Beliau berkata, langkah itu demi keselamatan, keyakinan dan melindungi semua pengguna Internet dan orang ramai.

‘‘Keterbukaan dan demokrasi di Internet masa ini boleh menjadi ancaman terutamanya kepada aspek sosial dalam kalangan masyarakat di seluruh dunia, justeru, ia perlu dikawal,’’ katanya.

Beliau berkata demikian ketika berucap pada sesi pembentangan kertas kerja bertajuk Masa Depan Internet sempena Kongres Teknologi Maklumat Sedunia (WCIT) 2008 di Pusat Konvensyen Kuala Lumpur di sini hari ini.

Sesi yang dipengerusikan oleh Pengerusi ICANN, Peter Dengate Thrush itu turut disertai oleh dua panel lain iaitu Timbalan Presiden eBay, Dan Neary serta Pengarah Evangelis Platform Microsoft, Tyson Dowd.

Katanya lagi, kebebasan penggunaan Internet juga menjadi cabaran utama kepada kerajaan bagi memastikan pengguna mencapai dan berkongsi maklumat yang berfaedah.

‘‘Keadaan ini menjadi bertambah sukar terutamanya kepada negara yang mengamalkan dasar tidak menapis sebarang bahan seperti yang diamalkan di negara ini serta beberapa negara lain,’’ katanya.

Petikan daripada : http://www.utusan.com.my/

Sehubungan itu, Naib Presiden dan Ketua Pegawai Internet Google, Vinton G.Cerf berkata, pihaknya masih mencari peluang dan masa terbaik untuk meluaskan penguasaan pasaran berkenaan.

Katanya, bagi merealisasikan cadangan berkenaan, Google sedang membuat kajian tentang pasaran negara ini termasuk faktor bahasa, budaya dan gaya hidup serta tabiat pengguna tempatan melayari Internet tempatan.

‘’Kami telahpun memiliki operasi di negara-negara lain di Asia seperti di China dan India dan kami memang mencari peluang baru untuk meluaskan aktiviti perniagaan kami khasnya di rantau ini,” katanya pada sidang akhbar sempena Kongres Teknologi Maklumat Sedunia (WCIT 2008) di Pusat Konvensyen Kuala Lumpur, di sini hari ini.

Menurut Ceft, kajian terperinci perlu kerana ia akan menjadi pemangkin kepada kejayaan syarikat untuk menguasai sesebuah negara berdasarkan kefahaman syarikat terhadap keperluan dan kemahuan pengguna Internet dan tabiat pelayaran mereka.

Katanya, tabiat pengguna melayari Internet amat berbeza daripada satu negara dengan negara lain kerana ia adalah berkaitan dengan budaya, bahasa dan kepercayaan masing-masing.

‘’Kadar penembusan kami di sebahagian pasaran dunia ini bergantung kepada sejauh mana kami memahami bahasa dan tabiat pengguna melayari Internet untuk memperoleh maklumat,” ujarnya.

Petikan daripada : http://www.utusan.com.my/

Kemudahan baru itu bakal melonjakkan Malaysia ke tahap dunia siber seperti di Hong Kong, Korea dan Singapura yang memberi impak besar kepada sosioekonomi rakyat.

Ia umpama pembukaan sebuah lebuh raya yang akan memudahkan pelbagai aplikasi dimanfaatkan sepenuhnya seperti e-kerajaan, e-kesihatan, e-pendidikan, telekerja (bekerja dari rumah), e-pembayaran dan TV dengan Protokol Internet (IPTV).

Melalui kemudahan itu, orang ramai akan lebih mudah berurusan dengan kerajaan secara dalam talian.

Penekanan juga akan diberikan kepada aspek pembangunan kandungan dan pelbagai aplikasi dalam talian seperti perkhidmatan perbankan dan pembelian tiket.

Menteri Tenaga, Air dan Komunikasi, Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor semasa mengumumkan projek mempertingkatkan jalur lebar itu di bangunan Parlimen di sini hari ini berkata, ia akan meningkatkan keberkesanan pelaksanaan pelbagai perkhidmatan kepada rakyat, industri dan kerajaan.

