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Entries from Realtime Community | Messaging and Web Security tagged with 'Google'
Key to Online Apps Success: Control, Control, Control
BusinessWeek asks what's Holding back Google Apps?. The answer is the same thing that always kills deals to move corporate data to the cloud: control....
Searching, Energy and Greenhouse Gases
Times of London has reported that Harvard physicist Alex Wissner-Gross has estimated that a Google search generates 7g of carbon dioxide. It's not clear what the assumptions are or how accurate the estimate is given Google's unwillingness to share details...
Browser Developers Weigh in on Security, Point to Need for Security Training
Representatives from Microsoft, Mozilla, and Google weighed in on browser security at a panel discussion last week. Not surprisingly one of the topics was security, and in a change from usual browser vs. browser comparisons, there was a lot of...
Google Launches Gmail Video Chat
Working collaboratively over long distance is the norm for many of us and Google just added another tool to make that easier....
WiMax One Step Closer to Reality
The FCC approved the merger of Sprint Nextel and Clearwire removing another hurdle to broad coverage wireless access....
Unused TV Airways Available for WiFi
The FCC has made its decision and white space airways can be used for wireless networking....
Send Text Messages to Phones from Google Mail
Google mail is adding a SMS feature to chat this week; it's available through Google Labs....
Andriod G1 Vulnerability Due to Old Software
A vulnerability in Android allows attackers to run code with the privileges of the browser. The code can be injected after visiting a malicious site....
Google is Watching Out for You
Google is not sitting back and passively letting your Website or Android phone become victim to attackers....
Android Kill Switch and Shifting Boundaries Between Vendors and Customers
In an earlier post I argued that Google shouldn't be yanking applications off our Android phones but at the same time we need to be cognizant of the potential threats from malware. The more I think about this the more...
Google's Android Kill Switch
How would you feel if you bought a Dell laptop and Dell reserved the right to remove any program from the device that it didn't like? Yea, me too but Google has a different opinion when it comes to the...
Google Mail and Frame Injection Attacks
Phishers can inject fake pages into a session while still displaying a legitimate URL in the browser address bar....
Google Apps Making Inroads
Google Apps, the online answer to desktop office suites, is picking up paying customers in spite of the products limitations....
Google's Email Sobriety Test
This sounds like a joke but email users can have the equivalent of an email breathalyzer test with Google Goggles....
Google Wants to Free Your Phone
The free market is taking a beating these days with the Wall St meltdown but Google is betting that telecommunications need fewer restrictions. They've filed a patent to enable cell phones to accept cost bids from carriers and switch carriers...
Building an Application Stack in the Cloud
Microsoft intends to announce its plans for cloud computing at the Professional Developers Conference next month....
Google Chrome Vulnerabilities
Not surprisingly Google Chrome vulnerabilities are coming to light, is this an indication that they shouldn't have bothered and instead should have put there efforts into helping Mozilla improve Firefox?...
This Summer's Malware Spike
A couple of stories from the Google Enterprise Blog and McAfee Avert Labs indicate attackers are taking advantage of top news stories once again to push malware....
Updated: Viacom Goes Overboard with YouTube Trolling
Viacom wants data on YouTube viewers in its suit over copyright infringements and a US court has ordered Google to turn over data, including IP address, usernames and viewing history. So much for privacy policies....
Google's Open Source Security Audit Tool
Google has placed Ratproxy, a passive security audit tool, into open source...
Can Google Work Collaboratively?
Google phones won't be showing up until late this year. The delay according to the Wall Street Journal is that wireless carriers and application developers are having trouble with keeping to schedules. Silicon Alley Insider notes that Google keeps tinkering...
Different Passwords for Differrent Sites without the Hassle
Google engineer HongHai Shen advocates in a blog post to use strong passwords and to use different passwords for different sites. Easier said than done without the right tools, but there is a way to do this without having to...
Content Filtering on YouTube
Has technology ever advanced in the court room? Unlikely and a big dollar lawsuit over copyrights isn't going to change that. The media giant Viacom (owners of MTV, Daily Show with John Stewart, SouthPark and more) is suing Google, owner...
Privacy Mandates, Search Engines and You
Search engines, regulators, legislators and privacy advocates continue to try to balance competing interests of online advertisers and consumers. In this podcast we look into evolving regulations on search engines and how they track users browsing habits and collect personally...
The Death of "X is Dead" Posts
"IT is Dead", "The Mainframe is Dead", "The Desktop is Dead" - come on, is anything left standing? A post entitled "Microsoft, Apple and the Death of the Desktop" has convinced me that these "X is Dead" posts should kick...
