An agreement between MySpace and most U.S. state attorneys general will significantly increase the safety of minors on the popular social network and boost the ability of police to catch and prosecute sexual predators who use the Web, said MySpace and several participating attorneys general Monday.
MySpace and attorneys general from 49 U.S. states and the District of Columbia announced on Monday a set of principles for social-networking safety that they hope will be broadly adopted by companies that operate these sites.
The announcement comes at a time when MySpace and social-networking sites in general are being closely monitored and sometimes sharply criticized by law enforcement agencies worldwide, which charge they aren't doing enough to protect minors on their sites.
Called the Joint Statement on Key Principles of Social Networking Sites Safety, the document states among its goals the development of a truly effective tool that social-networking sites can use to verify the age of members and potential members.
As part of the agreement, MySpace also pledged to develop a registry to which parents can submit their children's e-mail addresses to have them barred from social-networking sites.
MySpace will also make profiles of members under 18 years of age private by default and make it harder for adults to contact children via the site. The minimum age to have a MySpace profile is 14 years old.
In conjunction with the participating state attorneys general, MySpace has also committed to organizing an industry-wide Internet Safety Technical Task Force.
MySpace will also improve its tools and methods to identify and delete inappropriate images, obtain and constantly update a list of pornographic Web sites and break links between them and its site.
The joint statement is the result of about two years of ongoing discussions between the attorneys general and MySpace, said North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal during a news conference.
Calling the agreement "remarkable" and vowing that it will set "a new standard" for protecting minors online, Cooper said it's crucial for other social-networking sites like Facebook to support this effort.
"I urge other social-networking sites to follow this lead to participate in the task force and adopt the safety principles in this agreement," Cooper said.
Blumenthal predicted that the task force will begin generating concrete results in months, not years, and stressed that the attorneys general believe that it's key for the safety of minors to have effective age-verification tools and methods.
This way, children who aren't old enough to join a social network will be prevented from doing so, and teens under 18 years of age will get special protection, he said.
The attorneys general participating in the call, which also included those from Ohio and Pennsylvania, agreed that parents must also get involved in this effort.
MySpace was happy to engage in these discussions with the attorneys general, said MySpace Chief Security Officer Hemanshu Nigam, adding that he hopes others in the industry will join the effort.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
iPhone briefly becomes number-one Google user
Google released an update to its offerings for the iPhone, hoping to continue a trend that recently saw the iPhone briefly become the number-one mobile phone hitting Google sites.
Despite its small share of the overall mobile phone market, the iPhone spiked to number one on Dec. 25 among phones using Google's services, beating out mobile makers that have been selling smartphones for many years.
Google revealed a chart showing that around the middle of November, iPhone users began to surpass BlackBerry customers in accessing Google, though they were still behind Symbian and Windows Mobile users. But on Dec. 25, iPhone users shot above them all, then quickly settled into the second-largest Google user base.
By the end of September, the last quarter in which Apple reported numbers, Apple had sold more than 1.3 million iPhones. By comparison, Nokia has sold 50 million of its N series line of phones, said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis. At the end of December, there were 12 million subscribers using BlackBerry devices.
"One thing this does is shows that Apple has done a remarkable job of publicizing some of these capabilities, even if they're not the first to bring the capability to market," Greengart said. Some of Google's mobile services, like Google Maps, were already available on mobile phones before the iPhone hit the market. Yet, clearly, iPhone customers are using the services more frequently. "Either because of the design or PR or brand, or in all possibility because of the implementation ... Apple has popularized the notion that you can do more on the phone than you might have tried to do previously," he said.
iPhone customers will indeed be able to do more using Google services, with the updated offerings unveiled Monday.
iPhone users can now customize Google services through the menu bar and iGoogle home page. When iPhone users visit Google.com, they can choose Google applications to appear as links in a menu bar that runs across the top of the page. Signing in once, users can then access a variety of Google services, including Gmail, Calendar, Reader, Docs and Picasa.
In addition, iPhone users can also visit their customized iGoogle page from their phones. iGoogle is a page that users can arrange to include widgets of their choosing, including news, weather, games and recent Gmail mails.
Other changes to Google's iPhone service include an updated user interface and a monthly view on the calendar. In addition, users won't have to hit refresh to see new e-mails in Gmail because Gmail will automatically show new messages.
The new Google services for the iPhone keep pace with some new services that Yahoo introduced just last week. Yahoo began letting mobile users, including iPhone customers, choose widgets to arrange on their mobile Yahoo home pages. On its mobile Web site, Yahoo claims to offer the only e-mail service that pushes new messages to the iPhone as soon as they come in.
The new mobile services from Yahoo and Google demonstrate the eagerness both companies have to win over mobile users.
Despite its small share of the overall mobile phone market, the iPhone spiked to number one on Dec. 25 among phones using Google's services, beating out mobile makers that have been selling smartphones for many years.
Google revealed a chart showing that around the middle of November, iPhone users began to surpass BlackBerry customers in accessing Google, though they were still behind Symbian and Windows Mobile users. But on Dec. 25, iPhone users shot above them all, then quickly settled into the second-largest Google user base.
By the end of September, the last quarter in which Apple reported numbers, Apple had sold more than 1.3 million iPhones. By comparison, Nokia has sold 50 million of its N series line of phones, said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis. At the end of December, there were 12 million subscribers using BlackBerry devices.
"One thing this does is shows that Apple has done a remarkable job of publicizing some of these capabilities, even if they're not the first to bring the capability to market," Greengart said. Some of Google's mobile services, like Google Maps, were already available on mobile phones before the iPhone hit the market. Yet, clearly, iPhone customers are using the services more frequently. "Either because of the design or PR or brand, or in all possibility because of the implementation ... Apple has popularized the notion that you can do more on the phone than you might have tried to do previously," he said.
iPhone customers will indeed be able to do more using Google services, with the updated offerings unveiled Monday.
iPhone users can now customize Google services through the menu bar and iGoogle home page. When iPhone users visit Google.com, they can choose Google applications to appear as links in a menu bar that runs across the top of the page. Signing in once, users can then access a variety of Google services, including Gmail, Calendar, Reader, Docs and Picasa.
In addition, iPhone users can also visit their customized iGoogle page from their phones. iGoogle is a page that users can arrange to include widgets of their choosing, including news, weather, games and recent Gmail mails.
Other changes to Google's iPhone service include an updated user interface and a monthly view on the calendar. In addition, users won't have to hit refresh to see new e-mails in Gmail because Gmail will automatically show new messages.
The new Google services for the iPhone keep pace with some new services that Yahoo introduced just last week. Yahoo began letting mobile users, including iPhone customers, choose widgets to arrange on their mobile Yahoo home pages. On its mobile Web site, Yahoo claims to offer the only e-mail service that pushes new messages to the iPhone as soon as they come in.
