The idea that the internet is going to break sends a chill down the spine of many, and as the internet expanded, many of the basic hardware and software have fallen behind due to the rapid growth in terms of users that used to be measured in months or years to days. The millions of users of the internet have been falling prey to many of the flaws that have been left behind as the system grew in complexity and size that many experts wonder how the system survives to this day. The many flaws in the hardware design along with software flaws that are threatening to give hackers control of the web are so dangerous that many hardware developers along with those who make software to work on them are working hurriedly to come up with a patch that could address this weakness in how the internet handles web addresses through the myriad of interconnected networks that makes up the web.
The problems have been so grave that many experts believe it would only be time (actually a couple of years) before the internet is maxed out in terms of both hardware and software processing capacity. This should it occur could spell disaster to a lot of individuals and businesses who for sometime have been moving to go online for their work related functions. The mobile workforce would be rendered useless and without means to communicate to and from offices leaving them in the dark if nothing was to be done to remedy these current issues. Some even suggest that a total re-write and re-working of the internet is already in order for the internet is nothing compared to the model which it started out as a warning system for the US military during the Cold War.
All the fuss may simply be the belief of some or it may indeed be founded on reality and analysis of current information that is available regarding the overall health of the internet. Conspiracy theories abound regarding the goals of such a re-make of the web but it is agreed by all that it must be a concerted effort by everybody for no one body or country can shoulder the costs of such a move. Billions of dollars would be required to re-write the code (programs) that makes the internet work along with billions more to replace the antiquated hardware that was high tech a few years back also overwhelmed and failing due to the immense strain of daily internet use.
Tags: Failure, Internet Failure, Internet Flaws, Internet's Health
Categories: General
It seems that the shrug Yahoo gave Microsoft a couple of weeks ago seemed as if it were only yesterday and yet, here they are again. They are again making public a willingness to talk to the internet search company as the big “M” is yet to acquire a business that would rival the amount of ad profits as Google’s. The decision to shrug off the bid by Microsoft irked many of Yahoo’s investors that the search company had to pay attention.
What the hell does Microsoft from Yahoo, something to fight Google’s advertising profits through Adsense and AdWords that is driving them crazy enough to engage in another round of talks (even if it means doing it under the tables). This is one avenue that Microsoft has not ventured into and their seeing the profits Google earns from advertising alone is reason enough. Having Google place ads for companies on your sites gets them premium and cheap ad time and space without the company having to shell out many of their hard-earned cash and in this day of recession, everybody wants the easiest way to earn money.
Icahn who has control of around 5% of Yahoo wishes to kick-out Yang (one of the search company’s founders) and is engaging Microsoft in secret talks this week to get the details right and laid out. Upon hearing the news, the company releases the answer that states:
“If Microsoft and Mr Ballmer really want to purchase Yahoo, we again invite them to make a proposal immediately,” Yahoo said in a statement.(BBC)
Microsoft on the other hand is getting competition from Google who has also expressed interest in getting into bed with Yahoo (which might be the reason why Microsoft’s snortin’ like mad back at the table) but is raising concern with US lawmakers who are monitoring their talks due to a successful partnership that would result in over 80% control of the US’s internet search ad market.
Tags: Google and Yahoo, Internet Search Market, Microsoft, Microsoft Takeover, Yahoo
Categories: General, News, Operating Systems, Real-World Issues
The problem with spam and phishing has become so much of a problem that Google, has resorted to using Yahoo’s patented DomainKeys technology to protect their email users through Gmail with the security system. DomainKeys was patented and developed by Yahoo but was released under a dual license under the GNU General Public License which allowed the software technology to become a widely accepted internet standard. It uses encryption technology to verify that the domain from which mail comes from is in fact the true source of the sent mail blocking re-directed spam and other malware from taking flight. These types of technology have been vital in the protection of consumers who do online shopping, many of whom fall victim to fake and phishing scams resulting in financial losses.
