Facebook looking to buy Twitter – FT
Showing posts with label technology news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology news. Show all posts
Thursday, June 3, 2010
IBM and academia work on human brain simulation
Boffins at IBM have teamed up with five universities to use the human brain as a template to buildfaster, smaller computer systems that benefit decision making. Working with experts at Columbia University Medical Centre, Cornell University, Stanford University, the University of California-Merced and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, IBM Research plans to design and develop computers that simulate and emulate how the brain acts, interacts, perceives and senses things, in addition to mirroring its cognition, lower power usage and size. In doing so, it is hoped that business and consumer users alike will be able to make decisions much more quickly as well as helping them to deal with the ever-increasing glut of digital data heading their way each year.
Online fraudsters steal billions
Hi-tech thieves who specialise in card fraud have a credit line in excess of $5bn, research suggests.
Security firm Symantec calculated the figure to quantify the scale of fraud it found during a year-long look at the net's underground economy.
Credit card numbers are the most popular item on sale and made up 31 percent of all the goods on offer.
Coming in second are bank details which made up 20 percent of the items being offered on criminal chat channels.
The $5.3bn figure was reached by multiplying the average amount of fraud perpetrated on a stolen card, $350 by the many millions Symantec observed being offered for sale.
Similarly, the report said, "if hi-tech thieves plundered all the bank accounts offered for sale they could net up to $1.7bn."
Symantec said, "these figures are indicative of the value of the underground economy and the potential worth of the market."
"Credit card numbers have proved so popular among hi-tech thieves because they are easy to obtain and use for fraudulent purposes," it added.
Many of the methods favoured by cyber criminals, such as database attacks and magnetic strip skimmers, are designed to steal credit card information.
The existence of a ready market for any stolen data and the growing use of credit cards also helped maintain their popularity, it said.
"High frequency use and the range of available methods for capturing credit card data would generate more opportunities for theft and compromise and, thus, lead to an increased supply on underground economy servers," said the report.
The price card thieves can expect for the numbers they offer for sale also varied by the country of origin. US card numbers are the cheapest because they are so ubiquitous – 74 percent of all cards offered for sale were from the US.
By contrast numbers from cards issued in Europe and the Middle East commanded a premium because they were relatively rare.
The year-long look at the underground economy confirmed to Symantec how serious and organised cyber thieves have become.
Via the covert chat channels and invitation-only discussion forums hi-tech thieves form loose alliances, contact those who specialise in one technique or find individuals who can extract cash from particular credit cards .
Russian and Eastern European gangs seem to be among the most well-organised, said the report. But, it said, all the criminals are happy to work together to steal money from credit cards and bank accounts. This is because card numbers stolen in one country can only be 'cashed out' in their home nation - necessitating contact across borders.
"Symantec research indicates that there is a certain amount of collaboration and organisation occurring on these forums, especially at the administrative level," it said.
"Moreover, considerable evidence exists that organised crime is involved in many cases."
Read more...
'Mars crew' locked up for 520 days of isolation
MOSCOW: Six men from Europe, Russia and China were Thursday locked away from the outside world for the next one-and-a-half years, in an unprecedented experiment to simulate the effects of a mission to Mars.
One Chinese man, one Italian, one Frenchman and three Russians will spend the next 520 days in a 550 cubic metre facility at a Moscow research institute to test how their bodies and minds react to prolonged isolation.
Dressed in blue overalls, the six gave the thumbs-up sign and smiled for the cameras as loved ones and well-wishers gave them an emotional send-off before they entered the facility.
“See you in 520 days,” shouted one of the Russian participants, Sukhrob Kamolov, just before a scientist shut the door on the facility and sealed it shut at around 1000 GMT.
Like in a real Mars mission, the crew will have to survive on limited food rations like those used by real astronauts and their only communication with the outside world will be by email, with a delay of up to 40 minutes.
The hatch will only re-open when the experiment is over or if one of the all-male participants is forced to pull out. Controversially, no women have been selected for the experiment, called Mars 500.
“I am already missing him. I am crying right now,” said Irene Urbina, sister of Italian participant Diego Urbina.
The volunteers are aged between 27 and 38 and include a member of a real-life space programme and a civil engineer. But scientists bristle at the idea that the experiment is an elaborate version of television's “Big Brother”.
“It is not like 'Big Brother'. We do not have surveillance, video cameras everywhere. We hope there will be no fights or scandals,” said Jennifer Ngo-Anh, Mars 500 programme manager.
The volunteers will have their days in the module at the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) divided into eight hours of sleep, eight hours of work and eight hours of leisure.
A team of three will spend one month aboard a special module meant to represent the Mars landing craft, while two will also spend time exploring a reconstruction of Mars itself.
Chinese member Wang Yue, 27, a candidate astronaut of China's space programme, told reporters before entering the capsule: “It is just a simulation. It is not a matter of life and death.”
“But I think it is very much more than that as it aims at the future of humanity.”
The idea is to exactly mimic the timescale of a Mars mission - 250 days for the trip to Mars, 30 days on the surface and 240 days for the return journey, totalling 520 days.
“You cannot simulate everything. That is obvious,” said Christer Fuglesang, head of science at the directorate for human spaceflight for the European Space Agency, a co-organiser of the project with the IBMP.
“The scare factor cannot be simulated. It's true we don't have this aspect they may not come back.”
The crew also conspicuously lacks women, meaning the experiment will not examine the possible sexual tensions that could arise on a trip to Mars for a mixed-gender crew.
Yury Karash, a Russian space policy expert, said the gender composition of the crew would allow the participants to focus on their professional duties instead of unwittingly competing for attention of female crew members.
“It is better for the crew to be same-sex,” he said on Russian television.
“No one has abolished the basic instinct yet.”
Their diet will be no different to that enjoyed by real-life astronauts on the International Space Station. The crew will be given all the food at the beginning of the experiment, forcing them to ration out their supplies.
The diet will include cereals, bread or pancakes for breakfast and soup, pasta and fish or meat dishes for main meals. Unlike real-life astronauts, the packaging will not have to account for zero gravity.
The ESA and the US space agency NASA have separately sketched dates in around three decades from now for a manned flight to Mars.
The project, the first full-duration simulated mission to Mars, follows a similar experiment in Moscow last year which saw six volunteers shut away for a mere 105 days.
Read more...
One Chinese man, one Italian, one Frenchman and three Russians will spend the next 520 days in a 550 cubic metre facility at a Moscow research institute to test how their bodies and minds react to prolonged isolation.
Dressed in blue overalls, the six gave the thumbs-up sign and smiled for the cameras as loved ones and well-wishers gave them an emotional send-off before they entered the facility.
“See you in 520 days,” shouted one of the Russian participants, Sukhrob Kamolov, just before a scientist shut the door on the facility and sealed it shut at around 1000 GMT.
Like in a real Mars mission, the crew will have to survive on limited food rations like those used by real astronauts and their only communication with the outside world will be by email, with a delay of up to 40 minutes.
The hatch will only re-open when the experiment is over or if one of the all-male participants is forced to pull out. Controversially, no women have been selected for the experiment, called Mars 500.
