Dear Readers,
Some of the recent news about cyberattacks on US resources by foreign states are startling in the level of sophistication revealed in their discovery. Some of these are well-engineered systems, achieving clandestine residency for months if not years. It seems impossible to achieve security perfection in the software industry, and any chink in security seems to be exploited thoroughly. Some days it feels like if the hackers don't get you then a solar flare will. I'm keeping my abacus.
The leaves of autumn are falling as fast as the pages of research being prepared for conference submissions. The usual "write/travel" pulse of the research year has already been stretched out by the move to continuous submission deadlines, but more change may be afoot. There is much discussion of changing the conference model so that authors might not be required to present a paper in-person. There certainly are problems in scaling a conference up by a factor of ten more more in terms of papers and attendees, but it is difficult to make a strategic decision that changes the conference model away from author presentations. Attendees, students, researchers, publishers, and funding agencies need to come together to improve and expand the conferences.
Ooh-ooh, I bet you're wondering how I knew
'Bout your missiles through and through
From some other password you used before
And crypto keys from days of yore
You know I've got them all and more.
It took me by surprise, I must say
When I found out yesterday
Don't you know that
[Chorus]
I saw it in the core dump
Your missile plans that made me jump,
Oh, I saw it in the core dump
Oh, I'm just about to lose my mind
Honey, honey, yeah
(Saw it in the core dump, not much longer would you be my ally)
[Homage to the great Marvin Gaye]