software/news
Pirates get a taste of Microsoft COFEE
Microsoft’s Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor ( COFEE ) has made it into the hands of pirates, and their virtual ships are distributing it quickly for everyone to get a taste. The COFEE application uses common digital forensics tools to help law enforcement officials at the scene of a crime gather volatile evidence of live computer activity that would otherwise be lost in a traditional offline forensic analysis. In other words, it lets officers grab data from password-protected or encrypted sources.
Continue reading »Google-Apple board ties severed; collaboration next to go?
Apple and Google severed their last official ties Monday morning, as Arthur Levinson has resigned from Google’s Board of Directors. The former Genentech CEO had been sitting on the company’s board since 2004 and Apple’s board since 2000, but recent legal questions have forced some space between the two companies. With Levinson’s departure from Google’s board, Apple and Google must now move forward with their future plans—sans shared board members, and possibly, shared collaboration.
Continue reading »eBay told it can’t use core Skype tech, attempts workaround
eBay is developing a new backend for Skype as it tries to resolve a legal dispute before spinning off the VoIP service next year . The company revealed its plans in its 10-Q regulatory filing on Thursday, noting that eBay and Skype are confident in their legal position vis-a-vis the technology they’re currently using for peer-to-peer connections, but that the new system is being developed “just in case.” Skype currently uses technology from Joltid to make its P2P connections on the backend. Joltid was founded by Skype creators Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström
Continue reading »Internet scareware scammers settle with FTC for $100,000
The Federal Trade Commission has settled a case involving two scareware scammers. The settlement will relieve the two defendants of having to fork over almost $1.9 million as part of a judgment made against them, but will still require them to forfeit $116,697 in assets to the FTC. The two defendants, James Reno and ByteHosting Internet Services, LLC, were based out of Cincinnati when they began their “massive deceptive advertising scheme.” The two supposedly conned over a million customers into buying computer security software (such as WinFixer, WinAntivirus, DriveCleaner, XP Antivirus, and more) that ended up falsely claiming that they had found viruses, spyware, and porn on people’s machines.
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