HCM CITY — The UK-based Virus Bulletin Laboratory has ranked Vietnamese anti-virus software BKAV seventh out of 64 from around the world with a score of 91.3/100.

The results were obtained over four tests, with average reactive scores plotted against average proactive scores for each product.

The test measured products’ detection rates across four distinct sets of malware samples. The first three comprised malware first seen in each of the three weeks prior to product submission.

They measured how quickly product developers and labs reacted to the steady flood of new malware emerging across the world.

FPT unveils customer relations software

HCM CITY — FPT Information System has unveiled a customer relationship management (CRM) software made by US-based Salesforce.com using cloud computing.

CRM Salesforce frees companies from hidden costs, high failure rates, unacceptable risks, and drawn-out implementation of traditional CRM software, FPT IS said.

Salesforce.com is a global pioneer in cloud computing and has served more than 87,200 organisations around the world.

Cloud computing has gradually replaced the traditional CRM software that requires customers to invest in and maintain costly infrastructure.

It enables enterprises to access applications over the internet without having to install hardware or software.

Mekong Securities wins contest

HA NOI — Mekong Securities Co has been honoured by Bloomberg as having the “Best Equity Research Team in Viet Nam 2010″. Winning the designation required an analyst to analysise at least three stocks, after which a Bloomberg judging panel evaluated the most meaningful, well-written and ultimately accurate analyses for the award.

Analysts from eight research teams, including Saigon Securities Inc, Vina Securities, ACB Securities, Horizon Securities, Kim Eng Viet Nam Securities, Vietcombank Securities, and FPT Securities, participated in the contest.

PetroVietnam affiliate to list

HCM CITY — Petroleum Gas City Investment and Development Co, a member of the PetroVietnam Group, will list nearly 18.9 million shares on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange. The company has targeted earnings this year of VND338 billion ($16.1 million) and a net profit of VND7 billion ($333,333), on which it plans to pay a 3.87-per-cent dividend. It currently has charter capital of VND189 billion (US$9.5 million), of which 44 per cent is held by foreign investors.

EVN to transfer Pha Lai shares

HCM CITY — HCM City-listed Pha Lai Thermal Power Co (VSE:PPC) has announced that its major shareholder, Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN), will sell 37.3 million shares to its affiliate EVN Finance. EVN will sell another 9.8 million shares to An Binh Commercial Bank. The sales, to be carried out between December 29 and February 24, will be conducted through negotiation trading and will reduce EVN’s holdings in Pha Lai from 213.5 million shares to 166.4 million shares, representing a 51-per-cent stake.

Sacombank meets profit targets

HCM CITY — Sacombank posted a profit of VND2.2 trillion (US$104.8 million) in the first 11 months of the year, representing over 91 per cent of its target for the year of VND2.4 trillion. Sacombank, with 360 offices nationwide, currently has charter capital of VND9.2 trillion ($438.1 million) and has targeted a profit of VND2.8 trillion ($133.3 million) in 2011. — VNS

Source: http://www.vietnamnews.us/economy/anti-virus-software-is-worlds-seventh-best/

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Reviewing the Internet world in Vietnam this year, online games and clips are highlights.

Online games: a crime?

The good and the bad aspects of online games were analyzed a long time ago but online games became a widely discussed topic in 2010 when the Ministry of Information and Communications showed its determination to address the negative consequences of online gaming.

Those who supported the development of online games presented evidences of their advantageous effects: online games enhance the connection among family members, helps raise IQ and require strategic thinking, etc.

Those who protested online games showed evidences about the short and long-run harmful effects of online games: impacts on gamers’ health, spirit, career and even fatal consequences.

However, neither side could show convincing proofs which would be based on scientific research.

So far, Vietnam has not conducted any comprehensive survey of the impact of online games. The Ministry of Information and Communications instructed t local departments of to conduct the survey of adverse impacts of online games but this was not seriously carried out.

So far it has been decided that Internet cafes must be located at least 200m away from schools, not to be advertised on the media and Internet café must close from 11 pm to 6 am.

The good year of offensive clips

2010 is the year for violent and sex clips on the Internet. These are real clips about the true life which revealed the dark side of society. In these clips, schoolgirls battled with each other, a baby-sitter tortured a baby, teachers insulted their students, etc.