“I am already missing him. I am crying right now,” said Irene Urbina, sister of Italian participant Diego Urbina.
The volunteers are aged between 27 and 38 and include a member of a real-life space programme and a civil engineer. But scientists bristle at the idea that the experiment is an elaborate version of television's “Big Brother”.
“It is not like 'Big Brother'. We do not have surveillance, video cameras everywhere. We hope there will be no fights or scandals,” said Jennifer Ngo-Anh, Mars 500 programme manager.
The volunteers will have their days in the module at the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) divided into eight hours of sleep, eight hours of work and eight hours of leisure.
A team of three will spend one month aboard a special module meant to represent the Mars landing craft, while two will also spend time exploring a reconstruction of Mars itself.
Chinese member Wang Yue, 27, a candidate astronaut of China's space programme, told reporters before entering the capsule: “It is just a simulation. It is not a matter of life and death.”
“But I think it is very much more than that as it aims at the future of humanity.”
The idea is to exactly mimic the timescale of a Mars mission - 250 days for the trip to Mars, 30 days on the surface and 240 days for the return journey, totalling 520 days.
“You cannot simulate everything. That is obvious,” said Christer Fuglesang, head of science at the directorate for human spaceflight for the European Space Agency, a co-organiser of the project with the IBMP.
“The scare factor cannot be simulated. It's true we don't have this aspect they may not come back.”
The crew also conspicuously lacks women, meaning the experiment will not examine the possible sexual tensions that could arise on a trip to Mars for a mixed-gender crew.
Yury Karash, a Russian space policy expert, said the gender composition of the crew would allow the participants to focus on their professional duties instead of unwittingly competing for attention of female crew members.
“It is better for the crew to be same-sex,” he said on Russian television.
“No one has abolished the basic instinct yet.”
Their diet will be no different to that enjoyed by real-life astronauts on the International Space Station. The crew will be given all the food at the beginning of the experiment, forcing them to ration out their supplies.
The diet will include cereals, bread or pancakes for breakfast and soup, pasta and fish or meat dishes for main meals. Unlike real-life astronauts, the packaging will not have to account for zero gravity.
The ESA and the US space agency NASA have separately sketched dates in around three decades from now for a manned flight to Mars.
The project, the first full-duration simulated mission to Mars, follows a similar experiment in Moscow last year which saw six volunteers shut away for a mere 105 days.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Pakistanis create rival Muslim Facebook
A group of six young IT professionals from Lahore, the cultural and entertainment capital of Pakistan, Launched www.millatfacebook.com on Tuesday for Muslims to interact online and protest against blasphemy.
The private venture came after a Pakistani court ordered a block on Facebook until May 31, following deep offence over an “Everyone Draw Mohammed Day” page considered “blasphemous” and “sacrilegious”.
“Millatfacebook is Pakistan's very own, first social networking site. A site for Muslims by Muslims where sweet people of other religions are also welcome,” the website tells people interested in signing up.
Dubbed MFB, after Facebook's moniker FB, its founder says professionals are working around the clock to offer features similar to those pioneered by the wildly popular California-based prototype.
Each member has a “wall” for friends to comment on. The site offers email, photo, video, chat and discussion board facilities.
The Urdu word “Millat” is used by Muslims to refer to their nation. The website claims to have attracted 4,300 members in the last three days — mostly English-speaking Pakistanis in their 20s.
The number of aficionados may be growing, but the community is a drop in the ocean of the 2.5 million Facebook fans in Pakistan and there have been some scathing early reviews of the start-up.
Neither has Facebook been immediately reachable for comment.
“We want to tell Facebook people 'if they mess with us they have to face the consequences',” said Usman Zaheer, the 24-year-old chief operating officer of the software house that hosts the new site.
“If someone commits blasphemy against our Prophet Mohammed then we will become his competitor and give him immense business loss,” he told AFP, dreaming of making “the largest Muslim social networking website”.
Once signed up, members are a click away from debate on the bulletin board.
For example, “Enticing Fury” wrote: “The reason is that this forum must be reserved for ALL MUSLIMS OF THE WORLD and not only Pakistan. So using the word MILLAT is very good!
“Well done guys. You have made a great alternative for the whole Muslim ummah (nation)!”
But the nascent quality of the work-in-progress website has preoccupied and dismayed some, as well as drawn at least one damning newspaper review.
One member wrote: “they need 2 have more info”.
Another posted a mournful: “need games here as well. I miss cafe world” referring to the popular Facebook page where members can run their own virtual cafe.
“It was a good idea... as it can give us a forum to connect, but its reach is too limited,” Mohammad Adeel, a 31-year-old pharmacist told AFP in Karachi, who joined to keep up with friends he missed due to the Facebook ban.
Local newspaper was crushing. “The quality of user experience is so abysmal that it does not merit the humble title, 'Facebook clone',” it wrote online.
“To sum up, MillatFacebook is a bold effort... but it is unlikely to capture a large audience, judging by the online experience it offers currently.”
But Zaheer is pleased with his handiwork, saying the site has already attracted members living in Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
Pakistani law student Rana Adeel, 21, signed up to MillatFB in Lahore after receiving invites through SMS and email from friends.
“In two days, I got more than seven friends. If the Facebook ban is lifted, I'll keep networking on both,” he told AFP. Read more...
Text messages save pregnant Rwandan women
Equipped with a mobile phone from the local health center, Uwera sent an urgent SMS text message and within a quarter of an hour, an ambulance had whisked Valentine to hospital. Minutes later Uwingabire's third child was born.
"We called our child Manirakoze, which means 'Thank God'," she told reporters, sitting outside her mud and bamboo house pitched in the shadow of Karisimbi volcano, home to some of the world's few remaining highland mountain gorillas.
Had it not been for Rwanda's new Rapid SMS service, Valentine would have been carried in agony, down the hill to the nearest town on an improvised stretcher.
As is the case in much of Africa, fixed-line telephone networks are virtually non-existent outside of the capital and major cities.
The Rapid SMS scheme - a joint initiative between three U.N. organizations - is being tested in the Musanze District where 432 health workers have received mobile phones.
Health workers register pregnant women in their village via free SMS text messages and send regular updates to a central server in the capital, Kigali. They are monitored during the pregnancy, and those at high risk brought in for check-ups.
Rwanda, Africa's most densely populated nation, is ranked among the world's worst for maternal mortality, according to U.N. data, and it is an important target for the global body's goal to reduce maternal deaths by 75 per cent globally by 2015.
"No Maternal Deaths"
John Kalach, director of the nearest hospital in Ruhengeri, says since Rapid SMS launched in August 2009, his hospital has had no maternal deaths, compared to 10 the previous year.
"We used to get ladies coming here with serious complications just because they delayed the decision because the journey was very long," he says.
Kalach says authorities can use the data to work out which diseases affect women during pregnancy, the causes of death for children below five years, the volume and type of drugs required, and to monitor population growth rates.
Friday Nwaigwe, UNICEF's country head of child health and nutrition, says the next step is to give mobile phones to 17,500 maternal health workers across the country and eventually to all 50,000 community health workers.
