Logitech Puts Out Solar iPad Keyboard

Story first appeared in All Things D.

If you love your iPad but don’t love its virtual keyboard, Logitech has a snappy new solution for you — and it’s environmentally friendly to boot.

The accessory maker today revealed its Solar Keyboard Folio, an iPad case with a built-in Bluetooth keyboard.

Add-on keyboards for the iPad certainly aren’t a new thing. What sets the Solar Keyboard Folio apart from the rest is that it doesn’t require a cable or battery for power or recharging. Instead, the case features integrated solar cells that draw juice from indoor and outdoor light. Much like the photovoltaic cells used in home solar panel racks and Solar Carports.

Logitech says that when fully charged, the keyboard’s battery can last up to two years, based on two hours of usage per day.

When not in use, the Solar Keyboard Folio doubles as a protective case for your tablet, and like the Smart Cover, the iPad automatically wakes up when you open the case, and goes to sleep when in the closed position.

The book-style case can be positioned at two different angles, one that places the iPad in an upright position for full access to the keyboard, and one that’s better suited for viewing media.

The Logitech Solar Keyboard Folio works with the third-generation iPad and iPad 2, so unfortunately, if you have an original iPad, you’re out of luck. It will be available in the U.S. and Europe this month for $129.99.

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Cybersecurity Touchy Subject for US & China

Story first appeared on Politico.com.

Asserting that cyberattacks against the U.S. don't come only from China, the U.S. and Chinese defense ministers said they agreed Monday to work together on cyber issues to avoid miscalculations that could lead to future crises.

The Defense Secretary said that since China and the United States have advanced cyber capabilities, it is important to develop better cooperation.

There are other countries, actors, others involved in some of the attacks that both of the countries receive. But because the United States and China have developed technological capabilities in this arena it's extremely important that they work together to develop ways to avoid any miscalculation or misconception that could lead to crisis in this area.

China's minister of national defense offered a vigorous defense of his country, saying through an interpreter that, all of the cyber attacks targeting the United States do not come from China.

Just six months ago, however, senior U.S. intelligence officials for the first time publicly accused China of systematically stealing American high-tech data for its own national economic gain.

It was the most forceful and detailed airing of U.S. allegations against Beijing after years of private complaints, and it signaled the opening salvo of a broad diplomatic push to combat cyberattacks that originate in China.

Cybersecurity was just one of the many issues discussed by the two leaders during their meeting, but it is also one of a number of contentious topics that rattle the often rocky relationship between the two nations.

The U.S. needs to start laying the ground work for better understanding by the Chinese of what is expected from them in cyberspace. As well as putting better Security Solutions in place among their own technology.

As an example American officials want to know who to talk to when Chinese hackers breach U.S. computer networks. And if there is a cyber incident in China, the US needs the Chinese to feel confident that they can call up and ask, 'was it you?', and get a straight answer.

Chinese officials have routinely denied the cyberspying, insisting that their own country also is a victim of such attacks. And they note that the hacking is anonymous and often difficult to track.

U.S. cybersecurity experts acknowledge that attribution can be difficult, and that while they can trace an attack to China, it is often difficult to track directly to the Chinese government. Last December's report by U.S. intelligence agencies said America must openly confront China and Russia in a broad diplomatic push to combat cyberattacks that are on the rise and represent a persistent threat to U.S. economic security.

And, separately, several cybersecurity analysts have concluded that as few as 12 different Chinese groups, largely backed or directed by the government there, commit the bulk of the cyberattacks that aim to steal critical data from U.S. companies and government agencies. Officials estimate that the stealthy attacks have stolen billions of dollars in intellectual property and data.

Because people and businesses in both China and American have been victims of cyberattacks, officials have been talking more about building a better relationship so that they can work together.

Law enforcement is one area of cybersecurity where the two nations have begun to build partnerships, but so far it has been extremely limited. Lewis said that in 2011, U.S. authorities requested assistance from the Chinese 11 times, and in seven of the cases received no information. But, he said the Chinese cooperated with U.S. law enforcement in a high profile financial fraud case late last year.


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Microsoft Knocks Out Another Botnet

Story first appeared in The New York Times.

Last Friday, Microsoft employees and federal marshals raided command centers in Pennsylvania and Illinois used by criminals to run a botnet, a cluster of infected computers used to steal personal and financial information from millions of victims.

But two days earlier, a separate group of cybersecurity researchers based in San Francisco quietly took down another botnet using more technical means. The five researchers, from four security firms — Crowdstrike, Dell SecureWorks, the Honeynet Project and Kaspersky Labs – worked together to decrypt and successfully commandeer the so-called Kelihos.b botnet that was using over 100,000 infected computers to blast pharmaceutical spam and, in some cases, steal Bitcoins, a virtual currency that is impossible to recover once stolen.

The two takedowns were not timed to coincide with one another, nor were the two groups even aware they were operating in tandem. But they point to a renewed effort by technologists to take the lead in combating digital crime rather than waiting for law enforcement authorities to take action.

Microsoft has preferred to take botnets down through court actions.  Including Friday’s raid, Microsoft has disrupted four botnets in the last few years through civil suits. In each case, Microsoft sought secret court orders that allowed it to seize Web addresses and servers that run the botnets, without first alerting their owners.

In the case of Kelihos.b, researchers took a more technical approach. They successfully reverse-engineered the botnet’s structure and analyzed its cryptography, then injected their own file into its communication network. That file instructed infected computers to send any information to a “sinkhole” controlled by Crowdstrike, rather than to the command-and-control server run by criminals.

