Original Story: wsj.com
Microsoft Corp. unveiled new partnerships with politically connected Chinese companies in an effort to open doors to more sensitive and official business in the vast China technology market.
The deals—which include a tie-up with a state-owned Chinese military-technology consortium—were disclosed on Wednesday, the same day Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella joined other U.S. business leaders in meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Seattle. They come as Microsoft seeks to make inroads into the world’s second-largest economy, a market that has been challenging for the company amid cybersecurity and antitrust challenges. Mr. Xi toured Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., campus with Mr. Nadella on Wednesday. A Denver antitrust attorney is following this story closely.
Microsoft said its Chinese cloud partner 21Vianet Group Inc.—which operates Microsoft’s cloud services in the country—is setting up a joint venture with an arm of state-backed chip-maker Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd. that will sell cloud services to Chinese state-owned enterprises. Microsoft will provide technical training and support to the joint venture, Microsoft said in a news release on its China website. An Atlanta joint venture lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.
Microsoft also struck a deal with state-owned China Electronics Technology Group Corp. to explore ways to configure, deploy and maintain a “localized” version of Windows 10 for clients in Chinese government organs and state-owned enterprises operating critical infrastructure. The Chinese consortium, known as CETC, provides technology for Chinese military and civilian use, including major communications and electronic equipment and key components.
The companies didn’t disclose financial terms.
Western technology firms have forged partnerships with Chinese companies in response to challenges in the Chinese market that worsened with allegations by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that the U.S. government used U.S. tech firms’ products to conduct widespread spying. A Shanghai international trade lawyer provides high-quality legal services for clients' international trade needs.
Microsoft in particular has had problems with the massive but complicated market. A Chinese state agency last year said it was probing the way it distributes software. Microsoft has said it is cooperating. Also last year, China’s Central Government Procurement Center banned government agencies from purchasing computers loaded with Microsoft’s Windows 8 software.
Also on Wednesday, Microsoft struck a deal with Chinese search giant Baidu Inc. to make Baidu.com the default search engine and home page for Web surfers in China who are using Microsoft’s Edge browser.
There are already hundreds of millions of PCs running Windows, but because of widespread piracy, Microsoft has traditionally had difficulties extracting revenue from many of these users. The Baidu deal is designed to help Microsoft capture more users for its new Windows 10 software. In exchange for the search placement, Baidu will make it easier for its own customers to update to Microsoft’s new operating system. A Mexico City intellectual property lawyer assists clients with intellectual property and technology issues.
Internet users who search for Windows 10 on the China search engine will be greeted with a large banner advertisement on the top of their screens, which will then take users to a special Windows 10 download site, Baidu said.
Microsoft says it isn’t giving up on its own search engine, Bing, in China. But with a negligible market share in the country, it makes sense for the company to play down Bing to promote its more popular Windows software, said Danny Sullivan, founding editor of website Search Engine Land.
“If Google can’t win the search market in China, then Microsoft can’t,” Mr. Sullivan said. “But there’s a lot to gain by pushing the Windows adoption.”
With the deal, Baidu will fortify its grip on Web search in China. More than 92% of Internet users in China have used Baidu for search, according to the China Internet Network Information Center. Google, with 27%, is ranked fourth in the country by number of people who have used it, while Microsoft’s Bing is used by less than 2%.
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Showing posts with label Cybersecurity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cybersecurity. Show all posts
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Monday, December 22, 2014
U.S. ASKS CHINA TO HELP REIN IN KOREAN HACKERS
Original Story: nytimes.com
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has sought China’s help in recent days in blocking North Korea’s ability to launch cyberattacks, the first steps toward the “proportional response” President Obama vowed to make the North pay for the assault on Sony Pictures — and as part of a campaign to issue a broader warning against future hacking, according to senior administration officials.
“What we are looking for is a blocking action, something that would cripple their efforts to carry out attacks,” one official said.
So far, the Chinese have not responded. Their cooperation would be critical, since virtually all of North Korea’s telecommunications run through Chinese-operated networks.
It is unclear that China would choose to help, given tensions over computer security between Washington and Beijing since the Justice Department in May indicted five hackers working for the Chinese military on charges of stealing sensitive information from American companies.
The secret approach to China comes as American officials, convening a half-dozen meetings in the White House Situation Room last week, including one of the top national security team on Thursday night, have been developing options to give to the president during his vacation in Hawaii. They include new economic sanctions, mirroring those recently placed on Russian oligarchs and officials close to President Vladimir V. Putin, which would cut off their access to cash — the one perk that allows the elite surrounding Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, to live lifestyles their starving countrymen can barely imagine.
The sessions also included discussions of “information operations” directed at the North Korean people, officials said, but similar efforts by South Korea to sway opinion in the North have often created a furious backlash.
