Hackers Breaking Up Botnets

InformationWeek Daily - Thursday, Oct 4, 2007

Yield Software: Google Optimization As A Service Search engine optimization, the art of getting your Web site to rank higher on Google and other search engines, involves constant monitoring and tuning. A new service from startup Yield Software promises to automate that work. Yield's SEO-as-a-service offering, in early testing by a few companies, is about to go into beta testing. Look for a formal announcement any day. When I talked to CEO Matt Malden a few weeks ago, he indicated the company was hoping to make its service generally available before year's end. Given the timing of the beta, however, I wouldn't be surprised if GA slips into the first quarter of 2008. Yield's service is really three services in one: First, there's the search engine optimization, where Yield scans your Web pages for keywords associated with content, applies its library of best practices, recommends changes, and, if you want, makes those changes. Second, through graphic representations of what's hot and what's not on your site, Yield helps you understand how to organize content for increased effectiveness, i.e. page views. Third, Yield automates the process of choosing how to spend your marketing dollars on key words. Say you've got $5,000 a month to spend on pay-per-click key words. Yield will determine which key words will give you the most bang for the buck and on which search engines. A later version of this service will support pay-per-click banner and video advertising placement. Yield's service is aimed more at the midmarket than at Fortune 500 companies, which tend to have their own SEO specialists and online ad channels. WashingtonVC is an early investor. A second round of funding is pending. Read the rest of my blog post and leave a comment. John Foley [email protected] www.informationweek.com
"Designing your product for monetization first, and people second will probably leave you with neither." -- Tara Hunt
Hackers Breaking Up Botnets To Elude Detection While cybercriminals have spent months trying to build the largest botnets they could, now they're splitting them up into smaller, more manageable pieces. Related Stories: Storm Worm Botnet Attacks Anti-Spam Firms Storm Worm Botnet More Powerful Than Top Supercomputers 'National Telework Week' Gets A Show Of Congressional Support U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf suggests a week of working from home could help companies reap benefits including, cost savings, lower absentee rates, and higher productivity. Sony Unveils New Version Of EBook Reader But at $300, the device remains too expensive for a mass market, according to at least one analyst. Microsoft To Release .Net Source Code The code, which should be released around the same time as Visual Studio 2008, will be available for viewing, though not for editing. Navteq Deal Pushes Nokia's Services Drive Into Overdrive For Nokia, the Navteq deal marks its biggest step yet in transforming itself from a world-leading handset vendor into a provider of Internet-based services and applications. NASA Workers Indicted For Having Child Porn On Government Computers Two men both face a possible 10 years in prison for allegedly downloading child pornography on their work computers at NASA's Ames Research Center. Techies' Job Satisfaction At A Two-Year High An outsourcing firm's survey found IT workers feel happier and more secure than their manufacturing, financial, and healthcare counterparts. ARM Aims For Linux-Based Mobile Platform In collaborating with six other companies to develop an open-source platform for ultra-mobile PCs, chip designer ARM Holdings is taking a direct shot at Intel. Traffic Flow Application Helps After Minneapolis Bridge Disaster Software developer ESRI created and deployed a Web application that allows Minnesota commuters to navigate new routes, despite frequent changes in barriers in the area. EU Opens In-Depth Probe Of IBM's Telelogic Buy The proposed transaction raises competition concerns "given the strong market position that IBM would achieve for certain types of software development tools," the EU said. Hackers Breaking Up Botnets To Elude Detection While cybercriminals have spent months trying to build the largest botnets they could, now they're splitting them up into smaller, more manageable pieces. Garmin's New Software Turns Smartphones Into GPS Devices In addition to usual GPS features such as traffic alerts, fuel prices, and audible directions, the Garmin Mobile XT lets users find directions using their contact list or calendar entries. Microsoft's Revamped Zune Still No Match For Apple iPod Despite its better screen and improved wireless capabilities, analysts suggest Microsoft's second attempt at dethroning Apple still lacks innovation. All Our Latest News See InformationWeek's daily breaking news on your mobile device, visit wap.informationweek.com and sign up for daily SMS notifications.	