Copycat ransomware racks up victims

13 December 2013 Last updated at 08:02 ET

Malicious programs that demand a ransom to restore files that they have encrypted are starting to proliferate.

Security company IntelCrawler has discovered malware called Locker that demands $150 (£92) to restore files.

The cyber-thieves behind Locker were trying to emulate the success of CryptoLocker that has racked up thousands of victims this year.

However, IntelCrawler said, flaws in the malicious program suggest it might be easier to defeat than CryptoLocker.

IntelCrawler said it first saw "large-scale distribution" of several different versions of Locker early this month. So far, the malware has managed to snare people across the US, Europe and Russia. It is spread via infected files placed on compromised websites and through booby-trapped files disguised as MP3s.

Unscramble

Analysis by Andrey Komarov, of IntelCrawler, shows that when Locker infects a machine, it deletes files leaving only encrypted copies behind and also drops a small file containing a unique ID number and contact details for Locker's creators.

The file also warns that no key will be given to any victim who harasses or threatens the malware's creators.

Those who want to get their data back are encouraged to use the contact details and, once the ransom is paid, each victim gets a key to unscramble files.

However, help could be at hand for anyone hit by Locker, said Mr Komarov, as IntelCrawler had managed to penetrate the network the cyber-thieves were using to monitor victims. This helped the company extract the universal keys used to scramble target files.

"Our researchers are working on the universal decryption software in order to help the victims," said Mr Komarov.

23.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

YouTube culls hundreds of game clips

12 December 2013 Last updated at 09:16 ET

Major games publishers have offered their support to fans who have had gameplay clips removed from YouTube due to "illegitimate" copyright claims.

Changes in the way Google-owned YouTube scans videos had caused a spike in clips being taken down.

But Capcom, Blizzard and Ubisoft all said they wanted footage of their games to remain online.

Gameplay videos are extremely popular on YouTube, with some channels having millions of subscribers.

The clips, which sometimes are more than an hour long, typically show an adept gamer playing portions of popular titles.

Technically, uploading footage is a breach of copyright. However, many publishers see the clips as a useful and effective means of promotion for their games. The creators of the videos sometimes use advertising to make money from their efforts.

Due to the sheer volume of clips uploaded, Google uses a system known as Content ID to seek out videos that contain copyrighted material.

"We recently enabled Content ID scanning on channels identified as affiliates of MCNs [Multi Channel Networks]," YouTube said.

"This has resulted in new copyright claims for some users, based on policies set by the relevant content owners."

The move has meant hundreds of gaming videos have been flagged in the past few days.

'Illegitimate flags'

But publishers worried about a potential backlash from vocal fans moved quickly to make it clear they had not been behind the spike in take-downs.

"If you're a YouTuber and are receiving content matches with the new changes, please be sure to contest them so we can quickly approve them," tweeted Blizzard, publisher of the Diablo series.

Capcom wrote: "YouTubers: Pls let us know if you've had videos flagged today. These may be illegitimate flags not instigated by us. We are investigating."

Ubisoft pointed out to users that take-down requests may be due to the music used in the clips, rather than the game footage.

"If you happen to be hit with claims on any of your Ubisoft content, it may be that some of the audio is being auto-matched against the music catalogue on our digital stores," the company explained in a statement.

Another developer, Deep Silver, also said it had not called for removal of footage.

Gameplay videos, and the legality of making them, has become an increasingly controversial issue between gamers and rights holders.

Earlier this year, Nintendo announced it would take a share of advertising revenue generated from gameplay clips - a decision described as "backwards" by some of the company's fans.

The company defended the move, saying it was necessary to ensure content could be shared across social media, and that the alternative was to block it altogether.

23.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bots 'take up 61% of web traffic'

12 December 2013 Last updated at 08:42 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

If you are visiting this page the chances are that you are not a human, at least according to research.

A study by Incapsula suggests 61.5% of all website traffic is now generated by bots. The security firm said that was a 21% rise on last year's figure of 51%.