As part of the administration effort to plan a response to the first major, state-sponsored destructive computer-network attacks on American soil, the president has asked the military’s Cyber Command, which is led by the same four-star admiral who directs the National Security Agency, to come up with a range of offensive options that could be directed at North Korea.
For now, the White House appears to have declined to consider what one Defense Department official termed “a demonstration strike” in cyberspace, which could have included targets such as North Korean military facilities, computer network servers and communications networks.
One obvious potential target is Yongbyon, the center of North Korea’s nuclear program, where the state has invested huge sums to produce plutonium and uranium fuel for its small arsenal of nuclear weapons. Because of its geographic and technological isolation, Yongbyon is considered a far harder target to attack than were Iran’s nuclear facilities, the subject of an American cyberoperation code-named Olympic Games.
The administration’s restraint grows out of a concern over the risk of escalation with North Korea, since the United States has far more vulnerable targets, from its power grid to its financial markets, than North Korea.
“There are a lot of constraints on us, because we live in a giant glass house,” said one official involved in the high-level debates. The official said the challenge was to find a mix of actions that “the North Koreans will notice” but that will not be so public that Mr. Kim’s government loses face and feels compelled to respond.
Several administration officials said the White House woke up late to the growing confrontation with North Korea, with senior officials not realizing at first the scope and long-term implications of the attacks on Sony for its plans for a Christmas Day release of “The Interview,” a crude comedy built around a far-fetched C.I.A. plot to have two bumbling journalists assassinate the young North Korean leader. But by last week, the combination of the destructive attack on Sony’s computers and the threat of attacks on moviegoers at any theater that showed the film sent the administration scrambling for a response.
In interviews over the past two days, officials said the president’s decision was to have the United States directly accuse the North Korean government — a public naming of the perpetrators that went beyond previous American criticism. Then the president, in his year-end news conference, cast Mr. Kim as an insecure leader so weak that he could be provoked by an outlandish satire, even while Mr. Obama castigated Sony Pictures for giving in to intimidation by withdrawing the film.
The attacks on Sony appear to have been routed through China and then conducted through servers in Singapore, Thailand and Bolivia. Each of the countries, officials said, had been contacted in an effort to cut off access for the hackers.
But the key is China. United States officials said that American efforts to block North Korea’s access to the Internet, which is available only to the military and the elite, would necessarily impinge on Chinese sovereignty. But they also saw in the confrontation a chance to work with the Chinese on a subject the two countries have been warily discussing for several years: Establishing “rules of the road” for acceptable behavior in cyberspace.
By some accounts, what the administration is trying to create is a computer equivalent to the Proliferation Security Initiative, an effort begun in the Bush administration, also aimed squarely at North Korea, to stop the shipment of nuclear materials and other weaponry. But in cyberspace that is a far harder task, since it is easier for the North Koreans to reroute computer code at lightning speed than to reroute a cargo ship carrying missiles.
Any financial sanctions also are tricky. The North is under perhaps the heaviest sanctions on earth. Yet the one sanction in the past decade that caused the most pain to the North Korean leadership was the freezing of its accounts at a small bank in Macau, which held the money the North Korean leadership uses to buy luxury goods — and serves as an escape route if officials need to leave the country.
Even if Mr. Obama was ready to respond with a cyberattack, it would not be instantaneous.
“One of the things people often overlook is the complexity and time it takes to launch an attack,” said Oren Falkowitz, a former analyst at the National Security Agency who now runs Area 1, a security company based in Menlo Park, Calif. “Most attacks take hundreds of days, if not years, to plan. People often want to move quickly, but they forget a lot of legwork must be done.”
In the past, other countries have resorted to basic distributed denial-of-service attacks, in which hackers flood a target’s systems with Internet traffic until they collapse under the load. But unlike systems in the United States, very little of North Korea’s network infrastructure is connected to the global Internet. The result, Mr. Falkowitz says, is that a similar denial-of-service attack on the North would amount to “ankle biting.”
Tom Kellermann, a former member of the presidential commission on cybersecurity, said one option was what security experts refer to as a “hack back,” in which they use the attackers’ own computer footprints and back doors to deploy an attack that destroys North Korea’s attack infrastructure, or compromises the integrity of the machines that did the hacking. For example, the United States could deploy a malicious payload that encrypts the data on North Korea’s machines, or renders them unable to reboot — clearly “proportional,” in the president’s words, because that was what happened to Sony’s computers.
But attack tools can be swapped out, and by destroying attackers’ systems, the United States would lose its ability to monitor them for future attacks.
Mr. Kellermann predicted a campaign of information warfare, in which the United States plays on North Korea’s worst fears by using its access to the North Korean domestic computer and radio systems to deploy propaganda inside North Korea’s closed media bubble.
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has sought China’s help in recent days in blocking North Korea’s ability to launch cyberattacks, the first steps toward the “proportional response” President Obama vowed to make the North pay for the assault on Sony Pictures — and as part of a campaign to issue a broader warning against future hacking, according to senior administration officials.
