TUSHAR’S BLOG

Companies should avoid investing in Symantec’s network security appliances, and should evaluate offerings from other vendors, Gartner has warned.

The analyst firm said that it issued the warning because it believes that Symantec is moving away from selling network security appliances as it concentrates on “new business directions”.

Gartner’s advice comes after Symantec told some customers on 23 June that it is winding down development of the Symantec Gateway Security (SGS) and Symantec Network Security (SNS) products.

“Avoid investing in SGS and SNS products. Move to other solutions at the next refresh point,” a Gartner advisory written by analysts Greg Young and John Pescatore warned.

“Symantec is terminating its investments in the SGS multifunction appliance and SNS intrusion prevention system products. Symantec also recently ended support for the Symantec Enterprise Firewall product.” Continue reading Avoid Symantec appliances…

Computer experts from the University of Cambridge claim not only to have breached the Great Firewall of China, but have found a way to use the firewall to launch denial-of-service attacks against specific Internet Protocol addresses in the country.

The firewall, which uses routers supplied by Cisco, works in part by inspecting Web traffic for certain keywords that the Chinese government wishes to censor, including political ideologies and groups it finds unacceptable.

The Cambridge research group tested the firewall by firing data packets containing the word “Falun” at it, a reference to the Falun Gong religious group, which is banned in China.

The researchers found that it was possible to circumvent the Chinese intrusion detection systems by ignoring the forged transmission control protocol resets injected by the Chinese routers, which would normally force the endpoints to abandon the connection.

“The machines in China allow data packets in and out, but send a burst of resets to shut connections if they spot particular keywords,” explained Richard Clayton of the University of Cambridge computer laboratory. “If you drop all the reset packets at both ends of the connection, which is relatively trivial to do, the Web page is transferred just fine.”

Clayton added that this means the Chinese firewall can be used to launch denial-of-service attacks against specific IP addresses within China, including those of the Chinese government itself.

The IDS uses a stateless server, which examines each data packet both going in and out of the firewall individually, unrelated to any previous request. By forging the source address of a packet containing a “sensitive” keyword, people could trigger the firewall to block access between source and destination addresses for up to an hour at a time. Continue reading Academics break the Great Firewall of China…

The crowd’s reaction appeared to stem from Ronaldo’s actions after Wayne Rooney was sent off in Portugal’s quarter-final match with England.

But after the match in Munich, which France won 1-0, Ronaldo, 21, insisted: “I was pleased about being booed.

“Maybe France fans were upset to see a dangerous player. I’m not worried.”

Ronaldo criticised referee Jorge Larrionda for his display in the match, claiming that the Uruguayan was biased against his side.

“We played well and did our best but the referee didn’t help us,” the Manchester United player said. Continue reading Ronaldo defiant after crowd abuse…

Zinedine Zidane fired France into their second World Cup final appearance in eight years here Wednesday, scoring the only goal in a 1-0 semi-final victory over Portugal.

The French captain shattered Portugal’s dreams of a first ever appearance in the final after coolly converting a hotly disputed penalty midway through the first half at the 62,000-seat Allianz Arena.

French coach Raymond Domenech now urged his team – who were written off at the start of the tournament – to finish the job in Sunday’s final in Berlin.

“We have to go all the way,” said the 54-year-old. “We cannot just be satisfied with the fact that by getting there is wonderful. We will have to go for it and give it our all without giving it a second thought.”

Zidane’s goal was a repeat of his spot-kick winner against the Portuguese in the semi-finals of Euro 2000 and sent France into a final against the Italians – just as it had done six years ago.

The Real Madrid star’s goal kept him on course to complete a fairytale comeback. Zidane, who retired from international football in 2004 only to return a year later, will hang up his boots for good after Sunday’s final.
Continue reading Zidane fires France into World Cup final…

NEW DELHI: India, already the world's fastest growing wireless services market, is set to become a handset manufacturing and export hub as giants such as Nokia and LG churn out millions of phones to tap voracious demand.   

Global handset firms are knocking on the door of Asia's third-largest economy because of its established software industry, a booming domestic market and they want another manufacturing stronghold to offset the possible risk of operating plants in China.   

"There is no question that everybody is planning for India to become a hub for (exporting) mobiles to the Middle East, neighboring countries and even Europe," said Rajiv Kochhar, chief executive at Mumbai-based Avista Advisory.  The consulting firm helped Elcoteq SE , Europe's largest contract electronics maker, to set up a unit in Bangalore, India's silicon valley.   

It is also assisting several suppliers to Nokia , the world's largest handset maker, to set up plants in Bangalore, Pune and the southern port city of Chennai.   

Software design capabilities are a big factor in setting up a shop — and India has them in abundance, Kochhar said.   

More than 40 percent of the software that goes into Motorola Inc.'s  iconic and ultra-thin RAZR handset is developed in its Indian R&D facility.   

Nokia, which controls nearly half the $2.5 billion Indian handset market, and its suppliers are investing about $150 million in its Chennai unit, which makes a few million handsets a month and has already exported phones to south east Asian nations like Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.  

Continue reading ‘Made in India’ phones for global markets…

Crystal Palace striker Andy Johnson has said that he wants to join Everton and could complete a move this week.

Palace have agreed a fee of £8.5m with Everton, Bolton and Wigan for the 25-year-old England international.

But Johnson has decided on Everton and could have a medical on Monday in a bid to complete the move quickly.

“After several days of careful consideration, I have decided that my footballing future lies at Goodison Park,” he told Everton’s website.

The former Birmingham striker is currently on standby for the World Cup squad.

He added: “I find the prospect of playing for one of the biggest names in British football impossible to resist.

“I believe Everton will afford me the best opportunity to fulfil my twin ambitions of winning major honours and representing England again at senior level.

Johnson met with Wigan boss Paul Jewell and chairman Dave Whelan on Friday, while Bolton were also keen to hold talks with the player who netted 21 goals in the 2004-05 Premiership season.

“I would like to thank both Wigan and Bolton, firstly for having sufficient faith in my abilities to lodge a bid and secondly for being so courteous and professional during the course of our negotiations,” Johnson added.

WASHINGTON: Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie gave birth to a daughter fathered by Hollywood movie star Brad Pitt, People magazine said late on Saturday.
 
A representative for the couple said Jolie, 30, gave birth to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie Pitt, in Namibia, Africa. There were no details available, People reported.
 
Pitt, 42, and Jolie met in 2004 while working together on the film Mr and Mrs Smith, in which they played married assassins ordered to kill each other. The movie ends with the two still alive and happily married.
 
Jolie has two adopted children — son Maddox, 4, and daughter Zahara, who is about 15 months old.