Symantec announces new strategy to fuel growth

MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: Symantec Corp. announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously approved a plan to separate the company into two, independent publicly traded companies: one business focused on security and one business focused on information management (IM).

Symantec’s decision to pursue a separation follows an extensive business review of the company’s strategy and operational structure. Creating two standalone businesses will allow each entity to maximize its respective growth opportunities and drive greater shareholder value.

“As the security and storage industries continue to change at an accelerating pace, Symantec’s security and IM businesses each face unique market opportunities and challenges. It has become clear that winning in both security and information management requires distinct strategies, focused investments and go-­‐to market innovation,” said Michael A. Brown, Symantec president and CEO.

“Separating Symantec into two, independent publicly traded companies will provide each business the flexibility and focus to drive growth and enhance shareholder value.”

The separation will allow each company to:
* Focus on its unique growth opportunities, R&D investments, and go-­‐to-­‐market capabilities.
* Reduce operational complexity.
* Enhance strategic flexibility, pursue partnerships, and develop independent M&A strategies.
* Set distinct capital allocation policies.

Brown continued: “Taking this decisive step will enable each business to maximize its potential. Both businesses will have substantial operational and financial scale to thrive.”

Symantec launches cyber readiness challenge for corporate India

BANGALORE, INDIA: Symantec will be hosting Cyber Readiness Challenge (CRC) in India for the first time on Wednesday, 03 September at the Vivanta by Taj on M.G Road, Bangalore.

The CRC is an immersive, interactive ‘capture the flag’ competition that models scenarios based on the current threat landscape using realistic IT infrastructure. A first of its kind by a security vendor, the CRC has already seen participation from hundreds of enterprises across the globe and will be launched in Mumbai and Delhi next.

As targeted attacks and advanced persistent threats (APTs) that are capable of stealing financial/customer data and intellectual property, by compromising critical information assets become more real for organizations, the need for increased security awareness and strong protection against threats has never been stronger.

Symantec’s CRC is designed to enable security experts in organizations to experience new attack methods with the latest technologies. Designed for many levels of technical skill and experience, it puts participants in the hacker's shoes to better understand their targets, technology and thought processes so they can ultimately better protect their organization and themselves. By completing security-related challenges to capture the most flags, the participants sharpen their ethical hacking and cyber-forensic skills and raise their awareness of cyber security targets.

The challenge will see IT and cyber security experts from over 25 companies including top banks, IT services, automobile and media enterprises in Bangalore sharpen their security and cyber forensic skills and deepen awareness of cyber attackers' targets and tactics. The four hour competition will include five stages; reconnaissance, incursion, discovery, capture and exfiltration.  Upon completion of the competition, the teams will be ranked according to the amount of points they have scored in the shortest time.

Deloitte identifies 10 most disruptive and emerging technologies for CIOs to consider over the next 18 months

NEW YORK, USA: Deloitte has issued a new report identifying 10 disruptive and emerging technologies that are expected to play a crucial role in how businesses will operate globally over the next 18 months.

"With 2011 well underway, CIOs should be evaluating the progress made on their New Year's resolutions and taking full advantage of technologies that have the ability to dramatically improve and advance their business operations and decision-making," said Mark White, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and a co-author of the report. "We have evaluated, industry-wide, what is working and what is not when it comes to IT and have identified 10 technologies that are likely to transform the enterprise over the next 18 months."

Deloitte's report, "Tech Trends 2011: The Natural Convergence of Business and IT," groups the technologies into two categories: "(Re)emerging Enablers," which is described as five technologies that many CIOs have spent time, thought and resources on in the past, and "Disruptive Deployments," five additional technologies that showcase new business models and transformative ways to operate. The 10 technologies are:

(Re)Emerging Enablers:
Almost Enterprise Applications: Quick and agile solutions like the cloud and Software- and Platform-as-a-Service (SaaS, PaaS) appeal to the business, but are they "enterprise enough" for IT? Almost enterprise applications are being eagerly embraced by many business leaders, and CIOs should get in front of this democratization and self-service trend.

CIOs as Revolutionaries: With the cloud, social computing and mobility shaking up business models and transforming how business is done, the technology agenda should be considered as tantamount to the business agenda—and CIOs are the executives positioned to pull them into alignment.

Cyber Intelligence: While it still may be necessary to build a rapid detect-and-respond cyber security function, organizations should consider going beyond adding tools to learn and adapt, protect against upstream threats, and connect the internal and external dots to assess probable risks, and in the process move from reactive to proactive.

End of Death of ERP: ERP can be an enabler of tomorrow's innovations, not a fading footnote of yesterday's legacy. Organizations are still able to tap ERP applications to transform processes with reduced risk — at a lower cost and at a quicker pace.

Visualization: Visualization deserves a fresh look given the evolution of the underlying tools and the rich potential represented by unstructured data. It can provide a new way to tap into millions of internal emails, instant messages and documents, as well as trillions of social media objects, Twitter tweets, text messages, blogs and other content of potential concern or opportunity for the enterprise.

Disruptive Deployments:
Applied Mobility: New mobile solutions are being designed to serve the full spectrum of transactional, analytical and social computing capabilities, and present the opportunity for organizations to define real and lasting value in applied mobility solutions and business enablement. This could be the year that businesses will truly begin harnessing these features into rich, yet simple and intuitive applications to solve real business problems.

Capability Clouds: Capability clouds have the potential to move beyond the building blocks of capacity clouds to deliver finished services that can address business objectives and enterprise goals. CIOs should be prepared to answer how they leverage the ecosystem of capabilities, services and value networks delivered by the cloud.

Real Analytics: As the economy resets, analytics can offer improved visibility to help companies drive operational efficiencies. Analytics can also offer an opportunity for growth by helping companies in their efforts to address heart-of-the-business questions that can guide decisions, yield new insights and help predict what's next.

Social Computing: As more of our personal and professional lives are transacted via technology, rich trails of preferences, opinions and behaviors are being created. Beyond the immediate benefits of empowering stake-holders, this "digital exhaust" can be mined, providing a rich source of insight on market positioning.

