Be Warned: Trojan Pretends To Be Microsoft Security Essentials

I spent the day at two clients today. One who needed her laptop tweaked after having a new hard drive installed by a major retailer, and someone who got infected by a very interesting trojan that I’d like to tell you about. Apparently, she clicked on a link that allowed her to download what she thought was Microsoft Security Essentials. But in reality it was a trojan, and she figured it out when it it said that she had to pay to scan her hard drive. I did some research and discovered this Microsoft note on the subject. It is a really nasty bug and it took me the better part of an hour to get rid of it as stuff like this is really difficult to kill.

So be warned, if you see a link or an offer to download “Security Essentials 2010″, you should run quickly in the other direction.

Rogers And The Globe And Mail Trade Shots Over Broadband Study…. Canadian Broadband Users Still The Big Losers

Earlier this week a study came out from Harvard [Waring: PDF] that basically highlighted what everybody in Canada already knows (and I’ve pointed out on a couple of occasions). Canada is behind the curve when it comes to broadband. This lead to a rather interesting editorial in the Globe And Mail this past Sunday. Here’s a sample of what they had to say:

In the economic race among nations, widespread Internet access, and its fast, reliable and cheap provision to the most people, is a prerequisite for success. And Canada is falling behind. If we are to compete, it will take new policies, new vision from corporations, the federal government and its regulators, and a national collective will to compete.

That’s something that I’ve been saying for a while. Rogers for one doesn’t see things that way and shot back a very terse response to The Globe And Mail from Rogers V.P. of public affairs, Jan Innes on Wednesday:

For Canada to win in a global digital economy, our country needs to establish a national vision that looks beyond the often-flawed statistical rankings of broadband infrastructure. What we need to understand is why so many Canadian households still don’t have computers, why Canada is lagging in scientific research, and how we should best promote the development of Canadian content and applications.

You know, every time I keep hearing about a study that highlights the fact Canada is behind the curve when it comes to broadband access, the number one excuse that I keep hearing from Canadian telcos is that the study is flawed. If you the telcos think that’s the case, then show us an independent study from a source that everybody respects that supports your view that the Harvard study is flawed and maybe some points of view may change. But in the meantime, here’s my $0.02 worth. I’ve got customers in Canada, the US, and several European countries. I’ve used broadband Internet services in all those countries and from my perspective, Canada sucks when it comes to broadband Internet services. Compared to what is available in places like France and Germany, we’re in a digital wasteland. The only reason that it’s being denied by telcos like Rogers is that they really don’t want the federal government to wake up and say “You know, we need to take control of this before we fall too far behind the rest of the planet. Let’s pass some legislation to make this happen.” But legislation is the only way that this issue will get fixed as the telcos have proven that they want to give consumers less product for more money.

The only question, how long will Canadian broadband users have to wait for this to happen?

Palm Says Sales Are “Below Expectations”…. Shock… Not…

A press release from Palm appeared on the wires a couple of hours ago with this admission:

Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ:PALM) today indicated that it expects that revenues for the third quarter of fiscal year 2010 will be in the range of $285 million to $310 million on a GAAP basis and in the range of $300 million to $320 million on a non-GAAP basis.¹ Revenues for the quarter and full year are being impacted by slower than expected consumer adoption of the company’s products that has resulted in lower than expected order volumes from carriers and the deferral of orders to future periods. Accordingly, Palm expects fiscal year 2010 revenues to be well below its previously forecasted range of $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion. The company will provide more detail on its financial results during Palm’s third-quarter financial results conference call currently scheduled for Thursday, March 18.

For those of you looking for a translation, this means that Palm is not selling as many WebOS products (those would be the Palm Pre and Pixi) and thus won’t make as much money as it had hoped. I guess that proves the Pre and the Pixi aren’t the magic bullets to save the company. Just like I predicted they wouldn’t be when they were announced. The only question now is how long it will take Palm to wither and die?

In case you were wondering, Palm stock has nosedived 17% as I type this. I guess investors are heading for the exits.

NHTSA Has No Software Engineers To Analyze Toyota Car Computers…. That Can’t Be Good

Today was the start of the congressional hearings into Toyota’s numerous recalls involving brake issues and “unintended acceleration” issues. One of the things that came out of today’s hearings was this fact:

NHTSA officials told investigators that the agency doesn’t employ any electrical engineers or software engineers.