Menurutnya, ia juga secara tidak langsung mewujudkan sehingga 135,000 peluang pekerjaan baru menjelang 2010.

Kata beliau, aplikasi e-kesihatan juga dapat dilaksanakan dengan lebih berkesan kerana pesakit boleh berurusan secara dalam talian dengan pakar perubatan tanpa perlu bersemuka melalui persidangan video.

“Bagi golongan petani dan nelayan, mereka misalnya boleh menyemak harga hasil tani secara dalam talian dan memasarkan hasil pencarian secara terus tanpa menggunakan perkhidmatan orang tengah,” jelasnya.

Beliau berkata, pengguna juga kelak hanya memerlukan beberapa saat sahaja untuk memuat turun dokumen bersaiz 10 Megabait (MB) berbanding lima minit sekarang.

Mengulas lebih lanjut, Shaziman berkata, jika dahulu perkhidmatan bekalan air dan elektrik merupakan faktor utama untuk menarik pelaburan, kini perkhidmatan jalur lebar pula menjadi keperluan asas.

Beliau berkata, keputusan itu diambil memandangkan kadar penembusan jalur lebar negara iaitu 18 peratus, amat rendah berbanding negara-negara maju di Asia seperti Singapura (78 peratus), Hong Kong (80 peratus) dan Korea Selatan (93 peratus).

“Pembangunan jalur lebar terbaru ini menyasarkan penembusan jalur lebar bagi isi rumah sebanyak 50 peratus menjelang 2010 dengan nilai pelaburan keseluruhan sebanyak RM11.3 bilion,’’ ujarnya.

Shaziman menambah, peningkatan penembusan jalur lebar juga merupakan pemangkin yang mampu mencetuskan pertumbuhan ekonomi daripada segi peningkatan Keluaran Dalam Negara Kasar (KDNK).

“Hasil penilaian awal daripada aspek sumbangan ke atas KDNK ialah RM6.68 bilion atau satu peratus pada tahun 2010,” katanya.

Beliau berkata, bagi memenuhi aspirasi tersebut, usaha-usaha perlu ditumpukan dalam memastikan perkhidmatan jalur lebar disediakan kepada orang awam dan mengenal pasti kawasan-kawasan yang berimpak tinggi.

Menurutnya, projek pembangunan berkenaan akan dilaksanakan secara berfasa-fasa dengan peruntukan awal hanya melibatkan fasa satu meliputi 1.3 juta premis dengan pelaburan kerajaan RM2.4 bilion, manakala bakinya oleh Telekom Malaysia Berhad ™.

Kata beliau, pembangunan itu dibahagikan kepada tiga zon dengan Zon 1 diliputi infrastruktur jalur lebar berkelajuan tinggi (HSBB) dan jalur lebar orang awam (BBGP) bagi kawasan berimpak ekonomi tinggi seperti Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru dan Timur Laut Pulau Pinang.

Zon 2 pula merupakan kawasan yang diliputi dengan infrastruktur BBGP sahaja, manakala Zon 3 meliputi luar bandar yang tidak ekonomik, bertujuan merapatkan jurang digital dan memerlukan pembiayaan dana Pemberian Perkhidmatan Sejagat (USP), katanya.

Kerajaan, kata beliau, memutuskan untuk menumpukan dua kategori iaitu BBGP pada kelajuan 2 megabait sesaat (Mbps) dan HSBB pada kelajuan antara 10Mbps dan 1Gbps memandangkan pelan pembangunan pelaksanaan jalur lebar ke seluruh negara dijangka menelan belanja RM56 bilion.

Menurut Shaziman, bagi jalur lebar kategori HSBB di Zon 1, ia akan dilaksanakan secara usaha sama antara kerajaan dan TM memandangkan syarikat berkenaan memiliki 95 peratus infrastruktur komunikasi sedia ada.

Bagi liputan untuk orang awam di Zon 2, jelasnya, majoriti inisiatif peluasan jalur lebar akan diteruskan di bawah strategi-strategi sedia ada termasuk galakan persaingan antara teknologi wayarles seperti generasi ketiga (3G) atau Capaian Paket Pindah Turun Berkelajuan Tinggi (HSDPA), WiMax dan talian tetap.

