A brief overview of recent changes to the Google Privacy Policy
EDD Update: Ediscovery Production Without Review | Albert Barsocchini
December 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
More law firms are producing electronically stored information without going through linear review. After potentially-relevant ESI has been collected and sent out for processing, the producing party is normally focused on boiling down the ocean of documents and identifying privileged documents for sequestering. Linear review of the identified subset has been the traditional last step and most expensive in the production cycle.
Advanced analytics, judicial acceptance of computer aided coding, claw back/quick-peek agreements, and aggressive use of Rule 16 hearings have given attorneys a level of confidence that they can produce responsive ESI without spending time and money on a final linear review.
An attorney at a major law firm recently said to me, “In many cases we just give them what they want without reviewing them. Usually after our interviews and privilege cull using analytics and sampling, we have a pretty good idea of what we have and we don’t want to waste our client’s money on attorneys going through every single document before production … and yes we do use claw back agreements”.
Update: Google ‘messed up,’ yanks Gmail app for iPhone, iPad – Computerworld
November 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Just minutes after launching its first native Gmail app for Apple’s iPhone and iPad, Google pulled the program, saying it had “messed up” by issuing a flawed version.
“Unfortunately, it contained a bug which broke notifications and caused users to see an error message when first opening the app,” Google said in an updated blog post. It promised a new version “soon,” but did not set a timetable.
Google tweeted much the same. “We have pulled the app to fix the problem. Sorry we messed up,” the Gmail team said on Twitter.
David Girouard, Google’s vice president of apps and the company’s top executive for its enterprise group, issued his own apology on Twitter and Google+.
“Googla culpa!” said Girouard on Twitter. “Sorry, but we pushed a bad version of our iOS app for Gmail. More info shortly – we’re working on it.”
via Update: Google ‘messed up,’ yanks Gmail app for iPhone, iPad – Computerworld.
HTC Prepping Patch for Data-Sniffing Glitch | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
October 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment
HTC this week acknowledged that its smartphone software contains a vulnerability that could be exploited by third parties and said it will issue an over-the-air security update to fix the problem.
The patch first has to be tested by carrier partners, which will then send it out to customers, who can download and install it.
“In our ongoing investigation into this recent claim, we have concluded that while this HTC software itself does no harm to customers’ data, there is a vulnerability that could potentially be exploited by a malicious third-party application,” HTC said in a statement. “A third party malware app exploiting this or any other vulnerability would potentially be acting in violation of civil and criminal laws. So far, we have not learned of any customers being affected in this way and would like to prevent it by making sure all customers are aware of this potential vulnerability.”
HTC urged all customers to install the update as soon as it is available. “During this time, as always, we strongly urge customers to use caution when downloading, using, installing and updating applications from untrusted sources,” the company said.
via HTC Prepping Patch for Data-Sniffing Glitch | News & Opinion | PCMag.com.
Update: Researcher finds serious vulnerability in Skype – Computerworld
July 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
A security consultant has notified Skype of a cross-site scripting flaw that could be used to change the password on someone’s account, according to details posted online. Skype said it would issue a fix next week.
The consultant, Levent Kayan, based in Berlin, posted details of the flaw on his blog on Wednesday and notified Skype a day later. He said on Friday he hasn’t heard a response yet.
The problem lies in a field where a person can input their mobile phone number. Kayan wrote that a malicious user can insert JavaScript into the mobile phone field of their profile.
When one of their contacts comes online, the malicious user’s profile will be updated, and the JavaScript will be executed when the other contact logs in. Kayan wrote that the other person’s session could be hijacked, and it may be possible to gain control of that person’s computer. An attacker could also change the password on someone’s account.
There are some mitigating factors, such as that the attacker and victim must be friends on Skype. Also, the attack may not immediately execute when the victim logs in. Kayan said he noticed the behavior happened only after the victim logged in several times. But he said in an e-mail that once it happens the first time, “it happens with each re-login.”
via Update: Researcher finds serious vulnerability in Skype – Computerworld.
Apple patches 36 bugs in Snow Leopard, preps OS for Lion upgrade – Computerworld
June 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Apple on Thursday released the final feature update for Snow Leopard as it prepared users’ Macs for the upcoming Lion upgrade set to ship next month.
Included in the update to Mac OS X 10.6.7 were patches for 36 vulnerabilities in Snow Leopard and Snow Leopard Server.
Apple also issued a security-only update for Mac OS X 10.5, better known as Leopard, that fixed 13 flaws in the 2007 operating system.