User Engagement: The proliferation of consumer and Internet technologies has raised expectations for IT tools at work, and can empower employees to find new insights and improve how business occurs. Enterprises should seek to learn and understand how to turn newly-connected consumers into new revenue channels and identify ways they can empower employees to better connect dots and improve efficiency and effectiveness.

"It's evident that the next 18 months will be pivotal for widespread adoption of technologies such as cloud, social computing, analytics and mobile technologies," said Bill Briggs, director, Deloitte Consulting LLP and co-author of the report. "Whether they are re-emerging enablers that are already somewhat at play at large among enterprises or disruptive deployments that offer new, transformative ways for organizations to operate, CIOs should keep ahead of these trends to help generate top returns not just of IT, but the business of the business."

Don't help cybercriminals exploit Japan tragedy

INDIA: Several countries and international organisations have offered to assist with relief efforts from last Friday's earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Three days after the earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan, the rest of the world is still trying to make sense of what's happening. Citizens around the world are also looking to extend assistance in their own way.

But, as the death and injury tolls continue to rise, there are some malicious people who attempt to exploit such situations, under the guise of charitable institutions and governmental organizations. Emails marked URGENT, requesting for help by appealing to the humanity in every internet user, or urging consumers around the world to offer donations to those affected, are doing the rounds.

Symantec observed more than 50 domains with the names of either “Japan tsunami” or “Japan earthquake” within the first few hours of this unfortunate event. These domains are either parked, available for sale, or are linked to earthquake sites. Don’t be surprised if you see these domains been used in phishing and spam attacks. Below are a few of the samples:
3-11-2011-[removed].com
3-11[removed].com
earthquake-[removed].com
earthquaketsunami[removed].com
earthquakerelief[removed].com

Symantec has also observed a classic 419 message targeting the Japanese disaster. The message is a bogus "next of kin" story that purports to settle millions of dollars owing to an earthquake and tsunami victim.

Previously, when such disasters occurred, Symantec observed a sudden surge in virus attacks in the form of nasty attachments and .zip files embedded in spam sent from such predatory attackers. Do not open them, especially if you don’t know the source! Use caution when opening forwarded messages related to the Japan earthquake and tsunami, and any other tragedy or event that stirs international news coverage, legitimate and otherwise. Nefarious attackers may be sending malicious Java scripts and other threats that could compromise both your personal data and your computer.

Other methods that the cyber mafia uses during such events include search engine poisoning. With several internet users searching for earthquake-related news and information online, cybercriminals can poison search results for malicious websites to appear at the top of the results. Users who click on these links assuming that the information will help them make sense of the tragedy, may end up downloading malware instead.

Symantec has witnessed a rise in malicious websites of late. The recent Symantec report on Attack Toolkits and Malicious Websites revealed that Symantec observed more than 310,000 unique domains that were found to be malicious. On average, this resulted in the detection of more than 4.4 million malicious Web pages per month. It is likely that attackers will use Japan-related terms in order to attract people on to these websites.

While our hearts go out to those grappling with this unprecedented catastrophe, we at Symantec want to urge users to be cautious about unscrupulous elements. Symantec recommends that our readers reach out to the affected through legitimate and secure channels so that the help sent by you reaches the intended recipients.

Don’t let cybercriminals stump you online!

INDIA: The upcoming cricket World Cup 2011 has generated huge excitement not only among fans in India and across the world, but cyber criminals as well. Symantec has observed that big-ticket sporting events open up a vast playing field for attackers and the cricket world cup is no exception.

What’s different this time, however, is that we anticipate more sophisticated and targeted attacks, particularly against Indian users since the tournament will take place in the subcontinent.

With Internet usage in India growing rapidly (McKinsey estimates that the number of Internet users in India will grow fivefold by 2015 to 350 million), and the fact that tickets to matches are selling out very fast, cybercriminals are focusing their efforts on luring Indians with attractive ticket offers. Tactics used include spam campaigns, black hat search engine optimization (SEO), the injection of code into
legitimate websites, and malicious advertisements.

Watch out for fake tickets in PDF: These tricks, however, are likely to be “blended” threats, where spam emails and fake websites promoting cricket-related goodies can cause users to download malware on their systems. For example, emails with PDFs of tickets attached are a common vector.

Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report XV revealed that the top web-based attacks involved applications that process PDF files, accounting for nearly half of the total attacks. This was a sizeable increase from just 11 percent the previous year. This attack is popular due to the common use and distribution of PDF files on the Web, and also because they can be executed across PCs, laptops and smartphones.

Search, and a cybercriminal may find you: Once the tournament begins, Indians are also likely to closely follow the matches online, searching for scores and updates. Cybercriminals know this; watch out for search engine results for terms like “World Cup”, “Cricket”, “Score” or “Cricket Schedules” that throw up malicious sites which can infect a user without his knowledge.

Rise in malicious websites: Websites that are set up for phishing attacks or to deliver malware, luring users by mimicking legitimate sites with a high degree of accuracy, may also increase. Symantec detects almost 4.4 million malicious web pages per month, according to the latest Attack Toolkits and Malicious Websites report. Symantec also observed more than 310,000 unique domains that were found to be malicious. Expect an increase in these sites using cricketing terminologies during the period of the world cup.

Website owners need protection too: This poses a threat not only to users, but also legitimate businesses that sell tickets and other World Cup gear online. Website that sell tickets and ask for financial or personal information should also be protected by SSL certificates and provide visible trust marks to verify their authenticity.

Cyber attack toolkits dominate Internet threat landscape

BANGALORE, INDIA: Symantec Corp. announced the findings of its report on Attack Toolkits and Malicious Websites. The study reveals that as attack kits become more accessible and relatively easier to use, they are being utilized much more widely. This has attracted traditional criminals who would otherwise lack the technical expertise into cybercrime, fueling a self-sustaining, profitable, and increasingly organized global economy.

Attack toolkits are software programs that can be used by novices and experts alike to facilitate the launch of widespread attacks on networked computers. These kits enable the attacker to easily launch numerous pre-written threats against computer systems. They also provide the ability to customize threats in order to evade detection, as well as automating the attack process.

