INFOWORLD AWARDS

InfoWorld 100 Awards

Every year, InfoWorld's editorial staff names 100 companies that have made the best use of technology to enhance their business. The InfoWorld 100 awards celebrate IT projects that use technology in smart, innovative, creative ways to meet business and technical objectives.

To nominate your company's project, fill out and submit our nomination form below. All nominations will be reviewed by InfoWorld's editors. The deadline for submitting nominations for the 2008 InfoWorld 100 awards has been extended to Sept. 2, and the winners will be announced Nov. 17.

Previous InfoWorld 100 winners
2007 InfoWorld 100
2006 InfoWorld 100
2005 InfoWorld 100
2004 InfoWorld 100
2003 InfoWorld 100

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Internet's bandwidth health still in trouble

Nemertes Research continued to throw cold water on the future of the Internet this week, releasing a study projecting that demand for bandwidth on the Web would exceed its capacity by 2012.

The study, which is a follow-up to similar research Nemertes conducted last year, projects that the current global economic recession will only delay rather than eliminate the increased demand for bandwidth the firm predicted last year. Then, Nemertes projected that traffic growth would eclipse supply by 2010, but the firm now says it has adjusted its projections to reflect deteriorating global economic conditions.

Does the bandwidth shortage mean out Internet future is in danger?

Nemertes emphasized it is not projecting that the Internet will crash or shut down altogether. Rather, the typical user probably will experience Internet "brownouts," where such high-bandwidth applications as high-definition video-streaming and peer-to-peer file-sharing will stop performing up to users' expectations, the firm says.

During a presentation at an Internet Innovation Alliance symposium this week, Nemertes analyst Mike Jude said that one consequence of declining Web performance would be that users would look less to the Internet to deliver their desired applications. "More and more applications are coming online that will drive expectations for service quality even higher," he said. "I'm not saying that the Internet is going to crash in 2011, but that people's expectations are going to be throttled. People will stop going to the Internet for those services."

One big reason for the projected growth in traffic is the continuing emergence of virtual workers who work from home or in remote branch offices located far away from companies' central offices, Nemertes says. In particular, these remote workers "expect seamless communications, regardless of where they conduct business" and they "often require more advanced communication and collaboration tools than those who work at headquarters," including videoconferencing and Web conferencing, the report says.

Another factor is simply the large growth in high-bandwidth applications for users to employ. More ISPs in the coming years will follow the lead of such companies as Comcast and AT&T trying out bandwidth caps that will charge extra money each month for heavy bandwidth consumers, Nemertes says. Although Comcast now caps individual bandwidth consumption at a relatively high 250GB per month, average future users will easily reach or surpass that bandwidth limit as they find higher-bandwidth applications to use, the firm says.

"Though this traffic load is [currently] more than typical, it certainly isn't exceptional," Nemertes reports. "This type of usage will become typical over the next three to five years. The fact that Comcast's network is, by its own admission, not able to cope with such usage patterns is a clear indication that the crunch we predicted last year is beginning to occur."

Looking forward, Nemertes says that if this capacity issue is not addressed, the Internet will fracture into a tiered system where companies with the most money will pay for specialized network infrastructure that will ensure their content is delivered at higher speeds than non-favored content.

source : www.infoworld.com

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NetWitness releases free version of security software

NetWitness, a vendor of networking threat-analysis software, is offering a free version of its NetWitness Investigator package by download, the company said Monday.
NetWitness Investigator is different from most other network-scanning software in that it uses forensic tools to examine applications and changes on content on the network, as well as attacks coming from outside the network, said Amit Yoran, NetWitness' chairman and CEO. The software package gives users detailed analyses of malicious activity on their networks.

NetWitness Investigator is designed to address gaps in other cybersecurity products, he said. It can help users identify cybersecurity problems, insider attacks, and sophisticated outsider attacks, and it can help with IT audits and antifraud investigations, the company said.

The company, which split off from ManTech in 2006, has customers in the U.S. government and the financial industry, according to NetWitness, based in Herndon, Va.

NetWitness Investigator doesn't rely on a list of known threats to protect users from cybersecurity threats, said Yoran, former director of the National Cyber Security Division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Instead, it looks for changes on the network and alerts users of possible problems
Sophisticated criminals and attackers sponsored by nations aren't going to use commonly known methods to attack their victims, Yoran said. "They're going to be using something a little more complex

Users of many cybersecurity products "are still unable to see a lot of the right information" about their networks, he added. Companies can be lulled into a false sense of security when they're using standard cybersecurity products, Yoran said.

Yoran hopes the free version will drive customers to the company's other products and services, and he sees the free download as a way to expose potential users to a new type of network monitoring, he said.

"We thought this was the right thing to do to contribute back to the community," he said.

The free version of Investigator is fully functional and ready for users to run on their networks. The free license allows up to 25 simultaneous users with a data capture of up to 1GB.

It also contains the major features of the Investigator Enterprise version, available for purchase. NetWitness has a YouTube demo page for Investigator, and the download is available on the NetWitness site.

The enterprise version of the software comes with Linux-based network appliances and is capable of remote network monitoring. The enterprise package of products includes Informer, an automated reporting engine, and Decoder, a data recording package.

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Windows 7 calculator for Vista

Windows 7 (seven) as the Younger Generation from windows the Vista was still not marketed by Microsoft. Was based on information that I could, windows 7 will be released next year (2009) in public. However for you that used SO your Vista possibly could feel mengunakan Windows 7dengan used Calculator Windows 7 to just was stylish as using Windows 7 or while waiting during the SO Window release 7 tsb. I myself have tried him and compared between calculator that was met to Windows Vista Windows 7. There was gotten by several differences feature and tampilan him. Calculator in windows 7 far more better than that was had by the vista. Pay attention to the picture was supervised this:

This was snapshot calculator that was met to Windows Vista:

And this was snapshot Calculator Windows 7:

Seen clear from tampilan him that windows 7 better. For the function and fitur-fitur him also often was gotten by the increase. One of them in calculator windows 7, we could edit again results of our counting. Then was gotten mode; programmer, statistic. In options him also was gotten; Date Calculation, Template, Unit Conversion. And we could also count easily the calculation of the issuing like the pay, and counted the loan of the pay. And that attracted him this application did not need us install to be able to be undertaken. I myself was still trying him to OS Windows Vista. It did not yet try him in Windows XP. Jika you intended to try him to OS Windows XP, don't forget review him through comment. If you wanted to try him in windows your Vista could download in link download was supervised that was given by me.

