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Goldman conducts company-wide email review: sources | Reuters

May 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Goldman Sachs Group Inc has begun scanning internal emails for the term “muppet” and other evidence that employees referred to clients in derogatory ways, Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein told partners in a conference call this week, according to people familiar with the call.

The company-wide email review comes after an executive director named Greg Smith resigned last week in a scathing op-ed column in the New York Times in which he said he saw five Goldman managing directors refer to clients as “muppets,” at times over internal email.

In the United States, “muppet” brings to mind lovable puppets such as Kermit the Frog, but in Britain “muppet” is slang for a stupid person.

via Goldman conducts company-wide email review: sources | Reuters.

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Microsoft opens up So.cl social network | USA Today (Brett Molina)

May 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Microsoft is taking a shot at social networking.

The company rolled out access to its social search site So.cl to the public. The service was initially available to students at a select number of universities.

According to an FAQ on So.cl’s site, it combines “social networking and search, to help people find and share interesting web pages.”

So.cl, a research project from Microsoft’s FUSE Labs, lets users take search results from Bing, then share them with others. Search results can include standard links, or even photos and videos.

via Microsoft opens up So.cl social network.

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Google Chrome Overtakes Internet Explorer | PCWorld (Daniel Ionescu)

May 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Google’s Chrome is now the most popular Web browser worldwide, surpassing Microsoft’s Internet Explorer for the first time, according to the latest figures from StatCounter. After years of slowly chipping away Internet Explorer’s market share, Chrome took the lead with 32.76 percent share, while IE dipped to 31.94 percent.

Just a year ago, Internet Explorer was leading the Web browser market share with 43 percent, followed by Mozilla Firefox with 29 percent, and Chrome was third with 19 percent. Twelve months later, IE has lost 12 percent of the browser market share while Chrome gained 13 percent to the detriment of IE and Firefox, which also lost about 4 percent of its users and now comes in at just over 25 percent.

via Google Chrome Overtakes Internet Explorer | PCWorld.

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SMEs to Harness More on Big Data Analytics and Cloud Computing? | CloudTimes (Saroj Kar)

May 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

It is no surprise that cloud technologies are changing the way organizations consume technology radically. Cloud computing allows small and medium enterprises to devote more resources to develop its business, using cutting-edge tools and adopt international standards.

Small and mid-sized businesses are excellent candidates for cloud computing service. The reason for this is partly due to the fact that they are smaller and more agile than their larger counterparts. Despite the lack of knowledge of cloud computing, small business owners are betting their future not only in the cloud, but also on big data analytics and everything related to business.

But does SMBs now have access to greater computing power than ever before? Recently, IT research firm Gartner released top five cloud computing trends that will impact the way IT do business. The report outlined five trends to watch in the next three years -formal decision-making frameworks facilitating cloud investments, hybrid cloud computing adoption, cloud consumption, cloud centric design and future data centers and operating models. The role of these five cloud computing trends will re-define the traditional IT functions of midsized business.

via SMEs to Harness More on Big Data Analytics and Cloud Computing? | CloudTimes.

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Wireless tech makes healthcare security a ‘major concern’ – Computerworld (Antone Gonsalves)

May 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The use of wireless technology in the latest medical devices found in hospitals, health clinics and doctor offices has become a major concern of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In a bulletin issued this month, the DHS warned that while new technology brings efficiency, lower cost and better patient care, it also carries security risks that the multi-trillion-dollar healthcare industry may not be prepared to tackle.

“The communications security of medical devices to protect against theft of medical information and malicious intrusion is now becoming a major concern,” the report, entitled “Attack Surface: Healthcare and Public Health Sector,” said.

Doctors, nurses and ambulance workers are using wireless medical devices for diagnosis and treatment and to monitor changes in patients’ health. The devices can be handheld, wheeled in on a stand or implanted, such as in the case of heart-sustaining pacemakers and defibrillators.

via Wireless tech makes healthcare security a ‘major concern’ – Computerworld.