Internet companies themselves get victimized in terms of the resources they have to allocate to resolve such incidents that start from eBay transactions gone bad that hackers use as phishing tools. Once these people get their hands on the account information of legit users, they go on expensive shopping sprees that costs the e-commerce industry a lot of lost revenue. It also causes a lot of misinformation on the security and reliability of online stores (some are truly legit but most are well…..). Hopefully more and more fake PayPal and eBay scams would be denied giving people more time to develop better protection systems. There are a lot of tips on the internet about online safety with regards to these email and other scams so you’d better brush up and stay informed of the latest news if you love online shopping and haggling over eBay. Safe online Shopping everyone!!
Tags: eBay, eCommerce, Gmail, Online Safety, Online Shopping, phishing
Categories: General, Network Security, News, Physical Security, Privacy & Anonymity, Real-World Issues, Security Policies
The admittance by an executive from within the industry was sure to happen and doing so may have given more importance on how you implement online security at home and in the office for knowing you are never always protected is the norm of the internet. There is no one software or provider that can promise total protection whatever the case and you are always infected with one form or the other how ever expensive the anti-virus software you have installed on your computer system. The industry is also in a dilemma of how best to present information on the ones that got away and caused mayhem before they caught it and issued a cure. You only hear of the ones they get and not the other way round, why, it’s bad for business. Getting your clients to know that they are not the total solution might get them thinking that if that’s the case, why spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year for something that may be effective? There are even instances that these programs that are designed to protect us from viruses and malware being infected and doing the dirty work themselves.
All the hype about technology and new software development tools also mean nothing for the very people who does the programming for these anti-virus programs also have the ability to use it for no good. The reality of using the net is to accept the fact that every click may be your last and that is the gauntlet you walk each and every day as you surf, download and do whatever you wish over the internet. True that it has allowed us more freedom and information but it also opened up the world to these scoundrels who are up to no good.
Tags: anti-virus, anti-virus-software, hackers, Malware, Software development
Categories: General, IT Security Basics, Malware, Network Security, Privacy & Anonymity, Programming, Real-World Issues, Security Policies, Spyware
The Anti-Virus industry has been rendered ineffective for quite sometime and this came into attention only with one industry expert speaking out of the crowd to say so “AS IS”. We have all been under the impression that the security of our PC’s, Laptops and other computers has been quite effective and robust with online active updates that allows them to deal with evolving threats. The problem is as the discussion states, how do you deal with today’s millions upon millions of viruses and other forms of threats without super-computing status? You can’t, that is the reality we have to face that there is no one solution to the problem and that it is going to stay that way.
Anti-virus software engineers do their jobs round the clock to prevent these malware form doing the most harm on the millions if not billions of computers around the world that connects to the internet daily. As one sector of the globe goes to sleep, another wakes up to a new day of infections and threats that is exaggerated more by the constant online status of some pc’s meaning they are always connected whatever time of day it is. Imagine scanning through a database that can give you the ability to determine a virus among the millions of known types, variants and mutations (even with a super-computer it takes time) every time you download a file or click on an internet link, that would be unfathomable. The best these guys can do and hope for is that they (the many anti-virus vendors) get to the problem early on when the virus or malware is still propagating when they can still reverse engineer it, then issue the proper identifiers along with the removal instructions that they send out to their respective clients hoping they are still not infected and spreading the virus themselves.
If they already are infected, it takes more time to formulate an approach on how to remove the problem form the computer system leaving it untouched and without the threat. This is almost next to impossible for any seasoned PC user knows that anything that is installed stays installed (even fragments of files and other programs) long after the known un-install procedure has been done. The only sure way to clear an infected system would be to re-format the hard drive and then re-install the whole myriad of software and drivers that came out with the PC (most of them are lost during the years necessitating an online search from manufacturer sites and other help sites which may also be infected), losing them is suicide for a PC without proper drivers is like a car without brakes that constantly breaks down and has to try to get itself to run to a level of its former self.