Attack kits control landscape
The relative simplicity and effectiveness of attack kits has contributed to their increased use in cybercrime— these kits are now being used in the majority of malicious Internet attacks. For example, one major kit called Zeus poses a serious threat to small businesses. The main objective of Zeus is to steal bank account credentials; unfortunately, small businesses have fewer safeguards in place to guard their financial transactions, making them a prime target for Zeus.

The profitability of malicious code attacks using Zeus was recently illustrated by the September 2010 arrests of a ring of cybercriminals who allegedly used a Zeus botnet in the theft of more than $70 million from online banking and trading accounts over an 18-month period.

As cyberattacks have become more profitable, the popularity of attack kits has dramatically increased. This in turn has led to increasingly robust and sophisticated kits. These kits are now often sold on a subscription-based model with regular updates, components that extend capabilities, and support services.

Cybercriminals routinely advertise installation services, rent limited access to kit consoles, and use commercial anti-piracy tools to prevent attackers from using the tools without paying.

Faster proliferation of attacks
The speed at which new vulnerabilities and their exploits spread around the globe has increased due to innovations that attack kit developers have integrated into their products. Attack kits are now fairly easy to update, which allows developers to quickly add exploit code for new vulnerabilities. The result is that some exploits are in the wild just days after the associated vulnerability becomes public. Attackers who can easily update their attack kits with recent exploits are able to target potential victims before they apply necessary patches.

A new entry into underground economy
Since attack kits are becoming easier to use, cybercrime is no longer limited to those with advanced programming skills. Participants now include a mix of individuals with computer skills and those with expertise in traditional criminal activities such as money laundering. Symantec expects that this much larger pool of criminals entering the space will lead to an increase in the number of attacks.

“In the past, hackers had to create their own threats from scratch. This complex process limited the number of attackers to a small pool of highly skilled cybercriminals,” said Shantanu Ghosh, VP, India Product Operations, Symantec. "Today’s attack toolkits make it relatively easy for even a malicious novice to launch a cyberattack. As a result, we expect to see even more criminal activity in this area and a higher likelihood that the average user will be victimized.”

Additional facts:
* Popularity and demand has driven up the cost of attack kits. In 2006, WebAttacker, a popular attack toolkit, sold for $15 on the underground economy. In 2010, ZeuS 2.0 was advertised for up to $8,000.

* Secondary services have emerged to direct unsuspecting users to malicious websites, where their computers can be compromised. Tactics used include spam campaigns, black hat search engine optimization (SEO), the injection of code into legitimate websites, and malicious advertisements.

* Symantec observed more than 310,000 unique domains that were found to be malicious. On average, this resulted in the detection of more than 4.4 million malicious Web pages per month.

* Of the Web-based threat activity detected by Symantec during the reporting period, 61 percent was attributable to attack kits.

* The most prevalent attack kits are MPack, Neosploit, ZeuS, Nukesploit P4ck, and Phoenix.

* The search terms that most commonly resulted in malicious website visits were for adult entertainment websites, making up 44 percent of the search terms.

Mitigating attacks
* Organizations and end users should ensure that all software is up-to-date with vendor patches. Asset and patch management solutions may help to ensure systems are compliant and deploy patches to systems that are not up-to-date.

* Organizations should create policies to limit the use of browser software and browser plug-ins that are not required by the users of the organization. This is especially prudent for ActiveX controls, which may be installed without the knowledge of the user.

* Organizations can also benefit from using website reputation and IP black listing solutions to block outgoing access to sites that are known to host attack toolkits and associated threats.

* Antivirus and intrusion prevention systems can be deployed to detect and prevent exploitation of vulnerabilities and installation of malicious code.

Cloud.com, Kumoya to bring open source cloud computing technologies to Japanese IT market

CUPERTINO USA & TOKYO, JAPAN: Cloud.com, Inc., a leading provider of open source cloud computing software for public and private cloud environments, and Kumoya Inc. announced a strategic partnership granting rights to distribute Cloud.com’s technology and products to the Japanese IT channel market.

This is also the official launch of Cloud.com’s cloud computing platform solutions into the Japanese market, where cloud computing is emerging as the fastest growing IT segment in the industry.

“There is a tremendous amount of interest and excitement around cloud computing technologies in Japan, yet there is a wide gap between what is offered today in Japan and what is needed to deliver a truly automated cloud environment,” said Yosuke Shindo, CEO of Kumoya. “We believe that CloudStack and the Cloud Portal architecture effectively resolve this gap. With Cloud.com’s tremendous success in helping companies build large scale cloud environments, we are excited to be representing them in Japan.”

Through this agreement, Kumoya, will actively market and promote Cloud.com’s technology in Japan, working with the increasing number of cloud computing-focused SI and VAR channels in Japan. Kumoya will be hosting a series of training sessions, promotional events and evangelism activities to deliver true cloud computing value in the Japanese market.

“Japan is a very promising market for Cloud.com, and we are excited to partner with Kumoya, which truly understands the user-driven nature of cloud computing solutions and has a successful track record of bringing cloud technologies to the Japanese market,” said Shannon Williams, VP of Business Development at Cloud.com.

Cloud.com solutions are available immediately, and a series of promotional activities for potential resellers are planned for 2011.

S&P Equity Research issues tech sector predictions for 2011

NEW YORK, USA: S&P Equity Research is looking for slower growth in the technology sector in 2011, compared to 2010, but still believes the growth will be healthy. The S&P tech equity analysts and strategists have a positive fundamental outlook and overweight recommendation on the sector.

"We expect notable developments regarding new products, international activity, and M&A deals," said Scott Kessler, Information Technology analyst and tech sector group head at S&P Equity Research.

Following are select predictions for the tech sector from industry analysts at S&P Equity Research for 2011.

1. We think Intel will finally gain some traction in the handset and tablet markets.

2. We forecast that global solar system installations will increase at least 20 percent in 2011, well below our 2010 estimated growth rate of a two-fold increase.

3. We expect solar manufacturers that have a greater proportion of sales devoted to the US to outperform peers.

4. We project 2011 to show a continuation of the computer hardware recovery since the deep cyclical trough of 2009. We project global PC unit shipments to rise 14 percent in 2011, after an estimated rise of 17 percent for 2010.