"In Rwanda we have 750 out of every 100,000 pregnant women die every year. It's a very big problem," Nwaigwe says.
Still, in a nation where only six percent of its 10 million-strong population has access to electricity, a country-wide expansion of the scheme may run into problems.
Germaine says to charge her phone she has to walk 20 minutes to the nearest charging booth, and Kalach says some remote areas of the hilly country do not yet have network coverage.
But surrounded by trees heaving with chandeliers of green bananas and fields bursting with beans, Uwera and Uwingabire agree a simple text message has had a big impact on their lives.
"We used to use a traditional ambulance made of mats, like a stretcher made of papyrus and sticks. It takes one hour by walking - or five minutes in a car," Germaine says, cradling baby Manirakoze and proudly brandishing her mobile telephone. Read more...
iPad-mania as thousands queue for global roll-out
PARIS: Thousands of die-hard Apple fans mobbed shops in parts of Europe and Asia on Friday after the iPad, touted as a revolution in personal computing, began its global launch.
Long queues of customers snaked outside Apple shops in Australia and Japan hours before the opening and similar huddled masses of gadget lovers turned out at stores in six European countries including Britain and France.
The iPad - a flat, 10-inch (25-centimetre) black tablet - was also going on sale in Canada as part of a global roll-out that was pushed back by a month due to huge demand in the United States.
One million iPads were sold in 28 days after the product's US debut in early April, forcing the firm to delay its foreign launch.
At Apple's flagship store in Paris, set in the prestigious underground mall of the Louvre museum, 24-year-old engineer Audrey Sobgou beamed as she walked away with one of the prized tablets.
Sobgou travelled 205 kilometres (127 miles) from her home town in Lille, northern France, and waited nearly two hours before stepping inside the busy Apple store to make her purchase.
“I'm not a victim of hype,” she insisted. “I know Apple products and it's about the quality, the interface, how it's designed and what it can do. With elegance and style.”
Hundreds of people had already queued outside of the Paris Apple store hours before it opened at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) and the launch made the front page of major newspapers.
The free-sheet Metro daily in Paris showed a full-page picture of the tablet under the polemical question “iPad: gadget or revolution?”
About 40 enthusiasts were already waiting outside the flagship Apple store in central London, at 3:00 am (0200 GMT) Friday to get their hands on the iPad when the store opened at 8:00 am.
Most of them were sitting on deck chairs and some were wrapped in sleeping bags and blankets.
Staff escorted the first group of customers one by one up to buy their iPad after they opened the doors, whooping, chanting and cheering.
“I queued overnight for about 20 hours since midday yesterday but it was very, very worth it,” Jake Lee, a 17-year-old student from Essex, told AFP, clutching his treasured iPad.
“I wanted the iPad since it was announced, I'm just really excited about it,” he told AFP.
The iPad also went on sale in Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland and will be followed in July by a launch in Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
About 30 people waited under a driving rain in Frankfurt outside the Apple store while 19-year-old student Claudio Roccario was among some one hundred customers waiting to buy his iPad in Milan.
“I wanted to be among the first,” he said, echoing the sentiment of most die-hard Apple fans who turned out for the first day of the launch.
Many Apple aficionados in Zurich camped out overnight in front of the store to be among the first to buy the tablet and download some of the 5,000 available apps.
Prices in Japan and Australia for the basic 16GB iPad are comparable to US prices, once sales tax is included, although a significant markup by Apple in Britain and continental Europe has triggered some grumbling.
In France, wifi models sell for between 499 and 699 euros (620 and 969 dollars) with the 3G models going for between 599 and 799 euros.
The multi-functional device is tipped by some pundits to revitalise media and publishing, with many major newspapers and broadcasters launching applications.
Newspaper mogul Rupert Murdoch has said the iPad has the potential to save the newspaper industry but in France, that enthusiasm is not shared by President Nicolas Sarkozy's minister for the digital economy.
Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet last month dismissed the “marketing frenzy” surrounding the iPad launch and declared that it was “a bit heavy” compared to the Archos tablet, made in France.
Other than the five other European countries, California-based Apple plans to bring the iPad to Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore in July.
Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky estimated that Apple is selling more than 200,000 iPads a week - more than estimated Mac computer sales of 110,000 a week, and vying with iPhone 3GS sales of 246,000 a week.
Apple has declined to reveal the number of pre-orders received for the iPad internationally, but Abramsky put it at around 600,000.
Read more...
Long queues of customers snaked outside Apple shops in Australia and Japan hours before the opening and similar huddled masses of gadget lovers turned out at stores in six European countries including Britain and France.
The iPad - a flat, 10-inch (25-centimetre) black tablet - was also going on sale in Canada as part of a global roll-out that was pushed back by a month due to huge demand in the United States.
One million iPads were sold in 28 days after the product's US debut in early April, forcing the firm to delay its foreign launch.
At Apple's flagship store in Paris, set in the prestigious underground mall of the Louvre museum, 24-year-old engineer Audrey Sobgou beamed as she walked away with one of the prized tablets.
Sobgou travelled 205 kilometres (127 miles) from her home town in Lille, northern France, and waited nearly two hours before stepping inside the busy Apple store to make her purchase.
“I'm not a victim of hype,” she insisted. “I know Apple products and it's about the quality, the interface, how it's designed and what it can do. With elegance and style.”
Hundreds of people had already queued outside of the Paris Apple store hours before it opened at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) and the launch made the front page of major newspapers.
The free-sheet Metro daily in Paris showed a full-page picture of the tablet under the polemical question “iPad: gadget or revolution?”
About 40 enthusiasts were already waiting outside the flagship Apple store in central London, at 3:00 am (0200 GMT) Friday to get their hands on the iPad when the store opened at 8:00 am.
Most of them were sitting on deck chairs and some were wrapped in sleeping bags and blankets.
Staff escorted the first group of customers one by one up to buy their iPad after they opened the doors, whooping, chanting and cheering.
“I queued overnight for about 20 hours since midday yesterday but it was very, very worth it,” Jake Lee, a 17-year-old student from Essex, told AFP, clutching his treasured iPad.
“I wanted the iPad since it was announced, I'm just really excited about it,” he told AFP.
The iPad also went on sale in Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland and will be followed in July by a launch in Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
About 30 people waited under a driving rain in Frankfurt outside the Apple store while 19-year-old student Claudio Roccario was among some one hundred customers waiting to buy his iPad in Milan.
“I wanted to be among the first,” he said, echoing the sentiment of most die-hard Apple fans who turned out for the first day of the launch.
Many Apple aficionados in Zurich camped out overnight in front of the store to be among the first to buy the tablet and download some of the 5,000 available apps.
Prices in Japan and Australia for the basic 16GB iPad are comparable to US prices, once sales tax is included, although a significant markup by Apple in Britain and continental Europe has triggered some grumbling.
In France, wifi models sell for between 499 and 699 euros (620 and 969 dollars) with the 3G models going for between 599 and 799 euros.
The multi-functional device is tipped by some pundits to revitalise media and publishing, with many major newspapers and broadcasters launching applications.
