Internet
Penetration Testing Live CD Updated – Live Hacking 1.2
A new version of the Live Hacking, a Linux distribution designed for ethical computer hacking, has been released.
The updated Live CD contains the tools and utilities you need to test and hack your own network in the same way a malicious hacker would. New in this version is the metasploit penetration testing framework and a range of IPv6 foot-printing tools.
Tweets to Help In Assessing Earthquakes
Reading the title, you would have wondered what tweeting has anything to do with earthquakes! But scientists at the US Geological survey have a different opinion about tweets. The social networking site, Twitter is being used as a tool by the folks at US Geological Survey to get an instant access to public reaction on such earthquakes. The messages are being analyzed to give an idea of how much impact the earthquake had in a particular area.
In a graph of the number of tweets to the time of the earthquakes, there was a spike in the number of tweets when the earthquakes hit. The USGS believes, these spikes in the numbers of tweets can be an emergency responder in assessing such situations. The Tweeter Earthquake Detection project, is one such project by the USGS that aim at singling our tweets with words like quakes or earthquake, however, it has been modified to neglect terms like “Quake”( as in the game) and an icecream named Oreo Brownie Earthquake.
Source: BBC
Report: Deal of ICQ?
A Russian company, Digital Sky Technologies (DST) is negotiating to buy ICQ instant messenger. Presently, owned by AOL, ICQ is one of the most leading instant messengers used today. The deal is supposed to be fixed between $200 millions to $250 millions.
Worth noticing is the fact that AOL bought ICQ in 1998 for $400 millions, and have millions of users all over the world. Market researcher Camscore has rated ICQ as the No.1 instant messenger in Russia so the enthusiasm of the deal is obvious. This news was published in a Russian newspaper Vedomosti.
Digital Sky Technologies was in news in May when it invested $200 millions in Facebook. And the market can see it as company’s yet another deal.
ICQ came into highlight when AOL asked Morgan Stanley and Allen & Co., investment bankers to find buyer for ICQ.
Security Expert Finds Problem with Microsoft’s MSN.com
Someone has discovered a problem on Microsoft’s MSN.com website and the question is being asked, “is a prelude or even the result of an attack on Microsoft’s website?”
The problem is with MSN’s Arabia subdomain. MSN uses subdomains to provide localized content to different parts of the the world. There are MSN subdomains for the UK, France, India and so on. There is also a subdomain for Arabia at http://arabia.msn.com. The problem occurs when users of the site try to access Microsoft’s Bing search engine.
On other subdomains and the main MSN.com website, entering a search term into the Bing search box takes you to the Bing search engine and a page of results for the term entered. But on the Arabia site using Bing results in an error. The error comes in two parts, the general error is “You are not authorized to view this page” and the reason given for this is “Forbidden: IP address of the client has been rejected.”
The problem was dsicovered by Dr. Jahangiri and he is calling on Microsoft to fix this problem quickly but to also check their MSN Arabia website to ensure that it hasn’t been compromised and also to check for any other vulnerabilities in the web server configuration.
[Via Press Release]
Hackers: “Iranian Cyber Army”
On Friday morning, users while visiting Twitter encountered a message from “Iranian cyber army”, a group of some Iranian hackers. A similar thing was observed with Iran’s green movement website. It seems that these sites have experienced an attack of hackers. They call themselves “Iranian cyber army”. It was like a worldwide protest against green movement because it did not really appeared like a typical cyber crime which generally has some financial intentions. That really happened on Twitter was that the web page of twitter was redirected to a web page which displayed a green flag with Arabic words which mean that the site has been hacked by Iranian cyber army.
Not just this, the note at the bottom read, “USA think they controlling and managing internet by their access, but they don’t, we control and manage internet by our power, so do not try to stimulate Iranian people”.
The page contained many other such words of protest and ends with a note “take care”. The good thing about the attack was all the essential information remained safe. A series of talks have begun with these attacks both regarding security issues and political issues. Let’s see how it goes in the coming days.
Google Fined $14,300 per day
Google was fined by a French court for $14,300 a day till it stops showing copyright books. A Paris based court ruled this judgment on Friday. Google inc. was also asked to pay $430,000 to a French publisher La Martiniere, who brought out the lawsuit on behalf of other French publishers.
This may set back the ambitious dream of this search engine giant to scan all world literature to an online digital library in next five years. Though, Google attorney Alexandra Neri has said that Google will appeal against this judgment. Google as a company is becoming more and more powerful day by day. There is already a U.S legal settlement that gives right to Google, to scan millions of books to its digital library. It is interesting to see that Google has scanned over 10 millions of books with the consent of over 30,000 publishers since 2004. Critics are saying Google is going beyond its rights, but no one is denying that it is very hard to stop Google from its mission.
Microsoft Ends the Fight with EU Over IE
Microsoft has finally come in peace with the European Union on the issue of the web browsers. The issue that started in 1998, was about Microsoft killing competition in the European browser market. Microsoft was criticized by the European Union for bundling their operating systems with their default web browser, Internet Explorer. Many felt that, this move of Microsoft could kill the competition in the web browser market and that users should be given the choice when it comes to choosing a web browser.
The European Union had also imposed fines on the computer maker to the tune of 1.68 billion Euros for not coming to an agreement in the web browser issue. After the computer maker had arrived at a consensus with the European Union, it had ended what was considered to be the biggest fight on web browsers. Users now in Europe will have to choice to choose their web browsers and a number of people have welcomed this new move by Microsoft. Chief Executive of Opera, Jon von Tetzchner said that this was the victory of the web and this move would definitely help build a healthy competition in the European web browser market.
Apple’s Touch Tablet in 2010
There are rumors that Apple is going to launch its touch tablet on 26th Jan 2010. Well if that is correct we are going to see an advanced touch tablet by Apple soon!
Technology world has transformed a lot in last few years, we had big computers in old days, then came the Laptops, recent to be launched were the notebooks and now the next generation of tablets!
It is not surprising that Apple will launch the first touch tablet; company has always produced products with the latest designs and technology. As other premium products of Apple, we can expect Touch tablet also to be a big thing.
Let’s see when this dream of owing a sleek light weight, touch tablet comes true for common man.
Internet Safety Lessons for School Kids in the UK
Parents in the UK can now clear their minds of any apprehensions when their kids use the internet as lessons on Internet safety are being taught at schools. This new initiative is just another part of the new strategy of the UK Government christened “Click Clever, Click safe” which is aimed at educating people and students about using the Internet safely. The Government has decided to make this Internet safety lessons, a part of the curriculum from the year 2011.
This new initiative by the Government is to make the Internet a safe place for kids just like the real world is. Children will be taught the Green Cross code and they will also be encouraged to block and report if they find inappropriate content. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that this new initiative will help children understand the dangers of the Internet which is otherwise a powerful and a wonderful tool. “Zip It, Block It, Flag It” will be the new tagline used in the campaign.
World Cup to be Filmed in 3D
Here’s some interesting news for football fans. The regulation authority of the world’s most famous sport has decided to film the World cup 2010 to be held at South Africa is 3D. FIFA has announced that it will shoot around 25 of the matches with 3D cameras. Thought they haven’t said any plans about telecasting the matches in 3D, the governing committee has said that they have shelved the idea for now and will decide on it in the upcoming months.
The footage will be shown at seven major cities around the world and will be shot using camera technology from Sony. Conventional 3D films are shot using two cameras for the viewers left and the right eye, however, the new technology from Sony will help capture the sport using a single lens camera. FIFA has also said that the footage will be made into a film. Rejoice football fans!
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