“What we are looking for is a blocking action, something that would cripple their efforts to carry out attacks,” one official said.
So far, the Chinese have not responded. Their cooperation would be critical, since virtually all of North Korea’s telecommunications run through Chinese-operated networks.
It is unclear that China would choose to help, given tensions over computer security between Washington and Beijing since the Justice Department in May indicted five hackers working for the Chinese military on charges of stealing sensitive information from American companies.
The secret approach to China comes as American officials, convening a half-dozen meetings in the White House Situation Room last week, including one of the top national security team on Thursday night, have been developing options to give to the president during his vacation in Hawaii. They include new economic sanctions, mirroring those recently placed on Russian oligarchs and officials close to President Vladimir V. Putin, which would cut off their access to cash — the one perk that allows the elite surrounding Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, to live lifestyles their starving countrymen can barely imagine.
The sessions also included discussions of “information operations” directed at the North Korean people, officials said, but similar efforts by South Korea to sway opinion in the North have often created a furious backlash.
As part of the administration effort to plan a response to the first major, state-sponsored destructive computer-network attacks on American soil, the president has asked the military’s Cyber Command, which is led by the same four-star admiral who directs the National Security Agency, to come up with a range of offensive options that could be directed at North Korea.
For now, the White House appears to have declined to consider what one Defense Department official termed “a demonstration strike” in cyberspace, which could have included targets such as North Korean military facilities, computer network servers and communications networks.
One obvious potential target is Yongbyon, the center of North Korea’s nuclear program, where the state has invested huge sums to produce plutonium and uranium fuel for its small arsenal of nuclear weapons. Because of its geographic and technological isolation, Yongbyon is considered a far harder target to attack than were Iran’s nuclear facilities, the subject of an American cyberoperation code-named Olympic Games.
The administration’s restraint grows out of a concern over the risk of escalation with North Korea, since the United States has far more vulnerable targets, from its power grid to its financial markets, than North Korea.
“There are a lot of constraints on us, because we live in a giant glass house,” said one official involved in the high-level debates. The official said the challenge was to find a mix of actions that “the North Koreans will notice” but that will not be so public that Mr. Kim’s government loses face and feels compelled to respond.
Several administration officials said the White House woke up late to the growing confrontation with North Korea, with senior officials not realizing at first the scope and long-term implications of the attacks on Sony for its plans for a Christmas Day release of “The Interview,” a crude comedy built around a far-fetched C.I.A. plot to have two bumbling journalists assassinate the young North Korean leader. But by last week, the combination of the destructive attack on Sony’s computers and the threat of attacks on moviegoers at any theater that showed the film sent the administration scrambling for a response.
In interviews over the past two days, officials said the president’s decision was to have the United States directly accuse the North Korean government — a public naming of the perpetrators that went beyond previous American criticism. Then the president, in his year-end news conference, cast Mr. Kim as an insecure leader so weak that he could be provoked by an outlandish satire, even while Mr. Obama castigated Sony Pictures for giving in to intimidation by withdrawing the film.
The attacks on Sony appear to have been routed through China and then conducted through servers in Singapore, Thailand and Bolivia. Each of the countries, officials said, had been contacted in an effort to cut off access for the hackers.
But the key is China. United States officials said that American efforts to block North Korea’s access to the Internet, which is available only to the military and the elite, would necessarily impinge on Chinese sovereignty. But they also saw in the confrontation a chance to work with the Chinese on a subject the two countries have been warily discussing for several years: Establishing “rules of the road” for acceptable behavior in cyberspace.
By some accounts, what the administration is trying to create is a computer equivalent to the Proliferation Security Initiative, an effort begun in the Bush administration, also aimed squarely at North Korea, to stop the shipment of nuclear materials and other weaponry. But in cyberspace that is a far harder task, since it is easier for the North Koreans to reroute computer code at lightning speed than to reroute a cargo ship carrying missiles.
Any financial sanctions also are tricky. The North is under perhaps the heaviest sanctions on earth. Yet the one sanction in the past decade that caused the most pain to the North Korean leadership was the freezing of its accounts at a small bank in Macau, which held the money the North Korean leadership uses to buy luxury goods — and serves as an escape route if officials need to leave the country.
Even if Mr. Obama was ready to respond with a cyberattack, it would not be instantaneous.
“One of the things people often overlook is the complexity and time it takes to launch an attack,” said Oren Falkowitz, a former analyst at the National Security Agency who now runs Area 1, a security company based in Menlo Park, Calif. “Most attacks take hundreds of days, if not years, to plan. People often want to move quickly, but they forget a lot of legwork must be done.”
In the past, other countries have resorted to basic distributed denial-of-service attacks, in which hackers flood a target’s systems with Internet traffic until they collapse under the load. But unlike systems in the United States, very little of North Korea’s network infrastructure is connected to the global Internet. The result, Mr. Falkowitz says, is that a similar denial-of-service attack on the North would amount to “ankle biting.”
