It's Getting Cloudy, and Delicious

For real. A brief summary of the instant links for the last two days :

01. Eight Indian Startups to Watch - "Some startups are offering unique solutions for India’s burgeoning domestic market, others are targeting global markets. Several are going after both. Red Herring has chosen a few below-the-radar young companies that we think are worth watching." - to Investing Technology India on june 10

02. 'Grand Theft Auto' Game Makers Settle With FTC - "A settlement has been reached with the companies behind the popular video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," Take-Two Interactive and subsidiary Rockstar Games, which were sued for deceptive practices over hidden sexual content in the game." - to Game Investing on june 10

03. Symbian dismisses smartphone security risk - "David Wood, executive vice president of research at Symbian, said on the Symbian website that smartphones only pose a security risk if companies ignore basic practical rules." - to Malware Symbian on june 10

04. AV management 2006 - "We have assembled a comprehensive range from the leading anti-virus products available in today’s market. During our testing, we began by checking the capacity of these respective offerings to cope with basic tasks." - to Security Malware AntiVirus on june 10

05. Zero-Day Exploits Abound at Legitimate Web Sites - "An exploit distribution network controlled by a single organization that was using a network of 40 Internet domains, each of which was linked to an average of 500 infected sites, for a total of roughly 20,000 Web pages forwarding the groups' attacks." - to 0day Vulnerabilities on june 10

06. Taiwan Faces Increasing Cyber Assaults - "A hacker managed to issue an e-mail attachment that contained a fake press release purportedly from the Military Spokesman’s Office describing a meeting between People’s First Party representatives and MND officials." - to InformationWarfare Cyberwarfare Taiwan China on june 10

07. Social- and Interactive-Television Applications Based on Real-Time Ambient-Audio Identification - "We showed how to sample the ambient sound emitted from a TV and automatically determine what is being watched from a small signature of the sound—all with complete privacy and minuscule effort." - to NewMedia Privacy Surveillance on june 10

08. The Evolution of In-Game Ads - "Marketed as a way to help game makers increase their bottom line or make specific titles more realistic, advertisers are continually searching for ways to reach new audiences—young males and beyond."- to Game Advertising ... on june 11

09. Risks of Keeping User Data Outweigh Benefits - "Large data troves are certain to become targets of hackers, identity thieves and unscrupulous insiders. As the raft of recent data breaches has shown, there are plenty of companies, organizations and government agencies that do a lousy job at securing data." - to Security on june 11

10. Protect Me, Protect My Data - "Companies that underestimate security threats to their records do so at their own peril. It can mean a loss of trust and of business." - to Security on june 11

11. Audit finds security weaknesses at NASA center - "The IG’s audit found other problems as well. System administrators also accessed a key server containing security information without adequate encryption and did not remove unnecessary services from the network." - to Security NASA on june 11

12. America's Most Stolen Vehicles - "The Cadillac Escalade had the highest theft claim rate overall, according to the HLDI, and was the most stolen SUV, according to the CCC 2004 stolen vehicle report." - to Security Theft on june 11

13. N Korea in 'US spy plane' warning - "North Korea says it will punish the US, after claiming it is conducting spying flights over its territorial waters." - to Intelligence Reconnaissance on june 11

14. McAfee SiteAdvisor to add site blocking, extend ratings beyond Web - "McAfee is planning enhancements to its recently acquired SiteAdvisor software that will allow the Web-rating application to block inappropriate Web sites, offer safety ratings for online transactions and rate Web links that appear in e-mail and IM windows. - to McAfee SiteAdvisor on june 11

15. Google and Ebay : The MBA Analysis - "In fact, as they researched the paper over the course of the year, the authors came to the conclusion that eBay had no choice but to ally with either Yahoo or Microsoft. Then the Journal reported as much, and the Yahoo/eBay deal went down." - to NewMedia Google Ebay on june 11

Travel Without Moving - Georgi Markov's KGB Assassination Spot

In the spirit of the previous hot spot in the Travel Without Moving series, here's another one, this time Georgi Markov's KGB Assassination spot. Georgi Markov was killed in London, in 1978, using a tiny pellet fired from an umbrella containing 0.2 milligram dose of poison ricin.

You may also find this Time Out's briefing on London's espionage locations interesting.

Going Deeper Underground

IT Security Goes Nuclear, at least that's what they say.

"Venture capitalists are predicting a "business boom below ground" as blue-chip companies turn to nuclear bunkers built at the height of the Cold War in the battle to protect sensitive electronic data. The latest private equity investor to move in on the area is Foresight Venture Partners, which has just taken a 20 per cent stake in The Bunker Secure Hosting."

But no matter how deep underground you are, you would still be providing an Internet connection given you're a hosting company. That's an open network, compared to a closed one which is more easy to control -- thick walls wouldn't matter when it comes to connectivity and insiders. It's logical for any data to be stated as secure in that type of environment, but an authorized/unauthorized "someone"will want to use and abuse it for sure.

VCs often exagerate to develop a market sector they somehow envision as profitable in the long term, the real issue is that, while the idea is very marketable, you cannon base future trends on this fact only. They'd better invest in market segments such as portable security solutions, or risk management companies such as Vontu and Reconnex, which I covered in a previous post related to insiders abuse.

There You Go With Your Financial Performance Transparency

Truly amazing, and the inavitable consequence of communication retention in the financial sector, but I feel it's the magnitude that resulted in Enron's entire email communication achive that's seems available online right now.

"Search through more hundreds of thousands of email messages to and from 176 former Enron executives and employees from the power-trading operations in 2000-2002. For the first time, they are available to the public for free through the easy-to-use interface of the InBoxer Anti-Risk Appliance. Create a free account, and go to work. You can search for words, phrases, senders, recipients, and more."

The interesting part is how their ex-risk management provider is providing the data, in between fighting with the Monsters in Your Mailbox.