Apple has long been paraded as the security maven when compared to Microsoft. However, it looks like this reputation might be changing. Recent reports from security firm Kaspersky Lab have found that malware on the Apple platform is growing. Speaking at the Infosecurity Europe 2012 event, Eugene Kaspersky, the firm’s CEO and co-founder, even said that Apple was “10 years behind Microsoft in terms of security.”
To help us get a better understanding of this news, WebProNews spoke to Kurt Baumgartner, a senior researcher at Kaspersky Lab. According to him, Apple’s security response is especially lacking. As he explained, Microsoft has created a vulnerability-patching program that allows Oracle to provide updates when Java vulnerabilities are detected. Apple, on the other hand, maintains its own patching schedule, which means vulnerabilities could exist for several months before being addressed.
Baumgartner told us that he believes Apple is starting to make improvements in its security but said it would take time to completely solve the concerns. He encourages Apple customers to uninstall Java, which he calls the thorn in Apple’s side, if they don’t need it. Furthermore, he suggests that they reach out to Apple representatives and request them to make improvements to the security update process.
As he explained, if proper action isn’t taken, the malware will only become more prevalent and dangerous.
Are you surprised to hear that Apple’s security is weakening? Do you believe it? Let us know.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on May 8th, 2012. Comment. 
The historic decision from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to open the top-level domain market has received a lot of criticism ever since its announcement last year. Recent developments, however, are bringing even more concerns to table about the stability of the program.
The application process for the new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), which was originally scheduled to end on April 12, has been put on hold indefinitely after a technical glitch was detected in ICANN’s software system. What’s more, the security issue also resulted in a data breach that allowed some applicants’ information to be compromised.
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has raised issues about the program from the beginning claiming that it could be harmful to both consumers and brands. Dan Jaffe, the Group Executive Vice President of Government Relations at ANA, told us that ICANN needed to check the security of the system before the application process began.
ANA has asked that ICANN bring in a third party consultant to investigate the issues. It is also requesting that the Commerce Department press ICANN for answers and transparency before allowing it to move forward with its plan. Jaffe said he would like to see ICANN take steps that ensure these problems don’t arise in the future as well.
At this point, ICANN is notifying the applicants that were compromised and is expected to re-open the application process once everyone is informed.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on May 3rd, 2012.
The tech industry has hit Wall Street hard in the past couple of years with several IPOs. The trend is continuing as Facebook, the world’s largest social network, is expected to complete its initial public offering very soon.
Although many think that these IPOs legitimize areas such as social networking and gaming, there are some questions in terms of the impact on the market. According to Vitaliy Katsenelson, the Chief Investment Officer at Investment Management Associates and author of The Little Book of Sideways Markets, some of these companies are trying to shift the power from the shareholders to the CEOs.
For example, Facebook recently acquired Instagram for $ 1 billion without much input from the company’s board. As Katsenelson explained, Facebook bought a non-profitable company for an inflated price.
While this type of behavior is very different from what the market is accustomed to, he told us that it may work for the short term. However, for the long term, Katsenelson said investors would demand that businesses make decisions that ensure a “genuine cash flow.”
Does this mean Facebook and other tech companies face a rough road ahead? What do you think?
Filed under Internet Marketing by on May 1st, 2012.
How would you like to have a Facebook News Feed for all the news and information you consume? A new startup that just launched into public beta aims to do just this. The company is called Wavii and takes the concept of news aggregation to a new level.
As Adrian Aoun, the CEO of Wavii, explained to WebProNews, the company aims to understand everything on the Web. Although he admits it’s an ambitious goal, Aoun believes that Wavii has the potential to organize the world’s information beyond the extent of Google’s mission.
The service, which is available on the Web and in an iPhone app, allows users to set up feeds for news and topics of interest. For instance, users can receive snippets of information regarding topics such as President Obama, Apple, Kate Middleton, and more.
Going forward, Aoun told us that Wavii would like to return broader information about a specified topic. In other words, if the topic is Kate Middleton, Wavii wants to also include quotes from famous people about her in the feed.
Although it’s still in the very early stages, Aoun believes that Wavii plays a significant role in solving the problem of big data.
Do you see yourself using Wavii for your news and information? What do you think?
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Apr 29th, 2012.
Adobe made several announcements this week, much to the excitement of creative professionals. The company introduced Adobe Creative Suite 6 as well as its Creative Cloud.
As Heidi Voltmer, the Director of Product Marketing at Adobe, explained to WebProNews, CS6 includes 14 new products and 4 Creative Suites. She told us that Adobe focused on speed and performance, improving features in tools such as Photoshop, making sure that the content produced in CS6 is ready for devices, and updating the user interface.
In addition to CS6, Adobe also introduced Creative Cloud, which creates a hub for users to explore and share content through CS6 desktop applications. Creative Cloud runs on a membership basis that allows users to pay on an ongoing basis for access to the newest technology.
“It’s not just like today, where you buy a single box and you don’t see anything new from Adobe for 12-24 months,” said Voltmer. “With the Creative Cloud, you actually get those updates on an ongoing basis.”
Voltmer pointed out that these products allow Adobe to not only serve designers, but also the enterprise market.
Adobe CS6 and Creative Cloud are scheduled to be released on May 23.
What do you think of Adobe CS6 and Creative Cloud? We’d love to know.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Apr 27th, 2012.