Newspaper mogul Rupert Murdoch has said the iPad has the potential to save the newspaper industry but in France, that enthusiasm is not shared by President Nicolas Sarkozy's minister for the digital economy.
Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet last month dismissed the “marketing frenzy” surrounding the iPad launch and declared that it was “a bit heavy” compared to the Archos tablet, made in France.
Other than the five other European countries, California-based Apple plans to bring the iPad to Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore in July.
Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky estimated that Apple is selling more than 200,000 iPads a week - more than estimated Mac computer sales of 110,000 a week, and vying with iPhone 3GS sales of 246,000 a week.
Apple has declined to reveal the number of pre-orders received for the iPad internationally, but Abramsky put it at around 600,000.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Face-off with Facebook
Of late, Facebook, the global social networking site, has been experiencing a series of glitches on its path to world conquest. With over 400 million users, and revenues in excess of a billion dollars, it is one of the Internet’s biggest success stories. And no, Pakistan’s decision to impose a ban on the site has nothing to do with Facebook’s current woes.
The big story is about the site’s privacy policy, and it is scrambling to undo the harm it did to its reputation by making data about its users widely accessible. Pakistan, with around 2.5 million users, is a drop in the ocean for Facebook. The people inconvenienced by the ban are the Pakistanis who were able to keep in touch with their family members and friends around the world. While younger, tech-savvy users can easily circumvent this ban with a few clicks on their computers, people of my generation will struggle to connect with their children or friends living and working abroad.
Frankly, I have never got into the whole social networking scene because I already spend too much time on my computer, writing, reading newspapers and researching articles, as well as replying to emails from friends and readers. Every once in a while, I log on to Facebook to see pictures of my grandson Danyaal posted by my son. But other than that, I generally avoid opening my Facebook page, so the ban has not affected me in the least.
In an excess of regulatory zeal, the Pakistan Telecom Authority has also slapped a ban on YouTube, Flickr, and several chunks of Wikipedia, the universal encyclopaedia. Is a total ban on the Internet next? All these childish measures only serve to remind us how out of step we are with the rest of the world. The truth is that it would have been a simple matter to block the offending Facebook page that was carrying the blasphemous drawings of the Holy Prophet [PBUH]. For PTA to take such an extreme step, there is something more to it than a desire to protect Pakistanis from sacrilegious Internet content. I suspect this decision echoes a controversy that took place last year when legislation was going to be moved to ban the use of cellphones and the Internet to spread jokes and allegations against the president and the government. The proposal became a joke itself around the world, and was quietly shelved. To my cynical eyes, PTA has used the indignation whipped up against the offending Facebook page to slap a total ban.
Interestingly, no other Muslim country has taken a similar measure, indicating that Pakistanis are more easily upset by any hint of blasphemy than our brethren elsewhere. And yet, according to Google, the popular search engine, the word ‘sex’ is typed in more often by Pakistanis than by Internet users in any other country. Clearly, we are not entirely consistent in our attachment to religious edicts.
Some five years ago, the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten caused a worldwide furore by publishing a dozen cartoons of the Holy Prophet [PBUH]. Buildings were torched in riots and many lost their lives. The Danish embassy in Islamabad was attacked by a suicide bomber who killed several Pakistanis. Those who were so worked up at the time will no doubt be distressed to learn that the price of one of the offending images drawn by Kurt Westergaard has gone up to $150,000 for the original, while 870 copies have sold for $250 each.
TV coverage of the recent demonstrations in Pakistan against Facebook showed angry, bearded faces of men who, it must be said, would be hard pressed to describe what the social networking phenomenon is about. In their ignorance, they were similar to the mobs who rioted, burned and killed to protest against Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses. In both cases, the protesters had no clue what they were so worked about, excepting that they had been told that somebody somewhere had blasphemed against the Holy Prophet [PBUH].
Such knee-jerk reactions actually boomerang against protesters. Rushdie’s book sales rocketed, while lots of people were driven by curiosity to check out the offending Facebook page after being alerted to its contents. Had Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry passed a less draconian order, it would have met the fate it deserved: complete indifference from the vast Internet community. As it is, the page is getting far more hits for its crude drawings than its creators could have dreamed of.
We all need to realise that the Internet is an unregulated and largely uncharted universe with literally billions of pages, and it is growing larger by the day. Among this enormous body of material, there are bound to be bits that offend somebody or the other. Equally, there is much of value on the Web. This is true of all media: while books, films and television all contain entertainment and information, they also carry pornography and other offensive material. Should we then ban libraries, cinema houses and TV broadcasts?
Within the last two decades, the Internet has transformed our lives in ways that were unthinkable before its advent, and the world is a far richer place as a result. Patterns of work, communication and entertainment have been altered forever, usually for the good. Those who set up the Internet and those who maintain it are determined to keep it as regulation-free as possible. Thus far, they have resisted attempts by governments to control how it is used, and to my view, this free-wheeling philosophy is to be welcomed and supported.
Once regulators step in to avoid offending one section of users or another, there is no telling where political correctness ends and censorship begins. The Chinese government has tried to censor and control the Internet, to little avail. In the aftermath of the Iranian elections, Tehran attempted to curb access to Twitter and many Internet sites following the protests, but again failed to block news from spreading.
Governments need to understand that their monopoly over news and information is now a thing of the past. In Pakistan, when both radio and TV were tightly controlled by the government, news could be twisted in a way that is no longer possible. We really need to grow up and understand that knee-jerk bans and restrictions end up only harming ourselves and nobody else.
Read more...
The big story is about the site’s privacy policy, and it is scrambling to undo the harm it did to its reputation by making data about its users widely accessible. Pakistan, with around 2.5 million users, is a drop in the ocean for Facebook. The people inconvenienced by the ban are the Pakistanis who were able to keep in touch with their family members and friends around the world. While younger, tech-savvy users can easily circumvent this ban with a few clicks on their computers, people of my generation will struggle to connect with their children or friends living and working abroad.
Frankly, I have never got into the whole social networking scene because I already spend too much time on my computer, writing, reading newspapers and researching articles, as well as replying to emails from friends and readers. Every once in a while, I log on to Facebook to see pictures of my grandson Danyaal posted by my son. But other than that, I generally avoid opening my Facebook page, so the ban has not affected me in the least.
In an excess of regulatory zeal, the Pakistan Telecom Authority has also slapped a ban on YouTube, Flickr, and several chunks of Wikipedia, the universal encyclopaedia. Is a total ban on the Internet next? All these childish measures only serve to remind us how out of step we are with the rest of the world. The truth is that it would have been a simple matter to block the offending Facebook page that was carrying the blasphemous drawings of the Holy Prophet [PBUH]. For PTA to take such an extreme step, there is something more to it than a desire to protect Pakistanis from sacrilegious Internet content. I suspect this decision echoes a controversy that took place last year when legislation was going to be moved to ban the use of cellphones and the Internet to spread jokes and allegations against the president and the government. The proposal became a joke itself around the world, and was quietly shelved. To my cynical eyes, PTA has used the indignation whipped up against the offending Facebook page to slap a total ban.
