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News

• Cisco to release free standard software to boost Web videoconferencing

  Web videoconferencing may get easier after a decision by Cisco Systems that should help bring widely used technology into browsers.

• Open-source software projects need to improve vulnerability handling practices, researchers say

  Many open-source software developers need to improve the way in which they handle vulnerability reports, according to researchers from security firm Rapid7, who recently found and reported vulnerabilities in seven popular open-source software applications.

• Mozilla developing geolocation data service for public use

  Mozilla is working on a geolocation data service using cell tower and Wi-Fi signals to give developers what it says will be a more privacy-aware option than current alternatives.

• Organizers hope for big crowd at surveillance protest

  About 4,500 people have indicated they plan to attend a rally Saturday in Washington, D.C., to protest surveillance programs run by the U.S. National Security Agency.

• Firefox community roiled by Java crackdown

  The Firefox web browser will, henceforth, require users to manually activate Java objects on sites that they visit, Mozilla has confirmed. The change is aimed at improving security and moving away from a dependence on proprietary plug-ins, but critics say it will cause untold headaches for developers, admins and less-technical end-users.

• Add technologists to surveillance tech review panel, IT groups say

  U.S. President Barack Obama should add actual technologists to a group reviewing the nation's surveillance technologies, IT-related groups have said.

• Report: NSA has little success cracking Tor

  The U.S. National Security Agency has repeatedly tried to compromise Tor, the government-funded online anonymity tool, but has had little success, according to a new report in the U.K.'s Guardian.

• Mozilla unmasks security flaw in Persona, warns other OpenID implementers

  A vulnerability found recently in an OpenID-based feature of the Mozilla Persona online identity management service prompted the company to advise Web developers to check their OpenID implementations for similar issues.

• Tech firms push for NSA surveillance transparency bills

  The U.S. Congress must act quickly on legislation that would make electronic data collection efforts by the U.S. National Security Agency more public, a group of tech firms, civil liberties groups and other organizations said Monday.

• Rights groups plan anti-NSA surveillance rally in D.C.

  About 100 public advocacy and other groups plan to stage what they hope will be a big rally in Washington D.C. to protest the the controversial National Security Agency surveillance programs disclosed by document-leaker Edward Snowden in June.

• Malicious browser extensions pose a serious threat and defenses are lacking

  Although the number of malicious browser extensions has significantly increased in the past year many security products fail to offer adequate protection against them, while others are simply not designed to do so, according to a security researcher.

• Chrome users oppose change to Google's new tab page

  Google yesterday started rolling out a redesigned new tab page for Chrome, making good on a promise from last month when it offered the revamp to users running rougher-edged versions of its browser.

• Chrome will block NPAPI plug-ins over stability, security concerns

  Plug-ins based on the NPAPI architecture will be blocked by default in Chrome starting early next year as Google moves toward completely removing support for them in the browser.

• Microsoft ships upgraded preview of IE11 for Windows 7

  Microsoft today shipped a more polished preview of Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 7.

• Mozilla postpones Metro Firefox release to late January

  Mozilla said slower-than-expected progress on Firefox for Microsoft's Windows 8 "Modern" user interface means that the touch-based browser likely won't launch until late January.