US authorities have moved one step closer to finding the hackers behind the recent attacks on search giants Google.

Teams of investigators have tracked the source of the attack to two educational facilities in China. With one institution closely linked to the Chinese military, further weight has been given to accusations of state involvement in the attacks.

A man of 30 has been identified as the creator of part of the spyware code that exploited a security hole in Internet Explorer and compromised Google. However, the hacker is not a full-time government worker, and is believed to have been pressured into his role in the attack by outside sources.

"If he wants to do the research he's good at, he has to toe the line now and again," a US analyst said. "He would rather not have uniformed guys looking over his shoulder, but there is no way anyone of his skill level can get away from that kind of thing. The state has privileged access to these researchers' work."

The state-controlled Xinhua news agency have said officials at both schools have distanced themselves from any knowledge of the attacks.

Via: Financial Times

New research from laptop security company Absolute Software has revealed that a third of all British laptop thefts happen at home. This is far higher than any other country around the world.

The study, carried out in conjunction with YouGov, showed that 32% of UK laptop thefts happened in the home, compared to 22% in France, 18% in the US and 17% in both Germany and Canada.

Dave Everitt, General Manager, at Absolute Software commented: "This research will surprise some laptop owners, who often only think about security issues when they are on the move. However, with nearly a third of all laptop thefts in Britain occurring at a residential property, owners need to be extra cautious when leaving devices home alone."
 
Thefts from cars accounted for 24 per cent of reports filed in the UK, with public transport coming in third place at 8 per cent. Coffee shops and airports, locations often associated with laptop use, accounted for a comparatively low percentage - just 2 per cent each.
 
"There is a range of security measures that laptop owners can take, from simply locking their laptop in a secure location to installing software that enables personal files to be remotely deleted, tracked and even recovered. With the amount of sensitive information now being stored on laptops and subsequent identity theft, personal security can not be compromised," concluded Everitt.

Had a bad experience with laptop theft, or any gadget storing personal info for that matter? Let us know.

It's been just a few days since the launch of Google's Buzz social network, but already users are complaining about being inundated with spam messages.

According to Websense Security Labs, phishing scams, disguising themselves as quit smoking guides are already causing users headaches.

Twitter was able to defend itself from spam for many months after its launch. If Buzz aims to win over the masses, getting rid of the spam would give it a great upper hand over Facebook.

Websense hopes that Google has prepared ways to deal with the volume of spam it is bound to see on the new service. Until then, the company is advising users to use caution when clicking on unknown links.

Storage giants Buffalo have today unveiled the latest version of their TeraStation III iSCSI product range.

The Buffalo TeraStation III iSCSI Desktop and 1U Rackmount units offer data transfer speeds of up to 92MB/s, allowing critical business data to be managed, stored and backed up quickly, efficiently and securely. The desktop unit is available in capacities of 2TB and 4TB, whilst the 1U Rackmount unit is available in 2TB, 4TB, 6THB and 8TB.

Paul Hudson, Northern European Sales Director, Buffalo Technology, said: "The potential for iSCSI within small and medium sized business environments is enormous. The TeraStation III iSCSI will allow organisations to back up all their data and make it appear as just another drive on the server. The beauty of iSCSI is that you can aggregate a lot of different devices into one logical volume and for IT managers this makes life infinitely easier and cheaper than backing up to the primary storage tier.

The Buffalo TeraStation III iSCSI for Desktop or 1U Rackmount features include:

* Fully populated, 4 bay, 4 drive device
* Up to 92MByte/s iSCSI high speed data transfer
* Supports RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 10 and Standard
* Advanced RAID system to continually check hard drive performance
* Resilient - Replace faulty hard drives with the Hot Swap functionality without interruption of work
* Hot Spare feature automatically switches failed drive to spare drive to ensure redundancy
* Dual Ethernet connectivity for port trunking
* 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet port and Jumbo Frame capability for higher transfer speeds
* LCD Status Display, easy setup wizard management through intuitive web interface
* Supports UPS connectivity via USB port
* Supported OS: Windows Server 2003/2008, Windows®7(64/32bit), Windows® Vista™, Windows® XP, Windows® 2000 (32bit), Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004/2005
* Available as Desktop or 1U 19" Rackmount
* Warranty 3 Years
* Available as 2TB, 4TB, (Desktop), 2TB, 4TB 6TB and 8TB capacities (Rackmount)

For availability and pricing information, visit www.buffalo-technology.com.

