WEATHER, p. 2 MIT’s Oldest and WED: 19°F | 6°F Largest Newspaper Sunny THURS: 26°F | 20°F Partly sunny tech.mit.edu FRI: 25°F | 18°F Cloudy Established 1881 Volume 132, Number 63 Wednesday, January 23, 2013 MIT DNS hacked; Langer wins tra!c redirected additional Emails sent to KAIST, other tra"c redirected to Harvard accolade By Joanna Kao registrar, which allows users to Receives National ONLINE MEDIA EDITOR purchase domain names, also speci(es the domain name sys- Medal of Technology MIT was hacked yesterday tem (DNS) servers for a domain, shortly before noon, with MIT which convert domain names to By Bruno Faviero URLs redirecting to a webpage IP addresses needed to actually STAFF REPORTER claiming credit for the attack in load the page. It is unclear how remembrance of Aaron Swartz. the hackers gained control of Robert Langer SCD ’!" — professor in MIT’s email was also diverted. MIT’s information at EDUCAUSE. chemical engineering and biological engi- As a result of the hack, people Because of the attack, the neering — was recently named one of the ## who tried to reach MIT over the EDUCAUSE registry listed the researchers to receive the National Medal of Internet outside the MIT network name of the administrative con- Technology and Innovation, becoming one of were redirected to a hacked web tact for mit.edu as “I got owned,” only seven Americans to have received both page, and some emails may have and the name servers were this and the National Medal of Science, which been lost or delayed. )e hack af- changed to CloudFlare servers, he won in $%%&. Langer, who has received fected all names under mit.edu, an external DNS provider. over $$% awards and honors, will meet with such as web.mit.edu, tech.mit. President Obama at the medal ceremony. edu, etc. Activity within MIT was Chronology According to Xconomy, he plans to discuss not believed to be a'ected by this From ## :*+ a.m. to #:%* p.m., “the importance of funding basic research attack. MIT’s DNS was redirected from in science and engineering, and of funding )e hack and subsequent out- MIT’s own servers to CloudFlare, young scientists,” a conversation similar to ages were due to a con(guration where the hackers had con(gured the one he had with the president in $%%& change at EDUCAUSE, the reg- servers to return a Harvard IP ad- that appeared in Obama’s book !e Audacity istrar that provides information of Hope. !e Tech sat down with Langer for a on all names that end in .edu. A Hack, Page 15 quick interview. !e Tech: How does it feel to be one of three Americans to win both medals? Langer: It’s a tremendous honor. It’s a tre- MIT Aaron Swartz report to be mendous honor to win anything like that, and I think it’s sort of shocking that people are released “in a few weeks” nice enough to pick me for both. I feel very lucky, very privileged. Following the death of MIT community from Abelson. TT: How do all these prizes a'ect your re- Aaron Swartz on Jan. ##, $%#,, )e review will be conduct- search? Do they get in the way? Do you get President L. Rafael Reif an- ed in two phases, writes Abel- NICHOLAS CHORNAY"THE TECH too much publicity? nounced that Hal Abelson PhD son. )e (rst phase will be com- Institute Professor Robert Langer in his of!ce, where The Tech RL: I think getting a prize is good for the ’!, — Electrical Engineering pleted “in a few weeks,” with a spoke to him last week. The walls of Langer’s of!ce are cov- (eld. To me, biomedical engineering, which & Computer Science profes- report that gives a “clear record” ered from "oor to ceiling in awards given to him for his pioneering is the (eld I work in, is kind of a young (eld, sor and a founding director of of what happened and provides work in biological engineering; the next award to be added is the and I personally feel it’s a very important Creative Commons and the “insight into what MIT did or National Medal of Technology and Innovation, which will be pre- Free Software Foundation — didn’t do, and why.” Upon the sented to him later this year. Langer, Page 13 would be leading a “thorough conclusion of that phase MIT analysis of MIT’s involvement” will enter a second phase of an- from Fall $%#% to the present, alyzing the implications of the speci(cally describing “the op- (ndings. President nominates Maria Zuber tions MIT had and the decisions MIT will refrain from com- EAPS professor will be second to serve on National Science Board MIT made.” )e report resulting menting on the situation until from the analysis will be made the release of the report. By