Within a few minutes of infiltrating Kelihos.b, over 85,000 infected computers started communicating with Crowdstrike’s sinkhole. As more infected users went online, Crowdstrike said that figure quickly jumped to 110,000. By Friday, researchers said the criminals behind Kelihos.b had already abandoned the botnet and moved on.

By dismantling their tools this way, the researchers said they gleaned valuable information about the criminals’ techniques. Experts advise that it is best for companies to employ a professional Managed IT Service to police their online security.

Of the infected machines, 84 percent were exploited using a loophole in Microsoft Windows XP. Researchers also noted that the vast majority of infections — a quarter of all identified machines — were in Poland and that the botnet’s creators spread Kelihos.b through a “pay-per-install” model typically favored by hackers in Eastern Europe. A senior lawyer in Microsoft’s digital crimes unit, said he had a high degree of confidence that the  culprits behind the botnet Microsoft took down last Friday were also based in Eastern Europe.

That information could potentially be valuable in combating future threats. Unless a botnet’s owners and clients are put behind bars, takedowns tend to be temporary. Microsoft’s earlier disruption of a Waledac botnet, for example, lasted only as long as the time it took its creators to modify its architecture slightly to create a new botnet. Kelihos.b is a second-generation version of Kelihos, another botnet that was shut down last September.


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Flashback Creators Made Bank on Mac Virus

Story first appeared in The New York Times.

Last month, cybercriminals embarked on what quickly became one of the largest-scale malware attacks on Apple computers to date. Their motive was financial: security researchers now estimate that the infected computers made the malware’s creators $10,000 a day.

The malware, called Flashback, targeted Mac users and infected their machines through a security hole in Java software that Oracle patched last February, but that Apple did not patch until early April. In those six weeks, Flashback spread to over half a million computers.

It spread through particularly nefarious means. Unlike most malware, which typically requires users to click on a malicious link or open a compromised attachment to get infected, Flashback downloaded itself onto its victims’ machines when they visited hijacked Web sites, often compromised WordPress blogs.

Security researchers determined that Flashback used infected computers for click fraud, in which clicks on a Web advertisement are manipulated in exchange for kickbacks. Researchers at Symantec, who studied Flashback’s code, determined that a Google search for “toys”– which would ordinarily send a user to Toys “R” Us — instead redirected the user to a site where the attackers, not Google, would get 8 cents for the click.

With 600,000 computers infected at its peak, Symantec estimates that Flashback generated $10,000 for the attackers each day. Two weeks after Apple issued a security patch, the number of infected users dropped to 140,000 from 600,000. But last week, researchers at Intego, another computer security firm, discovered that a new variant of Flashback, Flashback.S, continues to spread through the same Java vulnerability. Companies using Macs should invest in professional Security Solutions to avoid further breaches.

Intego researchers did not say what the new variant of Flashback was being used for, but researchers at Symantec that analyzed a portion of the variant’s code said that it communicated with the same command-and-control servers as Flashback and that it would be safe to assume the intention with this variant was the same.

To remove Flashback, Apple encouraged users to run their software updates. They can also download a Flashback removal tool on Apple’s support site, which lets users know if their computer was infected.

Security experts predicted in 2008 that when Apple’s share of the PC market reached 16 percent and Windows antivirus software became 80 percent effective, Mac users would become a more frequent target for cybercriminals.

That day is not far off. Apple currently holds 12 percent of the PC market and antivirus software has reached 95 percent effectiveness, according to AV Comparatives, a nonprofit that audits antivirus software.


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Android Trojan Virus Spreads

Story first appeared in CNET.

A new Android Trojan dubbed "NotCompatible" is being spread through compromised Web sites. Though the threat seems to be minimal at this point, security provider Lookout says this is the first time hacked Web sites are being used to target mobile devices.

Further, the new malware could be used to break into private networks via an infected Android device, according to professional Houston Managed IT Service providers.

The Trojan works by automatically downloading an application from a compromised site through the Web browser, a process known as a "drive-by download." The mobile device then prompts the user to install the downloaded app. But for the app to actually install, the "Unknown sources" setting must be enabled on the device; otherwise the installation is blocked.

Samples analyzed by Lookout show that the malware can be used to access private networks, so IT administrators may want to be on the alert.

A device infected with NotCompatible could potentially be used to gain access to normally protected information or systems, such as those maintained by enterprise or government. This is a good reason to make sure that your network Security Solutions are always up to date and monitored for errors.


A number of Web sites have already been compromised, but those sites have seen little traffic so far. And since the malware requires the user to install the package, known as "Update.apk," Lookout doesn't anticipate much of an impact to Android users at this point.


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Apple Gains Tax Incentives in Texas

Story first appeared on themacobserver.com.

Apple’s major expansion in Austin, Texas, is a step closer to reality now that Travis Country has approved an incentive package that will help the iPhone and Mac maker bring 3,600 new jobs to the city. The approval came Tuesday night with only one of the five Commissioners voting against the deal.

The dissenting vote came from the Commissioner who said she had hoped Apple would’ve been required to promise more in exchange for the incentives, according to the Austin Business Journal.

Apple now stands to get between US$5.4 million and $6.4 million in tax rebates from the county, for a combined $35 million in incentives over ten years from city, county and state. In exchange, Apple will double its workforce in Austin and invest $282.5 million locally in the process.

The county’s approval comes as good news for the Austin job market, especially since the county was the only holdout on approving the incentives package. Had the Commissioners voted against the deal, the state and city would’t be able to follow through on their offers and Apple would’ve likely taken its new jobs elsewhere.

With Travis County’s approval in place, however, Apple can now move forward to the next phase in its expansion plans.


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