App developers to harness AI

27 February 2014 Last updated at 07:51 ET

IBM has challenged developers to come up with ways to get the vast brain of its supercomputer Watson on to the world's mobile phones.

Watson is an artificially intelligent computer system capable of answering questions posed in natural language.

It also has access to 200 million pages of information, drawn from books, encyclopaedias and other databases.

Apps could include more advanced Siri-like voice recognition systems or tools that can accurately translate text.

"The power of Watson in the palm of your hand is a game-changing proposition, so we're calling on mobile developers around the world to start building cognitive computing apps infused with Watson's intelligence," said Mike Rhodin, senior vice president of IBM Watson Group.

Medical help

The competition is the latest attempt from IBM to launch Watson as a viable business. It has invested $1bn (£601m) in the system and late last year announced that it would open it up to developers.

To date, more than 1,500 individuals and organisations have been in touch to suggest apps. Three intend to go to market this year, including an app to transform how consumers shop and one to help hospitals better procure devices.

The Watson Mobile Developer Challenge begins on 31 March when developers can submit ideas. Later in the year, IBM will select 25 finalists to turn their ideas into working software.

Other potential Watson-powered mobile apps could include medical ones to help doctors and patients sift through vast amounts of data.

Medical information doubles every five years and Watson can analyse vast amounts to allow doctors to offer patients more treatment options as well as help researchers make medical breakthroughs.

Already Watson is being used by doctors and nurses at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, in New York, to help make decisions about lung cancer treatment at the hospital.

According to IBM Watson's business chief Manoj Saxena, 90% of nurses who use Watson now follow its guidance.

In the field of education, IBM envisages teachers being able to tap into Watson to identify individual pupil's needs and offer bespoke learning packages for each child.

Trivia king

Watson has got smaller and faster over the years. What started as a system the size of a bedroom is now the size of three stacked pizza boxes. It is also available via the cloud, meaning it can be accessed from anywhere.

It can process 500 gigabytes of information - equivalent to a million books - every second.

And it has proved its abilities. In 2011 it appeared on the Jeopardy game show answering general knowledge questions, without being connected to the internet.

Pitted against the two biggest winners of the trivia quiz show, despite a few stumbles it eventually walked away with the $1m prize.

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Virgin Media rolls out porn filters

28 February 2014 Last updated at 07:10 ET

Virgin Media has turned on a filtering system to help parents stop children seeing inappropriate material online.

The firm is the last of the UK's big four ISPs to turn on the government-mandated filtering system.

Initially only new subscribers will be asked whether they want the filters turned on or off.

Like other ISPs, Virgin has pledged to ask all its customers by the end of the year whether they want to use a filtering system or not.

All the UK's big four ISPs, who between them have more than 20 million subscribers, agreed to implement the filters following government pressure to limit children's access to adult material.

Virgin's system works at a network level which means all devices in a house which connect via its router will be subject to the same filtering system.

Called "Web Safe" the system currently blocks all access to sites featuring pornography, drug use, hate speech, violence, self-harm and suicide. Virgin is still working on a more flexible system that will let customers exercise more choice over which sites customers can and cannot reach.

Virgin has also produced a series of guides for parents, called Switched On Families, to help them set up and administer the filtering system.

Web Safe will work alongside software from security firm F-Secure that can be installed on laptops, tablets and smartphones to protect users when they are away from home.

The government's plan to get all big UK ISPs using filters has proved controversial as studies suggest the filters are not very effective. Some educational and charity sites that try to inform children about sensitive subjects have been blocked while other clearly adult-oriented sites are not filtered out.

The government is setting up a scheme to sites alert ISPs when they are wrongly blocked.

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MtGox files for bankruptcy

28 February 2014 Last updated at 06:08 ET

The MtGox bitcoin exchange has filed for bankruptcy protection, reports say.

The application was made in Japan by lawyers acting on behalf of the exchange and comes only days after MtGox went offline.

