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The White House is hoping to come up with a comprehensive strategy to better protect people in cyberspace and is asking the public for help.

Releasing a draft of the potential new National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (PDF) last Friday, the government is aiming to set up a system that would let people voluntarily create trusted identities to use in online transactions.

The goal, as described in a blog post by White House cybersecurity chief Howard Schmidt, is to secure and protect transactions in cyberspace through use of a special ID--a smart card or digital certificate--that would prove … Read more

McAfee said on Tuesday it has signed an agreement to acquire Trust Digital, a provider of mobile security and management software targeting corporations.

The companies did not disclose terms of the deal or how many of Trust Digital's 30 to 40 McLean, Va.-based employees will be moving to McAfee.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based McAfee expects to combine Trust Digital's solution that allows corporations and organizations to manage the smartphones employees use with its antivirus and other security software and its centralized management and reporting offered through ePolicy Orchestrator.

About 180 million mobile devices are loaded with McAfee … Read more

We've seen robots being deployed to help stop the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and now workers have lowered a huge containment dome over the gusher. But environmental groups and local residents are helping out with a much lower-tech solution--using hair, pet fur, and pantyhose to clean up the mess.

Some 400,000 pounds of hair and fur are heading toward the Gulf Coast, where locals are set to gather for "Boom-B-Qs." Residents in Alabama and Florida are collecting cut hair and stuffing it into pantyhose to make oil-absorbing "hair booms."

Apparently, … Read more

Ninety percent of critical Microsoft Windows 7 vulnerabilities can be mitigated by configuring the operating system for standard user rather than administrator, according to a new report released on Monday.

Removing administrator rights would also protect against exploitation of all of the Office holes reported last year, 94 percent of Internet Explorer flaws and 100 percent of IE 8 flaws reported last year, and 64 percent of all Microsoft vulnerabilities reported in that time period, according to BeyondTrust's 2009 Microsoft Vulnerability Analysis (PDF).

There are trade-offs to removing administrator rights. For instance, standard users typically can't install software … Read more

Web of Trust (WOT) for Firefox provides users with a simple meter for gauging a Web site's danger level. With easy to read warnings, this program only leaves one thing to chance with your safety.

The program does not have anything to offer on your computer's desktop because it embeds itself into your Firefox browser for quick access. Depending on the Web site you visit, the program's icon turns red, yellow, or green to illustrate the danger level. Clicking on the icon displays a chart showcasing Trustworthiness, Vendor Reliability, Privacy, and Child Safety. The warnings are intuitive … Read more

eBay is the most trusted company in terms of privacy, and Yahoo and Facebook are among the Top 10, according to a new report released on Wednesday.

Following eBay is Verizon, the U.S. Postal Service, WebMD, IBM, Procter & Gamble, Nationwide and Intuit, with Yahoo and Facebook in the ninth and tenth spots, the study from the Ponemon Institute and Truste says.

It was Facebook's debut on the list, as well as the first time a telecommunications company and a government operation cracked the top three.

While the list ranks the most trusted companies based on consumer brand … Read more

Just how valuable are the Linux-related patents that Microsoft recently sold?

The Open Invention Network (OIN), a patent defense coalition for Linux whose members include IBM and Red Hat, trumpeted the news that it had bought 22 Linux-related patents from Allied Security Trust (AST) in a bid to protect Linux. Microsoft, which sold the patents to AST, claims the patents "weren't important," as noted in The Wall Street Journal.

Did the OIN get value or garbage?

Microsoft has long presented itself as the looming patent threat to Linux, once claiming that 235 of its patents are violated … Read more

Microsoft has at times alleged patent infringement in its attempts to stifle certain Linux-based applications. But one group is hoping to fight back by using Microsoft's own former patents.

The Open Invention Network (OIN), a group made up of Microsoft competitors and Linux advocates,said it's close an agreement to buy 22 patents that Microsoft sold to another organization earlier this year. According to Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, the patents may relate to Linux.

The OIN believes that getting these patents is critical to protecting Linux developers from costly lawsuits, according to the Journal. The concern is … Read more

Newly formed thermal solar energy company Solar Trust announced on Tuesday it acquired the rights to Solar Millennium's potentially lucrative agreement with Southern California Edison (SCE).

The power purchase agreement, which was announced in June, gives Solar Trust the opportunity to build up to 726 megawatts' worth of solar power plants.

If approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, the project would include the construction and installation of two or three 242-megawatt power plants that would be operational by 2013 or 2014.

Solar Trust's strategy is to offer what it calls a "turnkey solution" to thermal … Read more