Tech News Stop - Sharing by Wasim Akhtar

::::Kaspersky, Apple Hunting for Mac OS X Bugs? Not Exactly::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1337046925_temp.jpg" border="0" align="left" /></div><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px">Kaspersky Lab today denied that the security firm had been commissioned by Apple to help improve the security of Mac OS X.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px">An <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial">article</span> from Computing that quoted Kaspersky CTO Nikolai Grebennikov as saying that Apple "recently invited us to improve its security" is inaccurate and was taken out of context, Kaspersky said.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px">In a Monday statement, Grebennikov said Kaspersky has indeed studied vulnerabilities in Mac OS X, but that work "was conducted independently of Apple." Instead, Apple is "collaborating with us regarding new Mac OS X vulnerabilities and malware that we identify during our analysis."</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px">Security firms frequently alert companies to bugs or security threats they uncover.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px">"As Mac OS X market share continues to increase, we expect cyber-criminals to continue to develop new types of malware and attack methods," Grebennikov continued. "In order to meet these new threats, Kaspersky Lab has been conducting an in-depth analysis of Mac OS X vulnerabilities and new forms of malware."</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px">The author of the Computing piece, Stuart Sumner, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px">A major Mac virus to make the rounds recently was the Flashback Trojan, which reportedly<span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial">hit upwards of half a million Macs</span>, many of them in the U.S. and Canada. A report from Symantec estimated that the Flashback authors were <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial">reaping an estimated $10,000 a day</span>via Google-related click fraud.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px">In an <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial">April report</span>, Kaspersky said the recent spate of Mac-related malware does not indicate that Apple's OS is any less secure than it was in the past, but is mainly the result of its growing popularity.</p>

<a href='http://techgig.com/tech-news/editors-pick/Kaspersky-Apple-Hunting-for-Mac-OS-X-Bugs-Not-Exactly-12387'>View More</a>

::::Report: Microsoft Offering $14.99 Upgrade to Windows 8::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1337046854_temp.jpg" border="0" align="left" /></div><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px">Microsoft reportedly will charge $14.99 for an upgrade to Windows 8 for those who buy a PC with Windows 7 on it after June 2, according to a report.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px"><span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial">According to Windows Supersite</span>, the $14.99 upgrade offer will be timed at about the release date of the Release Preview of Windows 8, due at about the same time <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial">in early June</span>. However, Microsoft will also reportedly offer just a single upgrade for all Windows 7 versions, up to Windows 8 Pro, Windows Supersite reported.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px">In April, <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial">Microsoft revealed that it would ship four versions of Windows 8</span>: Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro, a version for bulk purchasers, and <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial">Windows 8 on ARM</span>, the flavor of Windows 8 that will appear on tablets and may <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial">face Congressional investigation</span>.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px">Not surprisingly, Microsoft will also retain its practice of offering upgrades from Windows 8 Basic to Windows 8 Pro, Windows SuperSite added. In Windows 7, for example, the Upgrade Anywhere option allows users to unlock Windows 7 Premium content and functionality that coded onto the disc itself.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px">Microsoft officials hasn't yet responded to requests for comment by press time.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px">Microsoft also hasn't said, unofficially or officially, whether or not, the handful of Windows Vista users still using that operating system would be able to upgrade directly to Windows 8 or not. Microsoft prevented Windows XP customers from upgrading directly to Windows 7, prompting <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial">an outpouring of angst</span> from some. When Vista shipped in January 2007, XP had multiple upgrade paths, but customers using Windows 2000 and its older brethren were left without a direct upgrade path.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px">Separately, Best Buy said Monday, that from May 13 to June 2, customers could buy a new notebook PC from its <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial">Premium Collection</span> and receive a free version of Microsoft Office Home & Student 2010.</p>

<a href='http://techgig.com/tech-news/editors-pick/Report-Microsoft-Offering-14-99-Upgrade-to-Windows-8-12386'>View More</a>

