>Mozilla Web Application Project Debuts

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Mozilla on Thursday launched a developer preview of its Web application platform, a more distributed version of what Google is doing with its Chrome Web Store.

Web applications are simply Web sites with an accompanying configuration file. This file, the manifest, contains extra information necessary to install the Web app, which in some instances may make it available when there’s no network connection.

Google’s Web app specification makes a distinction between installable Web apps and hosted Web apps. The former rely on Google Chrome Extension APIs and only run in the Chrome browser. The latter are simply what we know today as Web sites and they can be accessed by typing the appropriate URL into one’s Web browser.

Mozilla’s scheme differentiates between published applications and bookmarked applications. The former rely on Open Web App APIs. The latter are just Web sites, what Google calls hosted apps.

These two approaches are not quite compatible, though efforts are being made to make them more so. Google Chrome Web apps are only available from the Chrome Web Store and can only be installed in the Chrome browser. Mozilla Open Web apps will be available from anyone who bothers to set up a Web store using Mozilla’s specifications and can be installed in any compatible browser.

>BlackBerry Protect enters (mostly) open beta

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RIM’s BlackBerry Protect app is ready for a larger test audience, the company announced in a blog post. BlackBerry Protect is an all-in-one security tool for helping users recover their lost or stolen phone and prevent unwanted access to their personal data.

BlackBerry Protect offers GPS tracking, remote lock and wipe (including SD card data), and the ability to display a pop-up message on the device or force a loud ring to aid in location. The app also allows users to perform periodic wireless backups or force one on-demand. That means you can remotely push all the data you meant to sync just hours before you misplaced your phone. Data can be restored wirelessly as well.

To get in on the BlackBerry Protect beta test, you’ll need to be a resident of North America or Latin America, have a device running OS 4.6 or better, and be a registered Beta Zone member — so head over and sign up! 

>South Korean websites come under further attack

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SEOUL, South Korea – Unidentified attackers targeted more than two dozen South Korean government and private websites Saturday, a day after two waves of similar attacks, but officials reported no serious damage.

A total of 29 websites were hit Saturday in so-called “denial of service” attacks, in which large numbers of “zombie” computers try to connect to a site at the same time in an attempt to overwhelm the server, the Korea Communications Commission said.

Commission official Lee Sang-kug said the attacks were “so weak that no actual damage was detected so far.” Lee said the commission would keep a close watch on the situation in coming days, but that the fallout was likely to remain limited because the government and computer security companies were well prepared.

Saturday’s attacks on sites including South Korea’s presidential office, the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry, some financial institutions and U.S. Forces Korea followed two rounds Friday in which damage was also limited.

Lee said that 40 websites were originally targeted Friday, though only 29 came under actual attack. A total of 29 were targeted Saturday, he said.

The National Police Agency said the attacks originated from 30 servers in 18 foreign countries or territories including the United States, Israel, Russia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, India, Brazil and Iran.

“We may find more servers behind this attack as it is only the beginning of the investigation,” said Jung Suk-hwa, head of the agency’s Cyber Terror Response Center. “Generally, there is someone else who controls all of these servers and we are working to figure out who it is.”

In 2009, some government websites in South Korea and the U.S. were paralyzed by a similar type of attack that South Korean officials believed was conducted by North Korea. But U.S. officials have largely ruled out North Korea as the origin, according to cybersecurity experts.

South Korean media have previously reported that North Korea runs an Internet warfare unit aimed at hacking into U.S. and South Korean military networks to gather information and disrupt service.

Park Kun-woo, a spokesman for South Korean computer security company AhnLab, said Friday that China is also pointed to as a source of cyberattacks because a large amount of malware, or malicious software, originates from there.

Courtesy Yahoo News