Aviva Wrongly Fired the Entire Staff

Aviva’s email blunder left employees cleaning their desks, as over 1,300 workers of UK-based Aviva Investors were instantaneously fired by accident by email. The local media explained that the employees have got an email from their Human Resources department which told them to hand over corporate property and security passes prior to leaving the building, even though this letter was actually intended for one person. The letter in question reminded all employees of contractual obligations about retaining any confidential data pertaining to the company operations, systems and clients.

The email in question was sent to Aviva’s entire staff of 1,300 people, based in more than a dozen countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Canada, Poland, and the Netherlands. It took Aviva’s HR department almost half an hour to realize their mistake and release another letter apologizing to the personnel.

The employee the letter intended for was someone leaving on the day. However, somehow the letter was sent to all Aviva Investors employees across the globe. The representative of the company explained that staff would have known better. Nevertheless, that might not have been the case.

Two days before the incident, Aviva’s Chief Executive Officer Andrew Moss promised he would be overhauling the board and booting the corporate head, along with the heads of Europe and North America. At the moment the company is about to cut 160 jobs, which is about 12% of its global workforce. The observers would have thought it would mean that many of the staff would have entertained the very idea of them being fired a lot longer than Human Resources believed.

UK Anti-Piracy Legislation Postponed

The provisions of the anti-piracy law of the United Kingdom (under its Digital Economy Act) have been delayed again until 2014. Meanwhile, the “three-strikes” regime was designed to cut off repeat infringers and illegal file-sharers.

Actually, the “three-strikes” regime consists in the involvement of Internet service providers, because they are the ones to send notifications to alleged pirates (if caught) and monitor the overflow of authorized file-sharing. However, the country’s government department responsible with the DEA confirmed that all these plans of the creative industry have been put to a hold until 2014. The Big Content must be disappointed…
Among the measures that the graduated response system includes, you can find broadband limitations, but they only apply as a final solution for repeat infringers. Ofcom, the country’s communication regulator, had also confirmed earlier that it would start sending out warnings to file-sharers since the middle of 2013.
Nevertheless, because of legal challenges and bids raised (to clarify the legislation) by ISPs, the anti-piracy law has been delayed. The DEA was passed at the end of 2011 Labour government. Because of the bill’s controversy, major part of MPs withdrew their support, and the bill ended up with being voted by less than 10% of all the country’s representatives.
Meanwhile, the most prestigious Internet service providers of the United Kingdom, TalkTalk and BT, decided to intervene, saying that the legislation was breaching EU laws unsuccessfully. Moreover, the government of the United Kingdom had also faced criticism after the questions were raised in a Parliamentary committee regarding the evidence for the bill.
Since 2015 is the election year, this piece of legislation will undoubtedly appear at the centre of heated debates. You can imagine the Labour government drafting and implementing the controversial anti-piracy act, and the Conservative-led coalition government pushing through its measures. Of course, in 3 years it will be a hot topic for the politicians on the soapboxes. As for now, the pirates can sleep easily, at least until any new developments.

Take Care of Sensitive Data

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has released a report saying that the general public is at constant risk of becoming an easy target for online fraudsters. The results of the research showed that after the outfit managed to get 200 hard drives, 20 memory sticks and a dozen of mobiles, just buying them online or at trade fairs, it turned out that more than 34,000 files with personal or business information were left on the storage devices. Some of them contained sensitive health and financial data, and 2/3 of the hard drives had enough personal details to commit an identity theft.

The matter is that a lot of people believe that pressing the “delete” button will mean that the file is gone forever, but this data can actually be easily recovered. Taking into account the staggering number of headlines all over the world about losing important information in sensitive sectors, it is really frustrating that such a lax approach to personally identifiable data is pervasive. Although the report in question focuses more on the consumer, everyone knows about human folly leading to information disasters at companies in both the public and private sectors.

This point of view is shared by security company Sophos, which points out that this problem isn’t simple and reveals yet another example of people not paying 100% attention to where their sensitive information sits. Another survey of the company found that only 5% of British IT managers in the public sector act on data security due to the threat of ICO fines. However, the industry should do more to help the education. So, while 5% are reacting because of realizing the actual threats around protecting information, a staggering 95% aren’t that worried.

According to the survey, 65% of people surveyed pass on their old mobiles, PCs, and laptops to other users, while 20% would sell their devices on. However, this figure increased to 31% among 18-24 year olds. As for the Information Commissioner’s Office, it’s in a really difficult position, as the powers are already set. The punishment depends on the kind of company you are looking for: with a $500,000 fine levied on a financial institution, the impact will be minimal. However, if you press an SME for such punishment, it’ll be wiped out.

