Google Issues New Warning for State-Sponsored Attacks

Starting Tuesday, look out for an unusual warning atop your Gmail inbox, Google home page or Chrome browser. It will not mince words: “Warning: We believe state-sponsored attackers may be attempting to compromise your account or computer.”

Google said it planned to issue the warning anytime it picks up malicious–possibly state-sponsored–activity on a user’s account or computer. How does Google know whether an attack is state-sponsored? It won’t say.

“We can’t go into the details without giving away information that would be helpful to these bad actors, but our detailed analysis—as well as victim reports—strongly suggest the involvement of states or groups that are state-sponsored,” Eric Grosse, Google’s vice president of security engineering, wrote in a blog post.
The announcement is timed just one week after security researchers discovered Flame, a massive, data-mining virus, had been spying on computers in the Middle East– predominantly in Iran– for at least the last four years.

Man Lives in Neighborhood Clubhouse

Senate Republicans block equal pay for women bill

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked a Democratic bill calling for equal pay in the workplace. But President Barack Obama and his congressional allies aren’t finished appealing to women on the No. 1 concern for all voters: the cash in their wallets on the heels of recession.

As expected, the pay equity bill failed along party lines, 52-47, short of the required 60-vote threshold. But for majority Democrats, passage wasn’t the only point. The debate itself was aimed at putting Republicans on the defensive on yet another women’s issue, this one overtly economic after a government report showing slower-than-expected job growth. 

“It is incredibly disappointing that in this make-or-break moment for the middle class, Senate Republicans put partisan politics ahead of American women and their families,” Obama said in a statement after the vote.

Israel Accuses Iran of Nuclear Deception

Israel is accusing Iran of working secretly on nuclear weapons under a strategy of "deception, defiance and concealment."

The hard-edged comments at the International Atomic Energy Agency are not new. But they reflect the animosity between the Jewish state and Iran that could spill over into armed conflict.


Israeli attack on Iran would incite regional war: former Mossad chief

Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan has warned about the consequences of an Israeli aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran, saying that it will spark a regional war.   

“A strike is simplistic and misleading. No one asks what will happen five minutes after the strike? Five minutes after (the strike) we have a regional war,” Dagan said on Monday, Ynetnews reported. 

 

Certain Israeli and Western officials have repeatedly claimed that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, saying that “all options are on the table” to contain Iran.

 

However, Iran says all its nuclear activities are totally peaceful, and, as an International Atomic Energy Agency member and a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it has the legal right to produce nuclear fuel for its research reactors and nuclear power plants. 

 

Dagan has repeatedly warned against an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.