But most Mac users will be interested in the update because it’s a prerequisite for Lion, the $30 Mac OS X upgrade Apple plans to sell through the Mac App Store in July.
via Apple patches 36 bugs in Snow Leopard, preps OS for Lion upgrade – Computerworld.
Apple’s malware detection update circumvented in 8 hours | MacFixIt – CNET Reviews
June 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Let the cat and mouse games commence. Less than a day after Apple tackled the malware threats in OS X with an updated implementation of its malware detection technologies, the MacDefender malware developers have issued another variant that bypasses Apple’s definitions to root out and remove the malware.
As described by ZDNet editor Ed Bott, the new variant comes as a download called “Mdinstall.pkg” and will run without being detected by Apple’s new security implementations. It also shows that the malware developers are very actively trying to circumvent Apple’s efforts; the file’s time stamp shows that it was issued less than 8 hours after the security update for OS X was released.
Despite this new variant, Apple’s security update will still detect and remove older variants of the malware, but as with Apple’s attempt to thwart iPhone jailbreaking, the hackers are hard at work to jump over every hurdle Apple throws in their way. Apple will undoubtedly begin issuing additional updates to help identify these malware variants, and with the new security implementation set to check for definitions on a daily basis, hopefully all users will have to do is wait for Apple to issue new definitions.
via Apple’s malware detection update circumvented in 8 hours | MacFixIt – CNET Reviews.
Skype pushes out Windows update following massive login glitch • The Register
May 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Skype has published an update that provides an easy way for users to log back into the system following a software glitch that resulted in the VoIP service hanging up on users on Thursday.
The resulting flood of traffic from confused users also floored Skype’s website. The VoIP firm, acquired by Microsoft for an eye-popping $8.5bn earlier this month, issued a detailed bulletin explaining how users could log back into the service soon after the outage.
This multi-step process involved deleting a file called “shared.xml” that had become corrupted as a result of the problem, a process even Skype admits is “fairly technical”. Windows users can now avoid fiddling around with their system by applying an automated update, published late on Thursday. An update for Mac users is promised over forthcoming days. Linux users will have to tweak their systems for themselves.
Skype on mobiles, TVs or other device was immune from the glitch, the precise cause of which remains unclear. Previous outages involving Skype have also gone unexplained, a shortcoming that hardly builds confidence in the service.
via Skype pushes out Windows update following massive login glitch • The Register.
Android 3.1 Update Coming in June to Acer, Asus, and T-Mobile Tablets | PCWorld
May 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The first major update to Google’s Honeycomb platform, Android 3.1, was announced last week at the Google I/O developer event, and it’s slowly rolling out as an over-the-air update to mobile broadband-connected Motorola Xoom tablets. When announced, Google was vague about when we could expect Android 3.1 on other Honeycomb tablets, but today saw update details flying across the Web for both the Acer Iconia A500 and the Asus EeePad Transformer.
The details remain vague, however. According to reports on ThisIsMyNext and Engadget, Asus Italia used its Facebook page to reveal an over-the-air update was coming in June. And Acer says an update is coming in June, as well. Mind you, we don’t know when in June, nor do we know if U.S. models will receive the update at the same time as other regions will. Still, add that T-Mobile says it will be doing an OTA update of the T-Mobile G-Slate,and we’ve got a bona fide Android 3.1 party.
via Android 3.1 Update Coming in June to Acer, Asus, and T-Mobile Tablets | PCWorld.
Update: Microsoft Selected to Host SF Email; Google Claims Process Unfair | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
May 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment
On Wednesday, Microsoft and the city and county of San Francisco agreed on a $1.2 million contract that will shift more than 23,000 employees onto Microsoft’s Exchange Online cloud email solution.
Google, however, said that the bid process wasn’t truly competitive, and that it didn’t have a chance to fairly compete.
If that sounds like quite a little, it is: Jon Walton, the city’s chief information officer, said it will cost San Francisco just $6.50 per user per month, for a total of $1.2 million in the first year. That will be slightly less than the $1.7 million to $1.8 million the city can expect to pay when the solution is fully deployed, a spokesman for the city said.
Walton said that the company evaluated Google Apps and Lotus Notes over several years, and the city’s CIOs unanimously chose Microsoft because of the city’s established commitment to other Microsoft products, such as Word, Excel, SharePoint, and Azure, Microsoft’s cloud solution. Google, by contrast, charges users $50 per email account per year, although it throws in a whole suite of apps for that price.
Google said that the process wasn’t fair, and that it didn’t have a chance to adequately compete. “We’re disappointed we didn’t have an opportunity to compete for San Francisco’s business,” a spokesman said in an email. “Through a competitive bid process, the majority of customers choose Google, and the rest get a great deal on their Microsoft license.”