The new mobile services from Yahoo and Google demonstrate the eagerness both companies have to win over mobile users.
10,000 Web sites rigged with advanced hacking attack
A sophisticated hacking scheme seen early last year is affecting an increasing number of Web servers, including one owned by a major online advertising company, the chief technology officer of Finjan Software said Monday.
It appears that a single gang is behind the attacks, since the malicious software it spreads is storing login and password details on one server in Spain, said Yuval Ben-Itzhak. Finjan is trying to get the ISP (Internet service provider) to shut it down, he said.
A Web server of an online advertising company that serves 14 million banner ads to other Web sites has also been hacked, Ben-Itzhak said. That means that the PC of anyone who visits a legitimate site hosting a malicious banner ad could potentially be infected if their computer isn't patched, he said.
"You can imagine the magnitude," Ben-Itzhak said.
Ben-Itzhak declined to identify the company, but said Finjan contacted it last week about the problem. At least 10,000 other Web sites were serving up malicious code in December, although Finjan stopped counting, Ben-Itzhak said.
The latest problems show that the power of this particular hacking gang appears to be growing since it was identified early last year. At that time, Finjan said it found a number of Web servers that had been hacked in order to serve malicious code to visitors. The attackers used several methods to hide their tracks and infect a maximum number of PCs.
The attack is structured using JavaScript so that the malicious code is only served up once to a PC, which helps avoid repeated tests by security scanning services.
Further, hackers also record the IP (Internet Protocol) addresses of crawlers used by search engines and reputation services, which evaluate the risk in visiting certain Web sites. Those page requests are then served with legitimate content.
The JavaScript that starts the exploit also dynamically changes, which makes it more difficult to detect with security software, Finjan said. Once hacked, a Web server hosting hundreds of Web sites will serve up the attack code.
The code looks for at least 13 software vulnerabilities in order to place a Trojan horse program on the PC.
The hackers also regularly change the vulnerabilities that the attack looks for in order to increase the chances a computer can become infected, Ben-Itzhak said. After the PC is infected, the malware can start collecting data on the machine, such as documents and passwords. Finjan has dubbed the attack "random js Trojan."
Finjan asserts that antivirus software isn't as effective since the attack code can change so frequently. The company has a browser plug-in, called SecureBrowsing, that analyzes the content of a Web page as it's being served, looking for traces of malicious code and then warning users. It also sells an enterprise-level appliance with scanning technology.
Finjan isn't the only company with that kind of technology. Exploit Prevention Labs, which was recently acquired by security company AVG, also has a product called LinkScanner that analyzes Web page content for malware, and McAfee has a service called SiteAdvisor that ranks the health of a Web site. All three companies offer free versions of their products.
It appears that a single gang is behind the attacks, since the malicious software it spreads is storing login and password details on one server in Spain, said Yuval Ben-Itzhak. Finjan is trying to get the ISP (Internet service provider) to shut it down, he said.
A Web server of an online advertising company that serves 14 million banner ads to other Web sites has also been hacked, Ben-Itzhak said. That means that the PC of anyone who visits a legitimate site hosting a malicious banner ad could potentially be infected if their computer isn't patched, he said.
"You can imagine the magnitude," Ben-Itzhak said.
Ben-Itzhak declined to identify the company, but said Finjan contacted it last week about the problem. At least 10,000 other Web sites were serving up malicious code in December, although Finjan stopped counting, Ben-Itzhak said.
The latest problems show that the power of this particular hacking gang appears to be growing since it was identified early last year. At that time, Finjan said it found a number of Web servers that had been hacked in order to serve malicious code to visitors. The attackers used several methods to hide their tracks and infect a maximum number of PCs.
The attack is structured using JavaScript so that the malicious code is only served up once to a PC, which helps avoid repeated tests by security scanning services.
Further, hackers also record the IP (Internet Protocol) addresses of crawlers used by search engines and reputation services, which evaluate the risk in visiting certain Web sites. Those page requests are then served with legitimate content.
The JavaScript that starts the exploit also dynamically changes, which makes it more difficult to detect with security software, Finjan said. Once hacked, a Web server hosting hundreds of Web sites will serve up the attack code.
The code looks for at least 13 software vulnerabilities in order to place a Trojan horse program on the PC.
The hackers also regularly change the vulnerabilities that the attack looks for in order to increase the chances a computer can become infected, Ben-Itzhak said. After the PC is infected, the malware can start collecting data on the machine, such as documents and passwords. Finjan has dubbed the attack "random js Trojan."
Finjan asserts that antivirus software isn't as effective since the attack code can change so frequently. The company has a browser plug-in, called SecureBrowsing, that analyzes the content of a Web page as it's being served, looking for traces of malicious code and then warning users. It also sells an enterprise-level appliance with scanning technology.
Finjan isn't the only company with that kind of technology. Exploit Prevention Labs, which was recently acquired by security company AVG, also has a product called LinkScanner that analyzes Web page content for malware, and McAfee has a service called SiteAdvisor that ranks the health of a Web site. All three companies offer free versions of their products.
HP fattens midmarket server line
Hewlett-Packard has announced four entry-level servers for small and midsize companies, along with updates to its remote management software.
The servers are part of HP's ProLiant 100 series, aimed at companies with 100 to 500 employees. They are all two-processor rack-mount servers, with two 1U machines and two 2U machines. (The 1U refers to the height of the machine and is equal to 1.75 inches.)
Rack-mount servers have lost the limelight lately to trendy blade servers, sales of which are growing at a faster clip, and even HP's vice president of marketing, Paul Gottsegen, who was charged with promoting the new rack-mount servers, advised customers to look closely at blades.
"When they see the blades, customers tell us there's an advantage in cooling, in cabling, in reduced power consumption and overall density, so the rack customers typically transition to blades, it's just a matter of customers in this market becoming aware of them," he said.
Still, rack-mount servers account for a high proportion of sales despite their slower growth, and smaller companies tend to be more comfortable sticking with what they are used to, said Gordon Haff, principal IT adviser at Illuminata.
Two of the HP servers are available now. One is the DL185 G5, a 2U system designed for high-capacity jobs like mail serving and video capture. It comes with up to 14 large-form factor drives and 10.5 terabytes of storage, and runs on one or two Opteron 2200 processors from Advanced Micro Devices. Pricing starts at US$1,749.
The other machine on sale now is the DL160 G5, a 1U server that can act as a node in a high-performance computing cluster as well as a standard business server. It has two PCI-Express x16 2.0 slots and support for a faster front-side bus, and runs one or two of Intel's quad-core 5400 "Harpertown" chips. Pricing starts at $1,399.
