Author: Eva Glass

Eva Glass first rose to prominence in The INQUIRER. She continues to work behind the scenes to dig out the best stories.

Banks hit by cyber crooks

Posted on February 16, 2015 by - News

wargames-hackerRespected anti virus company Kaspersky Labs believes that crooks have targeted banks and that could lead to as much as one billion dollars of losses.

Kaspersky thinks the attacks were made using so-called phishing scams to access up to 100 banks’ networks and so gained access to cash machines and drew out the money.

But the attacks are confined mostly to Russia, with some attacks made on banks in Ukraine and China.

The company worked with Interpol on an investigation and it claims that the attack is one of the most significant security breaches yet.

The amount is difficult to pin down and it’s believed the billion dollar figure may have been overstated.

The crooks involved in the scam are believed to still be active but there’s no indication on where they’re based or how they gained access to ATMs.

White space will speed up your connection

Posted on February 13, 2015 by - News

Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 14.57.04A technology that makes use of gaps in radio and TV frequencies has been approved by regulator Ofcom.

Academics from Strathclude University tested the technique by producing a prototype system in Glasgow which Ofcom has approved.

Ofcom believes that the technique will allow internet access for ships and boats, machine to machine networks and other wide ranging applications. The white space technology can pass more easily through walls and has a greater range than wi-fi.

Ofcom will guide the industry on how to use the white spaces in the frequencies without affecting other channels.

It said it was likely that commercial applications of the technology will be available by the end of this year.

The wireless technology is also expected to be useful when products and services based on the internet of things finally kicks off.

A number of organisations and companies are already experimenting with the technology.

Counterfeit product web sites shuttered

Posted on February 13, 2015 by - News

policemanPolice have managed to shut down over two thousand websites since the year began.

The police worked with internet registers and brand protection associations to find the sites and close them.

The operation, dubbed Ashiko, has managed to close down 5,500 websites selling clothes, sunglasses, jewellery and other luxury products, according to the BBC.

Police said people should use their common sense when visiting web sites that appeared to offer bargains. Such sites often don’t bother too particularly with grammar and spelling.

People should also check whether or not there is a contact address, and should be careful they’re antivirus software is up to date, as the sites often contain malware or computer viruses.

People are also being warned not to clink on links in emails and beware of web sites that don’t start with the https prefix.

US president goes to Silicon Valley

Posted on February 13, 2015 by - News

Obama BarackPresident Barack Obama is to meet CEOs in Silicon Valley today to canvass their views on ways to improve existing cyber legislation.

That’s in the wake of massive attacks on healthcare company Anthem and Sony.

According to Reuters, Obama is expected to say that government and the private sector need to cooperate better to meet the challenges of cyber attacks.

A White House representative said that the idea is that if the USA gets it right, more people and companies worldwide will do business with America.

But while Obama will meet some CEOs, some will pointedly stay away including Google, Facebook and Yahoo. They don’t think that the US has done enough to protect their customers from NSA surveillane.

Obama wants Congress to pass a law giving liability protection to companies that share their data about security.

Personal storage market was flat last year

Posted on February 13, 2015 by - News

storage75.7 million personal and entry level storage products shipped in 2014 and that means the market was essentially flat.

IDC estimated that annual shipment values fell 1.5 percent compared to 2013, with a value of $6.6 billion.

Personal stort age suffered from competition from public cloud providers and people started using online streaming more, said IDC.

The entry level market is largely dominated by vendors that don’t make hard drives but their share fell as much as 17.6 percent compared to the year before.

USB continues to be the choice for the personal and entry level storage market, while Ethernet is preferred for entry level market. Thunderbolt based devices fell by 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, the first time it had showed a decline.

Devices with over four terabytes of storage now account for a third of all shipments in the quarter.

Scientists give tips on online dating

Posted on February 12, 2015 by - News

Screen Shot 2015-02-12 at 14.36.33Don’t puff yourself too much if you’re writing an online profile on a dating site to find that perfect partner.

That’s the conclusion of researchers at the University of Iowa.

They created eight online dating profiles – four men and four women with one set that majors on the good stuff and downplays the bad.

The other set showed profiles that were realistic.

