Report

Browser Market Share: October, 2010

Published: November 2, 2010 Reading time: 1 min

Browser Total Market Share Microsoft Internet Explorer 59.26% Firefox 22.82% Chrome 8.47% Safari 5.33% Opera 2.28% Opera Mini 0.95% Netscape 0.63% Konqueror 0.06% Flock 0.05% ACCESS NetFront 0.05% Playstation 0.03% Mozilla 0.03% Obigo 0.01% Danger Web Browser 0.00% Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer 0.00% Blazer 0.00% WebTV 0.00% BlackBerry 0.00% ANT Galio 0.00% Lotus Notes 0.00% iCab 0.00% MaxThon 0.00%

Continue Reading

Google Instant’s Blacklisted Words

Published: October 29, 2010 Reading time: 1 min

Google search engine’s latest innovation technology that allows users to search for information in real time does not come without its own challenges. For example, how do you prevent children from seeing adult related content while conducting a live search? Howbeit controversial, the solution, it appears, is by restricting a group of search terms so that they do not function with the new instant search feature. Consequently, users will not be exposed to viewing pornographic, hate, violent or disturbing results when conducting searches. This means that inasmuch as Google Instant was designed to simplify search and make finding information quicker on Google, no one will see results deemed to be offensive in nature by the Google team, unless they want to. Users will therefore have to hit enter to confirm a search query once Instant search stops delivering new results due to these restrictions. ...

Continue Reading

Zynga now valued at $5.51 billion, more than Electronic Arts

Published: October 28, 2010 Reading time: 1 min

SharesPost has valued Farmville developer Zynga Game Network at $5.51 billion, according to Business Week. That means it is now estimated to be bigger than console publisher Electronic Arts, which stands at a market cap of $5.16 billion. It still has a long way to go to beat Activision Blizzard, which has a market cap of $13.9 billion. While making such direct comparisons isn’t completely accurate, nor fair, it gives us a snapshot at how quickly social network gaming is growing. Zynga was founded four years ago and already six of the 10 most popular apps on Facebook belong to it, and it has more than 210 million monthly active users. ...

Continue Reading

New Trojan Virus Attacks Mac Computers Via Social Networking Sites

Published: October 28, 2010 Reading time: 3 min

**Mac: Hi PC, I’m not feeling so hot today… ** PC: Oh, I know ALL about that. I think you have a virus! Security experts by and large agree that security via obscurity is not a wise model for protecting customers over the long term. That’s exactly the model Apple has employed successfully for some time now. However, its luck finally appears to be running short. ...

Continue Reading

Google Now Accounts for 6.4% of Internet Traffic

Published: October 26, 2010 Reading time: 1 min

The Internet is growing fast, but Google is growing even faster. According to online security company Arbor Networks, Google now represents an average 6.4% of all Internet traffic. This is a new record for Google, as it gained more than 1% of all Internet traffic share since January. Now, only one global ISP handles more traffic, and a lot of that traffic is – unsurprisingly – Google’s traffic. ...

Continue Reading

Web filtering: are employees offended?

Published: October 26, 2010 Reading time: 2 min

Paul Mah, on the ITBusiness Edge blog, reported on GFI’s September survey of web filtering practices in small and medium businesses and got some interesting feedback from readers. Web filtering is put in place primarily to improve network security, but another big reason is to stop the loss of productivity, he said. Employees however can be offended by the implied lack of trust. One of Mah’s readers said he dutifully “practices self-censorship to enhance personal productivity.” Another, however, asked: “What makes you think your employees are productive now? A slacker will always find a way to slack around.” ...

Continue Reading

Spam from the Advocate

Published: October 25, 2010 Reading time: 1 min

Currently cyber criminals try to make fast money by spamming out emails in masses in Germany which allegedly stem from an Advocate specialized in copyright. According to the spam mails, the user was downloading copyrighted material. An IP address is in the email to proof that. To not call the attorney to action, the recipient of the mail is offered to send 100 Euros via a payment system called Ukash. Don’t fall for that social engineering, don’t pay! ...

