Facebook Partners With Sophos To Identify Potentially Malicious Posts

BANGALORE, India - April 30, 2012 -  Sophos, IT security and data protection company, announced a partnership with Facebook to help protect users from links that lead to malware or malicious sites. Facebook will use the website reputation service provided by Sophos-Labs, global network of research centers of Sophos, along with their own security measures, to help assess whether a largely distributed link is malicious.

When Facebook users click a link, Facebook consults its database of malicious URLs to check the status of the link. Starting today, Sophos-Labs will be feeding malicious URL intelligence into this database. Facebook will inform Facebook users, if the link they clicked on is malicious, and users will be sent to a page that offers the choice to continue at their own risk, return to the previous screen, or obtain more information on why the link was flagged as suspicious. Mac users will also be given the option to download the free Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition from the Sophos Facebook Page as part of the Facebook AV Marketplace.

Joe Sullivan, Chief of Security at Facebook said "We are pleased to begin partnering with Sophos to better protect our users both on and off of Facebook. We believe incorporating Sophos, the industry-leading computer security intelligence, and expertise, will help us provide even more security to those using Facebook."

Sophos-Labs is a global network of highly skilled and thoroughly trained analysts renowned
for protecting businesses from known and emerging threats, rapidly and immediately. Sophos- Labs expertise covers every area of network security-viruses, spyware, adware, intrusion, spam and malicious web pages. Innovative technologies such as Behavioral Genotype Protection and rapid signature updates are combined to stop new and unknown malware.

Mark Harris, Vice-President at Sophos said "For many hundreds of millions of people, Facebook has become the default forum for sharing and consuming opinions, news and personal content. Because content is typically posted by a trusted source - a friend, many users incorrectly assume links are safe. Scammers often take advantage of the trust relationship to fool users into clicking malicious links. Our partnership with Facebook will educate users to make more informed decisions regarding what they click on and will help reduce the spread of malicious links."

Indian officials to be allowed to use social media soon

Ahmedabad (India), Sep 9 - The Centre is planning to put in place a framework for government officials that would allow them to leverage power of social media, a top official of Department of Information and Technology (DIT) said here today.

 ÒWe are creating a framework that would help all the GoI departments and officials to make use of social media like Facebook, Twitter etc effectively,Ó Additional Secretary, DIT, Shankar Aggarwal told PTI on the sidelines of an event.

 ÒWe expect to give final shape to it in next two-three months and notify it,Ó he said.

 ÒThe idea (behind the proposal) is that they can enter into dialogue with public more freely, take suggestions, feedbacks and provide updates. It shall be more of a two-way rather than being a one-way communication,Ó Aggarwal stated.

 ÒThe social media is being used extensively by the civil society, but unfortunately, at present we don't have any framework for central and state governments,Ó he said.

 ÒThe government officers are scared of using social media because they are not sure whether they are allowed to use it or not. Even if they are allowed, then they are not sure what are the dos and don'ts,Ó Aggarwal said.

Meanwhile, the Centre is planning to introduce 'The Right to Public Services Act' soon that would make it mandatory for government entities to deliver public services in electronic form too.

 ÒWe have already created a framework and for this (Act) the framework is to be converted into a law. We think we will be able to introduce it in the next session of Parliament,Ó he said.

 ÒUnder this, what we shall be trying, is to ask the government entities to deliver all the public services in electronic form also. And it has to be achieved over next five years,Ó he informed.

 ÒWe are also planning to develop a payment gateway for the entire country so that people could pay electronically for various services,Ó Aggarwal said.

Soon, Twitter fans can tweet in Hindi

New York, Sep 9 - There is a good news for Twitter fans in India as popular micro-blogging site is all set to launch services in Hindi in the coming weeks.

 Twitter, which came into existence five years ago, now boasts of 100 million active users worldwide.

 ÒAfter launching Hindi, Filipino, Malay and Simplified and Traditional Chinese in the coming weeks, Twitter will support 17 different languages,Ó according to a company blog.

 Both Twitter and social networking site Facebook have huge following in India. Among others, Facebook already offers its services in Hindi and five other Indian languages -- Tamil, Malayalam, Punjabi, Telugu and Bengali.

 Going by estimates, Twitter has around 200 million registered users.

 ÒFor many, getting the most out of Twitter isn't only about tweeting: 40 per cent of our active users simply sign in to listen to what's happening in their world... Our 100 million active users range from passionate early adopters to recent converts,Ó the blog dated September 8 said.

 The micro-blogging site allows users to send messages, with a maximum of 140 characters.

 Global leaders, film personalities, journalists and sports people, including Indian cricketers, are among the diverse Twitter users.

 According to Twitter, 35 global heads of state such as Australia's Julia Gillard and Argentina's Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, use the site.

 ÒMore than 40 per cent of the top global religious leaders are on Twitter, including @DalaiLama and the Pope...,Ó the blog noted.

 It said reporters share stories and photo from the front lines on Twitter.

 ÒOrdinary citizens break news and give us a view we might otherwise miss, like the now-famous Space Shuttle image that was re-tweeted over 2,300 times, and the first photo of the US Airways plane that landed in the Hudson River in 2009,Ó the blog said.