Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Abney and Associates Apple opening new Tokyo store - Apsense


TOKYO – Apple Inc. plans to open a store in Tokyo’s upscale Omotesando shopping district as early as March, adding its first outlet in the city in years as Japan’s economy recovers, according to a person familiar with the plan.

Construction is scheduled to be completed by February, the person said, asking not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak for Apple. The store would be Apple’s first opening in Tokyo since August 2005, according to the company’s website, which is advertising jobs for a new store in the city.

Takashi Takebayashi, a spokesman in Tokyo for Apple, didn’t immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. The iPad-maker’s first store in Tokyo in almost a decade is under construction as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe unveils the third prong of his strategy to boost economic growth that has already included fiscal stimulus and monetary policy.

“For Apple, the Japanese market is appealing in terms of quantity and price,” said Satoru Kikuchi, an analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. “There is a room to expand tablet sales and a possibility the Japanese market expands if Apple’s mobile carrier partners increase.”

NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest wireless carrier, would consider carrying the iPhone if it can limit the handset’s share of sales to less than 30 percent of the company’s total, Chief Financial Officer Kazuto Tsubouchi said Aug. 8. The Japanese carrier’s online store, called market, offers music, videos and games and competes with Apple’s iTunes store.

Prime Minister Abe has promised to loosen business regulations and increase government support to help the country’s industry as part of the “third arrow” plan, following fiscal and monetary stimulus. Consumer prices rose in June, and the world’s third-biggest economy expanded at an annualized 2.6 percent in the three months through June 30.

The land costs about $164 million and a completed store with Apple as tenant would value the property at around $254 million, said Seth Sulkin, a representative director at Tokyo real estate and asset manager Pacifica Capital KK.

Sulkin was Apple’s real estate adviser for all seven of the company’s previous stores in Japan.

“Apple wants the best real estate they can get,” said Sulkin. “They are particular about size and shape. If they have to wait to get the real estate, they would.”

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Ransomware Computer Virus Poses Financial Threat to Computer Users- Instructables


abney and associates, Ransomware Computer Virus Poses Financial Threat to Computer Users

Over recent years, computer and broadband related technology has come a long way. This has resulted in both consumers and individuals becoming increasingly reliant on their PCs and other internet enabled devices. However, while this advanced technology has provided commercial and residential users with far greater ease and convenience in a huge number of ways, it has also given rise to the growing breed of crime known as cyber-crime.

Used for everything from extorting money and obtaining information through to the out-and-out sabotage of systems, cyber-crime has become a huge problem in the United States and in other countries around the world. In a recent warning, federal authorities in the United States have urged users to be vigilant as a result of another virus that is current doing the rounds with the intention of obtaining money from unsuspecting users.

According to authorities, the 'ransomeware' computer virus is duping users into handing over their cash by locking their computer systems and displaying a warning message. The contents of the message are designed to lead users into thinking that the warning is from the Department of Justice or the courts. Users are told via the message that they have to make a payment or they could be prosecuted. However, officials have confirmed that government departments do not send out messages of this nature and the computer is locked by a virus that has been set up by cyber criminals looking to extort money from the public.

Dan Steiner, Security Expert from Online Virus Repair advised that making a payment in response to the message will not result in the user's computer being unlocked by the criminals. He said:

Computers affected by this virus will remain frozen until the user makes arrangements to have the virus removed. Those affected by the virus should refrain from making what is essentially a ransom payment, even if they are desperate to regain control of their computer, as paying will make no difference to anything other than their bank balances.

This is one in a long line of computer viruses that cyber-criminals are using to target both individuals and businesses. A similar virus was reported late last year, where users were receiving similar messages demanding payment and threatening prosecution. The U.S Justice Department has set up a hotline for those who want to obtain more information as well as those who have already fallen victim to this scam and wish to report it.


Over recent weeks, reports have highlighted how this virus has been gaining popularity, affecting computer users on a global basis. Authorities are hoping that raising awareness about the scam will help to stop more people falling victim to it.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Bringing internet snooping to book - topix


Revelations that GCHQ and the NSA have tapped into the internet on a huge scale have rightly provoked outrage. But intelligence analysts aren't the only ones likely to be tempted by the captured information.