The other two machines won't ship for another three months, HP said. They are the DL180, a general-purpose 2U server with three PCI-E slots and up to 12 large form factor drives, and the DL 165, which will be the first rack-mount server that can hold four 3.5-inch disk drives, according to HP. Pricing for those servers was not announced.
HP has been doing well in the server market lately. In the third quarter last year it sold more machines than second-place Dell or third-place IBM, although IBM earned the most revenue, research company Gartner said.
Low-end servers are fairly commoditized and there isn't a great deal that distinguishes one vendor's hardware from another, Haff said. "Certainly, there are some differences, in areas like management software, but for the most part it's about the channels and the partners and what's offered around the server," he said.
HP announced two Lights-Out management packages for the servers. They allow users to install software remotely and monitor the health of fans, power supplies and other components. A Lights-Out 100i Advanced Pack is $199 per license and a Select Pack is $99. Customers must also buy a Remote Management Card for $219.
HP also announced two updated software packages for the machines. They are Citrix Access Essentials, for remote access to applications, and Exchange Server 2007, the latest version of Microsoft's e-mail server software.
The servers are part of HP's ProLiant 100 series, aimed at companies with 100 to 500 employees. They are all two-processor rack-mount servers, with two 1U machines and two 2U machines. (The 1U refers to the height of the machine and is equal to 1.75 inches.)
Rack-mount servers have lost the limelight lately to trendy blade servers, sales of which are growing at a faster clip, and even HP's vice president of marketing, Paul Gottsegen, who was charged with promoting the new rack-mount servers, advised customers to look closely at blades.
"When they see the blades, customers tell us there's an advantage in cooling, in cabling, in reduced power consumption and overall density, so the rack customers typically transition to blades, it's just a matter of customers in this market becoming aware of them," he said.
Still, rack-mount servers account for a high proportion of sales despite their slower growth, and smaller companies tend to be more comfortable sticking with what they are used to, said Gordon Haff, principal IT adviser at Illuminata.
Two of the HP servers are available now. One is the DL185 G5, a 2U system designed for high-capacity jobs like mail serving and video capture. It comes with up to 14 large-form factor drives and 10.5 terabytes of storage, and runs on one or two Opteron 2200 processors from Advanced Micro Devices. Pricing starts at US$1,749.
The other machine on sale now is the DL160 G5, a 1U server that can act as a node in a high-performance computing cluster as well as a standard business server. It has two PCI-Express x16 2.0 slots and support for a faster front-side bus, and runs one or two of Intel's quad-core 5400 "Harpertown" chips. Pricing starts at $1,399.
The other two machines won't ship for another three months, HP said. They are the DL180, a general-purpose 2U server with three PCI-E slots and up to 12 large form factor drives, and the DL 165, which will be the first rack-mount server that can hold four 3.5-inch disk drives, according to HP. Pricing for those servers was not announced.
HP has been doing well in the server market lately. In the third quarter last year it sold more machines than second-place Dell or third-place IBM, although IBM earned the most revenue, research company Gartner said.
Low-end servers are fairly commoditized and there isn't a great deal that distinguishes one vendor's hardware from another, Haff said. "Certainly, there are some differences, in areas like management software, but for the most part it's about the channels and the partners and what's offered around the server," he said.
HP announced two Lights-Out management packages for the servers. They allow users to install software remotely and monitor the health of fans, power supplies and other components. A Lights-Out 100i Advanced Pack is $199 per license and a Select Pack is $99. Customers must also buy a Remote Management Card for $219.
HP also announced two updated software packages for the machines. They are Citrix Access Essentials, for remote access to applications, and Exchange Server 2007, the latest version of Microsoft's e-mail server software.
Study: Small businesses moving to Vista fastest
Nearly half of businesses are in some phase of preparing to update desktops to Windows Vista, with small businesses moving the fastest to implement the OS, according to a new report released Monday.
The number of organizations evaluating and testing Vista increased from 29 percent in February 2007 to 48 percent by early November 2007, found the report, commissioned by reseller CDW and based on information collected by Walker Information from 772 IT decision makers. Moreover, about 35 percent of companies are currently implementing or have implemented Vista already, compared to 12 percent last February, the report said.
The report is the third of a wave of reports on Vista adoption that CDW has done since the OS was in its final testing phases in October 2006. In the latest phase of release, which tracked Vista adoption from October 31 until Nov. 7, 2007, small businesses comprised 53 percent of those companies either using or evaluating Vista. The higher-education segment came in second, with 49 percent reporting that they are evaluating or using the OS, while medium-to-large businesses were third, with 48 percent.
Because of lingering hardware and application compatibility issues between existing company IT assets and Vista, CDW still advises customers to move to Vista on a case-by-case basis, said David Cottingham, director of product and partner management at CDW. In the case of small businesses, they may not have the application or hardware dependencies on Windows XP that larger businesses have.
"There are still definitely concerns when you get into custom applications in industries that will run on XP," he said. "If [companies] have custom applications that don't run on Vista yet, they're going to stay on XP."
CDW is still selling both XP and Vista, but Cottingham said the company does not have data on which version of the OS is selling more now that Vista has been available to businesses for more than a year. In September, Microsoft had to extend the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) license for XP for five more months through June 30, 2008, because of customer demand for the OS. Microsoft had planned to stop selling XP through OEMs and retailers on Jan. 31.
For its part, Microsoft has made strides to resolve compatibility issues with updates to Vista, and the numbers from CDW's survey seem to reflect that. In February, 50 percent of companies said they were buying additional hardware and software assets to migrate to Vista; by November, that number was down to 44 percent.
Many believe it's inevitable that any businesses currently running XP will eventually move to Vista; it's just a matter of when. The release of Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), which is scheduled to be generally available by the end of March, should serve to increase the numbers of companies adopting Vista. Microsoft on Friday issued a public refresh of the first release candidate for SP1, which suggests the software update will be in its final release according to schedule.
However, there is some belief among industry watchers that if Microsoft releases the next version of Windows, code-named Windows Vista 7, by its target of late next year to early 2010, some businesses may opt to skip Vista and move directly from XP to Windows 7 instead.
The number of organizations evaluating and testing Vista increased from 29 percent in February 2007 to 48 percent by early November 2007, found the report, commissioned by reseller CDW and based on information collected by Walker Information from 772 IT decision makers. Moreover, about 35 percent of companies are currently implementing or have implemented Vista already, compared to 12 percent last February, the report said.
The report is the third of a wave of reports on Vista adoption that CDW has done since the OS was in its final testing phases in October 2006. In the latest phase of release, which tracked Vista adoption from October 31 until Nov. 7, 2007, small businesses comprised 53 percent of those companies either using or evaluating Vista. The higher-education segment came in second, with 49 percent reporting that they are evaluating or using the OS, while medium-to-large businesses were third, with 48 percent.