Free Download Here (Gubuk Free Download) :Windows 7 Calculator

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Internet Download Manager release version 5,15

The internet of Download Manager (IDM) already update and release the version 5,15 to 28 oct 2008. If you were still using IDM vers 5,14 already could immediately mengupdate him. Because in this new version was gotten by several improvements and optimasi so as to make the Internet of Download Manager increasingly effective to be used by us. And in the version this time the price from IDM was $30 that if you wanted to buy him officially. But if you wanted free could download in link was supervised that will be provided by me. If you wanted to know in more detail about IDM could read to my article beforehand here (the clique here) I personally suggested that you chose and used IDM as download the Manager you, apalgi to that hoby and liked download-download in the internet. Many surpluses that were owned by IDM compared with programs of Download Manager other like flashget or DAP.



The Install guidance:

• It was first that you download File Installer IDM 5,15 and file pach-a
• Afterwards you install to your OS(Operating System)
  
• After being finished,was opened file pach that was met to the folder of idmpatch5.15-www.d60pc.com
• Copy would file this inside directory where you install IDM (C:\the Files Program\the Internet of Download Manager)
• Then was opened file this and Run the program
• Finish
  

DOWNLOAD HERE

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Researchers crack WPA encryption

Two researchers have apparently cracked a part of the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption protocol.

Erik Tews and Martin Beck claim to have broken the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol in under 15 minutes. The breakthrough means that data sent from the router to the PC can be scanned, but not the other way around.

Access to this traffic could also enable a hacker to send false information to a client on the network.
The researchers developed a way to get the router to send out large volumes of traffic, thereby giving them a large data set to work with, in order to break the key using a mathematical formula the pair developed.

WPA's predecessor, Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), which was developed as one of the first wireless security systems in the 1990s, is now considered almost completely unsecure as it can be hacked in just a few minutes using tools easily available on the internet.

WPA2, an advanced version of the protocol, is not susceptible to the new attack and is still considered secure.

But WPA2 is a relatively new platform and was only made mandatory in all new products from March this year, meaning that many users may have routers that do not support the standard.

Experts believe that this latest development could open the door for a host of new wireless network attacks, forcing many businesses to upgrade their systems to remain protected.

Full details about the WPA hack will be revealed and discussed next week at the PacSec Applied Security Conference in Tokyo.

Copyright © 2008 vnunet.com

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Motorola Announces WiMax Dongle for Laptops

Motorola will offer the USBw 100 for multiple bands: The dongle, expect to ship in 2008’s fourth quarter, will allow laptop users to access WiMax networks in the most popular bands: 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz, and 3.5 GHz. The MIMO USB adapter
doesn’t have an announced price. A dongle extends the practical utility of WiMax
networks, because the vast majority of laptops won’t have WiMax built in or available as an internal option until sometime in 2009. PC Cards and ExpressCards are another option—Motorola already has a PC Card—but an increasing number of laptops eschew card-expansion slots for size, cost, and practical reasons. Few people need them these days. A dongle is not a thing of beauty, but it’s a great way to get an antenna out of a case and at an extension from a laptop.

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New worm exploits critical Windows bug

A worm that exploits the bug Microsoft patched in an emergency update 11 days ago is actively attacking systems, several security companies and researchers said Monday.

The worm, which Symantec Corp. labeled " Wecorl " but was dubbed "MS08-067.g" by Kaspersky Lab and Microsoft itself, likely originated in China, said Kevin Haley, a director with Symantec's security response team. "It may have come out of China," said Haley, who added that it appeared to target Chinese language versions of Windows 2000.

Haley confirmed that the worm is both different from the information-stealing Trojan horse that prompted Microsoft to issue the out-of-cycle patch on Oct. 23, and circulating in the wild.

Other researchers echoed Symantec's take that the worm installs multiple components on victimized PCs, including a Trojan downloader and rootkit code to mask it from security software. Helsinki-based F-Secure Corp ., for example, identified the former as "Trojan-Dropper.Win32.Agent.yhi" and the rootkit bits as "Rootkit.Win32.KernelBot.dg."

According to Haley, if the worm manages to infect a Windows PC, it also tries to attack all the machines on the same subnet. "If it can get behind the [fire]wall, then it can infect other systems," Haley said.

"That circumvents the firewall mitigation that Microsoft noted," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security Inc. "Enterprises typically have laptops configured to be location aware so when they're on the company network, parts of the firewall are disabled, or port 139 is allowed from known IP addresses."

In the security bulletin it released two weeks ago, Microsoft said that "standard default firewall configurations can help protect network resources from attacks that originate outside the enterprise perimeter."

Within days of the emergency patch , hackers had published working attack code on the Internet.

F-Secure said that the just-released worm is based on the exploit code that had been posted online last week. nCircle's Storms agreed that's likely.

Symantec rated the worm as a "Very Low" threat, although it maintained its ThreatCon, an all-around indicator of Internet security, at "2" because Microsoft issued an emergency patch. "It doesn't appear to be very widespread, although that could change, of course," said Haley.

As counter-intuitive as it sounds, Storms said that the appearance of a worm is actually a good thing. "Evidence that we're finding and detecting it means we're in a better situation than we were earlier," he argued. "If it had gone undetected and unfound [it would have meant] that enterprises didn't have any defense-in-depth. But because we're finding it, that means we have signatures for it."