The education sector should be criticized the most because most of the black clips feature evils in schools.

After a clip about the fight among schoolgirls from a secondary school in Hanoi appeared on the Internet in March 2010, many other clips shooting the fights of schoolgirls from Phu Tho, Phu Yen, Quang Ngai, Dien Bien, Quang Ninh and Nghe An were posted. In these clips, a group of girls beat a girl which was witnessed by many students.

According to a report about school violence released in September, more than 1500 student fights were reported from January to September 2010, including seven cases ending with deaths.

Some teachers’ “ugly” moments were also filmed and posted on the Internet. In these clips, teachers insulted their students.

Many sex clips with teen characters were also available on the net.

Technology is not bad. All depends on how it is used. On the other side, thanks to technology, the truth is revealed. However, once something is uploaded on the net, nobody can delete it completely.

Thanh Hoa

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By Eric Zeman
Read the Original Article at InformationWeek

The Official PlayStation App for iOS and Android devices will be available "very soon," according to Sony. It will work on the iPhone and iPod Touch running iOS 4.0 and up. Android devices will need to have a minimum of Android 1.6 Donut in order to use the PlayStation apps.

Sony says that the application will allow users to:

1. Check out your PlayStation Network trophies and keep up to date with your friends’ games and online status. 2. Discover all the latest games, news and hardware for your PlayStation 3, PSP and PlayStation 2. 3. Read all the announcements on the European PlayStation.Blog. 4. Share your favorite products or news with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or via e-mail.

If you're wondering where the games are, you're not alone. Based on the screen shots on the PlayStation blog, it looks similar to how the PlayStation Network does from a PS3. Sony blew a big opportunity here.

Apple's iOS-based devices are excellent gaming platforms. The number of games targeted at them numbers in the tens of thousands. They are threatening Sony's own PSP mobile gaming device, as well as the DS line of portable gaming consoles from Nintendo.

Rather than provide Apple and Android devices with a Sony-branded gaming experience, it plans to use the app mostly for marketing purposes. I think gamers are smarter than that. They can get all the same information from their PS3, and what's more, they can actually make game purchases from their PS3.

Perhaps the only appeal is the social networking angle. The PlayStation app will allow PlayStation gamers to interact with one another 00 and their Twitter and Facebook friends -- from their phones (i.e., when they're not parked in front of their gaming console).

The app will be limited to a handful of European countries (UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and The Netherlands). Sony didn't say when or if the app will be made available to iPhone and Android users in the U.S.

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By Paul McDougall
Read the Original Article at InformationWeek

Atos Origin shares gained 13.49% Wednesday after the European outsourcer said it reached an agreement to acquire the IT services arm of Siemens for a total of $1.13 Billion. The move creates a global tech services powerhouse with more than 78,000 employees worldwide and combined revenues of $11.5 billion. Under the terms of the deal, which creates Europe's largest outsourcing company, Atos Origin will pay Siemens $550 million in shares, $333 million in bonds, and $247 million in cash for Siemens IT Solutions. Siemens also ends up with a 15% equity share in Atos Origin. The new company, which will continue to operate under the name Atos Origin, will also provide IT services back to Siemens for at least the next seven years. Atos Origin officials said the deal will boost their company's ability to compete with global heavyweights like IBM as well as HP, which just inked a $1.4 billion deal to provide tech services to German utilities giant E.ON. "Today marks the start of a very solid and promising long-term industrial alliance between Atos Origin and Siemens that will create a most attractive powerhouse in IT and hi-tech transactional services in Europe," said Atos Origin chairman and CEO Thierry Breton, in a statement late Tuesday. "We are opening a wide field of new businesses and development opportunities to shape the future of IT for both our customers and employees. I am confident that the value generated by this partnership will be rewarding for all our shareholders, including Siemens," said Breton. Siemens executives said the arrangement allows their company to focus on its core competencies in energy and industrial manufacturing while handing off IT support to an outsourcing specialist that becomes stronger as a result of the deal. "The two organizations benefit from outstanding complementaries regarding customer base, geographies, and services," said Siemens CEO Peter Loescher. Siemens shares were up .86%, to $122.91, in late day trading Wednesday.

