Cyber criminals are increasingly focusing their attacks on the hundreds of millions of users of social networks and on loopholes in bank security systems, security software vendors said on Wednesday. At the same time, spam e-mail messages rose sharply in the third quarter, Symantec Corp said.
And as Facebook reached 300 million accounts in September, social networks and social media continued to attract criminals, smaller research firm F-Secure said in its quarterly virus report. "As Twitter has grown in popularity, it has been increasingly targeted by worms, spam and account hijacking," F-Secure said.
Cyber criminals choose targets that are widely used, allowing them to go after the largest number of potential victims. "Cyber criminals continue to follow the money," said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, technology chief at a small security software vendor Finjan, who on Wednesday revealed a new method criminals use to steal money from bank accounts and hide their tracks.
Finjan said it expects a growing trend of using new software that forges on-screen bank statements, concealing the true transaction amount to dupe account holders and their banks, and then sends the stolen money to money mules accounts.
"With the combination of using sophisticated Trojans for the theft and money mules to transfer stolen money to their accounts, they minimize their chances of being detected," Ben-Itzhak said.
The amount of spam in all e-mail traffic rose to 88.1 percent in the third quarter from 81 percent a year ago, said Symantec's MessageLabs in its quarterly report. MessageLabs said botnets are now responsible for sending 87.9 percent of all spam. Hackers take advantage of the PC vulnerability by booby- trapping websites with a malicious code that loads onto computers.
Infected PCs are commandeered into a botnet, a network of hijacked computers. They are used for identity theft, spamming and other cyber crimes. "Over the past year, we have seen a number of ISP's (Internet service providers) taken offline for hosting botnet activity resulting in a case of sink or swim and an ensuing shift in botnet power," MessageLabs analyst Paul Wood said in a statement.
"However, this won't always be the case as botnet technology has also evolved since the end of 2008 and the most recent ISP closures now have less of an impact on resulting activity as downtime now only lasts a few hours rather than weeks or months as before," Wood said.
Agencies
Showing posts with label vendors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vendors. Show all posts
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Increase of IT spending by 20-25%, says GE
General Electric (GE) may increase its IT spending by about 20-25 percent for 2010-11, a step that can turn out to be a boon for several Indian information technology (IT) vendors.
Software firms like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HCL Technologies, Patni Computer Systems and iGate, who generate a significant amount of revenue from GE, are likely to benefit most from the increase in its IT budget.
A person close to this development said, "GE has allotted an additional $500-600 million for its IT budget during 2010-11. The firm may be looking to extend contracts with vendors like iGate and Polaris by three to four years and significantly increase its spending with large capital firms like TCS and HCL going forward."
GE has already extended its IT contract with Birlasoft, estimated to be worth $50 million and $100 million and with Mahindra Satyam, worth $100 million by three years. The existing contracts for iGate, Polaris Software Lab and Birlasoft will end in December this year.
Agencies
Software firms like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HCL Technologies, Patni Computer Systems and iGate, who generate a significant amount of revenue from GE, are likely to benefit most from the increase in its IT budget.
A person close to this development said, "GE has allotted an additional $500-600 million for its IT budget during 2010-11. The firm may be looking to extend contracts with vendors like iGate and Polaris by three to four years and significantly increase its spending with large capital firms like TCS and HCL going forward."
GE has already extended its IT contract with Birlasoft, estimated to be worth $50 million and $100 million and with Mahindra Satyam, worth $100 million by three years. The existing contracts for iGate, Polaris Software Lab and Birlasoft will end in December this year.
Agencies
Saturday, September 26, 2009
IT services deal signed between GE, Mahindra Satyam
Mahindra Satyam today said it has received an extension of its multi-million dollar contract with GE for next three years January 1, 2010.
GE, which is among the top five customers of Mahindra Satyam for over a decade now, gets support in the specialised areas of Application Development Maintenance, Business Intelligence and engineering services, Satyam Mahindra said in a statement.
"We thank the leadership at GE, for having reposed their confidence in us, and reinforce our resolve to excel in our deliverables to our esteemed partner, for years to come," Mahindra Satyam Global Account Executive Arvind Malhotra said.
GE has signed a similar contract with 11 other vendors. "GE recognizes the support extended over the years by Mahindra Satyam, and their commitment to delivery excellence, even during trying times," GE GDC Leader Steve Morrison said.
Satyam management had been in constant dialogue with its major clients, including GE and others to continue working with it.
