attempt to ward him off.
"I pointed it at him with both of my hands. I thought that would stop him, but he just kept running. He got like a linebacker. He got low and grabbed my waist, and as he was lunging at me the gun went off. I didn't mean to shoot. I didn't even think I was holding the trigger," she said.
Jodi Arias Describes Violent Sex Before Shooting Watch Video
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Jodi Arias Gives Explicit Details About Doomed Relationship Watch Video
"But he lunged at me and we fell really hard toward the tile wall, so at this point I didn't even know if he had been shot. I didn't see anything different. We were struggling, wrestling, he's a wrestler.
"So he's grabbing at my clothes and I got up, and he's screaming angry, and after I broke away from him. He said 'f***ing kill you bitch,'" she testified.
Catching Up on the Trial? Check Out ABC News' Jodi Arias Trial Coverage
Timeline of the Jodi Arias Trial
Asked by her lawyer whether she was convinced Alexander intended to kill her, Arias answered, "For sure. He'd almost killed me once before and now he's saying he was going to." Arias had earlier testified that Alexander had once choked her.
But Arias' story of the death struggle ended there when she told the court that she has no memory of stabbing or slashing Alexander whose body was later found with 27 stab wounds, a slit throat and two bullets in his head. She said she only remembered standing in the bathroom, dropping the knife on the tile floor, realizing the "horror" of what had happened, and screaming.
"I have no memory of stabbing him," she said. "There's a huge gap. I don't know if I blacked out or what, but there's a huge gap. The most clear memory I have after that point is driving in the desert."
Arias' defense rests heavily on the description of Alexander's death, as her attorneys have argued she was forced to kill Alexander in self-defense. She has described what she said were Alexander's increasingly abusive and rage-filled outbursts toward her in the weeks leading up his death.
The prosecution alleges that Arias murdered Alexander in a jealous rage, and has attempted to prove that the killing was pre-meditated. They will cross-examine Arias after she is done testifying for the defense.
Arias said that she remembers driving away from Alexander's home in Mesa, Ariz., and "coming to" somewhere in the desert to realize that her lover was likely dead, and that she had killed him. As it dawned on her that police would soon be looking for Alexander's killer, she said she decided that she would pretend the bloody confrontation had never happened.
"I knew that it was really bad, that my life was probably done now. I wished it was just a nightmare I could wake up from, but I knew I had messed up pretty badly and the inevitable was going to be something I could not really run from," she testified.
"I didn't want anyone to know that that had happened or that I did it, so I started taking steps in the aftermath to cover it up. I did a whole bunch of things to try to make it seem like I was never there," she said.
Football: Jones strike earns Schalke draw at Galatasaray
Labels: Technology
ISTANBUL: Schalke 04 brushed off poor recent form to earn a 1-1 draw at Galatasaray in the Champions League last 16, first-leg clash on Wednesday despite the hosts fielding Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder.
After Turkey striker Burak Yilmaz gave Galatasaray an early lead at the Turk Telekom Arena, US midfielder Jermaine Jones equalised on the stroke of half-time to give Schalke a slim advantage ahead of the March 12 second leg.
Schalke have now lost just one of their last ten European away fixtures, including victories at Olympiakos and Arsenal, in sharp contrast to their recent Bundesliga form.
After just one victory in their last 12 games, this was a huge improvement by the Royal Blues.
Despite Drogba and Sneijder making their Champions League debuts for the ambitious Turkish club since joining last month from Shanghai Shenhua and Inter Milan respectively, both had quiet games as the hosts failed to dominate.
The game started at a frantic pace with both teams focusing on attack while leaving plenty of space at the back.
The hosts took the lead when Yilmaz, with a superb first touch, flicked the ball with his heel over marker Benedikt Hoewedes and slammed his shot past Schalke goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand after just 12 minutes.
The Germans had their chances as Hoewedes' header found Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, back in the side after a two-week break with a burst blood vessel in his left eye, but he could not stab the ball over the line.
Ex-Schalke midfielder Hamit Altintop hammered the underside of the cross-bar for Galatasaray in a busy opening period while Schalke's Jefferson Farfan was only denied when defender Semih Kaya turned his shot around the post.
Jones is suspended for the return leg on March 12 after his appeals for a booking against Selcuk Inan saw him earn a yellow card of his own on 35 minutes.
But the US international redeemed himself when he converted a brilliant pass from Farfan to hit the back of the net after a fast break for the equaliser on 45 minutes which will be invaluable in the return leg.
Schalke had a let off with 25 minutes left when Drogba put Yilmaz in a great position, but Hildebrand blocked the shot just as the offside flag went up.
Huntelaar smashed a shot over the bar with 75 minutes before making way for Finland's Teemu Pukki, while both Yilmaz and Sabri Sarioglu both tested Hildebrand at the other end.
With Borussia Dortmund having earned a 2-2 draw at Donetsk and after Bayern Munich's impressive 3-1 win at Arsenal on Tuesday, all three Bundesliga clubs now have a strong chance of making the quarter-finals.