On Tuesday, the exchange's boss said he was working hard to find a "solution to our recent issues".

Before going offline, technical troubles meant it prevented customers transferring digital cash to other exchanges on 7 February.

Details of the bankruptcy are scant but the application for protection has been accepted by a district court in Tokyo, reported AFP. At the court hearing, the company said it had outstanding debts of about 6.5bn yen (£38m).

MtGox's lawyers are believed to have decided to apply to the court for protection after US regulators filed a subpoena against the company.

Reports suggested the site shut down after it discovered that an estimated 744,000 bitcoins - about $350m (£210m) - had been stolen due to a loophole in its security.

MtGox's troubles have put pressure on the price bitcoin owners can get for their holdings. Currently one bitcoin is worth about $561 (£334), a price far lower than the high of $1,000 per coin it hit in November 2013.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has banned its banks from from handling the crypto-currency saying the virtual cash is not legal tender. The country's state bank said trading in bitcoins carried "potential risks" for users.

At the same time, Japan's deputy finance minister said any regulation of bitcoin would have to involve international cooperation to avoid opening up loopholes that traders could exploit.

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Mobile banking apps hit by glitches

28 February 2014 Last updated at 10:03 ET

The mobile banking apps of several big banks have been affected by glitches.

RBS, Barclays and Santander all acknowledged problems after complaints by their customers.

RBS, which includes NatWest, said the problems with the apps were due to too many people trying to check their accounts to see how much they had been paid by their employers.

All three banks apologised but said their mobile services were now working as normal.

RBS explained via its Twitter feed that "high traffic" had been responsible for the logjam.

"We are currently experiencing record usage of our mobile banking app. Over 5,500 customers are logging on every minute," it explained.

NatWest told customers: "If you're having difficulty with our mobile app, online banking, telephone banking and ATMs are all working normally."

Santander said its mobile banking app had stalled but was now back to normal: "We apologise for any inconvenience caused while we worked as fast possible to fix the problem."

"Customers were still able to transact using Santander telephone banking, Santander branches and online banking during this time."

Barclays says use of its app is gradually returning to normal.

Last December hundred of thousands of RBS customers were left unable to use their credit and debit cards for three hours, with some saying funds had vanished from their account, because of a computer failure.

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Minecraft may hit silver screen

28 February 2014 Last updated at 09:51 ET

Hugely popular block-building game Minecraft could soon be turned into a film.

Minecraft creator Markus Persson revealed this week that the game's maker was talking to Warner Brothers about the project.

Mr Persson said he revealed the news to thwart someone else who was trying to leak information about the deal.

Movie news site Deadline reported the one of the producers of the recent Lego Movie is handling the project.

Warner was planning to turn a "live action" version of the game into a film, said Deadline.

Work on the film is at a very early stage as Warner only recently acquired the rights to use Minecraft's iconic blocks, characters and monsters.

The news comes less than two weeks after Minecraft creator Mojang took action to shut down a Kickstarter project seeking to raise funds for a film based on the game.

Film adaptations of best-selling games have a rocky history in Hollywood and many projects never get beyond the planning stage.

A movie based in the science-fictional Halo universe, for example, has been under development for nine years but filming has yet to start despite several different scripts being written.

Similarly films based on Bioshock, Gears of War and Metal Gear Solid Work have all been talked about but none has yet to start shooting.

One game that is definitely being turned into a film is World of Warcraft, filming of which reportedly started in late January with British director Duncan Jones in charge. The film is set to be released in early 2016.

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Energy firm cyber-defence 'too weak'

26 February 2014 Last updated at 19:26 ET By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News

Power companies are being refused insurance cover for cyber-attacks because their defences are perceived as weak, the BBC has learned.

Underwriters at Lloyd's of London say they have seen a "huge increase" in demand for cover from energy firms.

But surveyor assessments of the cyber-defences in place concluded that protections were inadequate.

Energy industry veterans said they were "not surprised" the companies were being refused cover.