5. Computer hardware should continue to make inroads into new markets such as self-serve kiosks in the transportation, healthcare and retail areas, based on an ongoing desire to automate transactions and offer consumers more ways to handle business.

6. We see the wide-spread emergence of visualization and cloud infrastructures requiring improved integration of datacenter switches and servers with more advanced delivery functionality. We believe companies with strong application delivery and WAN optimization capabilities, such as F5 Networks and Riverbed Technology will be attractive acquisition candidates for 2011.

7. We believe Microsoft will continue to lose market share in smartphones, as Windows Phone 7 fails to capture the interest of consumers.

8. We expect sales in the video game industry will be slightly up in 2011, after declining for the two prior years, driven by strong sales of Microsoft Kinect.

9. Consolidation in the data storage industry should continue in 2011, by our analysis, with most of the M&A activity being centered on storage software, as opposed to hardware.

10. We expect sales of tablet computers to surge and begin to cannibalize sales of netbooks and mini notebooks.

11. Despite having less functionality than tablet computers, sales of e-book readers will continue to surge in 2011, in our view. We see unit sales increasing from 7 million in 2010 to 11 million in 2011, led by Amazon.com's Kindle.

12. We expect to see at least one major strategic move from an IT services company that caters to the Department of Defense. Companies in this category include ManTech and SAIC.

13. Despite continuing revenue growth, the major India-based IT outsourcers, including Infosys and Wipro should experience margin declines in 2011.

SonicWALL releases top 9 tips to protect against online threats, scams and frauds this holiday season

Interesting read!

BANGALORE, INDIA: SonicWALL, Inc. the leading provider of intelligent network security and data protection solutions, today released tips on how to recognize and avoid the top holiday threats that well-wishers and online shoppers face this holiday shopping season.

With the holidays fast approaching, phishers, hackers and scammers are preparing to attack by perfecting social media scams, developing new and different merchant phishing techniques, cultivating data harvesting methods and perfecting greeting card malware. Consumers can prepare by being aware of the top online security-related frauds and scams awaiting them this holiday season and by learning how to best protect themselves.

“During the holidays, consumers the rush to quickly buy presents drives consumers to let their guard down and bypass their normal security precautions. Phishers and scammers are expecting this,” said Boris Yanovsky, vice president of software engineering at SonicWALL.

“We already see an increase in malware, Trojans and phishing attacks before the holiday season begins. This year, Facebook targeting is rampant. Unfortunately, consumers won’t learn the extent of any damage until it’s already too late and the holidays are over. Consumers should arm and prepare themselves now against the flood of holiday-related threats.”

Malware and phishing threats tend to show up in a variety of forms consumers often wouldn’t expect during the holidays. For example, malware disguises itself as a multimedia Christmas greeting card from a long lost friend. A new Facebook “friend” nudges you to play a special holiday game or directs you to “favorite” sites. Your favorite online retailer offers you a special discount if you “click here.”

To stay protected during this holiday season, SonicWALL’s Yanovsky gives tips to avoid the top 9 threats of the season:

1. Purchasing and payments: This is a big one! Phishing for additional personal information such as your credit card number is common during the holidays. Phishing threats posing as communications from retailers like Amazon.com, eBay or PayPal will notify you that they “were unable to process your credit card transaction” or need more details to process your transaction.

Be sure a site is secure and reputable before providing your credit card number online. Don't trust a site just because it claims to be secure.

There are two general indications of a secured Web page:

A) Check the Web page URL
Normally, when browsing the Web, the URLs (Web page addresses) begin with the letters "http". However, over a secure connection the address displayed should begin with "https" - note the "s" at the end.

B) Check for the "Lock" icon
There is a de facto standard among Web browsers to display a "lock" icon somewhere in the window of the browser (NOT in the web page display area!). For example, Microsoft Internet Explorer displays the lock icon in the lower-right of the browser window.

2. Holiday offers from your favorite retailer: Each year, anticipated holiday offers from spammers increase. Consumers may find “Special Shopping Offer” or “Special Discount” spam campaigns in their inboxes. But those may have nothing to do with a holiday bargain. Be aware that this may be a drive-by Trojan download. Never purchase anything advertised through an unsolicited email.

Ensure that the offer you receive is legitimate by double-checking with the Web site of your favorite retailer. If you do respond to a legitimate offer, use a primary email address for people you know and get yourself a secondary address for all other purposes. Never respond to suspicious offers, as this will confirm to the sender that your email address is “live.”

3. Social media threats: Social media applications are top destinations to browse. With access to Facebook and MySpace now accessible via mobile devices, consumers are easily able to upload and share photos and other online information. Be on alert when you get “nudges” and suggestions from “friends” to view pictures, receive special holiday “offers” or invitations to play “games.” You may become the victim of a malware or a phishing threat.

Also, be aware that phishers are using social media for spam related purposes as spammers are looking to attract names. Change your Facebook privacy settings and configure them to meet your needs; you never can be careful enough about who views your information.

4. Discounted gift cards: With cash-strapped consumers looking at their wallets this holiday season, discounted gift cards may seem like an attractive gift option for stocking stuffers. Before you make your purchase, however, be sure that the Web site and the discounted offer are legitimate. Check with the retailer and use PayPal when making your purchase. If the site asks you to mail in an order or does not accept PayPal or credit cards, be aware, as you may become the victim of fraud.

5. Greeting card threats: During the holiday season, the number of electronic greeting cards, sent via email grows exponentially. Clicking on an e-card or video holiday card, can direct you to a link, ask you to download Adobe Flash, another type of animation or a PDF. This can install dangerous malware on your computer. No matter whether or not you know the sender - assume that suspicious links, Flash video, animation or any PDF card, document or invoice are potentially malicious and dangerous.

6. Delivery threats (UPS and FedEx): This type of phishing threat (aka “Bredlow” or “Fake Antivirus” spam) takes the form of a friendly notice from UPS, FedEx or DHL. Typically, the email message includes a few lines such as, “We tried to deliver your package, but were unable to reach you. Please click here to reschedule your delivery.” In the phishing case, once you click, malicious code gets installed on your computer and it will harvest your personal information.

