Security researchers at IBM said they had
uncovered a series of hacking attacks aimed
at Middle Eastern petrochemical companies.
The researchers, at IBM’s Trusteer division,
said the hackers were using a variant of fi-
nancial malware known as Citadel, which
was first discovered in 2012.
Citadel was originally engineered to steal vic-
tims’ banking credentials by capturing their
keystrokes and taking computer screenshots.
But the researchers said that hackers target-
ing petrochemical companies have altered
Citadel to add more functions: to take com-
plete control over a victim’s PC and allow
hackers to gain access to a victim’s corporate
network. They have also made modifications
in the malware to evade antivirus products
and traditional security controls.
Chongqing, a vast municipality in southwest
China, has come up with separate pedestrian
lanes for people using their cell phones.
Foreigner Street in the city is divided into two
lanes: one that prohibits cellphone use next
to one that allows pedestrians to use them at
their “own risk”.
There are no obstacles on the pedestrian
lane for cellphone users as the lane is painted
with instructions. Users do not need to look
ahead of them much.
Chongqing district’s officials hope the new
strategy will help reduce unnecessary colli-
sions due to cellphone use.
The inspiration for the dual sidewalk came
from National Geographic in the U.S., which
created similar divisions on a section of pave-
ment in Washington, D.C., as part of a tele-
vised behavior experiment.
Citadel malware targets
Middle Eastern petro-
chemical companies
Cell phone users
get exclusive
pedestrian lane
Google threatened
with lawsuit over iCloud photos leak
A number of Hollywood celebrities
whose pictures were leaked due to Ap-
ple iCloud security breach threatened
to sue Google if it does not remove
related results from its search-engine
returns.
Hollywood lawyer Martin Singer, who
represents several women victimized
in the iCloud fiasco, has threatened to
sue Google for more than $100 million
due to the search giant’s inability to re-
move pictures of celebrities.
Mr. Singer has questioned Google’s
conduct by tagging it as “blatantly un-
ethical.” He said the company knows
the photos are stolen and confidential
properties, but Google has taken little
or no steps to obstruct the violation of
privacy.
Mr. Singer had written to various web-
site operators and internet service pro-
viders (ISPs) demanding that the im-
ages be taken down under the digital
millennium copyright act (DMCA). The
DMCA requires tech firms to “expedi-
tiously” remove unlawful images from
their servers.
13
October
2014
