Tag Archive
Skype to FCC: Keep the Internet Open & Neutral
Skype, a big proponent of open networks and net neutrality, in a filing today with the Federal Communications Commission argued that net neutrality was “about growing the broadband ecosystem and preserving a borderless, open Internet” and said it would “promote investment, jobs and innovation.” The company said that it “welcomes the Commission’s focus on preserving... »
Skype to FCC: Keep Internet Open & Neutral
Skype, a big proponent of open networks and net neutrality, in a filing today with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), argued that net neutrality was “about growing the broadband ecosystem and preserving a borderless, open Internet” and said it would “promote investment, jobs and innovation.” The company said that it “welcomes the Commission’s focus on... »
How Much Will It Cost Google to Exit China?
Google, earlier today made a bold decision — it stopped censoring results on Google.cn, its Chinese destination. The decision, was a direct consequence of a sophisticated attack on its infrastructure as attempts were made to penetrate Gmail accounts of human rights activists. This will most certainly get the company banned from China and it... »
How Much Will it Cost Google to Exit China?
Google, earlier today made a bold decision — it stopped censoring results on Google.cn, its Chinese destination. The decision, was a direct consequence of a sophisticated attack on its infrastructure as attempts were made to penetrate Gmail accounts of human rights activists. This will most certainly get the company banned from China and it... »
Verizon Business and Motorola Join Forces to Help Safeguard Retailers’ Wireless Networks From Hackers
NEW YORK – Retailers are increasingly using in-store local area wireless networks for a variety of key functions, including staying in close touch with sales personnel who are serving customers. But all too often, these networks are vulnerable to a variety of security threats such as attacks by hackers and the use of... »
US energy set to form new group to protect electric grid from cyberattacks
A public-private group the Energy Department is forming to better secure the nation’s electric grid from cyberattacks must be given strong regulatory and budgetary authority to drive sweeping changes to computer networks, security specialists said. In 2009, Congress said it would give the department about $172 million to consider ways to tighten the security of... »
Boy Saved from Cougar by Golden Retriever
Yet another reason why dogs are the greatest – a Canadian boy named Austin was stalked by a cougar and when the cougar charged, Austin’s golden retriever, aptly named Angel sprang into action and leapt between them. The cougar and Golden Retriever wrestled while the boy ran inside so upset he was... »
Help Us Help UCSF Heart & Vascular Center
It was two years ago that I had a heart attack, an event that changed my life. Had it not been for the timely intervention of some friends and some amazing medical professionals including my cardiologist, J. Eduardo Rame (who has since moved to U. Penn) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)... »
1999-2009: How Broadband Changed Everything
2009 has started to pack up its belongings and get ready for its journey into the history books. As such it’s time to slow down and spend more time with our respective families, and to reflect on things. I, like so many others, have been reflecting not only on the year that’s drawing to... »
Victim of success: VoIP vulnerability tripled since 2006
McAfee labs has released an alarming white paper about the state of VoIP security. According to the report, they found almost 60 vulnerabilities in VoIP products. In 2006 they found only 20 such breaches. McAfee attributed the increase in security problems to better hacker technology to find and exploit VoIP vulnerabilities, but mainly to the... »
Google execs face prison over user-generated video in Italy
The city state of Milan is prosecuting Google for defamation and breach of privacy after a video showing a down-syndrome boy being attacked by bullies was posted on the search engine’s video site. Yesterday (16 December), four Google executives were in the stands protesting their innocence under EU laws on Internet freedom. Google, alongside other... »
NZ watchdog savages Telecom after XT outage
Telecom has got its XT mobile network running again and apologised to up to 90,000 customers affected by an outage today. But a telecommunications watchdog has criticised the company for the outage and attacked its efforts to tell people about what was going on. To read this report in The New Zealand Herald in full, see: www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10615468 Also... »
India blocks millions of mobiles for security reasons
Millions of Indian mobile phones with no valid unique identification code have been blocked for security reasons. The International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number is a 15-digit code which appears on the operator’s network whenever a call is made. The absence of this number makes it impossible to trace either the caller or the phone or... »
Australian government overhauls national cyber security arrangements
Businesses on the cyber frontline will get more direct help as the federal government bolsters national defences against increasing online espionage and attacks on critical infrastructure. “Many online threats are surreptitious and insidious, and the perpetrators are more inventive in their tricks,” Attorney-General Robert McClelland said last night, unveiling a cyber-security strategy that positions e-security... »
The Googlephone: Google gears up for attack on mobile phone market
Google is gearing up for an all-out assault on the mobile-phone market that will include a new, Google-branded handset and the first comprehensive Google phone service with unlimited free calls. For the first time, a single company will control everything from the software in users’ phones to the services they use to make calls and... »
UK ISP TalkTalk attacks government scheme to levy broadband tax
