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Mark Zuckerberg rings the Nasdaq bell as Facebook shares go on sale

Facebook shares ended their first day of trading at $38.23, barely above the company’s initial pricing of $38.

Shares in the social network rose more than 10% to $42 within minutes of trade beginning, before quickly falling back.

Later gains were wiped out too at the end of a volatile day’s trade, as the firm’s debut on the Nasdaq exchange was also delayed by a technical glitch.

Mark Zuckerberg, 28, who started Facebook while at university, remotely opened trading on the Nasdaq earlier.

He appeared via a video link from a celebration at the firm’s headquarters in California.

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At the scene

Mark Gregory
BBC News, at the Nasdaq exchange

Anyone outside the Nasdaq’s head office in Times Square would have never guessed that this was one of the biggest days in stock market history, with just a few sleepy looking tourists outside the door and a lot of commuters bustling through on their way to work.

Later a few TV crews showed up. But there were no queues of frenzied investors desperate to get a slice of the biggest technology share issue ever. The Nasdaq is a computerised trading platform. It doesn’t really have a physical presence.

After a half an hour delay caused by a technical hitch, 82 million Facebook shares changed hands in the first 30 seconds of trading.

First the price shot up – and then it started going down. Nobody had predicted that might happen. It was a roller coaster start, but the big question remains.

Nobody knows yet whether an eight-year-old internet firm founded in a student’s bedroom will prove itself to be truly worth more than $100bn, even if it can claim a staggering 13% of the world’s population as subscribers.

The $38 share price values the eight-year-old social network site at $104bn (£66bn).

There had been a delay of about half an hour in the start of trading in Facebook shares, caused by a technical problem, which analysts say reflected the huge demand for the stock.

During this time, investors were unsure whether their buy and sell orders had actually gone through. The Nasdaq later said it intended to reach a resolution for orders entered in that period through an “offline matching process”.

When trading did get underway, more than 566 million shares in the company changed hands, a record volume for US market debuts.

‘Tripped on red carpet’

Most analysts had expected the shares to experience a first-day bounce.

“This starlet tripped on the red carpet. That’s clear,” said Max Wolff, senior analyst at Greencrest Capital.

He added that the only reason the shares did not fall below the offer price was because underwriters stepped in to buy the stock.

“This is exactly what the underwriters are supposed to do. However, if the company is trading near $40 with assistance then the implied valuation is lower.”

Strong demand in the run-up to the flotation had led the company to increase both the price and the number of shares available for sale.

Facebook’s owners are releasing just under a fifth of the company’s total shares, about 421 million, which could raise about $18bn.

The initial public offering (IPO) of the shares is the third-largest in US history, after the financial giant Visa and General Motors.

Facebook’s $104bn valuation means the social network site is worth about the same as internet shopping giant Amazon, and more than the value of stalwarts such as Disney.

Profits and privacy concerns

The site is largely used for social updates, and although Facebook has said its use on mobile devices are the key to new profits, analysts question how much room there is for advertising on such platforms.

Car giant General Motors added to those doubts by saying on Tuesday that it would no longer pay to advertise on the site.

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“Start Quote

Google was growing faster at this stage of the company than Facebook is”

End Quote
Henry Blodget
Business Insider

Facebook’s profits are tiny in relation to its size – it makes about $5 a year for each of its 900 million users – and its plans to increase profitability are unclear.

Oliver Pursche, president of Gary Goldberg Financial Services, told the BBC ahead of the flotation: “We’re telling our investors to hold off.

“Number one, we don’t know what the guts and the balance sheet of the company looks like yet so that’s a big red flag for us. We want to understand the business before we tell people to invest.”

Henry Blodget from Business Insider, a blog about internet businesses, said: “A lot of the Facebook bulls will say this company is going to be bigger than Google.

“But Facebook right now is one-tenth [of] the size of Google in terms of revenue, Google has more cashflow than Facebook has revenue, and Google was growing faster at this stage of the company than Facebook is. So I don’t think that’s a safe assumption to make.”

Facebook also faces concerns over privacy.

Indeed, on Friday a class action suit was brought against the company in the US for “improperly tracking the internet use of its members even after they logged out of their accounts”.

Facebook itself has previously warned about the possible impact of evolving legal protections across the world on consumer privacy, and specifically a revision to the European Union’s privacy laws.

Mixed experiences

Other internet companies have had mixed experiences when they have started selling shares.

Online games maker Zynga’s shares fell 5% on their first day of trading in December 2011.