All together now. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Why is this an issue? Here’s why:

Software controls the vehicle, the operation of its engine, the mapping of the transmission shift points, the interactions among the components of the powertrain, the traction control system … the list could go on for pages and pages.

And the software that controls the “drive-by-wire” accelerators of Toyota and Lexus vehicles is one potential culprit in the tangled collection of issues, allegations, and recalls of many of those vehicles for so-called “sudden acceleration” problems.

The NHTSA’s mission is to “save lives, prevent injuries, reduce vehicle-related crashes.”

If it cannot properly analyze those systems, or even understand at a deep-code level how they work, then the agency is useless at overseeing the entire “Safety” part of its mandate.

I totally agree with the fact that if you can’t properly investigate and or evaluate a car that has a potential problem, then there’s no reason for your agency to exist. So if it turns out that Toyota’s issues are all software related (as I suspect that they are), then Toyota isn’t the only one who should be sued out of existence. The NHTSA should join them on that list.

Oh if that isn’t enough, The CEO of Toyota USA admitted that the recalls may not solve all the issues. Not only that, their rush to grow led to these issues according to Akio Toyoda who is the grandson of the founder of Toyota. Charming. If Toyota was trying to regain my confidence in their products, then that admission didn’t help in that department.

Toyoda is slated to be in front of congress tomorrow. All I have to say is good luck to him because he’s guaranteed to get roasted.

FTC Says Sensitive Data Leaking Onto P2P Networks…. Oh Noes!

If you run peer to peer (P2P) software on your computer such as Kazaa or Limewire, you need to read this story in USA Today. Apparently sensitive data is leaking onto P2P networks:

This is a long-debated concern on which studies have been done and for which Congressional hearings have been held. The basic problem has to do with well-meaning employees taking company files home and loading them on their personal PCs to work on.

If that PC is subsequently used to download free music or videos at LimeWire, Kazaa or dozens of other P2P networks — and the user is not careful about configuring the download – work files  can get exposed to all users of the network. “It sounds preposterous, but sensitive information leaking out unintentionally like this is amazingly common,” says Eric Johnson, director of digital strategies at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.

In fact, data leakage via P2P networks has become so commonplace that there are cybercrime gangs who specialize in continually searching P2P sites for sensitive work documents. FTC investigators easily found  health-related information, financial records, drivers’ license and social security numbers accessible on P2P networks — “the kind of information that could lead to identity theft,” says [FTC Chairman Jon] Leibowitz.

So why is this happening? Employees are being forced to do more with less, often being forced to use their home computers to get work done. That has to change according to some:

[Lisa] Sotto [head of privacy and information management at New York law firm Hunton & Williams] says companies need to establish and enforce policies relating to the access and use of sensitive company data, and train employees on best security practices. “Awareness is critical,” she says. “A lot of people don’t know that there is a problem.”

The thing is, I don’t see it changing anytime soon. Unless something major happens to a company in this regard, the expectation is going to be that employees will have to use their own computers to get work done. Because it’s better for them that their employees foot the cost of having to work from home. I see that sort of behavior from companies a lot in my travels. The only way to truly solve this is for laws to be passed that prohibit this behavior.

Rogers Announces New Data Roaming Plans…. But Do They Save You Money?

I got an e-mail from “my best friends at Rogers” today with some news:

Rogers announced some new One Rate Roaming Plans I thought you and your readers might be interested in.

For an extra $10 more per month than most Rogers regular domestic data plan rates, customers can now sign up for One Rate plans which allow them to use data (ie: e-mail, using applications or surfing the Web) in the U.S. as they would at home, and have it deducted from the same data bucket.

The full press release is here, but I’ve included some key points for you below.

Here are the available One Rate plans*:

o       $20 Personal Email on BB CDN/US
o       $35 Consumer/Small business BB (BIS) 500MB CDN/US Plan
o       $35 Consumer/Small business 500MB CDN & US Data Plan
o       $40 Consumer/Small business BB (BIS) 1GB CDN & US Plan
o       $40 Consumer/Small business 1GB CDN & US Data Plan
o       $45 500MB CDN & US Mobile Internet Flex Rate Plan
o       $50 DAP (for MSD customers) 1.5GB CDN & US Data Plan
o       $55 Corporate BB (BES) 1GB CDN & US Plan
o       $55 Corporate BB (BES) 500 MB CDN & US Flex Rate Plan

*Prices listed do not include the Government Regulatory Recovery Fee. See rogers.com/regulatory fee for more information.