Katanya lagi, cadangan kos projek bagi membangunkan infrastruktur HSBB dalam tempoh 10 tahun akan datang berjumlah RM15.2 bilion.

Petikan daripada : http://www.utusan.com.my/

By Thomas Claburn, InformationWeek
March 28, 2008
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207000434

Mac OS X’s reputation for security was tarnished Thursday when a team of researchers from Independent Security Evaluators (ISE) managed to hack a MacBook Air in two minutes using a zero-day vulnerability in Apple’s Safari 3.1 Web browser.

The ISE security researchers — Charlie Miller, Jake Honoroff, and Mark Daniel — were participating in the “PWN to OWN” competition at the CanSecWest security conference, which began Wednesday in Vancouver, British Columbia.

“Pwn” is computer gaming slang for “own,” as in conquer. The “p” typo serves to heighten the humiliation of defeat by emphasizing that the loss came at the hands of a youth who can’t even spell or type correctly. The term has also come to be used in security circles.

Contest participants had their choice of trying to hack an Apple MacBook Air running OS X 10.5.2, a Sony Vaio VGN-TZ37CN running Ubuntu 7.10, or a Fujitsu U810 running Vista Ultimate SP1. During the first day, when attacks were limited to network attacks on the operating system, no one managed to compromise any of the systems.

That changed Thursday when attacks on default client-side applications — Web browser, e-mail, IM — were allowed. The ISE team won $10,000 from security firm TippingPoint Technologies for compromising the MacBook Air.

The undisclosed vulnerability in Safari 3.1 has been shown to Apple and no further information about it will be revealed until Apple can issue an update, TippingPoint said.

In a blog post on Friday, TippingPoint said, “[S]ince the Vista and Ubuntu laptops are still standing unscathed, we are now opening up the scope of the targets beyond just default installed applications on those laptops; any popular third-party application (as deemed ‘popular’ by the judges) can now be installed on the laptops for a prize of $5,000 upon a successful compromise.”

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

Taken from : http://www.informationweek.com/

LONDON 6 Feb. _ Sekumpulan saintis dari Jepun mendapati penggunaan telefon bimbit tidak menyumbang kepada peningkatan risiko jangkitan kanser otak seperti yang didakwa sebelum ini.

Saintis dari Universiti Perubatan Wanita Tokyo itu menjalankan kajian penggunaan telefon bimbit di kalangan 322 pesakit kanser dan 683 pengguna yang sihat.

Hasil kajian yang diterbitkan dalam Jurnal Kanser Britain itu mendapati, penggunaan telefon bimbit secara kerap tidak menunjukkan tanda-tanda jangkitan kanser otak.

Selain itu, kumpulan penyelidik turut menjalankan kajian mengenai sinar radiasi daripada pelbagai jenis telefon bimbit bagi mengenal pasti kemungkinan penggunaannya memberi kesan kepada bahagian otak yang berbeza.

“Dengan menggunakan kaedah dan teknik terbaru yang kami bangunkan, didapati tiada kaitan antara penggunaan telefon bimbit dengan kanser, sekali gus membuktikan telefon bimbit tidak menyebabkan kanser otak,” kata ketua kumpulan berkenaan, Naohito Yamaguchi. - Reuters

Petikan daripada : http://www.utusan.com.my/

The $31-a-share bid of cash or Microsoft stock is 62 percent more than Yahoo’s closing price yesterday. Yahoo, which posted a 23 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit this week, had fallen 18 percent in Nasdaq Stock Market trading this year before today. Microsoft fell the most since 2006 as investors expressed disapproval of the deal.

Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer is attempting the biggest-ever technology takeover after failing to compete with Google in a market that may almost double to $80 billion by 2010. Microsoft’s shares have dropped more than 40 percent since Ballmer took over from co-founder Bill Gates in 2000.

“With Microsoft paying a full price for a broken business where there’s not accelerating organic growth, I can’t make that work at all,'’ said Jon Fisher, a Minneapolis-based portfolio manager at Fifth Third Asset Management, which manages $22 billion, including Microsoft shares. “I don’t see what they get out of it. The strategy behind the deal was wrong.'’