TalkTalk chief executive Charles Dunstone has attacked government plans for a £6-a-year broadband tax, arguing it could force 100,000 low-income households to give up their internet connections. Executives at Carphone Warehouse’s internet service provider business will today outline concerns in evidence to a committee from Lord Mandelson’s business department. To read this report in The Guardian... »
Anti-Phishing Working Group Release Phishing Activity Trends Report: The Internet Has Never Been More Dangerous
The quarterly APWG Phishing Activity Trends Report analyzes phishing attacks reported to the APWG by its member companies, its Global Research Partners, through the organization’s website at www.antiphishing.org and by email submissions to reportphishing@antiphishing.org. APWG also measures the evolution, proliferation and propagation of crimeware drawing from the research of our member companies. In the... »
Australia ‘must prepare for cyberattack’
Internet security experts are warning governments and industry that they only have a few years to prepare for a potential cyber attack that could cripple a major piece of Australian infrastructure, reports ABC News. In July, US government websites crashed, and then a few days later, South Korean government websites suffered the same fate. North Korea... »
AT&T Continues Its Attack Against Google Voice
Jason Kincaid submits: The back-and-forth between AT&T (T), Google (GOOG), and the FCC over Google Voice’s blocking of some rural telephone numbers continues, and it’s getting even nastier. AT&T’s latest letter to the FCC attempts to undermine Google’s recent argument that it’s blocking exorbitantly expensive calls to some numbers in part because they are... »
Man attacks Sears’ employee for Annoying Telemarketing calls
Daniel Adler attacked a Sears’ employee after getting fed up with Sear’s telemarketing calls for home improvement. Daniel lured a Sears employee to his residence by scheduling an appointment. When he arrived Daniel proceeded to cut up the Sear’s employee’s ID card and then punched him in the face. According to Mid-Hudson News, “Adler... »
US Telecoms Win Dismissal of Wiretap Suits
A federal judge on Wednesday threw out more than three dozen lawsuits claiming that the nation’s major telecommunications companies had illegally assisted in the wiretapping without warrants program approved by President George W. Bush after the 2001 terrorist attacks. Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker of Federal District Court in Northern California said that although consumer... »
Fury at BT as Barrault gets £1.6m golden handshake
BT executives will not receive bonuses this year for financial performance after missing all its targets, but the group revealed that the executive who oversaw the division that pulled the business into a full-year loss received a £1.6m pay-off after he quit. The UK telecommunications giant yesterday published its annual report for the year until... »
Is Facebook the New Spam Heaven?
Almost every few hours for a week I’ve been getting messages from my Facebook acquaintances with links to some phishing sites. These are not even very sophisticated messages — instead, they’re random links to utterly evil sites such as atreps.at, greenbuddy.be and nudz.ru. There have been reports of these phishers using TinyURL Web address... »
U.S. Cyber Infrastructure Vulnerable to Attacks
The government is struggling to keep pace with the growing number of attacks on its computer networks, potentially leaving key military and civilian systems vulnerable to overseas hackers, senior U.S. officials said Tuesday, reports The Wall Street Journal. At several hearings on Capitol Hill, officials from each branch of the armed forces said the nation’s... »
Alcatel-Lucent unveils secure VoIP system
Alcatel-Lucent announced Tuesday a secure VoIP solution for medium and large firms that has no known vulnerabilities, according to the company. The system uses Alca-Lu’s VPN Firewall Brick, which was designed by Bell Labs to preserve quality of service while defending against attacks. “We are seeing more and more vulnerabilities posted against VoIP, and there... »
EC’s Reding urges preventive action against cyberattacks
Europe needs a “Mister cyber security” to take control in the event of an attack on Internet infrastructure, Europe’s telecommunications commissioner, Viviane Reding said Monday. She also accused European Union member states of being “negligent” for failing to take adequate precautions against the sort of attacks seen in Estonia, Lithuania and Georgia in recent years. To... »
Botnets + VoIP services = trouble?
Researchers at Secure Science have discovered methods to make unauthorized calls from both Skype and the Google Voice services. Add botnets for massive dialing and let the fun (not) begin. Google says it has patched the hole; Skype isn’t commenting. Secure Science was able to leverage an online service called SpoofCard to display a different... »
In India, WebMail Has To Come From Local Servers
Google, if it wants to offer its Gmail service to Indian nationals, will soon have to set up servers locally in India and offer email addresses ending in dot-in (.in). Same holds true for Microsoft’s HotMail, Yahoo Mail, Rediff and every other web service that wants to do business in India. These changes are... »
Telstra likely beneficiary of Aust Govt broadband decision; more media coverage
A new government-created company will build and operate the National Broadband Network, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced today, reports The Australian. Mr Rudd described the announcement as “historic”, describing broadband as the core of 21st century infrastructure. He said the network was the biggest infrastructure project in Australia since the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. To... »
US senators introduce bill to curb mobile spam
Two Senators are attempting to curb unsolicited text messages with a bill to strengthen government oversight of commercial texts. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) on Thursday introduced the m-SPAM Act, which would strictly prohibit commercial text messages to wireless numbers listed on the Do Not Call registry. The bill would also give... »