Hackers Breaking Up Botnets To Elude Detection 'National Telework Week' Gets A Show Of Congressional Support Sony Unveils New Version Of EBook Reader Microsoft To Release .Net Source Code Navteq Deal Pushes Nokia's Services Drive Into Overdrive NASA Workers Indicted For Having Child Porn On Government Computers Virtualization At The Desktop? Examine how more than 250 companies plan to adopt server virtualization technology in this recent InformationWeek Research report, Server Virtualization. The BI Explosion Examine the business intelligence strategies of 500 companies, including deployment drivers and challenges, spending plans, and vendor selection, in this recent InformationWeek Research report. CIOs Should Be Fired For Foolish Security Breaches Imprisoned hacker Robert Moore says it was child's play to hack into thousands of corporate systems because most IT groups don't follow basic hygiene such as resetting default passwords and keeping logs. While one security researcher says it's the vendors' fault, I lay the blame squarely on CIOs: if they don't allocate resources and enforce behavior that promotes airtight cyber security, they should be fired. Next Generation iPhone Could Have An Intel Inside According to DigiTimes, the iPhone could sport "Intel Inside" branding. Could this be one of the details about the next generation iPhone? Six Degrees Of Customer Loyalty CIOs need to embrace and embody them, says a customer loyalty expert, whether they're dealing with internal customers, or -- as is increasingly the case (and should be) -- external customers. Rumor Round-Up: Now RIM Is Making A Touch Screen Device The latest scuttlebutt from the Interwebs has purported spy shots of the BlackBerry 9000, a fantastical iPhone look alike that sheds keys entirely for what appears to be a touch screen. Why is my BS meter clanging loudly? Is iPhone Update Bricking Legit Users? There may be a bigger problem for Apple than the public-relations fiasco over the "bricking" of handsets of users who've messed around with unauthorized apps. According to traffic on Apple's own iPhone forum, there's a growing cadre of users who are claiming they haven't engaged in any prohibited activity yet have still seen their iPhones locked up by Apple's new 1.1.1. software update. Bungie Escapes From Microsoft. Apple, Revisit The Pippin! Reports are swirling that Bungie Studios, the game developer responsible for the Halo series, the Myth series, and other good things, has arranged to buy back its name from Microsoft and part ways. Palm Admits New Operating System Won't Be Ready For A Looooong Time Speaking to analysts and press on a recent conference call, Palm CEO Ed Colligan came forward and said its next-generation operating system -- promised for late 2007 -- won't be ready until late 2008. This is a bad set back. Yield Software: Google Optimization As A Service Search engine optimization, the art of getting your Web site to rank higher on Google and other search engines, involves constant monitoring and tuning. A new service from startup Yield Software promises to automate that work. An Upgraded Opera For Mobile Browsing The Opera Mobile browser is preferred by many to Internet Explorer Mobile for Web browsing on Windows Mobile-based equipment. So it's good news for lots of people that there's an incremental upgrade just out, Opera Mobile 8.65. And Version 9 is on the way. And if you're a BlackBerry user, Opera wants you as well. Nokia Touts Its Open Platform As Antidote To Apple's iPhone The world's largest cell phone vendor has launched an advertisting counterattack against Apple, which has dissed some of its most loyal customers by "bricking" unlocked iPhones or those loaded up with third-party apps. (Interestingly, few of the Apple uber-faithful are angry, judging by the many responses to our original post, where commenters are of the opinion that it's your own darn fault if your iPhone got bricked.) Independent Research Firm Uncovers BPM Trends You Shouldn't Miss Join this interactive web seminar hosted by BEA Systems, featuring Forrester Analyst Colin Teubner as we explore why organizations are seeking to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and strategic value of key business processes. Find out where BPM is going next and where it can have the greatest impact across your organization. Governance, Risk, Compliance and Beyond: The Emergence of Strategic IT Risk Management In this Webcast, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) Research Director Scott Crawford takes a look at Strategic IT Risk Management - a coherent approach to developing an enterprise risk strategy. Overcoming Obstacles for Better Planning Through Financial Performance Management As competitive pressures intensify and planning time frames continue to shrink, companies that decide to take advantage of the latest planning and budgeting applications will be the ones most likely to thrive. Success will hinge on how well their processes and people are aligned with the technology as part of a performance based culture. Sales Tax Compliance: Adding Customer Value -- Avalara Summary: Sales tax compliance impacts accountants most important assets - their customers. This paper discusses major trends in sales/use tax, and explains the importance of implementing systems for accurate tax calculations to avoid audits and suffering penalties. Featured Jobs: PNC Bank seeking System Engineer III in Pittsburgh, PA IGT seeking Database Programmer in Las Vegas, NV The Mercer Group seeking CIO in Hanover Park, IL International Fund Services seeking Security Master Database Analyst in New York, NY TheMuniCenter seeking Java / B2B Developer in New York, NY For more great jobs, career-related news, features and services, please visit our "Career Center. Try InformationWeek's RSS Feed Discover all InformationWeek's sites and newsletters Recommend This Newsletter To A Friend Do you have friends or colleagues who might enjoy this newsletter? Please forward it to them and point out the subscription page. More than 20,000 IT terms, more than 20,000 definitions: All at your fingertips, all in TechEncyclopedia Saw a TechWeb feature you want to see again? 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