The internet has transformed our relationship with information – and with the world – in ways that continue to surprise us. That may appear to many readers, especially those below the age of thirty, as a statement of the blindingly obvious but I think it can bear repetition.

The latest evidence for the transformative power of the web comes from the explosion of outrage detonated by  Edward Snowden's revelations that the NSA and GCHQ have been tapping into online activity on an unprecedented scale and with little apparent legal, congressional or parliamentary oversight.

The extent of the snooping, which has targeted friend and foe alike, has upset many. Our allies in Germany and France are furious; Noam Chomsky is alarmed; the founding fathers of the "land of the free" are reportedly spinning in their graves; and John Kampfner has sounded a grim warning about the further erosion of the West's moral authority over more draconian regimes. Even senior staff at MI5 think that GCHQ may have gone too far.

Among the general population the reaction appears more mixed. There is disquiet certainly but a significant fraction of the population - almost half in the US – has shrugged off the snooping. Perhaps primed by powerful fictional accounts of electronic espionage in TV shows such as Spooks or Homeland or the Bourne films, many of us have long presumed that we are under surveillance and so were unsurprised at the news. I suspect also that a generation happy to splurge the minutiae of their lives over Facebook and Twitter is less likely to be concerned that personal information is up for grabs by the government.

We should not be so blasé. Privacy is a precious commodity. Its commercial value emerged clearly, if grubbily, from the accounts of intrusive journalism unearthed by the Leveson Inquiry. But how far does the state have the right to track our private lives, even if it is in the pursuit of our rather ill-defined national and economic interests? Most would agree that the state has some business monitoring internet traffic, to sniff out trails of criminal or terrorist activity, and there are plausible sounding reassurances that valuable intelligence has been obtained in this way (though it is hard to test such claims).

However, we still need to be wary of our guardians. Our police forces have shown a cavalier disregard for the law when it comes to gathering information on environmentalists, or the families of murder victims or when cosying up to the press for cash. How can we ensure that our intelligence analysts operate to higher standards, now that we have discovered them to be siphoning enormous torrents of information from our computers into theirs?

The admission by GCHQ lawyers that the UK has a "light oversight regime compared to the US" is hardly reassuring. Given the pace of technological change, the state's ability to capture and process information from the web will only increase. It is too early to tell this internet-altered world how we are going to find the proper balance between the invasion of privacy and the rights of the individual, but if we are to maintain any semblance of democracy these questions need to be weighed in public and in parliament.

And yet, amid all the brouhaha, the thought did occur to me that there could be an upside to the discovery of unprecedented levels of state-sponsored snooping. There is one group that might privately be wishing they had access to the information flows being sucked into GCHQ: biographers.

The authors of biographies have, I suspect, very mixed feelings about the perturbing effect of the internet on their profession. Online digital archives – such as the amassed material on the history of DNA at the Wellcome collection – are certainly a boon to biographers (and historians in general). But at the same time, email has almost completely extinguished the art of letter writing, a quintessentially private medium that has traditionally provided access to those incautious remarks that can be crucial to unmasking character and motivation. Such letters (or copies) were commonly preserved by the recipient or sender until after their death – so that the boundaries of privacy were preserved – and bequeathed to families as treasured mementos or to libraries as valuable archives.

I have been reading scientific biographies of late, tracking the development of x-ray crystallography during the 20th century through the lives of figures including Desmond Bernal, Dorothy Hodgkin, Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins. In each case the text is coloured and enlivened by snippets from private letters that were written long before the web enveloped the globe.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Internet Technology by Abney and Associates: Don't get hacked by faulty security

Internet Technology by Abney and Associates: Don't get hacked by faulty security: http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/apr/01/ebj_insidetracktechnology/ Many thorns lie among the roses. In this wonderful world of tech...