The profiles were shown to 317 adults who had already used online dating and found the realistic ones were the most selected.

“People were turned off by profiles that sounded too good to be true,” said the researchers. They found that “the more specific information a profile ctained that could be traced to a real person, the more the viewer trusted the profile”.

People want details, not broad generalities.

Researcher Andy High said: “Instead of just saying, ‘I write a blog’, name the blog and encourage people to check it out. If you work for a company, name the company. If you can name something, or provide people with a link to get there, then do it.”

Mobile memory sales soared

Posted on February 12, 2015 by - News

Semiconductor wafer: Wikimedia CommonsShipments of DRAM aimed at the mobile market rose 27.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, amounting to a value of over $3.6 billion.

That’s according to market intelligence company DRAM Exchange, which observed that mobile DRAM now accounts for 40 percent of all shipments of this memory type.

Increased shipments of smartphones account for the lion’s share of mobile memory sales, and DRAM Exchange said in its report that sales look strong in the first quarter of this year – traditionally one of the weaker quarters in the memory market.

The report said that the industry is waiting for the release of the next generation LPDDR4 – right now only Qualcomm supports this memory type. It is expecting some high end smartphones to ship in the second quarter of this year.

As far as manufacturers are concerned, Samsung remains the leader, followed by SK Hynix and Micron. These last two are the main suppliers for Apple iPhone 6s.

Samsung say a small drop in revenues of 5.2 percent, but Micron says its revenues soar by 27.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

Microsoft snaps up Israeli firm

Posted on February 12, 2015 by - News

Microsoft campusMicrosoft has spent $200 million on an Israeli firm that makes digital pens and semiconductors for touch screens.

According to financial news website Calcalist, the 190 people who work for N-trig will work for Microsoft’s Israeli division.

N-trig makes pens for use in smartphones, for tablets and for slim notebooks.

Microsoft already owned a 6.1 percent chunk in N-Trig to incorporate its pen in the Surface Pro 3 tablets it makes.

Reuters said N-trig revenues in the first half of 2014 amounted to $20.6 million. Its customers include Sony, HP, and Lenovo.

Microsoft is keen to re-position itself in the next wave of the IT market.

Workstations maintain growth

Posted on February 12, 2015 by - News

hpworkstationWhile there’s some uncertainty about the future of PCs in the enterprise, there’s one area which continues to do well, and that’s desktop workstations.

IDC released a report saying that the global workstation market grew in the fourth quarter of 2014 by 8.8 percent – amounting to shipments of 946,089 units. For the whole year, shipments amounted to 3.7 million units, representing an 8.9 percent growth compared to 2013.

The USA and Western Europe have the lions share in the desktop workstation market. Both account for 63.6 percent of worldwide shipments.

But emerging markets are growing faster than developmed markets, with Latin America showing double digit growth for the fourth calendar quarter in a row.

HP is the leading vendor with 44.6 percent of market share, while Dell had 35.8 percent market share.

The number three vendor is Lenovo, which took share from both Dell and HP anc achieved 33.1 percent yearly growth. Fujitsu and NEC occupied the fourth and fifth positions respectively.

IBM sues

Posted on February 11, 2015 by - News

IBM logoBig Blue said it has started legal action against Priceline, alleging the company has breached its intellectual property.

IBM said that it has attempted to negotiate with the Priceline Group and its subsidiaries for over three years but has failed to reach an agreement.

It filed the case in the US District Court of Delaware against the Group and its subsidiaries priceline.com, opentable.com and kayak.com.

IBM wants the companies to pay damages for breaching its patents and also wants the court to impose a royalty for the continued use of its technology.

William LaFontaine, general manager of intellectual property at IBM said: “We have filed this lawsuit against Priceline for a very simple reason – IBM’s patents are being knowingly and unfairly exploited.”

He continued: “Our preference is to engage in good faith negotiations and agree to a fair patent licence, but when another company wilfully uses our intellectual property without permission, we have no option but to protect and vigorously defend it through every means available.”

He aded that Priceline is alleged to have infringed four IBM patents. It has entered over 1,000 patent licensing agreements.

