Google called off its proposed search advertising deal with Yahoo just 3 hours before the U.S. Department of Justice was to file an antitrust complaint aimed at blocking it.
Shortly after the deal, which would have had Yahoo running Google advertisements alongside its own search results was announced in June, Google and Yahoo came under fire from large advertiser groups, which charged that the arrangement would diminish competition and raise online advertising prices.
The chairman of the U.S. Senate's antitrust subcommittee in October urged the DOJ to closely examine the proposed partnership, noting that it could lead to higher advertising prices and create unfair market conditions. Microsoft and other companies lobbied the department to block the proposed deal.
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Thursday, December 04, 2008
Monday, December 01, 2008
Spam on the increase a couple weeks after major spam shutdown
Security researchers who warned the shutdown of McColo Corp. would only lower spam levels for a couple of weeks were correct, as one of the largest botnets on the internet, Srizbi, has been resurrected.
After two ISPs stopped offering service to McColo about two weeks ago, global spam mail dropped 70 percent due to the shutdown. Since last Sunday, spam volume sent rose around 37 percent of the original amount before McColo was pulled offline on November 11.
Srizbi, Asprox, Mega-D, Rustock, and other spam botnets are fully operational again, and in several cases using ISPs located outside of the United States. Any time a botnet is hosted on an ISP not within the United States, it becomes even more difficult to shut down, security experts say.
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After two ISPs stopped offering service to McColo about two weeks ago, global spam mail dropped 70 percent due to the shutdown. Since last Sunday, spam volume sent rose around 37 percent of the original amount before McColo was pulled offline on November 11.
Srizbi, Asprox, Mega-D, Rustock, and other spam botnets are fully operational again, and in several cases using ISPs located outside of the United States. Any time a botnet is hosted on an ISP not within the United States, it becomes even more difficult to shut down, security experts say.
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Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Facebook Wins $873M Judgment Against Spammer
Social networking web site Facebook has won a legal judgment against Adam Guerbuez, a spammer in Canada who has kept a low profile since the lawsuit was filed several months ago.
Guerbuez is said to have sent more than 4 million spam messages to Facebook users in March and April, after hijacking Facebook accounts and using bots to then log into the stolen accounts and start sending out the spam.
Facebook probably won't receive much of the court imposed $837M fine, but plan on collecting what they can. The site also plans to launch lawsuits against other spammers, but did not say when that will take place.
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Guerbuez is said to have sent more than 4 million spam messages to Facebook users in March and April, after hijacking Facebook accounts and using bots to then log into the stolen accounts and start sending out the spam.
Facebook probably won't receive much of the court imposed $837M fine, but plan on collecting what they can. The site also plans to launch lawsuits against other spammers, but did not say when that will take place.
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Saturday, November 22, 2008
One More Ineternet Explorer 8 Update Planned Before Release
"We will release one more public update of IE8 in the first quarter of 2009, and then follow that up with the final release," said Dean Hachamovitch, IE general Manager. Hachamovitch urged users to notify Microsoft about any major issues. "Our plan is to deliver the final product after listening for feedback about critical issues," he said.
The first beta version of IE8 made its debut in March at the annual MIX08 conference in Las Vegas. Microsoft released IE8 beta 2 in late August. The update included a new color-coded tab system, enhanced address bar, and upgraded privacy protections.
The first beta version of IE8 made its debut in March at the annual MIX08 conference in Las Vegas. Microsoft released IE8 beta 2 in late August. The update included a new color-coded tab system, enhanced address bar, and upgraded privacy protections.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
USB 3.0 Specifications Now Complete and Available
The USB 3.0 Promoters Group has announced that the USB 3.0 specification was finally complete. The specification is a sort of roadmap that allows manufacturers to build controllers and products utilizing the USB 3.0 standard. The specification has now been turned over to the USB Implementers Forum, the managing body for USB specifications.
The specification for USB 3.0 debuted at the SuperSpeed USB Developers Conference in San Jose on November 17. Among the new improvements that USB 3.0 will bring are higher data speeds and enhanced power efficiency.
The first USB 3.0 discrete controllers will be available in the second half of 2009 and the first consumer products using USB 3.0 are expected to be available in 2010. The first products to be commercially available for the specification will be flash drives, external hard drives, and digital music players.
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The specification for USB 3.0 debuted at the SuperSpeed USB Developers Conference in San Jose on November 17. Among the new improvements that USB 3.0 will bring are higher data speeds and enhanced power efficiency.
The first USB 3.0 discrete controllers will be available in the second half of 2009 and the first consumer products using USB 3.0 are expected to be available in 2010. The first products to be commercially available for the specification will be flash drives, external hard drives, and digital music players.
Full Story
Friday, November 14, 2008
Microsoft Launches First U.S. Store
Microsoft has opened its first online store in the U.S., selling all of its products at a one-stop-shop. Customers will be able to buy and download products via Electronic Software Distribution (ESD) and can also get direct shipments. With the launch, U.S. customers can buy first party software and hardware directly from the company via an online catalog.
Buying via ESD gives customers the advantage of having perpetual storage of their product keys. Product keys are stored in a Microsoft Store Account alongside a purchase history so they can be used to re-install software at any time. Microsoft Stores are already available in the U.K., Germany and Korea. Launches in Japan, France, Spain and the Netherlands are expected in the near future.
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Buying via ESD gives customers the advantage of having perpetual storage of their product keys. Product keys are stored in a Microsoft Store Account alongside a purchase history so they can be used to re-install software at any time. Microsoft Stores are already available in the U.K., Germany and Korea. Launches in Japan, France, Spain and the Netherlands are expected in the near future.
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Monday, November 10, 2008
Seagate introduces 500 GB self encrypting laptop drives
Seagate announced new full disk encryption (FDE) Momentus self encrypted drives with capabilities of up to a half terabyte (500GB).
As of January of 2005, more than 245 million records had been breached on laptops, with 50% of these breaches occurring in Fortune 1000 corporations, 25% in the military, 16% in higher education, and 9% in the medical field.
Seagate is offering two modes for the drives. Many businesses and other organizations will use bundled McAfee software for hard disk drive detection, encryption policy management, authentication, and security auditing. The 320 GB versions of the Momentus encrypted hard drives are shipping already, while the 500 GB editions are slated for availability next year.
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As of January of 2005, more than 245 million records had been breached on laptops, with 50% of these breaches occurring in Fortune 1000 corporations, 25% in the military, 16% in higher education, and 9% in the medical field.
Seagate is offering two modes for the drives. Many businesses and other organizations will use bundled McAfee software for hard disk drive detection, encryption policy management, authentication, and security auditing. The 320 GB versions of the Momentus encrypted hard drives are shipping already, while the 500 GB editions are slated for availability next year.
Full Story
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Adobe patches 8 bugs in popular PDF apps
Adobe patched its Reader application for the fifth time this year, plugging eight security holes, including one that was reported to the company more than five months ago.
In late May, researchers at Core Security Technologies told Adobe of a critical vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat which could be used by hackers to launch attack code against Windows, Mac or Linux computers, was found in older versions of the software. Version 8.1.2 of Acrobat and Reader harbor the vulnerability and newer versions of the programs, Acrobat 9 and Reader 9, which were released in June, are immune.
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In late May, researchers at Core Security Technologies told Adobe of a critical vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat which could be used by hackers to launch attack code against Windows, Mac or Linux computers, was found in older versions of the software. Version 8.1.2 of Acrobat and Reader harbor the vulnerability and newer versions of the programs, Acrobat 9 and Reader 9, which were released in June, are immune.
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