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Major storm forecast for Northeast
By CNN on February 4, 2010

(CNN) -- New Jersey and Delaware look set for a blizzard starting Friday afternoon, and Washington and Baltimore, Maryland, may experience "near-blizzard conditions" starting Friday, the National Weather Service said Thursday.
The blizzard warning for New Jersey and Delaware takes effect Friday at 4 p.m., while the winter storm warning for the nations capital and surrounding areas starts Friday morning at 10 a.m.
The expected New Jersey blizzard will make travel "extremely dangerous," the agency cautioned. The warning means "severe winter conditions are expected," while snow, strong winds and poor visibility are likely, leading to "whiteout conditions."
The storm could drop up to 24 inches of snow on southern New Jersey and 12 to 18 inches on Delaware and the central New Jersey coast, the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey, said.
The blizzard warning remains in effect until Saturday at 7 p.m. It replaces an earlier winter storm watch, which is less severe.
Washington and Baltimore will be under a winter storm warning from 10 a.m. Friday until 10 p.m. Saturday.
That warning is issued when significant amounts of snow are expected or occurring.
The storm will make travel "very hazardous or nearly impossible Friday night," the agency warned.
Baltimore could receive 16 to 18 inches of snow, with isolated amounts of two feet; Washington, 12 to 16 inches with isolated amounts up to 20 inches; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, eight to 12 inches.
Winter storm watches also cover most of Pennsylvania, Virginia, eastern West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio and western North Carolina. Up to two inches of snow are predicted for Newark, New Jersey, and New York.
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Winter storm warnings, indicating that severe weather is almost certain to occur, were issued for the southern and central Appalachians.
In the Southeast, heavy rain Thursday will cause widespread minor flooding and isolated moderate flooding across the region, forecasters said. Flood watches are in effect for southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southeastern Alabama, the central Florida Panhandle and most of Georgia.
CNN meteorologist Sean Morris contributed to this report.
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2 Australians charged in vicious attack on tourist
March 10, 2010
Two Australian teenagers have been charged in a brutal attack in a Sydney train station on a Canadian tourist in a wheelchair.
Politics »
Background check missed suspect\’s prison stay
March 10, 2010
(CNN) — A background check conducted in 2009 on an Ohio State University employee suspected of opening fire Tuesday on his co-workers turned up no criminal record, even though he apparently served five years in prison.
The background check, released by the university Wednesday, was performed by third-party vendor OPENonline in September 2009 after shooting suspect Nathaniel Brown applied for a job as a janitor in the schools Facilities Operations & Development Department.
Under the criminal records section, the check shows "No records found" nationally or locally. A check by CNN on Wednesday by a different vendor also revealed no criminal past. However, according to The Columbus-Dispatch, records show Brown spent five years in prison between 1979 and 1984 for receiving stolen property.
Police say Brown, 50, was apparently angry over a poor performance evaluation when he entered a university maintenance building early Tuesday and opened fire, killing a manager before turning the gun on himself and ending his own life. Another employee, Henry Butler, was wounded in the shooting. His injuries werent life-threatening, and he has since been released from the hospital.
Ohio State President Gordon Gee expressed condolences Wednesday to the family of victim Larry Wallington, calling his death "a significant loss."
"We cant replace him, but we certainly can learn from what has happened here," Gee said at a news conference.
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Report: Linux Gains Ground, Windows Stumbles
January 26, 2010
Linux inched ahead in the operating-system arena during the final month of 2009, even as Windows and Mac gave up some ground. That’s according to research firm Net Applications, which recently released its Market Share report covering operating systems in December. Linux accounted for 1.02 percent of the market in December, up from an even 1 percent the month before.
Technology »
Pentagon trains workers to hack Defense computers
March 10, 2010
Washington (CNN) — The Pentagon is training people to hack into its own computer networks.
"To beat a hacker, you need to think like one," said Jay Bavisi, co-founder and president of the International Council of Electronic Commerce Consultants, or EC-Council. His company was chosen by the Pentagon to oversee training of Department of Defense employees who work in computer security-related jobs and certify them when the training is complete.
The Department of Defense does not consider this hacking.
"DoD personnel are not learning to hack. They are learning to defend the network against hackers," said spokesman Lt. Col. Eric Butterbaugh.
But the EC-Council calls the program "Certified Ethical Hacker certification." The purpose of the training is to teach Defense Department employees to defend their computer network.
Almost 45,000 attacks on Defense Department computers were reported in the first half of 2009, according to a government report. The report estimated that for all of 2009, the number of attacks would be up 60 percent from the previous year. Fending off the attacks costs the Pentagon about $100 million.
Bavisi said the training focuses on teaching the art of hacking, using the same tools and tricks that traditional hackers use to break into computer networks.
The basic concept is Defense Department employees would use the training to hack into the departments computers, Bavisi said. Once the ethical hackers find the vulnerabilities that unethical hackers could use to attack, they increase the security to remove the potential threat. He said they are like bodyguards for the Defense Department network. Their only goal is to defend the network, even if the means of doing so are similar to those used by cyberattackers, Bavisi said.
This kind of training has been done before in the Defense Department on an ad hoc basis, said Bavisi. Now every Defense Department agency and unit is required to include hacker training as one option for employees involved in cybersecurity.
EC-Council has 450 training partners that will handle standard "ethical hacking" training, which has been used by civilian agencies and private businesses for years. If a Defense Department agency wants its employees to focus on a particular type of hacker training, EC-Council will perform customized training.
The training requires 40 hours of instruction and 4,500 pages of reading on the latest hacker techniques.
Bavisi said that Defense Department employees who complete the training and certification will not be assigned to use their new knowledge to hack into privately owned or civilian computers. But he said that any kind of training, including ethical hacking, could be used for nefarious purposes.
"You can teach me to cut an apple with a knife, and I can turn around and stab you with the knife," Bavisi said.
EC-Council will be paid a fee per student, between $450 to $2,500 depending on the extent of the training and certification. It wont be clear for months exactly how many students will be trained.
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