Yahoo rose $9.20, or 48 percent, to $28.38 at 4 p.m. in Nasdaq trading. Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, fell 6.6 percent, while Google dropped 8.6 percent. The volume of Microsoft shares traded rose to the highest since April 2006, while Yahoo share trading reached a record.

Taken from : http://www.bloomberg.com/

“We are targeting (the first half of) 2008 for the release of XP SP3,” Microsoft said, “though our timing will always be based on customer feedback as a first priority.”

Speculation over the timing and features of the release has been going on for years. The release was initially expected as early as 2006, but was pushed out as Vista work remained the priority for the Windows team. The first service pack for Windows Vista is also due out in the first half of next year.

Both updates are focused largely on things such as bug fixes and performance improvements rather than new features.

Take from : http://www.news.com/

Apple on Thursday confirmed reports of pornography Web sites where hidden software, once downloaded, could take control of an Apple computer. Apple did not immediately respond to claims that it is the first instance of a Trojan horse attack on Apple’s Macintosh platform.

“We’ve been made aware that a small number of Web sites attempt to trick Mac OS X users to install malicious software on their Macs,” said Apple spokeswoman Lynn Fox. “Apple has a great track record for keeping Mac OS X users secure, and as always, we encourage people to install software only from trusted sources.”

The timing of the Trojan horse suggests there are more to come, say some computer and Internet security professionals. As Apple’s popularity rises, “the bad guys are taking Macs seriously now,” wrote Bojan Zdrnja, of the Internet Storm Center, which is led by the Escal Institute of Advanced Technologies.

After confirming the claims reported by computer-security firm Intego, Symantec engineer Joji Hamada wrote on Symantec’s Web site of suspicions that a wave of attacks and viruses are due. “If we see a rise in Mac malware, then we will have to assume that there are profits to be made in malware for Macs as well,” he wrote. “Stay tuned.”

Taken from : http://online.wsj.com/

Luckily, Apple’s improved the upgrade experience with each new cat, making the process much less daunting. But despite the Installer’s useful guidance, there are things it doesn’t tell you, and places where its help falls short. With that in mind, here’s my guide to making the upgrade process as trouble-free as possible.
What You Need

Before you get started, the two most important things you need are a compatible Mac and a complete backup of all your data. Leopard requires a Mac with an Intel or PowerPC G4 or G5 processor; a DVD drive; built-in FireWire; at least 512MB RAM; and at least 7GB of free hard-disk space. (I recommend at least 1GB RAM and 10 to 15GB of free disk space.)

To protect yourself from mishaps, I recommend you clone your hard drive instead of just backing up data piecemeal. You can create a clone-a complete, identical copy of your Mac’s hard drive-using a utility such as Shirt Pocket’s $28 SuperDuper, Bombich Software’s Carbon Copy Cloner, or even OS X’s own Disk Utility. If anything should go wrong with the upgrade, you can start up from the clone, restore it back to your main hard drive, and be back where you started with nothing lost but time. (For instructions, see Easy Mac Backups.)
Before You Begin

Before starting the installation process, here are a few steps you should take:

* Double-check your backup. Make sure you can boot from it by actually restarting your Mac using the backup as the startup drive.
* Check vendor Web sites to see if the software programs you use the most are compatible with Leopard–this includes Login Items (in the Accounts preference pane), third-party preference panes, and third-party system add-ons. If new versions are available, download those and keep them handy for installation after the upgrade. (You can install them before upgrading to Leopard, although some may require re-installation afterwards.) Macworld recent ran an excerpt from Joe Kissell’s Take Control of Upgrading to Leopard that covers this area in greater detail.
* Decide which installation method you want to use. Verify and, if necessary, repair your hard drive using Disk Utility. You can access this tool from the Welcome screen of the Mac OS X Installer-choose Utilities -> Disk Utility.
* Verify and, if necessary, repair your hard drive using Disk Utility. You can access this tool from the Welcome screen of the Mac OS X Installer-choose Utilities -> Disk Utility.

See Our Complete Leopard Coverage
The Installation Process

The actual installation procedure is straightforward. Just follow along as the Installer walks you through the steps. However, don’t miss a couple opportunities to customize the process.

