Google+ opens service to everyone

20 September 2011 Last updated at 12:02 ET <!-- Embedding the video player --> <!-- This is the embedded player component -->

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Vivik Gundotra, Google's senior vice president of social business: "We think there's lots of room for innovation"

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Google+ is being opened up for anyone to join after two-and-a-half months in closed testing.

The search firm's latest foray into social networking was initially offered to journalists and people working in technology related fields.

However, members' ability to invite friends meant its user base quickly grew to tens of millions.

Google+ has been praised for several innovative features including its multi person "hangouts" video chat.

Two weeks after it launched, the company announced that its service had attracted 10 million users.

It has not produced official figures since then, although estimates by web analytic firm Comscore put membership at 25 million by the end of the first month.

Despite users' apparently rapid uptake, research carried out by Australian web software maker 89n suggested that the rate of public posting was declining. The survey did not take account of private postings.

Social search

Alongside its full public launch, Google is adding several new features to the service, including video hangouts on Android smartphones - allowing multi-person chats.

Users will also be able to share the content of their computer screens with whoever they are talking to.

Another notable addition is the integration of search within Google+, allowing members to find results from socially shared information, as well as across the wider web.

The prospect of "social search" through Google would appeal to businesses, according to social networking specialist Matt Rhodes from Fresh Networks.

"Brands know that a lot of people who come to them come through search and anything they can do make themselves come up through the right terms or higher up the rankings is important. Commercially that is the opportunity," he said.

"If you are logged into Google and search for supermarkets, if some of my friends have plus 1'd Tesco or commented about it, that might push Tesco above Sainsbury's in my search results."

Rivals' response

The rise of Google+ has not gone un-noticed by its competitors.

Facebook has recently rolled out a number of innovations which many observers have characterised as a direct response to the Google challenge, although the company argues that these have been in the pipeline for far longer.

These include a revamp of the social network's friend system, making in easier to add people to categories, similar to Google Circles.

Earlier this week it was revealed that Facebook users would be able to connect their status updates directly to their Twitter feed, in a move that may enhance the appeal of both Google rivals.

Conversely, Google finds itself in the unusual position of being a minority player in the market, facing Twitter's 200 million users and Facebook's 750 million.

Vivik Gundotra, Google's senior vice president of social business told the BBC that he welcomed the competition.

"We suspect people use many different tools to share," he said.

"The most popular mechanism people use to share today is email. So we think there's lots of room for innovation."

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Hacked security firm to shut down

20 September 2011 Last updated at 11:04 ET

Dutch security firm DigiNotar has filed for voluntary bankruptcy following a series of attacks by a hacker.

The attackers penetrated DigiNotar's internal systems and then issued fake security certificates so they could impersonate web firms.

The certificates are believed to have been used to eavesdrop on the Google email accounts of about 300,000 people.

The hacker behind the attacks claims to have penetrated four other firms that issue security certificates.

No tears

DigiNotar's parent company Vasco Data Security said the firm had been put into voluntary bankruptcy. A trustee for the business has been appointed who will oversee the winding up of DigiNotar.

The scale of the attack on DigiNotar began to be uncovered on 19 July when the firm said it first found evidence of an intrusion. It started to revoke certificates and an investigation was carried out to find out how much damage had been done.

An initial report found that hundreds of fake certificates had been issued and hackers had almost total access to DigiNotar's network.

The security certificates it and many other firms issue act as a guarantee of identity so people can be sure they are connecting to the site they think they are.

The fake certificates DigiNotar revoked were for some of the biggest net firms including Google, Facebook, Twitter and Skype.

It is thought the fake certificates for Google were used in Iran to peep at the email accounts of about 300,000 people.

Soon after discovering the attack, DigiNotar stopped issuing certificates altogether. Once wound up its business and assets will be folded into Vasco.

"We are working to quantify the damages caused by the hacker's intrusion into DigiNotar's system and will provide an estimate of the range of losses as soon as possible, " said Vasco in a statement.

It added that its network and systems remained separate from DigiNotar and, as a result, "there is no risk for infection of Vasco's strong authentication business".

Writing on the Sophos blog, Graham Cluley said few people would shed tears over the closure.

"The firm lost all trust when when it was discovered that it had known that it had suffered a security breach weeks before coming clean about the problem," he said.