Because of lingering hardware and application compatibility issues between existing company IT assets and Vista, CDW still advises customers to move to Vista on a case-by-case basis, said David Cottingham, director of product and partner management at CDW. In the case of small businesses, they may not have the application or hardware dependencies on Windows XP that larger businesses have.
"There are still definitely concerns when you get into custom applications in industries that will run on XP," he said. "If [companies] have custom applications that don't run on Vista yet, they're going to stay on XP."
CDW is still selling both XP and Vista, but Cottingham said the company does not have data on which version of the OS is selling more now that Vista has been available to businesses for more than a year. In September, Microsoft had to extend the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) license for XP for five more months through June 30, 2008, because of customer demand for the OS. Microsoft had planned to stop selling XP through OEMs and retailers on Jan. 31.
For its part, Microsoft has made strides to resolve compatibility issues with updates to Vista, and the numbers from CDW's survey seem to reflect that. In February, 50 percent of companies said they were buying additional hardware and software assets to migrate to Vista; by November, that number was down to 44 percent.
Many believe it's inevitable that any businesses currently running XP will eventually move to Vista; it's just a matter of when. The release of Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), which is scheduled to be generally available by the end of March, should serve to increase the numbers of companies adopting Vista. Microsoft on Friday issued a public refresh of the first release candidate for SP1, which suggests the software update will be in its final release according to schedule.
However, there is some belief among industry watchers that if Microsoft releases the next version of Windows, code-named Windows Vista 7, by its target of late next year to early 2010, some businesses may opt to skip Vista and move directly from XP to Windows 7 instead.
Motorola offers lightweight handheld for retail use
Motorola Inc. Monday announced the CA50, a lightweight handheld that combines VoIP over Wi-Fi with a bar code scanner. The device is targeted to retail, hospitality and health-care workers.
Workers would use the device to check prices and inventory in stores or to request immediate delivery of equipment at hospitals, said Tom Esposito, senior director of advanced data capture at Motorola's enterprise mobility unit.
Available sometime this quarter, the device sells for $540. It weighs only 3.7 ounces, and is light enough to carry in a pocket or on a lanyard for easy access. The CA50 fills a gap in handheld products, since it is light and inexpensive compared to ruggedized scanners on the market, Esposito said.
It is 4.37 by 1.81 by 1.01 inches in size and includes a five-line monochrome display, according to Motorola. It runs the Windows CE 5.0 mobile operating system, has 64MB of RAM and 32MB of flash memory. An internal antenna connects to 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi networks.
The voice over Wi-Fi capability can be connected to a user's desktop, so that incoming calls to a store or hospital could be redirected to the CA50 to ensure a call isn't missed. The connection would be achieved with additional software from Avaya Inc. or other vendors that Motorola did not name.
Workers would use the device to check prices and inventory in stores or to request immediate delivery of equipment at hospitals, said Tom Esposito, senior director of advanced data capture at Motorola's enterprise mobility unit.
Available sometime this quarter, the device sells for $540. It weighs only 3.7 ounces, and is light enough to carry in a pocket or on a lanyard for easy access. The CA50 fills a gap in handheld products, since it is light and inexpensive compared to ruggedized scanners on the market, Esposito said.
It is 4.37 by 1.81 by 1.01 inches in size and includes a five-line monochrome display, according to Motorola. It runs the Windows CE 5.0 mobile operating system, has 64MB of RAM and 32MB of flash memory. An internal antenna connects to 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi networks.
The voice over Wi-Fi capability can be connected to a user's desktop, so that incoming calls to a store or hospital could be redirected to the CA50 to ensure a call isn't missed. The connection would be achieved with additional software from Avaya Inc. or other vendors that Motorola did not name.
Microsoft faces two new European antitrust cases
The European Commission has opened two new antitrust investigations of Microsoft's activities.
The first case is in response to a complaint from the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, a Brussels-based trade group of which Opera Software is a member, and concerns the interoperability of Windows with other software, the Commission said Monday.
The second investigation is looking into Microsoft's tactic of bundling software products with its Windows operating system. This follows a complaint to the Commission by Opera, a Norwegian browser developer.
Both issues featured in the Commission's landmark March 2004 antitrust decision against Microsoft, which the company unsuccessfully challenged in court.
Microsoft said it would cooperate with the investigations. "We are committed to ensuring that Microsoft is in full compliance with European law and our obligations as established by the European Court of First Instance in its September 2007 ruling," the company said in a statement.
Both new probes build on the findings of the 2004 ruling, which were upheld last September by Europe's second highest court, the Court of First Instance (CFI). Microsoft decided not to appeal the CFI decision, so the precedent value of the 2004 ruling remains intact.
The first of the new probes will examine whether Microsoft withheld information from companies that wanted to make products compatible with its software. This includes word processing, spreadsheet and office management tools contained in Microsoft's Office suite of software applications. It also includes some server products and Microsoft's .NET Internet software framework.
ECIS filed a complaint to the Commission in 2006, arguing that Microsoft's failure to share interoperability information amounted to an abuse of its dominant position in the market. ECIS members include IBM, Nokia, Sun Microsystems, RealNetworks and Oracle.
In addition to ECIS' complaint, the Commission said it will also look at whether Microsoft's open format for archived documents -- Office Open XML -- "is sufficiently interoperable with competitors' products."
"ECIS welcomes the Commission's announcement as a necessary step towards ensuring Microsoft's compliance with competition rules," the group said in a statement Monday.
"It is regrettable that despite the judgment of September 2007, Microsoft continues to use its desktop monopolies to restrict competition," said Thomas Vinje, ECIS' spokesman.
The second probe, sparked last month by Opera's complaint, will look at whether Microsoft illegally bundles the Internet Explorer browser for free with Windows.
Opera wants the Commission to strip Explorer out of Windows or carry alternative browsers. It claims that new proprietary technologies in Explorer hold other browsers such as Opera back, by not following open Internet standards.
The Commission is also looking into whether Microsoft has illegally packaged desktop search and Windows Live into Vista, the latest version of Windows.
The first case is in response to a complaint from the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, a Brussels-based trade group of which Opera Software is a member, and concerns the interoperability of Windows with other software, the Commission said Monday.
The second investigation is looking into Microsoft's tactic of bundling software products with its Windows operating system. This follows a complaint to the Commission by Opera, a Norwegian browser developer.
Both issues featured in the Commission's landmark March 2004 antitrust decision against Microsoft, which the company unsuccessfully challenged in court.
