MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015 technology Russian hackers read Obama email: Report

NEW YORK: Emails to and from President Barack even working for-Moscow. Obama’s BlackBerry and the White House has said account itself did not appear to have been hacked. Obama were read by Russian hackers last year in a The hackers, who also got into the State that no classified networks were compromised. “But “Still, the fact that Mr Obama’s communications breach of the White House’s unclassified computer Department’s unclassified system, obtained access officials have conceded that the unclassified system were among those hit by the hackers-who are pre- system, The New York Times said Saturday. Earlier to the email archives of people inside the White routinely contains much information that is consid- sumed to be linked to the Russian government, if this month, US officials admitted there was a cyber House, and perhaps some outside, with whom ered highly sensitive: schedules, email exchanges not working for it-has been one of the most closely “event” late last year, but refused to confirm reports Obama regularly communicated, the Times said. It with ambassadors and diplomats, discussions of held findings of the inquiry,” the newspaper said. “It’s Russia was behind the attack. However the incursion was from those accounts that they reached emails pending personnel moves and legislation, and, the Russian angle to this that’s particularly worri- was “far more intrusive and worrisome” than publicly that the president had sent and received, according inevitably, some debate about policy,” the Times some,” a senior official was quoted as saying. Most of acknowledged, the newspaper said, citing senior to the officials. reported. Obama’s classified briefings are delivered orally or American officials briefed on the investigation, and The hackers did not appear to have penetrated It was not clear how many of Obama’s emails on paper and are usually confined to the Oval Office saying the hackers were presumed to be linked to-or the servers that control the message traffic from were read, the Times said, adding that his email or the Situation Room, the Times said. — AFP

MEA smartphone market rockets as cheap devices demand increases KUWAIT: Smartphone shipments to devices increasing 34% year on year in the Middle East and Africa saw Q4 2014. “Vendors such as Samsung unprecedented year-on-year growth and HTC launched variants of their of 83% in 2014, according to - Q4 2014 flagship S5 and HTC One M8 models Handsets Tracker released by with dual-SIM capabilities,” says Isaac T. International Data Corporation (IDC). Ngatia, a senior research analyst at IDC Spurred by the increased availability of Middle East, Africa, and Turkey. cheaper models and dual-SIM devices, “Demand for such devices stems from the global advisory and consulting the fact that a growing band of con- services firm announced that smart- sumers want to enjoy cheap cross-net- phones accounted for 41.9% of all work calls and offers from multiple tel- mobile handset shipments to the cos and therefore retain more than region in 2014, up from 27% in 2013, one SIM card for their personal use.” with the overall handset market The majority of the growth in the expanding 19.6% in volume year on smartphone category was witnessed year. in countries that have larger popula- Feature phones have been hit hard tions but previously had low penetra- by the increased availability of more tion rates. For example, smartphone shipments to Nigeria and Kenya increased 135% and 112%, respective- ly, year on year in 2014, while Pakistan saw growth of 105% over the same period. “The increased appetite for smartphones in Pakistan is being driv- en by a combination of the deploy- ment of 3G networks across the coun- try and the wider availability of more affordable devices,” says Popal. Meanwhile, the more mature GCC smartphone market expanded 31.8% SAN FRANCISCO: A presentation is made in the Symantec booth during the RSA Conference. — AP year on year in 2014, contributing to the region’s penetration rate reaching an impressive 72.6%. The overall handset market’s ven- Feeling safe? Try attending the dor dynamics also changed by the end of 2014. Although Samsung main- tained its number-one position in Internet security conference MEA, its smartphone share fell from 51.5% in 2013 to 43.8% for 2014. Nabila Popal, IDC’s research manager Huawei and Apple followed in second for handsets and display solutions in and third place with shares of 8.9% Hackers are outmaneuvering safety measures the Middle East and Africa. and 7.8%, respectively. The same trend can be seen quarter on quarter, with SAN FRANCISCO: A conference of Internet secu- error, especially people falling for bogus phish- tion and other safeguards, the tests found others affordable smartphones, with ship- Samsung’s share dropping 7.8 points rity experts is not for the faint of heart. Hallway ing emails, text messages or websites that were vulnerable to hackers eavesdropping on ments down 4.5% year on year in from Q3 to Q4 2014, while Huawei and chatter and keynote speeches are peppered appear to come from acquaintances or trusted data signals and learning residents’ habits, such 2014. Indeed, smartphones priced Apple saw their shares increase 5.1 with scary stories of increasingly sophisticated companies. Phishing attacks are a favored tactic as what time they leave the house and when under $100 captured 20% share of the points and 2.7 points, respectively, hackers siphoning off valuable personal and cor- of hackers working for foreign governments and they come home. MEA smartphone market in 2014, up over the same period. porate data. In the words of one expert, the bad criminal groups because they trick their targets from just 5% in 