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Gamers help anti-AIDS drug quest

20 September 2011 Last updated at 08:33 ET By Katia Moskvitch Technology reporter, BBC News

An online game has helped determine the structure of an enzyme that could pave the way for anti-AIDS drugs.

The game, called Foldit, allows players to create new shapes of proteins by randomly folding digital molecules on their computer screens.

In the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, scientists write that they have been puzzled by the protein's structure for over a decade.

But it took the online community just a few days to produce the enzyme's model.

Proteins are extremely complex organic compounds that everything is made of, and an enzyme is a particular type of protein.

The enzyme the gamers were presented with is called M-PMV retroviral protease. It is used by the HIV virus to grow and develop into AIDS.

Scientists all over the world have been trying to come up with anti-AIDS drugs that could block these harmful enzymes, but it was tricky as the precise structure of the protein remained unknown.

Following simple rules, gamers playing Foldit had to turn and flip a digital 3D model of the enzyme on their computer screens, to try out all folding combinations that were possible.

They eventually obtained the optimum one - the state that needed the lowest energy to maintain.

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These results show that gaming, science and computation can be combined to make advances that were not possible before"

End Quote Seth Cooper Foldit

Biochemist Firas Khatib of the University of Washington - where Foldit was created in 2008 - said that the goal was to see if "human intuition could succeed where automated methods had failed".

The researchers were so impressed with the result that they even included some participating gamers as co-authors of the study.

Complex structures

Even a small protein is able to fold in a huge variety of different ways, and it is always a challenge, even for computers, to figure out which of the many possible structures is the best one.

"Foldit attempts to predict the structure of a protein by taking advantage of humans' puzzle-solving intuitions and having people play competitively to fold the best proteins," states the game's website.

"Since proteins are part of so many diseases, they can also be part of the cure.

"Players can design brand new proteins that could help prevent or treat important diseases."

To play, no previous knowledge of proteins, biochemistry or biology is required - all a user has to have is a computer and an internet connection.

Once a gamer downloads an easy-to-install plug-in, he or she can start competing with other players, rotating complex three dimensional molecular structures with a click of the mouse.

The goal is either to design an entirely new protein, or to predict a certain structure, so that once an online model is generated, scientists and biotech companies take over.

The latest breakthrough, according to the paper's authors, is the first time that online gamers have solved a longstanding scientific problem.

Seth Cooper, a co-creator of Foldit and its lead designer, said that games provide a framework "for bringing together the strengths of computers and humans".

"People have spatial reasoning, something computers are not yet good at," Dr Cooper said.

"These results show that gaming, science and computation can be combined to make advances that were not possible before."

Results obtained by gamers playing Foldit have also helped scientists in Alzheimer's and cancer research.

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Japan defence hit by cyber attack

20 September 2011 Last updated at 06:28 ET

Japan's top weapons maker has confirmed it was the victim of a cyber attack reportedly targeting data on missiles, submarines and nuclear power plants.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) said viruses were found on more than 80 of its servers and computers last month.

The government said it was not aware of any leak of sensitive information.

But the defence ministry has demanded MHI carry out a full investigation. Officials were angered after learning of the breach from local media reports.

Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Japan's defence minister Yasuo Ichikawa said the cyber attackers had not succeeded in accessing any important information but MHI would be instructed "to undertake a review of their information control systems".

"The ministry will continue to monitor the problem and conduct investigations if necessary," Mr Ichikawa added.

All government contractors are obliged to inform ministers promptly of any breach of sensitive or classified information.

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Analysis

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The Ministry of Defence has said the delay in Mitsubishi Heavy Industries informing it of the cyber attack is "regrettable" - a bland term regularly deployed by Japanese bureaucrats to describe everything from near indifference to utter outrage.

But it is clear there is concern in Japan about security at the country's biggest defence contractor.

Mitsubishi Heavy makes everything from warships to missiles. The giant company says it discovered the breach in mid- August, and informed the Japanese police at the end of the month.

But the defence ministry was not told until Monday afternoon, after reports had appeared in local media.

The key issue is just how serious the attack was - and whether any of Japan's defence secrets have leaked.

Mitsubishi Heavy says the virus was confined to just 45 servers and 38 computer terminals - out of the many thousands it operates.

An ongoing internal investigation has found only network information, such as IP addresses, has been compromised.