Continue Reading

Facebook exceeds 500,000,000 users

Published: October 24, 2010 Reading time: 1 min

Last night Facebook announced that it had over 500 000 000 users. Some facts that have come out of this are that: 8% of the entire world are on Facebook Metro Facebook was valued at $11.5 billion The Telegraph More than 150 million log in through their phone The Guardian Taken from TalkWeb

Continue Reading

Lady Gaga Hits 1 Billion Views on YouTube

Published: October 24, 2010 Reading time: 1 min

Lady Gaga took to Twitter this morning to announce that her YouTube videos have hit the lofty milestone of 1 billion total views. The musician is the first to reach such a goal, but Justin Bieber is trailing close behind with 962,726,797 total video views. Sources were predicting this outcome a few weeks ago, with Lady Gaga reaching 1 billion YouTube views around October 20, and Bieber hitting the mark on November 1. ...

Continue Reading

Microsoft CEO: next Windows release is "riskiest product bet"

Published: October 24, 2010 Reading time: 2 min

Windows 7 might be selling like hotcakes but that’s only going to make it even harder for Microsoft to top. When asked about the riskiest product bet that the software giant is currently developing, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer answered “the next release of Windows” without so much as a second of hesitation. Unfortunately, his interviewers don’t ask him for an explanation, so we’ll have to speculate as to why he chose Windows and not something else like Windows Phone, Xbox Kinect, or Bing. ...

Continue Reading

Windows 7 year one – 240 million licenses sold

Published: October 22, 2010 Reading time: 1 min

Windows 7 turns one year old and obviously Microsoft felt the need to once again brag with the performance of its latest operating system. And it can really brag as Windows 7 has sold 240 million licenses to date and is, hands down, the fastest selling OS in history. In September no less than 93% of all consumer PCs come pre-loaded with Windows 7, while on October 1st the OS’ global market share was measured at 17%, putting it on second place behind the immortal Windows XP. ...

Continue Reading

Panda: Mac is less secure than Windows, here's an antivirus

Published: October 22, 2010 Reading time: 2 min

Follow up from: Panda security launches Panda Antivirus The number of Mac OS vulnerabilities has quintupled in less than a year. In 2009, 34 vulnerabilities were detected for Mac OS. So far in 2010, this number has risen to 175 vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the platform can also be affected by 170,000 macro viruses for Windows and there are 5,000 classified strains of malware that specifically target Apple systems, according to Panda Security. ...

Continue Reading

Electronic Car Lock Denial-of-Service Attack

Published: October 22, 2010 Reading time: 1 min

Clever: Inspector Richard Haycock told local newspapers that the possible use of the car lock jammers would help explain a recent spate of thefts from vehicles that have occurred without leaving any signs of forced entry. “We do get quite a lot of car crime in the borough where there’s no sign of a break-in and items have been taken from an owner’s car,” Inspector Haycock said. “It’s difficult to get in to a modern car without causing damage and we get a reasonable amount of people who do not report any. ...

Continue Reading

PCWorld links to scareware

Published: October 21, 2010 Reading time: 2 min

I was reading an article on PCWorld’s website about the upcoming Google Chrome OS: So far so good. Except that I inadvertently clicked on one of their sponsored links: which ironically states “Here is all about spyware removal and even more.” After a few redirects, my browser is hijacked by one of those FakeAV scanners: Here is the HTTP traffic capture screenshot and log: ...

Continue Reading

Man cops to botnet-fueled pump-and-dump scheme

Published: October 21, 2010 Reading time: 2 min

An Arizona computer specialist has admitted taking part in a conspiracy that used large networks of compromised computers to inflate the value of stocks so they could later be sold at a profit. James Bragg, 41, of Chandler, Arizona, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and fraud, prosecutors said. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. It wasn’t immediately clear when sentencing is to take place. ...

Continue Reading