Interestingly, no other Muslim country has taken a similar measure, indicating that Pakistanis are more easily upset by any hint of blasphemy than our brethren elsewhere. And yet, according to Google, the popular search engine, the word ‘sex’ is typed in more often by Pakistanis than by Internet users in any other country. Clearly, we are not entirely consistent in our attachment to religious edicts.
Some five years ago, the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten caused a worldwide furore by publishing a dozen cartoons of the Holy Prophet [PBUH]. Buildings were torched in riots and many lost their lives. The Danish embassy in Islamabad was attacked by a suicide bomber who killed several Pakistanis. Those who were so worked up at the time will no doubt be distressed to learn that the price of one of the offending images drawn by Kurt Westergaard has gone up to $150,000 for the original, while 870 copies have sold for $250 each.
TV coverage of the recent demonstrations in Pakistan against Facebook showed angry, bearded faces of men who, it must be said, would be hard pressed to describe what the social networking phenomenon is about. In their ignorance, they were similar to the mobs who rioted, burned and killed to protest against Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses. In both cases, the protesters had no clue what they were so worked about, excepting that they had been told that somebody somewhere had blasphemed against the Holy Prophet [PBUH].
Such knee-jerk reactions actually boomerang against protesters. Rushdie’s book sales rocketed, while lots of people were driven by curiosity to check out the offending Facebook page after being alerted to its contents. Had Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry passed a less draconian order, it would have met the fate it deserved: complete indifference from the vast Internet community. As it is, the page is getting far more hits for its crude drawings than its creators could have dreamed of.
We all need to realise that the Internet is an unregulated and largely uncharted universe with literally billions of pages, and it is growing larger by the day. Among this enormous body of material, there are bound to be bits that offend somebody or the other. Equally, there is much of value on the Web. This is true of all media: while books, films and television all contain entertainment and information, they also carry pornography and other offensive material. Should we then ban libraries, cinema houses and TV broadcasts?
Within the last two decades, the Internet has transformed our lives in ways that were unthinkable before its advent, and the world is a far richer place as a result. Patterns of work, communication and entertainment have been altered forever, usually for the good. Those who set up the Internet and those who maintain it are determined to keep it as regulation-free as possible. Thus far, they have resisted attempts by governments to control how it is used, and to my view, this free-wheeling philosophy is to be welcomed and supported.
Once regulators step in to avoid offending one section of users or another, there is no telling where political correctness ends and censorship begins. The Chinese government has tried to censor and control the Internet, to little avail. In the aftermath of the Iranian elections, Tehran attempted to curb access to Twitter and many Internet sites following the protests, but again failed to block news from spreading.
Governments need to understand that their monopoly over news and information is now a thing of the past. In Pakistan, when both radio and TV were tightly controlled by the government, news could be twisted in a way that is no longer possible. We really need to grow up and understand that knee-jerk bans and restrictions end up only harming ourselves and nobody else.
Facebook founder out to fix "a bunch of mistakes"
SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on Sunday said the social networking service has made blunders that it hopes to fix with coming changes to its privacy controls.
Zuckerberg issued a mea culpa in an email exchange with popular technology blogger Robert Scoble, who shared it at his website after purportedly getting Zuckerberg's permission.
“I want to make sure we get this stuff right this time,” said a message attributed to Zuckerberg.
“I know we've made a bunch of mistakes, but my hope at the end of this is that the service ends up in a better place and that people understand that our intentions are in the right place and we respond to the feedback from the people we serve.”
Zuckerberg, who turned 26 years old on May 14, said Facebook would start talking publicly this week about privacy control modifications.
“We've been listening to all the feedback and have been trying to distill it down to the key things we need to improve,” Zuckerberg wrote.
“We're going to be ready to start talking about some of the new things we've built this week.”
Facebook on Saturday said it plans to simplify privacy controls at the popular social-networking service to appease critics.
Facebook contended that members like new programs rolled out at the California-based Internet hotspot but want easy ways to opt out of sharing personal information with third-party applications or websites.
Features introduced last month include the ability for partner websites to incorporate Facebook data, a move that would further expand the social network's presence on the Internet.
Facebook has been under fire from US privacy and consumer groups, US lawmakers and the European Union over new features that critics claim compromise the privacy of its more than 400 million members.
Read more...
Zuckerberg issued a mea culpa in an email exchange with popular technology blogger Robert Scoble, who shared it at his website after purportedly getting Zuckerberg's permission.
“I want to make sure we get this stuff right this time,” said a message attributed to Zuckerberg.
“I know we've made a bunch of mistakes, but my hope at the end of this is that the service ends up in a better place and that people understand that our intentions are in the right place and we respond to the feedback from the people we serve.”
Zuckerberg, who turned 26 years old on May 14, said Facebook would start talking publicly this week about privacy control modifications.
“We've been listening to all the feedback and have been trying to distill it down to the key things we need to improve,” Zuckerberg wrote.
“We're going to be ready to start talking about some of the new things we've built this week.”
Facebook on Saturday said it plans to simplify privacy controls at the popular social-networking service to appease critics.
Facebook contended that members like new programs rolled out at the California-based Internet hotspot but want easy ways to opt out of sharing personal information with third-party applications or websites.
Features introduced last month include the ability for partner websites to incorporate Facebook data, a move that would further expand the social network's presence on the Internet.
Facebook has been under fire from US privacy and consumer groups, US lawmakers and the European Union over new features that critics claim compromise the privacy of its more than 400 million members.
Facebook ban drives Rehman Malik to Twitter
ISLAMABAD: After Pakistan banned Facebook in a bid to stop it hosting “blasphemous” pictures of Prophet Mohammad, the country's interior minister found a new way to get his online fix. He jumped on Twitter.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said his son told him that if he couldn't get on Facebook, where he has his own page which hosts pictures of dignitaries and has 691 fans, he should Tweet.
“Only a few days back I came in (as a Twitter user). I like it,” Malik told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. “There are lots of questions, are you real, are you fake?”
Malik already has more than 270 followers, according to his page (including this correspondent), far less than the “countless” ones he said he had after only a few days.
Many people writing to him question if indeed the account is real (it is) or complain that he should be governing instead of tweeting. Malik's tweets give no hint the digital hecklers bother him. He calls for unity in the face of violence in Karachi and comments on how nice it is to meet so many women parliamentarians from around Asia. He also freely engages with his followers, an unusual practice in Pakistan's stratified political culture.
“Thank you for your appreciation,” Malik wrote to one well-wisher. “I will hunt the terrorists to their demise.”
“I do not devise economic or monetary policy,” he replied to another, questioning an increase in fees and taxes.
While he declined to criticise the decision to ban Facebook and other websites, he said he hoped that a solution could be worked out soon that pleased most people. “I think we should be open-minded,” he said.
Pakistan last week blocked the popular social networking site Facebook indefinitely because of an online competition to draw Prophet Mohammad. Any representation of the Prophet Mohammad is deemed un-Islamic and blasphemous by Muslims.
YouTube and about 1,000 other sites have been blocked for the same reason.
The publications of cartoons of the prophet in Danish newspapers in 2005 sparked deadly protests in Muslim countries.
About 50 people were killed during violent protests in Muslim countries in 2006 over the cartoons, five of them in Pakistan.
Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on the Danish embassy in Islamabad in 2008, killing six people, saying it was in revenge for publication of the caricatures.
Read more...
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said his son told him that if he couldn't get on Facebook, where he has his own page which hosts pictures of dignitaries and has 691 fans, he should Tweet.
“Only a few days back I came in (as a Twitter user). I like it,” Malik told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. “There are lots of questions, are you real, are you fake?”
Malik already has more than 270 followers, according to his page (including this correspondent), far less than the “countless” ones he said he had after only a few days.
Many people writing to him question if indeed the account is real (it is) or complain that he should be governing instead of tweeting. Malik's tweets give no hint the digital hecklers bother him. He calls for unity in the face of violence in Karachi and comments on how nice it is to meet so many women parliamentarians from around Asia. He also freely engages with his followers, an unusual practice in Pakistan's stratified political culture.
“Thank you for your appreciation,” Malik wrote to one well-wisher. “I will hunt the terrorists to their demise.”
“I do not devise economic or monetary policy,” he replied to another, questioning an increase in fees and taxes.
While he declined to criticise the decision to ban Facebook and other websites, he said he hoped that a solution could be worked out soon that pleased most people. “I think we should be open-minded,” he said.
Pakistan last week blocked the popular social networking site Facebook indefinitely because of an online competition to draw Prophet Mohammad. Any representation of the Prophet Mohammad is deemed un-Islamic and blasphemous by Muslims.
YouTube and about 1,000 other sites have been blocked for the same reason.
The publications of cartoons of the prophet in Danish newspapers in 2005 sparked deadly protests in Muslim countries.
About 50 people were killed during violent protests in Muslim countries in 2006 over the cartoons, five of them in Pakistan.
Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on the Danish embassy in Islamabad in 2008, killing six people, saying it was in revenge for publication of the caricatures.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Pakistan blocks YouTube over “blasphemous” material
The blockade came hours after the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) directed Internet service providers to stop access to social network site Facebook indefinitely on Wednesday because of an online competition to draw the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
Any representation of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) is deemed un-Islamic and blasphemous by Muslims.
Wahaj-us-Siraj, the CEO of Nayatel, an Internet service provider, said PTA issued an order late on Wednesday seeking an “immediate” block of YouTube.
“It was a serious instruction as they wanted us to do it quickly and let them know after that,” he told Reuters.
YouTube was also blocked in the Muslim country in 2007 for about a day for what it called un-Islamic videos.
PTA spokesman, Khurram Ali Mehran, said the action was taken after the authority determined that content considered blasphemous by devout Muslims was being posted on the website.
“Before shutting down (YouTube), we did try just to block particular URLs or links, and access to 450 links on the Internet were stopped, but the blasphemous content kept appearing so we ordered a total shut down,” he said.
He regretted that the administrators at the Facebook and YouTube had not taken the content off despite Pakistan's protests.
“Their attitude was in contravention to international resolutions and their own policies advertised on the Web for the general public,” Mehran said.
The PTA issued a statement Thursday saying, “PTA would welcome the concerned authorities of Facebook and YouTube to contact the PTA for resolving the issue at the earliest which ensures religious harmony and respect.”
The PTA decision to block all of Facebook also cut Pakistanis off from groups and pages dedicated to opposing the competition, which have thousands more supporters than the competition does.
Along with the ban, some popular websites, including Wikipedia and Flickr, have been inaccessible in Pakistan since Wednesday night. But the spokesman said it happened purely due to a technical reason and no orders were passed against them.
He said the authority was monitoring other websites as well.
“BLACKBERRY SERVICES”
Siraj said the blocking of the two websites would cut up to a quarter of total Internet traffic in Pakistan.
“It'll have an impact on the overall Internet traffic as they eat up 20 to 25 per cent of the country's total 65 giga-bytes traffic,” he said.
After the PTA's directives against Facebook and YouTube, Pakistani mobile companies blocked all Blackberry services on Wednesday night but restored services used by non-corporate users later on Thursday.
“We have intimated to the Blackberry service administrators in Canada to block them and once it's done, the service will be restored fully,” said Farhan Butt, an official at Pakistan's biggest cellular company, Mobilink.
The closure of services worried Blackberry users.
“The biggest concern for us ... is the delay in decision making,” said Zahid Sheikh, head of information technology department at National Foods Limited in Karachi city.
“Our top officials and senior management are not always in office. They do travel and work from remote locations, and with this shut down, they can't access emails.”
Publications of similar cartoons in Danish newspapers in 2005 sparked deadly protests in Muslim countries. Around 50 people were killed during violent protests in Muslim countries in 2006 over the cartoons, five of them in Pakistan.
Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on Denmark's embassy in Islamabad in 2008, killing six people, saying it was in revenge for publication of the caricatures. Read more...
Facebook furore
There is no doubt that a Facebook member’s invitation to users on the social networking site to draw the Holy Prophet (PBUH) was in poor taste and deserving of strong condemnation. It is debatable whether freedom of expression should extend to material that is offensive to the sensibilities, traditions and beliefs of religious, ethnic or other communities.
Nevertheless, the Lahore High Court’s instructions to the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority to block Facebook constituted an example of Pakistan’s tendency for knee-jerk reactions. Soon after the judgment, users found that PTA had blocked the entire site and later resorted to shutting down other popular sites as well. If the authorities feared a violent public reaction, would it not have been enough to block just the offending section, rather than depriving millions of Internet surfers in Pakistan of the use of one of the most popular sites on the web? In fact, many users have been able to circumvent the restrictions by accessing the blocked material through proxy servers. After all, many users feel, and rightly so, that they can decide for themselves what is or is not offensive, and choose not to access material that is repugnant to their beliefs.
Meanwhile, we must ask ourselves why Pakistanis have reached a juncture where they have played right into the hands of those who think nothing of displaying or publishing material that denigrates their beliefs. By reacting the way we do we only harm ourselves and, in the process, even become a subject of derision. The irony was evident in the protests over the Danish newspaper caricatures some years ago. The fallout was arson and looting of our own assets. In the present case, while other Muslim countries, Egypt, Bangladesh and Turkey among them, have witnessed resentment against the Facebook competition the site was not blocked, nor were there reports of violence. The war on terror has divided the world, and the misuse of technology to deride beliefs and hurt feelings will not stop. Pakistanis should learn to protest peacefully, and in a manner that does not deprive other Pakistanis of their rights.
Read more...
Nevertheless, the Lahore High Court’s instructions to the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority to block Facebook constituted an example of Pakistan’s tendency for knee-jerk reactions. Soon after the judgment, users found that PTA had blocked the entire site and later resorted to shutting down other popular sites as well. If the authorities feared a violent public reaction, would it not have been enough to block just the offending section, rather than depriving millions of Internet surfers in Pakistan of the use of one of the most popular sites on the web? In fact, many users have been able to circumvent the restrictions by accessing the blocked material through proxy servers. After all, many users feel, and rightly so, that they can decide for themselves what is or is not offensive, and choose not to access material that is repugnant to their beliefs.
