UPDATE! Chinese Military Hack Attacks Might Originate in NORTH KOREAN

Last month we reported that security experts from Mandiant believed a Chinese military unit was responsible for multiple hack attacks on US companies. Mandiant released a report that identified ‘Unit 61398′ as the most likely source of attacks on at least US 141 organisations, “across a diverse set of industries beginning as early as 2006″.

“The nature of ‘Unit 61398′s’ work is considered by China to be a state secret; however, we believe it engages in harmful ‘Computer Network Operations’,” Mandiant said in the report. ”It is time to acknowledge the threat is originating in China, and we wanted to do our part to arm and prepare security professionals to combat that threat effectively.”

The Mandiant report said that Unit 61398 is located in Shanghai’s Pudong district, China’s financial and banking hub, and staffed by perhaps thousands of people proficient in English as well as computer programming and network operations.

There are now suspicions that the facility might be shared with North Korean backed hackers? An unnamed source from South Korea’s presidential office was quoted by the Yonhap news agency as saying the discovery of the IP address indicated Pyongyang was responsible for the attack on Wednesday. A previous attack on a South Korean newspaper that the government in Seoul traced back to North Korea also used a Chinese IP address :: Read the full article »»»»

Andrew Mason OUTWEIRDS Zuckerberg As Weirdest CEO… Oops Your Sacked

The group shopping website Groupon has fired its chief executive and co-founder as the company struggles to turn around its poor earnings and crumbling share price.

On the day its stock slid 24 per cent after reporting dismal quarterly results, the daily deals company said Andrew Mason was asked to step down.

In an unusually candid letter to staff, Mr Mason confessed he was getting in the way of the company he co-founded just a few years ago and had failed in his role as leader.

“After four-and-a-half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I’ve decided that I’d like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding – I was fired today. If you’re wondering why… you haven’t been paying attention,” Mr Mason wrote in a memo to staff.

“From controversial metrics in our S1 to our material weakness to two quarters of missing our own expectations and a stock price that’s hovering around one quarter of our listing price, the events of the last year and a half speak for themselves. As CEO, I am accountable.”

Co-founder Eric Lefkofsky and board member Ted Leonsis will lead the company until a permanent chief executive is found. Groupon declined to comment on potential candidates :: Read the full article »»»»

Chinese Military Hack Attacks

Computer security experts from Mandiant say they believe a Chinese military unit is responsible for multiple hacking attacks against US companies.

The secretive security company has released a rare report that identifies ‘Unit 61398′ as the most likely source of attacks on at least 141 organisations, “across a diverse set of industries beginning as early as 2006″.

“The nature of ‘Unit 61398′s’ work is considered by China to be a state secret; however, we believe it engages in harmful ‘Computer Network Operations’,” Mandiant said in the report.

“It is time to acknowledge the threat is originating in China, and we wanted to do our part to arm and prepare security professionals to combat that threat effectively.”

The report says Unit 61398 is located in Shanghai’s Pudong district, China’s financial and banking hub, and staffed by perhaps thousands of people proficient in English as well as computer programming and network operations.

The unit had stolen “hundreds of terabytes of data”.

Clients including The New York Times have hired Mandiant to clean up their systems after cyberattacks :: Read the full article »»»»

Facebook Hacked

Facebook says its computer system has been targeted in a series of attacks by an unidentified hacker group, however, the social media behemoth has stressed they don’t believe there is any evidence that user data has been compromised.

The company says the malware came from the infected website from a mobile developer.

“Last month, Facebook security discovered that our systems had been targeted in a sophisticated attack,” the company said in a blog post.

“The attack occurred when a handful of employees visited a mobile developer website that was compromised. We remediated all infected machines, informed law enforcement, and began a significant investigation that continues to this day.”

The social network, which says it has more than 1 billion active users worldwide, said it was not the sole target. Facebook’s announcement follows recent cyber attacks on other prominent websites :: Read the full article »»»»

REBLOG! Australians Addicted to Smartphones, the Rest of the World is Addicted to Social Media

Blogger and ABC contributor Peter Ryan has a superneat post on a new report confirming what most of us  already knew: Australians are addicted to their smartphones. The survey of smartphone users by tech behemoth Cisco reveals that the daily ritual for Gen Y Aussies kicks off with a quick txt.

Many of the survey participants admitted that they checked for messages, emails and updates at least twice an hour, many becoming anxious when their phone goes astray.

Kevin Bloch isn’t alone, our favourite news agency – Reuters – has an ubercool post on our latest addiction, Social Media.

Social media is now apparently a recognised addiction, a study undertaken last year by the University of Chicago found that Liking and Tweeting can be even more addictive than cigarettes or alcohol. The research showed that social networking sites gave users a burst of the addictive neurotransmitter dopamine :: Read the full article »»»»