Generation Next Gadgets

Cyber crime is the latest threat to India’s security with those inimical to its interests hiring experts to spy on companies and vital networks, says famous ethical hacker Sunny Vaghela.
“There has been an increase of 200 percent in cyber crime cases in India in the last three years and that is an alarming trend,” said Ahmedabad-based Vaghela, director of TechDefence Pvt. Ltd, a reputed cyber crime security consultant.
“The new tactics are more towards data theft like espionage on some other companies, working for some foreign intelligence agencies sitting in India, SMS and mobile call forging,” Vaghela told IANS.
Vaghela was in Guwahati for a demonstration on cyber crime security measures at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) here.
At the age of 18, Vaghela found loopholes like “Session Hijacking” & “Cross Site Scripting” in popular social networking website orkut.com.
Today, at 23, he has solved more than 16 cases in association with the Ahmedabad police’s crime branch, tracing out the origin of a terror e-mail relating to the Ahmedabad serial explosions, and helped Mumbai Police get information on Jamat-ud-Dawah post-26/11.
“Take the Ahmedabad serial explosions and the threat mail where a Yahoo engineer was involved. Big names and people are today indulging in cyber crimes with people from abroad outsourcing Indians spying on Indian networks,” Vaghela said.
“Cyber crime today is not restricted to just hacking and goes much beyond to data theft, to social network and credit card fraud, SMS and mobile hacking as well.”
Vaghela said the biggest worry is that officials of Indian investigating agencies are not competent enough to deal with techno crimes.
“Investigating agencies are still lagging behind in terms of technologies or techniques to actually tackle cyber crimes. Not even two percent of the officials know what is Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), its use or how to take precautions,” Vaghela said.
He said the hacking of mobile numbers and for making calls and sending SMS is another area of concern.
“Anyone can use or misuse a mobile number to send SMS or make a call. This technology was misused in the 26/11 bombings. But all the servers and the infrastructure required to commit this cyber crime is not available in India,” he said.
“The Indian IT law is not defined to tackle such crimes using mobile phones and that is dangerous.”
Vaghela said social networking sites are not at all safe and hackers exploit and misuse vital information from such sites for indulging in crime.
“Social networking sites are not at all safe. People are revealing lots and hackers use and misuse such information from such sites,” he said.

US law-enforcement agents are being trained to use social-networking sites like Facebook to befriend suspects and collect evidence, according to documents released by advocacy group The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
The Justice Department internal training document, called Obtaining and Using Evidence from Social Networking Sites, revealed that undercover agents for the FBI and other agencies set up false profiles on sites like My Space and Facebook to try to nab suspects by getting access to their social networks.
The training manual said that such operations can be useful to communicate with suspects or targets, reveal their personal communications, gain access to non-public information and map social relationships and networks. Information gleaned can also be used to verify alibis and establish locations, the 33-page document revealed.
Social networks are also a good source of information on defence witnesses, the Justice Department’s slide presentation said.
“Knowledge is power,” the document said. “Research all witnesses on social-networking sites.”
The document notes the potential problems with such covert operations with the words: “If agents violate terms of service, is that ‘otherwise illegal activity?’” referring to site policies against establishing accounts with a false identity.
While the Justice Department document left the question open, a document released to EFF by the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service noted that that IRS employees are prohibited from using deception or fake online accounts to obtain information about taxpayers.
“In civil matters, employees cannot misrepresent their identities, even on the Internet,” the document states. “You cannot obtain information from websites by registering using fictitious identities.”
The EFF, which advocates for online privacy rights, withheld comment on the Justice Department documents but did praise the IRS policy.
“The IRS should be commended for its detailed training that clearly prohibits employees from using deception or fake social networking accounts to obtain information,” the group said Tuesday.

