28680013
submission
DMandPenfold writes:
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has reportedly handed over to UK police a data file containing hundreds of millions of News International emails, as part of ongoing phone and email hacking investigations.
The data file handed to police is known as "Data Pool 3", according to the Guardian newspaper, and is so large that police have decided they cannot effectively read every email. Instead, investigators are searching for specific keywords around hacking.
Last week, Rupert Murdoch travelled to the UK for meetings at News International, and visited its IT department. The reasons for the meetings have not been disclosed.
Access to News International's email archive has been a major issue during the hacking scandal. During 2009 and 2010, internal orders were issued at News International, for a pre-arranged email deletion plan to be executed, according to the Guardian — though it is not clear who made the orders. The instructions were reiterated several times over the following months but were not initially adhered to. This period also saw a renewed police investigation into the hacking scandal as victims, including Sienna Miller, made damages claims against the publisher.
The initial requests for email deletion may have been part of normal data management procedure, the newspaper reported. But last week, a High Court judge said News International had wilfully deleted emails that could have shown its journalists' participation in phone and computer hacking. As the company paid large settlement sums to a number of individuals over alleged hacking, the judge ordered a forensic search of the company's computers.
News International, which is facing growing accusations that several of its titles might be involved in hacking, has not commented. Two current and two former journalists on The Sun were arrested on Saturday, but have not been charged.
Legal experts told Computerworld UK that companies are within their legal right to delete emails as a way of controlling data volumes. However, they said, such deletion during a time of police investigations and court cases would be viewed highly unfavourably by a judge and could be a serious legal breach.
News International previously told the government's culture committee in carefully worded language that "technological corruptions" of its database had "resulted in some data being lost", and allegedly told victims' lawyers that it ditched some computers as part of an office move in 2010. It has also claimed, then later retracted the statement, that a raft of emails were lost en route to Mumbai.
Facing heightened legal pressure, the Guardian reported, Rupert Murdoch, chairman of parent group News Corp., has ordered all of the emails in Data Pool 3 to be handed over to authorities. It is understood that News International is also rapidly searching the database itself, in order to assess the information it contains. It has consistently said it is co-operating with the police.
28586423
submission
DMandPenfold writes:
Automated software control systems are proliferating in cars, but vehicle safety authorities do not have anywhere near enough expertise to measure or regulate their usage.
That is according to the stark warnings of a US government-commissioned report, which found that it was "unrealistic" for the country's vehicle safety agency to be able to maintain the skills to keep up with rapid technology change.
The news comes after Toyota discovered sudden acceleration problems in its cars in 2009, and after Jaguar found a severe control software risk in its cars last year.
In its report, the US National Research Council said the government had been "justified" in closing its investigation into the Toyota problems, after reaching the conclusion that the car's pedals were becoming stuck. But it said that although the government concluded that computer systems were not a plausible cause, persistent questions around IT remained.
It described as "troubling" the fact that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) still "could not convincingly address public concerns about the safety of automotive electronics".
Louis Lanzerotti, distinguished research professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and chair of the National Research Council, said it would be difficult for NHTSA to keep pace with the technology. But he called for it to develop much better knowledge by engaging with industry.
"A standing advisory committee is one way NHTSA can interact with industry and with technical experts in electronics to keep abreast of these technologies and oversee their safety," he said. "Neither the automotive industry, NHTSA, nor motorists can afford a recurrence of something like the [Toyota] unintended acceleration controversy."
The National Research Council said the advisory committee needed a panel of individuals with backgrounds central to the design, development, and safety assurance of car electronics systems – including experts in software and systems engineering, in human factors, and in electronics hardware. It would be consulted on technical matters for regulatory reviews, defect investigation processes and research assessments.
It was vital that NHTSA becomes more familiar "with how manufacturers design safety and security into electronics systems, identify and investigate system faults that may leave no physical trace, and respond convincingly when concerns arise about system safety", said the report.
The NHTSA needed to become "proactive" to technology development, it said, including assessing how drivers interact with electronics systems. It added: "In the future, the possibility of electronics leading to increasingly autonomous vehicles presents a new set of safety challenges and will demand even more agency planning and foresight".
