New England Data Services News Update
Posted by Matt Carroll on Mon, Aug 31, 2009 @ 09:09 AM
Record Setting Hacker
Albert Gonzalez is being charged in three cases of identity theft by the federal government. Gonzalez, who once helped Secret Service catch hackers like himself, was first charged in Boston last year for stealing about 40 million accounts in the largest single corporate identity theft in history. Federal Prosecutors in New York and New Jersey are also charging him with identity theft bringing a total of approximately 170 million accounts stolen. Gonzalez's lawyer told reporters that his client is "extremely remorseful" and is a good person addicted to computers who got in way over his head. Gonzalez and other hackers used a technique called "wardriving" where hackers drive around until they find an accessible wifi connection. In the most recent hacking, the hackers placed malware in corporate networks to gain accessibility.
Governor's Receive Suspicious Laptops
Unlike any scam according to Yahoo!, Governors around the country have been receiving suspicious laptops that they have not order. Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming and Washington state have all received between three to five Compaq laptops. Hewlett Packard, the company that owns Compaq, has become aware of fraudulent orders to the state and are now working with law enforcement to investigate these acts. The laptops in Vermont were paid by a credit card in the name of Governor Jim Douglas, but the credit card is not owned by the Governor. The National Governor Association has issued a warning to all Governor around the country to be wary of such laptops.
Price Cuts on Gaming Consoles
With last week's price cut of the PS3, the PS3‘s 80gb console is now worth $300. Also, with this price cut and similar to the PS2, Sony unveiled the PS3 Slim, a smaller version of the PS3 with same amount of amenities as the larger predecessor. This version has sold out very quickly before the release date of early September according to reports of both online and offline vendors. Coincidentally, Microsoft's Xbox 360 has just issued a price cuts on their various consoles. Their Xbox Elite will now be $300, the Xbox Pro will be $249 and the Xbox Arcade will stay as $199. Both consoles have their pros and cons and additional charges, but this is a good ole battle between competitors benefiting us, the consumers.
Snow Leopard and Windows 7
Windows and Mac are releasing their operating systems adding notable features to each. Windows 7 has some work to do since the publicly known failure of Windows Vista. Snow Leopard isn't going to change much offering subtle fixes and enhancements to the old operating system. Windows 7 has a new feature of hiding and managing the windows on your desktop by just scrolling to the right corner of the task bar making the windows transparent. Microsoft is now matching the Mac OS, but of course with its own unique layout. A similarity between both is icons can now be enlarge on the desktop with Windows 7 offering 256x256 megapixel size and Snow Leopard offering a 512 x 512 megapixel size. The author of the article with compared these operating systems claimed that it seemed that each OS isn't too innovative to take customers from each other, but after seeing the improvements done to Windows OS, Windows is now matching Mac's OS in style while keeping utility of the OS.