The CA Internet Security Business Unit have released their latest State of Internet security report, revealing that rogue or fake security software, major search engines, social networks and Web 2.0 threats were the most notable online security issues in 2009.

As if the current wave of security threats on the web were not trouble enough, CA believe that cyber crime is about to evolve into even more devious forms. Mobile devices are now more likely than ever to be targeted, as is cloud stored data, while the current economic climate may push internal employees of businesses to exploit online data in their possession.

"Businesses are at threat from all angles - not only are they susceptible to both external and internal scams, data losses and theft , but they are also at risk every time their employees use search engines, email and social networking sites at work," said Joseph Souren, Vice President EMEA for CA's Internet Security Business Unit. "Businesses that fall victim to cybercrime not only face costs associated with repairing systems hit by attacks but also in lost productivity from disruptions."

Cybercrime costs UK businesses £3.84 billion each year.

First Google, now Twitter is standing up against this latest wave of web censorship. The brains behind the micro-blogging phenomenon have revealed that they are looking into ways to protect Twitter from Big Brother's uncomfortable gaze.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Twitter's chief executive Evan Williams spoke of Twitters resilience.

"We are partially blocked in China and other places and we were in Iran as well," Evans said to event's collected press.

"The most productive way to fight that is not by trying to engage China and other governments whose very being is against what we are about."

Though he didn't detail how Twitter plan to defend themselves, he did cryptically allure to "technological ways" to blinker would be attackers. More news on this as it becomes available.

Microsoft are about to roll out a security update that should see users of Internet Explorer 6 protected from the attacks that have caused the French and German governments to condemn the browser.

The vulnerability highlighted by the recent phishing attack on Google is the priority fix, but the update will also address other weak spots in the browser.

Microsoft assure that the update will keep users safe while browsing the web, but also encourage users to upgrade to the IE 8 browser for maximum protection.

Are you a dyed-in-the-wool Internet Explorer user, sticking with Microsoft on this one? Or are you going to try web-pastures new and have a go with maybe the Chrome, Firefox or Opera browsers?

Let us know.

After months of planning, the UK government have today launched their Data.gov.uk website, making reams of non-personal information available to developers in order to help create apps.

3,000 data sets have been made available, ranging from broad topics such as agricultural stats, right down to as specific a subject as "Suicide and Open Verdict Deaths in the U.K. Regular Armed Forces".

Spearheaded by web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, apps already developed during the beta stage include Planning Alerts, telling users if someone plans to build nearby their house, and Fill That Hole, informing users of pot holes and other road hazards across the UK.

"We're very aware that there are more people like you outside of government who have the skills and abilities to make wonderful things out of public data", a message on the site reads. "These are our first steps in building a collaborative relationship with you."

If used wisely (and not abused by those looking to further veil phishing scams) then the data could have some great apps made with it. For instance, an app to quickly find an NHS dentist when a sudden toothache kicks in, or to track Ofsted reports on local schools when moving house.

Maybe even an app that tracks cabinet members personal expenses! ...What? It's been done already? Oh...

Any more ideas, Tech Digest readers? Tweet them here, or leave a comment below.

The Consumer Electronics show, the behemoth of tech, the Valhalla of gadgetry, has come and gone for yet another year. But this time, rather than arriving with a bang, it slinked into sight with something more like a whimper.

CES 2010 had really had the wind knocked out of it before it had even got into the ring this year. All eyes were already on Apple and their rumoured Tablet in the run up to the event, despite the fact that Apple are traditionally a no-show at CES, instead planning their own top-secret unveiling at the end of January. Likewise, Google delivered a sucker-punch in the shape of the Nexus One, their flagship handset revealed at their own event on the eve of CES 2010's opening.

To make matter's worse, Microsoft's opening keynote speech (delivered by walking personality drain Steve Ballmer) was pretty darn dull. First a power cut, then a load of waffle on the 2 month old Windows 7, Ballmer hardly seemed to be trying to keep our attention. Though the Christmas release date for Project Natal was welcome news, it revealed nothing new about the device, whilst the partnership with Hewlett Packard for the new Slate device seemed merely like a case of keeping-up with the Joneses. Or should that be the Jobs-es?