Tom Kellermann, a former member of the presidential commission on cybersecurity, said one option was what security experts refer to as a “hack back,” in which they use the attackers’ own computer footprints and back doors to deploy an attack that destroys North Korea’s attack infrastructure, or compromises the integrity of the machines that did the hacking. For example, the United States could deploy a malicious payload that encrypts the data on North Korea’s machines, or renders them unable to reboot — clearly “proportional,” in the president’s words, because that was what happened to Sony’s computers.
But attack tools can be swapped out, and by destroying attackers’ systems, the United States would lose its ability to monitor them for future attacks.
Mr. Kellermann predicted a campaign of information warfare, in which the United States plays on North Korea’s worst fears by using its access to the North Korean domestic computer and radio systems to deploy propaganda inside North Korea’s closed media bubble.
Friday, July 27, 2012
10,000 Arrested in China Internet Crackdown
Story first reported from USA Today
Chinese authorities say they have arrested more than 10,000 suspects and smashed more than 600 gangs during a four-month crackdown on Internet crimes, according to news reports.
At the same time, Beijing police are threatening to punish any online "political rumor" or "attack" on Communist Party leaders, the system or the country, raising fears of tighter controls on speech on the country's 538 million Internet users.
The Ministry of Public Security said "major crimes uncovered" during the nationwide operation since May include pornographic information, gun trading, wiretapping devices, counterfeiting, as well as illegally collecting and selling citizens' personal information, the official Xinhua News Agency writes.
The cyber-police have also deleted 3.2 million messages deemed "harmful," closed hundreds of Internet cafes and punished 30 service providers for granting access to unlicensed sites, the BBC says.
Additionally, 62 websites and online forums were ordered to remove "inappropriate content."
In southern China, police reported detaining "a gang of hackers" believed responsible for attacks on 185 government websites, the state-run China Daily newspaper says.
The warning from Beijing's Public Security Bureau about Internet comments came Tuesday during a meeting about protecting minors online, the Global Times reports.
In May, a BBC article asked, "Will China's Great Firewall backfire?"
China's crackdown comes as the U.S. Congress is considering new cybersecurity legislation.
The Senate voted today to begin debating and amending the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, which is intended to bolster cyber-defenses against attacks on communications systems and infrastructure.
The measure "calls for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to assess risks and vulnerabilities of computer systems running at critical infrastructure sites such as power companies and electricity and water utilities and to work with the operators to develop security standards that they would be required to meet," Cnet wrote when the legislation was introduced in February.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation says the Cybersecurity Act "poses serious threats to online rights."
The House approved a similar bill in April -- the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act -- despite a threatened White House veto. The measure encourages but does not require companies and the federal government to share information collected on the Internet to prevent against online attacks.
Chinese authorities say they have arrested more than 10,000 suspects and smashed more than 600 gangs during a four-month crackdown on Internet crimes, according to news reports.
At the same time, Beijing police are threatening to punish any online "political rumor" or "attack" on Communist Party leaders, the system or the country, raising fears of tighter controls on speech on the country's 538 million Internet users.
The Ministry of Public Security said "major crimes uncovered" during the nationwide operation since May include pornographic information, gun trading, wiretapping devices, counterfeiting, as well as illegally collecting and selling citizens' personal information, the official Xinhua News Agency writes.
The cyber-police have also deleted 3.2 million messages deemed "harmful," closed hundreds of Internet cafes and punished 30 service providers for granting access to unlicensed sites, the BBC says.
Additionally, 62 websites and online forums were ordered to remove "inappropriate content."
In southern China, police reported detaining "a gang of hackers" believed responsible for attacks on 185 government websites, the state-run China Daily newspaper says.
The warning from Beijing's Public Security Bureau about Internet comments came Tuesday during a meeting about protecting minors online, the Global Times reports.
In May, a BBC article asked, "Will China's Great Firewall backfire?"
China's crackdown comes as the U.S. Congress is considering new cybersecurity legislation.
The Senate voted today to begin debating and amending the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, which is intended to bolster cyber-defenses against attacks on communications systems and infrastructure.
The measure "calls for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to assess risks and vulnerabilities of computer systems running at critical infrastructure sites such as power companies and electricity and water utilities and to work with the operators to develop security standards that they would be required to meet," Cnet wrote when the legislation was introduced in February.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation says the Cybersecurity Act "poses serious threats to online rights."
The House approved a similar bill in April -- the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act -- despite a threatened White House veto. The measure encourages but does not require companies and the federal government to share information collected on the Internet to prevent against online attacks.
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Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Flame Virus Scares Microsoft
Story first appeared on CNBC.
Discovery of the Flame virus that mainly affected computers in the Middle East, has prompted Microsoft Corp to strengthen the security of a Windows program that helps customers secure their PCs and update software.
