Microsoft Replace Internet Explorer with new browser codename "SPARTAN"

With the arrival of Windows 10, probably by next fall, Microsoft could come up with its brand new browser that’s more similar to Mozilla's Firefox and Google's Chrome, but less like Internet Explorer (IE), according to a recent report published by ZDNet.

A Microsoft Student Partner lead and developer of the modern version of VLC Thomas Nigro, tweeted "Ok so Microsoft is about to launch a new browser that's not Internet Explorer and will be the default browser in Windows 10,"

According to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, Windows 10 will ship with both Internet Explorer 11 and Spartan, though the former is expected to stick around for backwards compatibility only. The new browser will be available for both desktop and mobile devices running Windows 10.
So far it’s unclear whether Spartan will be portable on non-Windows systems, such as Android, iOS, or OS X, but if it is actually imitating Chrome and Firefox, two of the most popular browsers out there, the idea isn't too crazy. The new browser is currently under development.

The browser, codenamed "Spartan", is a "light-weight" browser with extension support, and multiple sources confirm that this new browser isn't IE12. Instead, Spartan is an entirely new browser that will use Microsoft's Chakra JavaScript engine and Trident rendering engine (as opposed to WebKit). But Internet Explorer isn't going away completely. 

So far it’s unclear whether Spartan will be portable on non-Windows systems, such as Android, iOS, or OS X, but if it is actually imitating Chrome and Firefox, two of the most popular browsers out there, the idea isn't too crazy. The new browser is currently under development.
However, if this new browser doesn't use Webkit, it will not likely be accepted into Apple's App store, because Apple requires all "apps that browse the web must use the iOS WebKit framework and WebKit Javascript" according to its app store review guidelines.

What Microsoft will call the new browser is also a mystery at this point, as 'Spartan' is just a codename for the project, and there's no revelations on what it might be called by the company.

Microsoft hasn’t provided any details about it but the company is hosting a press event on Jan. 21 in the company's hometown of Redmond, Washington, where it is expected to provide more details about the consumer version of Windows 10, so perhaps we will know some more about Spartan then.

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Indian Computer Emergency Response Team blocks 32 website

On Wednesday, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team issued the ban, asking internet service providers and mobile operators to block access to dozens of popular websites in the name of its censorship laws, according to a government advisory made public by Pranesh Prakash, director of the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore.

As many as 32 websites including GitHub, PasteBin, Vimeo, Imgur, DailyMotion, Internet Archive have reportedly been banned in India under an order from the Department of Telecom (DoT).
Vodafone, the second largest mobile network operator in India (after Airtel) with an estimated 173 million customers and BSNL, Indian state-owned telecom operator with 117 million customers, have already blocked access to the above mentioned websites. However, other telecom operators and ISPs are still providing access to those websites.

Now this is really insane. On one side, where the Indian government talk about Internet freedom in the country and on the other side, the government is blocking access to sites like Github, which has over 8 million registered users worldwide.
I have no idea that how could github website spread inflammatory content among Indians, which actually used to store source code from over 8 Million users. OK, let us agree that it actually hosting something unusual against the nation’s interest. But, even if a single page was found guilty, the blockage of the entire website seems a totally nonsensical decision.
The notice sent to all Internet Service Licensees mentions the Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000, which states "Power to issue directions for blocking for public access of any information through any computer resource." Based on which the DoT have decided to immediately block the access to 32 websites.

Prakash posted a copy of the notice listing the 32 blocked URLs. The URLs listed include:
justpaste.it
hastebin.com
codepad.org
freehosting.com
vimeo.com
dailymotion.com
pastebin.com
gist.github.com
archive.org
ipaste.eu
github.com (gist-it)
pastie.org
pastee.org
paste2.org
thesnippetapp.com
snipt.net
tny.cz (Tinypaste)
slexy.org
paste4btc.com
0bin.net
heypasteit.com
sourceforge.net/projects/phorkie
atnsoft.com/textpaster
hpage.com
ipage.com
webs.com
weebly.com
000webhost.com
snipplr.com
termbin.com
snippetsource.net
cryptbin.com

 Arvind Gupta, national head of BJP4's IT Cell, on Twitter said that the websites have been blocked due to security reasons.

"The websites that have been blocked were based on an advisory by Anti Terrorism Squad, and were carrying Anti India content from ISIS," he said. "The sites that have removed objectionable content and/or cooperated with the on going investigations, are being unblocked."

While it is possible that security reasons led to blocking of websites, it doesn't explain why popular sites like Vimeo and Github, which hosts computer code and is used by thousands of developers and technology companies, are blocked. Also, it doesn't explain why websites like Twitter and Facebook, where ISIS routinely posts content, are not blocked.

