Computerworld Jaikumar Vijayan News

FDA defends its monitoring of whistle-blowers' email

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:23:00 GMT

The FDA Friday said it monitored the private email accounts of nine agency whistle-blowers starting in 2010 to determine whether any of them leaked confidential information to the public.

FBI declares cloud vendors must meet CJIS security rules

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:37:00 GMT

The FBI Tuesday reaffirmed its rule that all cloud products sold to to U.S. law enforcement agencies must comply with the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Systems security requirements.

Oracle seeks new trial in IP theft suit against SAP

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:13:00 GMT

Oracle's plan to drag its legal fight against rival SAP's defunct TomorrowNow subsidiary through a second trial is not surprising, analysts said Tuesday.

Copyright lawsuit targets owners of non-secure wireless networks

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:56:00 GMT

A federal lawsuit filed in Massachusetts could test the question of whether individuals who leave their wireless networks unsecured can be held liable if someone uses the network to illegally download copyrighted content.

Hungarian hacker gets 30 months for extortion plot on Marriott

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:02:00 GMT

A Hungarian hacker who attempted to extort money from Marriott International Inc. by stealing confidential data from its computers and threatening to expose it was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Lawsuit raises questions about email privacy at work

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:08:00 GMT

A recent lawsuit filed against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is drawing attention to the question of whether employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy when using personal email accounts on workplace computers.

Megaupload user content safe for two more weeks

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:03:00 GMT

Efforts are intensifying to retrieve data belonging to users of Megaupload's online storage service following the company's dramatic shuttering by U.S. law enforcement authorities this month.

Lawmaker pushes consumer notification bill in wake of Carrier IQ concerns

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:57:00 GMT

U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) has proposed a bill that would require all phone companies to notify consumers of any user tracking and monitoring software in their cell phones.

Feds say Megaupload user content could be deleted this week

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:49:00 GMT

Federal prosecutors say that two companies hosting Megaupload's servers in the U.S. could begin deleting all user content on them as early as Thursday.

Hawaii legislators bid aloha to controversial data retention bill

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:58:00 GMT

Lawmakers in Hawaii quietly dropped a bill that would have required Internet service providers to collect the browsing histories of Internet users in the state and store the data for at least two years.

Google says privacy change won't affect government users

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:02:00 GMT

Google today dismissed concerns by a former senior federal IT official that its controversial new privacy policy would create problems for customers of Google Apps for Government.

Final phase of Mass. data protection law kicks in March 1

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:15:00 GMT

All companies storing personal data on Massachusetts residents have until March 1 to ensure that their contractors, suppliers, technology providers and other third parties comply with a new provision of the state's data breach law.

Supreme Court GPS ruling called a win for privacy

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:00:00 GMT

Calling it a victory for privacy rights, civil rights advocates hailed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that requires law enforcement officials to obtain a search warrant before they can attach a GPS tracking device to a vehicle.

U.S. finds flaws in ES&S DS200 voting machine

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:00:00 GMT

A ballot scanning device slated for use in the upcoming presidential elections misreads ballots, fails to log critical events and is prone to freezes and sudden lockups, the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission found.

Oracle's Hadoop move could push rivals toward big data bundles

(Jaikumr Vijayan) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:00:00 GMT

The shipping of Oracle's Big Data Appliance earlier this month could pressure major rivals like IBM, Hewlett-Packard and SAP to come up with Hadoop offerings that tightly bundle hardware and software products, analysts say.

Sen. Leahy criticizes 'knee-jerk' reaction to PIPA, SOPA protests

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:07:00 GMT

Sen. Patrick Leahy, the lead sponsor of the controversial Protect IP Act, today criticized the "knee-jerk' reaction of fellow senators to this week's protests against the bill. He vowed to press on with it.

Anti-SOPA, PIPA protests to continue

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:11:00 GMT

Wikipedia and other sites that participated in an unprecedented Internet blackout Wednesday are back online and promising to keep the battle going against two controversial anti-piracy bills in Congress.

Supporters of SOPA, PIPA stick to their guns

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:52:00 GMT

Beleaguered supporters of two online antipiracy bills today downplayed widespread protests against the legislation and insisted the opposition is misguided and misinformed.

Protests against SOPA, PIPA go viral

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:02:00 GMT

Several websites, including Google, Reddit, Wikipedia, BoingBoing, Imgur and Tucows, plan an unprecedented Internet "strike" Wednesday to protest anti-piracy legislation being considered by Congress.

DHS media monitoring could chill public dissent, EPIC warns

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:00:00 GMT

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is engaging in media monitoring activity that achieves no public safety goals and will likely have a chilling effect on legitimate criticism of the agency, a leading privacy advocacy group warned.

GOP lawmakers seek to postpone PIPA vote

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:19:00 GMT

In a sign that massive public pressure may be working, six Republican U.S. Senators who previously supported the Protect IP Act, late Friday asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) to postpone a scheduled Jan. 24 vote on the controversial bill.

Reddit to go dark in SOPA protest

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:04:00 GMT

Social news site Reddit will black out its site for 12 hours on January 18 to protest the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act SOPA bill that is currently working its way through the U.S. House of Representatives.

Lawmakers seek hearing on Carrier IQ privacy issues

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:31:00 GMT

Three House members today called for a Congressional hearing on the implications raised by the use of the Carrier IQ's software by wireless carriers.

Stratfor relaunches site; CEO accuses attackers of censorship

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:17:00 GMT

Strafor Global Intelligence CEO George Friedman on Wednesday blasted those responsible for a December attack on the global intelligence firm's website and decried what he called 'censorship' by the attackers.

Oracle's Big Data Appliance brings focus to bundled approach

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:00:00 GMT

Oracle's Big Data Appliance product, which shipped Tuesday, gives enterprises another option for deploying projects based on Apache Hadoop open source technology.

