Carlo Orlando

A Canadian surveillance project has discovered that 1,295 computers in 103 countries have been the victims of an international band of hackers. If that isn't scary enough, there is now circumstantial evidence that suggests the Chinese government may ... have played a role. The 53-page report, submitted by the Information Warfare Monitor, a joint venture shared between the SecDev group of Ottawa and the University of Toronto, classified almost 30 percent of the infected machines as being of "high value", namely the databases of international embassies, ministries of foreign affairs and other ... (view more)

If you asked people what the most time-saving mode of communication is, many would choose email. But when you consider all of the wasted hours spent ridding your inbox of spam , the choice is not so clear. Sure hundreds of spam filters exist, but ... these programs leave many people wondering if an important message has been flagged and removed from their inbox unbeknownst to them. While spam does complicate the entire emailing process, a number of products also exist to help manage junk mail without losing a single piece of important information. Spam-Free Emails Spam Arrest does a great job ... (view more)

It's been almost one week since users have been able to experience Internet Explorer 8 , Microsoft's latest weapon in the browser war against rivals Firefox, Safari and Chrome. Unfortunately, fanfare doesn't appear to be overwhelming, and now there ... are reports that some users might actually be reverting to IE7 -- or even opting for competitor browsers. Early Highs, Later Lows It was reported that as much as 2.61% of all web surfers were using IE8 just three days after the release date. While some assume that these numbers would have doubled or tripled by now, the figures have barely improved ... (view more)

A recent study conducted by NSS Labs revealed that of the six most-used browsers, Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) RC1 is "head and shoulders" above Firefox, Safari and Chrome in its ability to detect and block socially-engineered malware. ... Socially-engineered malware is considered to be among the most prevalent computer viruses in existence. The infection process becomes a very familiar scenario: a user is enticed to visit an external website and agrees to the malware download under false pretences. NSS reported on the dangers of these attacks many times in the last year, urging users to constantly ... (view more)

When the leader of a nation makes an important change, the belief is that most citizens will support and echo their decision. Microsoft is hoping that won't be the case in Asia, after the Prime Minister of India abandoned his Microsoft Outlook ... account in favor of open-source email. The Indian leader voiced his concern over the vulnerabilities of his Outlook account following a nasty computer virus that caused massive disruptions when sending/receiving emails containing important (and at times, crucial) information. The Indian Central Information Commission admitted to the change, stating that ... (view more)

When educational technology specialist Kevin Andreyo recently read a report on people search engines , he decided to conduct a little 'people search' on himself. Andreyo did not expect to find much -- so, imagine the surprise when he uncovered the ... user name and password to his Comcast Internet account, put out there for the entire online world to see. In addition to his personal information, Andreyo also discovered a list that exposed the user names and passwords of (what he believed) to be 8,000 other Comcast customers. Andreyo immediately contacted both Comcast and the FBI, hoping to find ... (view more)

Adaptive Sound Technologies (AST) has now released a new tabletop device that induces sleep through the soothing sounds of nature. Dubbed 'Ecotones,' it measures sleeping patterns in terms of how long it takes a person to fall asleep, how often a ... person tosses and turns at night, and similar. The Sleep Machine That Never Sleeps What sets Ecotones apart from the dozens of similar products on the market is its responsiveness to disturbing noises and its ability to camouflage them without missing a beat. If a person sets their Ecotones to thunderstorms, for example, the pitter-patter of ... (view more)

As Facebook readies itself for a complete profile page makeover, hackers are now striking fast and furious with a barrage of attacks aimed at all those associated with the social networking site. The site has been exposed to five different security ... threats in this past week alone, including four new hoax applications that trick members into divulging usernames and passwords. There are a number of reasons why hackers are attracted to social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook. The interconnectedness of millions of people, coupled with pages and pages of personal information, make ... (view more)

It may seem like an obscure question, but have you ever wondered what would happen to your email accounts, digital media, and other important computer files after you pass away? While many would assume that the activity of the computer dies with its ... owner, a San Francisco-based startup is asking people to give serious thought to the idea of allowing certain people access to their digital assets. The "online will" service, known as Legacy Locker, would add a new dimension to traditional estate planning. A Will for the Digital Age Legacy Locker works in a similar manner to that of a written ... (view more)

eBay buyers are being asked to take extra precautions when conducting their online shopping after security specialists warned that a string of hackers had infiltrated the popular auction site. The hackers exploited several unpatched vulnerabilities ... in Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers to create false listings and entice people to bid on fraudulent items. Details of the Stealth Attack Analysts believe that it was an XSS (cross-site scripting) attack that implemented unauthorized java script elements stored on third-party websites. This allowed eBay pages to contain outside email links and ... (view more)