Storms urged users who had not installed the MS08-067 update to do so immediately. "The worm may not have many legs, but you should get ahead of the game and deploy now," he said.

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50 Great Widgets For Your Blog

MyBlogLog’s Recent Readers - this widget can easily be called a hit amongst blog owners; its popularity even managed to convince Yahoo into buying MyBlogLog. The widget lets you see the avatars of recent visitors to your blog, provided they’re also members of MyBlogLog.
Mashable - get the latest social networking news from this very site.
Flickr Flash Photo Stream Badge - display images from your Flickr profile with a handy Flash photo stream.
Preview Anywhere - see a live preview of outgoing links in a small popup which activates on mouseover. Some find this annoying, while others might find it useful.
Twitter Badge - if your life is so interesting that everyone must know what you’re up to all the time, then a Twitter badge is the ideal counterpart to your blog. It’ll proudly displays your recent tweets.
Digg News - display the latest Digg links on your blog. Themeable and fully customizable.
FEEDJIT - real time traffic data directly in your blog’s sidebar.
LineBuzz - inline comments for your blog. Very handy for blogs with frequent lively discussions.
Flixn - display a stream directly from your webcam, so your blog visitors can always see what you’re up to.
3Jam - lets your visitors send messages to your mobile phone, without them knowing your phone number.
Jaxtr - with Jaxtr, your visitors can actually call you to your mobile phone; again, your number stays private.
LinkedInABox - show off your LinkedIn profile. Perfect for personal blogs.
Box Widget - enable visitors to use box.net’s online storage directly on your web site.
Price of gas - displaying gas prices on your blog might seem unnecessary to some, but it’s cool if you have a traffic/travel related blog.
iBegin Weather Widget - Display weather information in your sidebar. Just like with Price of Gas, works great with travel-related blogs.
ClockLink - display time in various time zones with these nifty Flash clocks.
Film Loops - display the latest loops from your FilmLoops account.
Daily Painters - display paintings from famous painters on your blog.
WhoLinked - show your visitors which sites have recently linked to your web site. Works with all major blog platforms.
Criteo AutoRoll - displays links to blogs similar to your blog.
Bitty Browser - embed a cute, fully functional mini web browser to your blog.
Leafletter - create a mini website and embed it into your blog.
WikiSeek - search Wikipedia with this simple widget.
FeedCount - show off the number of visitors to your blog with this handy little button.
Technorati Link Count - display the number of links your website has from one of the biggest blog authorities - Technorati.
MyPageRank - another good way to show how “big” your blog is is to show off your Google PageRank.
CheckPageRank - in addition to showing your PageRank, this widget also shows your Alexa ranking.
BlinkxIt - embed a link to related videos directly into your website.
Skype button - display your Skype online/offline status on your blog.
RockYou Horoscope - not something I would personally use, but some people are into horoscope. Hell, most people are into horoscope. Anyway, this widget shows horoscope (doh!) and does it in a nicely designed colorful box.
del.icio.us Tagometer - display how many times have del.icio.us users saved your page.
del.icio.us Linkrolls - this badge shows your latest bookmarks from del.icio.us.
Timelines - need to create a timeline? Seek no further. This widget makes it really easy.
PollDaddy - PollDaddy lets you create beautiful polls in no time, and display them at your blog.
Vizu - another poll-making widget, compatible with all major blog platforms.
AnswerTips - display definitions from Answers.com for various terms on your blog. The definitions are shown in bubbles which are activated on doubleclick.
AnswerBoxes - give your visitors a chance to enter a term themselves, and get a definition from Answers.com
Now Playing - if you got to share your current playlist contents with the world, Sigamp will do the trick. Works with most popular music players, including Foobar, Winamp, iTunes and others.
BuzzBoost - display headlines from your RSS feed on any website.
LibraryThing - show off the latest books you’ve been reading.
Plaxo Address Book - let your most faithful visitors access their address books direclty from your site.
AuctionAds - a widget that displays auctioned items on eBay, and gives you a percentage of the price paid when sometimes buys an item.
aStore - similar to AuctionAds, only for Amazon. Create a mini-store on your site and receive profit when someone buys an item through your store.
Plazes - show your current location on a Plazes map.
Stockalicious - track your portfolio with this widget, and share it with others. Let everyone know how much money you’ve lost.
Yahoo! For Good - create a charity badge and ask for donations for a worthy cause.
Giftspace - your friends never know what to buy you for birthday? Let them know what you really want with this nifty widget.
MixMap - see where are the visitors to your MySpace profile from on a map.
Google Map Widget - display a searchable Google Map on your website.
Google Video Search - add a video search form and selected videos to your web site.
Odeo player - display an Odeo player for and podcast right there in your sidebar.

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Anti-malware testing standard proposed

Symantec, McAfee, F-Secure and Kaspersky are among the names who have pledged support for the project, which boasts a list of more than 40 security vendors and media groups as part of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organisation.

The new system would provide guidelines as to how a test should be conducted, including the types of malware used, method of analysis, and accurate support for a conclusion. The guidelines also outline procedures for studying and disclosing new malware samples.

Many security vendors and experts have suggested that an updated standard for testing be established in recent years. Current security tests, such as the VB100 system, have been criticized for their testing procedures and what some say is an inability to accurately access certain types of anti-malware programs.

The group hopes that its outlines will allow both security firms and independent testing groups to research the effectiveness of anti-malware software with better accuracy and a built-in neutrality.

"While there have been many great security software reviews in the past, many poor reviews have confused or misled people," commented McAfee senior vice president Jeff Green.

"This is a significant milestone that should skew the balance towards fair and scientific testing, providing users with a true viewpoint on the security protection vendors provide."

