BBC: How cyber criminals attack websites

The BBC has acquired control of 22,000 home computers as part of an investigation into hi-tech crime. Click's Spencer Kelly speaks to Jacques Erasmus from security firm Prevx who said high-traffic sites are a "massive target" for hackers.

Source: BBC News

Asus Transformer Prime Coming To India In January

The red hot tablet from Asus, which is a potential challenger to Apple's popular iPad 2, is all set to hit shelves in India in January 2012.  

Friday, December 16, 2011:  Asus will launch the much-awaited quad-core Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet in India next month. The device will run Google's latest mobile OS, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The pricing of the device has yet not been disclosed.

Unaez Quraishi, sales and distribution director-system business group, Asus (India) said at an event in Gurgaon Wednesday that the tablet, now available for pre-order in the UK, would be launched in India in January next year.

The 25.4-cm (10-inch) tablet is powered by Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3 processor. It is worth mentioning here that Apple's iPad 2 and Samsung's Galaxy Tab come with dual-core processors. The Transformer Prime is capable of running multimedia and applications faster, with more processing power provided by the four processing cores. However, its Android-based software is still to be optimised to take advantage of the amount of power its processor contains.

The Asus Transformer Prime's battery lasts 9.5 hours; in addition, the total battery life can be extended to a total of 18 hours once the tablet is connected to its keyboard dock. It also comes equipped with 1GB of RAM, a 1.2-megapixel front camera and an 8-megapixel camera with flash on the back.

Quraishi added, "The company was waiting for the opportune time to launch the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, which caused the delay in its launch."

Asus is also planning to bring 4-5 more tablet PCs to the Indian market next year, which will work on different operating systems. Though it is yet not confirmed, one of these might also be a Windows 8 tablet. These tablets will be priced differently. However, none of these would be low-cost (sub-Rs 10k) devices, Quraishi informed.

AaramShop Mobile Grocery Shop Arrives On Android

Now, shop for your daily groceries from your Android phones as the AaramShop Mobile Grocery Shop app is now available in the Android market. 

Friday, December 16, 2011:  You can now order your daily groceries from your mobile phone on the go! Online grocery vendor AaramShop has released its Android app to let users enjoy daily grocery orderings from the comfort of their home via their Android-powered devices.

To avail the services, users just need to download this free application from the Android Market. With AaramShop app for Android, you can browse through hundreds of products from top FMCG brands from India, select a retailer nearest to your area and confirm the order.

Launched earlier this year, Aaramshop.com gives you the luxury of availing goods at your doorsteps with free home delivery option. There is also an option of paying cash on delivery to utilise the services. Furthermore, users have the option to log into AaramShop using their Facebook accounts and do their grocery shopping. You can avail great discounts on a range of products via Value at Home Vouches offered through AaramShop.

The online grocery vendor has tied up with several hundred local grocery stores across major cities in India. You just need to visit Aaramshop.com, choose your products and a nearby kirana store to place the order. The chosen store will deliver your order within sometime and you just need to pay cash on delivery, reports AndroidOS.in.

You can visit the Android Market to download AaramShop Mobile Grocery Shop on your device.

FAA gives nod to iPads in cockpits for American Airlines

On Friday, American Airlines will be the first carrier to start using iPads in all phases of flight. Alaska started testing the use of the Apple tablets in May.
(Credit: Alaska Airlines)

Starting this Friday, American Airlines is expected to start using iPads in all phases of flight operation, replacing hefty paper charts and manuals.
The certification by the FAA comes several months after American completed tests of pilots using iPads in the cockpit. "American pilots started testing iPads as electronic flight [manuals] last year," reported the Seattle PI in June, "replacing paper manuals. Now, they have [FAA] approval to test iPads with electronic charts."

American Airlines spokesperson Andrea Huguely confirmed the FAA's move and said that the federal agency had certified the airline as the first to be able to use iPads from "gate to gate."

That means, Huguely said, that American pilots will be able to use their iPads from before leaving the gate all the way through the flight and until reaching the destination gate. Crucially, that means they can use the tablets--though without connecting to the Internet--during takeoff and landing.

Huguely also said the iPads will allow American's pilots to discard the huge paper manuals they have traditionally had to carry around with them--and update every 14 days. Now, they'll be able to push a single button on the iPad and update automatically.

Even better, Huguely said that once the iPad program is rolled out across American's entire fleet--it is currently being used on Boeing 777s and will soon be on Boeing 737s--it could save the airline as much as 500,000 gallons of fuel a year, simply from the lack of the paper manuals, which she said can weigh up to 40 pounds.

In May, Alaska Airlines announced that it was starting to roll out the use of iPads as a way of replacing its pilots' paper manuals, a process it said at the time could help pilots avoid having to carry 25 pounds of paper when they fly.

"This follows a successful trial by 100 line and instructor pilots and Air Line Pilots Association representatives who evaluated the feasibility of using iPads as electronic flight bags this past winter and spring," Alaska wrote in a release.

Android Phone Makers Responsible For Security Leaks!

The malicious apps can access personal information as well for which they do not have explicit permission from the user.  

Wednesday, December 14, 2011:  A recent study conducted by North Carolina University reveals that it's not the Android operating system that has to be blamed for the security issues...it's actually the manufacturers of the Android devices whose modifications make the OS insecure. The report said that manufacturers' modification of Android creates way for malicious apps to access information from your phone. The malicious apps can access personal information as well for which they do not have explicit permission from the user.

Researchers tested a number of leading Android handsets where they discovered a vulnerability that allows hackers to access private data without users' permission. The study revealed that such a loophole can easily help a malicious hacker to wipe out your data, send out SMS messages and even record your conversations on the affected phones. All this can happen without your permission.

It is worth mentioning here that Android apps use a permissions-based security system, unlike iOS which informs the up-front what type of information the app may need to access. Users are given a choice to decide whether or not they want to install the app based upon the permissions granted.

The study discovers that the modification of Android by handset manufacturers creates a security hole in the permissions infrastructure of an Android phone that allows hackers to access personal information, or perform functions on the phone, even if an app doesn’t explicitly request permission to perform these activities.

According to a Digital trends report, Xuxian Jiang, assistant professor of computer science at NCSU, said, “These features are standard and make the phone more user-friendly. They make the phones more convenient to use, but also more convenient to abuse.”

The devices found vulnerable in the study include HTC Evo 4G, HTC Wildfire S, HTC Legend, Motoroal Droid and Droid X, Samsung Epic 4G, Google Nexus One and Nexus S. Both Google and Motorola have responded to the researchers, confirming their discovery. According to the report, despite their findings, the researchers say that manufacturers should not necessarily be condemned for including these loopholes. In addition, they say all is not lost with Android’s permissions-based system.

The research team writes, “Though one may easily blame the manufacturers for developing and/or including these vulnerable apps on the phone firmware, there is no need to exaggerate their negligence. Specifically, the permission-based security model in Android is a capability model that can be enhanced to mitigate these capability leaks.”