Popular legal thriller author John Grisham has broken his holdout against selling his books in an electronic format and will sell all of his 23 titles as e-books, his publisher said on Tuesday.
The former lawyer, whose best sellers include “The Firm” and “A Time To Kill”, had previously held off selling his books electronically, expressing concern that e-books would wipe out traditional book stores and make it harder for new writers to succeed. But beginning Tuesday, all Grisham’s fiction and non-fiction books will be available through e-book retailers, publisher Random House said. As e-books have grown in popularity, some authors have been embroiled in royalty negotiations with publishers. Publishers in turn have had disagreements with e-book retailers such as Amazon.com about how to split e-book sales. Stuart Applebaum, a Random House spokesman, would not disclose the terms of the deal, but said “today was a watershed deal.” The deal “is certain to usher in a new generation of Grisham readers and e-book adopters,” Sonny Mehta, chairman of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, which is owned by Random House and publishes Grisham’s hardback titles, said in a statement.
Since his first novel “A Time To Kill” was released in 1989, Grisham has sold more than 250 million books worldwide, according to Random House. Several of his novels have been turned into films. Grisham’s literary agent said the author had no comment on Tuesday’s announcement. Grisham said in a TV interview last November that discounting of printed books by major retailers and the advent of e-books was “a disaster in the long term” for publishers, bookstores and authors. “If a new book is now worth about $9 then we have seriously devalued that book,” Grisham said on the “Today” show. “Suddenly the whole industry is going to change, you are going to lose publishers, you are going to lose bookstores. I am probably going to be alright, but the aspiring writers are going to have a hard time getting published,” he added. Grisham’s e-books were available on Tuesday through e-book retailers such as the Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble.com and Amazon.com, who all had Grisham’s newer print editions like “The Associate” listed at $9.99 and his older books at $7.99.

The use of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube by militant and hate groups grew by almost 20 percent in the past year, a report by the Simon Wiesenthal Center found on Monday.
The study, using research by the center and tips from the public, found more than 11,500 social networks, websites, forums and blogs promoting violence, anti-Semitism, homophobia, hate music and “terrorism,” an increase from 10,000 last year. “The numbers are probably, at the end of the day, multiples of that,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the center’s associate dean who has been researching hate on the Internet since 1995. “That should be taken as a low ball figure.” Extremists also were heavily promoting online the idea of operating as so-called “lone wolves” rather than as part of a group, the human rights group named after the late Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal said. Cooper told a news conference examples of hate on the Internet included videos of extremists appealing for recruits and showing how to make improvised explosive devices. Online games ranged from bombing Haitian earthquake survivors to shooting illegal immigrants and gays. Facebook groups included “national kick a ginger day” and “I love curry bashing.” “While children are taught that ’sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt you,’ it’s not always true,” Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, from New York, told reporters. “Terrorism and intolerance start with words, but they grow into actions.”

Vpype, a social video company, has launched the Vpype Live Broadcaster for Facebook at the Social Media World Forum. Vpype Live Broadcaster enables all 400+ million Facebook members to create and share live, interactive video content through an easy-to-use broadcast application.
Vpype Live Broadcaster is a platform that allows Facebook members to create scheduled or unscheduled interactive live shows, send video notes, store completed broadcasts and share videos. What’s more, the application’s interactive platform allows participants to chat with the broadcaster in real-time and produces a visual transcript, while displaying their Facebook picture and name.
Those with Facebook fan pages can utilize Vpype Live Broadcaster to offer more dynamic and personal experiences, improving and revitalizing fan interaction.
“Social video is currently on a steep upward curve, and with this launch we are making live, interactive visual communication affordable and accessible to anyone,” said Shoieb Yunus, CEO, Vpype. “By enabling Facebook users to broadcast live video content to an ever growing community - and by facilitating audience participation and video archiving - businesses, bloggers, marketers and individuals everywhere can move beyond the static ’shoot and comment’ approach and adopt a more dynamic method of fan interaction.”
Designed specifically as a Facebook application, Vpype Live Broadcaster requires no software downloads or specialist equipment - enabling users to begin real-time video broadcasting with just a webcam and microphone.