::::Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin renounces American citizenship::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1337046758_temp.jpg" border="0" align="left" /></div><div id="storydiv" class="storydiv" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px"><div class="Normal" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px"> The Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin officially defriended the United States in September, giving up his American citizenship for the more tax-friendly residency status of Singapore. <br /><br />Saverin, who was born in Brazil and has lived in Singapore since 2010, plans to remain indefinitely in the Asian island nation, where the maximum personal income tax rate is 20 percent and capital gains are not taxed. <br /><br />A spokesman for Saverin insists his client did not renounce the citizenship he has held since 1998 for financial reasons. "I have worked with him for over a year, and that never came up," said Thomas Goodman. "Obviously it was a big decision, but he's making all these investments in Europe, Asia and the U.S. It just seemed a lot simpler." <br /><br />Goodman declined to say exactly what simplifications the impending billionaire would enjoy, other than the financial. <br /><br />The renunciation, published by the State Department at the end of April and reported first by Bloomberg on Friday, became public just days before Facebook shares are expected to be sold to the public. The company is expected to be valued at more than $85 billion. <br /><br />Saverin owns less than 5 percent of Facebook, but is expected to be worth more than $3.5 billion after the public offering. The decision was made several months ago, Goodman said. "Everyone is trying to tie this to the IPO and taxes," he said. "It was never about that." <br /><br />Loss of his citizenship in September makes it likely that the process was initiated sometime around last May, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. People leaving U.S. citizenship under such circumstances typically pay an "exit tax," which is a final bill based on all assets. <br /><br />Saverin, 30, helped found Facebook while at Harvard with Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes, all of whom remain U.S. citizens.</div></div>

<a href='http://techgig.com/tech-news/editors-pick/Facebook-co-founder-Eduardo-Saverin-renounces-American-citizenship-12385'>View More</a>

::::India Parenting founder Nirali Sanghi launches social network YippeeClubs::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1337046652_temp.jpg" border="0" width="250" height="200" align="left" /></div><div id="storydiv" class="storydiv" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px"><div class="Normal" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px">The success of Facebook continues to inspire other entrepreneurs, who are jumping on to the social network bandwagon despite such high profile failures like MySpace and Orkut.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px">Nirali Sanghi, founder of online parenting site India Parenting, is the latest entrepreneur to launch a social network. Hers is called YippeeClubs and will be focused on common interests.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px">Unlike other social networks, users on YippeeClubs can choose to become members of clubs based on their interest right when they join. The network claims to have 600 clubs in categories like lifestyle, love and relationships, parenting, health and hobbies.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px">"In other networks like Facebook it is difficult to find groups that a user might be interested in joining and groups get defunct quickly. In our case the interest group is at the core of the network," said Sanghi, who founded India Parenting in 1999. YippeeClubs has such intriguing groups like, mother-in-law issues, married yet lonely, premature graying in kids and gem therapy.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px">Users can simultaneously be part of multiple clubs, said Sanghi, who added that the 7 lakh registered users of India Parenting is a ready audience for the new network.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px">Sanghi admits that social media is a touch space to be in, as success depends on user adoption. "I have faith in the strength of the product and I am sure users will find it useful."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px">Bangalore-based Nagarjun Palavalli launched a social network for students and educational institutions, called Eduora, in April this year. The network was in pilot mode for over a year and creates hubs for various campuses, where students, teachers and management can interact.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px"> </p></div></div><div style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px"><div class="tabsintbgshow1" style="clear: both; background-image: url('http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/photo/4583284.cms'); height: 35px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px"><div style="padding-top: 4px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left; float: left; margin: 0px"><div class="parlleldiv1" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px"><div class="floatleft" style="float: left; padding: 0px; margin: 0px"></div><div class="floatleft" style="float: left; padding: 0px; margin: 0px"></div><div class="floatleft" style="float: left; padding: 0px; margin: 0px"></div></div></div><br /></div></div>

<a href='http://techgig.com/tech-news/editors-pick/India-Parenting-founder-Nirali-Sanghi-launches-social-network-YippeeClubs-12384'>View More</a>