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The evolution of data protection strategy in the cloud and BYOD era

May 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The consumerization of mobile devices, coupled with the increased use of third parties for information management, has made a strong data protection strategy more important than ever. These intersecting trends also create questions: With more companies trusting their information to third parties, who really owns the data, and whose ultimate responsibility is it to protect that data?

Cloud data security is a shared responsibility, but it’s a shared responsibility that is governed, ultimately, by the contract.

SearchCompliance.com Editorial Director Scot Petersen recently sat down with Jeffrey Ritter, an attorney and recognized expert on technology law, to discuss how bring-your-own-device (BYOD) programs, cloud use and vendor relationships are influencing data protection strategy.

via The evolution of data protection strategy in the cloud and BYOD era.

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Europe Warns Google in Antitrust Inquiry – NYTimes.com (James Kanter)

May 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The European Commission warned Google on Monday that it must move quickly to change four business practices or face formal charges for violating European antitrust law.

The ultimatum was made in a surprise news conference by Joaquín Almunia, Europe’s antitrust chief.

The commission, after a two-year inquiry, found that Google might have abused its dominance in Internet search and advertising, giving its own products an advantage over those of others while maintaining that it offers a neutral, best-for-the-customer result. Mr. Almunia said Google would need to propose a plan for changing those practices within weeks.

via Europe Warns Google in Antitrust Inquiry – NYTimes.com.

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FBI ‘looking at’ law making Web sites wiretap-ready, director says | CNET News (Declan McCullagh)

May 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

FBI Director Robert Mueller confirmed that the bureau has renewed its push for a new Internet wiretapping law, which CNET reported two weeks ago.

In an appearance this week on Capitol Hill, Mueller downplayed privacy concerns, saying the FBI’s wiretap proposals — social-networking Web sites and providers of VoIP, instant messaging, and Web e-mail are the primary targets — would still require a court to be involved.

via FBI ‘looking at’ law making Web sites wiretap-ready, director says | Security & Privacy – CNET News.

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Forensic Tool Grabs iPhone, iPad Data Remotely – Informationweek (Mathew Schwartz)

May 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Digital forensic investigators have a new technique for recovering the data stored on an iPhone or iPad: ElcomSoft has updated its Phone Password Breaker cracking tool to automatically retrieve iOS device backups from the Apple iCloud.

“Phone Password Breaker becomes an alternative way to get access to iOS devices’ content,” said Vladimir Katalov, CEO of Moscow-based ElcomSoft, in a statement. “With a valid Apple ID and a password, investigators can not only retrieve backups to seized devices, but access that information in real time while the phone is still in the hands of a suspect.”

Information from iPhone backups is in high demand by forensic customers, according to ElcomSoft. No wonder, since an estimated 125 million Apple users store some type of data in iCloud, which offers 5GB of storage for free, and which is easily enabled via a checkbox in the iOS device settings. By accessing data stored in an iCloud backup, investigators could keep tabs on a suspect without the suspect having any idea that their cloud-based data was being accessed.

via Forensic Tool Grabs iPhone, iPad Data Remotely – Security – Storage security – Informationweek.

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Google revamps search, tries to think more like a person – CNN.com (Doug Gross)

May 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

So, let’s say you’re doing a Google search for “Kings.” Did you mean the L.A. hockey team or the Sacramento basketball team? Maybe the TV show? Or maybe you actually wanted to know something about monarchs.

Google on Wednesday announced Knowledge Graph, a significant change to how search results are delivered that the company believes will make their search engine think more like a human.

“The web pages we [currently] return for the search ‘kings,’ they’re all good,” Jack Menzel, director of product management at Google, told CNN in an interview. “You, as a human, associate those words with their real-world meaning but, for a computer, they’re just a random string of characters.”

With Knowledge Graph, which will begin rolling out to some users immediately, results will be arranged according to categories with which the search term has been associated. So, in the above example, boxes will appear with separate results for the hockey team, basketball team and TV show.

via Google revamps search, tries to think more like a person – CNN.com.

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