Hack triggers blitz on passwords

15 December 2010 Last updated at 07:42 ET

Millions of web users are being asked to reset their passwords as concerns spread over a major hacking attack.

Yahoo, Twitter and LinkedIn have asked users to change their details, days gossip site Gawker was hacked.

Online game World of Warcraft, which has more than 12 million subscribers, has also asked some users to reset their passwords.

Blizzard, the company behind the game, said it was an attempt to "minimise the effects" of the Gawker breach.

Although thousands of Twitter accounts were compromised after the attack, there have been few other reports of damage directly linked to the breach.

Many companies, however, have taken steps to identify users at risk and warn them before an exploit can take place. A spokesman for LinkedIn said it necessary to take "proactive security measures" to screen users thought to be in danger.

Defence mode

The attack on Gawker, which runs one of the world's most popular blog networks, was carried out over the weekend by an organisation calling itself Gnosis.

The group - which says it was making a protest at the site's perceived "arrogance" - subsequently published account details of 1.3 million Gawker users online, including a significant number of passwords.

Analysis of the breach has triggered a widespread defensive response because it emerged that many users had chosen common words and codes that left them wide open to abuse.

Documents show that the most popular password among Gawker users was "123456", followed by "password" and "12345678".

Other common terms, used by hundreds of people, included "monkey", "qwerty" and "consumer".

Although security experts warn against the use of passwords that are easy to guess, research suggests such behaviour is increasingly common online.

According to a study by computer security company Sophos, 33% of people admitted using the same password for every single website they visit.

A further 48% said they used just a handful of different codes, while just one in five said they never used the same password twice.

The firm's Graham Cluley said that the domino effect evident among web companies exposed a number of significant issues.

While it was important to remind users that their passwords should be changed regularly, he said, the warnings sent out to users did not always address the central issue of poor password choices.

"The bad guys already have databases of the most common passwords, and they look a lot like this," he said.

"It's no bad thing to try and help, but websites should give users more information about how to create a secure password."

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Three scraps smartphone data caps

15 December 2010 Last updated at 06:53 ET

Mobile operator Three has scrapped its mobile data caps in an effort to gain more smartphone customers.

It said users needed all-you-can-eat data plans in order to make the most of their devices.

Demand for data is increasing as more people use their handsets to connect to the web as well as make voice calls.

Experts say it could force other operators to rethink data limits, introduced this year as networks struggled to cope with demand.

But it could put also put strain on Three's network.

"It is a bold move by Three and goes against the prevailing tide set by other networks who are trying to rein in data usage," said Ben Wood, an analyst with research firm CCS Insight.

"This is great news for prolific mobile data users but Three will need to be careful it does not end up attracting all the extreme users who have proved a real headache to rival networks with their excessive data usage."

Mobile operators, including Three, introduced data caps in the summer over fears that some users were consuming so much data it was putting unacceptable strain on networks.

Most operators offers data caps of around 500 megabytes (MB) a month for basic phone tariffs.

Three offered the highest data cap at 1 gigabyte (GB) per month.

"We were typically seeing people using around 400 to 500 megs at the moment but there was a large number who regularly go over the 1 gigabyte limit, enough to warrant us doing this," said a spokesman for Three.

Now users of its One Plan tariff can get 2,000 any-network voice minutes, 5,000 Three-to-Three minutes, 5,000 texts and any amount of data for �25 a month.

Such aggressive pricing is historically easier for Three, said Ian Fogg, an analyst with Forrester.

"Three is still one of the smaller operators and is working to acquire customers," he said.

Data notspots

Taking away data caps will make things easier for consumers, some of whom have fallen foul of data caps and ended up with huge bills.

"The latest smartphones stretch far beyond the capabilities of a traditional handset. All-you-can-eat tariffs will give users the freedom to explore these to the limit without the fear of running up extortionate bills," said Ernest Doku, a communications expert from comparison site uSwitch.

It will also lay down the gauntlet to other operators.

"It will be interesting to see how the competition will react. They will certainly not find it easy to handle the same influx of traffic as Three's data-savvy 3G infrastructure - nor will they be willing to give it away for free - making it difficult to see them follow suit with all-you-can-eat alternatives," said Mr Doku.

As mobile phones become the conduit to a world of apps, maps, social media updates, e-mail, music and video calls so there is increasing attention on how quickly the mobile network works.

The UK's 3G networks are notoriously patchy with mobile data speeds varying from provider to provider, town to town and even from street to street.