(continue reading…)

Opera Software has released the final versions of Opera Mini 5 and Opera Mobile 10. Now, nearly any mobile phone can support an Opera-driven Web experience. Simply go to m.opera.com/ to download it directly to your phone.
Today’s release puts the finishing touches on the Opera mobile-browsing duo. The focus is on delivering the best Internet experience on nearly any mobile phone, along with a unified look and feel and innovative favorite features, such as Speed Dial, password manager and tabbed browsing.
The browsers deliver the full Web experience on nearly any mobile phone, and it is easy and free to download. They are also designed to boost browsing speed significantly.
Opera Mini’s compression technology reduces the amount of data sent to the phone by up to 90 percent, resulting in lower costs on pay-per-MB data plans or when roaming. Opera keeps it simple with a sleekly designed user interface, regardless of the phone you are using, and with the same feature set, such as Speed Dial, tabs, and the password manager. Opera Link lets you synchronize your bookmarks, notes and Speed Dial between your computer and your mobile phone.
Download Opera Mini 5 or Opera Mobile 10 directly to your phone at no cost from m.opera.com/, or read more at http://www.opera.com/mobile/.
Opera Mini 5 is available on all Java-based and Blackberry phones, as well as Android and Windows Mobile (both in beta only) phones. Opera Mobile 10 is available on Windows Mobile and Symbian S60-based mobile phones.

Venezuela is not planning to censor the Web or to shut down social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, officials said on Monday, after President Hugo Chavez called for regulation of the Internet. Opposition leaders, bloggers and media freedom groups are worried Chavez’s socialist government is preparing to clamp down on the networking sites or install tight controls such as those used by Cuba, Iran and China.
Chavez last week said authorities should act against news and opinion site Noticerodigital after it published user comments claiming that a senior minister had been assassinated. He said the OPEC nation’s laws must apply to the Internet. The government is also planning to change the structure of the Internet in Venezuela by installing a “unique connection point.” It says such a system is more efficient and provides faster access, but critics worry it will lead to censorship. “They say the government is looking to control what appears on the Internet, its not like that - but those who use the Internet have to be responsible,” said Manuel Villalba, president of the science and technology commission in the national assembly. He said the assembly was not planning to change the law to increase state control of the Internet. Attorney General Luisa Ortega, who on Monday opened an investigation into Noticiero Digital, said the assembly should create new legislation. Under Venezuelan law, owners of media outlets can be punished with jail sentences for publishing incorrect information, Villalba said, but added the government had no intention of banning sites such as Twitter and Facebook. “That is made up; they are looking to generate opinion. This has never been planned. It’s not true,” Villalba said.
Users of such social networking sites, which are popular in Venezuela among opponents of Chavez to organize protests and disseminate political views, say the government is trying to force the sites to censor members. “President Chavez…wants speech on this site, or any other via Internet, to be previously censored. It’s like making Twitter, Facebook, or other networks and Internet forums responsible for their users’ messages,” Noticierodigital said, adding that it has over 120,000 contributing members. Freedom of speech advocates.
Reporters Without Borders published a global report last week warning of a growing trend toward government attempts to control the Internet in countries from Turkey to Australia. “Applying restriction to the Internet will not resolve the problem of the diffusion of false news stories. This case serves as a pretext for the government to regulate a space it has not controlled up until now,” said Benoit Hervieu of RSF in a statement about Venezuela on Monday. In 2007, Chavez refused to renew the license for television station RCTV after it openly supported a coup against him. RCTV is now battling to survive as a cable-only operator. The government has also put pressure on opposition TV network Globovision to soften its editorial line and last year closed dozens of radio stations for administrative breaches. “I want to categorically deny that the government wants to put the muzzle on. To say that is just to continue an international campaign to say Venezuela attacks free speech and closes the media,” said Aristobulo Isturiz, a leader of Chavez’s Socialist party. “This is not about covering anybody’s mouth. It’s about the media acting responsibly.”

