Government Posts Info to Net |
01/28/2010
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The
Obama administration on Friday is posting to the Internet a wealth of
government data from all Cabinet-level departments, on topics ranging
from child car seats to Medicare services.
The mountain of newly available information comes a year and a day
after President Barack Obama promised on his first full day on the job
an open, transparent government.
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China Does Not Want to Learn from US |
01/27/2010
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China
needs no lessons about its Internet from the United States, the head of
an online media association said through official media on Saturday
after the United States rapped Beijing over information freedom.
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Increased Security Risks |
01/27/2010
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Consumers
are growing increasingly comfortable storing sensitive information on
their computers, USB flash drives, and external hard drives, as well as
using Web-based solutions to automate regular tasks such as shopping
for holiday gifts, paying bills, and tracking financial portfolios. The
push from vendors encouraging their customers to move toward e-billing
has also played a major role in more personal information being stored
locally on personal computers.
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A
survey of more than 5,000 active Internet users across 10 cities in
India suggests that users are becoming increasingly concerned about
online security.
Ninety one percent of the respondent Internet users have experienced
some case of cyber fraud, such as phishing, key logging, identity theft
and account takeover. Despite the exposure to cyber fraud, a majority
of respondents were unaware of ways to combat it.
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Google Vs China |
01/25/2010
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In
the beginning, there was one Internet, born from American research and
embraced by academics around the world. It was in English and
homogeneous, operating according to Western standards of openness.
It's no surprise that China polices sites like Google.cn, but now nations like France are also cracking down on Internet users.
Can Google Beat China? It is just a matter of time before technologists find a way to defeat censorship?
As the Internet grew, it became fragmented and linguistically
diversified. It developed borders, across which it now works in
different ways.
In Spain, for instance, you can share music and movies with virtual
impunity; in France, doing that is likely to cost you your Internet
connection.
In China, meanwhile, it may soon be nearly impossible to use Google.
The company, saying the security of its e-mail had been breached in a
campaign to spy on Chinese dissidents, announced last week that it
would stop censoring Google.cn, its Chinese Web site, and might have to
withdraw from China.
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Zero Day Exploit |
01/24/2010
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BitDefender,
provider of innovative anti-malware security solutions, has discovered
separate, critical zero-day exploits in two of the most heavily used
applications in the world: Microsofts Internet Explorer and Adobe
Reader.
According to preliminary reports, the Internet Explorer vulnerability
has already been used in targeted attacks against 34 major corporations
including Google and Adobe.
At the moment, Microsoft has released an advisory, but there is no
patch available for this vulnerability. BitDefender has pushed an
emergency update to users of its security products that intercepts and
blocks the malicious code before it adversely impacts on the target
system.
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Malaysia Against Social Sites |
01/23/2010
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The
Malaysian government has warned against excessive use of micro-blogging
sites like Facebook and Twitter, arguing that they could erode the
countrys culture, a report said Sunday.
Rais Yatim, the information and communication minister, said Muslims
and other religious groups must be wary of the Internet as it was
introduced by the West.
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Illegal Wild Life Trade |
01/22/2010
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Illegal
wildlife traders are turning to the Internet to reach a wider customer
base, circumvent laws and evade authorities, an animal rights activist
told a conference on Sunday.
Items such as rhinoceros horns, leopard pelts and even live tiger cubs
are being hawked openly in online advertisements on public websites,
said Grace Ge, Asian regional director of the International Fund for
Animal Welfare.
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Terrorist Trials |
01/21/2010
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Federal
prosecutors charged more suspects with terrorism in 2009 than in any
year since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, providing evidence of what
experts call a rise in plots spurred by Internet recruitment, the
spread of al-Qaida overseas and ever-shifting tactics of terror chiefs.
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German Government Says Stop Using IE |
01/20/2010
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Germany:
The Federal Office for Information Security has warned users to stop
using all versions Microsoft Internet Explorer after details of the
vulnerability used to attack Google in China appeared online.
Microsoft has voiced its disagreement, saying that changing the
security zone to high minimises risk. The German government says that
it is not enough to make the browser safe. Running IE in high security
mode makes many web sites unusable.