As with any online business transaction, never click on links that arrive unsolicited. When shopping or doing business online, instead go to the company website directly by typing the URL in your web browser instead of clicking on a link.

7. Holiday-themed games and videos: Consumers should be on the lookout for any “click here” messages associated with holiday games and videos, such as the Elf Bowling game. Do not open suspicious links. The links may open malware. For those asked to view videos, users may be asked to activate a plug-in and wait for a download of a java applet—essentially a fake video codec that may be cross platform malware or Java based malware.

8. Popular Google search results: While Google and other search engines have taken precautions to eliminate URLs that contain malware, searches using popular keywords like “Christmas” can still result in the download of malware. For example, a search for "free printable Christmas stickers” may lead to links that initiate a malware attack. Make sure that your system is updated with the latest virus protection and the latest security patches.

9. Harvest attacks after the holidays: Scammers frequently focus on November and December, the busiest shopping months, to gather email addresses of potential victims for later use in January. In fact, Trojan downloads are at an all-time high during November and December. Online shoppers should brace themselves for online fraud and phishing attempts during the second and third weeks of January—about the time December’s credit cards bills arrive.

“Be wary of any email or social media interaction that requires your account or financial information even if it does not look suspicious at first,” said Yanovsky.

“Scammers and phishers will be looking for new ways to lure in consumers, especially with Facebook traffic at an all-time high, and with more and more consumers looking for discounts. When shopping online, know how the online merchant communicates, especially in case of shipping delays and credit card matters.

"Assume that any email that either directly or indirectly asks for your account, financial or identity information is fraudulent. Lastly, double-check your credit card statement—especially in January—for incorrect expenses. Using these steps as a baseline, consumers can stay protected this holiday season.”

Facebook email: Latest strike to dominate communications?

Eden Zoller, Principal Analyst, Ovum

AUSTRALIA: If Facebook positions this as a full web email service it will put Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! on the defensive. It should also give telcos a lot to think about as Facebook is becoming an increasingly rich communication platform. All it needs to do now is put search into the equation.

An email service from Facebook makes a lot of sense. It has a huge base of 500 million users that already love to communicate and share, and Facebook is giving them richer ways to do this through virtual gifts, games, location and even voice thanks to the recent integration deal with Skype.

Adding email to the mix is a logical step and Facebook could tap into user data to provide an attractive, highly personalised service. You would also expect it to push mobile features given its big move in this direction.

Nearly all my Blogger blogs are being targeted by cybercriminals! Please help me, friends!

Interesting! Nearly all my blogs on Blogger -- Pradeep Chakraborty's Blog, Pradeep Chakraborty's Point, PC's Semicon Blog, have been targeted by cybercriminals from early last evening!

Incidentally, I had bought one of the domains from Google itself. And now, it is reportedly under attack!

I have been reporting this strange phishing site message to Google, and don't know whether they can help me out!

I have also been sending regular emails to a contact at Google India with the hope that I can get help.

Otherwise, there is very little I can do. I do not have the resources to check what is really happening.

The same story happened last year as well! My main blog was injected with malware and taken out, while all other blogs were marked as spam. While I could not save my main blog, I did manage to save all of the others.

This time, I have no idea!

If Blogger and Google cannot protect bloggers like us, then who can?

I am also wondering: how can a blog -- with hardly any links, and not carrying porn or other sex or fashion related stuff, or even entertainment stuff -- keeps getting attacked like this! :)

Can someone throw some light? I need help, my dear friends!

By the way, I have also posted this message and blog link on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. So, you all know what is really going on right now!

Just in case, friends, I do go on to loose all of my current blogs by the morning, will try and get all of them them up and running with different URLs.

Right now, I am really, really irritated, angry and tired!

I'll be back!

My old blog address is back! Am so happy!!

My dear friends, this is a great day for me! Rohit Basa, manager - Business Development (North America), ProcSys, who is currently in the USA, just responded to an email I'd sent out inviting him for Durga Puja celebrations in town!

In his mail, Rohit very kindly informed me that my old blog address -- http://pradeepchakraborty.blogspot.com -- is again available for fresh registration. His message to me was crystal clear: "Book it before anyone else does and direct a link to your new website. I'm a great fan of yours, your blog and articles."

Indeed! I was overjoyed when I re-registered the same old blog address, and got it back! I even brought back the same old look!! Well, at least, most of it!!!

The sheer pain of losing my original blog and blog address last August is something extremely difficult for me to get over! The effort I'd put in to develop that blog had been immense, and the loss was really shattering, to say the least! In fact, I even used to constantly check Blogger to find out whether the old blog address was still available.

While the pain has eased a bit on getting back my old blog address, I know very well that I simply cannot bring back the original traffic that it used to have. I moved my old blog to Wordpress since that day it was taken off Blogger. The blog's doing very well on Wordpress. Still, the loss of my original Blogspot blog last year has haunted me every single day!

Thanks a ton, Rohit! I am so very touched and will remain forever obliged to you!!

I chose Sagar Desai of Symantec, from the US, a very close friend, as the next one to be informed that I'd got back my old blog address. Sagar stood by me in my darkest hour -- when my old blog was injected with malware and removed by Google in August, last year.

In fact, Sagar had commented just a while ago, on seeing my Durga Puja invite -- "Did not know this cultural side of yours. Good to know that your life is just not semiconductors! ;)"

I'd then asked him whether I'd got typecast. His reply was -- "That’s probably more to do with the way you brand yourself. Image set ho gaya hai! You need to break the stereotype." :)

It is so very nice and touching to hear such remarks from a close friend! It shows that he cares, a lot! Perhaps, I am getting typecast as a semicon blogger.

Guess what! The other day, I was at a National Instruments event. A journalist friend and an ex-colleague, actually, found some new names for me. One was 'Semicon Bong' -- since I'm a Bengali, and the other was 'Semicon Bomb'! Ok, whatever that last one means.

Well, now I simply can't wait to inform Usha Prasad, my associate and buddy, that I've managed to get back my old blogspot address. Usha stood by me during that time and has steadfastly been by my side since that time. I just can't wait to see her reaction when she hears this news! She's fast asleep now.. come morning, and this is the first thing I'm going to tell her!