IBM told Priceline “numerous times” about tthe infringement, but it has refused to participate in negotiations.

Robot vacuum cleaners to clean up

Posted on February 11, 2015 by - News

Robot - image from Wikimedia CommonsA report said that home care and lawnmowing robots will be worth close to $3 billion by 2019.

ABI Research said vacuum cleaners will dominate the market and it expects over seven million robots to be in use worldwide by 2019.

Over 3.4 million robots were sold in 2014, so that represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.6 percent over the period to 2019.

Dan Kara, a research director at ABI, said the market is the largest, fastest growing and most dynamic sector of the consumer robotics market.

“The addressable markets for these devices are substantial, penetration levels are nowhere near saturation, and in some cases markets are virtually untouched,” he said.

He said that over the next few years we could expect to see various advances in terms of lower prices, better functionally and greater levels of performance and autonomy.

The overall market includes vacuum cleaners, floor cleaners, lawn mowers and pool cleaners.

Screen Shot 2015-02-11 at 11.41.02

EE to invest £1.5 billion in 4G

Posted on February 11, 2015 by - News

oldphoneComms company EE said today it will spend £1.5 billion over the next three years to expand its 4G network in the UK.

EE said that 4G will overtake 2G by 2017, with 99 percent of the British population able to access 4G networks.

And, by 2017, 4G+ will be available in 20 British cities.

It said that it will spend to create data and voice connections in 1,500 places that don’t have either reliable mobile or high speed broadband.

Its “double speed” broadband will be available for 90 percent of the UK population, with data speeds of up to 60Mbps available for both smartphones and tablets.

And in the future it claimed it will be a leader in 5G, because the foundation for even faster speeds will rely on 4G infrastructure being available.

Its 4G+ network will allow speeds of 150Mbps, EE said.

Today it released its “Signalling the Future” manifesto intended to guide the next government of whatever hue to set digital priorities.

Dutch government hit in cyber barrage

Posted on February 11, 2015 by - News

dutch-childrenWebsites run by the Dutch government were downed yesterday morning after a cyber attack.

The outages affected many of the government’s web sites and lasted for over seven hours.

And the cyber attackers – whoever they are – also used a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack to take down a satirical website called GeenStijl.nl.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to Reuters, phone systems and emergency channels stayed online.

The government information service said it is inestigating the attack along with the Dutch National Centre for Cyber Security.

The attackers targeted the hosting company that services the government sites – Prolocation.

UK presses ahead on driverless cars

Posted on February 11, 2015 by - News

Screen Shot 2015-02-11 at 10.41.23The Department for Transport said that it had given the green light to test driverless cars on public roads.

Transport minister Claire Perry said she believes “driverless cars are the future. I want Britain to be at the forefront of this exciting new development to embrace a technology that could transform our roads and open up a brand new route for global investment”.

The coalition government launched a competition to research and develop driverless cars with pilots in Greenwich, Bristol, Milton Keynes and Coventry.

Business secretary Vince Cable said he believed that the industry will be worth as much as £900 billion in 10 years time.

Perry and Cable are visiting the Greenwich project, which is following up research conducted by Oxford University and Nissan.

They will unveil a driverless pod that will be tested in Milton Keynes (pictured).

The government will introduce a code of practice to give industry a framework to trial cars, to be published this spring.

SMEs want investigation into Capita

Posted on February 11, 2015 by - News

parliamentA report said 12 small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are asking the government to investigate IT giant Capita for allegedly damaging their business.

According to the Independent, the Cabinet Office has started an investigation into Capita after the group of SMEs alleged that it was exploiting their suppliers over a civil service training scheme.

Capita secured a £250 million deal three years ago to provide civil service training in a move that was intended to open the public sector to SMEs.

But the SMEs have made a number of allegations including paying invoices late, taking big fees for training contracts, and hiring sub contractors to work directly for Capita rather than farming the work out to the small businesses.

Capita is also alleged to have introduced non competing clauses for SMEs involved in business which precluded them getting work without its permission.

The Cabinet Office said it was taking the allegations seriously. It said government policy is to support SMEs. Capita said it had changed its policies on late payment and it had abandoned its policy of non compete clauses.