Select a Destination: After selecting onto which drive you want to install Leopard, click on Options. This is where you choose your installation method-Upgrade, Archive and Install, or Erase and Install.

Pick What Not to Install: Click on Customize. Here you can opt to not install several items in order to save hard drive space. Select any item in the Package Name list to view information about that item at the bottom of the window. When you’re finished, click on Done. Here are some likely things you might skip:

Printer Drivers: Click on the expansion triangle to deselect drivers you don’t want to install. You can uncheck all but the brand of your own printer (or printers) to save several gigabytes of space. However, if you’re installing Leopard on a laptop, having all these drivers is useful if you ever need to use another printer on the road.

Additional Fonts: If you don’t need the listed fonts, deselect this item.

Language Translations: If you don’t need to run Mac OS X in non-English languages, deselect this item. Alternatively, expand the item and deselect particular languages.

X11: This option allows you to use software that requires the X11 Unix windowing system. Given that it takes up only 100MB or so, I’d say it’s worth installing. In the future, if you find a cool program that requires X11, you’ll be able to run it without digging out your OS X Installation disc.

Click on Install on the Install Summary screen and the installation will begin. The process can take a while, especially the step when the Installer checks the Installation DVD. (If you’ve previously installed Leopard using this same disc, so you know it’s error-free, you can click on Skip to bypass this step.) When the installation process is finished and your Mac restarts in Leopard, you’ll see either the full-length, full-screen Setup Assistant (if you did an Erase And Install) or a shorter registration version.
After You’re Done

If you performed an Archive And Install with the option to preserve user accounts and network settings, you should be up and running mostly where you left off the last time you used your Mac pre-Leopard. If you chose not to preserve users and network settings, or if you used the Erase and Install option, the Setup Assistant will give you the opportunity to transfer over files from another Mac, another drive on the current Mac, or a backup volume. You can choose to transfer user accounts, network and other settings, applications, and other non-system data. Although this process is slow, it works well.

In either case, you’ll want to check your favorite programs to see if they’re working properly. You may need to re-enter registration or serial numbers for some. Other programs may require re-installation (especially those that install files in the /Library or /System/Library folders). Also keep an eye out for misbehaving programs that don’t work well with Leopard; you may not be able to use these until the developer releases a compatible version.
No Files Left Behind

If you used the Archive and Install method, I recommend that you navigate to the /Previous Systems/Previous System 1 folder and browse through the subfolders inside to make sure all your files were moved properly. (If you’ve performed multiple Archive and Install installations, you may have Previous System 1, Previous System 2, and so on; you want to browse the newest one.) For example, if you used the Archive and Install option to preserve user accounts, the files inside the Shared user folder (/Previous Systems/Previous System 1/Users/Shared) don’t get moved. You’ll likely want to copy them to the new /Users/Shared folder. (If you use the Setup Assistant to transfer files, the Shared folder’s contents do get transferred.)

Also check inside the Library folder in Previous System 1, paying special attention to the contents of Contextual Menu Items and QuickTime. If there are files in the Library folder that are required by programs you use, or third-party system add-ons that you want to continue using, you may want to transfer them manually to the same location in the current /Library folder. However, first make sure that the software is compatible with Leopard. (It may be easier to simply re-install this software in order to ensure you have all the necessary support files.)
Back to Work

With any luck, this entire process should take only a few hours, which isn’t bad for something you need to do only once every couple years. And with these tips and suggestions, you should be back up and running, enjoying Leopard’s new features, with minimal growing pains.
Decoding Your Installation Options

It’s easy to miss the Mac OS X installer screen’s Options item. Clicking on this small button reveals several significant choices for how OS X gets installed on your Mac. Here’s what each method does.

Upgrade Mac OS X: This option keeps your older version of Mac OS X, but installs new versions of any files that have changed between the older version and Leopard. Although in theory this should be safe for everyone, third-party system add-ons, as well as damaged system files that aren’t replaced, can cause problems. I recommend it only for brand-new Macs being upgraded from Tiger to Leopard out-of-the-box. For most users, I recommend Archive and Install (or Erase and Install, restoring your data from a full backup using Setup Assistant).