Googling for Vulnerabilities
Phishers and other attackers can use Google to find sites with known vulnerabilities so if you thought you could get by with out vulnerability scanning, better read on....
Dated Assumptions about "Owning" Users Stymy OpenID
With over 11,000 sites now accepting OpenID, how come Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL have limited or no support for using OpenIDs at their own sites. Why is that? Michael Arrington partially answers the question in a recent TechCrunch post....
Google's Next Move in Telecomm
It didn't take long, the FCC auction is barely finished and Google is making its next move in the telecom arena....
What the F Google?
If you've seen the David Blaine Paradoy on YouTube with frustrated victim's of Blaine's street magic running way yelling "What the F David Blaine!" you can imagine how telecoms are feeling this morning about Google and the FCC auction. Without...
Don't Write Off CAPTCHAs Yet
Spammers are like some presidential candidates, just when you think they are beaten or at least not too much of a threat, they make a come back - just ask Hillary Clinton or John Mcain. The spammers' comeback is at...
Free Web 2.0 Sites Used to Push Porn
Online porn can be a money maker if you can get the traffic to sites and it looks like some are turning to Google Groups to help drive customers. InformationWeek is reporting that porn spammers compromised Google's services possibly bypassing...
YouTube Outage: Too Much Trust in Internet Protocols
Spammers routinely spoof email header information to cover their tracks and email systems accept the data as correct. Domain name services can be corrupted when an attacker pushes bogus domain name to IP address mappings with DNS poisoning attacks. And...
Google-based Vulnerability Scanner More Useful to Admins than Hackers
The Goolag vulnerability scanning tool announced by Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc) is reminiscent of SATAN, one of the first network vulnerability scanners. Some are concerned that script kiddies will use it to hack Web sites but it is...
Mac OS: Emerging Target for Malware
With the widespread adoption of iPhones and, to a lesser degree the iTouch, the Mac OS is likely to become a more appealing target for malware developers, phishers and identity thieves. In this podcast, we discuss the Mac platforms vulnerability...
Google, Healthcare Records, and Big Brother
The company that keeps your search records for 18 months, provides you free 411 directory assistance (800-GOOG411), an may soon send you location specific ads on your Android phone now wants to manage your healthcare records. Google is getting into...
Should Your IP Address Be Treated as Private Information?
A potential privacy storm is brewing in Europe over one of the most basic methods of tracking individuals on the Internet: a computer's IP address. Now of course IP addresses aren't tied to a particular person and they aren't even...
More Mobile Devices and Applications on the Way
Mobile Internet access could easily become a dominant theme for this blog in 2008. The news about the rapid growth in iPhone browsing, the expected announcement of the first public Android (Google phone) prototype, and perhaps most importantly, the speed...
Google's Copyright Issues Indicative of Bigger Problem
Old ways of doing business are getting in the way of people who want to use the Internet in new ways. One example is music and movie piracy. Some are ready to download music or movies without compensating the creators...
Search Engines Used to Push Traffic to Malware Sites
SunbeltBlog is reporting a sizable operation to spread malware by luring search engine visitor to sites hosting malware. Sunbelt has a list of 12 pages of search terms (.pdf) that can lead to malware hosting sites. The sites uses fake...
Here Comes G-drive: Google Getting into Online Storage
The Wall Street Journal reports Google is planning to offer free and fee-based online storage akin to Microsoft's SkyDrive and AOL's XDrive. Amazon is offering online storage through it's S3 service but that seems more targeted to businesses interested in...
Which Way to Go? Mac Leopard and .Mac or Google Services?
Today I'm writing an inverse advice column, I'm not offering tips on how to improve your life, I'm looking for some. Dear Reader, I find myself in a dilemma with the release of Apple's new Mac OS, Leopard. I saw...
Google/Doubleclick Deal: Control Your Own Privacy with Anonymizers
The Google/DoubleClick merger continues to plod along. Obviously privacy is a big issue and there is little consensus on this. Privacy advocates are rightly concerned about the abilities of a combined Google/DoubleClick behemoth tracking our Web activities. Google's answer, or...
Windows XP Policy Dooming Linux Desktop? Not Really But Linux Desktop Shouldn't Worry MS Anyway
The Open Source Blog at ZDNet has a post on Microsoft's shifting policy in the face of growing adoption of Linux on the desktop. The post argues: Microsoft’s revised Windows XP downgrade rights policy that quietly went into effect this...
