Yahoo CEO: "Google Is Going To Have A Problem"

It's no secret that Google has, on a very steady basis, dominated its competition and managed to return big profits. And Carol Bartz may be in no position to question the company's methods. But Yahoo's CEO nonetheless chose to point out a potential weakness this week, and she may be on the right track.

Does Carol Bartz have enough credibility to criticize Google? Tell us what you think.

Bartz told Jonathan Fildes, "Google is going to have a problem because Google is only known for search. It is only half our business; it's 99.9% of their business. They've got to find other things to do."

Also, in terms of how Google will be judged as it attempts to find those other things, Bartz observed, "Google has to grow a company the size of Yahoo every year to be interesting."

The 99.9 percent figure is obviously an exaggeration. Still, if you figure that Google has a market cap of around $169 billion and Yahoo's market cap is closer to $24 billion, the second remark doesn't seem too inaccurate.

So as Bartz indicated, that puts a lot of pressure on Google to succeed at something other than search. Whether that something's Android, Google Apps, the TV Ads program, or a different product doesn't matter, but in this light, Yahoo's rather scattered network of properties starts to look a little more attractive.

UPDATE: A regulatory filing has revealed that Carol Bartz received $47.2 million in compensation for her work in 2009, which is far more than either Eric Schmidt or Steve Ballmer collected.

Source:

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/04/29/yahoo-ceo-google-is-going-to-have-a-problem

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iPad buyers targeted by Windows malware

As if to prove the Apple iPad's crossover appeal to PC users, spammers have launched a malware campaign to reel them in using the promise of extras for the new device.

According to BitDefender, the spam campaign invites its would-be victims to download an updated version of iTunes with the promise of a preliminary update that will give prospective iPad users "best performance, newer features, and security."

[ Read Galen Gruman's report on iPad security and IT's foolish double standard. | Stay ahead of advances in mobile technology with InfoWorld's Mobile Edge blog and Mobilize newsletter. | Get the best iPhone and iPad apps for pros with our business iPhone apps finder. ]

Following the embedded link leads to a piece of malware identified by the company as Backdoor.Bifrose.AADY, a data stealer which sets out to steal software keys and serial numbers from installed programs as well as login passwords for email, online storage accounts and IM services.

The iPad has, infamously, not even been launched in the U.K. even though U.S. users have had access to the new computer for some days. U.K. users are also being asked to pay a premium. Ironically, the malware won't affect Apple's Mac users at all and is PC only.

Bitdefender announced a Mac antivirus product a week ago while admitting that Mac malware is not exactly a common issue. It looks as if even Mac products can now be used to attack PC users.

Source:

http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/ipad-buyers-targeted-windows-malware-948

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Drug-dealing spammers hit Gmail accounts

Google is investigating a growing number of reports that hackers are breaking into legitimate Gmail accounts and then using them to send spam messages.

The problem started about a week ago but seems to have escalated over the past few days.

"The Gmail team takes security very seriously and is investigating the reports we've seen in our user forums over the past few days," Google said Tuesday in an e-mailed statement. "We encourage users who suspect their accounts have been compromised to immediately change their passwords and to follow the advice at the following page: http://www.google.com/help/security/."

Gmail accounts are often compromised after phishing attempts or via malicious programs, which can seek out and log online credentials from a hacked computer.

It isn't clear what's behind this wave of Gmail compromises. But in forum posts, Gmail users note that the hackers appear to be sending spam via Gmail's mobile interface -- which gives mobile-phone users a way to check their Gmail accounts -- and wonder if there may be a bug in the mobile interface that is allowing criminals to send the spam.

Most of the victims are reporting that their accounts were accessed via the mobile interface when the spam was sent. They are reporting any security problems on their machines. Gmail users can check to see how their accounts were accessed at a given time by clicking on a "Details" button at the bottom of the Gmail page.

Google says there's no Gmail bug. "Our investigation has not given any indication of a bug in Gmail, either in the mobile interface or otherwise," the company said. "Spammers may sometimes use a mobile interface to access accounts they have already compromised because it's simpler for bots to use this method at large scale."

The New York Times reported Monday that Google's centralized login system, code-named Gaia, was compromised by hackers in late December. But this seems unrelated to the Gmail problem because of the different nature of the two incidents -- the December attack was a sophisticated attempt to steal data and intellectual property from Google; the Gmail spam is hardly sophisticated. It's being used to flog Canadian pharmaceutical Web sites that promise to send cheap drugs to U.S. customers.

For More Read...

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9175857/Drug_dealing_spammers_hit_Gmail_accounts

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