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Is Facebook worth $100bn?

But shares in business networking site LinkedIn more than doubled on their debut in May last year and are still trading well above that level, while Groupon shares jumped 30% on their debut in November.

However, they have since fallen back, particularly after the daily deals firm admitted in April that it had overstated its previous revenues and earnings.

Voting power

The new Facebook shareholders will not have much say in how the business is run.

The shares on offer are “A” shares, which carry one vote per share, as is normal, but the current owners’ shares are “B” shares, which carry 10 votes each.

They will control more than 96% of the votes after the flotation, with founder Mark Zuckerberg holding just under 56% of the voting power of the company.

Mr Zuckerberg, who owns about 25% of the company, stands to gain the most from taking Facebook public. Fellow founders Dustin Moskovitz and Eduardo Saverin will also become paper-billionaires overnight, as will Napster founder and former employee Sean Parker.

US venture capital firm Accel Partners and Russian internet investment group Digital Sky Technologies also hold significant stakes in Facebook, while software giant Microsoft and U2 frontman Bono also stand to make a huge profit on their investment in the company.

Facebook billionaires

Who

Stake

What they did

Numbers source: Bloomberg Billionaires Index (Valuations based on offer price)

Mark Zuckerberg

$19.1bn

Co-created Facebook while a student at Harvard University. The famous hoodie-wearer is now its chairman and chief executive.

Dustin Moskovitz

$5.1bn

Facebook co-founder and former Mark Zuckerberg roommate. Co-founder of the collaborative software company Asana.

Alisher Usmanov

$5bn

Billionaire Russian entrepreneur with metals, media and telecoms interests. Has stake in Arsenal football club.

Eduardo Saverin

$2.9bn

Brazilian-born, former US citizen. Set up Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg and two others. Gave up dual US citizenship, saving millions in tax, and plans to settle in Singapore.

Sean Parker

$2.5bn

Entrepreneur. Co-founder of file-sharing site Napster. Played by Justin Timberlake in the film The Social Network.

Peter Thiel

$1.06bn

German-born US entrepreneur, venture capitalist, philanthropist and hedge fund manager. Co-founded PayPal, which floated on the stockmarket in 2002.

Sheryl Sandberg

$1bn

Facebook’s chief operating officer. Previously worked in the US Treasury Department and later for Google.

Are you buying or have you bought shares in Facebook? Send us your comments using the form below.

When I was a kid, we played outside with the other kids in the neighborhood with most of our free time. We also made the most of recess at school. We kept ourselves quite occupied without any of today’s modern technologies. Listed below are some no-tech games that you may have enjoyed as a kid. I sure did. Some can be done indoors. Some can be done by yourself or with just one friend. But most of them are best when done outside with a group of people. Also, most of these games can be changed or improved by making up your own rules. Use your imagination!

Hide and Seek: Everyone has played this one. Most parents have played with their kids, since hiding and finding is a common interest of small children. I’ve heard of all kinds of variations on this game. Sometimes you count to twenty, sometimes ten, sometimes one hundred. Sometimes there is a home base that you can run to and tag, becoming “safe,” sometimes you just wait to be found. The general idea is that one person is “it,” that person closes his or her eyes and counts to a certain number without looking and then he or she tries to find the others.
Number of Players: Ideally at least three.
Equipment: None.

Kick the Can: This game is a variation of tag and hide seek. One person or a team of people are designated as “it” and a can is placed in the middle of the playing area. The other people run off and hide while the “it” covers his or her eyes and counts to a certain number. “It” then tries to find everyone. If a person is tagged by “it”, they go into a holding pen for captured players. If one of the un-captured players manages to kick the can, the captured players are released. The game is over once all the non-”it” players are in the holding pen.
Number of Players: Ideally at least three.
Equipment: A metal can.

Capture the Flag: This game is most fun when played with a large group. Split the group into two teams, each team having a flag or other marker at the team’s base. The object of the game is to run into the other team’s territory, capture their flag and make it safely back to your own territory. You can tag “enemy” players in your territory, sending them to your jail. They can be sprung from jail by a member of their own team running into your territory, tagging them and running back, with one freed person allowed per jail break. It is sometimes played that all the people in jail could hold hands and make a chain back toward their own territory, making it easier for members of their team to tag them. We also played a similar game called Steal the Sticks. It had almost the same rules, but several sticks were used instead of one flag.
Number of Players: A large group.
Equipment: Two flags or other markers.

