Security updates from MS

Security updates from Microsoft:
Microsoft released security updates exclusively for MS-Office this Tuesday. These include a fix for the bug in Excel that was being exploited by attackers ever since the related virus code was posted on net. There were four security updates released for Excel, Outlook, Office 2000 and Office's web. Although MS releases security patches for Windows or Internet Explorer every month, the recent updates are considered special as they exclusively focus on Office. Between 2006 and 2007, the number of attacks on Office were doubled. Malicious entities are looking toward Office as a vector for delivering malicious code.

The trust that business organizations had in MS is in decline these days. Considering the fact that Bill Gates is stepping down in June this year, these are tough times for Microsoft.

Say yes to wide screen displays:
A study found that wide screen displays boost employee productivity and achieve a production gains of 76 extra work days a year per worker. The study also found out that wide screen displays realize an annual cost savings of around $8500 per staff member working on an annual salary of around $32500. Other interesting findings are:-

1. Large wide screen or dual-monitor configurations are better suited for work that involves multiple documents or applications.

2. 24-inch wide screen displays are better suited for text editing than both single standard format (17-inch and 19-inch) and dual standard format (17-inch and 19-inch) monitor configurations.

3. Dual-wide screen configurations in 22-inches or larger are better for spreadsheet editing than single wide screen or standard format displays.

If my employers listen to this and give me a 24-inch screen, then I can chat and blog from a dual monitor configurated screen.
[See point 1. Blogging and Chatting come under multiple applications;)]

Ah, I'd love that.

Companies ban social networking sites:
A survey condusted in UK found that nearly 20% of UK companies have blocked social networking sites like Orkut, Myspace, Facebook, etc due to various reasons. These reasons include reduction in employee productivity and malware. These sites accounted for nearly 47% of usage of employee work time and companies feel that they are reducing the concentration and work levels of their employees.

The survey also found that the usage of Gmail increased (this may be attributed to the cracked CAPTCHA of Gmail). But still Yahoo leads the way with 90% of spam generated from its accounts.

I was just wondering if the companies can allow social networking sites as well as install 24-inch screens. Social networking sites decrease productivity and wide screens increase productivity. It all evens out in the end (w.r.f this topic and the above one). My little grey cells must have been excited up there today.

Snippets:

• SanDisk introduced Sansa Fuze MP3 player, a competitor to iPod Nano.
• Microsoft to introduce 60GB XBox360 instead of the current 20GB model, by the end of June.
• Sluggish sales prompt Wal-Mart to remove $199 gPC (a Linux based PC) from its shelves.
• Security researchers say that a previously patched IE 6 bug can still be exploited (Ah!! bugs, bugs and bugs from Windows. Sometimes I wonder whether MS develops software or bugs)
  
• Hackers claim that they unlocked the Apple iPhone 2.0 software.
• Younger online shoppers are more likely to fall for scams and identity theft.
• Mozilla releases Firefox 3 Beta 4.
• A warning is issued that some security access cards that use RFID technology are vulenarble to hack attacks. RFID-Hack Hits 1 Billion Digital Access Cards Worldwide.

500 GB USB now!!!

Buffalo unveils 500 GB portable drive:
Buffalo Technology introduced a 500GB version of its MiniStation TurboUSB hard disk drive. The 500GB model joins other systems in the MiniStation TurboUSB line and costs US$329. The device features a plastic chassis equipped with shock resistant technology. The drive connects to a host Mac or PC using USB 2.0 and 1.1. The USB cable is built into the drive and wraps around the outside for easy storage. Inside is a 5400 RPM mechanism connected via a USB to SATA bridge. The drive measures 5 x 0.8 x 3.3 inches and weighs 0.42 lbs. It's powered over the USB interface. Software is included, but it's Windows-only. Regardless, the drive is Mac-compatible.

European Union approves Google-DoubleClick deal:
European Union approved Google-DoubleClick merger. After Microsoft failed to make a deal with Yahoo recently, this deal might thwart Microsoft's bid for Internet supremacy. In a statement released, European Commission rules that the Google-DoubleClick merger is unlikely to harm consumers in ad serving or online advertising intermediation markets.The E.U.'s competition regulator reached its decision after a four-month in-depth investigation of the US$3.1 billion merger, which received the approval of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in December.

A merger of Google and DoubleClick will not hurt competition because the companies are not competitors, the Commission said. The Commission also examined the risk of Google tying sales of its services to use of those of DoubleClick, or vice versa, to boost revenue. However, it concluded that Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL present sufficiently strong market alternatives that a merged Google-DoubleClick would be unable to exploit the link in that way.

BlackBerry Servers Ripe for the Hacking:
A penetration testing consultancy NTA Monitor has found that many companies running BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) with Microsoft Exchange were taking the path of least resistance by opening unencrypted ports from the heart of their network to service providers. The providers, in turn, opened a return back to the BES that would pass through firewalls without any policies being applied. This left the network open on several levels, including session hijacking, IP spoofing, or just the interception of unencrypted traffic.