In an attempt to map the UK's data blackspots, comparison site Top10 is offering a web and iPhone app for customers to see and record their 3G speeds.

Initial data, based on 1,000 speed tests, shows that Vodafone offers the fastest connections, with an average of 3.04Mbps (megabits per second), compared to 2.61Mbps for 02 and 2.61Mb for Orange.

Three averaged 1.48Mbps and T-Mobile came bottom of the league table with an average of 1.40Mbps.

Mr Fogg predicts that operators could start offering tariffs based on speeds, with higher data rates being made available to those on premium packages.

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Jeopardy trial for supercomputer

14 December 2010 Last updated at 18:54 ET By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

An IBM supercomputer will take on two human contestants in a TV showdown of artificial intelligence.

IBM's supercomputer Watson will compete in an edition of the popular US quiz show Jeopardy on 14 February for a prize of $1m (�634,000).

It is reminiscent of a 1997 contest between an IBM computer and chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov.

The TV show is an important test for Big Blue's work in the field of artificial intelligence.

"The big challenge we see here is helping people really appreciate the power and limits of the technology we are developing with Watson," Dr David Ferrucci, IBM's chief scientist of Watson computing told BBC News.

The aim is to have Watson, which was named after IBM's founder Thomas J Watson, to mimic human intelligence by deciphering and answering questions without being connected to the internet.

Watson is a new question-answering system based on natural language.

"What I see is the potential for computers to help us with our tremendous frustration in dealing with the huge glut of information that is doubling every year," said Dr Ferrucci.

"Just imagine being able to converse with a computer in an intelligent dialogue to help you understand and leverage all that information out there, so that people can focus on solving their problem and not get overwhelmed by information. That is what Watson is about."

IBM said that the technology could be applied in a number of areas such as health care for accurately diagnosing patients, parsing legal documents, or to solve customer problems at technical support centres.

Ultimate test

Jeopardy is seen as the ultimate challenge in the artificial intelligence world because the game's clues involve analysing subtle meanings, irony, riddles and other complexities where humans excel and machines do not.

Dr Ferrucci said the tough part for Watson is that it has to "know what it knows with utmost confidence".

"Otherwise if it buzzes in and gets the answer wrong that is bad on Jeopardy because you lose money and lose the game."

Watson has been preparing for its big moment in the spotlight by playing against previous Jeopardy winners. To date it has played 55 games but IBM is keeping mum about how well Watson performed.

The contestants willing to pit their wits against Watson are Ken Jennings who won 74 games in a row - the most consecutive victories ever - and Brad Rutter, who scored the most money with winnings of more than $3m.

IBM said it would donate its winnings to charity while Mr Jennings and Mr Rutter said they would give half of their prize money away.

"Whether we win or lose we are reasonably confident going forward in the competition and I think it is important to play competitively," said Dr Ferrucci.

The showdown will be spread over three days that will air on TV from 14-16 February.

It is not the first time that IBM has pitted man against machine. The most famous head to head battle was in 1997 when a computer called Deep Blue defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov.

To compete at chess, the company built an extremely fast computer that could calculate 200 million chess moves per second based on a fixed problem.

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Yahoo cutting its workforce by 4%

14 December 2010 Last updated at 17:26 ET

Yahoo has confirmed that it is cutting its workforce by 4% or 600 people.

The internet firm has now announced redundancies four times in three years, as it cuts costs to try to lift profits that trail bigger rival Google.

The redundancies also follow after Google recently announced a 10% pay increase for every member of staff.

In 2008 Yahoo rejected a $47.5bn (�30bn) bid from Microsoft. Today its market capitalisation - the combined value of its shares - totals $21.68bn.

Yahoo said in a statement: "Today's personnel changes are part of our ongoing strategy to best position Yahoo for revenue growth and margin expansion, and to support our strategy to deliver differentiated products to the marketplace."

The company's revenues have risen by less than 2% so far this year, compared with growth of 23% at Google.

Maggie Shiels, the BBC's technology reporter in Silicon Valley, said: "The Yahoo job cuts come in stark contrast to what is happening in Silicon Valley as a whole, where companies like Google and Facebook have embarked on an aggressive hiring spree.

"Undoubtedly some of those employees who have been given pink slips are likely to see job offers landing in their email boxes amid a fierce battle for talent in the Valley.

"As for the prospects of Yahoo's CEO Carol Bartz, these cuts are only likely to intensify pressure on her and increase criticism of her role in failing to improve the fortunes of the once mighty internet company."

Yahoo had 14,100 employees at the end of September.

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