Finally, many, many thanks to all of those friends who've stood by me all this time!

And, a very special thanks again from the bottom of my heart to Rohit! You really made my day, sorry, my year, buddy! :)

Here's wishing everyone a very happy Durga Puja and Dusshera!

Facebook's down! Get 'social'!! For real!!!

If you happened to try log into Facebook tonight, am sure that you would encounter a strange message saying -- Service unavailable, DNS failure. The server is temporarily unable to service your request. Please try again later!

Excellent!

This gives all of us anti social beings an opportunity to really become social and call up or chat with our real life or 'real' friends! :)

Twitter is full of messages from users lamenting the fact that Facebook isn't currently working. In fact, the current global trends on Twiter shows topics such as:

* DNS failure.
* Facebook Isnt Working.
* Mark Zuckerberg.
* Service Unavailable.

One Twitter user has posted an interesting message, saying that since Facebook is down, it means that nine months from today, too many children will be born! Hahahahahahaa! Nice!!

Another tweet says, Facebook RIP 2004-2010. Sincerely, one hopes not!

Yet another says, 'Facebook is currently down with a DNS failure. Businesses are reporting a near impossible 480 percent increase in productivity.' Hilarious!

The Facebook page on Twitter has posted this note -- "Facebook may be slow or unavailable for some people because of site issues. We're working to fix this quickly."

One hopes that Facebook will be restored soon and everyone will be happy.

Update: Even as I was logging off this post, I tried Facebook, and it worked! I managed to log in and log out. Hope that friends across the world are able to do the same. Best wishes.

Spot fixing? What's wrong with these youngsters?

This post has much more to do with cricket! What a lovely game it is! Only, it is getting constantly tarnished by match fixing claims!

The most recent one being the Lords Test between England and Pakistan, where two of Pakistan's fast bowlers -- the hugely talented Mohammad Amir and the brilliant Mohammad Asif -- are said to be part of spot fixing! What did they do? They are said to have delivered no balls, during a specific time of the test match, and received some payment for it, as alleged by the News of the World in its telecast.

When I see Amir and Asif bowl in tandem in test matches, I wish India had such a pair of fast bowlers. But when I read about what they have 'supposedly done', I wince! Why? Just look at Amir, he is not even 20 years old! And Asif, barely 27!

Why is it so easy to sell you country for the love of money? Don't you love your country guys?

We in India are always very pleased to welcome and see cricketers from Pakistan in action. They have always been a talented bunch. And well, and India-Pakistan game has its own charm.

Post 26/11, all such bilateral tours have come to a standstill. Following a brutal attack by terrorists on a bus carrying Sri Lanka cricketers in Lahore in early 2009 has led to nearly every country boycotting Pakistan. And then, not a single player from Pakistan made it to IPL 3.

Given this status quo, it is a wonder whether we will see the likes of Amir and Asif bowl to greats such as Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid anytime soon in a test match in India.

What's wrong with these youngsters? Perhaps, it's the quick money, silly! Perhaps, it is the background they hail from, where youngsters want a better life for their families. Perhaps, at this age, their minds are really naive, and they are easy to fall into bad company.

Perhaps, youngsters of today need serious mentoring, a father figure to hold their hands and show the way.

Do not ever disrespect work!

If you do not like this headline, please do not read this piece! :) Cheers!

I had a friend with a very peculiar habit of disrespecting any work given to him. I always wondered why he had this nature! As I could understand, he always considered work = money, which is correct, but not completely. And, he probably did not respect the person who was bringing him all this work, simply because the money involved was perhaps, too small.

Neither was he a good communicator. He was either very slow or late to respond to messages to contact or call, which irked people no end! This led many times to him receiving angry messages, especially from his boss/mentor asking to get in touch at the earliest. And invariably, this led to verbal and personality clashes.

Further, in case the work was small, in terms of the money earned, the effort put in by this friend was either lacking or not quite visible. Also, there was a tendency to take such kind of work for granted.

Very soon, this friend lost projects he was working on, or could barely manage to sustain projects. Time and again, one aspect stood out -- the effort was seriously lacking. Finally, the mentor also gave up!

Work, which could have provided him with more opportunities to grow, turned on its head, and consumed him! No one wanted to give him any more work thereafter. It is frightening. However, he was lucky, and got into some other job. Hope he is doing fine now.

Work does not always equal money. You are getting the relevant experience to handle a variety of work. You are getting several networking opportunities, which will stand you in good stead in the years ahead -- provided, you respect your network. Next, you come into great association with a lot of people, and particularly, your good bosses and mentors -- if you have such people around you! Finally, knowledge, which is simply priceless!

No amount of money can buy these four things, ever! And, no amount of money can ever substitute either experience or knowledge!

I have a tendency of loosing my cool when I see such people who do not respect work. Maybe, I am wrong, and I will always be wrong. My behavior and action is not correct. I am not related to such people and should not loose my cool. I have lost friends as I used to loose my cool and say things, which I should not have said in the first place.

Today, some of those friends or people, who received my wrath sometime in the past, are doing quite well. Some among them have even cared to thank me for showing them the importance of work, however small it may have been.

For all such people, who think that work always equals money, here's an advice -- DO NOT EVER DISRESPECT WORK, and DO NOT DISRESPECT THE PERSON who is giving you that WORK.

No one knows what the future is going to be like. What you sow today, you will reap tomorrow. If you do not keep positive thoughts and maintain necessary action that is required for doing work, you will carry that negativity and lazy action on to your future jobs. You may even succeed for a while. But, not for long!

And that's when you will wish: hey, I should have listened to that voice, which wanted me to hear it! Chances are, that voice -- of another friend, or well wisher, or a mentor, or a teacher, or even your parent -- would have been lost by then!

New intelligent summarizing software provides solution to information overload

This was sent to me by Smarbee. You decide if it is worth a look!

OMAHA, USA: Smarbee Inc. has launched the GetRecap family of products, intelligent software that “reads” through documents and delivers meaningful, executive-level summaries – right on the desktop.

The family of products includes GetRecap for the education market, GetRecap PRO for the business market and GetRecap DOC that integrates with Microsoft Word. In addition to providing summaries, GetRecap PRO and GetRecap DOC identify keywords, phrases and themes, and allow the user to select words to exclude when summarizing.