Meanwhile, we must ask ourselves why Pakistanis have reached a juncture where they have played right into the hands of those who think nothing of displaying or publishing material that denigrates their beliefs. By reacting the way we do we only harm ourselves and, in the process, even become a subject of derision. The irony was evident in the protests over the Danish newspaper caricatures some years ago. The fallout was arson and looting of our own assets. In the present case, while other Muslim countries, Egypt, Bangladesh and Turkey among them, have witnessed resentment against the Facebook competition the site was not blocked, nor were there reports of violence. The war on terror has divided the world, and the misuse of technology to deride beliefs and hurt feelings will not stop. Pakistanis should learn to protest peacefully, and in a manner that does not deprive other Pakistanis of their rights.
Google teams with Sony, Intel on 'smart' Web TV
SAN FRANCISCO: Google believes it has come up with the technology to unite Web surfing with channel surfing on televisions.
To reach the long-elusive goal, Google has joined forces with Sony, Intel and Logitech.
The companies were unveiling their much-anticipated plan for a ''smart'' TV on Thursday during a Google conference for about 5,000 software programmers.
The TVs are expected to go on sale in the fall. Pricing wasn't immediately announced.
Sony will make the TVs, which will rely on an Intel microprocessor. Google will provide the software, including its Android operating system and Chrome Web browser. Logitech will supply a special remote control and wireless keyboard.
Other companies have tried to turn televisions into Internet gateways with little success during the past decade. — AP
Read more...
To reach the long-elusive goal, Google has joined forces with Sony, Intel and Logitech.
The companies were unveiling their much-anticipated plan for a ''smart'' TV on Thursday during a Google conference for about 5,000 software programmers.
The TVs are expected to go on sale in the fall. Pricing wasn't immediately announced.
Sony will make the TVs, which will rely on an Intel microprocessor. Google will provide the software, including its Android operating system and Chrome Web browser. Logitech will supply a special remote control and wireless keyboard.
Other companies have tried to turn televisions into Internet gateways with little success during the past decade. — AP
Thursday, May 20, 2010
SC Magazine Names WatchGuard Vendor of The Year
WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader of business security solutions, today announced that it has been named Vendor of The Year at the 2010 Secure Computing (Australia) Awards for outstanding achievement in information technology (IT) security.
The award was announced at this week’s annual AusCERT conference on the Gold Coast and recognises the vendor which has increased customer satisfaction, improved profitability or IT security, been a leader in innovation and is seen as an influencer of industry best practice.
“The overall high and uniform levels of satisfaction among its Australian users and channel partners influenced the panel’s decision to hand WatchGuard the gong for the SC Awards Vendor of the Year. In the past year, the vendor has refitted its local channel programme to strengthen its partners against the headwinds caused by the global economic slowdown while working to integrate its Borderware acquisition into the fabric of its lineup and refining its offerings,” said Nate Cochrane, Editor-in-Chief, SC Magazine Australia. “The SC Awards panel was impressed with the depth of WatchGuard’s Australian presence in a broad range of industries and the public sector. “
The award was adjudicated by an expert panel of consultants, chief technology officers, lab directors and former law enforcement officers. These judges are hand-picked by SC Magazine’s editorial team for their breadth of knowledge and experience in the information security industry. They include Keith Price, National Director of the Australian Information Security Association; Joel Hatton, Senior Computer Security Analyst with AusCERT; Ajoy Ghosh, Chief Information Security Officer at Logica; Tim Ebringer, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft; and security industry consultants, including Phil Kernick who holds CISSP and Cisco CCSP security certifications, and Nigel Phair, Senior Fellow within the Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention.
Scott Robertson, Regional Director ANZ, WatchGuard Technologies, said, “We are both honoured and thrilled to win Vendor of the Year. This award is testament to the success of both our Australian channel partners and our employees in their combined ability to drive success for customers with our offering of high-performance security solutions that protect mission critical networks, application and data. The award validates what thousands of customers already benefit from in choosing WatchGuard - the best value, performance, capability and functionality for IT security needs.”
As the industry’s pre-eminent awards program, the annual SC Awards have recognised security’s key contributors and outstanding products for the past two years. The SC Awards honour the professionals, companies and products that help fend off the myriad of security threats confronted in today’s corporate world. Individuals, brands and solutions recognised in the program address not only the security challenges prominent today, but also the emerging threat landscape of tomorrow.
For more information about WatchGuard’s business security solutions, go to: http://www.watchguard.com/products>
About SC Magazine
SC Magazine provides IT security professional with in-depth and unbiased information through timely news, comprehensive analysis, cutting-edge features, contributions from thought-leaders and the best, most extensive collection of product reviews in the business. By offering a consolidated view of IT security through independent product tests and well-researched editorial content that provides the contextual backdrop for how these IT security tools will address larger demands put on businesses today, SC Magazine enables IT security pros to make the right security decisions for their companies.
About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.
Since 1996, WatchGuard® Technologies, Inc. has been the advanced technology leader of business security solutions, providing mission-critical protection to hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide. The WatchGuard family of wired and wireless unified threat management appliances, messaging, content security and SSL VPN remote access solutions provide extensible network, application and data protection, as well as unparalleled network visibility, management and control. WatchGuard products are backed by WatchGuard LiveSecurity® Service, an innovative support, maintenance, and education program. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle and has offices serving North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.
Read more...
The award was announced at this week’s annual AusCERT conference on the Gold Coast and recognises the vendor which has increased customer satisfaction, improved profitability or IT security, been a leader in innovation and is seen as an influencer of industry best practice.
“The overall high and uniform levels of satisfaction among its Australian users and channel partners influenced the panel’s decision to hand WatchGuard the gong for the SC Awards Vendor of the Year. In the past year, the vendor has refitted its local channel programme to strengthen its partners against the headwinds caused by the global economic slowdown while working to integrate its Borderware acquisition into the fabric of its lineup and refining its offerings,” said Nate Cochrane, Editor-in-Chief, SC Magazine Australia. “The SC Awards panel was impressed with the depth of WatchGuard’s Australian presence in a broad range of industries and the public sector. “
The award was adjudicated by an expert panel of consultants, chief technology officers, lab directors and former law enforcement officers. These judges are hand-picked by SC Magazine’s editorial team for their breadth of knowledge and experience in the information security industry. They include Keith Price, National Director of the Australian Information Security Association; Joel Hatton, Senior Computer Security Analyst with AusCERT; Ajoy Ghosh, Chief Information Security Officer at Logica; Tim Ebringer, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft; and security industry consultants, including Phil Kernick who holds CISSP and Cisco CCSP security certifications, and Nigel Phair, Senior Fellow within the Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention.
Scott Robertson, Regional Director ANZ, WatchGuard Technologies, said, “We are both honoured and thrilled to win Vendor of the Year. This award is testament to the success of both our Australian channel partners and our employees in their combined ability to drive success for customers with our offering of high-performance security solutions that protect mission critical networks, application and data. The award validates what thousands of customers already benefit from in choosing WatchGuard - the best value, performance, capability and functionality for IT security needs.”