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Two Lizard Hacker Arrested

Lizard Squad launched simultaneous Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks against the largest online gaming networks, Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, on Dec. 25. Then offered to sell its own Lizard-branded DDoS-for-hire tool called Lizard Stresser.

In the past few months, Lizard Squad hackers group has come up as an infamous hacking organisation by claiming responsibility for some high-profile DDoS attacks against the popular gaming networks, including EA games, Destiny and Xbox Live. DDoS attacks overwhelm a network with too much of bogus web traffic, making targeted networks inaccessible for legitimate users.

A 22-year-old man linked to the notorious hacking group, Lizard Squad, that claimed responsibility for knocking Sony’s PlayStation Network and Microsoft’s Xbox Live offline on Christmas Day was arrested by the United Kingdom police on Monday.

Vinnie Omari, an alleged member of Lizard Squad, arrested by the police investigating PayPal thefts and cyber-fraud offences occurred in 2013-14 while raiding his London home. Law enforcement officials reportedly seized phones, laptops and an Xbox from his home.

"The arrest is in connection with an ongoing investigation into cyber-fraud offences which took place between 2013 and August 2014 during which victims reported funds being stolen from their PayPal accounts," Thames Valley police said in a press release.

Omari, who is a student of network security and ethical hacking, provided a copy of the search warrant to the Daily Dot, but the details have not been confirmed with local police yet. The press release from the Thames Valley Police Department confirms that Omari was arrested "on suspicion of fraud by false representation and Computer Misuse Act offences [sic]."
"They took everything... Xbox One, phones, laptops, computer USBs, etc.," Omari said in an email to the Daily Dot, who broke the story.


The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also reportedly investigating another Lizard Squad member named Julius “Ryan” Kivimaki a 17-year-old teenager, for his connection to the alleged DDoS attacks against Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. He was arrested by Finnish authorities later this week.

On Christmas Day, Lizard Squad did exactly same to PlayStation Network and Xbox Live which caused extended outages for millions of gamers all around the world. The group only stopped its attacks after MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom gave the group 3,000 vouchers for his uploading service.

Omari denies to have any part in the attack on Sony and Microsoft, and said he is simply a spokesman for Lizard Squad.

Omari was released from the jail on bail on Tuesday, and thus far, he said, no charges have been filed against him, "just alleged charges." He added that he'll "know more when the forensics team gets info." He refused to provide further details about the alleged 2013 crimes.

"Ryan" recently appeared on Sky News, openly claiming that he was a member of Lizard Squad. Unlike Omari, Ryan will remain in jail.

 source:http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/newsevents/newsevents-pressreleases/

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Twitter Currently Fixing Widespread Sign-In Issue

If you have had trouble using Twitter or third-party apps over the past couple of hours, fear not—the microblogging service is on it.

The company confirmed on its Status blog that its engineers are working to fix an issue that has affected the ability of somer users to sign into the service online and through its mobile site, as well as apps like Twitter for Android, Echofon, and Twitterific. The sign-in issue also caused tweets posted using Tweetdeck to be backdated by 365 days.

source:http://status.twitter.com/

Not all Twitter apps have been affected, however. Twitter’s iOS app still works for me, as does Tweetbot for iPad, and plenty of Twitter users can still tweet out their lighthearted speculations about the cause of the outage.

Expired session Time and Date Problem?

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The Interview has earned $15 million via rentals and purchases across online platforms

While The Interview was cited as the reason behind the massive hack that sent Sony Pictures essentially back to the stone age, thus far it doesn’t appear that there has been any retaliation from the original hacker group for its eventual release. Sony’s PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live, were both taken down over the past few days beginning on Christmas, but that seems an unrelated move, instead performed by hacker group Lizard Squad mainly “for the lulz,” per the group’s official social media presence.

Sony has revealed that The Interview has earned $15 million in consumer spending via rentals and purchases across online platforms in its first four days of online availability. A source with knowledge of the matter confirms that the overwhelming majority of these sales occurred through Google Play and YouTube Movies, meaning Google’s ability to rally and offer up its media stores as sales platforms helped considerably with Sony’s ability to get eyeballs on the gross-out buddy comedy that sparked international incidents and terrorism fears.

The Interview’s opening performance online has already helped it become the number one online film of all time for Sony Pictures Entertainment. Sony released the film beginning at 1 PM ET on Christmas Eve day, via Google Play, YouTube Movies, Microsoft’s Xbox Movies and SeeTheInterview.com. It has been streamed more than 2 million times already since being made available, according to Sony.

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