TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2013
technology
Microsoft conducts 1st App Academy for developers, designers in Kuwait 3-day free training workshop attracts more than 30 developers KUWAIT: In a bid to enable and empower the growing generation of app developers IT Professionals and students, Microsoft Kuwait held its first free App Academy training workshop at the Gulf
University for Science and Technology (GUST ). This workshop was targeting developers working in different public sector entities, private sector companies and students developers.
Risky software remains on PCs for months: Kaspersky
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aspersky Lab has released the report “Evaluating the threat level of software vulnerabilities”, following careful analysis of the prevalence of security flaws found in various programs throughout 2012. Using the data from the cloud-based Kaspersky Security Network, Kaspersky Lab experts have revealed over 132 million vulnerabilities on more than 11 million computers. This figure compiles to 12vulnerabilities per user on average. Besides, over 800 unique vulnerabilities appeared just in the year of 2012. However, only eight vulnerabilities out of all this diversity were found in the widespread exploit packs used by cybercriminals: five in Oracle Java, two in Adobe Flash Player, and one in Adobe Reader. Still this is more than enough a “burglary tool” for abusers to steal private data from computers, conduct cyberespionage on businesses and sabotage crucial industrial systems or government agencies. As well as highlighting the most dangerous vulnerabilities, the Kaspersky Lab research also assesses how enthusiastically users upgrade to newer versions of software once that update has been made available. This particular analysis revealed the disturbing fact that some old -or even obsolete - versions of popular programs remain on a significant number of PCs for months and even years, posing great risks for users’ personal data and companies’ infrastructures. In particular, research on users’ willingness to switch to newer, safer software versions revealed that six weeks after the appearance of the latest version of Java (September-October 2012), only 28.2 percent of users managed to switch to the safest version, with over 70 percent leaving their system vulnerable to Java exploits.
An obsolete 2010 version of Adobe Flash Player that could easily be exploited was found on an average of 10.2 percent computers, with almost no decline noted throughout 2012. A vulnerability discovered in Adobe Reader in December 2011 was found on 13.5 percent of computers, again, with no signs of decline. Software vulnerabilities present a clear and obvious threat to both consumers and businesses. There are ways to mitigate such risks: usage of antimalware solution and the most advanced protection technologies, such as Kaspersky Systems Management which has integrated vulnerabilities assessment technology. Kaspersky Systems Management scans workstations for vulnerabilities in the operating system and third-party software applications, and uses the results for a follow-up analysis with Kaspersky Lab’s own unique vulnerabilities database, Secunia database and Microsoft Windows Update data services. Data about any vulnerability detected is then sent to the systems administrator, who can remotely set up the installation of necessary updates on vulnerable systems. “What this research reveals is that releasing a fix for a security loophole shortly after discovery is not enough to make users and businesses secure. Inefficient update mechanisms have left millions of users of Java, Adobe Flash and Adobe Reader at risk. This, along with the whole series of critical vulnerabilities found in Java in 2012 and early 2013, highlights the need for the most up-to-date protection methods. Companies should take this problem very seriously, as security flaws in popular software have become the principle gateways for a successful targeted attack”, said Vyacheslav Zakorzhevsky, Vulnerability Research Expert at Kaspersky Lab.
Vietnam War whistleblower defends WikiLeaks ‘hero’ KENSINGTON: Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg waited decades for someone like Bradley Manning to follow in his footsteps. He hails the US Army private accused of spilling secrets to website WikiLeaks as a champion of truth and not a betrayer of his country. Manning was arrested in May 2010 on 22 charges of giving classified material on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to WikiLeaks.Military prosecutors have accused Manning of the capital crime of aiding the enemy, saying they will not seek the death penalty for the 25-year-old man but want him to spend the rest of his life in prison. “I have significant identification with all whistleblowers, but with Bradley above all,” said Ellsberg. “I’d like to see him get the Nobel Peace Prize,” Ellsberg continued, tossing in a military Medal of Honor and a Congressional Gold Medal. “He deserves to be seen as a hero. Certainly, he is a hero of mine.” Ellsberg sees Manning’s case as mirroring his history-making move in 1971 to leak what became known as the Pentagon Papers, a report about US political and military machinations involving the Vietnam War. “It is the first time since the Pentagon Papers that someone has put out a large raft of material,” Ellsberg said in an interview at his home in the wooded enclave of Kensington across the bay from San Francisco.”I think Bradley has done the right thing,” continued Ellsberg, who will be 82 in April. “We’ve needed this kind of revelation frequently.” The Pentagon Papers were finally published in full in June 2011, 40 years after then US military analyst Ellsberg slipped excerpts of the classified report to the media. Ellsberg’s act of defiance revealed evidence that successive US administrations had lied to the public about Vietnam.Pentagon Papers leaks led Nixon to set up a covert White House investigations unit, known as The Plumbers, to prevent further leaks to the media. Members of the unit were subsequently implicated in a 1972 burglary at the Watergate complex in Washington-sparking the scandal that