The National Research Council said it supported an NHTSA initiative to install event data recorders in cars to inform safety investigations, saying the devices must become "commonplace in all new vehicles".
28487019
submission
DMandPenfold writes:
Diamondback Capital Management, a large US hedge fund managing billions of dollars of assets, has settled a groundbreaking FBI case around the alleged $62 million insider trading of Dell and Nvidia stock.
The hedge fund will immediately pay $9 million to authorities as part of the agreement, which was reached in a New York court, and will claim serious wrongful conduct by two senior former employees.
The alleged criminal operation, involving trades of Dell and Nvidia shares based on private company information, is being described by authorities as one of the largest ever insider trading rings, and involves former employees at several hedge funds, as well as at Dell.
Todd Newman, a senior manager at Diamondback, was arrested in Boston last week. Jesse Tortura, a former analyst at the company, was also implicated in the case by prosecutors. The two continue to face securities fraud charges.
Diamondback itself will no longer face prosecution. The company has agreed to sign an official statement detailing the "wrongful conduct" of two of its employees.
Other individuals facing charges include Anthony Chiasson, a co-founder at Level Global investors, Jon Horvath, an employee at Sigma Capital Management, and Danny Kuo of Whittier Trust. All three firms are large hedge funds.
Level Global allegedly made $57 million from a tip ahead of Dell's results, according to the FBI, which would be the largest single profit in history from insider information. None of the companies facing questions has commented.
Two former Dell employees — an unnamed employee in the company's investor relations department from 2007 to 2009, as well as Sandeep Goyal, who worked at its US headquarters between 2006 and 2007 — were also said to be part of the alleged scam.
Some 56 traders and associates have been convicted in the "Operation Perfect Hedge" investigation, of which this case is the largest known part. The investigation also included the high profile insider trading conviction of Galleon hedge fund co-founder Raj Rajaratnam – after he traded extensively in AMD, IBM, Intel and 3Com stock.
George Canellos, director of the SEC's New York office, said the authority believes the settlement by Diamondback "appropriately sanctions the misconduct" while demonstrating the company's assistance in the police investigation.
Diamondback, which was raided over a year ago by the FBI as part of the investigation, has not provided further comment. The other hedge funds continue to face questions.
Dell said in a statement that it "has cooperated with government authorities". It added: "All Dell employees are required annually to complete training on the company's Code of Conduct, which includes a section on insider trading. Violations of these policies are treated seriously, and violations result in disciplinary action up to and including termination."
28486993
submission
DMandPenfold writes:
Diamondback Capital Management, a large US hedge fund managing billions of dollars of assets, has settled a groundbreaking FBI case around the alleged $62 million insider trading of Dell and Nvidia stock.
The hedge fund will immediately pay $9 million to authorities as part of the agreement, which was reached in a New York court, and will claim serious wrongful conduct by two senior former employees.
The alleged criminal operation, involving trades of Dell and Nvidia shares based on private company information, is being described by authorities as one of the largest ever insider trading rings, and involves former employees at several hedge funds, as well as at Dell.
Todd Newman, a senior manager at Diamondback, was arrested in Boston last week. Jesse Tortura, a former analyst at the company, was also implicated in the case by prosecutors. The two continue to face securities fraud charges.
Diamondback itself will no longer face prosecution. The company has agreed to sign an official statement detailing the "wrongful conduct" of two of its employees.
Other individuals facing charges include Anthony Chiasson, a co-founder at Level Global investors, Jon Horvath, an employee at Sigma Capital Management, and Danny Kuo of Whittier Trust. All three firms are large hedge funds.
Level Global allegedly made $57 million from a tip ahead of Dell's results, according to the FBI, which would be the largest single profit in history from insider information. None of the companies facing questions has commented.
Two former Dell employees — an unnamed employee in the company's investor relations department from 2007 to 2009, as well as Sandeep Goyal, who worked at its US headquarters between 2006 and 2007 — were also said to be part of the alleged scam.
