Hafnium
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The FBI got a court order to delete backdoors from hacked Exchange servers
An FBI operation accessed Microsoft Exchange Servers remotely, causing hacker-installed web shells to delete themselves.
Microsoft releases a one-click patch for its critical Exchange flaw
Microsoft has released a "one-click" interim fix for the Hafnium vulnerability that has been wreaking havoc across Exchange servers.
Microsoft patches Exchange software flaws targeted by Chinese hackers
Microsoft has rolled out a security update to fix four zero-day flaws in Exchange Server that bad actors have been using to infiltrate companies and organizations across industries.
Super-thin semiconductors delay the 'death' of silicon
Silicon has been the backbone of processors for decades, but it's rapidly approaching its physical limits: making a chip on a process smaller than 5 nanometers is usually impossible without introducing problems. How is Moore's Law for chip complexity going to survive? Stanford researchers have a solution: augment it with materials that outdo silicon where it counts. They've pinpointed two semiconductors, hafnium diselenide and zirconium diselenide, that can be made extremely thin (just three atoms thick) while self-insulating far more effectively than silicon. You could get transistors that are 10 times smaller than the smallest you get from silicon alone -- 5nm chips would seem bloated compared to what's possible with these diselenides.
7-year old Gordy Moore travels through time, invents Penryn
Ever wonder how Intel achieved their impressive 45-nm manufacturing process behind Penryn? Twas kid's play according to a new video posted on Intel's YouTube channel. Take a bit of Core45, Hi-K, and Metal Gate. Stir it up with a pinch of Hafnium and silicon flakes and you've reinvented Intel transistors. Gordy you did it! Good Job. Video for true geeks only after the break.
Intel, IBM announce insulation "overhaul" for faster, cooler chips
Intel and IBM are acting oh-so-smug right now about their respective achievements in insulating 45nm transistors, allowing the chips to run faster, leak less power and generate less heat. Intel, which hinted at such improvements in June, knocked out the first press announcement, promising to start implementing the technology in the second half of 2007, and IBM scrambled to catch up, announcing that it was "on the verge" of a similar discovery, and was working with AMD to start building comparable chips in Q1 2008. Intel is calling this the "biggest change in computer chips in 40 years," and while that sounds like hyperbole to us, there's no denying that 45nm is the new hotness, and bully for Intel for making it work. The actual technology -- at least Intel's method -- replaces the silicon dioxide insulators which leak too much energy when sliced too thin, but when made thicker reduce the electrical charge that passes through, reducing performance. Now Intel is using a hafnium-based insulator, which improves conductivity and reduces leakage simultaneously. Just for kicks, Intel is also tossing in a new metal alloy for its gate electrode, to replace the old silicon gate. IBM confirmed it is also using hafnium insulators, but couldn't help getting in a cheap-shot metaphor: "It's the difference between can openers and Ferraris," according to Bernard S. Meyerson, VP and chief technologit for systems and technology at IBM. Man, those technologists can really bring the smack.[Thanks, Lee G.]