"In the last year or so we have seen a huge increase in demand from energy and utility companies," said Laila Khudari, an underwriter at the Kiln Syndicate, which offers cover via Lloyd's of London.

The market is one of few places in the world where businesses can come to insure such things as container ships, oil tankers, and large development projects and to secure cash that would help them recover after disasters.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

I think what's behind it is the increase in threats and the fact that a lot of these systems were never previously connected to the outside world"

End Quote Laila Khudari Underwriter

'Worried'

For years, said Ms Khudari, Kiln and many other syndicates had offered cover for data breaches, to help companies recover if attackers penetrated networks and stole customer information.

Now, she said, the same firms were seeking multi-million pound policies to help them rebuild if their computers and power-generation networks were damaged in a cyber-attack.

"They are all worried about their reliance on computer systems and how they can offset that with insurance," she said.

Any company that applies for cover has to let experts employed by Kiln and other underwriters look over their systems to see if they are doing enough to keep intruders out.

Assessors look at the steps firms take to keep attackers away, how they ensure software is kept up to date and how they oversee networks of hardware that can span regions or entire countries.

Unfortunately, said Ms Khudari, after such checks were carried out, the majority of applicants were turned away because their cyber-defences were lacking.

"We would not want insurance to be a substitute for security," she said.

What was not clear, she said, was why firms were suddenly seeking cover in large numbers.

Although many governments had sent warnings about the threat from hackers, attackers and hacktivists to utility firms and other organisations running critical infrastructure, none had mandated them to get cover.

"I think what's behind it is the increase in threats and the fact that a lot of these systems were never previously connected to the outside world," she said.

Mike Assante, who helped develop cyber-security standards for US utilities and now helps to teach IT staff how to defend critical infrastructure including power networks, said it was "unfortunately not surprising" that insurers were turning away energy firms.

Power generators and distributors had struggled with the complexity and size of the networks they managed, he said. In addition they had found it hard to find and recruit staff with the specialist skills to defend these systems, he added.

"There have been a number of incidents that have caused company leadership to re-evaluate their risk and develop strategies to mitigate it," he said in an email to the BBC.

Growing threat

Financial pressures and the ability to manage systems remotely was inadvertently giving attackers a loophole they could slip through, said Nathan McNeill, chief strategy officer at remote management firm Bomgar.

Trying to cut costs by linking up plant and machinery to a control centre so they could be managed remotely meant those systems were effectively exposed to the net, he said.

"If something has basic connectivity then it will become internet connectivity through some channel," he said.

This left critical infrastructure exposed, he said, because typically the control systems for such hardware was written long before the web age and had only rudimentary security tools.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

It's surprising no big incident has happened given how weak the infrastructure is"

End Quote Ed Skoudis 'War games' expert

Known as Scada (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), this software has come under increasing scrutiny by security researchers who have exposed many flaws in it.

In addition, added Mr McNeill, it was often very difficult to update the core code in many Scada systems to close loopholes that attackers had slipped through.

Ed Skoudis, who runs "war games" for IT and security staff at many US utilities, said the numbers of attacks on Scada and other control systems was escalating.

Malware was being written just to get at particular vulnerable elements in the infrastructure run by many utilities and manufacturers, he said.

Some attackers were just curious but others were thought to be carrying out reconnaissance in service of some future event.

US power companies had begun sharing information about attacks so everyone knew about all the threats to them, said Mr Skoudis.

"However," he added, "it's surprising no big incident has happened given how weak the infrastructure is. It's very hackable."

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UK spies 'intercepted webcam images'

27 February 2014 Last updated at 10:27 ET

British spy agency GCHQ intercepted webcam images from millions of Yahoo users around the world, according to a report in the Guardian.

Yahoo denied prior knowledge of the alleged programme, describing it as a "completely unacceptable" privacy violation.

According to leaked documents, sexually explicit images were among those gathered - although not intentionally.

In a statement GCHQ has said all of its actions are in accordance with the law.