Some 56 traders and associates have been convicted in the "Operation Perfect Hedge" investigation, of which this case is the largest known part. The investigation also included the high profile insider trading conviction of Galleon hedge fund co-founder Raj Rajaratnam – after he traded extensively in AMD, IBM, Intel and 3Com stock.
George Canellos, director of the SEC's New York office, said the authority believes the settlement by Diamondback "appropriately sanctions the misconduct" while demonstrating the company's assistance in the police investigation.
Diamondback, which was raided over a year ago by the FBI as part of the investigation, has not provided further comment. The other hedge funds continue to face questions.
Dell said in a statement that it "has cooperated with government authorities". It added: "All Dell employees are required annually to complete training on the company's Code of Conduct, which includes a section on insider trading. Violations of these policies are treated seriously, and violations result in disciplinary action up to and including termination."
28448507
submission
DMandPenfold writes:
Dr Theodora Dallas, a 34-year old juror who researched a defendant on the internet and shared the information with fellow jurors during a UK trial, has been jailed for six months for contempt of court.
The decision raises serious questions over how online information and social media is governed among jurors. Journalists were recently allowed to use Twitter in court during Wikileaks boss Julian Assange's extradition hearings, and information on major cases is hard to avoid when using the internet or switching on the television.
Jurors are explicitly informed in court not to consult media reports or the internet in general around a case, until it is finished. But many do not understand the implications of doing so, or overlook some of the instructions at a later date.
Dallas, a psychology lecturer at the University of Bedfordshire, is Greek and has said her grasp of some technical English is not good. She told the judges she had "no intention" of influencing the jury, in the assault case in a Luton court last year.
"I did not understand that I could make no search on the internet," she said. "I really apologise. I never thought it would cause such disruption."
In July 2011, after Dallas was discovered to have researched the defendant on the internet, and shared the information with other jurors, the trial was stopped.
She is likely to serve three months in prison, but be on probation for the other six months, according to the High Court judge who issued the ruling.
Lord Judge, Lady Justice Hallett, said Dallas had "deliberately disobeyed" juror instructions. "Misuse of the internet by a juror is always a most serious irregularity and an effective custodial sentence is virtually inevitable."
28448479
submission
DMandPenfold writes:
Dr Theodora Dallas, a 34-year old juror who researched a defendant on the internet and shared the information with fellow jurors during a UK trial, has been jailed for six months for contempt of court.
The decision raises serious questions over how online information and social media is governed among jurors. Journalists were recently allowed to use Twitter in court during Wikileaks boss Julian Assange's extradition hearings, and information on major cases is hard to avoid when using the internet or switching on the television.
Jurors are explicitly informed in court not to consult media reports or the internet in general around a case, until it is finished. But many do not understand the implications of doing so, or overlook some of the instructions at a later date.
Dallas, a psychology lecturer at the University of Bedfordshire, is Greek and has said her grasp of some technical English is not good. She told the judges she had "no intention" of influencing the jury, in the assault case in a Luton court last year.
"I did not understand that I could make no search on the internet," she said. "I really apologise. I never thought it would cause such disruption."
In July 2011, after Dallas was discovered to have researched the defendant on the internet, and shared the information with other jurors, the trial was stopped.
She is likely to serve three months in prison, but be on probation for the other six months, according to the High Court judge who issued the ruling.
Lord Judge, Lady Justice Hallett, said Dallas had "deliberately disobeyed" juror instructions. "Misuse of the internet by a juror is always a most serious irregularity and an effective custodial sentence is virtually inevitable."
28443265
submission
DMandPenfold writes:
he London Stock Exchange (LSE) has dramatically slashed round trip latency times for proximity hosting, in collaboration with Colt, on its Novell SUSE Linux-based MillenniumIT matching engine.
The LSE said that as it hit a new speed milestone, it had also vastly expanded capacity and reliability for the system. UK traders using the service connect through Colt's state of the art data centre in Wapping.
Nigel Harold, head of business development technology at the LSE, told Computerworld UK: "We now have sub-100 microsecond latency on proximity hosting."
Traders who typically use a proximity hosting connection include those looking for a more managed service, whereby Colt handles their networking connections and bandwidth, and aims to ensure highly reliable uptime. Speed is highly important, but reliability and managed scalability are also vital attributes for these clients.