Copyright © 2008 vnunet.com

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Intel unveils mobile phone technology

Intel has taken the wraps off its new line of mobile phone technology, which allows better gaming performance, power saving and digital imaging capability.

Codenamed Bulverde, the new technology will find its way onto Intel's X-Scale processor line, commonly used in PDAs and mobile phones.

The new features are borrowed from existing notebook and desktop processor lines. SpeedStep -- first seen in Intel's mobile Pentium III CPUs -- will now feature on the X-Scale, allowing real-time voltage and frequency changes to preserve battery life.

MMX technology, first introduced in the original Pentium, will also be incorporated onto the chip. Dubbed Intel Wireless MMX, the technology will bring audio and video enhancements that Intel hopes will increase gaming performance, video streaming and voice recognition. Wireless MMX was originally announced last year.

Other features include Intel's Quick Capture feature, which allows higher quality video and still camera sensors to produce higher resolution images (up to four megapixel) and higher quality video capture.

Expect more information on Bulverde early 2004.

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Warning on Halloween web fraud

Scammers are latching onto Halloween web sites as a method of spreading infectious code internet monitoring company Websense is warning.
The company is warning that sites selling Halloween gifts and services have been targeted as never before and internet users can be put at risk of infection from code embedded within them.

“One particular example is a Web site selling Halloween costumes. The deobfuscation returned by ThreatSeeker shows that the JavaScript has multiple layers of obfuscation,” the company said in an alert.

“The script contacts a malicious server in the .biz TLD. Within the ThreatSeeker network, we have seen almost ten thousand sites infected with the same obfuscation technique.”

Another technique involves building a redirect into a popular web site. Websense has detected over 13,000 such script injections in popular sites.

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VMware brings virtualisation to mobile phones

VMware is to put virtualisation technology on mobile phones so that users can combine multiple profiles, such as one for business and one for personal use, into one handset.
Announced today, VMware Mobile Virtualization Platform (MVP) is a thin layer of software embedded on the handset that decouples the applications and data from the underlying hardware.However, it is unclear when devices using this technology will become available.

VMware claimed that MVP should enable handset makers to bring devices to market faster, as the operating system and application stack need not be tied to the phone's underlying hardware, as is currently the case. It should also enable greater security by allowing some services, such as authentication and billing, to be isolated from the rest of the handset.
"We see it as the next step in the progression we have been making from servers to desktops and onwards," said Fredrik Sjostedt, VMware director of marketing for EMEA.

Sjostedt said that MVP works in a very similar way to virtualisation on x86 PC systems, with a hypervisor sitting between the hardware and the operating system. In this case, it is a very lightweight solution that is less than 20kB in size and "imposes a tax on the CPU of 2 percent at most."

The technology is based on that of a firm called Trango Virtual Processors, which VMware has just acquired.

For businesses, MVP will allow IT departments to deploy a corporate phone 'personality' that can run alongside the employee's personal phone on the same physical device, according to VMware.

"From a corporate perspective, it makes it possible to have a shield between the corporate profile with Exchange and CRM, and a worker's personal mode with their own contacts and music with no linkage between the two," said Sjostedt.

The technology will also make it easier for users to migrate applications and data to a new handset simply by copying the files that make up their profile.

Sjostedt said that VMware has been seeing "a lot of interest" from handset makers in MVP, but declined to name any vendor that has committed to using the technology. He likewise declined to offer a timeframe for when any handsets using MVP are likely to be available.

"That's up to the handset makers and depends on when they can integrate this into their designs," he explained.

While MVP is likely to have support for Windows Mobile and Symbian – Trango is a member of the Symbian Foundation – Sjostedt said that the value of the technology was in enabling functions to be partitioned away from each other, so that services such as an electronic wallet and security certificates can each live in their own self-contained profile.

"We're breaking down the idea of the monolithic mobile operating system," he said.

Virtualisation is becoming a widespread technology on desktops and servers, but putting it into devices as small as phones is a new move for VMware, and Sjostedt was unsure what kind of impact this might have on the specifications future handsets would require.

"It would depend on the workload," he explained, adding that the trend is already there for more and more powerful handsets. "Moore's law still applies, and we’re not expecting it to slow down just yet," he said.

Copyright © 2008 vnunet.com

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WSJ: Google and Yahoo may call the whole thing off

As the U.S. Department of Justice prolongs its review of their search advertising deal, Google and Yahoo lean further toward scrapping their plans, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Signed in June, the deal would let Yahoo run Google search ads and split the revenue. The companies voluntarily delayed implementing the agreement until early October to give the DOJ a chance to review the deal's antitrust implications.
If the deal is scrapped, it would fan the flames of criticism that have been roasting Yahoo's executives ever since they got blamed by many stockholders for derailing Microsoft's acquisition attempt.

Right before walking away from the negotiating table in early May after a tumultuous three-month bid, Microsoft offered to buy all of Yahoo for $33 per share.

At the time, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that the possibility that Yahoo might enter into a search ad deal with Google had played a big part in Microsoft's decision to drop its bid.

Later, Microsoft came back and tried to buy Yahoo's search advertising business, but Yahoo instead opted for the more limited Google deal.

Now it looks like Yahoo might end up with its hands empty -- no deals with either Google or Microsoft, and a precarious financial situation that has led to two rounds of layoffs this year, a voluntary exodus of many high-ranking business and technology leaders, and much distress among shareholders.

Recently, there have been rumors that Yahoo and AOL are in talks to merge, but there is skepticism over how beneficial that deal would be in the long run.

Although fusing the companies would give Yahoo an instant revenue and market share boost, it's not clear how bringing together two struggling Internet companies would solve their respective problems.

According to the Journal, Google and Yahoo met on Thursday with the DOJ, which apparently wants the companies to sign a consent decree outlining the deal's terms and subjecting their compliance to a judge's oversight.

This condition is particularly unappealing to Google, and might lead both companies to cancel the deal as early as next week, reported the Journal, citing anonymous sources.