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By Thomas Claburn
Read the Original Article at InformationWeek

For the third time this year, Microsoft has issued a record-setting security patch.

The company's December Bulletin Release includes 17 security bulletins addressing 40 vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office, Windows, Internet Explorer, SharePoint Server and Exchange.

It was only in October that Microsoft set the record it just broke, with 16 security bulletins. There were however fewer individual vulnerabilities this month than in October (49). And it was two months earlier, in August, that the company had set its previous record, with 14 bulletins to address 34 vulnerabilities.

The huge October patch was supposed to front-load the task of patching so that IT administrators had a lighter schedule over the holidays. So much for that idea.

At least the December crop of bulletins brings only two "critical" ones. Fourteen are rated "important" and one is rated "moderate."

The two critical bulletins, MS10-090 and MS10-091, addressing vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer and Windows respectively, should be deployed first, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft says that has issued 106 bulletins in 2010. That's up substantially from 74 in 2009 and 78 in 2008. According to Symantec, Microsoft patched 261 vulnerabilities in 2010, far beyond its previous record of 170 in 2009. McAfee puts the count at 266.

Joshua Talbot, security intelligence manager for Symantec Security Response, said in an e-mailed statement that the most notable patch is the fix for the fourth zero-day vulnerability utilized by Stuxnet. He also said that the cumulative patch for Internet Explorer should be regarded as a high-priority fix.

Dave Marcus, director of security research and communications at McAfee Labs, said in an e-mailed statement that while the number of critical vulnerabilities is low, the larger number of vulnerabilities overall, from Microsoft and from vendors like Adobe and Oracle, indicate that the threat landscape is broadening, making its even more important for organizations to patch.

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By Paul McDougall
Read the Original Article at InformationWeek

Tablet computers will cannibalize PC sales much faster than previously expected, according to stunning new research from Goldman Sachs that paints a challenging future for traditional tech heavyweights—from Microsoft to Intel--if they fail to respond to the threat of new form factors.

Analysts at the investment bank said they expect tablet sales to cannibalize PC sales at a rate of 33% to 35%. As a result, they believe the PC market will grow just 8% next year, well below the low to mid-double digit growth expected by many other market watchers.

Goldman said Microsoft and its partners have been too slow to respond to the threat to their core franchises posed tablet offerings from Apple, Google, and their partners. "What is surprising is that many of these products are not utilizing Intel microprocessors or a Microsoft operating environment," wrote Goldman Sachs analyst Bill Shope, in a report published Sunday.

Shope said he expects that 54.7 million tablets will be shipped in 2011, an increase of more than 500% over the current year.

"We expect the vast majority of these devices to run the ARM architecture with either iOS or Android as the operating environment. If this is the case and our tablet forecast is anywhere near accurate, this would be the first time in three decades that a non-Wintel technology has made legitimate inroads into personal computing," wrote Shope.

"The fast rise in tablets could have significant implications across the technology industry as a whole," said Shope, who estimates that, if the iPad is included, Apple's share of the consumer computer market is approaching 12%.

As for Microsoft, Shope's colleague, software analyst Sarah Friar, noted that "a tablet response is still not forthcoming." Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer earlier this year said the company would have Windows 7-based slates in stores by Christmas, but that failed to materialize.

Microsoft is now apparently waiting until early 2011, when it plans to release tablets that run Intel's Oak Trail processor for mobile devices. As far as Goldman Sachs is concerned, that may be too little, too late. The firm downgraded Microsoft from "Buy" to "Neutral" in October, and is maintaining that rating with a 12-month price target of just $29.

Microsoft shares were flat at $27.42 in late-afternoon trading Friday. Intel shares were off 1.69%, to $21.54. Apple was up .85%, to $323.27, while Google gained .94%, to $597.76.

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By Antone Gonsalves
Read the Original Article at InformationWeek

The 3-year-old partnership between Microsoft and Facebook that has become an important weapon against archenemy Google started with an offer to buy what now has become the world's largest online social network, a Microsoft executive has confirmed.

Fritz Lanman, senior director of corporate strategy and acquisitions at Microsoft, confirmed Friday that Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer offered to buy Facebook during a meeting with its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, TechCrunch reported.