The speed compares to sub-30 microsecond latency cross connections on co-location, a setup in which trading firms place their kit within the stock exchange's datacentre. It is the preferred option of many of the high frequency trading firms, such as the LSE's largest client Nomura, for which speed is everything – and they have a large team of their own to manage the technology.
Harold said the proximity trading solution is preferred by those traders looking to have a powerful, fast, all-round service. "It's connectivity in-a-box. The key is to offer the managed route onto the exchange for those traders, handling scalability, reliability, capacity and functionality.
"There are all shapes and sizes of client, with diverse speed requirements, but what they have in common is the need for ease of use and reliability."
The LSE's MillenniumIT matching engine is based on Novell Suse Linux, and was developed in C++. It offers trading on the FIX and ITCH protocols. "We feel we've got the fast, reliable, secure system that the market needs," said Harold.
28443247
submission
DMandPenfold writes:
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has dramatically slashed round trip latency times for proximity hosting, in collaboration with Colt, on its Novell SUSE Linux-based MillenniumIT matching engine.
The LSE said that as it hit a new speed milestone, it had also vastly expanded capacity and reliability for the system. UK traders using the service connect through Colt's state of the art data centre in Wapping.
Nigel Harold, head of business development technology at the LSE, told Computerworld UK: "We now have sub-100 microsecond latency on proximity hosting."
Traders who typically use a proximity hosting connection include those looking for a more managed service, whereby Colt handles their networking connections and bandwidth, and aims to ensure highly reliable uptime. Speed is highly important, but reliability and managed scalability are also vital attributes for these clients.
The speed compares to sub-30 microsecond latency cross connections on co-location, a setup in which trading firms place their kit within the stock exchange's datacentre. It is the preferred option of many of the high frequency trading firms, such as the LSE's largest client Nomura, for which speed is everything – and they have a large team of their own to manage the technology.
Harold said the proximity trading solution is preferred by those traders looking to have a powerful, fast, all-round service. "It's connectivity in-a-box. The key is to offer the managed route onto the exchange for those traders, handling scalability, reliability, capacity and functionality.
"There are all shapes and sizes of client, with diverse speed requirements, but what they have in common is the need for ease of use and reliability."
The LSE's MillenniumIT matching engine is based on Novell Suse Linux, and was developed in C++. It offers trading on the FIX and ITCH protocols. "We feel we've got the fast, reliable, secure system that the market needs," said Harold.
28359330
submission
DMandPenfold writes:
Two former Dell employees, including a former investor relations manager, were part of a $62 million record-breaking insider trading scam, involving the company's shares as well as Nvidia stock, according to the FBI.
The news comes as the US authorities step up their pursuit of inside traders. Two months ago, Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam was sentenced to 11 years in jail for his role in a scam involving AMD, IBM and 3Com stock.
Yesterday, Sandeep Goyal, an employee at Dell's US headquarters between 2006 and 2007 before becoming a financial analyst, was arrested. An unnamed co-conspirator in Dell's investor relations department from 2007 to 2009 is also alleged to have been part of the scam. The co-conspirator has not been arrested, it is understood.
Goyal allegedly made $175,000 by providing inside information about Dell to a hedge fund. He has pleaded guilty to charges of securities fraud.
Jesse Tortura, a former analyst at Diamondback, and Spyridon Adondakis, formerly at Level Global, have also pleaded guilty.
Seven men in total are allegedly implicated in the scam, including Todd Newman, a senior manager with the Diamondback Capital Management hedge fund, and Anthony Chiasson, a co-founder at Level Global investors. Newman oversaw IT stock investments at Diamondback. Chiasson's Level firm principally trades in IT and finance shares. Both were arrested yesterday.
Jon Horvath, an employee at hedge fund Sigma Capital Management, and Danny Kuo of Whittier Trust, were also allegedly part of the scam. Both hedge funds trade in a range of share types.
All seven were charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, relating to profits made from trading Dell and Nvidia stock in 2008 and 2009.