Some of these automated software tools are malicious - stealing data or posting ads for scams in comment sections.

But the firm said the biggest growth in traffic was for "good" bots.

These are tools used by search engines to crawl websites in order to index their content, by analytics companies to provide feedback about how a site is performing, and by others to carry out other specific tasks - such as helping the Internet Archive preserve content before it is deleted.

Fuzzy data

To generate its report, Incapsula said it observed 1.45 billion bot visits over a 90 day period.

The information was sourced from 20,000 sites operated by its clients.

Dr Ian Brown, associate director at Oxford University's Cyber Security Centre - which was not involved in the study - said the figures were useful as an indication of the growth in non-human traffic, even if they were not accurate to the nearest decimal place.

"Their own customers may or may not be representative of the wider web," he told the BBC.

"There will also be some unavoidable fuzziness in their data, given that they are trying to measure malicious website visits where by definition the visitors are trying to disguise their origin."

Impersonator bots

Despite the overall growth in bot activity, the firm said that many of the traditional malicious uses of the tools had become less common.

It said there had been a 75% drop in the frequency spam links were being automatically posted. It suggested this was in part down to Google's efforts to make it harder to carry out the practice.

It also said it had seen a 10% drop in hacking tool bot activities, including the use of code to distribute malware, to steal credit cards and to hijack and deface websites

However, it noted that there had been an 8% rise in the use of "other impersonator bots" - a classification including software that masquerades as being from a search engine or other legitimate agent in order to fool security measures.

It said these bots tended to be custom-made to carry out a specific activity, such as a DDoS attack - forcing a server to crash taking a website or service offline by flooding it with traffic - or to steal company secrets.

Activity by "good bots", it added, had grown by 55% over the year. It suggested this might be because the legitimate services were sampling the net more frequently. This might, for example, allow a search engine to add breaking news stories to its results more quickly.

Dr Brown noted that these extra visits were likely to put website operators under more strain, meaning they would have to buy more computer servers to handle the extra traffic. But he played down the risk.

"While the trend will increase the costs of website operators, I think that, at this scale, it's something they can cope with," he added.

23.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Instagram adds direct messaging

12 December 2013 Last updated at 11:55 ET By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

Photo and video sharing app Instagram has added direct messaging to its service in a nod to the success of rivals such as Whatsapp and Snapchat.

Instagram Direct lets users send a picture or video to up to 15 people, without it appearing to the public.

Only someone a user "follows" on the service could send them a direct image, founder Kevin Systrom explained.

He dismissed suggestions that the app may soon add a Snapchat-style "disappearing" photograph option.

But the new Instagram features do borrow various popular aspects from its rival:

• images and video can be sent to individuals or a group
• the sender is notified when the content has been viewed
• small amounts of text can accompany the message

Only images and video from people a user already followed on Instagram would be automatically shown, Mr Systrom said, but other users could send content that would appear only when the recipient agreed to view them.

Continue reading the main story

More recent successes in the social networking space have been around private interaction"

End Quote Jack Kent Analyst

He added that Instagram would not monitor messages for explicit or offensive content - but that the usual reporting methods would apply to private messages as well as those shared publicly.

Mr Systrom did not elaborate on whether the feature would be used to deliver advertising directly to user's private inboxes.

IHS mobile analyst Jack Kent told the BBC that making money from the feature would be a secondary concern to Instagram - which is owned by Facebook - at this stage.

"When you look at Facebook's wider strategy with new services and features, the first goal isn't necessarily monetisation," he said.

"It's building on maintaining scale. With these new features, it's about maintaining and growing the audience."

Messenger threat

Instagram was bought last year by Facebook for $1bn (£629m), at a time when it shared only photographs, often with "artistic" filters applied.

Gradually, the app has grown - the most significant addition being the option to share 15-second video clips, emulating Twitter's short video service, Vine.

It has also added advertising into users' feeds.

But it is instant messaging that has Instagram and Facebook looking over their respective shoulders.