Inte få hacka av felaktiga säkerhet

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/apr/01/ebj_insidetracktechnology/



Många thorns ligga bland rosorna. I denna underbara värld av teknik vi så grundligt njuta, finner vi ofta oss glömma törnen som ligger bland rosorna. Termer som Wi-Fi, molnet, 4 G, blogga och sociala medier nu verkar bära på samma likvärdighet som att upprätthålla din personliga hygien, livsmedelsbutiker shopping och byta olja i bilen.
Det finns dock många faror och fallgropar gömd bland rosor av denna teknik.Aldrig anta att det inte kommer hända dig.
Dator och nätverk brott ökar på många nivåer i vårt samhälle. En föga kända faktum är att cirka 97 procent av datorer anslutna till Internet har överträtts på något sätt. Detta innefattar virus, spyware, malware, phishing och avsiktliga angrepp.
Många småföretagare antar hackare kommer att rikta bara storföretag; dock är detta helt enkelt inte korrekt. Små till medelstora affärssystem och slutanvändare är nu det primära målet cyberbrottslingar.
Dåliga lösenord leda till dålig säkerhet.
Några av de största felen i dator-och nätverkssäkerhet är direkt relaterade till styrka eller svaghet i lösenord. Gemensamma rekommendationer innebär ändra ditt lösenord minst vart 60 dagar. Undvik att använda uppslagsord, namn, tangentsekvenser och siffror lätt identifieras som tillhör du som anställd nummer, fyra sista siffrorna i ditt personnummer, födelsedatum, etc. Också undvika att använda samma lösenord flera gånger eller på flera ställen.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Internet Technology by Abney and Associates: abney associates international reviews hong kong-Y...

Internet Technology by Abney and Associates: abney associates international reviews hong kong-Y...: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrbEXi5APUA abney associates international reviews hong kong Som har blitt hacket? Offentlige organ...

abney associates international reviews hong kong-Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrbEXi5APUA


abney associates international reviews hong kong

Som har blitt hacket?
Offentlige organer, Aviser, verktøy og private foretak-bokstavelig talt hundrevis av mål. Cybersecurity firmaet Mandiant, som har vært å spore disse angrepene siden 2004, sier data har blitt stjålet fra minst 140 selskaper, hovedsakelig amerikanske, inkludert Google, DuPont, Apple, The New York Times og The Washington Post, samt tenketanker, law firmaer, menneske-rettigheter grupper og utenlandske ambassader. Et selskap som tilbyr Internett-sikkerhet for amerikansk etterretning ble angrepet; så var en som holder blåkopier for landets rørledninger og strømnettverk. Hackere stjal selv gradert informasjon om utviklingen av F-35 stealth fighter jet fra underleverandører arbeider med flyets produsent, Lockheed Martin. Kongressens og lokale kontorer har rapportert brudd. I 2007, Pentagon selv ble angrepet, og det vil ikke si hva som var stjålet.

Hvem gjør det?
Ti år siden, var kinesisk patrioter jobber selvstendig bak mange av angrepene. Disse unge hackere var rasende av 1999 amerikanske bombingen av den kinesiske ambassaden i Beograd, Serbia, en ulykke under Kosovo-krigen. Ved hjelp av navnet Honkers, eller rød gjester, lanserte de en rekke denial-of-service angrep på amerikanske regjeringen nettsteder. Men innen få år noen av dem hadde begynt å arbeide med den kinesiske regjeringen, rettet mot tibetanske og Taiwansk uavhengighet grupper, religiøs gruppe Falun Gong, og noen i vest som kommunisert med kinesiske dissidenter. De siste årene, sier anti-malware spesialist Joe Stewart, antall hackere har doblet, med 10 store hacking grupper i Kina. "Det er en enorm arbeidskraft blir kastet på dette fra deres side," sa Stewart Bloomberg Businessweek. Kinas regjeringen nå ser ut til å være dirigere angrepene. "Vi har flyttet fra barna i deres soverom og økonomisk motivert kriminalitet til statsstøttet cybercrime," sier Graham Cluley, en britisk sikkerhets-ekspert.