LAPD drops Google Apps plan

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:00:00 GMT

After more than two years of work, the city of Los Angeles has abandoned its effort to migrate its police operations to Google's hosted email and office application platform because it says the service cannot meet FBI security requirements. Insider (registration required)

Symantec confirms source code leak in two enterprise security products

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:42:00 GMT

Symantec late Thursday confirmed that source code used in two of its older enterprise security products was publicly exposed by hackers this week.

E-voting machine freezes, misreads votes, U.S. agency says

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:18:00 GMT

An electronic ballot scanning device set for use in this year's presidential elections, misreads ballots, fails to log critical events and is prone to freezes and sudden lockups, the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission found.

Plans to migrate LAPD to Google's cloud apps dropped

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:00:00 GMT

After more than two years of trying, the City of Los Angeles has abandoned plans to migrate its police department to Google's hosted email and office application platform saying the service cannot meet certain FBI security requirements.

Update: Chinese hackers breached U.S. Chamber of Commerce

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:05:00 GMT

Chinese hackers broke into computers at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and had access to everything on the organization's systems, including information on about 3 million of its members.

Sprint disables Carrier IQ software on its handsets

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:18:00 GMT

Sprint, the biggest user of Carrier IQ's software, said it has disabled use of the tool in response to customer concerns.

Analysts wary of Iran's spy drone hacking claims

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:18:00 GMT

Reports that Iranian electronic warfare experts may have succeeded in intercepting and capturing a sophisticated U.S. spy drone were received with skepticism by security analysts.

Sprint says 26M handsets have Carrier IQ; AT&T claims 900K

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:09:00 GMT

Documents filed in response to a U.S. lawmaker's request show that Sprint is by far the biggest user of Carrier IQ's software, with more than 26 million handsets featuring the controversial mobile tracking tool.

Iran tricked U.S. spy drone into landing in country, report says

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:44:00 GMT

The U.S. spy drone that was recently captured and displayed by Iranian authorities may have been tricked into landing in that country after being electronically ambushed.

SOPA meets strident opposition at House hearing

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 01:13:00 GMT

A controversial bill to prevent online piracy by rogue foreign sites appears poised to pass a House committee despite strong opposition from some lawmakers.

Carrier IQ moves to allay fears of its tracking software

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:57:00 GMT

Carrier IQ last night released a 19-page document describing its technology in what appears to be a belated attempt to quell continuing concerns over its controversial tracking software.

Court dismisses most breach claims against Heartland by banks

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:31:00 GMT

A U.S. district court in Texas has dismissed all but one of the claims by several banks against Heartland Payment Systems over a massive data breach the payment processor disclosed almost three years ago.

Google's Schmidt calls Carrier IQ software a keylogger

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:53:00 GMT

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt today distanced his company from Carrier IQ's software, even as he described the technology as a keylogger. Schmidt's comments came at an Internet freedom conference in the Netherlands.

Feds launch cloud security standards program

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 20:18:00 GMT

Federal agencies will soon have a government-wide security standard for assessing, authorizing and monitoring cloud products and services.

HP knew of LaserJet defect, lawsuit contends

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:54:00 GMT

A lawsuit filed against Hewlett Packard Co last week over a recently discovered vulnerability in its LaserJet printers alleges that the company knew about the flaw for some time but did nothing about it.

Carrier IQ downplays 2010 patent request

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:11:00 GMT

A Carrier IQ executive downplays the significance of the company's effort to patent a technology that it said could help wireless carriers undertake 'advertising audience segmentation analysis and content copyright analytics.'

Carrier IQ, HTC, Samsung hit with class-action lawsuits

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:30:00 GMT

Mobile software vendor Carrier IQ has been hit with two lawsuits over the use of its controversial tracking technology in tens of millions of mobile phones worldwide.

Carrier IQ's own marketing claims undercut its defense

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:39:00 GMT

Carrier IQ has insisted that its software is designed only to help wireless carriers diagnose operational problems on networks and mobile devices. But its own marketing material raises doubts about that claim.

FAQ: Behind the Carrier IQ rootkit controversy

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:22:00 GMT

The recent disclosure that top mobile phone providers are using software from Carrier IQ that critics say can gather and track all sorts of personal data from a user's smartphone has sparked a firestorm of controversy.

AT&T, Sprint confirm use of Carrier IQ software on handsets

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:40:00 GMT

Amid what's snowballing into a major privacy controversy, AT&T, Sprint, HTC and Samsung today confirmed that that their mobile phones integrate a controversial piece of smartphone tracking software from a company called Carrier IQ.

HP LaserJet printers vulnerable to attacks, researchers warn

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:50:00 GMT

Millions of HP LaserJet printers contain a security weakness that could allow attackers to take control of the systems, steal data from them and issue commands that could cause them to overheat, according to two researchers from Columbia University.

Carrier IQ drops legal threat against security researcher

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:03:00 GMT

Software vendor Carrier IQ has withdrawn its threat to sue a security researcher for saying that its software helps phone companies surreptitiously track users of many popular mobile phones.

DHS sees no evidence of cyberattack on Ill. water facility

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:56:00 GMT

The Department of Homeland Security today said there is nothing to suggest that a recent pump failure at a Springfield, Ill. water utility was caused by a cyberattack.

Cyberattacks a top national security concern, GOP candidates say

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:57:00 GMT

Three Republican presidential candidates at Tuesday's CNN-sponsored GOP debate said that cyberattacks pose an emerging national security threat to the U.S.

4 lessons from the Springfield, Ill. SCADA cyberattack

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 19:20:00 GMT

The recent cyberattack on a public water utility in Springfield, Ill. has stoked concerns about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure equipment across the U.S.