By John Rossi :: 12:19 AM
Computer hackers have launched a “significant and tenacious” cyber attack on defense contractor Lockheed Martin, but its secrets remained safe, the company said in a statement on Saturday.
Both the Pentagon and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have been made aware of the situation, and have offered their assistance to Lockheed, along with the U.S. Department of Defense. The government organizations are attempting to determine the extent of the breach, and offering recommendations for the company to reduce the risk of further attacks.
According to a Lockheed Martin spokesperson, the company’s information security team recognized the hacker attack almost as soon as it happened, and took “aggressive action” to protect company systems and data.
“As a result of the swift and deliberate actions taken to protect the network and increase IT security, our systems remain secure. No customer, program or employee personal data has been compromised,” Lockheed Martin stated.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin employs about 125,000 people. It focuses on development and manufacturing of advanced technology systems, including advanced weaponry. The company is one of the world’s largest defense contractors, with about three-quarters of its revenues coming from military sales.
At this point, the company has not yet released the suspected source of of the cyber attacks.
By John Rossi :: 11:25 AM
A bill proposed by northern California senate Democrat Ellen Corbett, that would have required social networking sites, like Facebook, to hide users’ personal information stalled on the state Senate floor last week, but may come up for one more try next week.
The bill failed, in part, due to aggressive lobbying by Facebook, Google, Twitter and other tech businesses. They oppose legislation that would force them to quickly take down personal information from sites upon request and allow parents of children to edit their kids’ postings and profiles to exclude information like as home addresses and telephone numbers.
The bill, SB 242, was introduced in February, and set a fine for violations that could have been punishable by up to $10,000.
The measure was supported by law enforcement and consumer advocacy groups, including the California State Sheriffs’ Association, the Child Abuse Prevention Council and Consumer Watchdog. Many of these groups argue that parents should have a legal authority to order websites to remove online information that puts children at risk.
Corbett, who unsuccessfully proposed a similar measure last year, said that she plans to bring this bill back for another vote next week. She told the Sacramento Bee, “I guess they’re just trying to kill a bill that’s going to protect people’s privacy.”
By Gilbert Falso :: 11:00 PM
A group of administrators at Oberlin College in Ohio have released a lip sync version of Rebecca Black’s Friday.
Dedicated to the outgoing class of 2011, and shown at the dinner after the commencement ceremony, the video features Marvin Krislov, the President of Oberlin College, David Stull, the Dean of the Conservatory of Music, Linda Gates, the Dean of Students, Ben Jones, the Vice President for Communications, and Danielle Young, Executive Director of Oberlin’s alumni association.
By Gilbert Falso :: 3:17 PM
Independent designers in the craft jewelry community have banded together over the past two days, using Twitter to call out clothing and accessories retailer Urban Outfitters for counterfeiting the work of artist Stevie Koerner.
It all started when a customer of Koerner’s Etsy jewelry shop told her that similar designs had appeared on Urban Outfitters’ website. The designs in question were necklaces of the 50 states, with hearts punched out in the centers.
On Wednesday, Koerner posted a message on her Tumblr blog that read, “I’m very disappointed in Urban Outfitters. I know they have stolen designs from plenty of other artists. I understand that they are a business, but it’s not cool to completely rip off an independent designer’s work.”
That post was like ‘the shot heard round the world’ in the design community. Koerner’s post was quickly picked up and linked on Thursday from Twitter by Amber Karnes. She Tweeted, “I think it’s time to boycott Urban Outfitters. They have done this to so many independent artists. NOT OK.”
Within just a few hours, Urban Outfitters became a trending topic on Twitter, and plenty of people jumped in to support Koerner’s cause. Twitter users flocked to the Urban Outfitters Facebook page to vent their criticism. Across Twitter, users were calling the situation a “PR Nightmare.”
Urban Outfitters acknowledged the situation with only one Tweet – saying, “Hey guys, we see your tweets regarding the I Heart Destination necklace. Please know that our accessories buying team is looking into this.”
By the end of the day on Thursday, the link to purchase or view the counterfeited jewelry had disappeared from the Urban Outfitters website.
At this point, it does not appear that Urban Outfitters has released a statement to the press regarding this situation.
By Gilbert Falso :: 6:19 AM
Facebook is reportedly working on features that will allow users to more easily share music, television shows and other media through the social networking site.
According to the New York Times, Facebook has been negotiating with several online music services, most notably the European company Spotify, to install a tab for displaying a user’s most-listened-to songs and provide an way for that user’s friends to hear them.
Industry analysts believe that Facebook’s move in this direction is part of its quest to become a hub for more types of media sharing on the Internet.
Forbes reports that the service could go live in as little as two weeks, with a Spotify icon appearing on the left side of a user’s wall and newsfeed, similar to the icons that exist for Facebook’s video and photo applications.
The Spotify service will install on a user’s desktop, and permit users to play tunes from Spotify’s library of millions of songs. The service will also allow users to listen to music simultaneously with their friends.