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Banks in Russia, Japan, the US, and Europe have fallen victim to a massive, sophisticated malware hack

February 16, 2015February 16, 2016 Staff Writer

Hackers rob US and global banks of millions in one of the largest heists ever writes Kwame Opam on the Verge Banks in Russia, Japan, the US, and Europe have fallen victim to a massive, sophisticated malware hack, allowing the perpetrators to steal hundreds of millions of dollars since 2013. According to a Kaspersky Labs report provided to the New York Times, more than 100 banks in 30 nations have been affected by the breach, with upwards of $300 million stolen in the process. One of the largest bank heists ever…

Xiaomi: China’s big Apple rival isn’t worth getting excited about (yet)

February 13, 2015February 16, 2016 Staff Writer

Xiaomi, the third-largest smartphone maker in the world, is coming stateside, but not in the way pundits expected. The company announced at a conference Thursday that its e-commerce website, Mi.com, could start selling products to U.S. customers in five months. Surprisingly, smartphones will not be among them — at least, at first. Instead, Hugo Barra, Xiaomi’s Global VP, suggested the company might start with items such as a recently-launched pair of headphones and its popular external battery pack, the latter of which sold 15 million units in 2014. The company has…

EU Parliament blocks Microsoft’s new Outlook apps over privacy concerns

February 11, 2015February 16, 2016 Staff Writer

Access to Microsoft’s new Outlook apps has been blocked for members of the European Parliament because of “serious security issues.” Microsoft launched new Outlook apps for iOS and Android just over a week ago. The new apps are basically a rebranded version of a mail app made by Acompli, a company Microsoft bought in December for a reported US$200 million. Access to the apps though was blocked on Friday by the Parliament’s IT department, DG ITEC, in order to protect the confidentiality and privacy of its users, according to an…

Google US search share drops to 74.8% as Yahoo usage on Firefox almost triples since November

February 3, 2015February 16, 2016 Staff Writer

Yahoo gains further US search share in January Google falls below 75% for first time US Yahoo-on-Firefox usage almost triples since November San Francisco, CA & Dublin, Ireland; Monday 2nd February 2015: January saw Yahoo further increase the gain it made in US search share last month, according to the latest data from independent website analytics provider, StatCounter. Google fell below 75% in the US for the first time since StatCounter Global Stats began recording data*. StatCounter Global Stats reports that in January, Google took 74.8% of US search referrals…

Snapchat Is Launching A New Discovery Feature That Will Make It A Bigger Threat To Facebook

January 28, 2015February 17, 2016 Staff Writer

Snapchat just announced its new Discover feature, a collaboration with media companies such as Vice, CNN, Yahoo News, Comedy Central, and National Geographic to bring news to users in the form of Snapchat stories. News stories released through Discover will be available in multiple parts, allowing for media companies to string together a narrative with a beginning, middle, and end. In typical Snapchat fashion, each news story will last for 24 hours before disappearing. The introduction of Discover will help Snapchat further compete with Facebook, which now includes links to…

WSJ: U.S. Technology Companies Worry About the Backlash They Face in Europe

January 23, 2015February 17, 2016 Staff Writer

By Stephen Fidler: Europe Pulls Welcome Mat for U.S. Tech Companies One message so far from the corridors around the World Economic Forum in Davos: U.S. technology companies are very worried about the backlash they are now facing in Europe. From their standpoint, Europe risks shooting itself in the foot by rejecting the cutting-edge technologies they have brought to the continent. But they would say that, wouldn’t they? Look at it from the European point of view. Europe once led the world in mobile technology: The Global System for Mobile…

France, Germany Seek Help From Tech Firms in Policing Terrorism Online

January 22, 2015February 17, 2016 Staff Writer

Officials Expect Companies Like Twitter, Facebook, Google to Pre-Emptively Remove Content on Terrorism Online LILLE, France—France and Germany demanded that U.S. tech companies help them police terrorism on the Internet, escalating European efforts to wrangle more law-enforcement help from Silicon Valley. Top law-enforcement officials from the two countries said on Tuesday they expect U.S. Internet and social-networking companies like Twitter Inc., Facebook Inc. and Google Inc. to pre-emptively remove terror content from their services—or face new laws aimed at forcing them to do so in order to fight Terrorism Online.…

White House: President Obama Announces New Cybersecurity Legislative Proposal and Other Cybersecurity Efforts

January 14, 2015February 17, 2016 Staff Writer

Obama unveils cybersecurity proposals: ‘Cyber threats are urgent and growing danger’ Proposed legislation will allow companies to share information with government agencies including NSA, with which White House admitted there were ‘overlapping issues’ “In this interconnected, digital world, there are going to be opportunities for hackers to engage in cyber assaults both in the private sector and the public sector. Now, our first order of business is making sure that we do everything to harden sites and prevent those kinds of attacks from taking place…But even as we get better,…

Obama Wants Firms to Notify of Data Breach Within 30 Days

January 13, 2015February 17, 2016 Staff Writer

The Proposal Complemented a Series of Data Privacy Related Rules Suggested by the White House Today. President Barack Obama wants companies to notify consumers within 30-days of a personal data breach. Despite a slew of pressing issues facing the administration and a potentially unsympathetic Republican-led congress, the White House today unveiled a handful of legislative proposals aimed at safeguarding consumer privacy, continuing along a path established by its privacy and big data report published in May. The administration’s Personal Data Notification and Protection Act is being pitched in part as…

IDC 2015 Top 10 Predictions of China ICT Market: 3rd Platform Pursuit of New Growth During Economic Adjustment Period

January 8, 2015February 17, 2016 Staff Writer

Beijing, January 7, 2015 – In 2014, China’s macro economy maintained growth even under enormous pressure. The year also witnessed continuous industrial restructuring, feeble growth of overall real economy, recession of real estate market, and single digit growth of exports. Meanwhile, anti-corruption measures have also affected government spending. China’s GDP growth rate in 2014 was 7.3%, the lowest level in 24 years. Nonetheless, considering the sheer volume of China’s GDP which is the second largest in the world, the growth rate of 7.3% is still substantial compared with those developed…