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Archive for November, 2009

November 30th, 2009

Brian Krebs writes on Security Fix:

It has been a while since I’ve written about online banking fraud against small to mid-sized businesses, but I assure you the criminals perpetrating these attacks have been busier than ever. In fact, from more than a dozen incidents I’ve been investigating lately, the attackers for whatever reason now appear to be focusing heavily on property management and real estate firms, and title companies.

On Nov. 12, I was contacted by a woman in Washington, D.C. who runs a large property management firm. The woman said her company had just been the victim of online banking fraud, but that her board of directors would not let her discuss the incident on the record. Per her request, I am omitting her name and the name of her firm.

The woman said hackers had tried to transfer more than $1.3 million out of her firm’s account, but that all three transactions had been stopped. Still, her story is worth telling because it was not a victimless crime, and it shows how attackers are adding yet another layer of complexity to their scams, all in a bid to buy them more time to make off with the loot. In addition, it illustrates how even a security compromise that has been cleaned up can come back to haunt you, and it demonstrates how one weak link in the chain of trust in commercial online banking can be used to attack other organizations.

More here.

November 30th, 2009

Brian Krebs writes on Security Fix:

It has been a while since I’ve written about online banking fraud against small to mid-sized businesses, but I assure you the criminals perpetrating these attacks have been busier than ever. In fact, from more than a dozen incidents I’ve been investigating lately, the attackers for whatever reason now appear to be focusing heavily on property management and real estate firms, and title companies.

On Nov. 12, I was contacted by a woman in Washington, D.C. who runs a large property management firm. The woman said her company had just been the victim of online banking fraud, but that her board of directors would not let her discuss the incident on the record. Per her request, I am omitting her name and the name of her firm.

The woman said hackers had tried to transfer more than $1.3 million out of her firm’s account, but that all three transactions had been stopped. Still, her story is worth telling because it was not a victimless crime, and it shows how attackers are adding yet another layer of complexity to their scams, all in a bid to buy them more time to make off with the loot. In addition, it illustrates how even a security compromise that has been cleaned up can come back to haunt you, and it demonstrates how one weak link in the chain of trust in commercial online banking can be used to attack other organizations.

More here.

November 30th, 2009

Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology
Metaxia Kritsidima, Tim Newton and Koula Asimakopoulou
King’s College London, Dental Institute, Denmark Hill, London, UK

ABSTRACT
Abstract –

Objectives: To review the effect of lavender scent on anticipatory anxiety in dental participants.

Methods: In a cluster randomized-controlled trial, patients’ (N = 340) anxiety was assessed while waiting for a scheduled dental appointment, either under the odor of lavender or with no odor. Current anxiety, assessed by the brief State Trait Anxiety Indicator (STAI-6), and generalized dental anxiety, assessed by the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) were examined.

Results: Analyses of variance (anovas) showed that although both groups showed similar, moderate levels of generalized dental anxiety (MDAS F(1,338) = 2.17, P > 0.05) the lavender group reported significantly lower current anxiety (STAI: F(1,338) = 74.69, P < 0.001) than the control group.

Conclusions: Although anxiety about future dental visits seems to be unaffected, lavender scent reduces state anxiety in dental patients.

November 29th, 2009

Its BarCamp time once again! We are holding BarCamp Kerala 7 on 20th of December 2009! For the techies in Kerala, BarCamp Kerala aka BCK is the can’t-miss event.

Don’t know what a barcamp is?

BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants who are the main actors of the event

Venue

BarCamp Kerala 7 will be held at Kristu Jyoti College of Management and Technology, Chetipuzha, Changanassery, Kottayam. For more details, go here

Registeration

You can register for the event in the BarCamp Kerala Site. When this post was written we have 47 attendees.

Sessions

Till now we have 10 sessions. If you want to handle a sessions , you can add yourself in the sessions page.

BarCamp Kerala So Far…

If you are still unsure about coming to the BarCamp, checkout these reports about the previous ones…

    November 29th, 2009

    As Cyber Monday approaches, it’s interesting to take a look at Amazon.com’s Most Wished For lists, particularly as Amazon.com topped the list of online retailers on Black Friday. Among laptops (not netbooks), Apple on the list with the top three laptops (click above image to enlarge).

