Google boosts Web bug bounties to $20,000
Google today dramatically raised the bounties it pays independent researchers for reporting bugs in its core websites, services and online applications.
The search giant boosted the maximum reward from $3,133 to $20,000, and added a $10,000 payment to the program.
The Vulnerability Reward Program (VRP) will now pay $20,000 for vulnerabilities that allow remote code execution against google.com, youtube.com and other core domains, as well as what the company called "highly sensitive services" such as its search site, Google Wallet, Gmail and Google Play.
Remote code flaws found in Google's Web apps will also be rewarded $20,000. Read more...
Palestinian Authority Found to Block Critical News Sites
According to a report from Ma’an News published today, the Palestinian Authority has ordered the blocking of websites belonging to eight news outlets critical of President Mahmoud Abbas. The report states that technicians at PalTel—the largest ISP in the West Bank—tweaked their proxy server and web cache daemon to block the sites, while other ISPs are using similar setups. The blocking is inconsistent across ISPs, with at least one failing to block certain sites on the list. Read more...
The ugly dark side of Facebook memes
James Denham does not have a strong social media following. He’s basically anonymous; type his name into Google, and you’re not going to find anything about him. But in January, Denham ran across an image of what appeared to be two teenagers cruelly hanging a puppy by a string and posted it to his Facebook wall. Text on the image implores users to “share this picture” and contact authorities if they recognize the perpetrators.
The photo has since been shared over 70,000 times from this profile, making it among the most widely viewed content on the site. Yet what Denham didn’t realize at first is this image has been circulating on the Internet for years, and the culprits were identified long ago. Read more...
A divided Congress confronts a rising cyberthreat
The mysterious caller claimed to be from Microsoft and offered step-by-step instructions to repair damage from a software virus. The electric power companies weren't falling for it.
The caller, who was never traced or identified, helpfully instructed the companies to enable specific features in their computers that actually would have created a trapdoor in their networks. That vulnerability would have allowed hackers to shut down a plant and thrown thousands of customers into the dark.
The power employees hung up on the caller and ignored the advice.
The incident from February, documented by one of the government's emergency cyber-response teams, shows the persistent threat of electronic attacks and intrusions that could disrupt the country's most critical industries.
The House this week will consider legislation to better defend these and other corporate networks from foreign governments, cybercriminals and terrorist groups. But deep divisions over how best to handle the growing problem mean that solutions are a long way off.
Chief among the disputes is the role of the government in protecting the private sector. Read more...
Adobe to launch new software suite for designers
Adobe is launching the latest version of its software package for designers and Web developers.
Adobe Systems Inc. is set to announce CS6 on Monday at an event in San Francisco. Creative Suite 6 includes Photoshop, Illustrator and other programs aimed at designers.
Unlike previous versions, which came shrink-wrapped in a box, Creative Suite 6 will be available on a monthly subscription basis as part of Adobe's Creative Cloud offering. Subscriptions will start at $50 a month for those who sign up for a year. Subscribers will be able to download programs such as Photoshop, InDesign or Illustrator, store their work online and share files with others. Read more...
Dropbox Sharing Gets Ridiculously Easy With Links
In the words of Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, sharing documents and other files online is “bafflingly, still really difficult.” I mean, clearly it’s doable through email and, yes, services such as Dropbox, but it’s still kind of a pain. With a new feature launching today, Houston and his team are trying to make things as absolutely simple as possible. And it looks like they’ve succeeded.
Houston and Product Manager Ivan Kirigin demonstrated the feature to TechCrunch Editor Eric Eldon and me last week. It was one of those demos that went flew by — in a good way. Read more...
Microsoft to pull plug on XP in 2 years
Microsoft has kicked off what it calls a "two-year countdown" to the death of Windows XP and the Office 2003 productivity suite.
Separately, Microsoft announced that Windows Vista, the problem-plagued operating system that never really took hold among customers, exited mainstream support on April 10. In a product's extended support phase, Microsoft provides security patches to registered users but offers other fixes, including reliability and stability updates, only to organizations that have support contracts with the company. Read more...
Google Drive spotted on a Google employee’s phone
Google’s cloud storage service, Google Drive, has been talked about for quite a bit. Unfortunately to date there hasn’t been any official confirmation of sorts with the latest rumor suggesting that a launch of Google Drive could be happening as soon as this week. Perhaps that rumor could very well pan out thanks to a Google employee indadvertedly showing off the Google Drive icon on his phone during an Android Developers Hangout on Google Plus. Google promptly yanked the video but not before the good folks over at The Verge managed to grab a screenshot on the developer’s phone (pictured above).
For those unfamiliar, Google Drive is expected to be an alternative to popular cloud storage service, Dropbox. According to the rumors, Google Drive will attempt to lure Dropbox users over onto its service by offering 5GB free at the start which is 3GB more than Dropbox’s 2GB offering. Read more...
Google AdWords for video rolls out of beta and is now available for every business
Two weeks after YouTube opened its partner program to everyone to let people monetize their uploads, the Google-owned video platform has now announced that Google AdWords for video is now leaving beta, having launched initially last September.
For the uninitiated, AdWords for video follows the same model as its Google Search counterpart, in that you only pay when someone clicks to view your video, and when they watch the entire ad. So, for example, if they click ‘skip’ in the first thirty seconds, you don’t pay a bean. You can create and manage video campaigns from the very same platform as your search and display ads. Read more...
HTC to develop its own processors, mimicking Apple and Samsung, in deal with ST-Ericsson: Report
In an attempt to reduce its reliance on third-party processor makers, HTC has reportedly signed a memorandum of cooperation with ST-Ericsson to develop its own mobile chips, following the same route as its rivals Apple and Samsung.
According to a report by the China Times, HTC will develop a dedicated application processor that will be incorporated into its low-end smartphones when production starts next year.
Facing increased competition in the smartphone market as of late, HTC has been forced to overhaul its device strategies, focusing on ‘hero’ devices that started with the launch of the HTC One range of Android smartphones that fused impressive hardware specifications with a tighter software experience that built upon Google’s Android operating system. Read more...