Hackers spied on US oil companies: Report

Three major US oil companies came under cyber attacks that may have come from hackers in China, the Christian Science Monitor newspaper reported Monday.

Sensitive bid data on oil discoveries by Marathon Oil, ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips were the target of the attack, the newspaper said citing documents and sources familiar with the investigation.

The attacks occurred in 2008, but their extent only became clear later after the FBI alerted the firms.

At least one attack was traced back to a computer in China, but it was unclear the extent of China’s involvement.

E-mail passwords, e-mails and other information were among the stolen data.

Internet giant Google earlier this month said it had been the victim of cyber attacks and said as a result it would review its operations in China.

China has rejected any involvement in such attacks.

“Accusations that the Chinese government participated in cyber attacks, either in an explicit or inexplicit way, is groundless and aims to denigrate China. We firmly opposed to that,” a spokesman of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology was quoted as saying by the Xinhua news agency earlier Monday.

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Microsoft: Customers should upgrade from IE6 & IE7

Microsoft has urged its customers to upgrade to Internet Explorer 8, with the software giant’s engineers not finding a solution to the now infamous exploit that was publicised by Google.

Part of Google’s crisis of conscience on China arrived because of a sophisticated attack on some Chinese citizens using an exploit in IE.

Microsoft insisted at the time that the attacks were made on people using the execrable IE6 browser, and, as of Sunday, Microsoft was issuing urgent releases to its customers urging them to upgrade to IE8.

IE8 untouched

“Customers using Internet Explorer 8 are not affected by currently known attacks and exploits due to the improved security protections in IE8,” said Microsoft.

“To help protect our customers, we recommend that all customers immediately upgrade to Internet Explorer 8.

“Customers should also consider applying the workarounds and mitigations provided in our Security Advisory such as putting Internet zone security settings to High.”

IE6 dead

Microsoft has always insisted that it will support those still on IE6, including businesses that it suggests have tools that rely on using the ageing and much criticised browser.

However, it is clear that IE6 is not coping with the modern internet, and, once again, a major scare has prompted the need for a call to update.

“Microsoft teams are continuing to work around the clock on an update and we will take appropriate action to protect customers when the update has met the quality bar for broad distribution,” concludes Microsoft’s release.

“Obviously, it is unfortunate that our product is being used in the pursuit of criminal activity.

“We will continue to work with Google, industry leaders and the appropriate authorities to investigate this situation.”

So, if you have IE6 or IE7 then look for a modern browser – which include ones not made by Microsoft of course.

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No breach in computer security system: PMO

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has said there was “no breach” in the security systems of its computers or those in other central government departments.

Asked about a media report that hackers from China have targeted computers in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), an official in the PMO denied the report.

“Attempts have always been there to hack our computers, but we have our security systems in place,” a PMO official told IANS.

“There has been no breach on our security system, we are absolutely safe,” PMO media adviser Harish Khare told IANS.

According to a Headlines Today TV channel report, hackers from China had targeted computers in the PMO around Dec 15 last year and “investigators are still coming to terms with the depth of the damage”.

It said the hackers had aimed at the “cream of India’s national security set-up: National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan, Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrashekhar, PM’s Special Envoy Shyam Saran and Deputy National Security Advisor Shekhar Dutt. The four and up to 26 others were squarely in the crosshairs of the hacking attempt”.

“The hacking spyware itself was embedded in a PDF document. And the Trojan Horse was programmed to carry out an array of functions, including downloading files, accessing emails and passwords and also accessing the desktop from a remote location,” it said.

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Microsoft admits Explorer used in Google China hack

Microsoft has admitted that its Internet Explorer was a weak link in the recent attacks on Google’s systems that originated in China.

The firm said in a blog post on Thursday that a vulnerability in the browser could allow hackers to remotely run programs on infected machines.

Following the attack, Google threatened to end its operations in China.

Microsoft has released preliminary guidance to mitigate the problem and is working on a formal software update.

So far, Microsoft “has not seen widespread customer impact, rather only targeted and limited attacks exploiting Internet Explorer 6″.