Parachute: Fun for kids of all ages, this game involves a large round parachute, preferably with handles, with people holding the parachute all around the edges. It helps if someone is in charge telling people what to do. Players can just ruffle the parachute up and down a little bit, they can go all the way up and all the way down, or all the way up and then run underneath, sitting on the edge of the parachute, which can create a bubble of air with everyone inside. Players can also place light objects such as wiffle balls or beanbags on top of the parachute, and make them jump by ruffling the parachute. Also, one person can sit in the middle of the parachute and everyone ruffles it near the ground. If there is a smooth floor and a light child, the child can sit in the middle on top of the parachute and everyone else can walk partway around still holding the parachute edge. Then everyone pulls backward, spinning the child. There are countless variations.
Number of Players: Depends on the size of the parachute, but usually eight to ten.
Equipment: A play parachute. These aren’t as hard to find as you would think. Try here and here.

Traffic Cop: This game works best on a street with little to no traffic, or in a large paved area of some kind. You need bikes, wagons, pedestrians, scooters or whatever is available. One person directs traffic to make sure kids don’t run into each other. It is more fun than it sounds, and helps kids learn about waiting to cross the street and about traffic safety.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: Bikes, wagons, scooters, anything on wheels.

Four Square: This ball game is played on a square court further divided into four smaller squares, numbered one through four. One player stands in each of the squares, with the highest ranked player in number one, lowest in number four. You bounce the ball among the players, bouncing once in the other person’s square before that person catches it. When I played this as a kid, we had countless additional rules to choose from. The person in square one got to choose the rules. Anyone who violates the rules will have to move down in the ranking, or be eliminated with another player rotating in to square four.
Number of Players: Four, unless you take turns.
Equipment: A four square court or sidewalk chalk, a playground ball.

Image credit: Wikipedia

Hopscotch: Use some sidewalk chalk and make a hopscotch grid. Number the squares from one to nine. Pick a rock that is good for tossing. Small ones can bounce too much, and larger ones are hard to throw. Start by tossing the rock onto Square 1. Hop over the rock and hop with a single foot or both feet (to follow the hopscotch pattern) all the way to the end. Turn around and come back, stopping on Square 2. Balancing on one foot, pick up the rock in Square 1 and hop over Square 1 to the start. Continue this pattern with Square 2. And so on. If you toss your rock and miss the correct square, your turn is over. This game can be played with any number of people, but only one person can go at a time. If it’s raining or dark or too cold, you can get indoor hopscotch mats or foam pieces, or just find a pattern on the floor to follow, perhaps using a beanbag instead of a rock.
Number of Players: One at a time.
Equipment: Hopscotch grid, rock or beanbag.

Jump-Rope and Double Dutch: One of the biggest ways I spent my recess time as a young girl was jumping rope. I got quite good at it for my age, both in speed and in skill. It was fun to jump by myself, but it was even more fun to have a long rope and jump with a couple of friends. That’s where jump-rope rhymes come in. They turn a simple exercise into a fun game, to compete against yourself and others. Then there’s double dutch. I was always in awe of the older girls who could do double dutch. The first time I tried it, I got tripped up almost immediately. However, once you understand how to do it, it isn’t as hard as it looks.
Number of Players: One for single jumping, three with a longer rope or for double dutch.
Equipment: One or two jump-ropes.

Chinese Jump-Rope: This game requires three people, or just one or two people with really good chairs. It is easily done inside, assuming a sturdy floor. This game resembles regular jump rope in that you jump. A lot. But you jump in a pattern. Two people (or chairs) put their feet inside the rope and stretch them out, standing far enough apart for the third person to jump between them. The third person, or jumper, faces one of the people holding the rope and jumps in a pattern of left, right, inside, outside and on the ropes. What pattern you use is up to you, but all the players should use the same one. The game is started with the rope around the ankles. Once the jumper does the jump correctly, the rope is moved up to the calves. Then to the knees, then the thighs. Usually it doesn’t get any farther than that. Once you miss, it is someone else’s turn.
Number of Players: Preferably three, but it can be done with one or two.
Equipment: A stretchy-type rope or 5 to 6 meters of rubber bands tied together in a circle.

Jacks: This game can be played on any flat surface, indoors or out. The player scatters the jacks on the playing surface, often by just tossing them out of one hand, as if rolling dice. The ball is then tossed up, is allowed to bounce once, and is caught before the second bounce. The player tries to scoop up jacks and catch the ball with one hand before the ball’s second bounce. The number of jacks to be picked up goes in order. First you pick up one (“onesies”), then two (“twosies”), then three and so on. There are many variations to the rules of this game including things like “pigs in the pen” and “double bounces.” Jacks is one game I wish I had played as a girl, but it was much more common when my mom was a child.
Number of Players: Any, taking turns.
Equipment: A set of jacks and a small rubber ball.

