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U.S. reduce number of nuclear missiles
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration says the number of launch-ready Air Force land-based nuclear missiles will shrink to 400 – the lowest total since the early 1960s – as part of a plan for complying with a U.S.-Russia arms treaty.
The number of those deployed missiles will drop by 50 by February 2018. The Pentagon said Tuesday that the 50 missiles to be removed from their underground silos will be kept on standby rather than eliminated.
The Navy will shed 40 submarine-launched ballistic nuclear missiles, and the Air Force will cut its nuclear bomber force by six.
Researchers find threat to password security
NEW YORK – Passwords and other sensitive data are at risk after security researchers discovered a problem with an encryption technology used to securely transmit email, e-commerce transactions, social networking posts and other Web traffic.
Security researchers say the threat, known as Heartbleed, is serious, partly because it remained undiscovered for more than two years. Attackers can exploit the vulnerability without leaving any trace, so anything sent during that time has potentially been compromised. It’s not known, though, whether anyone had actually exploited this flaw.
A fix is available, but websites and service providers must install the update. Meanwhile, researchers say people should change their passwords.
Associated Press