In addition to data plans, Rogers is offering One Rate value packs. For $50 (plus Government Regulatory Recovery Fee), BlackBerry, iPhone and other smartphone customers can get 500 MB of data, unlimited SMS in Canada, enhanced voicemail and other features.

Rogers also offers a variety of voice, data and SMS roaming solutions for less frequent travelers. Check out www.rogers.com/roaming for more information on US and international roaming.

For more details, customers should contact Care to determine the best roaming options for them.

That seems great, except that it didn’t take long for somebody to raise some doubt about how much money they would save. Digital Home has posted an article on this topic and here’s what they had to say:

The new plans are available across a wide range of plan sizes and generally cost about $10 more per month than their Canada-only equivalents and carry an additional data charge that is more than eight times higher than a Canada only plan.

For example a Rogers 500 MB Blackberry or Smartphone Canada only data plan is currently $25 per month plus Government Regulatory Recovery Fee with an additional data charge of 3 cents per megabyte if the 500MB cap is exceeded. The equivalent Canada and U.S. 500MB plan is $35 a month plus Government Regulatory Recovery Fee with an additional data charge of 3 cents per megabyte.

Although the plans give Rogers Wireless customers greater certainty over costs when visiting the U.S., they are much more costly for customers when they are in Canada.

While in Canada, customers will pay $10 more per month ($120 per year) for the privilege of the North American One Rate plan plus an additional data fee of 25 cents per megabyte versus just three cents a megabyte on the Canadian plan.

Okay. That doesn’t sound good. But if you travel to the US often, these new plans might be just the ticket as you might save some money. Like “my best friends at Rogers” suggests, you should determine the best roaming option for you.

Has Google Gone Evil? [UPDATED]

I’ve been so busy lately that I really haven’t been keeping up with my blog. But there is one issue that I’ve had to write about. The issue is Google Buzz. Google introduced it recently as their entry to the social networking space and I’ll let Google describe what it’s all about:

Google Buzz is a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting. It’s built right into Gmail, so you don’t have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch — it just works. If you think about it, there’s always been a big social network underlying Gmail. Buzz brings this network to the surface by automatically setting you up to follow the people you email and chat with the most. We focused on building an easy-to-use sharing experience that richly integrates photos, videos and links, and makes it easy to share publicly or privately (so you don’t have to use different tools to share with different audiences). Plus, Buzz integrates tightly with your existing Gmail inbox, so you’re sure to see the stuff that matters most as it happens in real time.

Charming, but the fact that it was integrated with Gmail caused problems right out of the box. Google in their infinite wisdom didn’t let users opt into Buzz, they but automatically applied it to millions of Gmail users. Not smart because it disclosed information that those users thought was private. Silicon Alley Insider describes the implications of this flaw this way:

In my profession — where anonymous sourcing is a crucial tool — the implications of this flaw are terrifying.

But it’s bad for others too. Two obvious scenarios come to mind:

• Imagine if a wife discovering that her husband emails and chats with an old girlfriend a ton.
• Imagine a boss discovers a subordinate emails with executives at a competitor.

Now to be fair, Google did make a couple of changes to address these issues, but nobody was truly happy. That led to a class action lawsuit being filed against Google. I’m betting others will be filed shortly.

So does that mean that Google has gone evil? IMHO, yes.

Google seems to be intent on collecting as much info on you as possible and using it ways that allow them to make money. If you don’t believe me and you happen to have a Gmail address, click here and see how much information Google has on you). If anything that they do happen to infringe upon your privacy, too bad so sad as far as they are concerned. That is until the story hits the press and then they backtrack.

That really doesn’t sound like a company that is interested in doing no evil.

Google has really dropped the ball here and needs to regain the trust of their users. If they can’t do that, then they need to get the message that this behavior is completely unacceptable by having their users dump Google services. Given that Google users are Google’s biggest assets, the less users they have, the less money they make. Maybe that will get their attention that they need to live up to their motto of “do no evil” rather than to pay lip service to it.

UPDATE: Gizmodo has a guide to help you to dump Google and move their competitors. So if you’re done with Google, give this article a read.

