Google Makes NEW Waves in the Mobile Arena

Google is set to unveil it’s first 100% Google developed and executed mobile phone in Tuesday. Named Nexus One, if successful it will give the search giant a major stronghold in the cell phone market. With the popularity of its apps like Google Maps and the public embrace of the Android operating system, there is no reason to think Google will not hit a home run with this next adventure.

“The tea leaves and crystal balls are all pointing to the same thing: The future is in mobile devices,” said Ramon Lamas, mobile device analyst at IDC. “With its own phone, Google can control the hardware, the software and can put together its own mobile roadmap from there.” The company is expected to unveil its smartphone plans at a scheduled “Android press gathering” at its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. at 1 p.m. ET. The Nexus One smartphone will be wider but slimmer than Apple’s (AAPL, Fortune 500) iPhone and faster than Motorola’s (MOT, Fortune 500) Droid, according to a review by tech blog Engadget. The new smartphone was built by mobile device maker HTC, but the specifications were all ordered by Google. It will run Google’s Android 2.1 software on a lightning-fast processor.

The Nexus One will be available on T-Mobile and directly for purchase from Google.

Rogueware attack holds your PC hostage

There are so many malware/trojan attacks running amok on the Internet, it’s getting difficult to keep track. Beyond the daily fake anti-viruses invading machines by the hour, there is now one that will hold all of your programs hostage until you buck up $79.99.

Researchers discovered a Trojan attack that basically freezes a user’s system unless he purchases the rogueware, which goes for about $79.99. The Adware/TotalSecurity2009 rogueware attack doesn’t just send fake popup security warnings — it takes over the machine and renders all of its applications useless, except for Internet Explorer, which it uses to receive payment from the victim for the fake antivirus. “The system is completely crippled,” says Sean-Paul Correll, threat researcher and security evangelist for PandaLabs, which found the new attack. Correll says when the rogueware detects any application on the machine starting to execute, it then shuts down the application. “This happens for every file you try to open except IE. The only reason IE works is because that’s what’s used to allow victims to pay the cybercriminals,” he says.

While the attack is not really new, the veracity with which these guys are going after you is. Completely disabling programs raises the bar that victims are going to pay the fee rather than risk losing data.There have been ransoms demanded before-usually from large corporations that have money worth getting. Stooping to this level and holding the everyday consumer to the fire is an all new low. As always, if you find yourself infected with this or any other infection-don’t pay the bad guys-contact us! We can help.

Small Business IT Woes

According to the results of an ongoing study, small business is struggling to meet best practices and, in some cases, even government regulations in IT. Citing the slowing economy and too small or non-existent IT manpower as the reason, a quarter of respondents get a failing grade and more than one-third get a “C”.

“The results to date indicate that many small businesses are falling behind when it comes to implementing accepted best practices for IT operations and management,” according to Steven Kahan of The Planet, one of a consortium of sponsors behind ITEI.
The results so far are especially disturbing, according to Kahan, since more than two-thirds of the small businesses responding to the survey indicated that IT and Web commerce are the foundations that enable their business success. “The IT Effectiveness Index is telling us that in nearly two-thirds of businesses with 100 employees or less, IT operations are failing to fully support or keep pace with small business needs,” he emphasized.

Areas of downtime, security, disaster recovery, and regulatory compliance top the list of concerns. When coupled with the fact that 2/3′s of business also stated IT and Web capabilities are critical to their success, it paints a grim picture. With these concerns and shrinking budgets, SMB’s are clearly feeling vulnerable to impending doom.

The bottom line is Small Businesses are find themselves sacrificing IT because they feel they cannot afford to keep pace. However, the truth is business can’t afford to not spend this money. If you are not practicing good security, you risk data breech and lawsuit. If you are not practicing good disaster recovery, you risk losing all of your records for past years. If you are not practicing good hardware and network maintenance, you are losing money in the form of employee downtime and an inability to do your business. In short, if you are not practicing good IT, you are spending money on IT; you’re just spending twice as much.

Having a trusted partner in IT is always money well spent. Haphazard security and do-it-yourself networks, with poor best-practices just cost you in the end. Take the survey, then find a partner you can trust to take care of your IT needs.

Google’s New OS

Recently Google announced they are working on a new, custom version of the Ubuntu operating system to compete in the netbook arena–the low-cost, low-powered, small form factor laptops rapidly gaining market share. Google developing an operating system for this market is probably a great idea. The Android OS for phones has been very popular; netbooks are a step up from a smart phone and a step down from a full size laptop, so it seems like a natural and smart move.