All of the recaps delivered to the desktop provide links back to the original content. This saves the researcher time by knowing whether there is content of specific interest inherent in the document, and being able to get right to it to learn more.

“As the US economy becomes dominated by knowledge workers, more and more people are responsible for research and analysis,” said Kelly L. Kirchhoff, CEO of Smarbee. “The information explosion caused by digital media means people have to sift through mountains of information to do their jobs. The GetRecap family of products is the hot, new software available now that helps them do their jobs well, saving time – and money. There really is nothing else like this in North America.”

According to a March 2007 report titled “The Expanding Digital Universe,” the amount of digital information created, captured and replicated in 2005 was 151 billion gigabytes, which is about three million times the information in all the books ever written. That number has now increased six-fold to 988 billion gigabytes.

The GetRecap family of products digests most digital documents, including
Word DOCs, PDFs, html, website pages and more.

Free 30-day trials are available via Smarbee.com. GetRecap PRO sells for $199.00 for a lifetime license. GetRecap is available for $49.00.

Enterprise 2.0 – drop the Web 2.0 myths

This one's an Ovum comment! Up you, to agree or disagree, folks!

Dr. Steve Hodgkinson, Research Director, Ovum.

AUSTRALIA: When Enterprise 2.0 first hit the radar, many of us were excited by the new social collaboration tools and their power to usher in new collaborative behaviors.

Some of this promise has indeed been realized. The market for Enterprise 2.0 software is strong and growing, with social computing functionality such as profiles, wikis, blogs, microblogs, tagging, and presence now widely available, both in specialized Enterprise 2.0 products and embedded into office productivity and unified communications suites.

Organizations that are happy with their Enterprise 2.0 platforms find that they actually do lubricate interactions in ways that earlier, more rigid, groupware and content management solutions did not.

Sustaining participation in Enterprise 2.0 is harder than it first appeared
While some organizations naturally embrace the collaborative paradigm that lies behind Enterprise 2.0, others remain recalcitrant. Participation in Enterprise 2.0 platforms can be slow to take off and fragile once the initial burst of enthusiasm from the passionate is over. It is becoming apparent that many organizations find it more difficult than it first appeared to sustain an architecture of participation in the workplace in the way that it appears to happen naturally in the Web 2.0 world.

Challenge the myths
One theme that is emerging more clearly is the folly of assuming that innovations and behaviors that work in the consumer realm will simply self propagate in the enterprise. In the consumer realm anything goes, and whatever survives and prospers is deemed to be “good”.

The enterprise realm, however, is more constrained in its purpose and population. Enterprises exist to pursue their mission, and are rife with processes and behaviors that stifle the social dynamics that exist in the wilds of the Internet.

It is time to confront some common myths. Enterprise 2.0 is not just about appealing to “Generation Y” and digital natives – we must engage workers of all ages. Not all people will leap to Enterprise 2.0 platforms without training and support. Not everyone in the workplace loves hyper-transparency.

It is not OK that 1 percent write, 9 percent comment, and 90 percent passively consume; workplace collaboration needs more pervasive participation to be useful. Not everyone is naturally collaborative – collaborating, or not, is a learned behavior at work. Collaboration doesn’t necessarily “just happen” when a platform is provided.

Web 2.0 is a survival-of-the-fittest jungle, where people opt in to sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn for their own self-actualization and entertainment. Enterprise 2.0 is a designed, purposeful space, where particular behaviors and activities need to be created and nurtured.

Think like a gardener, not an engineer
Enterprise 2.0 requires a different approach to traditional IT systems implementation. Implementing a transaction processing system can be viewed as an engineering task because the users really have no choice. They must use the system to do their jobs. User participation in Enterprise 2.0 platforms, in contrast, is entirely voluntary. People choose to collaborate, or not.

Organizations that are experiencing disappointing outcomes with Enterprise 2.0 need to take a fresh look at how they are going about it.

Thinking like a gardener rather than an engineer is helpful. Choose the right business problem to solve, create the initial structure sensitively, seed the conversations, moderate them carefully to stimulate engagement and shape behavior, show commitment to “feeding and weeding” the collaboration, acknowledge good behaviors, and manage the lifecycle of topics and threads to keep things vibrant.

Successful implementation of an Enterprise 2.0 initiative is a social thing. It is all about changing people’s behavior. Enterprise 2.0 platforms are simply the gardener’s tools – if the garden dies it is seldom the tool’s fault.

My WOT (Web of Trust) rank is higher than some leading sites!

I just signed up for WOT -- or Web of Trust -- for a month! In fact, I'd been seeing this sign across several web sites for some time now, and was wondering whether I could check and see how my blog was ranked on the web.

What's WOT?
According to the site, Web of Trust (WOT) is the world's leading community-based, free safe surfing tool that helps all web users stay safe as they search, surf and shop online.

The WOT add-on tells you which sites you can trust when using Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Wikipedia and other popular sites. Web site ratings are powered by a global community of millions of trustworthy users who have rated millions of websites based on their experiences. The free add-on works with Firefox, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer and is a free download.

WOT Trust Seals?
WOT Trust Seal helps all web sites, especially e-commerce, use their excellent reputation to increase sales, stand out from the competition and manage their reputation. Reputation data comes from the world's leading community-based safe surfing tool, Web of Trust.

The WOT Trust Seal show visitors that you are trusted and give them the confidence to buy, click and sign-in online.

My WOT rank is better than several leading sites!
Well, I signed up and it offered me WOT Trust Certificate for free, for a month. Thereafter, one is supposed to pay, should one wishes to carry on!

There's a box on WOT, which allows you to check your website's reputation. Naturally, I checked for my site, as well as the ones I have been associated with recently, as well as in the past.

To my sheer surprise and delight, I am pleased inform you that my WOT rankings for Pradeep Chakraborty's Blog (Pradeep's Point) is either on par with or better than some well known websites such as CIOL, EM Asia, Voice & Data, ISA Online, Elcina, etc. NASSCOM and MAIT are understandably ahead.