Marbles: The general rules specify that you draw a circle in the sand or on the sidewalk, and then take turns trying to knock each other’s marbles out of the circle with your one large marble. As with the other games, there are countless variations. I haven’t played this game at length, though, because I always seem to hurt myself flicking the large marble into the ring! You can also use a marble mat which contains different point zones.
Number of Players: At least two.
Equipment: Chalk, large and small marbles.

Red Light, Green Light: With enough room, this game can easily be played inside. One person is the traffic light at one end, and the other players are at the other end. When the traffic light faces the group, he or she says, “Red light!” and everyone must freeze. The traffic light then turns his or her back and says, “Green light!” while the group tries to get as close to the traffic light as possible. The traffic light turns around quickly, again saying, “Red light!”, and if anyone is spotted moving, they have to go back to the starting place. The first person to tag the traffic light wins and gets to be the next traffic light.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.

Mother, May I: This game is set up in the same way as Red Light Green Light. One person in the group asks the person in the front, “Mother, may I take insert number steps forward?” The person at the front then says, “Yes, you may.” or “No, you may not.” You can vary your requests by including options such as taking baby steps, spinning steps, leaps or whatever strikes your fancy. Again, the first person to tag the person in the front wins and is the next person in the front.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.

Simon Says: This game can be played anywhere, even in a car or other small space. One person is Simon and starts by saying, “Simon says, ‘insert action here.’” Everyone must then do the action. However, if Simon makes an action request without saying, “Simon says” to begin the request, anyone who does that action is out. The last person still playing in the end will be Simon for the next round.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.

Tag: It seems that everyone knows how to play tag, but just in case it wasn’t in your childhood game playing repertoire, here is how you play. A group of kids decides who will start out as being “it.” That person chases the other people around, trying to tag one of them with their hand. The newly tagged person is now “it.” There is often the rule of “no tag-backs” where you can’t tag the person who just tagged you. The game ends when everyone is tired of playing.
Number of Players: Any size group.
Equipment: None.

Shadow Tag: In this fun version of Tag, you tag each other’s shadow with your feet instead of tagging their body. Thus, it must be played on a sunny day. The closer to noon, the greater the difficulty.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.

Freeze Tag: This is a variation of Tag where if the person who is “it” tags you, you have to freeze where you are. Another participant can tag you to unfreeze you.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.

TV Tag: A variation of Freeze Tag where the person unfreezing the frozen player has to call out a TV show title. That show then can’t be used again during that game.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.

Marco Polo: This variation of tag is played in a swimming pool. Whoever is “it” closes their eyes and yells “Marco!” The other players then yell “Polo!” The “it” person has to tag one of the others, and then that person is “it.” Be sure to play in a pool that is not too deep for any of the players.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: A swimming pool.

Blind Man’s Bluff: A favorite game in Tudor and Victorian England, this game is yet another variation on tag. The person who is “it” wears a blindfold and tries to tag the other players. Be sure to play this in an area safe from obstructions and other hazards.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: A blindfold.

Red Rover: Divide everyone into two teams, each forming a long line, holding hands, facing the other team. The two teams should be around 20 or so feet apart. The teams take turn calling out, “Red Rover, Red Rover, let insert child’s name come over!” That child leaves their team’s line, runs as fast as they can toward the other line and tries to break through the held hands. If they break through, they get to take someone back to their team. If they don’t, they join the new team. When a team only has one person left, that person tries to break through the other team. If they do not, then their team loses. If they do, they gain a player and play continues.
Number of Players: Any decent size group.
Equipment: None.

Heads Up, Seven Up: Dating back to at least the 1950s, this game is one we played in elementary school. In my experience, it was usually done in the classroom with everyone at their desk. To start the game, seven players go to the front and the teacher says, “Heads down, thumbs up!” Everyone still at their desk puts their head down, extends an arm and stucks their thumb up. The seven kids that were at the front go around and each press one person’s thumb down. Then they all go back to the front of the room and the teacher says, “Heads up, seven up!” The players at the desks raise their heads and the seven whose thumbs were pressed down stand up. Each in turn names the person they think pressed down their thumb. If they are correct, they change places with the presser. Then the game can start again.
Number of Players: Minimum of 14.
Equipment: Desks at which to sit.