"Yeah, we tried to acquire Facebook," Lanman said during an on-stage interview at the Le Web conference in Paris. "Facebook had a lot of similarities to Microsoft back in the day."

The acknowledgement as reported by TechCrunch doesn't have Lanman confirming that Microsoft was willing to pay $15 billion for Facebook, which was reported in the book "The Facebook Effect" by David Kirkpatrick. Asked whether that was the amount offered, a Microsoft spokesman replied, "No comment."

"They're going to let his words speak for themselves," the spokesman said of Microsoft.

Kirkpatrick claimed that $15 billion is what Ballmer offered Zuckerberg during their meeting in Palo Alto, Calif., where Facebook has its headquarters. When Zuckerberg refused to sell, Microsoft did what it believed was the next best thing, an investment of $240 million in Facebook that was announced publicly in October 2007. Based on the investment, Facebook's valuation at the time was $15 billion.

Since 2007, Microsoft and Facebook have worked together building several fronts against Google. In July 2008, Microsoft reached a deal with Facebook to provide Web search services to users of the social network. Since then, Microsoft has expanded its search capabilities to include publicly posted information on Facebook and Twitter.

This year, Microsoft launched Docs for Facebook, which lets members of the social network create and share Microsoft Office documents. The service is seen as a way to steer Facebook users away from Google Docs to Microsoft's online document sharing and collaboration service. a

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By Antone Gonsalves
Read the Original Article at InformationWeek

The 3-year-old partnership between Microsoft and Facebook that has become an important weapon against archenemy Google started with an offer to buy what now has become the world's largest online social network, a Microsoft executive has confirmed.

Fritz Lanman, senior director of corporate strategy and acquisitions at Microsoft, confirmed Friday that Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer offered to buy Facebook during a meeting with its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, TechCrunch reported.

"Yeah, we tried to acquire Facebook," Lanman said during an on-stage interview at the Le Web conference in Paris. "Facebook had a lot of similarities to Microsoft back in the day."

The acknowledgement as reported by TechCrunch doesn't have Lanman confirming that Microsoft was willing to pay $15 billion for Facebook, which was reported in the book "The Facebook Effect" by David Kirkpatrick. Asked whether that was the amount offered, a Microsoft spokesman replied, "No comment."

"They're going to let his words speak for themselves," the spokesman said of Microsoft.

Kirkpatrick claimed that $15 billion is what Ballmer offered Zuckerberg during their meeting in Palo Alto, Calif., where Facebook has its headquarters. When Zuckerberg refused to sell, Microsoft did what it believed was the next best thing, an investment of $240 million in Facebook that was announced publicly in October 2007. Based on the investment, Facebook's valuation at the time was $15 billion.

Since 2007, Microsoft and Facebook have worked together building several fronts against Google. In July 2008, Microsoft reached a deal with Facebook to provide Web search services to users of the social network. Since then, Microsoft has expanded its search capabilities to include publicly posted information on Facebook and Twitter.

This year, Microsoft launched Docs for Facebook, which lets members of the social network create and share Microsoft Office documents. The service is seen as a way to steer Facebook users away from Google Docs to Microsoft's online document sharing and collaboration service.

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By Thomas Claburn
Read the Original Article at InformationWeek

Enterprise software maker SAP on Monday made its SAP StreamWork software available in the Google Apps Marketplace, Google's online store for Web apps that integrate with Google Apps.

The Google Apps Marketplace is separate from the Chrome Web Store, an online store for Web apps that integrate with the Google Chrome browser and with Chrome OS. Google is expected to introduce a Google-branded Chrome OS netbook on Tuesday and may well open the Chrome Web Store too.

SAP is offering StreamWork, a collaborative decision-making app that utilizes the Google Wave Federation Protocol, in the Google Apps Marketplace because it sees potential customers among the more than 3 million businesses that use Google Apps.

"SAP StreamWork brings together people and information -- from the Web, your desktop, or business systems -- and applies structure to discussions with business tools including pro/con tables, SWOT analyses, and polls to drive fast, meaningful results," said David Meyer, SVP for on-demand, productivity and sustainability solutions at SAP, in a blog post.