According to reports, one of the most popular apps, Whatsapp, has grown to boast 350 million active users worldwide - compared with Instagram's 150 million.

Other competitors, such as Viber and Kik, have also gained rapid popularity. Snapchat, an app in which messages "self destruct" after 15 seconds or less, reportedly turned down a $3bn takeover offer from Facebook.

Furthermore, some studies have suggested that teenagers are moving away from Facebook, frustrated that a social network that was once dominated by their peers now attracts their parents.

Mr Kent said Thursday's Instagram announcement was all about maintaining and growing an audience by incorporating features users are have started to use elsewhere.

"Instagram so far has been built on public profiles," he said. "But more recent successes in the social networking space have been around private interaction."

Twitter, which has had direct messaging since its inception, recently expanded its offering to allow the private sending of images and other media.

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

23.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

German 'porn users' told to pay up

12 December 2013 Last updated at 13:36 ET

Thousands of Germans are reported to have been sent letters asking them to pay a fee for porn they are alleged to have streamed illegally online.

Law firm Urmann (U+C) is acting on behalf of Swiss copyright protection firm the Archive, and is asking for one-off payments of 250 euros (£210).

It confirmed to the BBC that the letters have been sent but would not say how many.

A growing number of affected people are claiming to be wrongly accused.

According to a German news site, more than 10,000 people are affected.

The German case is one of the first to target people accused of streaming rather than downloading pornography.

In this case U+C is targeting users who, they claim, have viewed content from porn-streaming site Redtube.

The law firm was unwilling to speak about its work to the BBC. Neither was the Archive available for comment.

In a twist, its campaign appears to have been taken up by cybercriminals who are sending out fake emails purporting to come from U+C but containing malicious software.

It led the law firm to issue a warning on its website urging people not to open the emails.

"Fake warnings on behalf of U+C have been sent by email. This email does not come from the law firm. Warnings on behalf of our clients are shipped exclusively by mail," it said.

Real evidence

The practice of law firms pursuing alleged copyright infringers has become a growing concern in recent years.

"In previous cases like this, we've seen some people pushed into paying up when they may have done nothing wrong," said Peter Bradwell of the Open Rights Group.

"It can seem more expensive or embarrassing to challenge the accusation.

"If a company wants to write to people it claims have infringed their copyright, a court needs to at least make sure the evidence they have is of a high standard and that letters being sent are fair and easy to understand."

23.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bitcoin start-up raises $25m funding

12 December 2013 Last updated at 22:54 ET

Coinbase, a start-up that lets people trade Bitcoins, has raised $25m (£15m) in venture capital funding - the largest by a Bitcoin start-up.

Bitcoin, a virtual currency, has been attracting a lot of interest and its value surpassed $1,000 recently.

Backers of the currency, which is not controlled by regulators, have been pushing for its increased usage.

Coinbase said it will use the funding to "educate the market, and promote the mainstream adoption of Bitcoin".

"We are nearing a tipping point for broad adoption of Bitcoin - what we at Coinbase believe to be one of the most important shifts in the global economy in our lifetime," the firm said in a blogpost.

Mixed response

Confidence in Bitcoins has grown after a US Senate committee described it as a "legitimate financial service" at a meeting in October.

However, on Friday, the European Banking Authority (EBA) warned about the potential risks of using Bitcoins.

Continue reading the main story

Bitcoin is often referred to as a new kind of currency.

But it may be best to think of its units being virtual tokens rather than physical coins or notes.

However, like all currencies its value is determined by how much people are willing to exchange it for.

To process Bitcoin transactions, a procedure called "mining" must take place, which involves a computer solving a difficult mathematical problem with a 64-digit solution.

For each problem solved, one block of bitcoins is processed. In addition the miner is rewarded with new bitcoins.

This provides an incentive for people to provide computer processing power to solve the problems.

To compensate for the growing power of computer chips, the difficulty of the puzzles is adjusted to ensure a steady stream of about 3,600 new bitcoins a day.

There are currently about 11 million bitcoins in existence.