A variety of ad industry groups and search market competitors have voiced objections to the deal, saying it would strengthen Google's already dominant position in search advertising.

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Critical infrastructure often under cyberattack

Computer systems that run the world's critical infrastructure are not as secure as they should be and insiders are mad.
That's according to a new survey released Monday that asked management, network engineers, and administrators in nine infrastructure industries about the state of cybersecurity in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

Insiders felt that all of these industries, save financial services, were unprepared for cyberattacks. These unready industries included: water, utilities, oil and gas, telecommunications, transportation, emergency services, chemicals, and the shipping industry.

And that's bad news because more than half of them said that their companies had already been hit with some sort of cyber incident, data leak, or insider attack. Another 14 percent said they were expecting something like this to happen in the next year. "None of them thought that they were very prepared for either insider threats or data leakage," said Elan Winkler, director of critical infrastructure solutions with Secure Computing.

About 90 percent of the survey's 199 respondents were directly employed in infrastructure industry with the other 10 percent listed some other occupation such as academic or consultant. Winkler's company paid for the study, which was produced by IDC's Energy Insights. IDC is owned by the IDG News Service's parent company, International Data Group.

Although there have been scattered reports of computer compromises affecting critical infrastructure, most companies keep this kind of information secret because it is considered to be potentially embarrassing.

That's not the case in the IT security industry, which often prides itself on the open disclosure of information, and there is often a culture clash between IT security folks who push to make security information public, and more conservative utility security workers, who worry that this kind of knowledge could be misused.

The Energy Insights survey found that many insiders are dissatisfied with the lack of preparedness within their own industries. About three quarters of respondents said they were "annoyed, angry or frustrated" with the state of critical infrastructure security, Winkler said.

"These are the people who actually know what's going on and they're unhappy," she said. "That, to me was a real surprise"

Some industries are farther along than others, Winkler said. Financial, energy and telecommunications are the most prepared, she said. While the water industry, shipping, and transportation industries were rated least-ready.

However, the Energy sector was considered the most in need of improved security because it is the biggest, most vulnerable and easiest to breach, respondents said.

Cost was ranked as the biggest impediment to security, Winkler said.

Industries that have already seen how a major disaster can affect their bottom line are more likely to have a serious risk analysis models that take things like cybersecurity into account, said Eric Byres,] chief technology officer with Byres security, a critical infrastructure security consultancy. "What I'm seeing is that there is a real mix," he said. "Some companies are really on the ball... and then I see other companies that are very much in the dark, who don't get it."

The companies that are prepared for the next cyber attack are the ones that have buy-in from the bosses, Byres said. "It really gets driven from the upper management," he said.

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Intel introduces new technology aimed at new approach to care

Intel has rolled out its first in a series of health monitoring devices aimed at tracking chronic and age-related conditions. The new technology, which connects patients and physicians, gives the company a foothold in what is considered a new category of personal health systems.

The Intel Health Guide goes beyond the simple patient monitoring systems on the market today, Intel executives said. It combines an in-home patient device with an online interface - the Intel Health Care Management Suite - making it possible for clinicians to monitor patients in their homes and manage care remotely.

Intel received Food and Drug Administration clearance in July for the Intel Health Guide.

"The Health Guide is a step forward in offering more personalized and effective management of chronic health conditions in the home," saidLouis Burns, vice president and general manager of the Intel Digital Health Group. "Intel has spent years researching the needs of both caregivers and patients, and we are now moving to launch a series of products that will help extend care from the hospital to the home. Our products will help address the challenges of an aging population and rising rates of chronic disease."

The technology offers interactive tools for personalized care management and includes vital sign collection, patient reminders, surveys, multimedia educational content and feedback and communications tools such as video conferencing and alerts. Clinicians have ongoing access to data to better manage each patient's conditions.

Intel is collaborating with healthcare industry leaders around the world to validate the clinical benefits of the Health Guide for a wide range of chronic disease conditions and health and wellness applications.

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Browser security review in review

Vendors never like it when their products don't get good reviews. This normal reaction held true with my latest product roundup, a review of limited-emulation, "sandbox" products designed to protect browser users from Web-based malware. Authentium called and wrote several times regarding my evaluation of their SafeCentral product, which I gave a rating of Poor.

I noted many substantive issues, but the biggest was that SafeCentral allowed malware, even in a protected browser session, to infect the underlying host computer. Authentium agreed with my assessment (on that key point), but argued that I was judging the product against a level of protection that it was never intended to provide, and based on that point, my review was unfair. Authentium classifies their product as a "reverse sandbox," and stated that they assume all computers are infected, and therefore concentrate their effort on keeping SafeCentral-secured browser sessions safe from potential malware and DNS interactions.

Normally, I dismiss comments like these as the typical complaints of vendors disappointed in the outcome, but Authentium had a valid point. InfoWorld's editors and I felt it appropriate to publish their official statement here:

Dear Editor,

Your recent Test Center article, "Sandbox security versus the evil Web," incorrectly characterized Authentium's SafeCentral as a "sandbox." As a result, SafeCentral was improperly compared to products that use sandboxing.

Sandboxing is a term of industry with a specific meaning among anti-malware developers, vendors, consultants, and analysts. It describes an unambiguous approach to security which Authentium's SafeCentral does not use. SafeCentral uses a technology known as "reverse sandboxing." In terms of security, there's a world of difference between sandboxing and reverse sandboxing:

Sandboxing tries to stop malware from being installed on a computer. Reverse sandboxing, pioneered by SafeCentral, assumes the computer is already infected or will soon be infected, yet still delivers secure Web sessions.

By definition, reverse sandboxing does not prevent malware from getting into a system, nor does it try to prevent malware from coming in. There are dozens of antivirus, firewall, and Internet security suite products to fill that role. We recommend users maintain updated versions of such security tools on their systems.