-AFP/ac
Passware expands to grab Facebook and Google passwords
Labels: LifestylePassware Inc. is a forensics security company that develops investigation software kits to reveal passwords on seized computers. Last year it released a version of its kit that allows an investigator to reveal the passwords of Apple's FileVault encryption technology, along with those for similar technologies such as TrueCrypt, PGP Disk, and BitLocker. Recently the kit has gained more features and now has the ability to snoop through a system's hibernation file for Google and Facebook account passwords.
The Passware snooping technology works by accessing a system's memory either through a port that has direct memory access (DMA), or by accessing a system's sleepimage (hibernation) files. It scans the contents of these resources for patterns to reveal relevant passwords.
While Passware is meant for investigative purposes only and is targeted both by intent and price to forensics institutions, Passware CEO Dmitry Sumin acknowleged that the software being available does pose a potential threat in a press release:
"There's no guarantee that professional-grade versions of Passware Kit won't fall into the wrong hands. As most users know, a running computer is insecure in many ways and leaving it unattended makes it available to unauthorized individuals. Simple advice for all users is to disable hibernation on their computers and after dealing with confidential information to power them off. Full-disk encryption also prevents access to the system hibernation file."
Ways you can secure your
Mac from such attacks include enabling a firmware password to block DMA access, encrypting the hard drive with FileVault, disabling the system's sleepimage file when it's going to sleep, and simply shutting down the computer when not in use.
The firmware password utility is available in the OS X installer's Utilities menu.
(Credit:
Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET)
- Enabling a firmware password
Direct memory access to a Mac's RAM can be done through either FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, and allows programs that run on secondary systems, like Passware, to sample memory and possibly extract information. DMA is enabled by default, but you can disable it by setting up a firmware password on your system. Modern Macs use an Input/Output Memory Management Unit (I/OMMU) that connects DMA ports with the system's memory, allowing remapping of memory for virtualization purposes as well as a DMA lock that is activated whenever a firmware password is enabled.To set a firmware password on Macs, boot your system to the OS X installer and choose "Firmware Password" from the Utilities menu that will be available once you choose your language. Then enter your password accordingly.
While beneficial for security purposes, a firmware password will prevent booting to external volumes, safe mode, single-user mode, or allow for resetting the PRAM, so if you need to perform these tasks for troubleshooting purposes, you will first need to disable the password. Firmware passwords in early Mac systems could be easily reset, but starting with its 2011 systems Apple implemented a new firmware password routine that requires resetting at an Apple service center.
- Set up a sleep and screensaver password
In addition to a firmware password, setting up a screensaver password to require authentication when the system wakes from sleep or resumes from standby will invoke the same I/OMMU lock that prevents DMA access. This can be done by checking that option in the General section of the Security & Privacy system preferences and choosing a time frame in which the password should activate. - Enable FileVault
FileVault in OS X Lion and later offers a full-disk encryption routine that will encrypt all contents of the boot volume, including sleepimage and virtual memory swap files that may contain password information. With this feature enabled these files should be secured from access by booting the system to Target Disk mode or otherwise directly accessing the hard drive by circumventing the operating system. While the Passware forensics kit can uncover FileVault passwords, this is done through DMA ports, so if coupled with a firmware password, FileVault should be safe from this mode of attack. - Disable sleepimage files
The sleepimage file that contains memory when the computer is hibernating may be scanned for its contents. While FileVault, a firmware password and/or a screensaver password combination should secure the image files from access if the computer is off, in sleep mode, or if the screensaver is activated, if the computer is logged in, then technically someone with physical access could access these files and copy them to an external volume for processing at a later point.Apple's virtual memory swap files are encrypted by default, so they do not pose as much of a risk, but the sleepimage file is more accessible; however, you can disable this by modifying the system's hibernate mode that is stored in the PRAM. To do this, first read the current sleep mode value that is set for your system by opening Terminal and running the following command:
pmset -g | grep hibernatemode
With this value noted, you can disable the sleepimage by running the following command to set the hibernatemode variable to 0 (you can revert to the original state by repeating this command and replacing 0 with the value noted above):sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0
The hibernatemode values determine whether the system will write memory contents to disk, a feature that is not needed in most cases; however, if you often find yourself running a laptop system on low battery power without frequent access to AC power, you might want to consider leaving this feature on, as it should preserve your workflow in the event the battery cannot sustain the system and it needs to shut down. - Shut down the system
Most of these attack options for computers rely on active memory, which can easily be managed simply by shutting the system down when not in use. While system sleep has been a convenient feature for maintaining workflow and still is the best option for doing so, Apple's Autosave and Resume features in OS X allow the system to restore one's workflow nearly to how it was left off in the event of a power outage or shutdown. As such it is another option you can use to maintain your workflow while keeping your system more secure. Do keep in mind that this alone will not prevent access to the system's sleepimage file that is stored on the hard drive, but if coupled with either disabling this file as described above or securing access to it with FileVault, then shutting down is an easy way to keep your system safe.
FileVault can be enabled in the Security system preferences.
(Credit:
Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET)
Overall, a new Mac in its default configuration is susceptible to snooping from kits like Passware, but you can effectively block such attacks using combinations of the above techniques. They should not have much impact (if any) on your computer's performance, and only on rare occurrences will require a few extra steps to access a needed resource or two.
Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or !
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