The senior director of the Microsoft Security Response Center said in a blog post that the world's biggest software maker plans to boost security measures on the Windows Update software that is included with the operating system that runs the majority of the world's PCs.
Microsoft disclosed over the weekend that the hackers who built Flame exploited a flaw in Windows that allowed them to trick PCs into believing it was a legitimate piece of software from Microsoft. The software was then downloaded onto computers using the Microsoft Update feature.
News of the Flame virus surfaced a week ago when cyber security experts described it as one of the most sophisticated pieces of malicious software discovered to date. They are still investigating the virus, which they believe was released specifically to target computers in Iran and across the Middle East, similar to the Stuxnet worm that attacked Iran's nuclear program in 2010.
The security experts said Flame likely only infected several thousand computers and was targeted at entities that would be of interest to nations involved in espionage.
Microsoft said on its website on Sunday that it was releasing software to fix the bug using its Windows Update system. But security experts said machines infected with some advanced viruses may not benefit from that update because those viruses had disabled the Windows Update software.
That is partially what prompted the need to further boost the security of the Windows Update feature, they said.
If Microsoft is going to 'harden' the update feature, they must also prevent writers of malicious software from disabling the updating process on local computers.
Microsoft disclosed the plan to boost security of Windows Update late Monday on a Microsoft Security Response Center blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/msrc/
Windows has said that it was taking the flaw in Windows seriously because the bug could be exploited by developers of less sophisticated viruses to launch more widespread attacks.
Discovery of the Flame virus that mainly affected computers in the Middle East, has prompted Microsoft Corp to strengthen the security of a Windows program that helps customers secure their PCs and update software.
The senior director of the Microsoft Security Response Center said in a blog post that the world's biggest software maker plans to boost security measures on the Windows Update software that is included with the operating system that runs the majority of the world's PCs.
Microsoft disclosed over the weekend that the hackers who built Flame exploited a flaw in Windows that allowed them to trick PCs into believing it was a legitimate piece of software from Microsoft. The software was then downloaded onto computers using the Microsoft Update feature.
News of the Flame virus surfaced a week ago when cyber security experts described it as one of the most sophisticated pieces of malicious software discovered to date. They are still investigating the virus, which they believe was released specifically to target computers in Iran and across the Middle East, similar to the Stuxnet worm that attacked Iran's nuclear program in 2010.
The security experts said Flame likely only infected several thousand computers and was targeted at entities that would be of interest to nations involved in espionage.
Microsoft said on its website on Sunday that it was releasing software to fix the bug using its Windows Update system. But security experts said machines infected with some advanced viruses may not benefit from that update because those viruses had disabled the Windows Update software.
That is partially what prompted the need to further boost the security of the Windows Update feature, they said.
If Microsoft is going to 'harden' the update feature, they must also prevent writers of malicious software from disabling the updating process on local computers.
Microsoft disclosed the plan to boost security of Windows Update late Monday on a Microsoft Security Response Center blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/msrc/
Windows has said that it was taking the flaw in Windows seriously because the bug could be exploited by developers of less sophisticated viruses to launch more widespread attacks.
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the Michigan Business News blog.
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News, visit the Electronics America blog.
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visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
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LinkedIn Stocks Seem Immune to Danger
Story first appeared on CNBC.
After a day of rumors and investigations, LinkedIn has formally acknowledged that some of its users passwords have been compromised.
This is the worst privacy and security news to slam the business networking service yet.
The company apologized and encouraged “best practices” to update passwords.
This is no small deal: by some reports it impacted over six million passwords, about 4 percent of LinkedIn’s users. But still, LinkedIn’s stock has been remarkably robust. At one point today it sank about 1.2 percent, but it closed the day up 9 cents, and it’s up nearly 50 percent year-to-date. Today not a single analyst issued a note in response to the news or changed a rating or stock target.
So why is the stock immune to a hack attack?
LinkedIn’s built a strong reputation on these matters. The great efforts LinkedIn has made to stay out of the spotlight on security and privacy concerns seems to have paid off. The company hasn’t drawn the outrage and concerns that Facebook has when it comes to privacy issues. This is partly due to LinkedIn’s focus on business, rather than the personal photos and details people share on Facebook. By its very nature of enabling people to share their professional profiles, there is simply less risk.
A number of Wall Street analysts say that they do not expect this news to at all impact LinkedIn usage. Why? These hack attacks and the need to change passwords are perceived as a cost of doing business in today’s digital world. As long as no one gets hurt, as one analyst put it, it’s not a big deal.
Perhaps most interesting, today’s hacking news follows media storm over LinkedIn’s mobile app violating personal privacy by improperly downloading and sharing personal details from users calendars, including conference call dial-ins and private notes. Users complained about the mobile app, and LinkedIn responded by changing its policy—it no longer downloads or shares the notes section of appointment reminders. When this news came out, the stock barely moved—ending the day less than a percentage point.