eventually forced the president derisively nicknamed “Tricky Dick” to quit in 1974. A set of Pentagon Papers books were prominently displayed in wall-to-ceiling bookshelves in Ellsberg’s home.”I couldn’t have done that without Xerox,” Ellsberg said, referring to how he photocopied thousands of pages from the report. “Manning couldn’t have done what he did with access to a thumb drive.” Manning told a military tribunal in February that he leaked secret files to WikiLeaks in order to start a “public debate.” Manning, who remains in military custody pending trial, pleaded guilty to misusing classified information but denies the damning charge of aiding America’s enemies. He sent WikiLeaks, which campaigns against government secrecy and publishes leaked information on a secure website, two military logs of daily incidents during the US campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also provided a vast trove of US diplomatic cables and cockpit video from a US helicopter gunship involved in an incident in which Iraqi civilians died. Ellsberg also gave hero status to WikiLeaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange. “Julian Assange was in uncharted territory, by himself, and no one had ever set out to do what he did in the form of facilitating leaks by people like me or Manning,” Ellsberg said. “Using digital age tools to do it and offering anonymity.” After being hit with criticism for putting people in danger with information in an initial release of Afghanistan war log data, WikiLeaks teamed with major newspapers to vet information being made public. “ The charges that WikiLeaks had blood on their hands the very first day that they put it out have proven not to be true,” Ellsberg said. “Ironically, they were made by people who were up to their chins in innocent blood of civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen and elsewhere.” Ellsberg argued that the charges against Manning should be dropped for the same reason the case against him was dismissed, namely governmental misconduct that “offends the sense of justice.” —AFP
The three day workshop enabled app developers to enhance their programming skills and improve the performance, quality and look and feel of applications on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 operating systems oriented for both business apps and consumer based apps. Ehab Mostafa, Country Manager, Microsoft Kuwait, said: “App Academy is an integral part of Microsoft’s ambitions to harness the talented skills of app developers in Kuwait. We look forward to hosting the inaugural training workshop and supporting developers’ creativity and innovation in this sector. We aim to create a platform where local developers can continue to innovate and create applications that utilize their full potential.” “Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 applications equip programmers with tools they need to create end-to-end applications and enable it to reach large audiences that would serve Government
Wassim Hamad entities, Education institutions and private business needs including fulfilling consumer demands for diversity of apps,” added Wassim Hamad, Public Sector Director, Microsoft Kuwait. Over the course of three days, more than 30 developers had deep technical dive on how to create their own applications by trainer Eduardo Ortega,
Technical Evangelist Microsoft Gulf. Ortega took them through the design principles for Windows 8, working with styles and templates, data binding, design techniques, best practices and other controls and tools. By the end of the workshop, all participants were given Windows 8 and Windows phone 8 App Designer and developer certificates. Dr Salah Al-Sharhan, Vice President for Planning and Development Gulf University For Science and Technology commented: “Hosting the Microsoft app academy is part of our institutions commitment to the State of Kuwait to always host and encourage the learning and development of the new technologies. Being enablers to facilitate the wide reach of such innovative technologies education for our students and extending to business sectors ensures our active and continued support to grow the technology enablement to support the country’s national development plan.”
EMC eyes IT transformation technologies at COMEX 2013 MUSCAT: EMC announced yesterday its participation as the IT Transformation Partner at COMEX 2013 which is being held from March 25 till 29 at the Oman International Exhibition Centre in Muscat, Oman. The prominent ICT exhibition in Oman, COMEX now in its 23rd year brings together an audience comprising local and international companies, governmental bodies, NGO’s and academicians to share best practices and explore new business and technology opportunities. The need for IT transformation has been highlighted in the recently published IDC Digital Universe study. As the digital universe approaches 40 zettabytes by 2020, an amount that
exceeds previous forecasts by 5 ZBs, resulting in a 50-fold growth from the beginning of 2010, organizations in Oman and around the world will need to transform their IT, business and themselves in order to benefit from the growing amount of data and make use of it to sharpen their competitive advantage.. EMC’s participation at the event reflects its commitment to the Omani market and the value it brings to Omani organizations through leading technology and service portfolios. In conjunction with partners such as MDS-Oman, Mustafa Sultan, MHD and ComputerLinks Distribution, EMC will showcase how cloud computing and virtualization are key to mastering
the new IT realities, how businesses can unlock the value of Big Data and discover the knowledge, skills and support that will transform them to meet the challenges ahead. On site live Demos deliver actionable intelligence on how businesses can utilize big data and cloud technology to deliver tangible business benefits and how EMC solutions can be architected to deliver rapid return on investment. Held under the theme, ‘Empowering SMEs through ICT’, COMEX 2013 will see experts from EMC and its partners discuss a host of leading technologies to help SME’s garner the scale and efficiencies required to succeed in a vastly competitive market.