RIM Releases Blackberry Server Software For Free

Traditionally, if you’re a small business and you want your Blackberries to have all the calendar, contacts, notes, and task syncing functions that large enterprises enjoy, you were out of luck unless you were willing to pay for BlackBerry Enterprise Server which is not cheap by any standard. RIM changed that yesterday by announcing BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express which has the really attractive price of $0. Really, it’s free. Their press release says so:

The new BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express software will be provided free of charge in order to address two key market opportunities. First, the software offers economical advantages to small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) that desire the enterprise-grade security and manageability of BlackBerry® Enterprise Server but don’t require all of its advanced features. Second, more and more consumers are purchasing BlackBerry smartphones and the free BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express software provides a cost-effective solution that enables IT departments to meet the growing demand from employees to be able to connect their personal BlackBerry smartphones to their work email.

BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express works with Microsoft Exchange 2010, 2007 and 2003 and Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2008 and 2003 to provide users with secure, push-based, wireless access to email, calendar, contacts, notes and tasks, as well as other business applications and enterprise systems behind the firewall. Importantly, the new server software utilizes the same robust security architecture found in BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

Now of course there is no such thing as a free lunch, and this holds true for Blackberry Enterprise Server Express. It’s missing many of the high availability and IT management features of it’s big brother, but that’s likely not going to be a factor for small business types. Also, it’s limited to 75 users which I don’t think will bother too many small business types either.

Why is RIM doing this? I’m guessing that this is another part of RIMs attempt to broaden it’s customer base outside large corporate entities. These types of customers may want to consider other options (read: iPhone) if RIM didn’t have an option for them. Seeing as they make most of their money from getting a cut of the subscription fees, that’s a good move on their part. We’ll see if that helps to keep the iPhone at bay in the corporate space.

Rogers And Fido Release New Phones…. And Some Of Them Have Some “Green” Cred

Over the last week, Rogers and Fido have both released new phones that will get your attention. First I’ll start with the Rogers brand and I’ll let “my best friends at Rogers” give you the details about the Samsung Flight:

The device has a 3” touchscreen and unique portrait-style QWERTY keyboard. It is $69.99 on a three year contract.
You can find more details in Samsung’s press release here.

I checked the press release and it has a few more details:

Flight is the social butterfly of the wireless world, offering users enhanced multimedia functionality through a 2.8″ touch screen that slides back to uncover a full QWERTY keyboard. Users can also share videos and 2.0 MP resolution photos with their friends and family through SMS and MMS, Instant Messaging and mobile e-mail.

The press release didn’t say what OS it runs (other than to mention that it has JAVA) so it’s a safe bet it’s not running anything like Android. It’s $69.99 on a three year contract.

Now from the Fido brand comes three phones that are great for the eco types out there. Starting with the Sony Ericsson Naite:

The device provides environmentally friendly features like:

·       A minimum of 50% post-consumer recycled plastics
·       A C02 emissions calculator
·       A low power consumption charger
·       Packaging that uses 92% less paper than standard boxes
·       An e-manual
·       Waterborne paint

The device also comes with a Twitter and Facebook application, a 2 MP camera, a built-in FM radio and MP3 player.

If that got your attention, then you can pick one up at for $25 on a two year plan. But this phone isn’t the only one that Fido offers that is eco friendly. Fido also offers the Moto Renew and Moto Renew+ , both of them made from 25% post-consumer recycled plastic. you can pick up the Renew for $0 on a two year plan and the Renew+ for $15 on a two year plan.

So if you’re on Rogers and Fido and you’re due for a new phone, you have four more options to choose from.

Bell Aliant Sues Rogers… Says Rogers Claims About Their Internet Service Are “False And Misleading” [UPDATED]

It seems that Bell Aliant (Bell Canada’s Eastern Canada arm) is sick of hearing about how fast Rogers Internet supposedly is because they’ve filed suit to get Rogers to stop saying that:

In the claim filed on Monday, Bell Aliant said Rogers’ advertising is “false and misleading with respect to their claims to having the ‘fastest and most reliable’ high speed Internet product.”

If this sounds familiar, it’s because Rogers and Telus have filed similar lawusits over who is fastest and most reliable. So this is just the latest in that circus IMHO.

See you in court!

UPDATE: Rogers sent me this statement: “We stand behind our advertising, which is based on rigorous, independent testing throughout Rogers Atlantic footprint, and not just one area or location. This independent testing shows that  our High-Speed Internet customers benefit from the fastest and most reliable speeds which we look forward to proving in court.” Let the games begin.