Like other Google Apps Marketplace software, StreamWork supports OpenID so it can be accessed from the Google universal navigation bar. The integration goes both ways, allowing StreamWorks users access to Google's calendaring, e-mail, and document-oriented tools while they work. Or rather, it will soon. SAP says that direct integration is coming in early 2011.

The basic edition of StreamWork is free; the professional version starts at $9 per user per month. SAP will have to sell quite a few user licenses to recoup the cost of its recent legal bills.

SAP last month lost a major copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Oracle over the actions of SAP's now defunct software support provider TomorrowNow, which the company acquired in 2005. The jury in the case ruled that SAP owes Oracle $1.3 billion in damages. The judgement, which may be appealed, is believed to be the largest copyright infringement award to date.

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By W. David Gardner
Read the Original Article at InformationWeek

Network administrators are most in demand by U.S. CIOs, who are anticipating an 8% increase in IT hiring in the first quarter of 2011, according to a new survey of CIO's released by the Robert Half Technology job search company.

In phone surveys with 1,400 CIOs from U.S. companies with 100 or more employees, 11% of the respondents said they plan to add IT staff in the period while 3% plan cutbacks, representing an 8% overall increase. The net increase is up five points from the previous quarter's forecast.

"CIOs are reinitiating previously deferred projects and are more willing to invest in augmenting their teams," said John Reed, executive director of Robert Half Technology, in a statement. "As companies maximize operational efficiencies and strive to make information more accessible, they rely on their IT departments."

The skilled professional position most in demand is network administrator and that skill was cited by 17% of the survey respondents. The other chief skills cited by the CIOs were security (16%) and software development (11%). More than half of the respondents (54%) expect to be challenged by efforts to find suitable candidates in the coming quarter.

The two geographical regions in which IT hiring is expected to be the most intensive in the first quarter of 2011 are the East North Central, consisting of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, followed by the West South Central region, consisting of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.

Other skills in high demand cited by the CIOs interviewed were Windows administration (Server 2000/2003/2008), followed by desktop support and database management.

In industry breakdowns, the health services segment is expected to be most challenged to find qualified candidates to fill job openings.

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By Thomas Claburn
Read the Original Article at InformationWeek

Enterprise software maker SAP on Monday made its SAP StreamWork software available in the Google Apps Marketplace, Google's online store for Web apps that integrate with Google Apps.

The Google Apps Marketplace is separate from the Chrome Web Store, an online store for Web apps that integrate with the Google Chrome browser and with Chrome OS. Google is expected to introduce a Google-branded Chrome OS netbook on Tuesday and may well open the Chrome Web Store too.

SAP is offering StreamWork, a collaborative decision-making app that utilizes the Google Wave Federation Protocol, in the Google Apps Marketplace because it sees potential customers among the more than 3 million businesses that use Google Apps.

"SAP StreamWork brings together people and information -- from the Web, your desktop, or business systems -- and applies structure to discussions with business tools including pro/con tables, SWOT analyses, and polls to drive fast, meaningful results," said David Meyer, SVP for on-demand, productivity and sustainability solutions at SAP, in a blog post.

Like other Google Apps Marketplace software, StreamWork supports OpenID so it can be accessed from the Google universal navigation bar. The integration goes both ways, allowing StreamWorks users access to Google's calendaring, e-mail, and document-oriented tools while they work. Or rather, it will soon. SAP says that direct integration is coming in early 2011.

The basic edition of StreamWork is free; the professional version starts at $9 per user per month. SAP will have to sell quite a few user licenses to recoup the cost of its recent legal bills.

SAP last month lost a major copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Oracle over the actions of SAP's now defunct software support provider TomorrowNow, which the company acquired in 2005. The jury in the case ruled that SAP owes Oracle $1.3 billion in damages. The judgement, which may be appealed, is believed to be the largest copyright infringement award to date.

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By Eric Zeman
Read the Original Article at InformationWeek

From now until December 11, RadioShack is holding an unprecedented sale on the Apple iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS. It is knocking $50 off the contract price, dropping the 32GB model to $249, the 16GB model to $149, and the iPhone 3GS down to just $49.

Those are the lowest prices from any legitimate, authorized retailer for the iPhone 4 and 3GS right now, especially for a brand new phone.

