Hasta La Gadget!

Symantec has published its 2013 Internet Security Threat Report, revealing data about the state of the Internet and the threats in it. According to the security report, small and medium businesses have seen the greatest increase in threats, with over all targeted attacks in 2012 jumping to 42-percent, with 31-percent of those attacks being aimed at companies with less than 250 employees.

According to the report, those who use social networks, particularly Facebook and Twitter, should be careful, with the instances of phishing websites that spoof popular social networks having jumped a huge 125-percent last year. Not all numbers jumped, however, with the amount of spam sent in 2012 dropping to 69-percent of all email sent during the year.

The number of vulnerabilities found last year clocked in at 5,291, with a fair chunk of them – 415, to be precise – being vulnerabilities with mobile OSs. In line with that is the numbers on data theft, with the report stating that 32-percent of the mobile threats resulted in stolen data. The number of web-based attacks also followed the upward trend, jumping 30-percent.

There were 14 zero-day vulnerabilities last year, as well as some big events, including 600,000 Macs being affected by a virus, and a single waterhole attack hit 500 organizations in one day. Other relevant data is contained in the infograph above, which was made by Symantec. Particularly of note is the increase in the number of web-based attacks that were blocked last year over 2011, jumping from 190,370 to 247,350.

[via Symantec]

Symantec security report reveals attacks up and spam down is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Among the people affected by Apple’s iOS 6 Maps debacle was claimed project head Richard Williamson, who was reportedly shown the door at the end of 2012. While the details were never directly corroborated outside of Williamson’s exit in December, he may have found a new home at Facebook: Bloomberg‘s sources say that the director joined the social network’s mobile software division within the past two weeks. We don’t know what (if anything) Williamson might be producing when Facebook has so far declined comment, although there’s no question that he has an appropriate pedigree when he managed interface development for key iOS apps and helped get Safari off the ground. Suffice it to say that the internet giant has plenty of projects that might benefit from his overall experience.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Apple, Facebook

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Via: AppleInsider

Source: Bloomberg

Continuing its efforts to speed up the way we find things when searching the web from our smartphones, Google is rolling out expandable sitelinks. Instead of wasting time sifting through a website trying to locate a specific page, this new feature generates a list of related quick links that allow you to jump directly to what you’re looking for. Already available in desktop results, expandable links are hit or miss when used on mobile. Not stopping there, Google also announced the release of its new Quick view badges. This experimental project produces highlighted links from Wikipedia, which offer snippets of information relevant to your query. Pictured above are results for different types of poker hands. It won’t stop you from losing your money, but now you’ll always remember a flush beats a straight. As of now Quick view is only available in English search results, but Google is working on adding support for additional languages.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile, Google

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Source: Google

Google Fiber might be making waves with its 1Gbps speeds, but it’s no match for what’s being hailed as the world’s fastest commercially-provided home internet service: Nuro. Launched in Japan yesterday by Sony-supported ISP So-net, the fiber connection pulls down data at 2Gbps, and sends it up at 1Gbps. An optical network unit (ONU) given to Nuro customers comes outfitted with three Gigabit ethernet ports and supports 450Mbps over 802.11 a/b/g/n. When hitched to a two-year contract, web surfers will be set back 4,980 yen ($51) per month and pony up a required 52,500 yen (roughly $540) installation fee, which is currently being waived for folks who apply online. Those lucky enough to call the Land of the Rising Sun home can register their house, apartment or small business to receive the blazing hookup, so long as they’re located within Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Tokyo, Kanagawa or Saitama. Click the bordering source link for more details on signing up.

Filed under: Internet, Sony

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Via: Engadget Japanese

Source: Nuro (translated)

After four months in the alpha incubator, BitTorrent has released its Surf file-sharing plugin in beta not just for Chrome, its initial browser, but for Firefox as well. In an effort to make downloading and discovery easier, the new plugin has a status window for monitoring file progress plus a recommendation engine that’ll offer suggestions based on search terms. BitTorrent claims the results “prioritize legitimate content” and will “help creators and fans connect.” With ventures like SoShare, Sync and live-streaming in the works, this is yet another sign that a brand (arguably) once synonymous with illicit activities is at least trying to go legit.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: BitTorrent (1), (2)