::::First Look: Want To Know Who Got Funded? WhoGotFunded.com Has Got You Covered::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1337046352_temp.jpg" border="0" align="left" /></div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12.5px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px">A lot of you have come to depend on TechCrunch for your startup funding news — and hey, we’re happy to be the first place you come when you’re looking to see who’s raising money. Which is why this new site, <span style="outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial">WhoGotFunded.com</span>, is both a blessing and a curse: On the one hand, it’ll be an awesome tool for those of us hoping to catch all the latest funding news first. On the other hand, it maybe makes my job a bit obsolete?</p><p style="margin-top: 12.5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12.5px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px">Anyway, WhoGotFunded was first announced a few months ago, but it is now in private beta, and I’ve gotten a chance to check out the site. Touted as a one-stop shop for funding news, WhoGotFunded provides a list of the day’s funding announcements, which it gathers from Twitter, web news sites, and of course, the Securities and Exchange Commission.</p><p style="margin-top: 12.5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12.5px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: left; padding: 0px"><span style="outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-551653" src="http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/wgf-latest-deals.jpg?w=640&h=317" border="0" title="WGF latest deals" width="640" height="317" /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 12.5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12.5px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px">The site was <span style="outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial">founded by Digimind</span>, which specializes in competitive intelligence, data mining, and social media monitoring. It expects to publish about 100 to 150 new funding deals a day, based on more than 2 million news stories that it analyzes every day.</p><p style="margin-top: 12.5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12.5px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px">While it gathers information through text-mining technologies, WhoGotFunded also has what it calls a “human curation element” and hopes to open up to the community (a la Wikipedia) as a way to reduce the number of errors or false positives that might appear. It also shows detailed information about where the funding news appeared so that users can follow up and read more:</p><p style="margin-top: 12.5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12.5px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: left; padding: 0px"><span style="outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-551654" src="http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/wgf-funding-page.jpg?w=640&h=405" border="0" title="WGF funding page" width="640" height="405" /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 12.5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12.5px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px">So who’s the target audience? Well, people like me, who are all about knowing all the latest funding news as part of their job. It’s also targeted at investors who want to keep abreast of the market. To that end, it’s already signed up about 2,000 subscribers already, including many employees from some top VC firms in the U.S. and Europe.</p><p style="margin-top: 12.5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12.5px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px">Once it comes out of beta, WhoGotFunded will offer tailored email alerts to let users know when a particular company closes funding, or when financing deals happen in a specific region or industry. While there’s always the opportunity to create value-added features on top of the platform, which many people would likely pay for, there are no plans for monetization right now — instead, Digimind is going to hold off until it sees what kind of reaction it receives from users.</p>

<a href='http://techgig.com/tech-news/editors-pick/First-Look-Want-To-Know-Who-Got-Funded-WhoGotFunded-com-Has-Got-You-Covered-12382'>View More</a>

::::Does digital advertising need its own operating system?::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1337046083_temp.jpg" border="0" align="left" /></div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px">If you’ve ever seen that oft-passed-around<span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent">LumaScapes slide on the display advertising landscape</span>, you know it’s a crowded and fragmented industry. And that slide only includes a fraction of the companies operating in digital media today. (<span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent">Luma Partners</span> has seven slides more that break out players in video, gaming, commerce and other key sectors in digital.)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px">That growth indicates “a tremendous amount of innovation,” said Luma Partners CEO and founder Terence Kawaja. But he asked: “Is that a situation that can continue or does it need to change?”</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px">In a presentation on digital advertising’s “state of the state” during <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent">Federated Media</span>’s Conversational Marketing Summit Monday, he said that there are 1,400 companies featured across his company’s eight sector-specific slides. Each of those companies, or at least the bigger ones, are building their own sales teams, business development plans and technology, to each sell their own unique solution that isn’t operable with others, Kawaja continued.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px">While the industry wouldn’t want to quash the innovation, he floated the idea of addressing what he called the “rationalization” issue through standardization. Just like mobile technology has its Android and iOS platforms, Kawaja said, digital advertising could have its own operating system.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px">“Many other industries have benefited greatly by having an operating system, a common platform upon which other companies can build their tools,” he said.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px">Another potential solution to this problem could come through consolidation. Over the past few years, merger and acquisition activity hasn’t only picked up, it’s attracted interest from a wider group of potential buyers. Google, Microsoft and Yahoo used to be the “usual suspects” in driving M&A in online media. But as the field has become more data-driven and scientific, it’s started to include new players from marketing, technology and commerce, he said.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px">Facebook’s upcoming IPO, he added, will “fundamentally change this industry from the perspective of M&A, rationalization and consolidation.” Not that Facebook itself is going to quickly pick off a bunch of new companies, Kawaja said, “but just their presence, their currency, their ability to grow organically.”</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px">In addition to rationalization, he highlighted two other key themes: big data and automation. In 2009, programmatic media buying didn’t even in exist, he noted. But, according to IDC, in 2010 companies spent $352 million on real-time bidding. By the end of 2012, that is expected to reach $1.975 million and, in 2015, it’s projected to hit about $5 billion.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px">As for his highly-cited Lumascape slide, Kawaja said it’s been cited in six books and a Harvard Business School case study (not to mention countless conference presentations and sales decks). It’s also received more than 350,000 views online, from people in 116 countries.</p>