I am also very happy to learn that Photonics.com is ahead of me -- or alternatively, I've more work to do to catch up with it! However, I'm wondering how Global Sources is trailing me, although EE Times Asia is ahead. Also, Wireless Week is trailing me. Wonder why! I also believe that the rankings keep changing by the day, if not hour.

I'm not really sure why some of the country's leading websites are trailing me. My guess is: they have not been rated by WOT users. Or, what most folks dread: their sites are incorrectly rated, and sometimes, as a prank, not rated properly at all! For instance, you know a site deserves a good rating, but as a prank and fun -- or simply to play the fool, you give it a low rating.

Nevertheless, I am really grateful to have been considered someone to trust by people. Ranks don't matter much; it is the trust of people that matters more!

WOT is a great initiative by WOT Services Oy, a Finnish company, to make the Web a much safer place and to let us all know what are the best practices to follow on the Web. And yes, word of mouth remains the best agent to enhance your reputation online and in life. Best of luck, my friends.

CIOs should have a plan in place now to tackle a second economic downturn

This one's from Gartner. Don't quite agree, but nevertheless, enjoy!

STAMFORD, USA: In 2008, most CIOs were forgiven for being unprepared to deal with the global recession, but if another recession unfolds in the next 12-18 months, no CIO will be forgiven for being unprepared a second time, according to Gartner Inc.

In May 2010, investor doubts about the health of the global economy returned to the world's capital markets with a vengeance. The possibility of nations defaulting on repaying massive loans, high unemployment rates, depressed housing prices, limited access to consumer and business credit, a growing belief that a sustained economic recovery may not be possible this year, and an array of other factors have all combined to shake investor confidence to its core.

As these and other factors were unfolding, many economists were still maintaining that 2010 and beyond would be a period of modest recovery and growth. Because so much uncertainty exists about the sustainability of the current recovery, CIOs should confront such uncertainty with clear and decisive action. They should augment current near-term plans by preparing for a second recession.

"Just the potential for a second business downturn should be sufficient to compel CIOs to plan for another business downturn," said Ken McGee, vice president and Gartner fellow. "However, most CIOs will not have a response strategy prepared if a second business downturn occurs."

McGee said CIOs today are uniquely placed to tackle a second economic downturn, if they plan accordingly.

"As questions, or even doubts, grow about the ability for economies to recover, CIOs in 2010 have one advantage over their predecessors. For the first time in the history of the IT industry, more than 90 percent of CIOs today possess extremely recent and practical experience dealing with a recession," McGee said.

"In light of this fact, we strongly urge these recession-hardened CIOs to leverage their recently acquired and economic battle-scarred experiences by proactively preparing their entire enterprises should another economic downturn occur within the next 12 to 18 months."

Gartner recommends that CIOs take the following key actions to ensure that their enterprises are best placed to weather any potential financial storms over the next 12 to 18 months:

Enlist C-Level Action Now: As IT leaders learned from the recent recession, executives will once again have to make a multitude of decisions to minimize the effects of a second business downturn. Because most official national recession declarations are announced well after the actual start of a recession, IT leaders should suggest that their enterprise executives convene now, so that business downturn response guidelines may be established before capital markets, customers, suppliers, creditors, etc. panic in the wake of bad economic news.

Focus on the Current Fiscal Year: To save money as quickly as possible in the event of another business downturn, CIOs should work with executives to determine which IT projects scheduled and approved under the current IT budget may be postponed and which may be entirely canceled. Likewise, once all projects for the next fiscal year are identified, CIOs should determine which of those projects may be postponed and which may be entirely canceled.

Focus on the Next Fiscal Year: Once all projects for 2011 are identified, simultaneously determine which of those 2011 projects are relatively expendable and, therefore, may be postponed and which may be canceled, should deteriorating business conditions warrant such steps. Of course, the decision process for determining which projects may be postponed or canceled must include an assessment of the contractual exposures that may exist or arise with IT vendors for hardware, software and services.

Use Zero-Based Budgeting for Projects: As CIOs begin preparing for their 2011 budgets, they should adopt zero-based budgeting for projects in 2011. CIOs need to strongly suggest to C-level executives that all business unit executives sign documents affirming their understanding of:
* The one-time costs that will be incurred to implement their 2011 projects; and
* The annual recurring costs required to maintain those projects once they are completed.

Use Zero-Based Budgeting for Existing Applications: CIOs should compile an inventory of existing applications that are maintained by the IT staff and assign a reasonable estimate of the annual cost incurred to maintain each application. Once calculated, Gartner recommends having the business unit executives sign a document affirming their understanding of the estimated annual cost for overseeing and maintaining their applications.
"Our bottom-line advice is to prepare the 'second recession' plan, rehearse the 'second recession' plan and hope that you never have to use the 'second recession' plan," McGee said.

I've been ranked on IndiBlogger!

I had chanced upon IndiBlogger just last month and well, became a member! Rather, my flagship blog on Wordpress -- Pradeep's Point -- was only approved as recently as May 29th.

Today, I received an email from IndiBlogger stating that my blog had been ranked 83rd among all Indian blogs! Of course, there are several bloggers who share a rank. Wow, that's brilliant! For someone who has not really gone about publicizing his blog -- at least for the first two years -- this is a real treat!

As per IndiBlogger, IndiRank is like runs in a game of cricket - the higher the score, the higher ranking one has! Blogs are ranked on a scale of 1-100. So, I hope the 83rd rank means that I am on the higher side! ;)

According to IndiBlogger, its IndiRank system has been built to rank the blogs in the IndiBlogger network. Although IndiBlogger manually verifies each and every blog, and correctly so, before it's allowed into the network, the IndiRank system is said to be completely automated.

Well, I only managed to find one other person blogging about semiconductors -- which is my main subject. So, does that make me no. 2 in that area? I don't really know!

Also, according to IndiBlogger, it has combined traditional ranking mechanisms such as a blog's Google PageRank, Incoming links and Alexa ranking. The system also checks to see the frequency at which a blog is updated -- well, I definitely try and update frequently -- as well as two other secret ingredients. Some of these factors have more weightage than the rest.

Fair enough! I am happy with whatever rank I can manage inside a fortnight or so of my joining. Thanks a lot, IndiBlogger.