SafeCentral's role is to stop malware that slips past all other security measures, as part of a comprehensive approach to end-point security. Again, we assume the user's PC is already infected, yet still deliver secure Web sessions by stopping any and all malware from operating.

It's clear to see that SafeCentral does not belong in a roundup of sandboxing products that are designed to keep malware off computers, and instead be compared to any products that claim to deliver secure online Web sessions on PCs already crawling with malware.

We are confident your testers will find what other testers have concluded: Malware on your computer is neutralized when SafeCentral is protecting the user's Web session. For the benefit of your readers, here are some links to technical papers and articles that cover SafeCentral in the proper context:

"Reverse Sandbox"
Introductory WhitePaper
SafeCentral.com

Doug Brunt
President & CEO, Authentium, Inc.

In defense of my review
The use of the term "sandbox" to classify the products in the review was just a generic descriptor to describe products that attempt to keep computers or browser sessions separated from each other to prevent malware infection. We considered many other summary descriptions, including "limited-emulation products," "browser protection products," and "red/green state protection products." In the end, we went with the term "sandbox" because it was the most frequent descriptor given by the vendors themselves, and because it would probably be the most recognizable term by readers for these types of products. In the end, the label used to describe these products isn't as important as the protection they provide. We don't see the sandbox-versus-reverse-sandbox argument as a particularly strong one from our point of view.

Also, I evaluated all products compared to their marketing. Authentium does use the term "reverse sandbox" on its Web site, where the company also describes how SafeCentral works. But I wonder if a majority of readers could read that description and come away with the knowledge that SafeCentral only protects data within the secured browser session, and only while in a secured browser session. As Authentium's site puts it, "SafeCentral's innovative 'Reverse Sandbox' approach protects your data even if your PC has been compromised."

Because SafeCentral doesn't stop your PC from getting or remaining infected, it is allowing malware to take complete control of your PC and its data outside of the secured browser session. Most malware programs today are "downloaders," small programs that gain a foothold and then download larger, more sophisticated programs, which in turn allow intruders to remote in using a backdoor. With that in mind, merely protecting a browser session doesn't seem overly useful to me. It's like installing a home alarm system designed only to prevent an intruder from coming in the front door and calling it a complete success if the house is robbed through the window.

Apart from the security issues, SafeCentral is rough around the edges. I did mention in the review that SafeCentral doesn't support Internet Explorer (a big oversight, considering IE is the world's most used browser) and has an overly complicated install. But due to space limitations I didn't describe SafeCentral's error-filled user interface.

For example, during the initial install, SafeCentral tells the user to "click here" to launch the program. But instead of "here" being an active launch area, it is only a picture of the launch area (unbeknownst to the frustrated user, who clicks it over and over without success). In three separate installs, the product's own reporting tool gave me inaccurate status reports all three times. Further, two of the three times (separate computers, separate locations) the product refused to install all the requested modules or gave conflicting reports on whether the modules were already installed. Authentium confirmed all these points and said they had been previously reported by other customers.

So my overall opinion still stands. SafeCentral may protect you during a secured browser session, but if it doesn't protect your underlying computer, even from things originating within the secured browser session, its usefulness is sorely limited.

But that's just my opinion. Readers, what do you think? How useful would this "reverse sandbox" product be to you? What if it were not a stand-alone solution, but a component of a traditional anti-malware defense suite? Would it seem more useful then? Let me know, and we'll see about publishing some of your responses in a future column.

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Microsoft: Windows 7 will run on SSD netbooks

Microsoft is not pushing Vista for netbooks because of its larger footprint, but Windows 7 will be able to comfortably run on netbooks with as little as 16GB of storage

Netbooks equipped with solid-state drives (SSD) sporting as little as 16GB of storage capacity will be able to comfortably run Windows 7, Microsoft said on Thursday.
The operating system and auxiliary files generated by Windows 7 -- including restore files, log points, hibernation files, and temp files -- will require 8GB, leaving 8GB for applications and user data, Microsoft senior lead program manager Leon Braginski said during a presentation at its Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC).
The entire install of Windows 7 will be smaller than Vista ," Braginski said. Thus, 16GB is "enough for a good Windows 7 experience."

The first subnotebook computer, or netbook, released last year, the Asus Eee PC 701, came with a 4GB SSD. It ran Linux because Windows Vista could not fit , and because Microsoft refused to license XP to netbook makers at that time.

As netbooks started taking off, Microsoft came around , allowing netbook makers to license Windows XP Home Edition .

Though many netbooks now come with standard hard drives, Microsoft is working on slimming down XP too so it can fit on low-end netbooks with SSDs as small as 2GB , such as the One Laptop Per Child project's XO laptop.

Microsoft is not pushing Windows Vista for netbooks today, in part because its larger footprint , and because larger-capacity SSDs, i.e. with 8GB or 16GB or more, remain pricey.

Gartner expects the wholesale prices of SSDs to be halved by 2010, when Windows 7 is expected to be released.

Braginski would not say whether Microsoft plans to create a stripped-down version of Windows 7 specifically for netbooks. He did say that Microsoft has no plans to create a special user interface for Windows 7 for netbooks' smaller screens. Windows 7 will also not officially support boot from USB flash drives, Braginski said.

Copyright © 2008 infoworld.com

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IBM adds Mac support to Lotus Symphony

IBM has added Mac support to Lotus Symphony, allowing Apple users to access the free application suite from their desktop.

Big Blue said that it had been encouraged by appeals from the Symphony community to add Mac support for Symphony 1.2, which was launched on 4 November.

Mac users will find Symphony tuned to "take advantage" of the Aqua GUI to ensure that their computer's theme of simplicity is maintained in the application suite, IBM added.

Symphony 1.2 will also carry support for the Ubuntu 8.0.4 Linux operating system.

"Support for Mac and Ubuntu are good examples of IBM's long-term commitment to critical standards like the Open Document Format," said Michael Karasick, IBM Lotus China Development Labs director.

