Well, if you have ever used a Masterfile image on your website, and you do not have the proper license details, I would suggest you remove it immediately. MasterFile, a Canadian stock agency is on a raid to make some fast money out of innocent website owners.

Usually, a business owner does not create his own site. He gets it done through a third-party and he does pay for it. He usually does not have any clue about the details of images used on his website, where it came from, the licenses and when it was bought etc. Am I right? Some websites may have been created 5 – 10 years back and most of us do not keep any detailed record of it.

Masterfile has created a crawler which can match and identify site owners who have infringed copyrighted material. Once it finds out, it just creates a big Infringement Claim and asks the site owner to pay thousands of dollars. It also includes an invoice with the mail. If you have two images from MasterFile, then you can expect anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 invoice from Masterfile. Yes, that’s how MasterFile is making fast money. Maybe they realized this way they could make more money than selling images on their website.

I am not speaking in favor of copyright theft as I do understand the time, effort and money invested in copyrighting a material and the loss incurred due to theft and illegal use. However, a firm cease and desist notice could be the right thing to do and if the website owner does not take necessary step, then a legal notice can be sent.

Site owners who have got this infringement suit, tried calling up Masterfile to discuss about this issue and to let them know their innocence. But in vain. Masterfile just bargains and gives them a consideration but still it would end up in a huge pay out. If you are not willing to pay still, then you would start getting threatening calls from an recovery agent who will get 20% commission on successful recovery.

Here is what the OCILLA claims:

Title II: Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act

DMCA Title II, the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (“OCILLA”, creates a safe harbor for online service providers (OSPs, including ISPs) against copyright liability if they adhere to and qualify for certain prescribed safe harbor guidelines and promptly block access to allegedly infringing material (or remove such material from their systems) if they receive a notification claiming infringement from a copyright holder or the copyright holder’s agent. OCILLA also includes a counternotification provision that offers OSPs a safe harbor from liability to their users, if the material upon notice from such users claiming that the material in question is not, in fact, infringing. OCILLA also provides for subpoenas to OSPs to provide their users’ identity.

Website owners and designers beware of these stock websites especially Getty Images and MasterFile as they are on an Internet crawl to make money from innocent website owners and the law is on their side.

This is considered as one of the largest sophisticated cyber attacks ever. Over 75,000 computers in 2,500 companies all around the world has been attacked. It is believed that the attack was started as early as 2008.

The hack targeted credit-card transaction details, emails, corporate data and information in companies who are into health care and information technology industry. Even computer networks at Google were not spared in this attack. Companies in 196 countries were hacked during the last 1 year. The criminal groups involved in this attack are now targeting countries like China and Russia. Continue Reading

According to comScore, global search market increased by 46% in the last year alone with U.S. remaining the largest search market worldwide.

There were more than 131 billion searches done from different places and by different age ranges. This would mean 4 billion searches per day, 175 million per hour and 29 million per minute. Google sites still rule and dominate the market and had a 58% increase in searches followed distantly by Yahoo! with 13% growth. Continue Reading

With the ever-changing face of the adult industry on the Internet, Metro Content announced today the worldwide premiere launch of its cutting-edge, high-quality flash streaming IPTV website, RedHotTV. Continue Reading

A report by comScore on top entertainment sites in Japan reveals that 74 percent of the Japanese online population visited entertainment sites. The report also states that 15 percent of the time Japanese internet users spend their time reading and watching entertainment sites. Continue Reading

Based on data from comScore World Metrix audience measurement, it was found that out of 18.3 million Spanish internet users, 8.4 million visited online newspaper sites. This would mean 46 percent of the total Spanish online audience. Continue Reading

Threat Level: Low
Threat Type: Rouge Program

Antivirus Pro 2009 is a menace and has been infecting computers worldwide. Antivirus Pro is a fake anti-spyware program similar to AntiSpywareXP 2009 mostly affecting Windows XP systems. This fake anti-spyware automatically gets installed on your computer by displaying fake security alerts and fake warning messages.

What does Antivirus Pro 2009 do when installed?

When this fake anti-spyware gets installed, it will automatically configure once you restart or log into your system. While configuring, it would also automatically create a number of fake malwares and spyware files. These files though they are not harmless, are used to depict that your system has a huge number of malwares and spywares and it has been detected by Antivirus Pro 2009. It would then lead you to purchase it in order to remove these malwares. Continue Reading

Rogue softwares or programs are fake security softwares which automatically installs malwares on an infected computer and gives fake warnings prompting users to purchase the software in order to remove those malwares.