    That’s at the time of this writing, of course, and the top wished for laptop period is really a netbook, a version of the Asus Eee PC. Still in terms of “real” notebooks, Apple took the top three spots.

    Those three, in order, were the following:

    • Apple MacBook MC207LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop
    • Apple MacBook Pro MB991LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop
    • Apple MacBook Pro MB990LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop

    Realistically, two of those are really the same laptop with different specifications. However, speaking of realism, let’s look at the “most gifted” laptop section of Amazon.com to see if people are getting those MacBooks they want.

    The answer is, sort of. One of the MacBook Pros listed above, the Apple MacBook Pro MB990LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop is number 3 on the “most gifted” list, which the MacBook listed above is number 4 on the list. The top two are a Toshiba Satellite laptop and an Acer Aspire notebook (which verges on netbook specs). The other MacBook Pro listed above is way down at number 11.

    Interestingly, the MacBooks all come in Amazon.com’s “frustration-free” packaging, which is a boon to most people, but there are some who actually save their Mac boxes, so those people wouldn’t be too happy. Also not to happy: Microsoft. While they have the top two “gifted” laptops in Amazon.com’s list, it has to be grating to see the Mac placement in the “most wished for” list.

    November 29th, 2009

    Many of us are used to seeing those familiar UPC Codes on products that can be scanned at the check out counters to look up the price and product name. While attending the DevLearn 09 Conference I came across another type of bar code called the QR Code. While I had seen them in different venues I did not at first grasp how they might be used during a conference or in an educational setting. At the DevLearn 09, QR Codes could be found on the signage of every workshop that when read by a QR Reader on a smartphone would take you to a web site for additional information about the presentation. While QR Codes have been popular in Japan, they are just beginning to gain popularity in the United States and Europe. I obtained this information from Wikipedia about QR Codes which I though would be of interest to you:

    A QR Code is a matrix code (or two-dimensional bar code) created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The “QR” is derived from “Quick Response”, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.

    QR Codes are common in Japan, where they are currently the most popular type of two dimensional codes. Moreover, most current Japanese mobile phones can read this code with their camera.

    With the rise in the number of smartphones (Android, iPhones, Blackberry) in use, QR Codes become a great way for “tagging” physical information that links to a URL. With a QR Reader installed you can simply point your camera phone at the QR Code and be instantly taken to a website to provide your viewers with additional information. You can embed text, RSS feeds, and URL’s in a QR Code. Imagine printing the code on lectures, notes or study guides so that your students can be supplied with supplemental information. Or how about adding QR codes to physical objects in your environment and have your students learn more about the topic. The use of QR codes are endless! So give it a try and let me know what you think. So download a QR Reader to your smartphone and give this QR Code a try! To generate and print out a QR code go to the Kaywa website. So point your smartphone camera at the QR Code below to see what happens!

    One Sentence Summary Created with Context Organizer With a QR Reader installed you can simply point your camera phone at the QR Code and be instantly taken to a website to provide your viewers with additional information.

    qrcode

    November 29th, 2009

    This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 11-29-09. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific that’s 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

    November 28th, 2009

    newegg.com offers the Lenovo IdeaCentre K230 Intel Core 2 Quad 2.33GHz Desktop PC, model no. 53594GU, for $449.99 with free shipping. Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33GHz quad-core processor, 6GB RAM, 640GB Serial ATA hard drive, DVD burner, open PCIe x 16 card slot, Gigabit Ethernet, memory card reader, and Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit. (It’s eligible for a free Windows 7 upgrade from Lenovo.)


    Hitachi 1TB SATA 3Gbps Internal Hard Drive for $65
    + free shipping
    newegg.com offers the Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.B 1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Internal Hard Drive, model no. HD31000IDK/7, for $64.99 with free shipping 16MB cache and runs at 7200 rpm.