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Google Security for GMail |
01/19/2010
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Google
has upgraded Gmail’s security by encrypting all email traffic from
the service using Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. HTTPS is used by
online banking and shopping site to protect data from interception.
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Ukranian Voters Selling Votes |
01/18/2010
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For sale: my vote in Ukraine's election. From 300 to 500 hryvnias $US37-$US63. Can gather others who want to sell.
Several offers have appeared on the internet from disenchanted citizens
in the ex-Soviet republic who say they are ready to sell their votes in
the January 17 election for president.
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Another Chinese Crackdown |
01/17/2010
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Chinas
recent moves to tighten control of its online and mobile content
industries have brought some uncertainty into the market but may not
have a major immediate impact on the sectors biggest players.
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Colorado Launches Internet Safety Campaign |
01/16/2010
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Colorado
Attorney General John Suthers has joined Democratic Rep. Nancy Todd,
the Entertainment Software Association and Web Wise Kids to unveil an
Internet safety program to help parents keep their children safe online.
Suthers said Monday that children are naive about dangers on the
Internet and some parents are clueless about ways to protect them.
Sponsors say the program, called Wired With Wisdom, addresses the
dangers associated with social networking, e-mail, cell phones, chat
rooms, instant messaging and other technology so adults can educate
young people about safe and responsible online practices.
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Security Solutions for Mac |
01/15/2010
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Symantec,
the world leader in Internet security, today announced Norton Internet
Security 3.0 for Macintosh, the most complete Internet security
solution for the Macintosh platform, and Norton SystemWorks 3.0 for
Macintosh, the worlds first complete antivirus and problem solving
solution optimised for Mac OS X.
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GSM Not Interested in Security |
01/14/2010
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The
cracking of GSM encryption by 28-year-old German security expert
Karsten Nohl has sent shock waves through the wireless industry. But
the crack should come as no surprise to an industry that has long given
short shrift to security, an analyst says.
Nohl -- working with others around the Internet -- has created a
guidebook for cracking the Global System for Mobile communication's
64-bit A5-1 algorithm, which was adopted in 1988.
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Three Quarters of the US Use the Internet |
01/13/2010
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Nearly
three-quarters of American adults use the Internet, more than half
connect wirelessly via laptop or handheld, and 60 percent use broadband
connections at home, according to a survey released Tuesday.
The Pew Research Center survey also found that Internet users in the
U.S. tend to be young, white, and educated, with an equal distribution
between men and women.
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The Internet in 2020 |
01/12/2010
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As
they imagine the Internet of 2020, computer scientists across the
country are starting from scratch and re-thinking everything: from IP
addresses to DNS to routing tables to Internet security in general.
They are envisioning how the Internet might work without some of the
most fundamental features of todays ISP and enterprise networks.
Their goal is audacious: To create an Internet without so many security
breaches, with better trust and built-in identity management.
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Security Software Slow Down |
01/11/2010
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One
security software program caused its computer to boot up almost 10
seconds more slowly than normal, while another led to a delay of almost
81 seconds during the downloading of a 190-megabyte file. Two solutions
proved to be especially nasty speed bumps, with one slowing down work
on Office documents by a hefty 59 percent.
Each of the top Internet security packages slows down computers
significantly at some point. That's the conclusion of a recent
comparative test of seven solutions conducted by Germanys Computerbild
magazine.
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Unionizing TSA |
01/10/2010
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Current
law gives the TSA Administrator discretion over whether to collectively
bargain with airport security screeners. The TSA has determined that
collective bargaining would endanger the safety of Americas air
passengers. TSA screeners may belong to a union, and the TSA withholds
union dues for screeners who request it. But the union may not
collectively negotiate how TSA screeners perform their jobs. However,
Southers may change this policy – to the detriment of the American
people.
The TSA has avoided collective bargaining for good reason: the
bureaucracy and delays of collective bargaining hurt the agencys
ability to defend Americans.