The company plans to update its privacy policy to give users more control sometime in the next few days. We’ll hear when LinkedIn does its next quarterly report if there’s been any impact on LinkedIn traffic. But Wall Street certainly thinks that users will take today’s news in stride; they’ll change their password and perhaps click on through to connect with the service.
After a day of rumors and investigations, LinkedIn has formally acknowledged that some of its users passwords have been compromised.
This is the worst privacy and security news to slam the business networking service yet.
The company apologized and encouraged “best practices” to update passwords.
This is no small deal: by some reports it impacted over six million passwords, about 4 percent of LinkedIn’s users. But still, LinkedIn’s stock has been remarkably robust. At one point today it sank about 1.2 percent, but it closed the day up 9 cents, and it’s up nearly 50 percent year-to-date. Today not a single analyst issued a note in response to the news or changed a rating or stock target.
So why is the stock immune to a hack attack?
LinkedIn’s built a strong reputation on these matters. The great efforts LinkedIn has made to stay out of the spotlight on security and privacy concerns seems to have paid off. The company hasn’t drawn the outrage and concerns that Facebook has when it comes to privacy issues. This is partly due to LinkedIn’s focus on business, rather than the personal photos and details people share on Facebook. By its very nature of enabling people to share their professional profiles, there is simply less risk.
A number of Wall Street analysts say that they do not expect this news to at all impact LinkedIn usage. Why? These hack attacks and the need to change passwords are perceived as a cost of doing business in today’s digital world. As long as no one gets hurt, as one analyst put it, it’s not a big deal.
Perhaps most interesting, today’s hacking news follows media storm over LinkedIn’s mobile app violating personal privacy by improperly downloading and sharing personal details from users calendars, including conference call dial-ins and private notes. Users complained about the mobile app, and LinkedIn responded by changing its policy—it no longer downloads or shares the notes section of appointment reminders. When this news came out, the stock barely moved—ending the day less than a percentage point.
The company plans to update its privacy policy to give users more control sometime in the next few days. We’ll hear when LinkedIn does its next quarterly report if there’s been any impact on LinkedIn traffic. But Wall Street certainly thinks that users will take today’s news in stride; they’ll change their password and perhaps click on through to connect with the service.
For information on website optimization or for the latest SEO News, visit the SEO Done Right
blog.
For more national and worldwide Business News, visit the Peak News
Room blog.
For more local and state of Michigan Business News, visit
the Michigan Business News blog.
For more Health News, visit the
Healthcare and Medical News blog.
For more Electronics
News, visit the Electronics America blog.
For more Real Estate News,
visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For more Law News,
visit the Nation of Law blog.
For more Advertising
News, visit the Advertising, Marketing and Media blog.
For more Environmental News,
visit the Environmental Responsibility News blog.
Thursday, June 07, 2012
LinkedIn Website Hacked
Story first appeared in USA Today.
In the latest blow to online confidence, the accounts of some users of business-networking site LinkedIn and dating site eHarmony were compromised after users' encrypted passwords were posted on the Internet.
Many of LinkedIn's 161 million members worldwide, who use the site to form professional connections, were also bombarded Wednesday by e-mail from unfamiliar parties urging them to click on links to verify e-mail addresses. LinkedIn and eHarmony join the list of several major websites, including retailer Zappos.com, that were hacked in recent months.
Wednesday's cyberattack on LinkedIn, which affects as many as 6.5 million users, came on the heels of a discovery that LinkedIn's mobile app on Apple devices tracked users' calendar events and synched them to its server without users' knowledge, a practice that could violate Apple's privacy regulations.
The encrypted password hash codes, which can be deciphered to uncover users' passwords, could give the hacker access to users' accounts once the codes are cracked, according to an IDC tech industry analyst.
Some of the passwords that were compromised correspond to LinkedIn accounts, the company confirmed in a blog post on its site Wednesday. In another post, LinkedIn urged users never change your password by following a link in an e-mail, since those links might be compromised and redirect you to the wrong place. The company also said it would send users of the affected accounts instructions on how to reset their passwords and that these instructions would be devoid of any links.
Late Wednesday, eHarmony said the passwords of a "small fraction" of its users had also been compromised. The site, which says it has more than 20 million registered online users, did not say how many had been affected. But tech news site Ars Technica said it found about 1.5 million passwords leaked online that appeared to be from eHarmony users.
It's unclear who was behind the hacking, but several tech analysts encouraged users to change passwords on the sites and create unique passwords for every social-media account. If you have the same password on multiple accounts, change them right now. If the hackers get one password and all of your passwords are the same, they're going to have access to all your information.
The LinkedIn incident underscores the importance of passing data-protection legislation and that it forecasts a shaky future for online consumerism. How many times is this going to happen before Congress finally wakes up and takes action? More people are becoming antsy about providing their personal information online, and that's not good for the future.
