Israel wants to turn country into cybersecurity "global center"

Michael Hatamoto | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Mar 6, 2014 5:25 PM CST

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently discussed his country's budding cybersecurity industry, which is tasked with stopping attacks from Islamist militant organizations and cybercriminal groups.

During the interview, Netanyahu was asked about companies purchasing Israeli technologies and whether they should be worried of NSA-like spying behavior.

"My point is that to build in Israel a global center for cybersecurity, in other words to prevent this spying to prevent the piracy, to prevent sabotage" Netanyahu said in an interview transcribed by BloomBerg. "You have user accounts. You have to protect them. You have bank accounts. You have to protect them. You have electricity grids. You have to protect them, traffic systems and aviation systems. All of these can be both individually and national infrastructures could be imperiled by cyber-attacks, are imperiled by cyber-attacks."

Continue reading: Israel wants to turn country into cybersecurity "global center" (full post)

Court finds man guilty for "webcam" fix that spied on users

Michael Hatamoto | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Mar 6, 2014 4:20 PM CST

Andrew Meldrum, a 30-year-old British citizen, has been found guilty of three counts of unauthorized access to computer material after "fixing" webcams so he could remotely watch as many as three victims.

Meldrum was first suspected after one of the victims reported her computer was acting strangely, and it snowballed from there - one victim spoke with someone else, and victim 2 contacted a third victim - all three had the convicted creeper work on their PCs.

"I would like to thank all witnesses in this investigation but especially the three victims who game evidence on matters that were clearly of a private, intimate and personal nature to them," said Nick Pailthorpe, Southwark Borough CID, in a press statement. "I hope that they can take some consolation in the guilty verdict that sends out a clear message to anyone that this type of intrusion into a person's private life is not acceptable and the Metropolitan Police will support all victims and pursue all suspects."

Continue reading: Court finds man guilty for "webcam" fix that spied on users (full post)

Smucker's online store compromised, company apologizes to customers

Michael Hatamoto | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Mar 6, 2014 3:17 PM CST

Fruit jam and jelly company Smucker's reportedly suffered an online store data breach, with customer names, mailing addresses, e-mail, phone numbers, credit and debit card numbers, expiration dates, and verification codes at risk.

Security experts believe a sophisticated Trojan is likely to blame for Smucker's issues, with information siphoned from online web server applications.

"We are extremely disappointed this incident occurred and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause," Smucker's officials said in an online state. "Please be assured, we continue to thoroughly investigate this matter with federal authorities, and have taken steps to rectify the cause of this incident with the Online Store website."

Continue reading: Smucker's online store compromised, company apologizes to customers (full post)

Plextor set to unveil new M6 SSD line-up at CEBIT 2014

Charles Gantt | Storage | Mar 6, 2014 2:27 PM CST

Plextor is gearing up to unveil its new high-performance M6 series of SSDs at the upcoming CEBIT 2014 conference being held next week in Hannover, Germany. Plextor's M6 line-up consist of several form factors of solid state drives including mSATA, M.2, PCIe, and 2.5-inch SATA drives, and the company says that attendees can check out the full lineup on March 10 - 14 in its showcases in the Business Center (Hall 15, Stand A18, Room 18) and at Planet Re-seller (Hall 15, Stand D21, Number 66).

Plextor will show off the new M6S 2.5-inch SSD which features new sustained sequential read / write speeds up to 520 MB/s and 440MB/s and random read / write speeds up to 94,000 and 80,000 IOPS. The M6S will also feature the latest generation of advanced 19nm Toggle NAND flash from Toshiba. The new M6M mSATA SSD will also be on display and features read/write speeds of 520 MB/s and 440MB/s, and random read/write speeds of 94,000 and 80,000 IOPS.

For those looking for extreme performance, the new M6E PCIe SSD will be on display as well. Plextor says that the M6E is the company's first native PCI express SSD solution to eliminate the performance bottleneck of SATA III. The M6e is capable of delivering sequential read / write speeds up to 770/625 MB/s and random read / write speeds of 105,000 / 100,000 IOPS. The M6e is automatically recognized as an AHCI device requiring no additional drivers. When used as a boot disk on a system with UEFI start-up times are cut in half.

Continue reading: Plextor set to unveil new M6 SSD line-up at CEBIT 2014 (full post)

Pennzoil to host real Mario Kart racing at SXSW 2014

Shane McGlaun | Gaming | Mar 6, 2014 12:05 PM CST

If you have ever walked through the oil section in your local store, you have probably seen the yellow Pennzoil bottles sitting on shelves. Pennzoil is sponsoring what may be the coolest thing going on at SXSW 2014 in Austin. The oil company will be letting visitors race in real-world Mario Karts.

The event is called Mario Karting Reimagined and it is inspired by Mario Kart 8 and sponsored in part by Nintendo. Visitors to the show will be able to slip behind the wheel of a real Mario Kart and race around the track in competition with other users.