The Ubuntu flavor of Linux has already soared in popularity, so Google basing their OS off it is an excellent choice. It is likely going to be fast and light-weight. Their aim is to move most functions such as email, documents, calendering, music….pretty much everything to the web. This OS will integrate “cloud computing” like no other up to this point.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

These are very noble goals and will be excellent if properly implemented, especially in the netbook form factor. One thing that gives us pause though is the inference it will be immune to viruses, malware and security breeches. While it should be very stable and I will be the first to admit Linux generally provides a very secure and resistant environment, I feel it is misleading to infer users won’t have any issues to deal with. If this OS is going to interact in anyway with any other program that users want to use, there is the possibility of infection and security issues. Flash, Java, for heavens sake even Adobe Acrobat have had their fair share of patches and security issues over time. As Roger Grimes over at InfoWorld points out:

Further, even if Google somehow manages to crank out a perfectly secure OS, it will still need to rely upon other organizations’ software to work. That, in turn, will almost certainly create chinks in the OS’s armor. For example, almost every Internet product relies on DNS, which has proved extremely hackable. Hack that, and you hack everything that relies on it, including otherwise secure browsers and OSes.

Beyond relying on DNS, how will the Google OS and browser render documents and content such as PDFs, Macromedia Flash files, iTunes music, and all other code and content that makes up the rich Internet experience? Google developers will have a hard time delivering all that functionality themselves. They would have to perfectly code every (or at least the most popular) content-type rendering engines. More than likely, Google will allow other vendors’ products to interact with their products, and that brings up dozens of security issues in a given month.

I’m even ignoring for the moment the reports that the Google OS will be a Linux variant. Linux itself has many kernel bugs a year. Google Chrome, the browser, relies upon other components (such as Web Toolkit) with have their own vulnerabilities.

It is important that folks talking about the new Google OS keep in mind that no OS operates in a vacuum. There will likely be some vulnerabilities found and exploited once it is actually released to the public.

With the initial release going to the netbook market and because so much of this OS’es functionally it will be web based, I have great confidence it will be very popular for use in this way. It seems like a great gap in the market to address. Personally, having more functionality than my BlackBerry while also being lighter, quicker and offering simple functionality for everyday tasks is highly appealing. I have been a big fan of the netbooks since they entered the market a couple of years ago-the way I see it, this has the potential to just be one more thing to love.

The Little Bugs that Bug Us

Clients often ask what the difference is between Malware, Spyware, Trojans and viruses. Or they don’t ask this question; many people do not realize they are distinctly different types of rogue programming. In the heat of an infection, the “what” is often secondary to the “how” and the “can it be saved” panic which often ensues once an infection is discovered. Later though, often folks want an explanation; they want to know where it came from, how to protect from future infections and what they were infected with. Those questions and answers are definitely part of your prevention strategy. Most iterations of bad stuff will fall under the category of MalWare. MalWare is any MALicious SoftWARE. So technically, any Virus, Trojan, Worm, or other rogue software is MalWAre. It is a general and broad category which encompasses the several incantations. Most people use the MalWare term to describe what is actually AdWare or “NagWare”. This software has the primary purpose of delivering advertising content in a manner or context that is usually unwanted and unexpected by the computer user. Basically, AdWare nags you to buy a product or service that is not only ineffective, but usually costly. In rare instances, Adware collects credit card information, and then feeds it to an underground network. These networks in turn attempt to resell the information for fraud purposes. This scenario is not as common right now, but it is the next logical step. Mostly, makers are “just” ripping you off at this time, selling you “anti-virus” which is actually nothing of the sort. Another often seen MalWare is SpyWare. SpyWare alone does just as the name suggests. It spies on you, tracking your moves and keystrokes, without your notice or consent. Sometimes SpyWare also transmits that information back to an underground network for sale or use. These programs are often very difficult to remove as they run in the background. Normally, they aren’t obvious and only a trained eye or experienced technician will spot SpyWare when it runs alone. A Trojan Horse is malicious software which tricks a user into installing it on their machine. Many Trojans are downloaded or emailed, presented as one type of program (such as a free music player) which may or may not install, along with a rogue program. Trojans are well known information stealer’s; most often keystroke loggers are installed this way. Viruses and Worms are similar in that they are both viruses, they both replicate themselves and infect the user. The difference is a virus needs a host program to replicate and propagate, a worm does not. Worms have the ability to replicate by themselves. Virus and Worms cause a variety of problems, but usually they are not recorders or information stealer’s. Virus and Worms are often used to cause destruction of some kind and wreak havoc on users’ computers. You must protect yourself against these threats. It is imperative to use an anti-virus. You must also be a vigilant user, don’t click every window that pops up while using the Internet, don’t open attachments from anyone unless you are expecting it and don’t visit disreputable sites on the Internet. With good software, (kept up to date) smart use and a trusted advisor for you and your network, your computers will have a long and healthy life.

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