"Mahindra Satyam has gained 32 new customers in the last four months," a top official had said earlier.
"Some of the large clients we had lost earlier are coming back and are reassigning new business," Atul Kunwar, the company's president of the Middle East, Europe, India and Asia Pacific regions, said on the sidelines of an industry conference.
The company, currently has about 420 clients, he said, compared with 480 in January before it was left battling for survival after Satyam's founder revealed India's biggest corporate fraud.
Satyam was acquired by Tech Mahindra in an auction in April and subsequently renamed. The number of employees the company has on reserve has come down to 7,000 from 8,500 in July, Kunwar said.
"With the business improving and new deals coming in, we have slowly started taking in employees from the virtual pool."
Agencies
GE, which is among the top five customers of Mahindra Satyam for over a decade now, gets support in the specialised areas of Application Development Maintenance, Business Intelligence and engineering services, Satyam Mahindra said in a statement.
"We thank the leadership at GE, for having reposed their confidence in us, and reinforce our resolve to excel in our deliverables to our esteemed partner, for years to come," Mahindra Satyam Global Account Executive Arvind Malhotra said.
GE has signed a similar contract with 11 other vendors. "GE recognizes the support extended over the years by Mahindra Satyam, and their commitment to delivery excellence, even during trying times," GE GDC Leader Steve Morrison said.
Satyam management had been in constant dialogue with its major clients, including GE and others to continue working with it.
"Mahindra Satyam has gained 32 new customers in the last four months," a top official had said earlier.
"Some of the large clients we had lost earlier are coming back and are reassigning new business," Atul Kunwar, the company's president of the Middle East, Europe, India and Asia Pacific regions, said on the sidelines of an industry conference.
The company, currently has about 420 clients, he said, compared with 480 in January before it was left battling for survival after Satyam's founder revealed India's biggest corporate fraud.
Satyam was acquired by Tech Mahindra in an auction in April and subsequently renamed. The number of employees the company has on reserve has come down to 7,000 from 8,500 in July, Kunwar said.
"With the business improving and new deals coming in, we have slowly started taking in employees from the virtual pool."
Agencies
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Will Infosys-Telstra deal cause job losses in India?
Bangalore-based software giant Infosys will pick up most of IBM Global Services’ multi-million dollar applications support contract with Australian software giant Telstra, after the latter’s deal with the former was scrapped following telco reducing its outsourcing partners from four to two.
According to The Australian, the decision to shift from IBM to Infosys could result in hundreds of job losses locally and in Bangalore, where IBM operates outsourcing centres.
IBM GS staff was told the scratching of the vendor’s software support would represent about 50 per cent of its one billion dollar, six-year deal with Telstra, signed in early 2006.
Telstra’s decision to drop IBM was a big surprise to IBM GS staff, who expected the contract to continue until 2012.
The deal was lost not because of performance issues but because Infosys low-balled the IBM offer, sources said.
Telstra has been reviewing its IT outsourcing contracts with Satyam, EDS, IBM GS and Infosys since last year, when the telco announced it would trim its list of major IT suppliers from four to two in an effort to reduce costs and streamline its providers.
Earlier, Telstra had ended one of its information technology outsourcing contracts with International Business Machines Corp (IBM). It has now roped in Infosys Technologies for the same.
IBM Global Services' multimillion dollar applications support contract with Telstra has been scrapped as a result of the telco reducing its outsourcing partners from four to two, as per an Australian media report.
The decision to shift from IBM to Infosys could result in hundreds of job losses locally and in Bangalore, where IBM operates outsourcing centres, the report said.
The Australian reported that IBM staff were told the scrapping of the vendor's software support would represent about 50% of its $1 billion, six-year deal with Telstra, signed in early 2006.
Less than a week ago, Telstra terminated its IT outsourcing contract with fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services. Telstra is the second major Australian company to do so after The National Australia Bank decided in February to suspend future work with the Indian outsourcer since the disgraced Indian outsourcer's accounting scandal came to light.
The IBM India spokesperson could not be reached for comment while the Infosys communication person said, "We are in our silent period and will not be able to comment on the issue."
Agencies
According to The Australian, the decision to shift from IBM to Infosys could result in hundreds of job losses locally and in Bangalore, where IBM operates outsourcing centres.
IBM GS staff was told the scratching of the vendor’s software support would represent about 50 per cent of its one billion dollar, six-year deal with Telstra, signed in early 2006.