The karts will be able to run over Pennzoil logos on the track that will give their Kart special powers. You won't get to toss turtle shells at your opponents, but the power-ups will make the cart slower or faster. The racing action will be broadcast at SXSW on a big Jumbotron for everyone to see.

Continue reading: Pennzoil to host real Mario Kart racing at SXSW 2014 (full post)

Wello iPhone case monitors your heart rate, temperature, and more

Shane McGlaun | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Mar 6, 2014 11:30 AM CST

Fitness tracking devices are very popular today with a number of companies offering wearable devices to track your vitals. Many of these devices are wearables in the form a of a watch with embedded sensors. If you are the sort of person that doesn't like to wear watches, but you want to monitor your health Azoi has a case for your iPhone that might be perfect.

The case is called the Wello and it works with sensors to monitor your health functions and present them via an iPhone app. The case can measure your blood pressure, ECG, heart rate, blood oxygen, temperature, ling function, and more.

It appears that the smartphone case doesn't offer you statistics in real-time; you have to stop and hold the case for it to work. There are sensors embedded on the case that gather your data. The case also supports remote access allowing family members or others to keep an eye on your statistics.

Continue reading: Wello iPhone case monitors your heart rate, temperature, and more (full post)

Clare Computer Solutions details basic steps to PC defense

Michael Hatamoto | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Mar 6, 2014 11:13 AM CST

Trying to keep PCs and devices safe from increasing numbers of cyberattacks hasn't been easy, with sophisticated malicious code targeting PCs.

Even with elevated malicious attacks in the wild, there are a few basic steps that can be done to boost defenses before something critical occurs.

The first step: "Make sure you have up-to-date Anti-Virus software - preferably not the freeware versions," said Bruce Campbell, IT outsourcing company Clare Computer Solutions, in a statement to TweakTown. "For home users, make sure you activate the Norton or McAfee that comes with the computer, and renew it every year."

Continue reading: Clare Computer Solutions details basic steps to PC defense (full post)

Sprint to add stolen and lost smartphones to CheckMend database

Shane McGlaun | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Mar 6, 2014 10:54 AM CST

One of the most prolific types of theft around the world today is the theft of smartphones. The reason is that smartphones are very common, worth a lot of money, and relatively easy to steal and resell. Authorities around the world are working with carriers in an effort to help curb theft.

The carriers are introducing methods that will make stolen or lost devices unusable for whoever has them. The hope is that by making it known that the smartphone a thief steals won't work the thefts will stop. Sprint has announced that it will begin adding all lost and stolen smartphones its customers report to an international stolen property database.

The database is called CheckMend and it will be open to carriers and police to use. The idea is that by listing all of the devices users buying a used phone can check to see if it has been reported stolen or lost. If the device shows up on the list Sprint won't activate the phone.

Continue reading: Sprint to add stolen and lost smartphones to CheckMend database (full post)

HTC Desire 301 budget smartphone gets official

Shane McGlaun | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Mar 6, 2014 10:22 AM CST

HTC has rolled out a new budget smartphone that aims at offering maximum value to the user. The smartphone is called the HTC Desire 310 and it will land in Taiwan next month. The smartphone promises seamless multitasking, video creation, and smooth web surfing for the entry-level users.

The phone has a 1.3GHz quad-core processor that promises enough power for smooth mobile gaming and other needs. The phone runs Android for the OS and has HTC BlinkFeed for the home screen. The phone supports an offline reading mode that lets the user save up to 120 articles when they are on Wi-Fi networks to read when networks aren't available.

The Desire 310 has a 4.5-inch screen with an unspecified resolution. Don't expect high resolution since this is a budget smartphone. The 301 also has a 5MP rear camera for shooting images and video. HTC is staying mum on pricing right now and there is no word on availability outside Taiwan.

Continue reading: HTC Desire 301 budget smartphone gets official (full post)

IBM workers in China strike over Lenovo server deal

Shane McGlaun | Business, Financial & Legal | Mar 6, 2014 9:50 AM CST

Back in January, we mentioned that IBM had sold its low-end x86 server business to Lenovo. As part of the deal, Lenovo would get a facility in China where the servers were made and the staff working at that facility. It seems that the workers at the IBM International System Technology Company factory in Shenzhen aren't happy about the deal.

About 1000 workers at that factory have been on strike and the factory has stopped manufacturing for at least four days. One of the striking workers says that the strike will continue. The worker noted that so far the company had ignored the demands of the workers.

As you can guess, the strike has to do with money. The workers want better pay to move to Lenovo or they want better severance packages if they choose to leave the company. An IBM spokesperson says that the deals offered to these workers are on par with what they have now.

Continue reading: IBM workers in China strike over Lenovo server deal (full post)