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"It's up to the defence ministry to decide whether or not the information is important. That is not for Mitsubishi Heavy to decide. A report should have been made," a defence ministry spokesman was earlier quoted by Reuters as saying.

Better protection

The online attacks - which are believed to be the first of their kind against Japan's defence industry - originated outside the company's computer network, MHI said.

They have been described as spear phishing attacks - when hackers send highly customised and specifically targeted messages aimed at tricking people into visiting a fake webpage and giving away login details.

Neither the Japanese government nor MHI have said who may be responsible. A report in one Japanese newspaper said Chinese language script was detected in the attack against MHI.

But China rebuffed suggestions it could be behind the attacks.

"China is one of the main victims of hacking... Criticising China as being the source of hacking attacks not only is baseless, it is also not beneficial for promoting international co-operation for internet security," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

China has in the past been accused of carrying out online attacks on foreign government agencies and firms - claims Beijing has always denied.

MHI confirmed that 45 of its servers and 38 computers were infected by at least eight viruses.

The viruses targeted a shipyard in Nagasaki, where destroyers are built, and a facility in Kobe that manufactures submarines and parts for nuclear power stations, public broadcaster NHK reported.

A plant in Nagoya, where the company designs and builds guidance and propulsion systems for rockets and missiles, was also reportedly compromised.

MHI said it had consulted the Tokyo police department and was carrying out an investigation alongside security experts, which should be concluded by the end of the month.

Lockheed case

A second defence contractor, IHI, which supplies engine parts for military aircraft, said it had also been targeted.

IHI said it had been receiving emails containing viruses for months, but its security systems had prevented infection.

There are also reports that Japanese government websites, including the cabinet office and a video distribution service, have been hit by distributed denial-of-service attacks.

A typical DDoS attack involves hundreds or thousands of computers, under the control of hackers, bombarding an organisation's website with so many hits that it collapses.

Last month, a Japanese defence white paper urged better protection against cyber attacks after US defence contractors were hit by a spate of assaults.

One of the most high-profile cases involved Lockheed Martin - the world's biggest aerospace company, which makes F-16, F-22 and F-35 fighter jets as well as warships.

Although the firm said none of its programmes were compromised in the attack in May, it prompted other defence contractors to assess their own security measures.

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Spam text message complaints rise

By Dan Whitworth
Newsbeat technology reporter <!-- Empty - Wide embedded hyper -->

There has been a rise in the number of complaints about spam text messages.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) received 618 complaints about them between April 2010 and April 2011.

That number has increased to 1008 in just the last five months which the ICO says is only the tip of the iceberg.

Research for the Direct Marketing Association suggests more than eight million spam texts, offering anything from insurance claims to loans, are sent out every day.

Dan Vickery was forced to get a new mobile phone because he was being sent 5 or 6 spam texts everyday.

Dan Vickery, a sales rep from Surrey, received a barrage of messages while his grandmother was sick in hospital.

"It started off with one or two spam texts and escalated to five or six and sometimes even ten a day.

"My Nan was ill in hospital at the time so I couldn't turn my phone off."

Things got so bad that Dan not only had to get a new mobile phone but ended up paying out a lot of money too.

'Murky world'

"It resulted in me having to go out and get a new contract at great expense to myself just to get rid of something that I didn't want in the first place".

Simon Entwhistle works for the Information Commissioner's Office and says spam text message senders operate in a legal grey area.

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It's a pretty murky world. The reason that people do it is to make money.

Simon Entwhistle Information Commissioner's Office

"It's a pretty murky world.

"The reason that people do this is to make money.

"They send out text messages using sophisticated computer equipment buying untraceable SIM cards.

"If they send out 100 texts and one person replies that's some money made for them.

"They can sell that one claim on, times that by a million they can make a lot of money out of this business."

Sending out spam texts is not a criminal offence but it does break the Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations which are part of European legislation.

That covers electronic marketing and means any company wanting to legitimately send out text messages must have the recipient's consent to do so.

The ICO says people who don't want to receive spam texts should be careful about giving their mobile phone number out.

They also say that the best way to avoid getting them is not to reply to any spam messages they get.

If people keep receiving texts they should get in touch with their mobile provider first or complain directly to the ICO.

Follow our technology reporter Dan Whitworth on Twitter

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