As the industry’s pre-eminent awards program, the annual SC Awards have recognised security’s key contributors and outstanding products for the past two years. The SC Awards honour the professionals, companies and products that help fend off the myriad of security threats confronted in today’s corporate world. Individuals, brands and solutions recognised in the program address not only the security challenges prominent today, but also the emerging threat landscape of tomorrow.
For more information about WatchGuard’s business security solutions, go to: http://www.watchguard.com/products>
About SC Magazine
SC Magazine provides IT security professional with in-depth and unbiased information through timely news, comprehensive analysis, cutting-edge features, contributions from thought-leaders and the best, most extensive collection of product reviews in the business. By offering a consolidated view of IT security through independent product tests and well-researched editorial content that provides the contextual backdrop for how these IT security tools will address larger demands put on businesses today, SC Magazine enables IT security pros to make the right security decisions for their companies.
About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.
Since 1996, WatchGuard® Technologies, Inc. has been the advanced technology leader of business security solutions, providing mission-critical protection to hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide. The WatchGuard family of wired and wireless unified threat management appliances, messaging, content security and SSL VPN remote access solutions provide extensible network, application and data protection, as well as unparalleled network visibility, management and control. WatchGuard products are backed by WatchGuard LiveSecurity® Service, an innovative support, maintenance, and education program. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle and has offices serving North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
UPDATE - New attack bypasses EVERY Windows security product
Are you a Windows user? Do you make sure that your antivirus program is updated regularly? Do you feel safe? You shouldn’t! Read on to find out why …
Security researchers at Matousec.com have come up with an ingenious attack that can bypass every Windows security product tested and allow malicious code to make its way to your system.
Yes, you read that right - every Windows security product tested. And the list is both huge and sobering:
* 3D EQSecure Professional Edition 4.2
* avast! Internet Security 5.0.462
* AVG Internet Security 9.0.791
* Avira Premium Security Suite 10.0.0.536
* BitDefender Total Security 2010 13.0.20.347
* Blink Professional 4.6.1
* CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2010 6.0.0.272
* Comodo Internet Security Free 4.0.138377.779
* DefenseWall Personal Firewall 3.00
* Dr.Web Security Space Pro 6.0.0.03100
* ESET Smart Security 4.2.35.3
* F-Secure Internet Security 2010 10.00 build 246
* G DATA TotalCare 2010
* Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 9.0.0.736
* KingSoft Personal Firewall 9 Plus 2009.05.07.70
* Malware Defender 2.6.0
* McAfee Total Protection 2010 10.0.580
* Norman Security Suite PRO 8.0
* Norton Internet Security 2010 17.5.0.127
* Online Armor Premium 4.0.0.35
* Online Solutions Security Suite 1.5.14905.0
* Outpost Security Suite Pro 6.7.3.3063.452.0726
* Outpost Security Suite Pro 7.0.3330.505.1221 BETA VERSION
* Panda Internet Security 2010 15.01.00
* PC Tools Firewall Plus 6.0.0.88
* PrivateFirewall 7.0.20.37
* Security Shield 2010 13.0.16.313
* Sophos Endpoint Security and Control 9.0.5
* ThreatFire 4.7.0.17
* Trend Micro Internet Security Pro 2010 17.50.1647.0000
* Vba32 Personal 3.12.12.4
* VIPRE Antivirus Premium 4.0.3272
* VirusBuster Internet Security Suite 3.2
* Webroot Internet Security Essentials 6.1.0.145
* ZoneAlarm Extreme Security 9.1.507.000
* probably other versions of above mentioned software
* possibly many other software products that use kernel hooks to implement security features
The attack is a clever “bait-and-switch” style move. Harmless code is passed to the security software for scanning, but as soon as it’s given the green light, it’s swapped for the malicious code. The attack works even more reliably on multi-core systems because one thread doesn’t keep an eye on other threads that are running simultaneously, making the switch easier.
The attack, called KHOBE (Kernel HOok Bypassing Engine), leverages a Windows module called the System Service Descriptor Table, or SSDT, which is hooked up to the Windows kernel. Unfortunately, SSDT is utilized by antivirus software.
Note: The issue affecting SSDT have been known for some time but as yet haven’t been leveraged by attackers. However, as multi-core systems make this attack more reliable, and they are now becoming the norm, this is now a much greater threat.
Oh, and don’t think that just because you are running as a standard user that you’re safe, you’re not. This attack doesn’t need admin rights.
However, it does require a lot of code to work, so it’s far from ideal for attackers. That said, its ability to completely neuter security software is quite frightening. I assume that security vendors the world over are now scrambling to come up with a fix for this issue.
[UPDATE: Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant at Sophos, has this to say:
The dramatic headlines might make you think that this is TEOTWAWKI*, but the truth is somewhat different.
Because KHOBE is not really a way that hackers can avoid detection and get their malware installed on your computer. What Matousec describes is a way of "doing something extra" if the bad guys' malicious code manages to get past your anti-virus software in the first place.
In other words, KHOBE is only an issue if anti-virus products such as Sophos (and many others) miss the malware. And that's one of the reasons, of course, why we - and to their credit other vendors - offer a layered approach using a variety of protection technologies.
While Cluley has a point here in that AV companies will still be able to add signatures to detect any KHOBE-like package in the wild, thus labeling the whole thing as malware and preventing it from getting a foothold on a system in the first place. But this still doesn't change the fact that there's one vulnerability here that basically "rules them all."
Paul Ducklin, Sophos's Head of Technology, has this to add:
So the Khobe "attack" boils down to this: if you can write malware which already gets past Sophos's on-access virus blocker, and past Sophos's HIPS, then you may be able to use the Khobe code to bypass Sophos's HIPS - which, of course, you just bypassed anyway. Oh, and only if you are using Windows XP.
In short: Sophos's on-access anti-virus scanner doesn't uses SSDT hooks, so it's fair for us to say that this isn't a vulnerabilty for us at all. But what about other anti-virus software? Though I'm not usually an apologist for our competitors, I feel compelled to speak out in this case.
The fuss about Khobe is in my opinion unwarranted, and the claims that it "bypasses virtually all anti-virus software" is scaremongering.
While I agree with the majority of what Ducklin has to say, I take issue with two points. First, that throwaway "Oh, and only if you are using Windows XP" line belittles the fact that while Vista and 7 users are safe, some 60% of PCs still use XP, and quite a lot of these are multi-core equipped. Secondly, while Sophos's own on-access scanner might not use SSDT hooks, it's clear that a lot of products do.
F-Secure has the following on KHOBE:
This is a serious issue and Matousec's technical findings are correct. However, this attack does not "break" all antivirus systems forever. Far from it.
First of all, any malware that we detect by our antivirus will still be blocked, just like it always was.
So the issue only affects new, unknown malware that we do not have signature detection for.
To protect our customers against such unknown malware, we have several layers of sensors and generic detection engines. Matousec's discovery is able to bypass only a few of these sensors.
We believe our multi-layer approach will provide sufficient protection level even if malicious code were to attempt use of Matousec's technique.
And if we would see such an attack, we would simply add signature detection for it, stopping it in its tracks. We haven't seen any attacks using this technique in the wild. Read more...
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