Microsoft said it would cooperate with the investigations. "We are committed to ensuring that Microsoft is in full compliance with European law and our obligations as established by the European Court of First Instance in its September 2007 ruling," the company said in a statement.
Both new probes build on the findings of the 2004 ruling, which were upheld last September by Europe's second highest court, the Court of First Instance (CFI). Microsoft decided not to appeal the CFI decision, so the precedent value of the 2004 ruling remains intact.
The first of the new probes will examine whether Microsoft withheld information from companies that wanted to make products compatible with its software. This includes word processing, spreadsheet and office management tools contained in Microsoft's Office suite of software applications. It also includes some server products and Microsoft's .NET Internet software framework.
ECIS filed a complaint to the Commission in 2006, arguing that Microsoft's failure to share interoperability information amounted to an abuse of its dominant position in the market. ECIS members include IBM, Nokia, Sun Microsystems, RealNetworks and Oracle.
In addition to ECIS' complaint, the Commission said it will also look at whether Microsoft's open format for archived documents -- Office Open XML -- "is sufficiently interoperable with competitors' products."
"ECIS welcomes the Commission's announcement as a necessary step towards ensuring Microsoft's compliance with competition rules," the group said in a statement Monday.
"It is regrettable that despite the judgment of September 2007, Microsoft continues to use its desktop monopolies to restrict competition," said Thomas Vinje, ECIS' spokesman.
The second probe, sparked last month by Opera's complaint, will look at whether Microsoft illegally bundles the Internet Explorer browser for free with Windows.
Opera wants the Commission to strip Explorer out of Windows or carry alternative browsers. It claims that new proprietary technologies in Explorer hold other browsers such as Opera back, by not following open Internet standards.
The Commission is also looking into whether Microsoft has illegally packaged desktop search and Windows Live into Vista, the latest version of Windows.
CES: Reactrix, Samsung show off Wii-like game system for TVs
Software developer Reactrix Systems showed off a gaming system made for LCD TVs that mimics the Wii game console in that people punch in the air to hit a boxing opponent or swing their arms to return the ball in a game of volleyball.
The system is actually designed for large advertising displays, to draw in people to become part of the advertisement by playing an interactive game. The Reactrix technology is called WaveScape, and it was demonstrated on Samsung's large-format 570DX display at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Above the display was a sensor that kept track of a person's hand and body movements so they could interact with an on-screen game. The sensor can cover five meters.
"Our first application is going to be advertising and interactive signage," said Matt Bell, who is chief scientist at Reactrix and developed the system. "Our first roll-out of these displays will be in the second half of this year in 150 Hilton hotels. They'll be a mixture of fun, interactive games and information about hotel services."
Demonstrating the technology at CES, Bell first beat up on a panda in a boxing game and then played volleyball against a Samsung presenter.
Coming up with new games should be a snap. It only took a month to create the two games shown at CES, Bell said. Mini-games can be finished in a matter of weeks.
Despite the technology's almost universal appeal, Reactrix has no plans to launch a version for consumers.
"We wish we did, because we want to get this to as many people as possible, but rest assured we will get there. At the very least, you should see one in a mall, a theater or a hotel near you in the next few months," Bell said. The company's initial systems and those for Hilton are destined for North America only.
Pricing of the systems was not disclosed.
Reactrix is best known for its StepScape products that project an interactive image onto floors and can often be found in shopping malls and movie theaters.
The system is actually designed for large advertising displays, to draw in people to become part of the advertisement by playing an interactive game. The Reactrix technology is called WaveScape, and it was demonstrated on Samsung's large-format 570DX display at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Above the display was a sensor that kept track of a person's hand and body movements so they could interact with an on-screen game. The sensor can cover five meters.
"Our first application is going to be advertising and interactive signage," said Matt Bell, who is chief scientist at Reactrix and developed the system. "Our first roll-out of these displays will be in the second half of this year in 150 Hilton hotels. They'll be a mixture of fun, interactive games and information about hotel services."
Demonstrating the technology at CES, Bell first beat up on a panda in a boxing game and then played volleyball against a Samsung presenter.
Coming up with new games should be a snap. It only took a month to create the two games shown at CES, Bell said. Mini-games can be finished in a matter of weeks.
Despite the technology's almost universal appeal, Reactrix has no plans to launch a version for consumers.
"We wish we did, because we want to get this to as many people as possible, but rest assured we will get there. At the very least, you should see one in a mall, a theater or a hotel near you in the next few months," Bell said. The company's initial systems and those for Hilton are destined for North America only.
Pricing of the systems was not disclosed.
Reactrix is best known for its StepScape products that project an interactive image onto floors and can often be found in shopping malls and movie theaters.
IBM Q4 results boosted by exchange rates
IBM on Monday said fourth-quarter revenue, aided by exchange rates and sales outside the U.S., stood at $28.9 billion, an increase of 10 percent over the same period in 2006.
The figure, which topped predictions of $27.82 billion by analysts polled by Thomson First Call, was helped by the ongoing weakness in the dollar, IBM said.
Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM's chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement that the results were also helped by strong sales in Asia, Europe and emerging markets.
IBM said it earned $2.80 per share in the quarter, handily beating the analysts' forecast of $2.60 per share. The results represent a 24 percent increase over the same period in 2006, when IBM earned $2.26 per share.
Total revenue for 2007 was $98.6 billion, an 8 increase from 2006. Overall earnings for 2007 were $7.18 per share, a rise of 18 percent over 2006, according to IBM.
The company also said it had more than $16 billion in cash on hand at the end of 2007.
Shares of IBM shot up nearly 8 percent on the news in premarket trading Monday, to $105.36.
IBM plans to provide a full earnings report during a webcast on Thursday.
The figure, which topped predictions of $27.82 billion by analysts polled by Thomson First Call, was helped by the ongoing weakness in the dollar, IBM said.
Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM's chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement that the results were also helped by strong sales in Asia, Europe and emerging markets.
IBM said it earned $2.80 per share in the quarter, handily beating the analysts' forecast of $2.60 per share. The results represent a 24 percent increase over the same period in 2006, when IBM earned $2.26 per share.
Total revenue for 2007 was $98.6 billion, an 8 increase from 2006. Overall earnings for 2007 were $7.18 per share, a rise of 18 percent over 2006, according to IBM.
The company also said it had more than $16 billion in cash on hand at the end of 2007.
Shares of IBM shot up nearly 8 percent on the news in premarket trading Monday, to $105.36.
IBM plans to provide a full earnings report during a webcast on Thursday.
Tech companies share environmental patents
A group of technology companies is offering to share some of its patents to encourage the development of environmentally friendly technologies.
Click here to find out more!