2013. Additionally, “Apple’s growth is primarily due to guys are outmaneuvering those charged with into handing over passwords or clicking on links More sophisticated hackers market share of smartphones in the the incredible success of its iPhone 6 keeping the wired world safe. This despite that install malicious programs. Verizon Hackers are sharing information about soft- $100-200 price bracket increased eight and iPhone 6 Plus models, which final- repeated vows from CEOs and government offi- researchers estimate one in five phishing emails ware vulnerabilities in a variety of industries, faster percentage points in just one quarter, ly placed the vendor in the large cials to tighten security after high-profile were read by their targets and one in 10 per- than many companies install “patches” to repair from 25% in Q3 2014 to 33% in Q4 screen size segment that had previous- breaches at Sony Pictures, health insurer suaded someone to open an attached file. them, several researchers said. Cyber-attackers are 2014. Meanwhile, smartphones priced ly been dominated by Samsung,” says Anthem and retailers Target and Home Depot. Security firm Proofpoint says middle managers also increasingly using programs that can scout a in the higher-end $250-500 bracket Popal.”Many users that had made the The recent wave of corporate data breaches are increasingly being targeted with emails con- computer network and change behavior depend- have seen their share of the overall switch from Apple to Samsung specifi- and cyber-attacks provided plenty of fodder for taining seemingly “official” attachments such as ing on what defenses they encounter. Even novice market fall from 23% in Q3 2013 to cally for the larger screen sizes have a weeklong cyber-security conference in San fax or voicemail alerts. “It only takes one person hackers can get their hands on tools to carry out 18% in Q4 2014 now started to switch back. Francisco. Some 28,000 threat analysts, security to click” on a link or attachment and put their sophisticated attacks. “Writing malware is not the “Many new vendors have been Meanwhile, Huawei has experienced a vendors and corporate IT administrators gath- employer’s entire network at risk, said Verizon hard part anymore. You can buy it” from other eager to get into the region’s burgeon- wave of growth in the mid to low-end ered to talk about malicious software, spear- senior analyst Marc Spitler. As for hackers, “they hackers online, said Ryan Olson, intelligence direc- ing smartphone space, with a number segment, with its Honor 3 and Ascend phishing and other attacks that can steal money don’t need a high rate of clicking because they tor at Palo Alto Networks. of them launching phones in this Y series enjoying great success. The or secrets from companies and consumers. can just churn out the emails.” One common refrain at the conference is that growing price band,” says Nabila Popal, vendor has struck the right balance Growing concern over cyber-threats has been companies must get better at detecting and con- IDC’s research manager for handsets between quality and price, particularly good for business, driving up revenue and stock Connected devices, easy targets taining computer breaches once they occur, and display solutions in the Middle in some of the region’s more emerging prices for many security firms. But researchers As more home appliances are connected to since old methods of prevention aren’t working. East and Africa. “This strategy of target- markets where it is even killing the say the dangers are real: Last year saw a record the Internet, experts warn they are vulnerable to The breaches of 2014 showed “that we’re losing ing the mid and low end of the market local competition.” Like in other global number of commercial data breaches and hackers intending mischief or worse. While actu- this contest,” RSA president Amit Yoran said in a has contributed significantly to the markets, the MEA market witnessed a “denial-of-service” attacks, aimed at shutting al hacking incidents have been rare, researchers keynote speech. “The adversaries are outmaneu- success of vendors like Huawei and massive 58% increase in the shipment down websites by flooding them with bogus warn that manufacturers aren’t considering vering this industry.” The conference also drew Lenovo.” of iOS devices in Q4 2014 compared to traffic. Here are some highlights from this year’s security in connected devices. In separate federal officials who urged more sharing of infor- Q3 2014. Android shipments increased RSA conference, named for its chief sponsor, the reports, experts at security firms Veracode and mation about hacking attacks. US Homeland Growing popularity by only 3.8% over the same period, RSA security division of tech company EMC Inc. Laconicly said they found vulnerabilities in Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said his depart- The growing popularity of dual-SIM while Blackberry OS continued its home systems that control lights, thermostats ment will open a Silicon Valley office to build smartphones is also helping shape the declining trend after a temporary Phishing works and garage door openers from a smartphone or partnerships and recruit government workers market, with shipments of such increase in Q3 2014. Many data breaches are the result of human other device. While some systems use encryp- with cyber-skills. — AP Google executive Solar costs fall by 80% in last decade among dead SINGAPORE/TOKYO: One by one, Japan is turning off the “Just as shale extraction reconfigured oil and gas, no other lights at the giant oil-fired power plants that propelled it to the technology is closer to transforming power markets than dis- from Nepal quake ranks of the world’s top industrialized nations. With nuclear tributed and utility scale