RadioShack also has a trade-in program that will drop prices further. If current iPhone users trade in their iPhone 3G, they'll receive a credit of $75 (assuming the device works and has an unbroken screen). Customers who trade in an iPhone 3GS in working condition will receive a credit of $125.

Combining the $149 sale price with a $125 credit drops the effective price of the iPhone 4 16GB model to just $24, and the iPhone 4 32GB to $124 (not including taxes and fees).

That's probably the best deal anywhere for a brand new iPhone 4. It is only available at RadioShack's brick-and-mortar retail locations.

These prices are available to new AT&T customers, as well as to AT&T customers who are eligible for an upgrade. RadioShack says the promotion is meant to "boost awareness of its wireless business and create an edge up on the competition."

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By Antone Gonsalves
Read the Original Article at InformationWeek

BMC has responded to Hewlett-Packard's recent purchase of Stratavia by acquiring the latter company's rival GridApp Systems to ensure BMC's software for automating database maintenance remains on a par with HP's.

BMC announced the purchase of GridApp Friday. Financial details were not disclosed. GridApp and Stratavia sold software for automating tasks performed by database administrators, such as provisioning and patching.

BMC plans to incorporate those capabilities and more found in GridApp's Clarity suite into BMC's Cloud Lifecycle Management, which the vendor introduced in May. The new product takes the capabilities found in BMC's system management products and extends them to cloud operations.

BMC expects GridApp's technology to be useful in cloud infrastructures through its unique approach of using model-based automation as opposed to scripting. Database administrators define the different potential states, options and parameters. The software then uses a rules engine of more than 10,000 potential operations to perform administration tasks.

In June, GridApp released Clarity Version 6.5, which made the suite more self-service. As a result, customers have the option of using operations staff and system administrators to perform some database maintenance, as opposed to more highly paid, and scarce, database administrators.

BMC can offer GridApp for use across a broad range of systems. The Clarity suite works with most relational databases, including Oracle, SQL Server, Sybase, DB2, MySQL and PostgreSQL. The software also works with the most popular clustering technologies, including Oracle Real Application Clusters, Veritas Cluster Server and Windows Cluster Server, and with all major operating systems, including Unix, Linux and Windows.

That kind of broad support is important in cloud operations of large corporations that likely have multiple databases. Customer demand for cloud infrastructure was behind BMC's launch of Cloud Lifecycle Management. At the time, BMC said it had already passed the $100 million mark in deals in which virtual machine management, a key component of cloud operations, and combined virtual and physical system management are the key element in customers' purchase decisions.

HP also had its head in the cloud when it bought Stratavia in August. The smaller vendor's Data Palette software is useful in configuring and operating servers in the enterprise private cloud, where business users will want to provision their own servers and applications. HP is incorporating parts of Data Palette into the company's Cloud Service Automation, HP's product for use in building and managing the enterprise cloud infrastructure.

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By Thomas Claburn
Read the Original Article at InformationWeek

Representatives from Intel, which sponsored "The Billion Dollar Laptop Study," and the Ponemon Institute, which conducted the study, announced their findings at a media event in San Francisco on Thursday.

The 329 organizations surveyed lost more than 86,000 laptops over the course of a year, the study found. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute, said that based on these findings and a 2009 survey that put the average cost of lost laptop data at $49,246, the cost to these organizations came to more than $2.1 billion or $6.4 million per organization.

"A lot of organizations are incompetent at protecting information assets," said Ponemon.

Ponemon explained that the value of the lost hardware represented only a small portion of the estimated cost. Most of the cost is linked to the value of intellectual property on these laptops and the fees associated with data breaches and statutory notification requirements.

The study painted a grim picture about lost and stolen laptops. It found that laptops have a 5% to 10% chance of being lost or stolen over three years. Only 5% of lost laptops are ever recovered. Theft accounts for 25% of losses and likely theft for 15%. Sixty percent of lost laptops simply go missing, their fate unknown. Some lost laptops are believed to be stripped for parts.

Intel's interest in this topic can be explained by the fact that it offers anti-theft technology. The latest generation of this technology, Intel Anti-Theft Technology (Intel AT) 3.0, will debut in Intel's Core and Core vPro processor families during the first quarter of 2011. Intel AT provides the ability: to disable access to encrypted data; to prevent the PC from booting; to send customizable messages that display under conditions; to disable a PC after a certain number of login attempts; and to disable a PC when the user has not checked-in as required.