State-Backed IP Thieves

One of the advanced threat and intellectual property protection companies, named Bit9, has announced that every innovating company is in danger of corporate sabotage and theft. Moreover, the biggest threat is nation-states pulling the strings behind the scenes. The company says that if a company has resources, it can infiltrate someone’s networks easily. As for IP theft, the threats usually do not come from rogue hackers, but some employees whose job is to crack into a corporate network. Once they have made their way in, their colleagues will lay out the network’s topology. The data in question is collected to be passed on to other colleagues, who will get it out of the company in some undetectable way. In most cases they use a network of proxy servers for that purpose, sending the data on to other locations near the attacked company’s headquarters. Finally, the information will make its way into another country, in most cases – untraced.

Bit9 has developed software installed on endpoints that would watch every bite of data that goes on the device, checking trusted software and allowing it to run. Although the company couldn’t talk on specific clients, they are in most cases very large Fortune 500 international corporations that need a certain level of trust in place. Every company, including traditional global brands, has heavy R&D programs, and therefore opens itself up as targets.

There are many examples of such attacks, like the case of RSA security token snatch that was used to gain data from the America’s largest military contractor. Meanwhile, Bit9 was deployed with another firm targeted by hackers, the exact same as against RSA, which it stopped.

One more company was developing a large project and was also a very sensitive customer, which had to create an application on top of Google Earth. When Bit9 deployed its software at another end point in the firm, it turned out that Google Earth had a trust rating of 0. The matter is that they had built a sensitive project on Google Earth, with only one file that had been changed into a piece of dropper technology. In other words, of thousands of files only this one had been pulled out.

Taking into account London’s wealth and its position of the world’s largest financial centers, there’s no surprise that it’s as targeted as the United States.

ACTA Will Be Rejected

ALDE, the European Parliament’s Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, has recently confirmed that they are going to reject the ACTA. Guy Verhofstadt, the head of the alliance, supports intellectual property rights, but still believes that the treaty isn’t reaching the expected standards.

Guy Verhofstadt claimed that despite their support of the protection of intellectual property rights, they also care about human rights and freedoms. They pointed at serious concerns that the agreement didn’t strike the right balance. In addition, the alliance is going to support multilateral IP enforcement proposals, but the ones with a transparent, publicly discussed mandate only. Overall, it tends to agree on the concerns of those who boycotted the treaty in the past few months. Indeed, civil society has been vocal in the past few months in raising their legitimate concerns on the treaty, as there are too many provisions that lack clarity and certainty about the methods of their implementation in practice.
The main problem that the opposition points at is that ACTA was originally developed as a tool to deal with counterfeit products rather than with illegal sharing of digital content on the Internet. That’s what ALDE agrees with. In addition, the treaty wrongly bundles together different kinds of IPR enforcement, making physical goods and digital services equal.
However, the alliance believes that those should be approached in separate sectoral agreements, following a comprehensive mandate and impact assessment. A couple days ago the European Data Protection Supervisor also confirmed that the agreement could have unacceptable side effects on human rights. He said that while more international cooperation is required for the enforcement of intellectual property rights, the means envisaged can’t harm human rights. The governments should respect a right balance between how they tackle intellectual property infringements and the fundamental rights of privacy and data protection. Up to date, it seems that ACTA doesn’t succeed in this regard.
If the treaty is going to share the faith of Stop Online Piracy Act, you shouldn’t get your hopes high. Most likely, this won’t be the end of the “war”, because the American government is known to be working on yet another anti-piracy law – CISPA.

Another Way to Prevent Taping in Theatres

This week topping the chart is “Avatar”. Avatar is the story of an ex-Marine who finds himself thrust into hostilities on an alien planet filled with exotic life forms. As an Avatar, a human mind in an alien body, he finds himself torn between two worlds, in a desperate fight for his own survival and that of the indigenous people whom he has develop a bond with.


This firm will install 5” cameras that weigh 14.5 pounds each in the theatres. These cameras will send out beams of light and capture on film several seats at a time. Meanwhile, CEO of PirateEye explained last week that their company usually installs the cameras at premiers and press screenings. The goal of the company is to give up checking bags and use metal detectors at such events. Soon such systems would be used by theatre owners in order to discourage and catch camcorders trying to illegally tape the video. Maybe, it will even manage to stop the rude behaviour like talking on cellphones during the show.