    Intel Core i5-750 2.66GHz LGA1156 Quad-Core Processor $179.99 Free Shipping ,
    SuperBiiz.com (eWiz.com
    )
    has the Intel Core i5-750 2.66GHz Socket LGA 1156 Quad-Core Processor (RETAIL) for $179.99 Free Shipping after Coupon Code: BFCPU20 (Exp 11/30). Tax in CA. For those lucky enough to live near a Micro Center, get it for $149.99

    eWiz.com has the Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit OEM System Builder’s DVD for $171 - 10% off with coupon code BLACKFRIDAY [Exp 11/30] = $171 with free shipping. Ultimate includes everything that’s found in Home and Professional editions in one package. [Compare]
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit 1-Pack = $171 shipped w/ BLACKFRIDAY [Exp 11/30]
    Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack = $125 shipped w/ BLACKFRIDAY [Exp 11/30]
    Windows 7 Professional 32-bit 1-Pack = $125 shipped w/ BLACKFRIDAY [Exp 11/30]
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack = $94 shipped w/ BLACKFRIDAY [Exp 11/30]
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit 1-Pack = $94 shipped w/ BLACKFRIDAY [Exp 11/30]

    NewEgg Black Friday Deals good until 11/29

    Dell Small Business offers the Dell PowerEdge T100 Pentium Dual-Core 2.7GHz Server (pictured) for $249 plus $25 for shipping
    It comes with an Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5400 2.7GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive, DVD-ROM, and Gigabit Ethernet. No OS is included.

    7-Port USB 2.0 “Squid” Hub with built-in cables for $9 + free shipping
    Shop4Tech.com offers this 7-Port “Squid” USB 2.0 Hub in Black for $8.99.

    Toshiba Satellite L505-S5984 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1GHz 16″ Widescreen Notebook for $399.99. With $14.99 for shipping,

    CompUSA has the Synaps 24″ Widescreen LCD Monitor (11010230Y3) for $160 + $0 shipping= $160 shipped

    November 28th, 2009

    This news shouldn’t surprise anyone, certainly not in terms of location. Apple has begun field-testing the 4th generation iPhone in the San Francisco Bay Area. Developers of the iPhone app iBART, which is used to help commuters around the Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART), Pandav, have reported the finding via the Pinch Media analytics used in their applications.

    The Cupertino-based company probably has engineers and testers using BART throughout the Bay Area.

    Pinch Media’s analytics breaks down customer usage by specific devices as referenced by the internal device ID numbers assigned by Apple. The original iPhone is iPhone1,1; the iPhone 3G is iPhone1,2, and the iPhone 3GS is iPhone2.1 This new device ID is iPhone3,1, which was first seen in beta versions of iPhone OS 3.0 way back in March, but wasn’t seen “live” until now.

    Apple similarly began testing the iPhone 3GS way back in October 2008 and Pinch Media saw the new device ID string for quite some time in their numbers before reporting it.

    Typical of new iPhones, there is very little information about the device, at least yet. The biggest rumor is that AT&T may lose exclusivity for the hot app phone, with Verizon getting the device (and probably tons of defectors) at the time of the next iPhone refresh in mid-2010.
    Ads by AdGenta.com

    November 28th, 2009

    1) Just to start off let me say if you recently sent me an email with links I apologize for not reading them yet. I am in Southern California for Thanksgiving, and missing most of my usual connections, that coupled with spending a lot of time doing other things here may be reflected in my show contributions this week. But, to start off I ran across this article about potential battery news. They are claiming batteries that last twenty years, discharge like a capacitor, and keep working after being shot up with a machine gun. http://www.greentechmedia.com

    2) We all know how I love a conspiracy, and given my tendency’s to gravitate toward the edge of the zone. You have to know I have been following this one with interest, there are some very credible people asking about the possibility that the Large Hadron Collider is being sabotaged from the future. This article is from Time magazine so you know someone must be taking it with more than a grain of salt. http://www.time.com

    3) With all these stories about the air lines cutting back on services, when I saw this I thought I would toss it in for a little balance. This seems just a little over the top in the other direction. If you are looking for an air line that offers you over the top amenities this may be for you. http://englishrussia.com

    4) This is an article about something I had not heard of, but does not surprise me; it was just flying under my radar. When I saw the article I thought this has probably been a problem for ever, I just never had an occasion to think about it. Anyway I just thought it may hit others the same way. If you commit a crime while sleep walking are you, or should you be responsible? http://www.newscientist.com

    5) Geek link for the week is a glimpse of what Intel has on their radar for your future, the idea makes me a little nervous, but then the world of 2020 promises to be way different than today, so why not. http://www.popsci.com