Gartner: Newbz To Write 25% Of Business Apps

"By 2014, citizen developers will build at least 25 percent of new business applications, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner said that this advance should both enable end users and free up IT resources. However, analysts warned that IT organizations that fail to capitalize on the opportunities that citizen development presents will find themselves unable to respond to rapidly changing market forces and customer preferences.

"Gartner defines a citizen developer as a user operating outside of the scope of enterprise IT and its governance who creates new business applications for consumption by others either from scratch or by composition.

"`Future citizen-developed applications will leverage IT investments below the surface, allowing IT to focus on deeper architectural concerns, while end users focus on wiring together services into business processes and workflows,` said Eric Knipp, senior research analyst at Gartner. `Furthermore, citizen development introduces the opportunity for end users to address projects that IT has never had time to get to — a vast expanse of departmental and situational projects that have lain beneath the surface.`"

From Businesswire...

Firm Welshes On Hacker Challenge

"Ethical hackers are claiming a $10,000 prize for successfully breaking into the webmail account of the chief exec of StrongWrongWebmail after the firm issued a `hack us if you can` challenge.

"StrongWrongWebmail runs a callback verification system so that, in theory, even if someone obtains a user's login details they can't read email from the account without also having access to the phone associated with a particular account. Logins into StrongWrongWebmail from previously unused machines need this secondary form of confirmation.

"The US start-up was so confident of its claims that its Darren Berkovitz published his account name and password in laying down a $10K challenge to hackers to break into his account and find out his schedule for 26 June.

"StrongWrongWebmail confirmed that the data obtained was correct, but are holding off in paying out the prize because they are yet to be convinced the Ruff and co stuck to competition rules.

"The group of researchers maintain they played fair and used a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability to access the target account after first registering an account of their own with the service..."

More at The Register...

Anonymous Bloggers At Risk

"The Internet has become a great soapbox for ordinary citizens, but there is increasing controversy around the trend of anonymous political blogging. In 2006, it was estimated that 55 percent of American bloggers post under a pseudonym. But along with the explosion of anonymous blogs has come a whole host of problems. Some bloggers have used their anonymity to spread false information without ramifications. Others have used it to launch personal attacks against friend and foe alike.

"This has led to appeals from all over the political spectrum for regulation. Some blogging platform providers such as Tumblr are taking action on their own and shutting down anonymous blogs. The European Union entertained a proposal last fall to prohibit anonymous blogs. In the U.S., some have asked that the FCC categorize anonymous political blogs under campaign finance laws subject to regulation...

More at The American Spectator...

Hackers PWN Ticketmaster

"If you're hoping to score tickets to Coldplay's Vancouver concerts when they go on sale Saturday, you could find yourself up against computer hackers who can order up hundreds and even thousands of tickets in the time it would take you to punch in a single order.

"Scalpers looking to jump the online queue can program a computer to circumvent Ticketmaster's website security and automatically order tickets at speeds far beyond ones the ordinary buyer could hope to match...

"`Maybe it takes you a minute-and-a-half to click through to buy a ticket, in that minute-and-a-half the hacker could have made 100,000 ticket requests," said Ryan Purita, a forensic examiner and security specialist with Sherlock Forensics. "You cannot beat a hacker script...`"

Source: Vancouver Sun...

Security "Pros" Shill For Web 2.0 At Conference

"Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, once viewed as high-risk, productivity-sucking applications, seem to have wiggled their way into the hearts of security teams nationwide. In fact, most organizations no longer block the popular web sites and allow employees to access these Web 2.0 applications at work, according to a new survey from the Security Executive Council.

"The research, which was released this week at the CSO Perspectives conference, reveals 86 percent of organizations who responded to an open poll on the council's web site said they do allow workers to use Web 2.0 applications, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, while on the job and/or with a company-issued computer.

"The topic of social networking and work access was the subject of a spirited discussion among professionals who attended CSOP, a three-day event in Clearwater, Florida. Some in attendance pointed to Web 2.0 access as a necessary recruiting and retention tool..."

More at Network World...

Visa Introduces Chinese Passwords

Why Am I Not Filled With Confidence?

"Visa has partnered with banks in China and Taiwan to introduce an SMS-based one-time password system for cardholders to authenticate themselves when making online purchases.

"The service is based on the card network's Verified by Visa authentication system, which requires cardholders to punch in a secret PIN when paying for goods over the Internet.

"But instead of the customer using a fixed code, they are sent a one-time password to their mobile phone which is used to verify their identity.

"Visa is introducing the service with Chinatrust Commercial Bank in Taiwan and China Everbright Bank in China. To sign up, customers enroll their cards for Verified by Visa and register a designated mobile phone number on their bank's Web site."

From finextra.com...