Karasick also discussed the Symphony roadmap for 2009, claiming that future generations of Symphony will be developed entirely on the ODF 1.2 and OpenOffice 3.0 software code base in order to bring it in line with OpenOffice technology.

"IBM also sees potential for the global developer community to use Symphony extensively in concert with ODF 1.2 so that documents can be more deeply integrated into business applications and processes," he said.

Symphony 1.2 will contain support for data pilot tables, or pivot tables, which will enable users to sort out large spreadsheets in more meaningful ways and make the spreadsheet data more accessible to business activities, according to IBM.

Copyright © 2008 vnunet.com

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Do we value security?

Do we value better security? That's a fair question. I know my readers do, but I'm talking about the population in general. Computer malware has been around almost as long as computers have been. Even in the earliest days, the biggest "iron" that completely filled large rooms, with only dummy terminals attached, had to worry about computer worms and viruses. I've written about this extensively in the past, including some opening chapters in a few of my books, but Wikipedia has a short summary about the history of malware.

As computer software security awareness has spread (back in the original days of the PC, computer viruses were considered an urban legend and declared so by national computer magazines), networking and software complexity has increased to a point that user awareness just cannot keep up. If you look at facts and figures, it is clear that we aren't winning the war against malicious computer acts. It's quite the opposite. Evidence shows that it is continuing to get worse and few announced solutions appear suited to change that trend anytime soon, though I have hope.

C-level employees and managers certainly care about security. The increasingly regulated business environment, in which they can actually be held personally accountable to state agencies and law enforcement, makes many of them care. But in truth, many only care to the extent that security is carried out to prevent significant decreases in stock price or customer market share.

Sadly, it doesn't appear that shareholders or market share are impacted that much, even by significant computer security events. There is no better example than that of the TJ Maxx security breach. An international group of professional hackers instigated a security event so big that it stole tens of millions of customer's financial data, resulted in over a hundred million dollars in losses, and continues to be held as the ultimate example of what can happen to corporations to this day by security consultants.

So, did that breach materially affect TJ Maxx's stock price and customer base? Some news reports on the TJ Maxx incident would have you believe so. This article reports the following events:

• $118 - $135 million in charges related to the massive security breach
• Continued international negative media exposure
• Drop in share price and future charges against future earnings
• A class action lawsuit has been filed seeking an addition tens of millions of dollars in damages

Another article on the TJ Maxx breach said the following: "That 1.7 percent decrease in TJX's stock price is in line with the percentage price drops for other companies that have announced similar security breaches. A study by Emory University and the Ponemon Institute found that when a company announces a security breach, its stock price drops between 0.6 percent and 2.1 percent."

Now a 1-2 percent drop in share price may not seem like much, but TJ Maxx is a $10 Billion dollar company. Do the math. It's huge money we are talking about. You cannot find a single security event that directly affected more customers or caused more commercial loss. Certainly shareholders and customers paid attention ... but maybe not. TJ Maxx's stock price outperformed the S&P and Dow stock indices by 20-40 percent since the breach and damages were disclosed. Even in today's recessionary market, TJ Maxx continues to outperform the market. It has lost less than the vast majority of companies in the market today. And the customers have spoken. TJ Maxx's net sales from continuing operations for the second quarter of fiscal year 2008 increased 9 percent to $4.3 billion.

And I don't mean to pick on TJ Maxx. I like their products as much as the next guy, and my family continues to shop there. I'm not the pot calling the kettle black. I am the kettle.

But this does point out that even the largest security event on record, really didn't cause long-term significant impact to the company that neglected their security defenses (as do many, many companies). It didn't even cause a change in buying habits by a guy that is unique familiar with the problem.

If security really was a significant market share factor, lots of companies wouldn't be doing as well as they are. The most popular software installed on most people's PCs today also has the most known vulnerabilities (as can be expected because popularity brings malicious attention), and people continue to install it.

Even the Windows versus Linux versus Apple wars don't evidence any different conclusion. Everyone loves to hate Microsoft (my full-time employer) because of its past perceived lack of security fitness. But even during its questionable security past, marketshare grew substantially, and you could even argue the opposite. Using Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) programming techniques Microsoft has significantly driven down the number of security bugs in their products (no disputing this), and spent the last few years releasing their most secure operating system to date, Vista. And User Account Control (UAC), Vista's most noticeable security improvement, is the most complained about feature in the product by orders of magnitude. Now, you can complain what UAC does and how it works, but using it does measurably increase your PC's security. And people hate it and many turn it off. Vista, Microsoft's first operating system built with an intense focus on security, is being more slowly adopted than expected.

Looking at vulnerability counts alone, Linux and Apple aren't doing any better than Microsoft. In fact, most metrics show both products containing far more security exploits than Microsoft Windows, but Apple's market share is growing by leaps and bounds. Apple's Quicktime and iTunes products are among the most frequently patched products in the world, but nearly everyone continues to use them. And I can show you dozens of similar statistics. So much for security as a market differentiator.

I'm not saying that better computer security isn't desirable. Heck, I think it is absolutely necessary to the continued growth of our civilization. I'm not even saying that ignoring security saves money. Certainly it would have been cheaper for TJ Maxx to implement best practice computer security for less than an hundred million dollars. But what I am saying is that better computer security is not primary driver to motivator customers and shareholders ... at least until some tipping point event happens. New features, functionality, and prettiness, sells more product. I can't come to any other conclusion.

Security officers need to understand this lesson. Security is laudable goal until it measurably slows down end-users or interrupts operations. Ignore this understanding and you'll certainly hear from management and your customers. Computer security employees are a necessary evil, like accountants, which doesn't bother me because both are paid well. But a successful marketer will make more money.