In the latest blow to online confidence, the accounts of some users of business-networking site LinkedIn and dating site eHarmony were compromised after users' encrypted passwords were posted on the Internet.
Many of LinkedIn's 161 million members worldwide, who use the site to form professional connections, were also bombarded Wednesday by e-mail from unfamiliar parties urging them to click on links to verify e-mail addresses. LinkedIn and eHarmony join the list of several major websites, including retailer Zappos.com, that were hacked in recent months.
Wednesday's cyberattack on LinkedIn, which affects as many as 6.5 million users, came on the heels of a discovery that LinkedIn's mobile app on Apple devices tracked users' calendar events and synched them to its server without users' knowledge, a practice that could violate Apple's privacy regulations.
The encrypted password hash codes, which can be deciphered to uncover users' passwords, could give the hacker access to users' accounts once the codes are cracked, according to an IDC tech industry analyst.
Some of the passwords that were compromised correspond to LinkedIn accounts, the company confirmed in a blog post on its site Wednesday. In another post, LinkedIn urged users never change your password by following a link in an e-mail, since those links might be compromised and redirect you to the wrong place. The company also said it would send users of the affected accounts instructions on how to reset their passwords and that these instructions would be devoid of any links.
Late Wednesday, eHarmony said the passwords of a "small fraction" of its users had also been compromised. The site, which says it has more than 20 million registered online users, did not say how many had been affected. But tech news site Ars Technica said it found about 1.5 million passwords leaked online that appeared to be from eHarmony users.
It's unclear who was behind the hacking, but several tech analysts encouraged users to change passwords on the sites and create unique passwords for every social-media account. If you have the same password on multiple accounts, change them right now. If the hackers get one password and all of your passwords are the same, they're going to have access to all your information.
The LinkedIn incident underscores the importance of passing data-protection legislation and that it forecasts a shaky future for online consumerism. How many times is this going to happen before Congress finally wakes up and takes action? More people are becoming antsy about providing their personal information online, and that's not good for the future.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Google Working With NSA to Investigate Cyber Attack
Officials at the National Security Agency have been working with Google Inc. to investigate the cyber attacks that Google announced publicly last month, according to people familiar with the investigation.
A Google spokeswoman declined to comment. NSA didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
The partnership began weeks ago, as the Internet company shared details about the attack – which it said it believed originated in China and affected more than 20 companies – with various government agencies.
In response, Google said it would stop censoring its search results in China – a move it has yet to take as it continues discussions with Chinese officials about how it can continue to operate in the country. In recent weeks, Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt has said the Internet company doesn't want to back out of China but wants to be there on "different terms."
Companies have been more reluctant to work with the NSA in the wake of the debate over domestic surveillance in Washington because they fear being seen as aiding intelligence agencies in a way that would undermine the trust of customers. Addressing this private-sector anxiety is one of the largest challenges facing the White House's new cyber chief Howard Schmidt.
NSA officials had only heard rumors about the Google attack until the company announced it publicly, said one person familiar with the investigation.
While the Federal Bureau of Investigation could begin immediately on its criminal investigation, the NSA had to draft a legal agreement to begin sharing share information with Google.
The NSA's general counsel began drafting what's known as a cooperative research and development agreement the day Google announced the breach, according to a people familiar with the investigation. The agreement was finalized within 24 hours, but the flow of information was still limited, according to a person familiar with the investigation. It allowed the NSA to examine some of the data related to the intrusion into Google's systems.
Both the FBI and NSA dispatched officials to work directly with Google. Most of the information shared with NSA officials has been about the nature of the data that was stolen from Google, a person familiar with the investigation said.
As a result, some intelligence officers attempting to get a better understanding of the nature and scope of the attack resorted to tapping their own backchannel contacts and twisting arms to get information, said a person familiar with the investigation.
The Wall Street Journal
Officials at the National Security Agency have been working with Google Inc. to investigate the cyber attacks that Google announced publicly last month, according to people familiar with the investigation.
The partnership began weeks ago, as the Internet company shared details about the attack – which it said it believed originated in China and affected more than 20 companies – with various government agencies.
In response, Google said it would stop censoring its search results in China – a move it has yet to take as it continues discussions with Chinese officials about how it can continue to operate in the country. In recent weeks, Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt has said the Internet company doesn't want to back out of China but wants to be there on "different terms."
Companies have been more reluctant to work with the NSA in the wake of the debate over domestic surveillance in Washington because they fear being seen as aiding intelligence agencies in a way that would undermine the trust of customers. Addressing this private-sector anxiety is one of the largest challenges facing the White House's new cyber chief Howard Schmidt.
NSA officials had only heard rumors about the Google attack until the company announced it publicly, said one person familiar with the investigation.
While the Federal Bureau of Investigation could begin immediately on its criminal investigation, the NSA had to draft a legal agreement to begin sharing share information with Google.