“Based upon our investigations, we have determined that Internet Explorer was one of the vectors used in targeted and sophisticated attacks against Google and possibly other corporate networks,” said Microsoft’s director of security response Mike Reavey in the post.

‘Unfortunate’

Security firm McAfee told news agency AFP that the attacks on Google, which targeted Chinese human rights activists worldwide, showed a level of sophistication above that of typical, isolated cyber criminal efforts.

McAfee’s vice-president of threat research Dmitri Alperovitch told AFP that although the firm had “no proof that the Chinese are behind this particular attack, I think there are indications though that a nation-state is behind it”.

The recent spate of attacks was alleged to have hit more than 30 companies including Google and Adobe, but security firms have since said that such invasions are routine.

Mr Reavey echoed this in the post.

“Unfortunately cyber crime and cyber attacks are daily occurrences in the online world. Obviously, it is unfortunate that our product is being used in the pursuit of criminal activity. We will continue to work with Google, industry leaders and the appropriate authorities to investigate this situation.”

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US asks China to explain Google hacking claims

Hillary Clinton calls on Beijing to answer ’serious concerns’ over internet security.

The US government is investigating allegations of a Chinese hacking attack on Google amid what Washington called “serious concerns” over internet security.

The strike, which the company said was aimed at uncovering information linked to political dissidents in the country, led Google to announce last night that it would no longer censor its search engine in China.

The move could result in Google being forced to pull out of China four years after it controversially announced its intention to launch a censored version of google.cn, the local version of its search engine.

Faced with a conflict between one of America’s most powerful companies and the Chinese government, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, called on Beijing to discuss the situation.

“We have been briefed by Google on these allegations, which raise very serious concerns and questions,” she said. “We look to the Chinese government for an explanation.”

Clinton, who is about to begin a tour of Asia and the Pacific, said it was important for businesses and governments around the world to be able to operate online without interference.

“The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy,” she said.

Barack Obama has called internet security a “national security priority”.

Clinton is expected to give a speech in Washington next week outlining new policies aimed at curbing online crime.

The White House has just appointed a new head of cybersecurity, charged with improving the country’s online defences, which have come under constant attack in recent years.

Hackers have attacked government computers in Washington, London, Berlin and elsewhere – in what some experts say is an orchestrated campaign that is sponsored, or at least permitted to take place, by officials in Beijing.

On a visit to Shanghai in November, Barack Obama said filtering information was not compatible with modern life.

“Unrestricted internet access is a source of strength and I think should be encouraged,” he said.

Google’s strongly worded statement – in which it said the conflict “goes to the heart of a much bigger global debate about freedom of speech” – may push the issue further.

Google’s senior figures have close relations with US government officials. Its chief executive, Eric Schmidt, was an adviser for Obama’s election campaign and last week he was among guests at a dinner with Clinton to discuss how technology could be used to promote democracy.

The state department said it had been briefed on Google’s plans but Google’s head of corporate communications, Matt Furman, told the Guardian that the state department had not had any direct involvement in Google’s decision to drop its censored search results.

It would not be unprecedented for the US government to intervene. In June, officials in Washington contacted the internet messaging service Twitter asking it to push back planned maintenance so that news from the Iranian protests could spread.

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Yahoo intensifies its advertisement in India

Yahoo has intensified its effort to regain its lost glory as a search engine against the giant Google. The company has come with a strategic advertisement plan to increase its popularity in developing countries like India, Brazil and China.

According to a recent survey in fast emerging countries, Google is way ahead of Yahoo and MSN, and also the gap will widen in near future.

Yahoo in its advertisement process in India has bought the front page of the leading newspaper Times of India. Now, the front page of TOI will be fully dedicated to Yahoo. The full page advertisement is quite attractive and unique. It will surely have an impact on the readers mind.

The catching tagline of the advertisement is “The internet is under new management”. The bottom line is “A homepage that lets you add whatever you love, an inbox that knows what you like (and don’t) and a freedom to access it from your mobile. Say hello to the new yahoo! take charge today at yahoo.in. “Its You “..which signifies Yahoo!!”

Moreover, the star network is also advertising Yahoo strongly.

As a consequence of efforts made by Yahoo in recent times, the search engine is being used by 26 million out of 35 million internet users in India.

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