Archive and Install: This method installs a complete, new version of Leopard, using none of your older OS installation files. However, it keeps all of your older system files on your hard drive-in a folder called Previous System 1 (or 2 or 3, depending on how many Archive and Install installations you’ve done)-just in case you need any of those files. This method avoids many problems because the contents of your old System folder, including some third-party system add-ons, are archived in the Previous System folder. I recommend choosing the option to Preserve Users And Network Settings, because this retains your existing user accounts and all user data in Leopard. (Note that the Archive and Install option requires much more hard-drive space than an Upgrade install. It may also require a bit of manual file transferring, as described on the previous page.)

Erase and Install: This method actually erases your entire hard drive-deleting all your data, as well-and installs Leopard. (It should go without saying that you must have a backup of your data to use this option.) This is useful if your current OS X installation has been having problems, as it guarantees that any disc or file corruption is eliminated. (Choose the option to Format Disk As Mac OS Extended [Journaled].) However, unless you really want to start from scratch, after the installation you’ll need to either recreate your user accounts in Leopard and restore your data from a backup, or use OS X’s Setup Assistant to transfer those accounts and data over from another computer or from a full backup. (This latter procedure nearly replicates an Archive and Install with the Preserve Users and Network Settings option-but with the added bonus of a new, clean hard drive.)

Install Mac OS X: You’ll see this option-instead of Upgrade Mac OS X-only if you choose a volume that doesn’t already have an upgradeable version of Mac OS X installed. In that case, Install Mac OS X and Erase and Install will be your only choices. (If you received your copy of Leopard through the Mac OS X Up-To-Date program-for people who purchased a Mac that shipped with Tiger after Leopard was released-your disc will install only onto a drive that already has Tiger installed. You’ll get the same installation options except for this one-you won’t be able to install Leopard on a non-Tiger drive.)

Taken from : http://www.pcworld.com/

Users can thank the Russian Business Network (RBN), a well-known collective of cybercriminals, for the malware-armed PDF attachments that began appearing in in-boxes Tuesday, said Ken Dunham, director of response for iSight Partners Inc. If the rigged PDFs succeed in infecting the target Windows system, the attack code installs a pair of rootkit files that “sniff and steal financial and other valuable data,” said Dunham via e-mail.

The rogue PDF documents are attached to spammed e-mail and arrive with filenames such as BILL.pdf, YOUR_BILL.pdf, INVOICE.pdf or STATEMET.pdt, said Symantec Corp. in a separate advisory Tuesday. They exploit the “mailto:” protocol vulnerability disclosed more than a month ago by U.K.-based researcher Petko Petkov.

When recipients open the attacking PDF, it launches a Trojan horse dubbed “Pidief.a” that knocks out the Windows firewall and then downloads another piece of malware to the compromised computer. That second piece of attack code is a dedicated downloader that, in turn, retrieves the two rootkit files from a pair of RBN-controlled servers and drops them onto the hacked PC.

According to Dunham, the RBN servers and the rootkit files are familiar to researchers. “[They] are the same as those used in zero-day Vector Markup Language (VML) attacks from September 2006,” he said. The VML vulnerability, disclosed early that month, was so aggressively exploited that a group of security professionals issued an unsanctioned patch, prompting Microsoft to release one of its rare out-of-cycle fixes in late September.

Adobe Systems Inc. fixed the flaw Monday and released updated 8.1.1. editions of both Reader and Acrobat that plug the hole. Users of older versions of the popular programs must either upgrade to 8.1.1 or apply one of the temporary work-arounds that Adobe provided to stifle attacks. On Monday, Adobe did say that it would update Adobe Reader 7.0.9 and Acrobat 7.0.9 “at a later date,” but it did not set a definitive timeline.

Although Adobe patched the newest versions of Reader and Acrobat, the vulnerability is ultimately Microsoft Corp.’s responsibility. The software vendor owned up to that two weeks ago, saying that it would patch common protocol handlers such as “mailto:” in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

Only users running the Internet Explorer 7 browser on Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 are vulnerable to the PDF exploit.

Adobe’s security bulletin includes links to the Adobe Reader and Acrobat updates.

Taken from : http://www.pcworld.com/