Authorities even produced an email from Kuo to Adondakis, Tortura and Horvath, in which he openly states that he is providing insider information.
In one instance of profit from the scam, Level Global allegedly made $57 million from a tip ahead of Dell's results – which authorities branded as the largest single profit ever from inside information.
Dell said in a statement that it "has cooperated with government authorities". It added: "All Dell employees are required annually to complete training on the company's Code of Conduct, which includes a section on insider trading. Violations of these policies are treated seriously, and violations result in disciplinary action up to and including termination."
FBI assistant director Janice Fedarcyk said: "The FBI has arrested more than 60 people in 'Operation Perfect Hedge' [the hedge fund insider trading probe] to date, and this initiative is far from over.
"If you are engaged in insider trading, what distinguishes you from the dozens who have been charged is not that you haven't been caught; it's that you haven't been caught yet."
28327260
submission
DMandPenfold writes:
Unilever has built a private cloud computing setup for its key basic applications, using the new Microsoft System Center 2012 platform.
The consumer goods giant, which makes brands including PG Tips tea, Persil washing powder and Bertolli olive oil, contracted system integrator Avanade to implement the technology.
Unilever, which has in recent years taken aggressive steps to standardise systems, also plans to improve day-to-day processes and improve reliability with the System Center 2012. It was an early adopter of the system, which has been made publicly available this week.
Mike Royle, IT director at Unilever, said that the company is "betting" on the technology "as the management platform to extend our investments in virtualisation toward private cloud, to automate processes, and to ensure the reliability of our infrastructure and application services".
Unilever has a decade long, company-wide plan to double revenues while halving its impact on the environment. Royle said that the more effective cloud infrastructure would "help" with this, and Unilever is also overhauling supply chain systems with IBM as part of the green effort.
Meanwhile, the company continues to roll out standardised SAP enterprise resource planning worldwide as part of the One Unilever programme with Accenture, and is in the midst of a business intelligence upgrade with Capgemini, focused around SAP NetWeaver and Microsoft ProClarity analytics. Its other key outsourcers are BT for networks, and Unisys for IT management.
28109264
submission
DMandPenfold writes:
Philipp Hildebrand, who resigned two days ago as chairman of the Swiss National Bank in the midst of an alleged insider trading storm, is facing up to conflicting accounts of events in a tranche of his private emails released by the bank.
The scandal concerns Hildebrand's alleged involvement in his wife's purchase of $500,000 US currency, only weeks before the Swiss National Bank capped the Swiss Franc. His wife later sold the currency back at a higher rate, making a substantial profit. If Hildebrand played any part in the actions, he would have broken the law.
Hildebrand has said he never encouraged or authorised such purchases, and only quit because he was unable to unequivocally prove his innocence. But his private financial adviser, Felix Scheuber, wrote in an email last year that Hildebrand had indicated clear approval for dollar transactions.
The emergence of the emails are reported to have played a key part in Hildebrand's departure, though the bank has not confirmed this officially.
In the emails, sent last August, Hildebrand wrote to his private financial adviser Felix Scheuber that he was "surprised" about the large US currency purchase by his wife, adding that the adviser was "not authorised" to execute any such transactions without his approval. He said that they had "never discussed" any such purchase, even though she had written that they both wanted to increase their "dollar exposure".
Scheuber replied, disputing Mr Hildebrand's comments. He added: "I also remember you saying in our yesterday's conversation [sic] that if [your wife] Kashya wants to increase the USD exposure then it is fine with you."
The bank said today that it was stepping up its governance arrangements, and looking for a new chairman.
28039056
submission
DMandPenfold writes:
US president Barack Obama has spoken of the drastically heightened cyber threat facing nations around the world, as he announced major changes to the American defence strategy.
As he appeared at the Pentagon last week to unveil the new defence strategy, Obama promised to focus closely on improving the technological capabilities of the US armed forces. "We will ensure that our military is agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies," he said.
The US prioritisation of cyber security comes as Israel's deputy foreign minister compared a recent cyber-attack, in which credit card accounts were compromised, to a terrorist act.