To receive a bitcoin a user must have a Bitcoin address - a string of 27-34 letters and numbers - which acts as a kind of virtual postbox to and from which the bitcoins are sent.

Since there is no registry of these addresses, people can use them to protect their anonymity when making a transaction.

These addresses are in turn stored in Bitcoin wallets which are used to manage savings.

They operate like privately run bank accounts - with the proviso that if the data is lost, so are the bitcoins owned.

"In particular, consumers should be aware that exchange platforms tend to be unregulated and are not banks that hold their virtual currency as a deposit," the EBA said.

"Currently, no specific regulatory protections exist in the European Union that would protect consumers from financial losses if a platform that exchanges or holds virtual currencies fails or goes out of business."

China, the world's second largest economy, has also banned its banks from handling Bitcoin transactions, saying they had no legal status and should not be used as a currency.

At the same time, there have been concerns that the rise in Bitcoin's value has been triggered by speculators looking to cash in on its popularity.

Alan Greenspan, former US Federal Reserve chairman, has called the rapid rise a "bubble".

'Easier for consumers'

Despite these concerns, some establishments across the globe have started to accept Bitcoins as a form of payment, just like cash or credit cards.

Coinbase said the number of people who use its Bitcoin wallet had doubled to more than 600,000 in the past two months and almost 10,000 new people were signing up every day.

It said it was also working with 16,000 merchants to provide Bitcoin payments.

"We are making it easier for consumers to buy, merchants to sell, and developers to build," the firm said.

Chris Dixon, of venture capital fund Andreessen Horowitz - which led the Coinbase funding, said in a blogpost that the Bitcoin platform could be used to develop new technologies.

He said the potential applications of Bitcoins include "machine-to-machine payments to reduce spam" and offering "low-cost financial services to people who, because of financial or political constraints, don't have them today".

23.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Twitter scraps blocking changes

13 December 2013 Last updated at 02:34 ET

Twitter has reversed changes it made to how people block other users, less than a day after they were introduced.

The changes allowed blocked users to continue to see tweets and interact with accounts that had blocked them, leading to an outcry.

Twitter said it was reverting to old rules, under which users are not able to follow an account once blocked.

Blocking is used by people to stop trolls and rude online commentators from interacting with them.

"We have decided to revert the change after receiving feedback from many users - we never want to introduce features at the cost of users feeling less safe," Michael Sippey, Twitter's vice-president of product, said in a blogpost.

"Any blocks you had previously instituted are still in effect."

Continue reading the main story

Some users worry just as much about post-blocking retaliation as they do about pre-blocking abuse"

End Quote Michael Sippey Twitter

'Post-blocking retaliation'

There have been calls for Twitter to do more to counter cyberbullying following a number of high-profile cases of trolling, where users of the social networking site were bombarded with threats and abuse.

The firm recently introduced a "report Tweet" button to try to combat the problem.

Mr Sippey said that Twitter's initial decision to change the way blocking works was a further attempt to prevent abuse, by ensuring that users did not know they had been blocked by someone.

He said blocked users - and sometimes even their friends - often retaliated against the people who had blocked them, resulting in increased bullying.

"Some users worry just as much about post-blocking retaliation as they do about pre-blocking abuse," he explained.

He added that Twitter "will continue to explore features designed to protect users from abuse and prevent retaliation".

23.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ex-Google lawyer made US patent boss

13 December 2013 Last updated at 06:12 ET

Google's former top patent lawyer has been put in charge of America's patent and trademark office (USPTO).

Michelle Lee was made deputy director of the USPTO this week and will run the agency while it seeks a new boss.

Currently head of the Silicon Valley office of the patent agency, Ms Lee starts her new job on 13 January.

Ms Lee joined the patent office after leaving Google in June 2012 but said the opinions of her former employer would not guide her work.

Google, like many other tech firms, has clashed with rivals over the technologies used in many of its products. In particular, Google has fought rivals in court for the right to use some innovations in its smartphones.