But the Las Vegas event wasn't without its highlights. Far from it in fact. Maybe it's the recession, or the generally pocket-pinching mood in the air these days, but for once the most sought after tech wasn't in the realms of dreamy aspiration, but was actually fairly affordable.

Take for instance the brand new 3D TVs on show, of which the Sony BRAVIA XBR-52HX900 (video above, courtesy of Ashley) was the pick of the litter. Finally shaping up to the standards set by its cinema siblings, company reps promised that the average 3D TV will cost little more than a top-end Full HD set. Skype and video calling in many TV sets too will help turn your living room into somewhere the Jetsons could only dream of.

E-readers are also looking to be both big and affordable in 2010. As a comic book fanatic I'd have liked to have seen more attempts at a colour screened e-reader (I'm not including the MSI offering, which is really just a dual-touch screened PC, super-cool as it is). Plastic Logic's Que Pro e-reader looked great though, with a massive, durable screen, and was far lighter than the hundreds of books you'd be able to store on the tabloid-sized device.

There were, of course, tablets aplenty. The dual-booting Viliv P3 may be an underdog in the category, but seemed way more exciting than Microsoft's offering. The offer of both Windows and Android on the same device showed a respect for user choice not often seen in the back-slapping world of consumer tech.

There was still time for fun too. The Parrot AR Drone Quadricopter was fun and fresh, combining real-world toys with augmented reality controls. A little less high-tech but full of retro-chic was the Lasonic i931 iPhone dock/ghetto blaster mash-up. Odd's on its at the top of Flava Flav's Christmas list. And there was still some time for the weird and the plain old dumb, too.

Though less prevalent than other years, there were some great examples of brand new tech on show that were genuinely exciting. A real head-turner and my favourite item of the show was the Light Blue Optic Light Touch. Using a pico projection engine and a touch sensitive sensor, it'll turn any flat surface into a touchscreen. It works ridiculously well despite still being in the development stages, and has almost unlimited potential.

Some detractors say that, recession or not, CES looks to be on its last legs. It's sad, but not unlikely, when you consider the audiences that companies like Apple and Google can command for just a single product launch. However, for emerging companies like Light Blue Optics CES is still vital to gain some exposure, not to mention the fact that such a prominent date in the calendar forces the tech giants to have made some significant, competitive advances in their gear, year-on-year.

So here's hoping the old dog's got a bit of life left in it yet. Hopefully next year will kick off the recessionary cobwebs and kick the show back into high-tech gear. It wouldn't take much to tempt us back to the City of Sin once more.

Click here for full CES 2010 pre-show, day one, day two and day three round-ups.

Firefox fans who can't wait to get their hands on the latest release of the super-fast, super-safe web browser can today try out the first release candidate for version 3.6.

As ever, higher speeds are top of the agenda for developers Mozilla, particularly considering the advancements made by rival Google and their Chrome browser. Start up times are quicker and Java Script performance is up, and the inclusion of asynchronous script running (prioritising bandwidth-intensive web elements) also help speed things up significantly.

Also new is the inclusion of Personas, allowing users to customise the look of the browser and increasing the security from third-party malicious software threats.

Grab the RC1 Firefox 3.6 download here.

Security software company and owners of Norton Anti Virus Symantec have revealed the far-from-innocent terms that youngsters aged below 18 have most searched for in 2009.

Tracking the terms used in their OnlineFamily.Norton service, Symantec compiled the list from over 14.6 million searches. The top three most searched terms for boys and girls alike were "YouTube", "Google" and "Facebook" respectively. However, spots 4 and 5 on the boys list was filled by "sex" and "porn" and number 5 for the girls was "sex".

The rest of the top 100 was padded out by terms relating to social networks and celebrities such as Michael Jackson and Miley Cyrus and popular movies such as Twilight: New Moon.

Of course, it's in Symantec's best interests to have us believe that our kids are running amok on the web. The more frightened we are by our children's curiosity, the more likely we are to buy anti-virus and web filtering software from them. But still, searching for Miley Cyrus? That's just shocking.