On this topic
Data centers take to the high seas
CES: Vendors look to ease recycling costs on users
IBM dishes five predictions for future
Deploying Residential Wi-Fi Wireless LANs: RF Repeaters for Coverage and Reliability
Get practical tips, IT news, how-tos, and the best in tech humor.
IBM, Nokia, Sony and bulk-mailing equipment manufacturer Pitney-Bowes have together donated patents to the Eco-patent Commons, an organization set up to share the patents for technology with environmental benefits.
Any organization willing to donate a patent for environmentally friendly technology to the commons can join the group. The patents are made available for use by members and nonmembers alike.
So far, patents pledged to the commons cover fields such as waste water treatment, air purification, cell-phone recycling and reducing printer ink consumption. IBM has pledged 27 patents, Pitney Bowes two, and Nokia and Sony one each.
The Eco-patent Commons will be administered by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, a group which brings together CEOs in industries such as cement, electrical utilities, timber, mining and transport.
The group wants businesses to donate patents for technologies that have a positive environmental impact, but that are not related to their core business.
It hopes that access to patents in the Commons will enable businesses facing environmental challenges that have already been solved by others to develop cleaner, less energy-intensive products as a result.
The move is inspired by the success of the free and open-source software sector, where the sharing information has resulted in the creation of many new products, the group said.
Together, the companies apply for thousands of patents each year. IBM in particular regularly tops the league tables for most filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Click here to find out more!
On this topic
Data centers take to the high seas
CES: Vendors look to ease recycling costs on users
IBM dishes five predictions for future
Deploying Residential Wi-Fi Wireless LANs: RF Repeaters for Coverage and Reliability
Get practical tips, IT news, how-tos, and the best in tech humor.
IBM, Nokia, Sony and bulk-mailing equipment manufacturer Pitney-Bowes have together donated patents to the Eco-patent Commons, an organization set up to share the patents for technology with environmental benefits.
Any organization willing to donate a patent for environmentally friendly technology to the commons can join the group. The patents are made available for use by members and nonmembers alike.
So far, patents pledged to the commons cover fields such as waste water treatment, air purification, cell-phone recycling and reducing printer ink consumption. IBM has pledged 27 patents, Pitney Bowes two, and Nokia and Sony one each.
The Eco-patent Commons will be administered by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, a group which brings together CEOs in industries such as cement, electrical utilities, timber, mining and transport.
The group wants businesses to donate patents for technologies that have a positive environmental impact, but that are not related to their core business.
It hopes that access to patents in the Commons will enable businesses facing environmental challenges that have already been solved by others to develop cleaner, less energy-intensive products as a result.
The move is inspired by the success of the free and open-source software sector, where the sharing information has resulted in the creation of many new products, the group said.
Together, the companies apply for thousands of patents each year. IBM in particular regularly tops the league tables for most filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Microsoft trained 200,000 teachers in India
Microsoft has trained 200,000 teachers in India on the use of computers, ahead of its original target to train 80,000 teachers in the country during the five-year period ending December this year, it said.
The company introduced the program, called project Shiksha, in 2003 with the objective of raising the computer literacy of Indian teachers and students in government-run schools. The 200,000 teachers trained so far have in turn trained about 10 million students, a spokeswoman for Microsoft India said on Monday.
The moves by Microsoft to offer free or subsidized software in India have however come in for criticism from the Free Software Foundation, which compared Microsoft's philanthropy to that of a cigarette manufacturer handing out free samples of cigarettes to students.
The communist-run state of Kerala in south India is actively promoting open-source software in schools, but most other states and the federal government are beneficiaries of Microsoft's programs.
Microsoft works with state governments to help teachers use its technology in school administrations and also to include it in their curriculum and teaching methods, she said. While the state governments provide the classrooms, Microsoft provides the hardware and software, and a team of trainers for the teachers.
Although the company has reached its training target, it's not stopping the program yet. It did not say how many more teachers and students it plans to cover under the program, though.
The company has introduced low-cost, starter editions of its Vista operating system, as well as local language versions of its Office suite to target both the academic and e-governance markets.
The company introduced the program, called project Shiksha, in 2003 with the objective of raising the computer literacy of Indian teachers and students in government-run schools. The 200,000 teachers trained so far have in turn trained about 10 million students, a spokeswoman for Microsoft India said on Monday.
The moves by Microsoft to offer free or subsidized software in India have however come in for criticism from the Free Software Foundation, which compared Microsoft's philanthropy to that of a cigarette manufacturer handing out free samples of cigarettes to students.
The communist-run state of Kerala in south India is actively promoting open-source software in schools, but most other states and the federal government are beneficiaries of Microsoft's programs.
Microsoft works with state governments to help teachers use its technology in school administrations and also to include it in their curriculum and teaching methods, she said. While the state governments provide the classrooms, Microsoft provides the hardware and software, and a team of trainers for the teachers.
Although the company has reached its training target, it's not stopping the program yet. It did not say how many more teachers and students it plans to cover under the program, though.
The company has introduced low-cost, starter editions of its Vista operating system, as well as local language versions of its Office suite to target both the academic and e-governance markets.
EMC will replace some disks with solid-state drives
EMC plans to introduce a line of solid-state drives using flash memory as an option to replace some disk drives in the company's high-end Symmetrix storage arrays, a company spokesman said Monday.
EMC will offer solid-state drives with capacities of 73G bytes and 146G bytes, said Abhrajit Bhattacharjee, an EMC spokesman in Singapore. The drives, which will ship this quarter, will only be available as an option with Symmetrix storage arrays, and will not be available with other products, he said.
Pricing for the solid-state drives was not immediately available, but using four 73G-byte solid-state drives to replace four of the 146G-byte hard disk drives in a Symmetrix 100-disk array would increase the cost by less than 10 percent compared to a comparable system using only hard disk drives, Bhattacharjee said.
Solid-state drives use memory chips instead of magnetic platters to store information. These types of drives are generally faster and consume less power than traditional disk drives, but they are also significantly more expensive.
The solid-state drives are aimed at customers willing to pay a premium for the significantly faster response times these drives offer, Bhattacharjee said.
EMC plans to use single-cell flash memory in its solid-state drives, which will allow for higher performance but costs more than multicell flash memory.
Single-cell flash memory stores one bit of information in each memory cell, while multicell flash memory stores two. The greater density of multicell flash makes it perfect for music players and digital cameras. But multicell flash is significantly slower, making single-cell flash more suitable for high-performance applications such as solid-state drives. Single-cell flash memory is also more durable that multicell flash. Each cell on a multicell flash chip is generally good for 10,000 write/erase cycles, while the cells on single-cell chips can last for 100,000 write/erase cycles. The durability of a flash memory chip can be increased with the use of wear leveling, a technique that writes data equally to all of the memory cells on a chip instead of using the same cells repeatedly.
