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German government warns users off Internet Explorer

The German government has urged the public to stop using Internet Explorer after Microsoft admitted a bug in its web browser.

The German government has urged the public to stop using Microsoft's Internet Explorer after the company admitted a bug.

Microsoft said that the bug makes PCs vulnerable to hacker attacks. Computer virus creators, suchj as the criminals behind the Poison Ivy trojan, can exploit the security hole in Internet Explorer to take control of PCs that visit a malicious website.

The German government's Federal Office for Information Security, or BSI, said it was aware of targeted attacks and that web surfers could be easily lured to a website where hackers had planted viruses.

"A fast spreading of the code has to be feared," the German government said.

The BSI advised all Internet Explorer users to switch to an alternative browser until the manufacturer has released a security update.

The flaw was spotted by Luxembourg-based security expert Eric Romang, when his PC was infected by Poison Ivy last week.

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Faster 4G mobile broadband

Faster 4G mobile broadband coming to the UK this year       

But Vodafone says Ofcom's approval of a Everything Everywhere's application to use existing bandwidth shows a "careless disregard" for consumers

• By James Temperton - 21/08/2012

Mobile broadband is about to get faster

                  

Faster mobile broadband is coming to the UK this September after Ofcom approved an application by Everything Everywhere to use existing bandwidth for its 4G network.




The company, which owns Orange and T-Mobile, will be able to use its existing 1800MHz spectrum to start running a 4G mobile broadband service well ahead of schedule. Ofcom has said that Everything Everywhere can start operating its 4G network from 11 September 2012.

Read more: Mobile broadband news | Smartphone reviews

 

Everything Everywhere said the decision was "great news" for the UK. In July Ofcom announced that the auction of radio spectrum set aside for 4G mobile broadbandwould finally take place at the start of 2013, with access to services not expected until the end of the year.

Its decision to grant Everything Everywhere a head start has angered rival operators. Ofcom said the decision would not have a negative impact on consumers.
Vodafone disagreed and in a strongly worded statement the network operator said it was "shocked" at Ofcom's decision.

"The regulator has shown a careless disregard for the best interests of consumers, businesses and the wider economy through its refusal to properly regard the competitive distortion created by allowing one operator to run services before the ground has been laid for a fully competitive 4G market."

O2 echoed this, saying it was "disappointed" in the decision and that it undermined the "competitive environment for 4G in the UK."

Microsoft updates its Logo

For the first time in more than two decades, Microsoft has updated its logo in preparation for several major product launches, principally Windows 8.

The company said it was the "perfect time" for a change from the old logo (shown below). The logo uses the same font being used in new Microsoft products, called Sage, with the four squares representing the range of Microsoft products.

Read more: Windows 8 news | Windows 8 video guides

 

Microsoft explained that it wanted to introduce a common look and feel across all of its products from Xbox, to Office, Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.

The old Microsoft logo is now being retired
"It's been 25 years since we've updated the Microsoft logo and now is the perfect time for a change. This is an incredibly exciting year for Microsoft as we prepare to release new versions of nearly all of our products," wrote Jeff Hansen, general manager of brand strategy at Microsoft.

Microsoft's designers are the only ones to have taken a fresh look at the brand. Design student Andrew Kim undertook a complete redesign of Microsoft's branding as an experiment, which was very well received by internet users and design experts. Microsoft seems to have taken little notice.

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UK data breaches up tenfold since 2007

Warwick Ashford Thursday 30 August 2012 14:01

Data breaches in the UK across all sectors have increased an average of more than tenfold in the past five years, security firm Imationhas uncovered.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) revealed the figures in response to a request by Imation under the Freedom of Information Act.

The figures show a huge growth in the number of self-reported data breaches occurring each year since 2007, with the biggest increase in the local government sector.

Data breaches in this sector have increased nearly 17 times since 2007, while in the other public sector organisations they have increased by nearly 14 times.

In contrast, the number of breaches in the private sector increased by nearly 12 times, while the number reported by the NHS is only a little over nine times greater. The number reported by central government is just under a third greater.

Read more about data breaches

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But the most recent results show that the NHS had the most incidents in the second quarter of 2012 with 61 breaches, closely followed by local government (59) and general business (26).

“The massive increase in data breaches in just five years is fairly startling,” said Nick Banks, head of Imation mobile security in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

“Perhaps more alarming, is the consistent year-on-year increase in data breaches since 2007. The figures obtained from the ICO by Imation seem to show that increasing financial penalties have had little effect on the number of data breaches each year,” he said.

Banks said that while factors such as the introduction of mandatory reporting in some sectors and the increasing amounts of data being stored have contributed to the rise in data breach numbers, none obscures the clear trend of constant increases.

“The latest full-year figures show that there were 821 data breaches in the UK in 2011/12, which is deeply worrying,” he said.

According to Banks, organisations must take responsibility for preventing breaches, and with so much available technology there really is no excuse for failing to adequately protect data.

“The current trend of increases must be reversed, and there is no reason why that is not achievable,” he said.