<a href='http://techgig.com/tech-news/editors-pick/Does-digital-advertising-need-its-own-operating-system--12380'>View More</a>

::::How smart analytics could thwart terrorist attacks::::

<div class="custm_img_blk"><img src="http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1337045969_temp.jpg" border="0" align="left" /></div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px">Nothing sends shivers down my spine quite like a hypothetical in which someone sets a whole block on fire after cutting off the fire department’s electric supply in order to slow its response. It’s a scary thought, but not entirely unplausible. Perhaps it should give us some peace of mind, though, to know that armed with the right tools and, more importantly, the right mindset, these types of attacks might be preventable.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px">The topic came up during a recent call with Splunk’s director of security and compliance solutions, Mark Seward, after the FBI and Department of Homeland Security named Splunk as part of its toolkit for <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent">investigating a potential cyberattack on an Illinois gas pipeline</span>. That turned out to be a false alarm, but I was troubled by the notion that we were only doing data analysis forensically, after the fact. Pipelines are <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent">still under heavy attack</span>. Forget finding out who did it; I want events stopped before they happen.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px">Seward said that’s possible, but not easy. Attackers have gotten so good, he said, and have such diverse attack vectors that it’s hard to predict what will happen when. “Security professionals have to harness the creativity of their minds to start thinking like a criminal,” he explained. They have to “think creatively about how someone would go about disrupting [a] service and what footprints would they leave behind.”</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px">When that happens, it becomes possible to watch data in real-time and identify anomalies or put together patterns that suggest an attack might be underway. Splunk actually has a SCADA tool for pipelines that would let someone see changes in sensor data in real time, Seward said, in order to detect locations that stopped reporting or changes in pressure. Or maybe it’s as simple as noticing someone trying to access an application via <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent">Active Directory</span>without permission.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px">Seward said smart meters — and the electric grid, in general — are particularly important to monitor. In the case of smart meters, which are constantly sending usage data to power companies, employees could quickly correlate meter shutoffs with work orders on those buildings and GPS data to determine whether a company truck is at the site. At a small scale, Seward said, robbers monitoring smart grid data could identifiy houses to rob by looking for consumption footprints that suggest nobody’s home. At a large scale, they could try to power down air-traffic control towers, first-responder buildings or the utility providing water to cool rods at a nuclear power plant.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px">It’s a concern he shares with former CIA director James Woolsey, who <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent">discussed the vulnerability of the grid</span> and the need for the innovative minds working on smart-grid technologies to solve it at our Structure: Data conference in March.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px">If there’s some solace to take away from talking about our national-security vulnerabilities, though, it might be that technology appears to be stepping up to help identify threats. Aside from Splunk, which is <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent">useful for monitoring machine-generated data in real time</span>, there also tools such as Hadoop that can <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent">assist in identifying past attack patterns</span> that systems can be trained to watch out for in the future. As I’ve reported before, security software is actually<span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent">proving to be an early hotspot for big technologies</span>, and it’s hard to see that trend slowing down. The <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent">rise of techniques such as machine learning</span> and predictive analytics, combined with human intuition, should only improve our ability to identifiy threats.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px">I couldn’t do my job well if I didn’t truly believe that technology, done right, can solve a lot of the world’s problems. National security is one area where I definitely hope I’m not proven wrong.</p>

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