It's like high-speed wireless Internet access in a hotel. It used to be that Internet access in a hotel was a great selling point. It was something the hotel could advertise about and charge premium dollars for. Now, in most hotels, it's expected and given away for free. It doesn't even have to be that high-speed. It's not like most hotel customers (of which I am a frequent guest), will pay significantly more for the "best" high-speed Internet access, if a much cheaper hotel offers some adequate Internet access for less.

This is yet another frustrating point about our jobs. Everyone supposedly cares a lot about computer security, but the penalties for not implementing good computer security are rarely measurable long term and can never override customer satisfaction and sales.

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Report: Microsoft takes aim at Verizon Wireless search

Google has been negotiating for months to be Verizon Wireless' default search engine, but report says Microsoft has recently made its own pitch

Microsoft is making a pitch to be the default search provider on Verizon Wireless mobile phones, in an effort to steal the business from rival Google, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal Friday.
Google has been negotiating with Verizon Wireless for months to be the default search engine on the carrier's mobile phones, but Microsoft has recently made its own pitch, with reportedly higher revenue sharing for Verizon, The Wall Street Journal reported.

A Verizon Wireless spokesman declined to comment on the carrier's search negotiations. "We don't have any interest in negotiating our business relationships in the media," said Jeffrey Nelson, executive director of corporate communications for Verizon Wireless.

A Google spokesman declined to comment on the proposed deal. A representative of Microsoft was not available for comment.

Verizon Wireless hasn't made a decision on which search provider to use, according to the news report.

Microsoft saw an opening with Google focused on a proposed advertising deal with Yahoo, the news report said. Google on Wednesday withdrew the proposed deal after the U.S. Department of Justice appeared to be moving toward taking action to block the deal.

"This sounds like good old competition, which implies that neither of these firms can exert monopoly power in the market for search applications on cell phones," Professor Keith Hylton, an antitrust specialist in the Boston University School of Law, said in an e-mail. "Whether Microsoft or Google finally gets the deal with Verizon, the competition to outbid each other for will benefit consumers."

Verizon Wireless is the second largest mobile phone provider in the U.S.

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India Siap Luncurkan Pesaing Google Earth

INDIA rupanya gatal meluncurkan pesaing aplikasi peta online populer, Google Earth. Melalui lembaga Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India mengembangkan sistem informasi berbasis web yang mirip dengan Google Earth bernama Bhuvan.
Chairman ISRO, G Madhawab Nair bahkan menyatakan bahwa Bhuvan bakal jauh lebih presisi ketimbang Google Earth.

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Ballmer: Microsoft 'interested' in open-source browser

CEO Steve Ballmer not ruling out adopting open-source technology as an alternative to Microsoft's Internet Explorer

Microsoft has given its most ringing endorsement of open source Web browsers to date with chief executive officer Steve Ballmer not ruling out adopting such technology as an alternative to its own popular Internet Explorer, saying it is "interesting".
In Sydney to speak at a Power to Developers event, Ballmer ignited the audience with his powerful "Developers! Developers! Developers!" chant, but was surprised to hear a question about open source browser adoption from one of his student constituents.

"Why is IE still relevant and why is it worth spending money on rendering engines when there are open source ones available that can respond to changes in Web standards faster?"

"That's cheeky. A good question, but cheeky," Ballmer said.

Indeed it is. If I was a Microsoft share holder I would want to know why Microsoft is sinking so much money into its own Web browser rendering engine when there are others available for free. Good thing the chairs in Sydney's Exhibition Centre are all bolted down.

Ballmer began his answer philosophically, saying Microsoft will need to look at what the browser is like in the future and, if there is no innovation around them, which he thinks is "likely", Microsoft may still need its own browser because of proprietary extensions that broaden its functionality.

"There will still be a lot of proprietary innovation in the browser itself so we may need to have a rendering service," he said.

Then came the startling revelation that Microsoft may also adopt an open source browser engine.

"Open source is interesting," he said. "Apple has embraced Webkit and we may look at that, but we will continue to build extensions for IE 8."

Ballmer also admitted Microsoft got delayed with the transition from IE 6 to IE7 during the development of Longhorn, which became Vista. "But I don't what to go there."

Developers want money
Another question arose from the recent success of Apple's App Store and Facebook for helping independent developers make money via the host vendors application delivery mechanism. Ballmer wants to do more here for Microsoft developers.

"Making money is a good thing and with some of the competitive opportunities I don't think anyone is making any money," he said. "Some good work is being done with Facebook and the iPhone where it's easy for developers to distribute applications. It's easier to get exposure. Not much money is being made, but giving developers a way to get more visibility of their code is a good idea.

"Microsoft can do more here. We are not ready to talk about opportunities, but fear not! We are hard at work, particularly with Facebook."

Looks like Microsoft is working on a more streamlined way to bring more ISVs (emphasis on independent) into its technology stack before the are irreversibly lost to competing platforms. A well marketed application repository is the perfect way to achieve this.

New products
What gets Steve Ballmer excited when it comes to new products? Well, there's Steve Ballmer the user and Steve Ballmer the developer evangelist.

"From a user perspective I'm excited by Windows Mobile 7 and the next release of Windows Live at end of the year," he said.

As a developer, Ballmer sees a bright future for integration of SharePoint with the cloud-based SharePoint online. Also on the cards is porting the Microsoft Access database front end to SharePoint. "The productivity benefits for business applications and the tools we are building, with Microsoft Access as a front end, will make it a higher-level development environment," he said. "Writing applications with SharePoint will be pretty attractive for some people."

Human computing is the future
To finish his keynote, Ballmer began prognosticating about what computers will be like 10 years from now.

If someone asked me what's the best profession to recommend people get into - that's software development," he said. "So much more innovation will be created in the next 10 years. Ten years from now we will look back and say how primitive life was back then."

"We will talk to computers and they will respond. Everything we touch will be an electronic surface connected to the Internet. Everything will be automatically streamed. There is sure a lot of software left writing in this world.

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