PCIN.net Update

From Vnunet:

Nearly half of companies globally have suffered a business disruption owing to malware, according to Webroot Software’s latest State of Internet Security report.

The organised nature, rapid growth and severity of cyber-crime has pushed it to the FBI’s number three priority behind counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence.

Webroot’s research discovered that 4.2 million, or 1.7 per cent, of 250 million URLs around the world harbour malware. Almost three million of these malicious sites were discovered in 2006 alone.

From BusinessWeek:

It’s the year 2014, and Googlezon, a fearsomely powerful combination of search engine Google Inc. and online store Amazon.com Inc., has crushed traditional media to bits. Taking its place is the computer-generated Evolving Personalized Information Construct—an online package of news, entertainment, blogs, and services drawn from all the world’s up-to-the-minute knowledge and customized to match your preferences. And it’s all collected, packaged, and controlled by Googlezon.

This is the future according to EPIC 2014, a faux documentary posted to the Web in late 2004 by young journalists Matt Thompson and Robin Sloan. Thanks to their slightly tongue-in-cheek, Twilight Zone-inspired tone, the short video drew as many chuckles as gasps of dismay from the legions of mainstream media types and Web digerati who viewed it. Today, nobody’s laughing.