I used to think "cyber war" was the most overhyped security buzzphrase of all time. And it was -- until Stuxnet and APTs (advanced persistent threats) arrived. Now, as Bob Violino detailed in his recent InfoWorld article, all-out cyber war has begun.
After desktops and phones, Ubuntu is now bringing its Linux distribution to tablets. Coming Thursday, preview images for Google's Nexus tablets will be released, so we can all get a good long look at what Canonical is cooking up. They've published a YouTube video which details all that Ubuntu has to offer for tablets, and to be honest, it's looking quite good.
Anyone who thinks the end is nigh with a giant asteroid colliding into Earth may have a new apocalypse scenario to worry about.
It all boils down to the Higgs Boson particle, aka the "God particle."
A private technology security firm on Tuesday described in extraordinary detail efforts it blamed on a Chinese military unit to hack into 141 businesses, mostly inside the U.S., and steal commercial secrets. China denies the claim. Here's a look at the company, Mandiant, and why its report is significant.
What is Mandiant?
The Windows team at Microsoft just completed the first milestone build (M1) of Windows Blue, the first full-fledged update to Windows 8, according to a couple of sources of mine.
windowsbluem1
One of my contacts said that M1 marks the half-way point in the Windows Blue development schedule. The last and final milestone build of Windows Blue will be M2, said this contact, who requested anonymity.
Whenever Google releases a new version of Android for its Nexus devices, it doesn’t roll out to everyone at once. It may take several days before your device receives the update, but you don’t have to wait.
Note that this only works if an OTA (over-the-air) update is actually available – for example, if you’ve got a Nexus 4 running Android 4.2.1 and you haven’t yet received a notification to update to Android 4.2.2. This won’t help if you’re using an Android device that isn’t receiving updates.
How did security firm Mandiant put names to two previously unknown Chinese hackers who, it says, steal American corporate secrets for the Chinese government? With a little inadvertent help from Anonymous.
This is amazing. Not only has Google just opened up the pre-order program for Google Glass to 'creative individuals', it has also unveiled what the user interface looks like and how it works. It's... Nothing short of amazing. I'm throwing money, credit cards, my car keys, my house keys, my Surface RT, my cats, everything at my screen. I want this so bad.
In response to the hacking of Burger King and Jeep's Twitter accounts this week, Twitter put up a new blog post encouraging people to protect their passwords.
Here are Twitter's tips:
BlackBerry has patched a security vulnerability that allowed hackers to run malicious code on systems running its BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) software.
The bug, rated as "high severity", is triggered by specially crafted TIFF image files that travel into BES as users visit webpages, receive emails and exchange instant message conversations.
Chinese state media stepped up the war of words on Thursday over allegations of sophisticated cyberattacks on US firms, branding the accusations a "commercial stunt" and accusing Washington of ulterior motives.
American Internet security firm Mandiant earlier this week said that a Chinese military cyberspy unit is targeting US and other foreign firms and organisations with hacking attacks.
Apple will release a malware removal tool after a number of Mac systems were infected by computer hackers who targeted Facebook last week.
Unknown hackers infected the computers of some Apple workers when they visited a website for software developers that had been infected with malicious software.
The malware had been designed to attack Mac computers, the Telegraph reports. The same software, which infected Macs by exploiting a flaw in a version of Oracle Corp's Java software used as a plug-in on Web browsers, was used to launch the attacks against Facebook.
The popular forum site that hackers used to access employee computers at Apple and Facebook gave more details today on how the cyberattack happened.
The site's owner Ian Sefferman confirmed previous reports that hackers injected JavaScript into his site, iPhonedevsdk, and were then able to use a previously unknown exploit to access certain user's computers. He also said that the cyberattack most likely ended on January 30, 2013.
The popular networks unsuccessfully tried to 'Catfish' their respective followers. We have details on how they failed miserably after the jump.
In an apparent move to gain Twitter followers, the sister networks pretended hackers took over their accounts.
Earth's first space tourist won't be outdone by a few fancy NASA rovers with their cutesy names, sky cranes and whatnot. So like the saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, make the unprecedented 500-day round-trip journey to Mars to join 'em.
That's the insanely ambitious plan that Dennis Tito, who was the first private space traveler a little less than 12 years ago will announce in more detail next week.
So the world didn't exactly get what it wanted out of Sony's PlayStation 4 debut tonight. There was no sight of the actual console itself and details about its specific release date and price were also nowhere to be seen.
Sony's team-up with Gaikai is sure to net some interesting ideas and implementations with cloud streaming, the sharing of game screens, remote play and other concoctions, but it was the games themselves that made the biggest impact.
Adobe has released the emergency update for Reader and Acrobat that it promised late last week.
The company decided to get a move on to deal with a newly-reported vulnerability that was actively being exploited, at least on Windows and the Mac.
The timeline has been pretty swift:
2012-02-12: Bug reported in a blog post by FireEye. Details scant.
2013-02-13: Adobe publishes a security bulletin, including a workaround for Windows users.
2013-02-17: (Weekend) Adobe announces patch "next week."
2013-02-20: Patch is released.
Financial services has been a favorite target for sophisticated attacks in the last few years, but cyber criminals are moving on to other "critical sectors of the economy," according to McAfee.
In the security giant's fourth quarter threats report, researchers highlighted some of the new schemes being used in this regard and other high-profile attacks, including advanced persistent threats (APTs) such as Operation High Roller and Project Blitzkrieg.
While cyberattacks and hacking seem to be constantly making headlines these days, identity fraud is also on the rise.
A new report by Javelin Strategy and Research shows that identity fraud has increased for the last three years in a row -- affecting more than 5 percent of U.S. adults. In 2012, 12.6 million people were identity victims.
Maybe it wasn’t China. Maybe it was, but suppose it wasn’t. That’s the reaction of at least one computer security consultant to yesterday’s blockbuster report from the security firm Mandiant, which accused a unit of China’s People’s Liberation Army of carrying out a series of hacking attacks against companies in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and elsewhere over a series of years.
Jeffrey Carr, CEO of Taia Global, writes today in a blog post that he thinks Mandiant’s report is full of holes.