These fake security softwares usually install a Trojan horse inorder to download a trial version of the software or create fake malwares and infect internal programs.

Infection Symptoms

Since the main goal of these softwares are to make the user purchase the software, Rogue software starts to give fake alerts scaring users to purchase the software. An usual warning window would state, “WARNING! Your computer is infected with Spyware/Adware/Viruses! Click Ok to Remove” or something similar. No matter what the user chooses, the software would get installed in your computer.

These rogue softwares ca be detected using good antispyware softwares like AVG Anti-Virus, Ad-ware SE and Avast! to name a few. Still, to remove the rogue software completely, manual removal would also be required.

Manual removal would include removing entries on registry, deleting files and folders and stopping auto run programs.

List of Top Rogue Softwares:

A list of known top Rogue softwares are listed below for your reference:

• Advanced Cleaner
• AlfaCleaner
• AntiSpyCheck 2.1
• AntiSpyStorm
• AntiSpywareExpert
• AntiSpywareMaster
• AntiSpywareSuite
• AntiSpyware Shield
• Antivermins
• Antivirgear
• Antivirus 2008
• Antivirus 2009
• Antivirus pro 2009
• AntiVirus Gold
• Antivirus Master
• Antivirus XP 2008
• Avatod Antispyware 8.0
• Awola
• Brave Sentry
• BestsellerAntivirus
• Cleanator
• ContraVirus
• Doctor Antivirus
• DriveCleaner
• Disk Knight
• EasySpywareCleaner
• Errorsafe
• free-viruscan.com
• IE Antivirus
• IEDefender
• InfeStop
• Internet Antivirus
• KVMSecure
• MacSweeper
• MalCrush 3.7
• MalwareCore
• MalwareAlarm
• Malware Bell 3.2
• MS Antivirus
• PCSecureSystem
• PC Antispy
• PC Clean Pro
• PC SpeedScan Pro
• PestTrap
• Perfect Cleaner
• PersonalAntiSpy Free
• PAL Spyware Remover
• PCPrivacytool
• PC-Antispyware
• PSGuard
• Registry Great
• Saliar
• SecurePCCleaner
• Security toolbar 7.1
• Smart Antivirus 2008
• Smart Antivirus 2009
• SpyAxe
• Spy Away
• SpyCrush
• Spydawn
• SpyGuarder
• SpyHeal
• Spylocked
• SpySheriff
• SpySpotter
• Spyware Cleaner
• Spyware Quake
• Spyware Stormer
• SpywareStrike
• Spy-Rid
• SpyWiper
• System anti virus 2008
• System Live Protect
• SystemDoctor
• Total Secure 2009
• TrustedAntivirus
• TheSpyBot
• UltimateCleaner
• VirusHeat
• Virus Isolator
• VirusProtectPro
• VirusRemover2008
• VirusRanger
• Virus Respone Lab 2009
• Virus Trigger
• Vista Antivirus 2008
• WinAntiVirus Pro 2006
• WinDefender
• WinFixer
• WinSpywareProtect
• WorldAntiSpy
• XP Antivirus
• XP AntiSpyware 2009
• Zinaps AntiSpyware 2008

Bangalore is considered as an IT capital of India. However, Bangalore residents do know that getting a good internet connection is not that easy. Most of the providers stick to the most important areas and do not have any plans of expansion. Others provide bad broadband internet and make us wonder if dial-up was a better option.

Some of the top providers include:
1. Airtel Broadband
2. Tata Indicom Broadband
3. Reliance Broadband
4. Hathway

Continue Reading

The new Safari 3.2 now has the most wanted protection on its browser. The phishing protection would help avoid fraudulent phishing websites and better identify online businesses. The version is available for both Mac and Windows users.

Though search engines like Google have been reporting fraudulent phishing sites and alerting with a window before you access the website, browsers have also been actively participating in fighting fraud websites through various updates. Safari badly needed security features and the phishing protection is a welcome update.

Safari also boasts that it can load pages up to 1.9 times faster than what an Internet Explorer 7 can and 1.7 times faster than a Firefox 2. Safari also claims that it can execute JavaScript 6 times faster than Internet Explorer 7 and in Firefox 2 upto 4 times faster.