Tags: anti-virus, Malware, Software development, viruses
Categories: General, IT Security Basics, Malware, Network Security, News, Operating Systems, Privacy & Anonymity, Real-World Issues, Security Policies, Spyware, Tips
He has ruled the computer industry for a long time with the introduction of Windows through Microsoft and has left his mark on the lives of most if not all those who have used their software, Bill Gates has finally stepped out (for real this time) of the Microsoft management for good. Even as the news was still warm and getting out into the wild, another attack on the software giant has been detected and reported by the security provider WebSense about a fake OS patch that is aimed to address some vulnerabilities in Microsoft software. The supposed patch redirects users to a malicious web page that installs malware on the unsuspecting user.
“It’s a deception attack, where it is made to look like a Microsoft update and the user has to take action, rather than an exploit where the user gets infected without saying yes to the download,” Hubbard said. (Hubbard is a Chief Technology Officer at Websense)
Most seasoned users of Microsoft products, know that the company does not send notification of software patches through email (which is done by their AutoUpdate system that automatically does all the work for you…. well, even without you for some updates are unstoppable if you have your system on automatic mode). Any unsuspecting user that clicks on the “Yes” button to get the said update gets a backdoor program installed instead without any warnings. The wide open door can then be used by hackers to obtain information about the user or even take over the victim computer as another minion in the never ending battle between malware and security experts. The hackers managed to go around spam filtering systems by using a redirection path that aims the browser to the web site of the US Secret Service which is a sure sign of more devious acts to come.
The complexity and knowledge of hackers on how to circumvent security is very much a threat to all internet users and still remains a real threat for all of us who use the internet each day.
Source : SC Magazine
Tags: Backdoor, Malware, Redirected Sites
Categories: General, IT Security Basics, Malware, Network Security, News, Operating Systems, Privacy & Anonymity, Real-World Issues, Security Policies, Tips
Came across the incident on InfoWorld and it seems quite interesting for it involves spam messages on your mobile. That might seem a long way from the world of IT but as more and more of us turn to the mobile workforce that may present a big problem that can rival spam in your email inbox. The incident has a user from a certain location who moves to a different location that didn’t have the best of service availability when it came to his mobile carrier. He was contacted by AT&T and was informed that due to some technical constraints that cannot guarantee their full range of services. So in the end he was forced to sign up with an alternate mobile provider (Sprint) from which he began receiving marketing mail and text messages that were on the same level as phishing scams out for your personal information.
Unsolicited marketing is banned (which led to the downfall of most off-site call centers) in the US and almost anywhere else if I got it right, so why does a leading provider allow such things to happen? Well, the marketing industry for one is one of the most aggressive when it comes to the utilization of new technologies to further their reach and mobile phones being almost part of everyday life (except for some far reaches of the Amazon or Africa) it is a ripe and well established area to focus on for marketing drives.
Communications is the key and mobile workforces being very dependent on it makes them prime targets as prey for such marketing drives. The poor fellow isn’t alone for millions of us do get unsolicited voice mail or text messages from time to time (some more than others) and there should be something done to correct such menacing and disrupting activities.
Source : InfoWorld
Tags: Marketing, New Arena, spam, Spam Menace
Categories: General, IM, IT Security Basics, Instant Messaging, Malware, Privacy & Anonymity, Real-World Issues
In a new twist in the online world we know as the internet, hackers have begun to target websites themselves in what seems to be the newest round for the battle over the control of the internet. There is no single owner of the internet as we all know it but there needs to be some form of regulating body or organization that must keep order to make sense of all the information out on the net. Turkish hackers have targeted two sites who just happened to be the ones responsible for keeping order on the net. Both the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) have been hijacked by hackers, redirecting users to other sites whilst downloading a nasty payload of malware in their wake. The deregulation of the internet naming conventions and other technical restrictions is set to go into full swing this coming 2009.
