Brian Prince

Vertica Systems has upgraded its columnar database technology with a focus on performance and analytics. In Vertica Analytic Database 4.0, the company has added new time series and sessionization to bolster the database’s analytic capabilities. The time series features help organizations analyze streams of data that occur at irregular time intervals, such as stock quotes […]

While some privacy groups gave a thumbs up to Facebook’s latest privacy changes, others say the social network’s move is more form than substance. Representatives from a number of groups, including the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and Consumer Watchdog, said May 27 during a call with the media that Facebook’s […]

Google Chrome 5, the latest iteration of Google’s Web browser, is using a new HTML5 feature to help Web developers improve security. Google released the updated Chrome browser May 24 with support for a sandbox attribute in iframes that allows developers to reduce the privileges of parts of their Web pages. The sandbox attribute has […]

The prospect of rogue third-party applications on social networking sites has caused a stir in the past, and has recently been illustrated yet again. This case comes courtesy of malicious links on Facebook advertising “Distracting Beach Babes” and the “sexiest video ever.” Those who click on the links are directed to a malicious application looking […]

Armorize Technologies is pushing its way into the U.S. security market with a cloud-based scanning service that monitors Websites. HackAlert 3.0 detects Website compromises and malware-laced ads in real-time and alerts site owners. The idea, CEO Caleb Sima said, is to provide protection against the type of drive-by downloads that have been a common attack […]

After weeks of controversy, Facebook announced a revamp of its privacy settings in the name of simplicity. In a presentation to the media, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined a number of changes designed to make it easier for users to govern how their information is shared on the social network. The changes will start rolling […]

When Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) was released in 2001, it was cutting edge. However that was nine years ago. In the nearly decade since then, Microsoft has released two updates to the browser, and now has its eyes set of IE9. Still, in their ‘State of the Web Q1 2010’ report, Zscaler found IE6 […]

Sybase is touting new full text search and query federation capabilities in the latest release of its Sybase IQ database. Building on last year’s update, in Sybase IQ 15.2 the company has built in the ability to extract information currently locked in e-mail, file systems and other unstructured formats in a bid to improve analytics. […]

New security research is shining a light on an attack technique that can be used to trick users into entering their personal information on phishing sites. The attack, dubbed tabnapping, was uncovered by Aza Raskin, creative lead for Mozilla Firefox, and affects all the major browsers on Windows and Mac OS X. Raskin’s proof-of-concept attack […]

McAfee May 25 announced plans to acquire mobile security provider Trust Digital to bolster its ability to address the iPhone OS, Google Android and other mobile operating systems. “The acquisition is expected to close by June 30,” McAfee said. Trust Digital “provides a Web services platform to manage and secure smartphones and mobile tablet devices.” […]

Facebook is introducing new privacy settings Wednesday in response to ongoing controversy. During the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York today, Chris Cox, Facebook’s vice president of product management, announced the new privacy controls will be “drastically simplified.” “Our plan is to announce and begin rolling out a drastically simplified version of our privacy controls […]

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made headlines earlier this year when he declared privacy was no longer a “social norm.” But in a column published today by the Washington Post, the CEO admitted Facebook’s privacy controls may have “missed the mark.” “Six years ago, we built Facebook around a few simple ideas,” Zuckerberg wrote. “People want […]