solar,” said consultancy Wood power in the doldrums after the Fukushima disaster, it’s solar Mackenzie, which has a focus on the oil and gas industry. Oil NEW YORK: Dan Fredinburg, a Google executive who energy that is becoming the alternative. Solar power is set to major Exxon Mobil says that “solar capacity is expected to grow described himself as an adventurer, was among the hun- become profitable in Japan as early as this quarter, according by more than 20 times from 2010 to 2040.” Investors are also re- dreds who died in a massive earthquake that struck Nepal to the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF), freeing it discovering solar, with the global solar index up 40 percent this on Saturday. Google confirmed his death. Lawrence You, from the need for government subsidies and making it the last year, lifting it out of a slump following the 2008/2009 financial the company’s director of privacy, posted online that of the G7 economies where the technology has become eco- crisis, far outperforming struggling commodities such as iron Fredinburg was in Nepal with three other Google employ- nomically viable. ore, natural gas, copper or coal. ees climbing Mount Everest. The other three, he added, Japan is now one of the world’s four largest markets for solar are safe. panels and a large number of power plants are coming Cheaper panels Google would not give further details. According to the onstream, including two giant arrays over water in Kato City By starting mass-production of solar panels, China is the technology blog Re/Code, Fredinburg was an experienced and a $1.1 billion solar farm being built on a salt field in driving force in bringing down solar manufacturing costs by climber who co-founded, in his spare time, Google Okayama, both west of Osaka. 80 percent in the last decade, according to Germany’s Adventure. The project aims to “translate the Google Street Fraunhofer Institute. In Japan, residential solar power produc- View concept into extreme, exotic locations like the summit Replacing fossil fuels tion costs have more than halved since 2010 to under 30 yen of Mount Everest or the Great Barrier Reef off Australia,” “Solar has come of age in Japan and from now on will be ($0.25) per kilowatt-hour (kWh), making it comparable to aver- according to Startup Grind, a global startup community. replacing imported uranium and fossil fuels,” said Tomas age household electricity prices. Wood Mackenzie expects Fredinburg also helped start Save the Ice, an organiza- KÂberger, executive board chairman of JREF. “In trying to pro- solar costs to fall more as “efficiencies are nowhere near their tion dedicated to raising awareness about global warming tect their fossil fuel and nuclear (plants), Japan’s electric power theoretical maximums.” “through adventurous campaigns and events around the companies can only delay developments here,” he said, refer- Solar is already well-entrenched in Europe and North world,” according to its website. Fredinburg started at ring to the 10 regional monopolies that have dominated elec- America, but it is the expected boom in Asia that is lifting it Google in 2007. He served as product manager and the tricity production since the 1950s. out from its niche. China’s new anti-pollution policies are mak- head of privacy at Google X, the company’s secretive arm Japan is retiring nearly 2.4 gigawatts of expensive and pol- ing the big difference. Because of these policies, Beijing is best known for “moonshot” projects such as the self-dri- luting oil-fired energy plants by March next year and switching seeking alternatives for coal, which makes up almost two- ving car. to alternative fuels. Japan’s 43 nuclear reactors have been thirds of its energy consumption. China’s 2014 solar capacity Google said it has launched a “person finder” tool for closed in the wake of the 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima was 26.52 gigawatt (GW), less than 2 percent of its total capac- Nepal to help people find loved ones in the aftermath of the power plant after an earthquake and a tsunami - since then, ity of 1,360 GW. quake and “is working to get updated satellite imagery to renewable energy capacity has tripled to 25 gigawatts, with But the government wants to add 17.8 GW of solar power aid in the recovery effort.” Google says it is committing $1 solar accounting for more than 80 percent of that. this year and added 5 GW in the first quarter alone, with plans million to the quake response. The actress Sophia Bush, who Once Japan reaches cost-revenue parity in solar energy, it to boost capacity to 100 GW by 2020. Coal-dominated India, has appeared in photos with Fredinburg posted by enter- will mean the technology is commercially viable in all G7 coun- with its plentiful sunlight, could also take to solar in a big way. tainment outlets, called him “one-of-a-kind” in a post on tries and 14 of the G20 economies, according to data from gov- Despite this boom, fossil-fuelled power is far from dead. Instagram. “A dancing robot who liked to ride dinosaurs and ernments, industry and consumer groups. A crash in the prices “Additional generating capacity, such as natural gas-fired chase the sun and envision a better future for the world. His of photovoltaic panels and improved technology that harness- plants, must be made available to back up wind and solar dur- brain knew how to build it,” she wrote. “His heart was con- LOS ANGELES: File photo shows Sophia Bush, (left) and Dan es more power from the sun has placed solar on the cusp of a ing the times when the sun is not shining and the wind is not stantly evolving to push himself to make it so.” — AP Fredinburg arriving at the Do Something Awards. — AP global boom, analysts say, who compare its rise to shale oil. blowing,” Exxon says. — Reuters