Incidentally, these two internet governing bodies have agreed to announce that they are going to announce a relaxation of rules and regulations that governs the naming and apportioning of resources of the internet making it more user friendly in terms of naming conventions. The country designators might remain but you might be surprised to get web sites named; BankofAmerica.bank instead of BankofAmerica.com.
The hackers have been contacted and they have admitted ownership of the acts but they have kept their hijacking methods out of sight, true to the hacker tradition. This incident raises the risks of the upcoming unleashing of the naming convention methods about the validity of the web sites and the true aim of their owners. The hackers goal was to again reiterate that there is no one owner of the internet and that they (hackers) can do whatever they wish with it and with the knowledge they possess that is a very likely scenario.
Source : CRN News
Tags: hacking, Hacking Stunt, IANA, ICANN, Redircted Web Sites
Categories: General, IT Security Basics, Network Security, News, Real-World Issues
Citibank an arm of Citi Corp, has suffered a data breach in the form of 7-11 Store installed ATM machines which were broken into by hackers who got away with millions according to the report on Yahoo News. The three hackers have been found, arrested and are currently under custody as the case is further studied and discussed in the courtroom.
The problem happened when these hackers got through third-party computers who handled debit card account transactions taking all the information they needed that was enough for them to engage in online transactions without the need for physical contact with any ATM machine.
The problem is another case of lax data security which in terms of ATM pins are said to be the most secure of all bank information systems for the potential is horrendous in terms of loss.
“PINs were supposed be sacrosanct — what this shows is that PINs aren’t always encrypted like they’re supposed to be,” said Avivah Litan, a security analyst with the Gartner research firm. “The banks need much better fraud detection systems and much better authentication.”
This shows that even with the repetitive problems and incidents of identity theft not everybody is listening and taking action to protect their information, as in the case of Citi Corp., their third party providers should have had ample measures such as encryption, and redundant security measures to prevent such incidents from even happening. Citi Corp., being one of the biggest multi-national banks with accounts all over the world should have check and balance systems that ensures customer information is safeguarded from such intrusions which in this case is going to cost them millions of dollars. The company has relied so heavily on systems based on Microsoft Software technology which has received continuous attacks and this is just another addition to the types of attacks they suffer from hackers.
Tags: ATM's Hacked, ATM-Fraud, Citi Corp., Citibank
Categories: Backups, Cryptography, General, IT Security Basics, Network Security, News, Physical Security, Real-World Issues, Security Policies
If you happen to be a small or medium scale company that cannot afford multiple data stores and infinite numbers of mirrored hard drives, that becomes a problem. An encrypted hard disk in a laptop that gets banged up damaging the hard disk may still have some of the information intact enough for recovery but damage some of the vital keys and software and you are left hanging by a thread or down in the gutters. Data recovery is possible but only through expensive methods with the hard disks being opened up, the platters extracted and installed into another similar hard disk for data extraction. Only the military and federal government would have enough cash to burn in terms of data recovery at that level for the price is computed in the amount of megabytes recovered and on a per hard disk basis, and imagine a 1 terabyte drive at say $50/MB then you’d be scratching your head by now, and that’s just for a single drive.
The risks of identity theft and information leakage is real but the technology is still quite prone to failure even with today’s quad-core which is why we didn’t discuss the performance issue in the discussion. Today’s multi-core processors are capable of handling complex tasks such as real time encryption and decryption as if there was nothing happening on the background. The performance issue has been addressed by more powerful microprocessors but the reliability of the hard disks which stores the information and even the CD’s are still quite weak. Till there is more definite proof that all parts of the computer has reached such a reliable level that failure is a less of a factor more people would still retain their own proprietary security measures (birthday passwords, flash thumb drives that always get lost and physically carrying their discs with them).
Tags: encryption, Security Policies
Categories: Backups, Cryptography, General, IT Security Basics, Malware, Network Security, Operating Systems, Physical Security, Real-World Issues, Storage, Wireless Security