The US, in its strategy, said it was stepping up spending on national cyber security, even though it is slashing the overall defence budget and the number of on-the-ground military personnel under the strategy. The cuts in personnel are aimed at achieving $450 billion (£290 billion) in Pentagon savings over the next decade.
The strategy document focused closely on the potentially severe online threats to America.
"Both state and non-state actors possess the capability and intent to conduct cyber espionage and, potentially, cyber attacks on the United States, with possible severe effects on both our military operations and our homeland," said the Sustaining Global Leadership document.
In the document, the Department of Defense warned that "sophisticated adversaries" will use "asymmetric capabilities, to include electronic and cyber warfare, ballistic and cruise missiles, advanced air defenses, mining, and other methods, to complicate our operational calculus".
"Our planning envisages forces that are able to fully deny a capable state's aggressive objectives in one region by conducting a combined arms campaign across all domains – land, air, maritime, space, and cyberspace."
27921134
submission
DMandPenfold writes:
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has been fined £1.4 million ($2.2 million) by regulators, after it signed off accounts containing serious rule-breaking client money practices at JP Morgan Chase – the result of a major IT switchover that failed to keep pace with changed business processes.
The Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board (AADB) issued the fine as it ruled that PwC wrongly reported over a seven year period that JP Morgan had maintained the right systems to correctly separate clients' money from its own.
The "highly automated" systems processed up to £15 billion of assets, and by not separating the money appropriately, there was a risk of clients' losing their assets if JP Morgan had gone bust, the regulator stated.
In 2010, JP Morgan Chase was fined £33.3 million over the issue by the Financial Services Authority, prompting this investigation of PwC's auditing.
The AADB ruled today that PwC had failed to obtain evidence that JP Morgan had the right systems in place, but nevertheless signed off the accounts.
The regulator described the breach and the value of money at risk as "very serious".
27886880
submission
DMandPenfold writes:
Bristol-Myers Squibb has extended a major network services deal with BT, geared around a standardisation programme, until 2017.
The deal covers wide and local area network services, remote access, voice and telephony, as well as compliance management and security for all of the company's global locations.
The American firm, which employs approximately 28,000 people globally, has its UK headquarters in Uxbridge, Middlesex. Its key pharmaceutical products are based around cancer, HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hepatitis and arthritis.
Bristol-Myers Squibb aims to create a more standardised network infrastructure as part of the deal, as well as to improve collaboration between staff. The company will be able to meet the "stringent compliance requirements" of the pharmaceutical industry, BT said.
Rick Yborra, vice president of network and hosting at Bristol-Myers Squibb, added that it was important that BT had the "ability to flex" with the pharmaceutical firm's changes over time.
When the initial deal was signed in 2005, BT hailed it as major expansion for its global services business outside the US.
Two of its largest other deals include a global networking contract with Thomson Reuters, and a patient records deal in the UK with the officially 'cancelled' NHS National Programme for IT. Severe problems on some stages of both of those deals are understood to have contributed to BT Global Services profit warnings in recent years.
27885842
submission
DMandPenfold writes:
Bristol-Myers Squibb has extended a major network services deal with BT, geared around a standardisation programme, until 2017.
The deal covers wide and local area network services, remote access, voice and telephony, as well as compliance management and security – for all of the company's global locations.
The American firm, which employs approximately 28,000 people globally, has its UK headquarters in Uxbridge, Middlesex. Its key pharmaceutical products are based around cancer, HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hepatitis and arthritis.
Bristol-Myers Squibb aims to create a more standardised network infrastructure as part of the deal, as well as to improve collaboration between staff. The company will be able to meet the "stringent compliance requirements" of the pharmaceutical industry, BT said.
Rick Yborra, vice president of network and hosting at Bristol-Myers Squibb, added that it was important that BT had the "ability to flex" with the pharmaceutical firm's changes over time.
When the initial deal was signed in 2005, BT hailed it as major expansion for its global services business outside the US.
Two of its largest other deals include a global networking contract with Thomson Reuters, and a patient records deal in the UK with the officially 'cancelled' NHS National Programme for IT. Severe problems on some stages of both of those deals are understood to have contributed to BT Global Services profit warnings in recent years.
