Norton Scientific Reviews: Scammers’ Valentine Treat A global security company issued a scam warning against spam messages with catchy subject lines for Internet users this Valentine’s season. Users must be extra careful in opening messages in their email accounts especially during the holidays as they can receive spam mails meant to get their attention and steal their personal data. One such scam warning issued by an antivirus company describes email messages that invites users to buy a gift for his/her loved one for Valentine’s using an attached discount coupon from Groupon. Even though the proliferation of coupon services is not totally an illegal method, their popularity comes with the risk of being used in phishing attacks. Phishing can be done by sending a massive amount of email messages asking people to enter their details on a bogus website — one that looks very similar to the popular auction sites, social networking sites and online payment sites. They are designed to obtain personal details like passwords, credit card information, etc. Through including links in email messages, scammers trick users into visiting malicious sites and online stores, obtaining personal data along the way. Most of the time, the website the link points to is not even connected to the email message but only shows the user promotional content. This is the scammer’s illegal way of earning money called click fraud — they earn for every user they have redirected to a certain website. There is also scam making the rounds in Germany involving gift coupons, distributed through Facebook, purporting to be from Amazon. Spywares and malwares are malicious programs that install themselves on a computer unit to record a user’s activity. Eventually, they will send the logs they have collected back to the scammer who plans on pilfering the data for online crimes. Scammers are freely exploiting different online platforms like Orkut, Myspace, Google+ and Twitter to cast their net on millions of users. Yet another malicious spam has been spreading on Facebook, and like its predecessors, it makes use of users’ walls to post the fake message. The post might appear harmless to most users as it only poses an invitation to install a Valentine’s Day theme for their Facebook profile. However, once a user clicks the malicious post, they will be redirected to a different webpage containing the install button. Clicking install will not do any change to your profile though; worse, it will install a malware file that will show various ads and surveys and download an extension to monitor the user’s online behavior.
Norton Scientific Reviews: Symantec source code leaked by hackers A group of hackers who call themselves the Lords of Dharmaraja, (and is associated with Anonymous) have published the source code of Symantec, a digital security firm know for the Norton antivirus program and pcAnywhere, raising concerns that others could exploit the security holes and try to control the users computer. The release of the source code came after the ‘extortion’ attempt failed as Symantec did not comply with their numerous deadlines. Negotiations through email messages between a representative of the hacker group, YamaTough, and someone from Symantec were also released online. The exchange of messages are about Symantec’s offer to pay USD 50,000 for the hackers to stop disclosing the source code and announce to the public that the whole Symantec hack was a fake, which made them a subject of mockery for appearing to buy protection. Both sides admitted that their participation was just a trick. The hackers denied any extortion aim, saying that they never intended to take the money and were going to publish the source code whatever happens; they simply want to humiliate them so they played along. While Symantec said that they are not actually the one in communication with the hacker, but a law enforcement agent. The long negotiation worked to the favor of Symantec as they have been able to come up with patches to their Norton and pcAnywhere programs. Symantec has advised their users to stop using the softwares in the meantime until they have issued more patches for them. Symantec released a statement saying that they have always been prepared for the leak of the source code so they’ve made and distributed hotfixes on January to secure their users. The drawn-out negotiation is an obvious sign of a law enforcer on the other line. Delaying tactics is one of their assets to obtain insight into the enemy. More importantly, it will create more transactions where paper trail will be left along the way — utilizing persons who have been involved in the process and the records themselves to trace the suspects. It has been a common ploy of investigators like the FBI who deal with kidnappers or extortionists to break down the amount into several smaller payouts. Since 2006, Symantec has already suspected there has been a network breach but they were not able to verify any data pilfering until recently when the hackers threatened them to release the source code of Norton. There are further reports saying that the source code of Symantec was stolen from servers of India’s intelligence and military department. (They alleges that Symantec has previously given India the code to guarantee the government that they contain no malicious program.) However, this was denied by Symantec — they have already admitted that the theft happened in their own servers and network. The security firm formerly said that the Indian group was also the one responsible for the 2006 breach but retracted it today. They are now saying they’re not sure who stole the source code in 2006 and how they managed to get their hands on it.
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has been hearing submissions regarding NASA's 2013 budget request and on the priorities, plans and progress of the U.S. space program.
Witnesses appearing before the Committee on March 7 included Charles F Bolden Jr, NASA's Administrator, and Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist and well known commentator on space exploration.
Bolden, who flew on four space shuttle missions after a career in the Marine Corps, was appointed to lead NASA in 2009 after being nominated by President Obama. Administrator Bolden outlined the space agency's achievements in 2011 and updated the Committee on the status of current missions. His statement outlined how the requested budget of $17.7 billion for 2013 would be allocated and concluded by stating:
"NASA's FY 2013 budget request of $17.7 billion represents a substantial investment in a balanced program of science, exploration, technology and aeronautics research. Despite the constrained budget environment facing the Nation, this request supports a robust space program that keeps us on a path to achieving a truly audacious set of goals. NASA is working to send humans to an asteroid and ultimately to Mars, to observe the first galaxies form, and to expand the productivity of humanity's only permanently-crewed space station. We are making air travel safer and more efficient, learning to live and work in space, and developing the critical technologies to achieve these goals. The coming year will include the first commercial cargo flights to the ISS, a nuclear powered robot the size of a small car landing on the surface of Mars, and the launch of the Nation's next land observing satellite. We have spacecraft studying the Sun, circling Mercury, cruising to Pluto and investigating almost everything inbetween. In the face of very difficult times, the American p