Google GMail Vulnerability - Cross Site Request Forgery
Petko D. Petkov at GNUCitizen posts on a cross site request forgery describing how a GMail account can be infected with a persistent backdoor. The hack uses GMail filters to forward emails (or presumably anything else one can think of...
Google Updates to GMail in the Works
Googling Google is reporting that Google Gears-based features are being tested with GMail: It was hinted at in recent reports, but there has been no hard evidence of Google’s plans to integrate Google Gears with Gmail until now. Two snippets...
Yet Another Free MS Office Alternative: IBM Symphony
Following yesterday's announcement by the EU First Court upholding a major anti-trust finding against Microsoft, the folks in Redmond will hear today that IBM is offering its office productivity suite for free. The New York Times reports: The company is...
Verizon: We Can't Make Money with Open Access So No One Else Should
Verizon is suing the FCC about open access rules the agency has set up for the 700-Mhz band auction next year. Defenders of calcified telecomm companies have argued, looking out for the interest of the U.S Treasury, that the auction...
Google Looking More Like Enterprise Software Vendor
The Guardian reports this morning Google is partnering with consultants to push Google Apps: Google has linked up with IT consultancy and outsourcing specialist CapGemini to target corporate customers with its range of desktop applications, in the search engine's most...
Microsoft takes on Google with Windows Live; Google Making Moves on the Desktop
Microsoft and Google continue to look more and more like each other. Microsoft is beefing up its online offerings with free cloud computing software, Windows Live. At the same time it looks like Google is recognizing that 100% online services...
Microsoft Hell Bent on Advertising; To Hell with Privacy
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told Microsoft share holders to be patient, they are going to make a ton of money by monitoring you and pushing targeted advertising your way. Actually, he didn't say the part about monitoring you, the Microsoft...
Microsoft and Google Desktop/Web Integration Offer Too Little, Bring Too Many Risks
Microsoft and Google have decided there is money in your hard drive, and they want to get it. We have Microsoft filing patents on an advertising framework that includes the ability to scan the contents of your hard drive so...
Google Acquires Security Vendor Postini
Google understands that software as a service requires security as a service so they’ve put $625 million on the table to buy Postini. Enterprises aren’t going to move to Google Apps or any other software service unless they can trust...
Microsoft Gives Users Choice, When It Has To
You always have options with Microsoft, sometimes. When it comes to virtualization, you had a almost had a choice yesterday when Microsoft announced that lower cost versions of Vista could be used with virtualization tools like VMWare and Parallels. That...
Firefox and Google Team to Block Malware
ComputerWorld reports Mozilla and Google are working together to block malicious code sites in Firefox 3.0. The new features are ranked at priority 2, which are important but not guaranteed to be in the release. Firefox would use blacklists created...
Forget Porn, How Safe is Your Digitial Music Site?
A new report from McAfee on Web site-based threats complements research by Google discussed here a couple of weeks ago. McAfee's State of Search Engine Safety measures the number of "risky" sites in terms of malware, adware, spam, and spyware...
Google Desktop Zero-Day Attack Reported
ha.ckers.org web application security lab is reporting a zero day attack on the Google desktop: When you attempt to combine web-pages with applications that have any significant power you run into security flaws. At times, however, they really are impossible...
Google Security: Acquires Anti-Malware, Stumbles on Vulnerability
Google continues to move further into the security market with the acquisition of Greenborder Technologies, maker of browser-based security tools. Greenborder’s products provide a sandbox for executing code from untrusted sources, From Infoworld: By running unknown code in such a...
Google Goes Public on Security
Google today launched a blog dedicated to online security. The addition of the Google Online Security Blog: efforts to the security discussion are especially welcome because Google can provide data that few others can....
Myth of Superuser Debate: Dispelling Myths about the Myth
In case you haven’t heard, there is something of a flap about the “myth of the superuser” (aka superhacker) and the security industry overselling the problem of cybercrime. (See The Myth of the SuperUser and The Myth of the Superuser,...
Google Gets a Free Ride on Security
Yesterday's post asked if Google would leverage its content indexing technologies to scan for malware. The problem for us is that attackers are moving from email to Web sites for distributing malware. Given the problems with compromised Google Ad Word...
When will Google get into Security?
Joris Evers at CNET News is reporting on a trend we've known about for a while, the shift from email based to Web based threats. In Web threats to surpass e-mail pests Evers notes:...
Google Ruling Raises Questions for Web 2.0 Mashups
The finding by a Belgian court that Google has violated copyright protections by displaying links and segments of newspaper articles raises questions about the legality of mashups. Belgian Court Rules That Google Violated Copyright Laws - New York Times details...
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