The operation, which was called Optic Nerve and was aided by the US National Security Agency, is alleged to have stored images between 2008 and 2010. In one six-month period in 2008, images from 1.8m users were gathered.

The report originated from documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

It suggested that sexually explicit content would be captured by the system.

"Unfortunately … it would appear that a surprising number of people use webcam conversations to show intimate parts of their body to the other person," it read.

"Also, the fact that the Yahoo software allows more than one person to view a webcam stream without necessarily sending a reciprocal stream means that it appears sometimes to be used for broadcasting pornography."

'Whole new level'

"We were not aware of nor would we condone this reported activity," Yahoo said in an emailed statement.

"This report, if true, represents a whole new level of violation of our users' privacy that is completely unacceptable and we strongly call on the world's governments to reform surveillance law consistent with the principles we outlined in December.

"We are committed to preserving our users' trust and security and continue our efforts to expand encryption across all of our services."

A statement from GCHQ said it would not comment on matters of intelligence, but added: "All of GCHQ's work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework which ensures that our activities are authorised, necessary and proportionate, and that there is rigorous oversight, including from the secretary of state, the interception and intelligence services commissioners and the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee.

"All our operational processes rigorously support this position."

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US hack accused 'should stay in UK'

28 February 2014 Last updated at 07:40 ET

Lawyers for a British man charged with hacking into US government computer servers say they will "vehemently oppose" any attempt to extradite him.

Lauri Love, 28, of Stradishall, Suffolk, is accused of breaking into Federal Reserve computers.

The indictment was revealed at Manhattan federal court on Thursday.

His solicitor Karen Todner, said he was also under investigation by the UK National Crime Agency and it was hoped all matters be concluded in the UK.

'Sophisticated hacker'

"If there is an extradition request from the United States it will be vehemently opposed," she said.

"We believe that if Mr Love is to face charges that they should be, and will be, in the UK."

Continue reading the main story

Cyber-crime knows no boundaries and justice will not stop at international borders"

End Quote George Venizelos Head of New York office of FBI

The offences he is accused of carry a potential penalty of up to 12 years in prison, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said.

US attorney Preet Bharara alleged Mr Love was "a sophisticated hacker who broke into Federal Reserve computers, stole sensitive personal information, and made it widely available, leaving people vulnerable to malicious use of that information".

It is claimed the offences date from October 2012 to February 2013, when Mr Love allegedly tried to secretly infiltrate the New York Federal Reserve Bank's computer servers in order to steal non-public information and then post that information on certain websites.

He allegedly worked with "other hackers around the world to gain access".

'Millions in losses'

According to the indictment, in October 1012: "Mr Love used his unauthorised access to locate and steal certain confidential information residing on the Federal Reserve servers, including the names, email addresses, and phone numbers of users of the Federal Reserve computer system.

"Mr Love then disseminated that information publicly by posting the information to a website that previously had been hacked and that he controlled."

George Venizelos, head of the New York office of the FBI, said: "Cyber-crime knows no boundaries and justice will not stop at international borders."

Mr Love is accused of breaching the systems to steal "massive quantities" of confidential data, resulting in millions of dollars of losses.

He was arrested by officers from the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) under the Computer Misuse Act (CMA), in October last year, and later charged by US authorities in New Jersey.

Under the CMA, individuals can be arrested for launching attacks from within the UK against computers anywhere in the world.

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Delay BT broadband cash bid - MPs

28 February 2014 Last updated at 09:12 ET By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter

BT should be given no more taxpayers' money to roll out rural broadband until it clarifies how it is spending the £1.2bn already paid to it, the Commons Public Accounts Committee has said.

Government audits of how much the telecoms firm charged councils for project management have revealed possible savings of up to 35%.

BT has so far won all the UK's rural broadband contracts.

The firm said any savings would go on extending coverage.

"Yes, it's true that BT has been able to save the taxpayer some project management costs," the telecoms firm told the BBC.