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What is Hot for 2010 |
01/08/2010
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Top 10 Winners Predicted for 2010
1. Healthy Living
2. The Cloud
3. Savings
4. Simplicity in Design
5. Web Applications
6. Instant and Virtual
7. Portability
8. Energy
9. Green Shopping
10. Security
Top 10 Losers Predicted for 2010
1. Capitalism
2. Health Care
3. Credit Card Companies
4. The Left
5. Acorn
6. Big Government
7. Privacy
8. Super Star Atheletes
9. Facebook
10. Reality...
What is Hot for 2010
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2009 Reflections, 2010 Predictions |
01/07/2010
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Another
year has rolled by marked by miracles, political milestones and
tragedies alike. 2009 was the year of financial uproar with bailouts
and ponzi schemes dominating the news on a regular basis. Chrysler and
GM stalwart car giants struggled to survive. Bernie Madoffs financial
pyramid came tumbling down, taking average citizen's retirement plans
with it, emptying the coffers of trusting non-profits and celebrities
alike.
complete article
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Top 10 Security Concerns for the Last Decade |
01/06/2010
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Blame
the Internet for the latest decade of security lessons. Without it, you
probably wouldn't even recognize the terms phishing, cybercrime, data
breach, or botnet. Lets revisit the top security horrors of the past
ten years, and try to remember what we learned from each.
complete article
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The
cracking of GSM encryption by 28-year-old German security expert
Karsten Nohl has sent shock waves through the wireless industry. But
the crack should come as no surprise to an industry that has long given
short shrift to security, an analyst says.
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Prisoner Access to Mobiles is Security Issue |
01/04/2010
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Mobile
phones smuggled into British prisons could be used by Islamist
militants to spread their extremist ideology and threaten national
security, Conservatives claimed today.
Tory security spokeswoman Baroness Neville-Jones quoted official
Justice Ministry figures which show that more mobile phones and SIM
cards than ever are being secretly brought into jails, despite a ban on
their use.
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China arrests thousands in Web porn crackdown |
01/03/2010
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China
says it arrested thousands of people over the course of 2009 in a
crackdown on Web pornography and says it will continue the push in the
new year, according to a report.
The Chinese government announced late this week that the sweeping
effort resulted in 5,394 arrests and 4,186 criminal investigations, a
fourfold increase over the year prior, Reuters reports. And those
numbers could rise still higher. Reuters says Chinas Ministry of Public
Security warned that in 2010 it will intensify punishments for illegal
Internet operations, ramp up information monitoring, and press Internet
service providers to use preventive technology.
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Security in 2010 |
12/30/2009
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As
usual, we can expect the Internet to be rife with potential cyber
crimes and annoyances next year - more spam, more fake antivirus
software and more computers hijacked by criminals.
But 2010 will also see more attacks moving to smartphones, now that the
devices are being used more like mobile computers, predict security
experts.
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The
third computer hacker attack this year on the popular Internet site
Twitter shows the weakness of the companys security systems, U.S.
experts say.
Twitter officials say no user information appears to have been stolen
in Fridays attack, in which a hacker obtained the password to enter the
popular sites master directory of Internet addresses. But experts told
The New York Times the incident illustrates continuing problems.
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Iranian Tensions |
12/28/2009
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Political
conflict and public piety converged on tension-filled streets in
Tehran, Iran, on Saturday. Clashes erupted between riot police and
opposition protesters as hundreds of people solemnly took part in an
annual Shiite Muslim observance.
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Pope Protection Difficult |
12/28/2009
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It
is impossible to ensure 100% security for the pope without erecting a
barrier between him and believers, the Vatican spokesman said after an
attack at Benedict XVI on Thursday night.
A woman jumped a barrier and rushed at Pope Benedict XVI during the
Christmas Eve Mass, for the second time in two years, managing to knock
him down.
Benedict, 82, was not hurt and continued the procession to the altar at
St. Peter's Basilica. On Friday, he delivered traditional Christmas
greetings and urged people worldwide to abandon violence and coexist
peacefully.
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Heightened Security |
12/27/2009
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U.S.
and European airports were tightening security Saturday following an
attempt Friday by a suspected terrorist, who allegedly claimed Qaeda
ties, to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane as it approached a landing
in Detroit, according to media reports.
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