Spud: This outdoor game is a lot of fun. Every player gets a number and crowds around the person who is “it” for that round. “It” then tosses the ball straight up and the other players run away. As the ball reaches the top of its toss, “it” calls out the number of one of the other players and then runs away also. The player whose number was called must run back and catch the ball (or chase after it if it is bouncing around). Once that person has the ball, they yell, “Spud!” Then everyone else must freeze. The person with the ball must try to hit one of the players with the ball. If they do, that new person gets a letter (first S, then P, then U, then D) and is now “it.” If they miss, the person who threw the ball is “it” for the next round.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: Playground ball.

Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button?: Played inside or outside, the group sits or stands in a circle and holds their hands together in front of them. One person takes the button and goes around the circle, pretending to put the button in someone else’s hands. They actually deposit the button in one person’s hands, but then continue the rest of the way around the circle, pretending to put it in everyone else’s hands. Then going around the circle, each player tries to guess who has the button now. Before each person’s guess, the group asks together, “Button, button, who’s got the button?” Then the player can state their guess. Once the player with the button is finally guessed, that person distributes the button during the next round. Because a button is used in this game, be sure that all the kids playing are old enough so as to not choke on the button. In another version of this game (and the one that I am more familiar with), one child stands in the middle of the circle, and the button gets passed around the backs of the rest of the group. Those without the button pretend to pass it. When the passing stops, the player in the middle has to guess as to who actually has the button.
Number of Players: Any size group.
Equipment: A button.

Cat’s Cradle: This incredibly portable game can be played anywhere. If you are playing alone, you can make various string shapes on your own hands. With two people, you can play a bit of a game, transferring the shapes back and forth and creating new ones. Learn from someone if you can, but otherwise there are some good books on the subject. Make your own string, or buy a book on how to do it, which often comes with a string!
Number of Players: One or two.
Equipment: A string, approximately 36 inches long, tied in a circle (length varies, so find one that works for you!).

Hand-Clap Games: The first hand-clap game most people have played is Pat-a-Cake with their parents. Songs and patterns get much more complicated from there. Usually there are two people involved, doing a series of clap patterns on their own and each other’s hands while singing or chanting a rhythmic song. There are many rhymes listed online, but if you can learn from someone else or see it in a video, that is best, so that you can get the notes of the song and the rhythm of the clapping. From “Miss Mary Mack” to “Miss Susie” to “Say, Say, My Playmate,” there are countless hand clap games to learn.
Number of Players: Usually two, but creativity can allow for a third or fourth person.
Equipment: None.

Crack the Whip: Though often played on ice while wearing skates in the winter, this game is much safer, though possibly less fun, when played on grass. All the players hold hands in a line. The person at one end of the line skates or runs around, changing directions quickly. The tail of the “whip” of players tends to get moved around with a lot more force than players closer to the front. The longer the tail, the harder it is to hold on. If the players at the end fall off the end of the tail, they can attempt to get back on, perhaps in a position closer to the front.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.

Musical Chairs: In a circle, arrange chairs facing outward to total one fewer than the number of players. An additional player needs to be in charge of the music. When the music starts, the players walk around the chairs. When the music stops, players sit down in the nearest chair as soon as they can. The one player who does not have a chair is out. One of the chairs is then removed, and the game continues in this manner. The player that sits in the final chair is the winner. This game is traditionally played inside, but it can also be played outside with outdoor furniture and a portable music player.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: Music player or person making music, chairs.

Telephone: This game is one in which most people end up laughing quite a bit, so if you’re in the mood for silliness, give it a go. Players sit in a circle. One person thinks up a sentence or phrase and whispers it to the next person. That person repeats it to the person on their other side. This continues around the circle. When it finally reaches the last person, that person says the sentence out loud. Hilarity ensues. The ending sentence is usually quite changed from the beginning sentence, since errors tend to compound as they go around the circle.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.

Freeze Dance: Choose one person to be in charge of the music. When the music starts, everyone else dances, the crazier the better. When the music stops, the dancers must freeze in their position. Anyone caught moving after that is out. Play continues until there is one person left, the winner.
Number of Players: Any number.
Equipment: Music player or person making music.

[This list originally ran during "Unwired Week" in 2009, but we thought it was perfect to bring up again as summer approaches. Enjoy!]

]]> http://technophile.miskatonic.co.uk/30-classic-games-for-simple-outdoor-play-geekdad-wayback-machine/feed/ 0 http://technophile.miskatonic.co.uk/apache-openoffice-security-fixes-emerge/ http://technophile.miskatonic.co.uk/apache-openoffice-security-fixes-emerge/#comments Sat, 19 May 2012 15:14:59 +0000 technophile http://technophile.miskatonic.co.uk/apache-openoffice-security-fixes-emerge/ Continue reading →]]> Details have emerged about the security fixes that came bundled with Apache OpenOffice 3.4.0, the latest version of the open-source productivity suite.

Apache OpenOffice 3.4.0, released last week, included fixes for three security vulnerabilities, all rated as “important”. The trio included an integer overflow error involving problems in handling embedded images and a memory overwrite bug connecting with importing WordPerfect files. Both of the flaws might be used as a means to inject hostile code onto vulnerable systems, providing hackers are able to trick prospective marks into opening booby-trapped files. The third vulnerability involves what would appear to be a less serious program crash bug involving the handling of malformed PowerPoint files.

Both OpenOffice.org 3.3 and the beta versions of 3.4 are affected by all three flaws, which get patched with Apache OpenOffice 3.4.0, the first release of the software under new management after Oracle handed over the project last year.

In related news, the Apache Software Foundation announced that downloads of the software had crossed the one million milestone since the release of the software. ®

Many IT pros who serve at a Helpdesk know that the much of the time they answer the phone, they face an angry, resentful, confrontational person on the other end through no fault of their own. They have to be part psychologist in addition to an all system knowing oracle. Many helpdesks would love to give that “value-add” of workstation visits and friendly chats over what mobile device works best for your daughter, but when the call queue is backed up on Monday morning because it seems like 20% of the company can’t remember a password over the weekend and managment won’t fund a self serve option, or worse, end users won’t USE a self serve option, well, it is difficult to feel the love.

More specifically, one of the biggest understanding gaps for help desks is that the metrics of speed of answer, customer satisfaction, and first call resolution all pull in different directions. It is up to management to set the priorities and in order to keep staff costs down, first call resolution often suffers. When you ask management to prioritize, they often answer “yes”, meaning they want it all, including boat rides and castles. Meanwhile, upper management threatens IT management over costs by labeling a potential strategic edge as a commodity. In case Mr. Gray hasn’t noticed, Disneyland costs big dollars.

Further, IT can’t spend 20 minutes on an initial call helping someone who was never properly TRAINED to use the software because there are 10 people in Mr. Gray’s dreaded hold queue.

In example after example, the help desk is used to mask poor planning and implementation elsewhere in the company.

Security researchers are increasingly seeing this code that identifies a mobile platform in
order to target its vulnerabilities, said Carl Leonard, senior security research manager at
Websense.

This code is found in compromised or malicious mobile applications, which are emerging as a new
attack vector, especially in apps distributed through 3^rd party app stores, he told
Computer Weekly.

“Mobile apps are a powerful malware delivery method as most users are willing to allow apps to
do anything to get the desired functionality,” he said.

Security researchers are reporting a rapid evolution of mobile malware from the premium text
message generating code that appeared about six months ago to the new data stealing apps.

This is particularly bad news for businesses that allow bring your own device (BYOD) schemes,
said Leonard, as mobile malware is easily modified to steal data such as names, email addresses and
phone numbers.

“The problem is that most of these devices do not even have anti-virus protection, yet they are
being used to access corporate email and other systems,” he said.

Malicious mobile apps are easily modified and compiled, he said, demonstrating how cyber
criminals can add malicious data-stealing functionality that is invisible to the user with a few
lines of code.

“Half a dozen variants of a malicious app can be created and published in a matter of minutes
using just four pieces of readily available software,” said Leonard.

This makes malicious malware difficult to detect and identify because of the rate at which cyber
criminals can easily create variants that will all have different profiles.

“The biggest concern is data loss and therefore businesses should be looking to ensure they can
control what data is sent to employee mobile devices,” said Leonard.

Websense is tackling the problem in two main ways: First it is dissecting malicious mobile apps
to build up a profile that allows researchers to classify them and identify variants.

Second, the security firm has built a mobile device management system that identifies sensitive
data and prevents it from being accessed via insecure smartphones.

Any employee attempting to use a smartphone to access information that is sensitive according to
company policy will be directed to use a more secure platform.

This in itself will help raise awareness of good data protection practices, said Leonard. “But
security tools should always be backed up with user training to explain the reason for security
policies being enforced,” he said.

Security education programmes should also be updated regularly to keep users up to date with
changes in the threat landscape, said Leonard.

“In 2010 there were only a handful of mobile threats, but now there are thousands and they are
ramping up quickly in both volume and complexity,” he said.

Related Topics:

Hackers and cybercrime prevention,

Smartphone technology,

Mobile apps and software,

IT for utilities and energy,

IT for consulting and business services,

IT risk management,

IT for transport and travel industry,

IT for manufacturing,

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Buying stock in a company with a price-to-earnings ratio of 100+? That sounds like a good idea to you? Really? Well, I’ve got a bridge and some tulip bulbs I’d like to sell you, so give me a call.

Facebook Sends Cease-and-Desist Order to Stop LilyJade Plugin: The ridiculously popular social media site is trying to stop the LilyJade worm, which spreads via an application that runs seamlessly as a plugin across multiple browsers and operating systems. The worm spreads via a link to a video that’s posted on users’ Facebook walls. People who follow the link are told they need to install the plugin to view the video. As Brian Krebs explains:

Users who install LilyJade will have their accounts modified to periodically post links that help pimp the program. The goal of LilyJade is to substitute code that specifies who should get paid when users click on ads that run on top Internet properties, such as Facebook.com, Yahoo.com, Youtube.com, Bing.com, Google.com and MSN.com. In short, the plugin allows customers to swap in their own ads on virtually any site that users visit.

Dru Mundroff, the man who created LilyJade, is openly selling it to interested parties for $1000. Facebook sent Mundroff a cease-and-desist letter, but he says he plans to ignore it–he also used much more colorful words.

Doctors Told to Stay Away from Patients on Facebook: Stanford University School of Medicine sent a letter to graduating doctors asking them to refrain from connecting with patients on social media sites like Facebook. The letter also suggests doctors change their privacy settings on Facebook to ensure a high level of online privacy. The school is just one of several medical organization that have issued similar warnings due to doctor-patient confidentiality concerns.

Funniest Facebook Security Fail of the Week: Two men robbed an Internet café in Cali, Columbia, last week. After spending some time browsing the Web in the cafe, the men went to the cashier as if to pay for the Internet service, but instead brandished a gun and assaulted the manager before riding away on a stolen motorbike with all of the money in the register. However, when the authorities arrived a café manager pointed out that one of the robbers had not logged out of Facebook–and it took no time at all to identify the assailant and determine his home address. D’oh.

Now for some non-Facebook-related items…

HULK DDoS Tool Smash Web Server, Server Fall Down:* A new attack tool called HULK (HTTP Unbearable Load King) takes a new approach to DDoS attacks. HULK generates a huge amount of unique requests that are designed to prevent server defenses from recognizing a pattern and stop them from filtering the attack traffic. Typically DDoS attacks overwhelm servers with a massive load of TCP SYN requests or other predictable packets.  *Brilliant headline stolen verbatim from Threatpost.

Online Romance Scams Cost Victims at Least $50 Million: The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) says online lovelorn fraud cost Americans at least $50 million last year. And the real number is almost certainly higher because the IC3 – a partnership of the National White Collar Crime Center, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and the FBI – based these numbers only on complaints it received last year. Out the 314,246 total complaints 5,663 were romance-related. “On average, each victim reported a loss of $8,900. At a rate of 15 complaints received per day, these scams saw daily reported losses of roughly $138,000, or more than $5,700 every hour.” That’s an expensive date.

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Mark Zuckerberg rings the Nasdaq bell as Facebook shares go on sale

Facebook shares will start trading in New York later in one of the most high-profile share sales of recent years.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg officially opened the day’s trading on the Nasdaq exchange, although trading in Facebook shares will not start until later.

He appeared via video link from a celebration at the social network’s headquarters in California.

The shares are priced at $38 each, valuing the eight-year-old social network site at $104bn (£66bn).

Strong demand has led Facebook to increase both the price and the number of shares available for sale.

The Nasdaq exchange, which is where technology giants such as Google and Apple are traded, opened at 0930 local time (1430 BST), with buying and selling of Facebook shares set to begin at 1105 local time.

Facebook’s valuation means the social network site is worth about the same as internet shopping giant Amazon, and more than the value of stalwarts such as Disney.

The initial public offering (IPO) of the shares is the third-largest in US history, after the financial giant Visa and General Motors.

Facebook’s owners are releasing just under a fifth of the company’s total shares, about 421 million, which could raise about $18bn.

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Is Facebook worth $100bn?

Facebook employees have been up all night ahead of the event, taking part in a “hackathon” at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California.

It is an event in which programmers work on projects and come up with new ideas.

Future profits?

“When it starts trading, there is likely to be a bit of a frenzy,” says BBC correspondent Mark Gregory in New York.

He said it was significant that the price has been raised in recent days, as it could be a way of managing demand.

“The managers of this share sale want it to be a success, but they don’t want the price to go too high so that it comes crashing down in coming days,” our correspondent says.

Facebook’s profits are tiny in relation to its size – it makes about $5 a year for each of its 900 million users – and its plans to increase profitability are unclear.

David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect, says there is an army of potential stock holders among its users who are likely to push the share price higher.

“People want to own the [Facebook] stock because they love it so much. I find people all the time who are just devoted to Facebook,” he said.

The site is largely used for social updates, and although Facebook has said its use on mobile devices are the key to new profits, analysts question how much room there is for advertising on such platforms.

Car giant General Motors added to those doubts by saying on Tuesday that it would no longer pay to advertise on the site.

Mixed fortunes

Other internet companies have had mixed experiences when they have started selling shares.

Online games maker Zynga’s shares fell 5% on their first day of trading in December 2011.

But shares in business networking site LinkedIn more than doubled on their debut in May last year and are still trading well above that level, while Groupon shares jumped 30% on their debut in November.

However, they have since fallen back, particularly after the daily deals firm admitted in April that it had overstated its previous revenues and earnings.

Voting power

The feverish anticipation for this market debut did not extend to all investors.

Oliver Pursche, president of Gary Goldberg Financial Services, told the BBC ahead of the flotation: “We’re telling our investors to hold off.

“Number one, we don’t know what the guts and the balance sheet of the company looks like yet so that’s a big red flag for us. We want to understand the business before we tell people to invest.”

The new shareholders will not have much say in how the business is run.

The shares on offer are “A” shares, which carry one vote per share, as is normal, but the current owners’ shares are “B” shares, which carry 10 votes each.

They will control more than 96% of the votes after the flotation, with founder Mark Zuckerberg holding just under 56% of the voting power of the company.

Mr Zuckerberg, who owns about 25% of the company, stands to gain the most from taking Facebook public. Fellow founders Dustin Moskovitz and Eduardo Saverin will also become paper-billionaires overnight, as will Napster founder and former employee Sean Parker.

US venture capital firm Accel Partners and Russian internet investment group Digital Sky Technologies also hold significant stakes in Facebook, while software giant Microsoft and U2 frontman Bono also stand to make a huge profit on their investment in the company.

Facebook billionaires

Who

Value of stake

What they did

Numbers source: Bloomberg Billionaires Index

Mark Zuckerberg

$19.1bn

Co-created Facebook while a student at Harvard University. The famous hoodie-wearer is now its chairman and chief executive.

Dustin Moskovitz

$5.1bn

Facebook co-founder and former Mark Zuckerberg roommate. Co-founder of the collaborative software company Asana.

Alisher Usmanov

$5bn

Billionaire Russian entrepreneur with metals, media and telecoms interests. Has stake in Arsenal football club.

Eduardo Saverin

$2.9bn

Brazilian-born, former US citizen. Set up Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg and two others. Gave up dual US citizenship, saving millions in tax, and plans to settle in Singapore.

Sean Parker

$2.5bn

Entrepreneur. Co-founder of file-sharing site Napster. Played by Justin Timberlake in the film The Social Network.

Peter Thiel

$1.06bn

German-born US entrepreneur, venture capitalist, philanthropist and hedge fund manager. Co-founded PayPal, which floated on the stockmarket in 2002.

Sheryl Sandberg

$1bn

Facebook’s chief operating officer. Previously worked in the US Treasury Department and later for Google.

Are you buying or have you bought shares in Facebook? Send us your comments using the form below.

All versions of Confluence up to and including 4.1.9 are at risk, the company says, thanks to what it calls an “ XML parsing vulnerability” that could lead to “denial of service attacks against the Confluence server” or allow intruders to “read all local files readable to the system user under which Confluence runs.”

The fix for the problem is simple: upgrade to Confluence 4.2, a step the company says is necessary because the problem cannot be fixed with a mere patch.

If an upgrade is not feasible, Atlassian has posted a mitigation procedure, but warns the actions it recommends “will only limit the impact of the vulnerability … not mitigate it completely.” ®