Cyber lingo, cyber attacks

Watch LIVE cyber attacks as they happen

Norse Corp. Attack Map

Last week we read more horror stories about major cyberattacks on our systems, with one of them resulting in the resignation of the Office of Personnel Management director after 21 million records were leaked, including social security numbers, fingerprints and medical reports containing information about mental health history.

This is in addition to OPM's report last month that 4.3 million personnel records were hacked of current and former federal workers, including potentially active duty and former troops with the U.S. armed services. Last Thursday, hackers are believed to have accessed and stolen every background check performed on potential government employees since 2000.

National Intelligence Director James Clapper said Chinese hackers were the leading suspects.

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This Salon piece from 2006 detailed a huge NSA eavesdropping and data collection facility in St. Louis, Missouri, which appeared to be the subject of major attacks last week, as revealed by Norse Corporation's real time global cyber attack map.

Norse's intelligence platform shows how every second,live threat intelligence from darknets in hundreds of locations in over 40 countries are collected and analyzed.

Hover your cursor over the attack origins, targets, or types to highlight attacks emanating from that country.

Cyber lingo

It's challenging to keep up with the latest social media lingo. Bookmark this site to acquaint yourself with cyber terminology constantly making its way into our lexicon. It contains a fairly comprehensive glossary assembled by the folks at HootSuite. For example, one of 154 terms is "List":

"A curated set of Twitter accounts that that you can group together in their own timeline. Lists are a convenient way to organize other Twitter users, whether you follow them or not. When you create a Twitter list, you can choose to make it public or private. Private lists are good for cataloguing sales prospects and sworn enemies, while public lists are available for anyone to subscribe to. They're an effective method of content curation and a great way to show that you know who's who in a particular field or cultural niche. Learn more: Twitter Lists are the New "Follow" "

Impress your friends! The glossary is a living document that will continue to grow as more terms are added.

Need a logo?

Now you can design your own logo using Cool Text, a free graphics generator for web pages or anywhere else you need a logo without spending a mint for design work. Choose the image you like, fill out a form and you'll have your own custom image created on the fly.

Pull Yer Pants Up!

This video is so funny and right on target that it has gone viral with 1,647,867 views as of this writing. Featuring a Texan behind the wheel who spots three youths waddling along like a toddler with a full diaper, his commentary is hilarious.

"I was driving down the street the other day when I saw a trio of young men walking along the roadside clad in what has become a sort of uniform: pants hanging below their rear end, strung up loosely by a belt or held in place by their upper appendages," he begins.

How healthy is your state?

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University has released a study that ranks all 50 states (57 if you're President Obama) according to their financial health. "Senior Research Fellow Eileen Norcross ranks each U.S. state's financial health based on short- and long-term debt and other key fiscal obligations, including unfunded pensions and health care benefits. The study, which builds on previous Mercatus research about state fiscal conditions, provides information from the states' audited financial reports in an easily accessible format, presenting an accurate snapshot of each state's fiscal health."

The top five are: Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Florida. To see how your state stacks up, click here.

Sleeping in a sewer?

A new home for the homeless? Or your vacation hideaway? Whatever, sleeping in a concrete sewer pipe just got socially acceptable and affordable.

Designed by Austrian architect Andreas Strauss, Das Park Hotel, located by the Danube River in Linz, Austria, "features giant pipes that have been converted into cozy bedrooms. Each unit, which can hold one person, features a bed, a lamp, a small table, and a mural painted by Austrian artist Thomas Latzel Ocho. Essentials like food and bathrooms can be found at a separate, public facility. Das Park Hotels runs on a "pay as you wish" system, allowing visitors to fork over only what they can afford. The rooms are available now until October," according to Mental Floss. See more interesting ideas at Design You Trust's Facebook page.

Elsewhere, these comfy transparent hotel "pods" are suspended off the side of a cliff, 400 feet above a valley in Peru. Each room can sleep up to 4 people, and you can only get to them by climbing the 400 feet or taking a network of ziplines. Watch this breathtaking video of the climb.