Hvorfor Kina gjør dette?
Kina ser cyberwarfare som en gyldig form for internasjonal virksomhet og militær konkurranse, og er forfølger det de kaller "informasjonsdominans.'' MANDIANT har sporet mange av amerikanske angrepene til en Shanghai kontorbygg som synes å være hjemmet til folket 's Frigjøringshærs cyberwarfare enhet. Tusenvis av hacks, inkludert de av to av de fremtredende aliasene, stygg Gorilla og SuperHard, ble definitively spores til distriktet, og i de siste årene, at bygningen har installert høy-teknikken fiberoptiske kabler stand til å håndtere enorme datatrafikk. Rundt 2.000 mennesker er anslått til å virke i bygningen. Denne gruppen vises å spesialisere seg i engelske datamaskiner, og hackere synes godt bevandret i vestlige pop-kultur; en av hackere brukes Harry Potter referanser for hans passord. Kina har utstedt et teppe fornektelse, ringer Mandiants krav "grunnløse" og "uansvarlig."
Hvordan kommer hackere tilgang?
Det meste av teknikken kalles "spear phishing." De sender en e-post med en kobling som en ansatt av en målrettet selskapet så åpnes, aktivere malware programmer som feier gjennom databaser, støvsuge opp informasjon, inkludert e-post, plantegninger og andre dokumenter. Noen phishing e-poster er anerkjent som spam av mottakerne — men kinesiske får bedre til å skjule dem, noen ganger bruker e-postkontoer med navn på virkelige personer som er kjent til mottakeren, og bruker dagligdags engelsk, slik at e-post lese så sannsynlig selskapet virksomhet.

Hva gjør Kina med informasjon?
Corporate hemmeligheter er verdt en masse penger til kinesisk business. Tegninger av avanserte planter eller maskiner kan hjelpe mange kinesiske bransjer, og så kan data på bedriftens økonomi og politikk. Energiselskaper, for eksempel, kan dra nytte av å vite hva sine utenlandske konkurrenter er villige til å by for oljefelt områder. Kinesiske selskaper har allerede blitt saksøkt for angivelig å ha stjålet DuPonts egenutviklet metode for å gjøre kjemikalier som brukes i plast og maling. Mer illevarslende, kan noe av informasjonen som brukes til å avbryte amerikanske industrien eller infrastruktur (se nedenfor). Og mens Kina er den viktigste kilden til angrep, andre land også ofte banalisere amerikanske nettsteder, inkludert Russland, Nord-Korea og Iran.

Hva gjør USA for å beskytte seg selv?
Kongressen nektet å passere en omfattende cybersecurity loven i fjor på grunn av motstand fra virksomhet grupper, som klaget over at nye datamaskinen regelverket vil være kostbart og tung. Som et resultat, utstedt President Obama nylig en executive pålegg Homeland Security å identifisere "kritisk infrastruktur der en cybersecurity hendelsen rimelig kan resultere i katastrofale regional eller nasjonal effekter i offentlig helse og sikkerhet, økonomisk sikkerhet eller nasjonal sikkerhet." Disse selskapene vil måtte beef opp deres cybersecurity ved å installere flere lag med beskyttelse for de mest sensitive systemene. Akkurat nå, noen selskaper har bare en enkelt brannmur, og en gang som er brutt, alle data er tilgjengelige. "Den skitne lille hemmeligheten i disse kontrollsystemer er når du kommer gjennom omkretsen, de har ingen sikkerhet i det hele tatt," sa Dale Peterson av sikkerhetsselskapet Digital Bond. Hackere kan "gjøre noe de ønsker."
Et verst tenkelig scenario
Avsporet tog. Returautomater stengt plutselig ned med tusenvis av flyene i luften. Eksploderende kjemiske fabrikker og gassrørledninger. Strømbrudd over store deler av landet, varer i uker eller måneder. Dette er noen av apokalyptiske hendelser cybersecurity eksperter frykt-hacks som kunne drepe folk og purke panikk. Men hva kan være enda mer ødeleggende, ekspertene si, er en koordinert angrep på flere banker der hackere alter-ikke tørke-mye av den finansielle dataen som er lagret på datamaskinene. Med saldoer, gjeld, og andre data som er endret, ville ingen transaksjon være pålitelig. Nobody bankkonto eller boliglån uttalelse kunne anses nøyaktig. "Det ville være umulig å rulle som tilbake," sa Dmitri Alperovitch av det datasikkerhet selskapet CrowdStrike. "Du kunne skape absolutte kaos på verdens finansielle systemet i år." Leon Panetta, utgående forsvarsminister, advarer at hackere er nå testing forsvar av banker, verktøy og offentlige etater, og å finne ut hvordan å starte en lammende angrep. "Dette er en pre-9/11 øyeblikk," fortalte Panetta nylig bedriftsledere i New York. "Angriperne er plotting."

abney associates international reviews hong kong

Read More: