Friday, April 8, 2011

Major law firms fall victim to cyber attacks


Major law firms fall victim to cyber attacks, Jeff Gray, the globe and mail


In the past seven months, computer hackers have penetrated four major bay street law firms. Their goal was to use these highly sophisticated attacks to gather or destroy sensitive data relating to independent mergers and acquisitions. Daniel Tobok, the investigator, says the attack seem to have come from computers in China. He says the hackers were "harvesting" information, and weather or not they got any sensitive information is hard to tell, but they for sure got into the system. The firms had recently been working with a Chinese company, when an e-mail came in from what seemed to be a worker from this company. The e-mail had an attachment which opened a never before seen program in the firms system. Earlier this year, other Canadian companies had been hacked, including Goggle inc., but the Chinese government says that have no involvement with any of this.


I believe that the Chinese government hasn't had anything to do with this, but it is probably some minor corporation or group who has immense technology experience and have been hacking into these systems to see how far they can go and how powerful they truly are. This is because they have a big or final goal which they will actually do damage once they are into the system. If I were the companies or firms who they have hacked, i wouldn't worry too much because if they haven't already destroyed your system, they probably wont do much damage. This doesn't mean you shouldn't still be on the lookout and shouldn't look over your security system after this passes.


Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Tories fall, election set for May



Tories fall, election set for May, David Akin, the Sudbury star

Prime Minister Stephen Harper finally lost the confidence of the House of Commons on Friday and will ask Gov. Gen. David Johnston Saturday morning to dissolve Parliament for a general election. Harper has been the Prime Minister of a minority Government for 5 years now and broke the record for longest time without losing a vote of confidence. "Mr. Ignatieff and his coalition partners in the NDP and Bloc Quebecois made abundantly clear that they had already decided they wanted to force an election anyways. The motion that brought the government down was not, technically, a rejection of the budget. Instead, MPs were asked if they agreed with the budget and the House lost confidence in the government." Liberals, Bloquistes and New Democrats all voted in favour (156). Conservatives and the two independent MPs, all 145, voted against. The election is set for May 2nd.

I feel that considering Harper set a record for longest time without losing a vote of confidence, this election could haunt the coalition party's. If someone breaks a record and they still only have a minority, i would be happy with that, if i were the Liberals, NDP, or Bloc. I feel that the Conservatives are going to get a Majority due to Harper success and the Coalition has made a big mistake.

http://thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3045056

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

U.S. economy better prepared for gas pains

U.S. economy better prepared for gas pains

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/us-economy-better-prepared-for-gas-pains/article1

A New Zealand city destroyed — and then rebuilt



A New Zealand city destroyed — and then rebuilt: Jim Byers, The Toronto star






The 7.8 magnitude quake that wreaked havoc on this seaside town on New Zealand’s North Island destroyed much of the small, innocent city. But folks from all the world heeded the call for aid, and Napier was rebuilt in astonishing time. Not only rebuilt, but rebuilt almost entirely in the architectural style of the time—Art Deco. Kathy Hill, who leads tours for the Art Deco Trust in Napier, painted a grim picture of the 1931 quake as she lead folks about the town a mere days before the Christchurch quake. “The lagoons basically rose two meters,” she said. “Millions of fish were stranded on what suddenly was dry land. Buildings collapsed. Two hundred and fifty six people died.” Many are actual Art Deco style, while others are Spanish Mission or Classical Revival. Less than 48 hours later, the world caved in on Christchurch, much as it had on Napier 80 years and 19 days before.






I think is great that the City is being rebuild and fixed up. I think it's great how fast awareness was put out, but more importantly how fast people reacted and helped out. It still think that the earthquake was terrible and probably ruined a lot of people's lives, but it's important that they stay positive and focus of the good stuff and just move forward from this.






Four Canadian schools on list of world’s best



Four Canadian schools on list of world’s best: Lesley Ciarula Taylor, The Toronto star






Judged only on reputation, Canada has captured four spots in the new Times Higher Education ranking of the world’s best. The magazine on Wednesday released its first rankings based solely on reputation, as rated by of 13,388 academics in 131 countries. The ratings are broken out of its overall rankings list, released each fall. The University of Toronto ranks as Canada’s top university by reputation, at No. 17 on the list of the top-100. It’s also No. 17 on the overall list. Three other Canadian universities made the reputation top 100, compared with only two on the master list. McGill ranked No. 29 worldwide for reputation, the University of British Columbia reached No. 31 and the University of Waterloo was 91st.






I think that this is great that Canada is getting recognised for is schools. Anyone who is affiliated with these schools or even anyone who attends these schools. I think is amazing that we have four school being ranked top 100 in the world. That these school are being judged at the international level is cool.






Hume: Oberman’s death a huge loss for city



Hume: Oberman’s death a huge loss for city: Christopher Hume, The Toronto star






Many didn't know Paul Oberman, but most know his work whether they realize or not. He was the driving force behind the brilliant renovation of the old North Toronto train station on Yonge St., better known as the Summerhill liquor store, as well as a number of heritage renovation projects around the city. Paul Oberman, but most know his work whether they realize or not. His death Monday night in a plane crash over Maine will be a huge loss in a city that places little value on its past. Where most of his fellow developers happily pay lip service to preservation, Oberman didn’t just talk the talk, he also walked the walk. Most important of all, his ability to make heritage pay for itself put the lie to an industry that rarely looks beyond the borders of its own holdings.


Even though I didn't know who Paul Oberman was before i read this article, i still feel terrible and the city of Toronto has suffered a huge lose. Read more of this article, I realise he did so much and seemed like a truly good guy. I'm sure many people who loved him and in great morning know and my sympathy goes out to them.

Habs’ Pacioretty diagnosed with concussion, cracked vertebra



Habs’ Pacioretty diagnosed with concussion, cracked vertebra: Bill Beacon, The Toronto star






Boston’s Zdeno Chara will face no further league discipline for the hit that hospitalized Montreal Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty. NHL senior vice-president Mike Murphy called the Chara hit “a hockey play that resulted in an injury because of the player colliding with the stanchion and then the ice surface.” “I could not find any evidence to suggest that, beyond this being a correct call for interference, Chara targeted the head of his opponent, left his feet or delivered the check in any other manner that could be deemed to be dangerous.” “He remains under observation in hospital. There is no other prognosis at this time,” Martin said after practice Wednesday. Murphy, who had a telephone hearing with the Bruins captain Wednesday, said he took into consideration that Chara has not been involved in a supplemental discipline incident during his 13-year NHL career.






First of all, I don't care if a player has never been in a supplemental discipline incident, If he did it, punish him, if he didn't, don't! I personally believe the league should be ashamed that they didn't fine Chara, let alone suspend him. Head shots have been a growing worry in the NHL, and people always say they need to crack down on them, and once they have this chance to make an example of Chara, they let him get away with it. Besides that i feel terrible for Pacioretty, even though i hate the Habs, and how he recovers, not to play necessarily, but to keep a healthy life.