"Under the original competitive process we were required to bid for each contract individually, with the assumption that we wouldn't win any others. That hasn't proven to be the case however and so we are more than happy to pass on the savings we can achieve through economies of scale."

In response to the news, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) told the BBC that BT should not yet be allowed to bid for the next round of broadband funding - a pot of £250m which the government has this week distributed to councils to get fast broadband to their most hard-to-reach communities.

"It appears with this £250m that local bodies can simply decide to extend contracts with BT where they are in place. This is just not good enough," a PAC spokeswoman told the BBC.

"We want to see clearly what the economies-of-scale savings for the first tranche of £1.2bn will be before contracts are extended or competed."

But the Department for Culture, Media and Sport told the BBC it would not be intervening in the process.

"Procurement will be a local decision - we're not dictating who the supplier should be," it said.

Long delays

The tale of how fast broadband - defined by the EU as speeds of 24Mbps or above - is getting out to the most rural communities in Britain - has not always been a happy one.

Many such communities are still struggling on very low broadband speeds and have become increasingly frustrated about how long it has taken to rectify that in an age when reliable broadband speeds have become a near necessity for many.

The government has pledged that 95% of the UK will have superfast broadband by 2017, a figure some experts have questioned.

The process to make that happen has also come in for a great deal of criticism.

Initially there were long delays in distributing the money and, when councils did eventually receive their share of the central government subsidy, it was unclear how they should spend it.

With little technical expertise within councils and few bidders - Fujitsu and a handful of other operators having pulled out of the process at an early stage - all eventually chose BT to handle the rollouts. Councils added their own funding to the amount already offered by central government.

Quasi-monopoly

In the autumn, the PAC scrutinised the process and concluded that taxpayers had been "ripped off" and the government had "mismanaged" the project by allowing BT to win all the council bids.

The PAC also said that BT had exploited its "quasi-monopoly position" in the way it bid for the contracts.

Since then it seems that the DCMS and BDUK - the group charged with overseeing the rollout - have been keeping a close eye on how BT spends the money.

DCMS has told councils that they must get detailed lists from BT, explaining exactly how many people will be deployed to project-manage broadband rollout.

BT will only be able to invoice local councils for these staff.

"This process has led to the cost savings being identified in relation to the project management costs in the bids," a DCMS spokesman told the BBC.

According to a senior civil servant, this part of BT's current bill could be reduced by up to 35%.

BT promised any savings would be reinvested into making rural broadband even more widely available.

It said it will take 15 years for it to make a profit on rural broadband rollout.

It also insists it has been fully transparent about its costs, submitting detailed breakdowns to BDUK.

Despite this it was unable to tell the BBC what proportion of the £1.2bn it has won would go on project management and how much would be spent on laying and installing fibre in telephone cabinets.

The amount it is charging councils for installing fibre in their network of telephone cabinets has also been questioned.

In September Mike Kiely, a former senior manager at BT, said that there was "no justification" for the amount BT was suggesting it would need to bring broadband to rural communities.

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German court dismisses Apple case

28 February 2014 Last updated at 10:46 ET

A German court has thrown out a legal claim that sought to extract 1.57bn euros (£1.3bn) in damages from Apple.

The case was filed by German company IPCom which claimed Apple used its technology without permission.

IPCom said Apple was using a system for which it owned a patent to let phones make emergency calls when mobile networks were overloaded.

The same court has also dismissed a similar case brought by IPCom against phone-maker HTC.

Patent lawyer Florian Mueller said the decision by the court in Mannheim, Germany was "without a doubt, a setback for IPCom's enforcement efforts".

IPCom is a patent licensing firm that has acquired the rights to about 1,200 patents that are linked with mobile phones and networks. It has sought to get payments for its patents from many tech firms but so far only Deutsche Telekom is believed to have licensed some of its technologies.

Most other firms have preferred to contest IPCom's claims in court or by asking the European Patent Office to review the technologies detailed in IPCom's patents.

IPCom has yet to comment on the ruling but it is expected to appeal against the dismissal.

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