"A hacker could potentially use this back channel to move around inside an organization undetected, removing confidential information or installing malware on to the network," said Roy Hills, NTA's technical director. The company recommends implementing a BES in a demilitarized zone (DMZ), which would isolate attacks against the sever from the wider network to fight back the security flaw. However, this added complexity, and added complexity added expense. So, companies now have to choose the combination between expenses and the security that provides the best possible results.

Snippets:

• Apple Updates Radeon HD 2600 XT Firmware
• Symantec's new Norton AntiVirus Dual Protection protects Mac OS and
  Windows partitions on Macs running Boot Camp.
• eMusic, the world's second largest music service after iTunes, announced Monday that its catalog now contains more than 3.5 million tracks.
• Verizon Business plans to start deploying a 100Gbps network over its major routes at the start of 2009.
• Microsoft and Sun expand their collaboration.
• Toast 9 Features Blu-Ray Video Streaming.

Spam, spam, spam!!!

Spam outsmarts Gmail filters:
Spam originating from Gmail accounts has doubled from 1.3 to 2.6 percent in February and not even the CAPTCHA technique is able to catch these 'creative' spammers. Google is the latest free Web mail provider to be victimized by spammers' efforts to create software to solve the codes, or at times, also employ people to solve the codes en masse. It is only a matter of time before CAPTCHA is removed from major web servers. Last month, security vendor Websense ascertained that spammers were using two hosts to crack Gmail's CAPTCHAs. The method appeared to be successful only 20 percent of the time. But if the procedure is repeated thousands of times, many new accounts can be generated and used to send spam.

Google is not alone. The CAPTCHAs of Microsoft's Windows Live Mail Service have been cracked too. Spammers use messages and links to advertise adult entertainment sites. So, next time you see a mail sent by a stranger having the message subject that arouses you, DON'T CLICK IT!!! If you do, then you can definitely say bye-bye to your email account.

CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.

IBM and Hitachi team on chip research:
IBM and Hitachi, the giants of the chip business have decided to team up and share development efforts which will focus on making chip circuits even smaller that may extend to the atomic level. This will be a two-year agreement and the financial details were not enclosed. Researchers from the companies will try to accelerate the miniaturization of chip circuitry by researching at the atomic level for 32-nanometer and 22-nm semiconductors. Making chip circuits smaller should allow computing devices to deliver power savings and performance gains. By teaming up together, the companies hope to reduce the costs of developing advanced chip technologies.

Chip makers such as IBM, Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are constantly upgrading their chip technologies. IBM has achieved a 45-nm chips last year and AMD is expected to make such an announcement soon. IBM already has a strong profile in advancing technology and it has ties with several US universities to develop carbon nanotubes, smaller transistors that could deliver better performance than current transistors.

Apple and MS may have Blu-Ray soon:
Sony is talking with software giants Apple and Microsoft about offering Blu-Ray disc drives for their systems. A Blu-Ray disc has the same dimensions as a standard CD or DVD and can have a storage capacity of 25GB (single layer) or 50GB(double layer). It is mainly used for data storage, high definition video and to play PS3 games. Although many companies have already incorporated such drives in their systems, Apple and Microsoft preferred to stay on the sidelines till now. Microsoft can accept this offer considering that the rivals to XBox 360, namely Sony's Play Station 3 has included this feature. Apple generally doesn't comment about the features prior to their products' release. So, we will know whether Apple included the Blu-Ray disc readers, only after Apple releases a product that contains them.

P.S.
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IT is 'sexy' and other news

IT is 'sexy' says European Union:
IT industry in Europe is facing a shortfall of around 300,000 skilled professionals and European Union's idea to make up for it is by bringing in more women. According to Viviane Reding, information society commissioner of EU, women should be convinced that IT isn't just for geeks and IT jobs are very sexy indeed. Given the stats that 58% of graduates are women but only 19% of IT professionals are of fairer sex, the comments are justified indeed. Women bring in more skill, dedication and motivation to the work environment and we guys who sit in a very small cubicle that is half occupied by a computer, will have something to be happy about when we go to the office.

C'mon women, make IT industry more 'sexy'!!!

Windows hacked using Firewire:
Widows is found to have yet another security bug that Microsoft overlooked. A New Zealand researcher Adam Boileau has hacked a Windows system at a security convention in 2006 but decided not to release the code. But after seeing that no measures are being taken by MS in these 2 years, he decided to go public. According to him, the attacker needs to have a Linux system connected physically to a Windows one with Firewire cable, to run his tool.

The tool, called Winlockpwn, allows users to bypass Windows authorization, was originally demonstrated at Ruxcon in 2006 at a talk called "Hit By A Bus: Physical Access Attacks With Firewire".

The attack takes advantage of the fact that Firewire can directly read and write to a system's memory, adding extra speed to data transfer. According to Boileau, because this capability is built into Firewire, Microsoft doesn't consider the problem a standard bug.

Firewire has become common on Windows systems in the past few years, and is especially prevalent on laptops.

The problem can be remedied by disabling Firewire when not in use.

For more information about Firewire, check the link below.
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire

Apple buys patents for iPhone technology:
Apple last week purchased a patent for the iPhone from British Telecom. The patent (U.S. patent 6,956,564) covers sensing technology originally invented by Lyndsay Williams for BT in 1997. The technology was originally deployed in a touch-sensitive computer called SmartQuill. This was capable of handwriting recognition, and could be used to write documents on paper the computer would then remember and store.