Drives based on magnetic platters are capable of enduring unlimited write/erase cycles, but they have moving parts which can break down. Solid-state drives do not have moving parts.
STEC -- the maker of the solid-state drives that EMC plans to offer -- said its solid-state drives, which use wear leveling, last more than 2 million write/erase cycles. There was no indication of how many write/erase cycles the EMC solid-state drives will be capable of sustaining.
EMC will offer solid-state drives with capacities of 73G bytes and 146G bytes, said Abhrajit Bhattacharjee, an EMC spokesman in Singapore. The drives, which will ship this quarter, will only be available as an option with Symmetrix storage arrays, and will not be available with other products, he said.
Pricing for the solid-state drives was not immediately available, but using four 73G-byte solid-state drives to replace four of the 146G-byte hard disk drives in a Symmetrix 100-disk array would increase the cost by less than 10 percent compared to a comparable system using only hard disk drives, Bhattacharjee said.
Solid-state drives use memory chips instead of magnetic platters to store information. These types of drives are generally faster and consume less power than traditional disk drives, but they are also significantly more expensive.
The solid-state drives are aimed at customers willing to pay a premium for the significantly faster response times these drives offer, Bhattacharjee said.
EMC plans to use single-cell flash memory in its solid-state drives, which will allow for higher performance but costs more than multicell flash memory.
Single-cell flash memory stores one bit of information in each memory cell, while multicell flash memory stores two. The greater density of multicell flash makes it perfect for music players and digital cameras. But multicell flash is significantly slower, making single-cell flash more suitable for high-performance applications such as solid-state drives. Single-cell flash memory is also more durable that multicell flash. Each cell on a multicell flash chip is generally good for 10,000 write/erase cycles, while the cells on single-cell chips can last for 100,000 write/erase cycles. The durability of a flash memory chip can be increased with the use of wear leveling, a technique that writes data equally to all of the memory cells on a chip instead of using the same cells repeatedly.
Drives based on magnetic platters are capable of enduring unlimited write/erase cycles, but they have moving parts which can break down. Solid-state drives do not have moving parts.
STEC -- the maker of the solid-state drives that EMC plans to offer -- said its solid-state drives, which use wear leveling, last more than 2 million write/erase cycles. There was no indication of how many write/erase cycles the EMC solid-state drives will be capable of sustaining.
Fortisphere release aims at virtualization 'sprawl'
Startup firm Fortisphere on Monday plans to launch a product suite aimed at managing virtualization "sprawl."
"We spent nine months talking to [data center professionals]," said John Suit, Fortisphere's CTO. "What was apparent to us was that typically, how these guys are tracking their virtual machines is with an Excel spreadsheet."
The company's offering, Virtual Essentials, is based on two products. The first is Fortisphere Virtual Insight, a toolset for tracking, tagging and monitoring virtual machines as they move throughout their lifecycle, from preproduction to production.
Users get a visual representation of a virtual machines' parent, sibling and child relationships. There is also a reporting engine and an auditing function for recording changes and transactions. Fortisphere Virtual Foresight is the other half, dealing with policy enforcement.
Policy rules are embedded within virtual machines, meaning the information will remain with each one, as well as any clones and copies, according to Fortisphere. There is also a repository component, and an analytic engine that monitors risk and compliance violations by crunching data from virtual machines and hypervisors.
Fortisphere's product uses kernel-level drivers, rather than other means of interacting with virtual machines, such as agents. Fortisphere contends this approach affords a great deal of control, while remaining lightweight.
The company is competing with a number of other startups, such as Embotics. Fortisphere said it has a number of beta customers, but company officials declined to name any or make one available for an interview.
Pricing for Virtual Essentials starts at "little bit over $10,000," including maintenance, according to Fortisphere executives, who declined to be more specific.
The software was built with a mid-market customer in mind, in terms of its ease of use, according to Fortisphere.
Mark Bowker, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, said one strength of Fortisphere is its ability to manage virtual machines across multiple hypervisors -- VMware, Citrix's XenServer and Microsoft's Hyper-V. "This is a something end-users are asking for as they deploy more than one solution for server virtualization," he wrote in an e-mail message.
Dan Kusnetzky, principal analyst with Kusnetzky Group, predicted that within five years, Fortisphere and its peers will either be absorbed into larger companies or those firms will develop software with similar capabilities.
"It's likely in my view that these people are going to be acquired by the management framework players, because they are doing something different but also complementary," he said.
Kusnetzky noted, however, that Fortisphere's tools have a limited focus, aiming on the management and tracking of virtual machines and not other areas of virtualization, such as virtual storage. "If you're working in the environment they're targeting, this might be interesting," he said.
"We spent nine months talking to [data center professionals]," said John Suit, Fortisphere's CTO. "What was apparent to us was that typically, how these guys are tracking their virtual machines is with an Excel spreadsheet."
The company's offering, Virtual Essentials, is based on two products. The first is Fortisphere Virtual Insight, a toolset for tracking, tagging and monitoring virtual machines as they move throughout their lifecycle, from preproduction to production.
Users get a visual representation of a virtual machines' parent, sibling and child relationships. There is also a reporting engine and an auditing function for recording changes and transactions. Fortisphere Virtual Foresight is the other half, dealing with policy enforcement.
Policy rules are embedded within virtual machines, meaning the information will remain with each one, as well as any clones and copies, according to Fortisphere. There is also a repository component, and an analytic engine that monitors risk and compliance violations by crunching data from virtual machines and hypervisors.
Fortisphere's product uses kernel-level drivers, rather than other means of interacting with virtual machines, such as agents. Fortisphere contends this approach affords a great deal of control, while remaining lightweight.
The company is competing with a number of other startups, such as Embotics. Fortisphere said it has a number of beta customers, but company officials declined to name any or make one available for an interview.
Pricing for Virtual Essentials starts at "little bit over $10,000," including maintenance, according to Fortisphere executives, who declined to be more specific.
The software was built with a mid-market customer in mind, in terms of its ease of use, according to Fortisphere.
Mark Bowker, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, said one strength of Fortisphere is its ability to manage virtual machines across multiple hypervisors -- VMware, Citrix's XenServer and Microsoft's Hyper-V. "This is a something end-users are asking for as they deploy more than one solution for server virtualization," he wrote in an e-mail message.
Dan Kusnetzky, principal analyst with Kusnetzky Group, predicted that within five years, Fortisphere and its peers will either be absorbed into larger companies or those firms will develop software with similar capabilities.
"It's likely in my view that these people are going to be acquired by the management framework players, because they are doing something different but also complementary," he said.
Kusnetzky noted, however, that Fortisphere's tools have a limited focus, aiming on the management and tracking of virtual machines and not other areas of virtualization, such as virtual storage. "If you're working in the environment they're targeting, this might be interesting," he said.