Via: Onlinefamilyinfo.norton.com

It can be mighty frustrating, settling down for a marathon internet-trawling session only to be bombarded with error messages to let you know that, as ever, your Wi-Fi connection has gone up the creek. The ever-industrious Richard Branson and his Virgin Digital company have recognised the horror that sets in when your laptop, Xbox or iPod starts playing up and has just launched the brand new Virgin Digital Help Service to soothe your digital woes.

Virgin Digital Help is a mixture between software solutions, remote help and on-call tech-savvy handymen. Users can install its software onto their computers, letting them view100 in-depth articles on common tech problems encountered on PCs, laptops, digital cameras, peripheral add-ons, MP3 players and games consoles. A premium version of the software, costing £2.99 a month, comes with 70,000 guides and a copy of AVG Anti-Virus software.

If you can't find an answer within the program, you can then send an email to the remote Virgin Digital Help team or call them on a free hotline. If there is still no joy, for £90 an hour, Virgin Digital Help can send out a specialist direct to your home to fix the issue, though the team believe that 90% of problems can be fixed remotely.

While TV, MAC and AV problems aren't yet covered, it's still a helpful option for the technically-challenged. And, best of all, you needn't be a Virgin Media subscriber to access the service; it's available to all.

For more information, visit www.virgindigitalhelp.co.uk/ .

Been hit by the annoying Black Screen of Death since the last Windows update? Malware and not Windows itself is to blame, claim Microsoft.

After following up on reports that a dark screen stopped access to the desktop after login on a number of versions of Windows, Microsoft did some investigating. Looking over their recent update and finding no changes made to permissions in the PC registry, Microsoft have come to the conclusion that only malware can be responsible for the problems.

Prevx, a security firm that found a solution for the black screen have echoed Microsoft's findings. "Having narrowed down a specific trigger for this condition we've done quite a bit of testing and re-testing on the recent Windows patches including KB976098 and KB915597 as referred to in our previous blog. Since more specifically narrowing down the cause we have been able to exonerate these patches from being a contributory factor" a Prevx statement said.

With the malware likely having come from a branch of the Daonol bug, some off-the-
shelf anti-virus software should be enough to keep you protected.

Via: Electric Pig

According to Harris Interactive, "nearly 60% of computer users lose photos, music, documents and other files every year". With that in mind, why not take a look at Livedrive, which claims to be a simple, secure online data back up system.

For £3.95 a month, Livedrive dynamically backs up all your data, logging any changes or modifications to files and making all data available from any internet-connected PC.

If you worry about privacy and security when it comes to cloud computing, you'll be happy to hear Livedrive uses military grade encryption to protect your files.

Web applications mean many file types can be edited without the need for installed applications, and mobile support means you can even make changes through your handset.

Livedrive's live logging of updated files across any of your associated PCs sounds like a very neat idea, so the Livedrive is certainly one cloud storage option worth considering.

For more information, check out www.livedrive.com .

Microsoft is prepping a beta release of their free anti-virus software, Morro. There's no fixed date as yet but with the full version set for launch by the end of the year The Soft has hinted that we're looking at a matter of weeks/days.

The move comes as one hell of a pain for the likes of McAfee, Symatnec et al who've responded with the usual scaremongery about their experience in the field and superior levels protection and blah, blah, blah but their share prices have dropped by a per cent or nonetheless.

Morro appears to be a stripped down version of Microsoft's failed $40-a-year Live OneCare suite, which was a commercial disaster, and is set to be pulled in November. Doubtless, it'll have a significantly better uptake now that you don't have to pay for it and I'll be interested to see whether the likes of Dell still offer trials for subscription anti-virus. Looking forward to the waves.

What would you do if you woke up half-way across the world with no clothes on, and just a mining pick in your possession? That was the virtual reality that faced Luke Maskell when he logged into his World of Warcraft character, Häwk, one morning. His character had been hacked into and everything of value had been removed and sold.

"They must have stolen around ten to fifteen thousand gold worth of goods and cash," says Luke, "they probably would have earned around £50-£80". That might not sound like much, but for his character it represents months and months of play in the massively-multiplayer online world where one of the most controversial topics is that of gold farmers and selling equipment for real cash.

Selling gold and virtual items in World of Warcraft is very strictly against the rules set by developer Blizzard. The terms of use for the game state, quite firmly, that "you may not sell in-game items or currency for "real" money, or exchange those items or currency for value outside of the Game".