Facebook has announced that it is investing in India by opening an office in Hyderabad, where it will build a world-class team to support its growing number of users, advertisers and developers in India and around the world.
The announcement comes at a significant time in Facebook’s international growth.  The company has seen exponential growth in recent months.  More than 8 million people in India now actively use the site to connect with their friends, family, and people they know in India and across the globe.  The company has more than 400 million active users worldwide.
Facebook’s new operations center in Hyderabad will supplement operations supported out of Palo Alto, California, Dublin, Ireland and a recently announced location in Austin, Texas.  The investment in an additional global operation in Hyderabad is part of Facebook’s on-going effort to expand support for the hundreds of millions of people who use the site every day.  The Hyderabad office, like the others, will also house online advertising and developer support teams.  Having multiple support centers in a variety of time zones provides Facebook users and advertisers around the world with round-the-clock, multi-lingual support.
A full list of job descriptions for open positions can be viewed at www.facebook.com/careers.
Speaking in Hyderabad, where recruitment for a Director of Operations and other key positions has already begun, Don Faul, Director of Global Online Operations for Facebook, said,  “People in India and around the world are using Facebook to do everything from voicing their opinions on national issues, to connecting with fellow cricket and hockey fans, to sharing photos with their friends and family.  We expect our new office in Hyderabad to tap into the region’s strong pool of talented people who understand operations and technology, and help us more effectively serve the needs of our users, advertisers, and developers around the world.”

Talks with China over censorship have reached an apparent impasse and Google, the world’s largest search engine, is now “99.9 percent” certain to shut its Chinese search engine, the Financial Times said on Saturday. It said in a report on its website Google had drawn up detailed plans for closing its Chinese search engine.
The newspaper cited a person familiar with the company’s thinking as saying that, while a decision could be made very soon, Google was likely to take some time to follow through with its plans. That would be in order to bring about an orderly closure as the company takes steps to protect local employees from retaliation by authorities, it said. China warned Google on Friday against flouting the country’s laws, as expectations grow for a resolution to a public battle over censorship and cyber-security. Google shocked business and political circles in January when it threatened to pull out of China if it could not offer an unfiltered Chinese search engine.
The threat came after cyber attacks originating from China on it and about 30 other firms. “If you don’t respect Chinese laws, you are unfriendly and irresponsible, and the consequences will be on you,” China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Li Yizhong, told reporters on Friday in answer to a question on what China would do if Google.cn simply stopped filtering search results. That came after the chief executive of Google, Eric Schmidt, said on Wednesday he hoped to announce soon a result to talks with Chinese authorities on offering an uncensored search engine in China. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shares oversight of the Chinese Internet with a number of other bodies. Still more bureaucracies are involved in matters of foreign investment, complicating the Chinese government’s response to Google’s challenge.

China warned Google, the world’s largest search engine, against flouting the country’s laws on Friday, as expectations grow for a resolution to a public battle over censorship and cyber-security.
The chief executive of Google, Eric Schmidt, said this week he hoped to announce soon a result to talks with Chinese authorities on offering an uncensored search engine in China. “Google has made its case, both publicly and privately,” China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Li Yizhong, said, but did not confirm directly that his ministry was in talks with Google. Google in January threatened to pull out of China if it could not offer an unfiltered Chinese search engine, after cyber attacks originating from China on it and about 30 other firms. “If you don’t respect Chinese laws, you are unfriendly and irresponsible, and the consequences will be on you,” Li told reporters, in answer to a question on what China would do if Google.cn simply stopped filtering search results.
Li complimented Google on having reached about 30 percent market share in the Chinese market since it launched google.cn about three years ago, and said it was welcome to expand market share further if it abided by Chinese law. It was up to Google whether to stay in China’s market or not, he added. Ministry officials have wavered between confirming and denying that talks are happening at all, in response to repeated media questions during China’s annual legislative session. “This is really a hot topic, it’s easy and yet not easy to respond. A lot of these matters don’t fall under my ministry, ” Li said. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shares oversight of the Chinese Internet with a number of other bodies, while still more bureaucracies are involved in matters of foreign investment, complicating the Chinese government’s response to Google’s challenge.