Telstra’s decision to drop IBM was a big surprise to IBM GS staff, who expected the contract to continue until 2012.
The deal was lost not because of performance issues but because Infosys low-balled the IBM offer, sources said.
Telstra has been reviewing its IT outsourcing contracts with Satyam, EDS, IBM GS and Infosys since last year, when the telco announced it would trim its list of major IT suppliers from four to two in an effort to reduce costs and streamline its providers.
Earlier, Telstra had ended one of its information technology outsourcing contracts with International Business Machines Corp (IBM). It has now roped in Infosys Technologies for the same.
IBM Global Services' multimillion dollar applications support contract with Telstra has been scrapped as a result of the telco reducing its outsourcing partners from four to two, as per an Australian media report.
The decision to shift from IBM to Infosys could result in hundreds of job losses locally and in Bangalore, where IBM operates outsourcing centres, the report said.
The Australian reported that IBM staff were told the scrapping of the vendor's software support would represent about 50% of its $1 billion, six-year deal with Telstra, signed in early 2006.
Less than a week ago, Telstra terminated its IT outsourcing contract with fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services. Telstra is the second major Australian company to do so after The National Australia Bank decided in February to suspend future work with the Indian outsourcer since the disgraced Indian outsourcer's accounting scandal came to light.
The IBM India spokesperson could not be reached for comment while the Infosys communication person said, "We are in our silent period and will not be able to comment on the issue."
Agencies
Thursday, January 22, 2009
No job cuts in India, says Microsoft
Starting with 1,400 job cuts, software giant Microsoft will slash 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months.The layoff, however, would not be impacting the Indian operations. "It's not going to impact us. No job cuts in India," a Microsoft India spokesperson said in New Delhi.
In light of further deterioration of global economic conditions, extra measures to manage costs are being taken, including the reduction of head-count-related expenses, vendors and contingent staff, facilities, capital expenditures and marketing, the company, which posted a 11 per cent decline in profit for the second quarter, added in the statement.
"Microsoft will eliminate up to 5,000 jobs in R&D, HR, marketing, sales, finance, legal, and IT over the next 18 months, including 1,400 jobs today," the company said in a statement.
In light of further deterioration of global economic conditions, extra measures to manage costs are being taken, including the reduction of head-count-related expenses, vendors and contingent staff, facilities, capital expenditures and marketing, the company, which posted a 11 per cent decline in profit for the second quarter, added in the statement.
"Microsoft will eliminate up to 5,000 jobs in R&D, HR, marketing, sales, finance, legal, and IT over the next 18 months, including 1,400 jobs today," the company said in a statement.
Microsoft cuts 5,000 jobs as part of first layoffs
Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it is cutting 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months -- more than 5 percent of its work force -- a sign of how badly even the biggest and richest companies are being stung by the recession.
The layoffs appear to be a first for Microsoft, which was founded in 1975, aside from relatively limited staff cuts the software company made after acquiring companies.
The company announced the cuts as it reported an 11 percent drop in second-quarter profit, which fell short of Wall Street's expectations. Microsoft shares plunged 8 percent in morning trading.
The biggest names in the technology sector have been no stranger to layoffs lately. Giants such as chip maker Intel Corp. and even Google Inc. are among the companies that have pulled back on jobs to hunker down in the recession.
Even with $20.7 billion in cash on hand, Microsoft said its business prospects were hurt by the deteriorating global economy and lower revenue from software for PCs. The holiday quarter of 2008 was the worst the PC market had seen since 2002, with computer shipments declining about a half of 1 percent, according to IDC, a technology research group.
Making matters worse, the one type of PC consumers have warmed to in tight times -- the low-cost, low-power "netbook" -- actually cut further into Microsoft's earnings. The tiny portable computers run on Windows XP, which is older and less profitable for Microsoft than Windows Vista.
In a memo to employees, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer acknowledged that Microsoft is "not immune to the effects of the economy. Consumers and businesses have reined in spending, which is affecting PC shipments and IT (information technology) expenditures."
Ballmer said Microsoft cut operating expenses by $600 million in the quarter, but that it wasn't enough.
The layoffs, starting with 1,400 on Thursday, will affect workers in research and development, marketing, sales, finance, legal and corporate affairs, human resources and information technology, and mostly in Redmond, Wash., where the company is based. Ballmer also said changes would occur in departments that handle support, consulting, operations, billing, manufacturing, and data center operations, but he did not say whether layoffs are planned in those cases.