The agency is seeking a new head after the former director left to join a private legal practice in February and then the acting director stepped down in late November.

'Frivolous' lawsuits

One of the USPTO's priorities should be tackling its huge backlog of patents, said Ms Lee. Statistics released by the agency reveal that currently there are almost 600,000 patents awaiting assessment by its examiners.

In addition, said Ms Lee, she would work to improve the quality of patents being approved in a bid to reduce the number of "frivolous" lawsuits kicked off when firms are granted the rights to overly broad technological innovations.

Many tech firms have been embroiled in legal fights with so-called "patent trolls", who win approval for an idea and then seek large licence payments from firms they claim are using their technology without permission.

On 5 December, the US House of Representatives approved a bill known as the Innovation Act, which aims to make it harder for trolls to get their patent applications approved and forces them to supply more detailed evidence of infringements. The act must now be approved by the US Senate before it becomes law.

23.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Amazon founder loses Nasa protest

13 December 2013 Last updated at 06:48 ET

A space company run by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has lost a protest over Nasa's plans to lease out a launch pad.

Blue Origin protested to the US Government Accountability Office about the process Nasa uses to decide which companies can use the launch pad, either exclusively or sharing it.

The GAO rejected the protest and said Nasa had not shown a preference for one approach over another.

Blue Origin has not commented on the ruling.

Nasa is hoping to lease out Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which has not been used since the US shuttle fleet was retired in 2011. It was the launch pad from which Apollo 11 lifted off for the first manned Moon landing.

A spokesman for Nasa said: "Given today's GAO ruling, Nasa is looking forward in the near future to selecting an industry partner for negotiations to lease and operate the launch pad."

'Open to sharing'

Another company, SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla Motors, is also bidding to use the facility.

SpaceX had originally wanted to use the site exclusively but later said it was open to sharing the site. Blue Origin's plans were to share the site.

Blue Origin suggested that Nasa's proposal for seeking companies to use the site preferred an option where the site was shared.

But after Nasa administrator Charles Bolden made a comment that Blue Origin said showed the agency favoured an exclusive contract instead of a shared approach, the company filed a protest.

The GAO disagreed with the protest and in its ruling said: "There currently is nothing in the record beyond the protester's arguments to show that either approach necessarily is better in terms of meeting the agency's objective of achieving the fullest commercial use of space.

"We conclude that nothing in the language of the [announcement for proposal] favours one approach over the other."

SpaceX has made no comment on the ruling.

SpaceX already launches rockets from Cape Canaveral and last year became the first company to dock a commercial craft at the International Space Station,

Blue Origin is working on a system, known as New Shepard, that the company says will allow researchers and other passengers to fly to sub-orbital space.

23.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Greenest' supercomputer unveiled

13 December 2013 Last updated at 08:53 ET

A supercomputer that is the "greenest of its kind" has been built at Cambridge University.

Wilkes - named after computing pioneer Maurice Wilkes - will be used for development of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

When complete the SKA will be the biggest radio telescope ever made.

The computer's power is the equivalent of 4,000 typical desktop computers all working together, the university said.

While it is some way off being the most powerful in the world - it ranks at 166th - Wilkes was built to be efficient rather than powerful.

"Energy-efficiency is the biggest single challenge in supercomputing today and our new system makes an important step forward in this regard," said Dr Paul Calleja, director of the Cambridge High Performance Computing Service.

It has an energy efficiency of 3,361 Mega-flops per watt. In simple terms, "flops" (floating point operations per second) is a measure of how much computing a machine can handle at once.

Wilkes comes in 2nd place on the Green 500, a ranking of the most energy-efficient computers. However the leading machine, built by a team in Tokyo, requires an oil-cooling system, whereas Wilkes is cooled using air, making it the most efficient of its kind.

Maurice Wilkes was the man behind EDSAC, the first programmable computer to come into general use - it was built in 1946.

A team at the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park are currently in the process of restoring EDSAC to working order.

23.52 | 0 komentar | Read More