NSA and the Army Seek Quantum Physics Answers

The NSA and the US Army Research Office are seeking answers to quantum physics questions. They have 3 broad goals:

• develop new quantum computing algorithms for hard computational problems
• characterize the efficiency of candidate quantum algorithms
• develop insights into the power of quantum computation and consider issues of quantum complexity and computability.

The agencies expect to make one to three awards of less than two hundred thousand per year in 2009.

The agencies stipulate that "Investigators should presuppose the existence of a fully functional quantum computer and consider what algorithmic tasks are particularly well suited to such a machine."

References:

1. NSA and Army on quest for quantum physics jackpot
   Date: October 28, 2008
   Network World

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Eight Common Social Engineering Tactics

Network World, posted an article Social Engineering: 8 Common Tactics that lists common tactics used by people hoping to glean information by social engineering techniques that will allow them to break into systems, learn sensitive information, or manipulate people into taking action that benefits the social engineer, e.g. using spam to tout a stock and drive up its price temporarily.

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