Version 3.0 adds the ability to send a remote 3G SMS message using special cellular hardware to disable the PC, before it can be booted.

The study happens to note that while 46% of laptops were reported to contain sensitive data, only 30% of them had disc-based encryption, only 29% had been imaged for backup, and only 10% had anti-theft features.

Intel was also present as an example of what can be achieved through best practices. Intel chief information security officer Malcom Harkins revealed that Intel, out of 87,000 laptops, only loses about 700 per year. That's five to ten times less than the average loss rate at the companies surveyed.

Harkins said that as Intel shifted its focus toward mobility in the late '90s, the company made a concerted effort to build business processes that fostered security and encouraged employees to take responsibility for safeguarding their laptops. He added that Intel tries to be fairly permissive about allowing employees to store personal information on their laptops, which he said encourages a sense of ownership and responsibility. Acknowledging that some information security professionals see the mingling of personal and professional data as a risk, he said, "I think it helps more than it hurts."

Harkins added that one problem in dealing with the issue is that security teams tend to want to keep quiet about lost laptops and lost data. He said he understood that impulse but insisted that being open can help people recognize the risk of losing laptops.

"The biggest vulnerability we all face today is misperceiving risk," he said.

Kevin Beaver, an independent security consultant and expert witness with Principle Logic, offered an example of this misperception. He observed that companies spend significant sums to protect themselves from SQL injection attacks but fail to invest in laptop tracking or remote data wiping capabilities.

"Laptops are always the greatest risk in any given security assessment, more so even than smartphones," he said, noting that laptops simply have more data on them.

According to the study, the places where laptops are most likely to be lost break down as follows: off-site locations (43%), while traveling (33%), and inside the workplace (12%). And 12% of the time the location of the loss is unknown.

Laptops are stolen most often when people travel with them. Ponemon observed that security checkpoints are the place where laptops are most frequently lost. Diluting the irony, he added that security checkpoints are also where travelers recover lost laptops most often.

To underscore the need for organizations to manage laptops carefully, Ponemon recounted interviewing one woman at a company who had lost 11 laptops in two years.

"She claimed she wasn't really that careful with laptops because the only way she could get a better one was to lose it," he said.

Businesses are losing billions of dollars annually as a result of lost and stolen laptop computers, a new study shows.

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By Thomas Claburn
Read the Original Article at InformationWeek

Among many marketers, the old adage that there's no such thing as bad publicity reflects a belief that any kind of attention is better than being ignored. That attitude on display in a recent New York Times expose about how online merchant DecorMyEyes benefits from poor customer service.

In the article, the company's founder and owner Vitaly Borker explains that the online griping of unhappy customers translates into prominent placement in Google search results and high levels of Web site visitor traffic. That's partially because Google's PageRank algorithm treats inbound links, particularly from big Web sites, as votes for relevance.

On Wednesday, Google expressed dismay that its system was being manipulated to reward bad behavior. In a blog post, Google fellow Amit Singhal said, "being bad is, and hopefully will always be, bad for business in Google’s search results."

And if it wasn't so before, it's more likely to be so going forward: Singhal said that Google has altered its search algorithm to punish merchants who offer a poor customer experience.

"[I]n the last few days we developed an algorithmic solution which detects the merchant from the Times article along with hundreds of other merchants that, in our opinion, provide an extremely poor user experience," explained Singhal. "The algorithm we incorporated into our search rankings represents an initial solution to this issue, and Google users are now getting a better experience as a result."

What Singhal did not explain is the kinds of signals Google is using to evaluate whether a merchant has been naughty or nice. He provides a list of techniques could have used: blocking egregious offenders, applying sentiment analysis to identify negative remarks, and exposing user ratings more broadly when applicable. But he also identifies problems with these techniques. For example, relying on sentiment analysis would make the Web sites of political candidates, for whom there's no shortage of detractors, difficult to find.

The reason for this lack of disclosure, Singhal says, is that people are constantly trying to game Google's algorithm.

Such persistent attempts manipulate Google suggest that it's not being bad that's bad for business, in terms of search results. Rather, it's getting caught.

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