The hackers who broke into Google two months ago have gone after more than 100 companies, according to an estimate by security vendor Isec Partners.

Researchers have been closing in on the unidentified criminals responsible for the attack over the past month. In the process, they have uncovered another 68 so-called command-and-control servers, used to control the hacked machines.

Investigators had already identified 34 hacked companies after examining the single command-and-control server used in the Google attack, and the discovery of another 68 servers could mean that many more companies were compromised than previously thought. “It’s easily over 100 companies,” said Alex Stamos a partner with Isec Partners.
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As the European Commission opens an anti-trust enquiry into Google, the company has revealed details of how it ranks its search results.

Amit Singhal, a Google Fellow responsible for ranking, says Google processes hundreds of millions of searches a day. More than one in five is a completely new query.

The company’s algorithms, he says, are based on hundreds of criteria, from the words on a web page to the authoritativeness of other sites linking to it. They’re in a state of constant flux, with, on average, one or two changes made every day.
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Security experts are split over the effectiveness of Microsoft’s efforts to shut down a network of computers that spewed out 1.5 billion spam messages.

The firm persuaded a US judge to issue a court order to cripple 277 internet domains used by the Waledac botnet. Botnets are armies of infected computers that send spam or malware.

“We aim to be more proactive in going after botnets to help protect the internet,” said Richard Boscovich, the head of Microsoft’s digital crime unit.
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The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has found that at least four recently launched smartphones emit some of the “highest radiation” on the market.

According to the EWG, Motorola’s Droid, RIM’s Blackberry Bold 9700, LG’s Chocolate Touch and HTC’s Nexus One are “pushing the edge” of radiofrequency radiation safety limits set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). 

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Intel Corp. was targeted by “sophisticated” attacks last month, at about the same time that Google Inc. reported that its network had been breached, allegedly by Chinese hackers.

In its annual report filed Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Intel confirmed that it had been hit in January.

“We regularly face attempts by others to gain unauthorized access through the Internet to our information technology systems by, for example, masquerading as authorized users or surreptitious introduction of software,” read the 10-K filing. “These attempts, which might be the result of industrial or other espionage, or actions by hackers seeking to harm the company, its products, or end users, are sometimes successful. One recent and sophisticated incident occurred in January 2010 around the same time as the recently publicized security incident reported by Google.”
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A third-party application developer known as ChilliFresh claims that Apple has purged more than 5,000 “inappropriate” programs from its iPhone app store.

The shocking statistics were recently confirmed by AppShopper.com, which discovered that approximately 4,000 applications were removed on Friday, February 18.

Report: Apple purged over 5,000 ‘mature’ apps “While the level of removals is typically about 100 per day, the total remained uncharacteristically high over the weekend,” explained AppleInsider’s Katie Marsal.
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U.S. investigators are homing in on the likely perpetrators of the attacks on Google and as many as 33 other companies, with evidence pointing to an Asian hacking group that is likely Chinese, according to people familiar with the investigation.

Initial forensic investigations of several of the companies affected have revealed the electronic infiltration techniques of a prominent Asian hacking group—one of a handful of the major groups, they said.

Intelligence and law-enforcement officials have noticed familiar hallmarks, suggesting the group that attacked Google and others may have been involved in previous attacks they have tracked, said one person familiar with the investigation.
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