Although the majority of people who like visiting the movies may be uncomfortable with the idea of being taped, the company is sure that there shouldn’t be any privacy concerns. Their goal is to not have someone else look at you suspiciously if you haven’t done anything wrong.

In case the cameras don’t catch a camcorder, the pictures will be destroyed. Thus far, the system covers 4/5 of industry screenings, and the company believes that a thousand more systems would be installed across the globe within the next 18 months. Meanwhile, the PirateEye has already proved its usefulness during CinemaCon’s industry presentation, because it managed to snatch a high-profile pirate last week.

According to Mitch Neuhauser, CinemaCom’s managing director, an individual was captured trying to illegally record Paramount’s presentation to exhibitors. This person was placed in police custody, and that’s all we know about his fate.

প্রোগ্রাম বানিয়ে তথ্য চুরি করেছে গুগল প্রোগ্রামার

সম্প্রতি জানা গেছে, গুগলের এক ইঞ্জিনিয়ার বাড়িতে অবস্থিত দুর্বল নিরাপত্তা ব্যবস্থার ওয়াই-ফাই নেটওয়ার্ক থেকে ব্যক্তিগত তথ্য সংগ্রহ করার একটি প্রোগ্রাম তৈরি করেছিলেন। খবর বিবিসির।

সূত্র জানিয়েছে, যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের ফেডারেল কমিউনিকেশনস কমিশন (এফসিসি)-এর তদন্তের পূর্ণ প্রতিবেদন প্রকাশ করেছে গুগল। সেখানে এফসিসি জানিয়েছে, ওই ইঞ্জিনিয়ার অন্ততপক্ষে দু’জন সহকর্মীকে তার এই প্রোগ্রামের কথা জানালেও স্ট্রিট ভিউ টিমের সিনিয়র কর্মকর্তারা এই পরিকল্পনা সম্পর্কে জানতেন না।

স্ট্রিট ভিউ প্রোগ্রামে গাড়ি থেকে ছবি তোলার সময় দুর্বল নিরাপত্তা ব্যবস্থার হোম ওয়াই-ফাই থেকে ইমেইল ঠিকানা, ব্রাউজিং হিস্ট্রি ইত্যাদি ব্যক্তিগত তথ্য হাতিয়ে নেয়ার ওই প্রোগ্রাম তৈরি করেন তিনি। প্রোগ্রামটি ২০০৮ থেকে ২০১০ পর্যন্ত সময়ে যেসব এলাকায় ছবি তোলা হয়েছে সেসব এলাকায় এই অবৈধ তথ্য সংগ্রহের কাজ করেছে।

নাম প্রকাশ না করে প্রকাশিত তদন্তের রিপোর্টটিতে বলা হয়েছে, ওই ইঞ্জিনিয়ার এসব তথ্য রিভিউ করে তা কিভাবে গুগলের অন্যান্য প্রকল্পের কাজে লাগানো যায়, সে পরিকল্পনা করেন। কিন্তু এ সম্পর্কে সিনিয়র কর্মকর্তারা কিছুই জানতেন না বলে তদন্তে প্রকাশ হয়েছে।

এই ঘটনায় ২৫ হাজার ডলার জরিমানা করা হলেও এফসিসি জানিয়েছে, গুগল কোনো আইন ভঙ্গ করেনি। এ ব্যাপারে গুগল জানিয়েছে, তারা স্বচ্ছতার কারণে এফসিসির তদন্তের রিপোর্ট থেকে কেবল নামগুলো মুছে দিয়ে প্রকাশ করেছে। এ ব্যাপারে তাদের মন্তব্য, ‘এফসিসির কিছু বিবৃতির সঙ্গে আমরা একমত না হলেও আমরা আইন ভঙ্গ করিনি-এ ব্যাপারে আমরা একমত।’

ফেইসবুকে যোগ হলো অ্যাকশন লিংকস

সম্প্রতি ফেইসবুকে যোগ হয়েছে ‘অ্যাকশন লিংকস,’ যার মাধ্যমে বন্ধুদের টাইমলাইনে থাকা অ্যাক্টিভিটির সঙ্গে আরও বেশি সংযুক্ত হওয়া যাবে। খবর ম্যাশএবল-এর।