Educators begin to reverse war on students’ gadgets
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ellphones were once verboten on most school grounds, destined to be confiscated by a principal or stashed in a locker until the end of the school day. Now, some districts are not only encouraging students to bring the gadgets to school, they are using them and other devices - laptops, tablets, even Nintendo DSIs - in class. The about-face is a growing trend in K-12 districts nationwide, from Georgia and Wisconsin to New Jersey. Cellphones, laptops and tablets are relatively affordable, and rare is the teenager who doesn’t own at least one. As such, more teachers are incorporating Internet-based programs, applications and videos into their lesson plans, the 21st-century equivalent of the chalk and blackboard. The initiatives come at a time when budgets are squeezed. And some school districts have found it is cheaper for students to bring their own technology than to spend thousands of dollars building computer labs or buying laptops for each student. “They are turning to this as a potential model for giving students and teachers what’s called a one-toone opportunity for digital learning, where every teacher and student has a device,” said Gregg G. Festa, the director of The ADP Center for Teacher Preparation and Learning Technologies at Montclair State University. At New Milford (NJ) High School, it is not uncommon to see students finishing homework assignments on their MacBooks in the cafeteria or using cellphones in class to text an answer. “It’s giving them the freedom and autonomy to use the devices to support what they are doing in their classes,” said Principal Eric Sheninger. Educators aren’t the only ones who are ushering in this transformation: Students are one of the biggest drivers. Today’s young people are more comfortable texting and typing than they are scribbling on a notepad, and many say they find the bring-your-own device movement an intuitive addendum to their already technology-saturated lives. “I think that’s why most of the students are taking such an active role in this: Because it’s not the normal thing that happens at school,” said 17-year-old Michael Khan, a senior at New Milford High School. And while a few play games and share photos in class, Khan said the majority have found it engaging. About 77 percent of those 12 to 17 own cellphones and 74 percent also have desktop or laptop computers, according to a 2011 survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. About 79 percent own iPods or MP3 players, the survey states. “Our kids go home, and they are all plugged in ... and then when they come to school, we sort of unplug them,” said Ridgewood, NJ, Superintendent of Schools Daniel Fishbein, whose district started a bring-your-own-device program in the high school last fall and will expand it to the middle school. But some caution that the movement can lead to educational disparities. For some districts, “it’s another question of equity - even internal equity,” said Irene Sterling, president of the Paterson Education Fund, a nonprofit that promotes civic participation in the Paterson, NJ, district. “Most of our high
school students have smartphones, but a lot of our other kids don’t. It’s not as ubiquitous the way it is in a district like Ridgewood.” Any bring-your-own-device program would have to be partially subsidized in Paterson, where the average family income is $29,000, she said. Proponents of the program say they encourage children to share their gadgets, and they don’t want students or parents rushing out to the stores. “This is really a big, important thing to us not every student has to have a device in order for great things to happen with learning,” said Jill Hobson, director of instructional technology at the 39,000-student Forsyth County school district outside Atlanta. “In fact, we like it when there is a mix of devices and not necessarily every student has a device. That’s when we get collaboration and communication and critical thinking happening because students are working together.” Though significantly cheaper than one-toone computer programs, bring-your-owndevice initiatives still cost money. Schools must have enough bandwidth to accommodate the extra online traffic. Money also has to be invested in network security, filtering inappropriate content and professional development for teachers. Saddle Brook, NJ, for example, invested $30,000 to $40,000 to upgrade its network four years ago for its mobile computer program. The investment paid off, said Saddle Brook Middle/High School Principal James Sarto, who said that about 98 percent of the school’s 820 students have registered devices and signed a contract so they can access the district’s wireless network. And with the ban on cellphones lifted, students are no longer sneaking into the bathroom during breaks or
furtively texting under the desk during class, said Sarto. “It’s like Prohibition,” he said. “The prohibition has been lifted, and they don’t abuse it anymore.” The devices are handy in a number of ways. Students use cellphones to text answers and conduct polls. Laptops allow peers to collaborate through shared Web-based programs such as Google Docs. And, as happened recently in Saddle Brook, students chat via Twitter and Skype with the authors whose works they are reading. Daisy Sam, who teaches modern languages in Ridgewood, uses an application called VoiceThread to help students hone their Spanish accents. Students record themselves reading passages in Spanish, upload the videos on their phones and then send them to her. Some parents worry that the devices could become distractions or that children may unwittingly gain access to websites they deem inappropriate or bring banned content to school. Others welcome the initiatives, even suggesting districts bring in more digital textbooks. “It also reduces the anxiety of going up to the board to write an answer, said Saddle Brook parent Aishia Cruz. “Everyone hated being called up to the board.” But these programs aren’t the only answer. Stefanie Gigante, who teaches Latin at Ridgewood High School and supports the district’s device policy, said there still must be realistic expectations about whether these tools will increase educational outcomes. “Technology use is great,” she said, “but it’s not the single thing that is going to improve education, and I fear that there are a lot of people - at least on the outside of education - who think that if we can get every kid a laptop, they will learn much better.” — MCT
RIDGEWOOD: Students use laptops while taking a Latin honors exam at Ridgewood High School, New Jersey. — MCT