The NSA's general counsel began drafting what's known as a cooperative research and development agreement the day Google announced the breach, according to a people familiar with the investigation. The agreement was finalized within 24 hours, but the flow of information was still limited, according to a person familiar with the investigation. It allowed the NSA to examine some of the data related to the intrusion into Google's systems.
Both the FBI and NSA dispatched officials to work directly with Google. Most of the information shared with NSA officials has been about the nature of the data that was stolen from Google, a person familiar with the investigation said.
As a result, some intelligence officers attempting to get a better understanding of the nature and scope of the attack resorted to tapping their own backchannel contacts and twisting arms to get information, said a person familiar with the investigation.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Cybersecurity Chief Confronts Google Attack, Cloud Security
Information Week
Information Week
New to the job, Howard Schmidt's priorities include developing an organized response to attacks on American systems, private-public partnerships, and R&D.
The nation's new cybersecurity coordinator, Howard Schmidt, says the task of overseeing government-wide computer security has been "non-stop" in his first two weeks on the job.
Following the December announcement of his appointment by President Obama, Schmidt immediately had a cybersecurity crisis on his hands: Google's disclosure of a cyber attack on its system from within China. "I think everybody in the world who's in the security business is thinking about or working on that issue right now," Schmidt said in a brief interview at the Congressional Internet Caucus' annual State of the Net conference, where he gave his first public speech since taking office.
Since meeting with President Obama a few weeks ago, Schmidt has been working with federal CTO Aneesh Chopra and federal CIO Vivek Kundra on the requirement for secure cloud computing architectures and other issues.
Schmidt didn't offer a timeframe for when the White House would introduce a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy, but he hinted at where he might be looking to affect change. Schmidt pointed to supply chain management and education as weak links in cybersecurity. His priorities include developing an organized, unified response to attacks on American systems, fostering private-public partnerships, and addressing R&D needs.
One of the main concerns expressed about Schmidt's position before he took office was that it carried no real budget authority, but Schmidt waves that aside. "I don't believe that if you don't have the budget authority, you can't affect change," he said, noting a recent groundswell of support from policy-makers for cybersecurity efforts.
Another question has been whether Schmidt has the President's ear and the authority to make policy. He reports to both the National Economic Council and the National Security Staff, rather than to the President.
"I was particularly pleased and it made me feel good that there is a direct link to the National Security Staff as well as the National Economic Council," he said in his speech. "By being dual-hatted, it gives us a much broader perspective and helps us to have balance. It's important to understand we have a foot in both camps and utilize both camps."
Schmidt said privacy would be a key component of any cybersecurity plans he helps to develop. "Privacy and security are two sides of the same coin," he said. "As I was coming into this position, I was always sure that we had the discussion about privacy."
Schmidt took over for Chris Painter, who was acting in an interim capacity. Painter kept things going forward, Schmidt said, adding that he hopes to keep him at the White House "as long as I can keep him." Schmidt has a staff of about 10 working on issues from privacy to intelligence.
Following the December announcement of his appointment by President Obama, Schmidt immediately had a cybersecurity crisis on his hands: Google's disclosure of a cyber attack on its system from within China. "I think everybody in the world who's in the security business is thinking about or working on that issue right now," Schmidt said in a brief interview at the Congressional Internet Caucus' annual State of the Net conference, where he gave his first public speech since taking office.
Since meeting with President Obama a few weeks ago, Schmidt has been working with federal CTO Aneesh Chopra and federal CIO Vivek Kundra on the requirement for secure cloud computing architectures and other issues.
Schmidt didn't offer a timeframe for when the White House would introduce a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy, but he hinted at where he might be looking to affect change. Schmidt pointed to supply chain management and education as weak links in cybersecurity. His priorities include developing an organized, unified response to attacks on American systems, fostering private-public partnerships, and addressing R&D needs.
One of the main concerns expressed about Schmidt's position before he took office was that it carried no real budget authority, but Schmidt waves that aside. "I don't believe that if you don't have the budget authority, you can't affect change," he said, noting a recent groundswell of support from policy-makers for cybersecurity efforts.
Another question has been whether Schmidt has the President's ear and the authority to make policy. He reports to both the National Economic Council and the National Security Staff, rather than to the President.
"I was particularly pleased and it made me feel good that there is a direct link to the National Security Staff as well as the National Economic Council," he said in his speech. "By being dual-hatted, it gives us a much broader perspective and helps us to have balance. It's important to understand we have a foot in both camps and utilize both camps."
Schmidt said privacy would be a key component of any cybersecurity plans he helps to develop. "Privacy and security are two sides of the same coin," he said. "As I was coming into this position, I was always sure that we had the discussion about privacy."
Schmidt took over for Chris Painter, who was acting in an interim capacity. Painter kept things going forward, Schmidt said, adding that he hopes to keep him at the White House "as long as I can keep him." Schmidt has a staff of about 10 working on issues from privacy to intelligence.
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