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SSCToday Misc
Patent Trolls – Who pays the bill in the long run?
May 2nd
Melville, New York-based CopyTele Inc. (CTI) said that subsidiary Secure Web Conference Corporation has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The company claims that Skype, which was purchased by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion (and conveniently has around 250 million active monthly users), infringes on its encryption technology. More >
IBM Takes a Beating – Shares Plunge 8% as Revenue Drop Rattles Investors
Apr 20th
All winning streaks come to an end. For International Business Machines Corp., IBM -8.28% the moment came this week.
After reporting profits that at least met Wall Street’s expectations for 31 straight quarters dating back through the financial crisis to early 2005, IBM stumbled late Thursday. It posted a 1% dip in profit and a 5% drop in revenue that rattled investors and sent the stock down more than 8% Friday.
It was the biggest decline for IBM’s shares in eight years and a setback for new Chief Executive Virginia “Ginni” Rometty, who took over the job early last year. The company said the weakness came from poor execution by its sales force—an area the CEO used to run. More >
Is Samsung Stringing Microsoft Along on Windows Phone 8?
Mar 13th
Is Samsung’s interest in Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 on the level, or is it a ploy intended to slow the platform’s market penetration? Boutique research house Detwiler Fenton believes it may be the latter, a concerted effort by Samsung to hamstring Windows Phone 8 as it ramps up development of its own Tizen mobile OS.
If that all sounds a bit too evil-genius for the smartphone industry, consider this. Samsung’s Windows Phone road map is not elaborate by any means. The Ativ Odyssey, the company’s first Windows Phone 8 handset, is a bland offering by any metric, and one that’s not doing particularly well in the free-with-contract market for which it was intended. Detwiler Fenton analyst Jeff Johnston figures it has claimed barely any sales share at Verizon. And, interestingly, Samsung has made no effort whatsoever to boost sales. Which is all a bit odd. One could argue that if Samsung were truly committed to Windows Phone 8, it would be out in the market pushing the Ativ Odyssey and working hard to flesh out a full portfolio of devices based on the platform. More >
Analysis: The near impossible battle against hackers everywhere
Feb 24th
By Joseph Menn – SAN FRANCISCO | Sun Feb 24, 2013 3:04am EST
(Reuters) – Dire warnings from Washington about a “cyber Pearl Harbor” envision a single surprise strike from a formidable enemy that could destroy power plants nationwide, disable the financial system or cripple the U.S. government.
But those on the front lines say it isn’t all about protecting U.S. government and corporate networks from a single sudden attack. They report fending off many intrusions at once from perhaps dozens of countries, plus well-funded electronic guerrillas and skilled criminals.
Security officers and their consultants say they are overwhelmed. The attacks are not only from China , which Washington has long accused of spying on U.S. companies, many emanate from Russia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Western countries. Perpetrators range from elite military units to organized criminal rings to activist teenagers. More >
Zendesk Security Breach Affects Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest
Feb 21st
Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired
Customer service software provider Zendesk announced a security breach that allowed attackers into its system, where they could access data from three customers this week. Wired learned those three clients were Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr.
The San Francisco-based company announced the breach in a blog post published early Thursday night. Tumblr notified affected users in an email at approximately 6:35 p.m. PST; Twitter and Pinterest are expected to do so shortly. Zendesk declined to comment beyond its blog post, titled, appropriately, “We’ve been hacked .” The post reads in part:
We’ve become aware that a hacker accessed our system this week. As soon as we learned of the attack, we patched the vulnerability and closed the access that the hacker had. Our ongoing investigation indicates that the hacker had access to the support information that three of our customers store on our system. We believe that the hacker downloaded email addresses of users who contacted those three customers for support, as well as support email subject lines. We notified our affected customers immediately and are working with them to assist in their response. More >
House panel to reintroduce controversial cyber bill, setting up White House fight
Feb 9th
By Jennifer Martinez – 02/08/13 01:06 PM ET
The leaders of the House Intelligence Committee plan to re-introduce on Wednesday a controversial cybersecurity bill that has faced pushback from the White House.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and ranking member Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) said Friday that they plan to re-introduce the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) next week during a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The bill is aimed at improving information-sharing about cyber threats between government and industry so cyberattacks can be thwarted in real time. More >
Google Removed 50 Million “Pirate” Search Results This Year
Dec 29th
Over the past year copyright holders have asked Google to remove 51,395,353 links to infringing webpages, a dramatic surge compared to previous years. The search giant is currently processing half a million “infringing” links per day, and this number is increasing week after week. At the same time, Hollywood and the major record labels want Google to increase its anti-piracy efforts. More >