ফেইসবুক জানিয়েছে, নতুন এই লিংকের মাধ্যমে লাইক করার পাশাপাশি ফেভারিট বা সেইভ করা যাবে। উদাহরণস্বরূপ, কেউ কোনো রেস্টুরেন্ট থেকে চেক-ইন করলে তার বন্ধুদের মধ্যে কেউ যদি সেই রেস্টুরেন্টে যেতে চান, তাহলে তার এই চেক-ইনটি তার নিজস্ব অ্যাকাউন্টে সেইভ করে রাখতে পারবেন এই ‘অ্যাকশন লিংক’ ব্যবহার করে।

এই সুবিধা কিভাবে ডেভেলপাররা তাদের অ্যাপ্লিকেশনে যোগ করতে পারবেন, তা নিয়েও একটি আলাদা নির্দেশনা তৈরি করেছে ফেইসবুক।

তহবিল নেই, তাই ইন্টারনেট সবাই পাবেন না

সম্প্রতি জানা গেছে, তহবিলে অর্থ স্বল্পতার কারণে যুক্তরাজ্য সরকারের সবার কাছে ইন্টারনেট সংযোগ পৌঁছে দেয়ার লক্ষ্য ব্যর্থ হতে পারে। খবর বিবিসির।

জানা গেছে, বৃটেনে ২০১৫ সালের মধ্যে ১০০ শতাংশ মানুষের কাছে ‘দ্রুত’ বা ফাস্ট ব্রডব্যান্ড এবং ৯০ শতাংশ মানুষের কাছে সুপার ফাস্ট ব্রডব্যান্ড পৌঁছে দেয়ার প্রকল্প হাতে নেয় দেশটির সরকার। তবে এর ফান্ডে প্রায় ১১০ কোটি পাউন্ড কম হয়ে যাওয়ার কারণে এই প্রকল্প বাস্তবায়ন নাও হতে পারে বেল জানিয়েছে লন্ডন স্কুল অফ ইকোনমিকস।

তারা আরও জানিয়েছে, মোট ২৪০ কোটি পাউন্ড প্রয়োজন এই প্রকল্প বাস্তবায়ন করার জন্য। কিন্তু সব পাবলিক সূত্র থেকে সর্বমোট ১৩০ কোটি পাউন্ড জোগাড় করা গেছে। বাকি প্রায় ১১০ কোটি পাউন্ড খরচ জোগাতে ব্যক্তিগত বা প্রাইভেট বিনিয়োগকারীদের এগিয়ে আসতে হবে বলে জানিয়েছে এলএসই।

এলএসই-র মতে, সাধারণ ব্রডব্যান্ড বলতে ২ এমবিপিএস স্পিড পর্যন্ত ব্রডব্যান্ডকে বোঝানো হচ্ছে। অন্যদিকে ফাস্ট ব্রডব্যান্ড বলতে ২ থেকে ২৪ এমবিপিএস এবং সুপারফাস্ট বলতে ২৪ এমবিপিএস-এরও বেশি গতির ইন্টারনেট স্পিডকে বোঝানো হয়েছে।

অবশেষে এলো গ্যলাক্সি এস থ্রি

অবশেষে সব গুজব ও প্রতীক্ষার অবসান ঘটিয়ে স্যামসাং ঘোষণা করলো তাদের গ্যালাক্সি সিরিজের নতুন হ্যান্ডসেট, গ্যালাক্সি এস ৩। নতুন এই হ্যান্ডসেটে চোখে পড়ার মতো বিশেষত্ব হচ্ছে এর বিশালাকার পর্দা। খবর হাফিংটন পোস্ট-এর।

জানা গেছে, ৪.৮ ইঞ্চি আকারের পর্দার এই হ্যান্ডসেটে দেয়া হয়েছে অ্যামোলেড স্ক্রিন। ৪জি এলটিই ইন্টারনেট সুবিধা ছাড়াও এতে রয়েছে গরিলা গ্লাস। এতে দেয়া হয়েছে ৮ মেগাপিক্সেল ব্যাক ক্যামেরা যা দিয়ে ১০৮০পিক্সেল এইচডি ভিডিও রেকর্ড করা সম্ভব। এছাড়াও সামনে রয়েছে ১.৯ মেগাপিক্সেল ক্যামেরা।

কোয়াড-কোর চিপসেটের স্যামসাং গ্যালাক্সি এস ৩ হ্যান্ডসেটে অ্যান্ড্রয়েড ৪.০.৪ (আইসক্রিম স্যান্ডউইচ) আপডেট দেয়া হয়েছে। মে মাসেই এটি বাজারে আসবে বলে জানিয়েছিলো স্যামসাং।