Stanley Gill will be the second MIT professor that and Congress on policy matters re- public. Members of the MIT com- NEWS EDITOR is currently a member of the board lated to science, engineering, and Obtained through the MIT munity can suggest questions alongside Subra Suresh ScD ’+#, education. News O#ce, the o-cial charge for Abelson’s analysis via http:// Maria T. Zuber, MIT’s new vice who serves as an ex-o-cio member !e Tech had the opportunity from Reif to Abelson appears on swartz-review.mit.edu. president for research, was recently as president of the National Science to sit down with Zuber last week to page *, along with a letter to the —Anne Cai selected by President Barack Obama Foundation (NSF). discuss her thoughts on her appoint- for nomination to the National Sci- )e $*-member board governs ence Board. When con(rmed, she the NSF and advises the president Zuber, Page 14 IN SHORT Online registration for spring term opens on Jan. !". Registra- tion day is Feb. #. !e get"t@MIT challenge begins on Jan. !". $e last day to cre- ate a team is Jan. !#. Teams of %–" people can log their exercise minutes during the &!-week challenge to qualify for prizes and DAPER discounts. Visit get!t.mit.edu to sign up. !e Annual Hummus Taste O# will be held $ursday, Jan. !#, &!–! p.m. in Lobby &'. Looking for a UROP? Stop by the IAP UROP expo on $ursday, Jan. !# from ! to # p.m. in Kresge Lobby. !e LSC’s $%th Annual Science Fiction Marathon is Saturday, Jan. !( at ) p.m. in !(-&'' and features WALL-E, Looper, !e An- EMILIO PACE"THE TECH dromeda Strain, and Galaxy Quest. Codex, a team that participated in this year’s Mystery Hunt, celebrated solving their !rst puzzle only 12 minutes after the hunt began. Send news information and tips to [email protected]. BEAUTIFUL WORDS BOTH MUSICIAN & ENGINEER ANNUAL WEEKEND OF LETTER ON SECTIONS World & Nation . .2 An interview with Amanda Wang, BY HAND MYSTERY HUNTING SWARTZ ANALYSIS Opinion . .4 MIT alum and violinist. ARTS, p. 11 Discovering and See highlights from this Hal Abelson outlines Fun Pages . .6 nurturing a ON THE STRENGTH OF MIT IS&T year’s Mystery Hunt, his goals for analyzing Campus Life . .10 love for calligraphy. designed by the Manic MIT’s involvement. Arts . 11 CAMPUS LIFE, p. 10 Or lack thereof? Frustrations with IS&T Sages. PHOTO, p. 8 OPINION, p. 5 Sports . .16 and MIT’s network. OPINION, p. 4 ! T!" T"#! W"$%"&$'(, J'%)'*( +,, +-., Pentagon clears commander D over emails with socialite Four more years, but it’s the WASHINGTON — A Defense Department inquiry into po- tentially inappropriate emails between the U.S. commander in Afghanistan and a socialite in Tampa, Fla., has cleared the o/- !rst one that really counts cer, Gen. John R. Allen, of wrongdoing, senior o/cials disclosed Tuesday. By Jeff Zeleny Newtown, Conn., elevated gun con- da, signaled that Obama might try to WORL 1e Pentagon inspector general wrote to Allen that the inves- THE NEW YORK TIMES trol on the administration’s agenda, approach Republicans with a stern- tigation had found no improprieties in the email communica- suddenly competing with plans to er hand than he did in his 0rst term. N tions with the socialite, Jill Kelley, o/cials said. WASHINGTON — 1e Constitu- push for sweeping changes in the Already, he has signed executive or- Allen maintained all along that he had done nothing wrong, tion may promise President Barack nation’s immigration laws. Faced ders on gun control and, at least for and his supporters said the emails had neither violated security Obama another four years in the with a choice after his re-election the moment, forced a Republican nor represented an improper relationship with Kelley, who fre- White House, but political reality in +--4, President George W. Bush retreat on raising the debt ceiling. quently hosted social events for senior o/cers assigned to the calls for a far shorter time frame: he chose to pursue a Social Security Yet some of Obama’s most am- military’s Central Command headquarters in Tampa. has perhaps as little as a year to ac- overhaul before an immigration bill bitious goals still require action Pentagon o/cials were no doubt cognizant of the context in complish his big-ticket goals for a and, amid partisan rancor over the from Congress, and Republicans ATIO which the emails had been uncovered — as part of the discovery second term. Social Security 0ght, ended up get- still control the House. Even the Re- of an extramarital a2air that ended the public career of David H. As the president begins pro- ting neither.