Microsoft won't stop hiring entirely. Ballmer said the company will add new jobs to support "key investment areas" over the next 18 months, so the total number of employees will drop by 2,000 to 3,000. Microsoft employs 94,000 people overall.
"I would have expected a more aggressive cut," said Cowen and Co. analyst Walter Pritchard. "They're trying to have their cake and eat it too, in terms of not cutting and hoping to have everything they were going to have before."
The software maker is trimming costs for travel, contractors and vendors, and said it will scale back a massive expansion to its Redmond campus.
Microsoft said its job cuts will reduce operating costs by $1.5 billion as it prepares for lower revenue and earnings in the second half of the year. The company says it is unable to offer profit and revenue guidance for the rest of the year, because of the market volatility.
Microsoft said profit in the last quarter fell to $4.17 billion, or 47 cents per share, from year-ago earnings of $4.71 billion, or 50 cents per share.
Total revenue edged up 2 percent to $16.63 billion.
The results missed Wall Street's forecast for earnings of 49 cents per share on sales of $17.08 billion.
Microsoft makes most of its profits on sales of the Windows operating system and its Office package of software, which includes programs such as Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Revenue and earnings shrank in both of those divisions.
A bright spot for Microsoft is software for corporate server computers, where revenue is still rising. Gartner analyst Neil MacDonald noted that the server business can thrive in a downturn because back-office software can help companies improve efficiency and save money.
Agencies
The layoffs appear to be a first for Microsoft, which was founded in 1975, aside from relatively limited staff cuts the software company made after acquiring companies.
The company announced the cuts as it reported an 11 percent drop in second-quarter profit, which fell short of Wall Street's expectations. Microsoft shares plunged 8 percent in morning trading.
The biggest names in the technology sector have been no stranger to layoffs lately. Giants such as chip maker Intel Corp. and even Google Inc. are among the companies that have pulled back on jobs to hunker down in the recession.
Even with $20.7 billion in cash on hand, Microsoft said its business prospects were hurt by the deteriorating global economy and lower revenue from software for PCs. The holiday quarter of 2008 was the worst the PC market had seen since 2002, with computer shipments declining about a half of 1 percent, according to IDC, a technology research group.
Making matters worse, the one type of PC consumers have warmed to in tight times -- the low-cost, low-power "netbook" -- actually cut further into Microsoft's earnings. The tiny portable computers run on Windows XP, which is older and less profitable for Microsoft than Windows Vista.
In a memo to employees, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer acknowledged that Microsoft is "not immune to the effects of the economy. Consumers and businesses have reined in spending, which is affecting PC shipments and IT (information technology) expenditures."
Ballmer said Microsoft cut operating expenses by $600 million in the quarter, but that it wasn't enough.
The layoffs, starting with 1,400 on Thursday, will affect workers in research and development, marketing, sales, finance, legal and corporate affairs, human resources and information technology, and mostly in Redmond, Wash., where the company is based. Ballmer also said changes would occur in departments that handle support, consulting, operations, billing, manufacturing, and data center operations, but he did not say whether layoffs are planned in those cases.
Microsoft won't stop hiring entirely. Ballmer said the company will add new jobs to support "key investment areas" over the next 18 months, so the total number of employees will drop by 2,000 to 3,000. Microsoft employs 94,000 people overall.
"I would have expected a more aggressive cut," said Cowen and Co. analyst Walter Pritchard. "They're trying to have their cake and eat it too, in terms of not cutting and hoping to have everything they were going to have before."
The software maker is trimming costs for travel, contractors and vendors, and said it will scale back a massive expansion to its Redmond campus.
Microsoft said its job cuts will reduce operating costs by $1.5 billion as it prepares for lower revenue and earnings in the second half of the year. The company says it is unable to offer profit and revenue guidance for the rest of the year, because of the market volatility.
Microsoft said profit in the last quarter fell to $4.17 billion, or 47 cents per share, from year-ago earnings of $4.71 billion, or 50 cents per share.
Total revenue edged up 2 percent to $16.63 billion.
The results missed Wall Street's forecast for earnings of 49 cents per share on sales of $17.08 billion.
Microsoft makes most of its profits on sales of the Windows operating system and its Office package of software, which includes programs such as Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Revenue and earnings shrank in both of those divisions.
A bright spot for Microsoft is software for corporate server computers, where revenue is still rising. Gartner analyst Neil MacDonald noted that the server business can thrive in a downturn because back-office software can help companies improve efficiency and save money.
Agencies
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