But is it a crime? Well, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police told us that it was a very tricky one - it would need a test case to be determined, and it would depend on many factors. Complicating the matter is the fact that the virtual thief might not be resident in the UK, and Blizzard's servers might be sitting in yet another country again. I put this to the Police spokesperson who sucked his teeth and told me that a court-case spanning three countries would be "absolute madness".

"I certainly see it as a crime," states Luke, defiantly, "the online assets are in the end, property of Blizzard, and someone is selling this property for real-world money without permission, they should be treated as any other criminal."

It's not completely clear how the attacker managed to gain access to Luke's characters: "Virus scanners and anti malware software found a few stray cookies from websites I was unsure about, but nothing major like a trojan or virus. I don't think I'll ever find out how my details were stolen."

Blizzard, for their part, offer plenty of advice on how to keep accounts secure. On their compromised accounts page they recommend you change passwords regularly and warn against installing dodgy-looking game modifications or using power-levelling services.

They also sell a device called an 'authenticator', which hooks up with your account and generates a second password that operates alongside your main one. This password changes every five minutes, so it's impossible to log in if the authenticator isn't in your possession.

Luckily, this story has a happy ending for Luke: "Blizzard were great with the issue. I went through both the in-game ticketing system and their online support site to get my items and account back under my control, and they responded quickly and professionally."

"They advised me on steps to take to prevent any further hacks, fully restored all my items and gold, and even gave everything that was taken from the guild bank back, all within 3 days of the hack occuring. I was very impressed."

His guild - a group of players that he plays with on a regular basis - were very supportive, too: "From my guild, I got a general response of sympathy and people wishing me luck in getting all my items and money back from the game moderators. I had a lot of people in the guild offering me some cash to get me back on my feet and replace my items"

If you're a player of World of Warcraft, or any other online game, put yourself in Luke's shoes for a minute. Think about how long it took you to acquire the items that you're using in-game, and how long it would take to replace them. Then go change your account password and buy an authenticator - in the long run, you'll be very pleased you did.

If you're the kind of person who likes to take your laptop out and about with you, whether or not you actually do work or just want a reason for sitting in Starbucks on your own, then you might be interested to hear that some software is about to hit UK shores that will track your computer should someone half-inch it while the diuretic that is caffeine works its magic on your bladder.

LoJack of Laptops embeds itself in the firmware of your machine either in the factory or at the user end and it sits so damn tight that it'll survive reformats, OS re-installations, HDD removals, re-imaging and just about any other operation beginning with r.

The worm has turned. Conficker has awoken. It's updating peer-to-peer and dropping in a mysterious load thought to be a keystroke logger. For the 3 to 12 million users thought to be infected, it would seem like a good time to stop using your bank accounts and start re-installing Windows.

The worm will contact sites like MySpace.com, MSN.com, eBay.com, CNN.com and AOL.com in order to check internet connectivity, drop the key logger.sys file behind a rootkit such that your anti-virus won't be able to pick it up and then disappear with no further replication by 3rd May.

The .sys file will, of course, still be there and will still report back from the host computer to the rest of the botnet. All very pleasant stuff.

You can visit one of these two sites to see if your machine is infected.

(via CNET)

Despite Conficker's relative no-shown on 1st April, its impact hasn't gone unnoticed in the virus creators community. An updated version of Neeris - which dates from 2005 - is now doing the rounds exploiting the same flaw as last week's media darling.

Security experts don't think that the creators are related, just that Neeris has undergone a redesign after seeing Conficker's success. As ever, if you're fully patched up with the latest versions of Windows, then you're probably safe. The quickest way to check, though, is visit an anti-virus site. Most viruses will stop you doing that.

(via eWeek)

A growing trend among phone networks is to start offering netbooks and other low-cost laptops free to customers of their mobile broadband services. What happens, though, if the contract owner stops paying up? They lose kit worth hundreds of pounds that's still in fully working order.

As a result, LM Ericsson AB, a Swedish company that produces laptop modems, has added a feature to its hardware that can remotely 'kill' a laptop, rending it useless. If carriers desire, then they can stop a customer who hasn't paid up from using his or her machine.

It could also be used to secure lost or stolen machines - locking them down remotely. It's a nice idea, but I'd be concerned about the risk of these devices malfunctioning, stopping legitimate customers from accessing services that they've paid for.

(via Yahoo!)