New York, April 20 (IANS):US internet giant Google's password system that controls multiple access to almost all of its web services was hacked through an innocuous message sent to a google employee in China, a media report said Tuesday.
Though Google had disclosed in January that intruders had stolen information from its computers in the cyber attack in December 2009, the extent of the theft has been a closely guarded company secret till now.
The programme, code named 'Gaia' for the Greek goddess of the earth, was attacked in December, a source close to the investigation was quoted as saying by New York Times Tuesday.
It is intended to enable multiple access to users and employees, who can sign in with their password just once to operate a range of services.
Though Google quickly started making significant changes to the security of its networks after the intrusions, the theft has left open the possibility that the intruders may find weaknesses that the company might not even be aware of.
The theft began with a message sent to a Google employee in China who was using Microsoft's Messenger programme at that time. By clicking on a link and connecting to a 'poisoned' website, the employee inadvertently permitted the intruders to gain access to his computer and then to the computers of a critical group of software developers at Google's headquarters in California.
The details of the theft have been a closely guarded secret. Google first publicly disclosed the theft Jan 12, 2010, on the company's website, which said the company was changing its policy towards China in the wake of the theft of unidentified 'intellectual property'. This led to significant tension between the US and China, leading Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to urge China to conduct a 'transparent' inquiry into the matter. In March, after discussions with the Chinese government, Google re-routed its mainland Chinese-language website to its Hong Kong-based site.
Google continues to use the Gaia system, now known as 'Single Sign-On'. The company also tightened security of its data centers and further secured the communication links between its services and the computers of its users. However, having access to the original programmer's instructions, or source code, could also provide technically skilled hackers with knowledge about subtle security vulnerabilities in the programme that may have eluded Google's engineers.
'If you can get to the software repository where the bugs are housed before they are patched, that's the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,' George Kurtz, chief technology officer for McAfee Inc, was quoted as saying.
McAfee Inc was one of the companies that analysed the illicit software used in the intrusions at Google and at other companies last year. When Google first announced the theft, it said it had evidence that the intrusions had come from China. The attacks have been traced to computers at two campuses in China, but investigators later said the true origin may have been concealed.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Ibm Introduces New Software Platform For Governments
With the purpose to address the challenges that governments, whether central, state and local, are facing today, IBM has introduced new technical innovations for governments. IBM's Governmental Industry Framework (GIF) is a software platform, which will provide extensive solutions to governments in areas like public safety, crime prevention, law enforcement among others.
Speaking on the occasion, Ponani Gopalakrishnan, Vice President, IBM India Software Labs, mentioned that to stimulate economy and benefit citizens, governments are more inclined towards adding intelligence into their services. According to him, to build a smarter city, the government has to work smarter. "A smart city is characterized by dynamic infrastructure, better ways of working, better products and services to the end-users, assured public safety and more importantly, by an accessible government," said Gopalakrishnan.
Talking about 'Smart city command center', one of the GIF enabled solutions, and how it is being implemented in India, Gopalakrishnan mentioned SAHANA, an open source disaster management system deployed by national and state governments. SAHANA, developed in 2001, proved to be very helpful during the Bihar floods in 2008. He also talked about how Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) is using this technology to track all of its 500,000 LPG cylinders with IBM's radio frequency identification-based solution.
On the pricing of these solutions, Gopalakrishnan said that they are not being priced based on their complexities, instead it's the value of a particular solution, which will determine its price. According to him, now governments are much open towards this kind of technology services, as they work towards citizen centered activities to ensure welfare and security of the citizens. He added that the public sector is third largest source of revenue for IBM.
On implementing this technology for India's Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Gopalakrishnan told that IBM offers integrated infrastructure solutions to CBDT's three data centres in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. It also offers facilities management services for the Income Tax Department (ITD) across 745 offices in 510 cities in India.
In a country like India, where the population is increasing day by day and more people are migrating towards urban areas from rural areas, these technology-driven capabilities can be very handy for the government to work smarter.
Speaking on the occasion, Ponani Gopalakrishnan, Vice President, IBM India Software Labs, mentioned that to stimulate economy and benefit citizens, governments are more inclined towards adding intelligence into their services. According to him, to build a smarter city, the government has to work smarter. "A smart city is characterized by dynamic infrastructure, better ways of working, better products and services to the end-users, assured public safety and more importantly, by an accessible government," said Gopalakrishnan.
Talking about 'Smart city command center', one of the GIF enabled solutions, and how it is being implemented in India, Gopalakrishnan mentioned SAHANA, an open source disaster management system deployed by national and state governments. SAHANA, developed in 2001, proved to be very helpful during the Bihar floods in 2008. He also talked about how Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) is using this technology to track all of its 500,000 LPG cylinders with IBM's radio frequency identification-based solution.
On the pricing of these solutions, Gopalakrishnan said that they are not being priced based on their complexities, instead it's the value of a particular solution, which will determine its price. According to him, now governments are much open towards this kind of technology services, as they work towards citizen centered activities to ensure welfare and security of the citizens. He added that the public sector is third largest source of revenue for IBM.
On implementing this technology for India's Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Gopalakrishnan told that IBM offers integrated infrastructure solutions to CBDT's three data centres in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. It also offers facilities management services for the Income Tax Department (ITD) across 745 offices in 510 cities in India.
In a country like India, where the population is increasing day by day and more people are migrating towards urban areas from rural areas, these technology-driven capabilities can be very handy for the government to work smarter.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Ten reasons why every programmer should learn C
Every programmer should learn C during their programming career. Its benefits are to numerous to ignore. Not only will it open many more job opportunities, but it will teach you more about computers as a whole.
1) C is lower level then other programming languages (C++, Java). Programming at a lower level allows you to further your understanding of computers, as a whole.
2) Device drivers and operating systems are written exclusively in C. Now, you may never write a device driver or an operating system, but what if you are ever required to modify one?
3) What if you ever want to get a job programming microcontrollers? They are programmed in C. Are you going to limit your possible list of jobs because you didn't want to learn a new language?
4) C programs are smaller and faster then any other program created in a different language. Sometimes your program needs that speed boost that only C can give it.
5) If you have learned C, you can learn any modern programming language. The reason behind this is that all modern programming languages are based on C (Java, C++, C#, etc).
6) Because C has been around for many years, it has a large community and collective code base. This allows you to quickly and efficiently implement new algorithms or functions that have been programmed before.
7) C is the language of the open Source community. The open Source poster child, Linux, was coded in C. If you know C, you can participate in and contribute to numerous open Source communities like Source Forge.
8) C is the only language that teaches you what pointers really are. C# and Java skip the subject completely. It is pointers that give C its power.
9) C is still the most commonly required language for programming jobs. It is well worth your time to get C under your belt.
10) Anything that has a microprocessor in it has support for C. From your microwave to your cell phone, C powers technology.
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