As it applies to the iPhone, the patent covers the devices designation as a portable computer that's responsive to movement and produces an electrical output signal representative of such movement. SmartQuill carried a small screen that offered different views as the device was turned around. The patent purchase could be designed to protect Apple's iPhone's movement detection sensor, which moves the screen and changes the representation offered on screen when iPhone is moved around.

A futile travail

I realize
All I want
All I need
Always lies just out of reach
I've been coming up empty

I realize I've
Run as fast as I can run
Pushed as hard as anyone
Still, there's nothing for me

I've tried as hard as I can
I've taken all I can stand
But I am running a race
Against myself

Burning out, strung along
Now my sorrow is my song
My whole world is half hearted

For my pain, I have none
After all is said and done
Now I'm back where I started

I've tried as hard as I can
I've taken all I can stand
But I am losing the race
Against myself
Yeah, losing the race
Against myself.....

In The End

(Verse 1)

It starts with love
One thing, I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind
I designed this rhyme
To explain in due time
All I know
Time is a valuable thing
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings
Watch it count down till the end of the day
The clock ticks life away
It's so unreal
You didn't look out below,
Watch the time go right out the window
Tryin to hold on
Didnt even know, I wasted it all
Just to watch you go
I kept everything inside
And even though I tried
It all fell apart
What it's meant to be
Will eventually,
be a memory, of a time


Chorus:

When I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end, it doesnt even matter
I had to fall, to lose it all
But in the end, it doesn't even matter

(Verse 2)
One thing, I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind
I designed this rhyme
To remind myself
How I tried so hard

Despite the way you were mocking me
Acting like I was part of your property
Remembering all the times you fought with me
I'm surprised it got so far
Things aren't the way they were before
You wouldn't even recognize me anymore
Not that you knew me back then
But it all comes back to me
In the end

You kept everything inside
And even though I tried it all fell apart
What it meant to be, will
Eventually, be a memory of a time
When I tried so hard,

Chorus:

And got so far,
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall, to lose it all
But in the end, it doesn't even matter

(Verse 3)
I've put my trust in you
Pushed as far, as I can go
For all this
There's only one thing you should know

I've put my trust, in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this
There's only one thing you should know

I've tried so hard,
And got so far,
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall, to lose it all,
But in the end, it doesn't even matter

Credit: Linkin Park (LP)

Pardon us, Busby Babes

February 6th, 2008 marked the 50th death anniversary of the Lost Babes. On 06-02-1958, the plane carrying the team of Manchester United crashed on the runway in Munich. The team was coming home after drawing 3-3 in European Championship quarter final match against Red Star Belgrade of Yugoslavia. On that fateful day, 7 of the first team players died in the crash which included Roger Byrne, Geoff Bent, Tommy Taylor, David Pegg, Mark Jones, Eddie Colman and Liam Whelan. After fighting for 21 days, Duncan Edwards succumbed and whole England mourned. But fortunately for United, Matt Busby survived. He built a young team comprising the deadly trio Bobby Charlton-George Best-Dennis Law often called The Holy Trinity. They won the coveted European Championship in 1968 and Busby's dream was fulfilled.

Special events were held at Old Trafford to mark the 50th anniversary of the Munich tragedy. The South End Tunnel was renamed The Munich Tunnel. A free exhibition of Busby era was opened. MUTV Online was available free to all the netizens on that day and telecasted the events live. 4 days later an EPL match was scheduled against cross-town rivals Manchester City. United's players wore the kit of the 1950s similar to the one worn by the Busby Babes. One minute silence was held prior to the match. Removing all the doubts that City fans may disrupt it, the Blues were well behaved and observed the silence.

From the word go, City showed the urgency and the will to win which brought them 2 goals in the first half. United were nowhere near their best. Rooney and Evra had to sit out of the game as they picked their 5th yellow card in the previous match. City's defence dictated the terms for most part of the match. Ronaldo, who is in ominous form this season had yet another off-day. Hargreaves and Carrick were brought on in 2nd half, but Utd couldn't get that elusive goal. Though Carrick got a goal in 90th minute, it was too late for the champions and the City were deserved winners on the night when nothing went right for the Red Devils.

Man Utd slumped to their 1st home defeat of the season. Red Devils including me were heart broken. The last time Utd lost to City at Old Trafford was in 1974 when Dennis Law's goal sunk the home team's hopes of avoiding the relegation. After 38 years, City did a double on United (they won the earlier derby 1-0 at Maine Road). Arsenal extended the lead on the top of the table to 5 points. With only 12 more games left in the League, it is extremely difficult for Man Utd to bounce back and retain the title. But what hurt the most is that Utd lost on the 50th death anniversary of the Lost Babes. Accepted that Utd played shitty football and was nowhere near its best, but at least the big occasion should have spurred the Reds to win. Though Ferguson refuses to admit it, the players were overwhelmed by the occasion instead of getting inspired.

R.I.P Busby Babes. We owe you an apology.