Government Technology - March 2008 - (Page 52)

pectrum reports from the IT horizon — SOURCE : HITWISE spectrum ideas to managing editor Karen Stewartson kstewartson@ govtech.com Send j MAR_08 Outlook Is Out Short message service and instant messaging are fast becoming the writing tools of choice for teens and young adults. A poll of more than 2,000 South Korean middleschool, high-school and college students taken recently in Seoul revealed that more than two-thirds rarely or never use e-mail. Furthermore Korea’s digital generation is ahead of the Japanese in the uptake of new technology, according to the poll. Fifty percent of South Koreans are signed up to their country’s version of Facebook, called Cyworld, which went online almost a decade before other social networking sites. For most young South Koreans, e-mail is ﬁt only for addressing the old or for business and formal missives. — THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD MySpace Dominates MySpace continues to hold a big lead in membership numbers over rival social networking Web sites. The margin is shrinking slightly, however. Top 10 social networking sites among U.S. Internet users ranked by visits, December 2006 and December 2007 (% market share and % change): 1. MySpace 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Facebook Bebo BlackPlanet.com Club Penguin Gaiaonline.com myYearbook hi5 Classmates Yahoo! 360 December 2006 78.89% 10.59% 0.99% 0.96% 0.54% 0.58% 0.14% 0.64% 0.58% 0.91% December 2007 72.32% 16.03% 1.09% 1.04% 0.08% 0.76% 0.73% 0.63% 0.55% 0.54% % change -8% 51% 10% 8% 48% 31% 407% -1% -7% -40% The UK government is considering a plan to implant prisoners with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags containing data on identity, address and criminal record. The RFID tags, about the size of two grains of rice, would be injected under the skin and scanned by a reader. There are also proposals to link the RFID tags to a larger GPS device to monitor the location of high-risk prisoners. The Ministry of Justice confirmed that it is considering the proposal as part of plans to modernize the prison system. The RFID proposals are designed to address problems with the UK’s existing tagging system which uses a transmitter strapped to the ankle. More than 2,000 of the 17,000 offenders fitted with the ankle tags have escaped by tampering with the device or simply cutting it off. — Vnunet.com NoEscape Top 10 Cyber-Security Menaces The SANS Institute recently gathered 12 cyber-security veterans to compile a list of the attacks most likely to cause substantial damage during 2008. Here are their picks: 1 More complex Web site attacks that exploit browser vulnerabilities — especially on trusted Web sites. 2 3 4 Increasing sophistication and effectiveness in botnets. Cyber-espionage efforts by well resourced organizations looking to extract large amounts of data — particularly using targeted phishing. Mobile phone threats, especially against iPhones and android-based 5 6 7 8 9 (a Linux-based platform for cell phones) phones; plus VoIP. Insider attacks. Advanced identity theft from persistent bots. Increasingly malicious spyware. Web application security exploits. More sophisticated social engineering, 10 including blending phishing with VoIP and event phishing. Supply chain attacks infecting consumer devices (USB thumb drives, GPS systems, photo frames, etc.) distributed by trusted organizations. 52 http://BlackPlanet.com http://Gaiaonline.com http://Vnunet.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - March 2008

Government Technology - March 2008 Contents Point of View Big Picture The Last Mile On the Scene Four Questions for... Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers Let's [Not] Get Physical No Data Left Behind Conservation King Community Drug Test Reinventing the System Better Late Than Never Closing the Deal Spectrum Products Personal Computing signal:noise Digital Communities The Expanding Focus of Digital Communities The Digital Imperative Hot Fusion Redefining Municipal Wireless Made in the USA Bridge Detectives The 2008 Agenda

Government Technology - March 2008

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