Hacked MySpace page serves up fake Windows update
There's now one more reason to be security-conscious while using MySpace.com: fake Microsoft updates.
Using a hacked MySpace profile, online criminals are trying to trick victims into downloading a malicious Trojan Horse program by disguising it as a Microsoft update, according to researchers at security vendor McAfee.
The attack is certainly not widespread -- McAfee has seen it used on only one MySpace profile -- but it does show how sites such as MySpace can be abused by criminals.
Web surfers are presented with what appears to be a popup window advising them to download the latest version of Microsoft's Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, which was just released this Tuesday. This software is distributed by Microsoft to help Windows users rid their systems of malware.
In reality, the popup window is just part of a larger image that takes up most of the computer screen. If the user clicks anywhere on this image, his computer will then begin to download the Trojan program.
The Trojan, known as TFactory, is a well-known piece of code that has been used by criminals for well over a year, according to Dave Marcus, a security research manager with McAfee.
Hackers were able to launch this attack because they either discovered a flaw in the MySpace code or found a way of taking over user accounts, Marcus said. "Our best guess is [the owner of the one MySpace profile] just got their password and user name phished," he said.
Social networking sites allow their members to use an array of powerful Web programming tools that are increasingly coming under the scrutiny of hackers looking for ways to misuse them.
In November, hackers found a way to serve up Web-based attack code from the MySpace profiles of Alicia Keys and a number of other musical artists.
Using a hacked MySpace profile, online criminals are trying to trick victims into downloading a malicious Trojan Horse program by disguising it as a Microsoft update, according to researchers at security vendor McAfee.
The attack is certainly not widespread -- McAfee has seen it used on only one MySpace profile -- but it does show how sites such as MySpace can be abused by criminals.
Web surfers are presented with what appears to be a popup window advising them to download the latest version of Microsoft's Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, which was just released this Tuesday. This software is distributed by Microsoft to help Windows users rid their systems of malware.
In reality, the popup window is just part of a larger image that takes up most of the computer screen. If the user clicks anywhere on this image, his computer will then begin to download the Trojan program.
The Trojan, known as TFactory, is a well-known piece of code that has been used by criminals for well over a year, according to Dave Marcus, a security research manager with McAfee.
Hackers were able to launch this attack because they either discovered a flaw in the MySpace code or found a way of taking over user accounts, Marcus said. "Our best guess is [the owner of the one MySpace profile] just got their password and user name phished," he said.
Social networking sites allow their members to use an array of powerful Web programming tools that are increasingly coming under the scrutiny of hackers looking for ways to misuse them.
In November, hackers found a way to serve up Web-based attack code from the MySpace profiles of Alicia Keys and a number of other musical artists.
Fraudster poses as Barclays' chairman, withdraws funds
Barclays bank in the U.K. has found itself at the center of another security scam, this time around someone posed as the bank's chairman and scammed £10,000 ($20,000) out of his personal account.
The fraudster rang a Barclays call center posing as the bank's chairman, Marcus Agius, and managed to have a new credit card sent out to him under Agius' name.
He then went into a Barclays branch and used the newly issued credit card to withdraw £10,000 out of Agius personal account.
Britain's Sun newspaper reported that Barclay's bosses were 'burning up' with embarrassment.
The scam follows the highly publicized actions of BBC Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, who published his Barclay's account number in an attempt to prove that the U.K.'s largest ever data breach was nothing to fuss over.
A cheeky reader subsequently used the details to help Clarkson 'donate' £500 to a U.K. charity .
"The banks have to protect people connecting to their services, but if I know enough about you or anyone, you would be amazed what I could do," said Andreas Baumhof, CTO of online fraud protection company TrustDefender.
"If you've lost your account number or password for online banking, is your bank providing you with a service to recover those details? Every bank does, because it's a normal thing that happens," he said.
"They provide you with this information after checking your identity, which typically is your address, telephone number and some personal information. So if you know this information they will release your password."
With the right story and the right personal information, the security measures of any bank can be circumvented
Baumhof said call centers are a typical target of online fraudsters and identity thieves. Their tactics involve bombarding a call center with phone calls, talking to a different person each time and extracting a little piece of information with each call.
"After they've rung them fifty times, you can connect a lot of information about someone," he warned.
According to Baumhof a lot comes down to telling the right story to the right person.
"In the end it comes down to human behavior, if you look like you are in the right place at the right time then people tend to trust you."
Baumhof said that with the right story and the right personal information, the security measures of any bank can be circumvented because of this human element.
"The banks can provide really good secure protection but it only helps if we protect people's identities generally."
Barclay's is reported to have accepted liability for the breach and has reimbursed the £10,000 into Agius' account.
Amid fears other senior execs could become targets, the bank is reported to have reissued all passwords and is revising its security practices.
The fraudster rang a Barclays call center posing as the bank's chairman, Marcus Agius, and managed to have a new credit card sent out to him under Agius' name.
He then went into a Barclays branch and used the newly issued credit card to withdraw £10,000 out of Agius personal account.
Britain's Sun newspaper reported that Barclay's bosses were 'burning up' with embarrassment.
The scam follows the highly publicized actions of BBC Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, who published his Barclay's account number in an attempt to prove that the U.K.'s largest ever data breach was nothing to fuss over.
A cheeky reader subsequently used the details to help Clarkson 'donate' £500 to a U.K. charity .
"The banks have to protect people connecting to their services, but if I know enough about you or anyone, you would be amazed what I could do," said Andreas Baumhof, CTO of online fraud protection company TrustDefender.
"If you've lost your account number or password for online banking, is your bank providing you with a service to recover those details? Every bank does, because it's a normal thing that happens," he said.
"They provide you with this information after checking your identity, which typically is your address, telephone number and some personal information. So if you know this information they will release your password."
With the right story and the right personal information, the security measures of any bank can be circumvented
Baumhof said call centers are a typical target of online fraudsters and identity thieves. Their tactics involve bombarding a call center with phone calls, talking to a different person each time and extracting a little piece of information with each call.
"After they've rung them fifty times, you can connect a lot of information about someone," he warned.
According to Baumhof a lot comes down to telling the right story to the right person.
"In the end it comes down to human behavior, if you look like you are in the right place at the right time then people tend to trust you."
Baumhof said that with the right story and the right personal information, the security measures of any bank can be circumvented because of this human element.
"The banks can provide really good secure protection but it only helps if we protect people's identities generally."
Barclay's is reported to have accepted liability for the breach and has reimbursed the £10,000 into Agius' account.
Amid fears other senior execs could become targets, the bank is reported to have reissued all passwords and is revising its security practices.
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