Showing posts with label Latest News. Show all posts

Cloud Computing Adoption by Federal Agencies Increases 400%

Tripwire has announced the results of the second annual survey on cloud security technology trends in the federal government which found that despite the security concerns often cited as roadblocks to cloud adoption, U.S. federal agencies are rapidly expanding their adoption of cloud infrastructure.
In fact, according to a recent report from Deltek, the federal cloud computing market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 32 percent over the next three years.
Key 2013 findings from the Tripwire survey include:

58 percent say federal initiatives designed to encourage cloud adoption have improved security.
Four times more respondents say they are outsourcing at least one third of their IT infrastructure to cloud vendors than in 2012.
50 percent are moving moderate-impact data to the cloud, compared with just 31 percent in 2012.
Only 28 percent say FedRAMP’s baseline security controls accelerated their agency’s migration to the cloud, compared with 11 percent in 2012.

“A few years ago, the federal government made bold claims with its ‘cloud first policy,’ said Dwayne Melancon, chief technology officer for Tripwire. “The data indicates that this move is working – not only do stakeholders perceive improved security from this initiative, they are showing confidence by moving more important data and workloads into the cloud.
“We’re also seeing a slow but steady increase in the adoption of baseline security controls,” Melancon continued. “This is an area where effort should be applied to accelerate progress, otherwise we run the risk of cloud adoption being impacted by a major security event. Broader adoption of FedRAMP’s baseline security controls can help mitigate that risk.”
Tripwire’s federal survey was conducted by Dimensional Research from September 26 through October 4, 2013. The results of the survey were compared to nCircle’s Federal Information Security Trends Study conducted in 2012. Tripwire acquired nCircle in April 2013.
The survey evaluated the attitudes of more than 100 federal information technology professionals from military, intelligence and civilian agencies.

Hackers Hit Federal Election Commission Hard During Shutdown

Almost immediately after the government shutdown this fall sent critical systems support personnel home, Federal Election Commission systems were hit in what is being described as “the worst act of sabotage in its 38-year history.”
A report from the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) revealed that the agency had furloughed all 339 agency employees, and that not a single staffer had been deemed “necessary to the prevention of imminent threats,” the threshold that would have allowed key personnel to remain on the job.
“They waylaid the Federal Election Commission’s networks. They crashed computer systems that publicly disclose how billions of dollars are raised and spent each election cycle by candidates, parties and political action committees,” according to the CPI report.
“And it happened just months after an independent auditor commissioned by the government warned that the FEC’s information systems were at ‘high risk’ to infiltration — a charge the FEC roundly disputed, saying its ‘systems are secure.’”
In addition to the attack, the CPI’s investigation found that:

The commission over the past year has reached a paralyzing all-time low in its ability to reach consensus, stalling action on dozens of rulemaking, audit and enforcement matters, some of which are years old.
Despite an explosion in political spending hastened by key Supreme Court decisions, the agency’s funding has remained flat for five years and staffing levels have fallen to a 15-year low.
Analysts charged with scouring disclosure reports to ensure candidates and political committees are complying with laws have a nearly quarter-million-page backlog. Commissioners themselves are grappling with nearly 270 unresolved enforcement cases.
Staff morale has plummeted as key employees have fled and others question whether their work remains relevant. Among top FEC jobs currently unfilled or filled on an “acting” basis: general counsel, associate general counsel for policy, associate general counsel for litigation, chief financial officer and accounting director. The staff director doubles as IT director.

“As the nation heads into what will undoubtedly be the most expensive midterm election in history and a 2016 presidential election that, in no small way, has already begun, the FEC is rotting from the inside out,” the SPI report concluded.

Top Five Hacker Tools Every CISO Should Understand

As the role of the CISO continues to evolve within organizations towards that of an executive level position, we see a growing emphasis on traditional business administration skills over the more technical skills that previously defined the top security leadership job.

Nonetheless, CISOs need to keep abreast of the latest down-in-the-weeds tools and technologies that can benefit their organization’s security posture, as well as those tools that are widely available which could be misused by malicious actors to identify and exploit network security weaknesses.
In light of that fact, we recently spoke to Nabil Ouchn (@toolswatch), the organizer of the Arsenal Tools exhibit and activities at the BlackHat Conferences in both the US and Europe since 2011, as well as being the founder of the portal ToolsWatch.org.
ToolsWatch is a free interactive service designed to help auditors, penetration testers, and other security professionals keep their ethical hacking toolbox up to date with the latest and greatest resources.
Ouchn is an influential security expert with over 15 years experience in vulnerability management, compliance assessment and penetration testing, and Co-Founder of an innovative SaaS Multi-Engines Threats Scanning Solution.
As part of his research, Ouchn maintains several projects, including Default Password Enumeration (DPE), the open source correlated & cross-linked vulnerability database vFeed, and the Firefox Catalog of Auditing exTensions called FireCAT.
We asked Ouchn to assemble what he believed to be the top hacker tools every CISO should at least understand, if not actively encourage for integration into their own security programs.
(Part Two Here: Five More Hacker Tools Every CISO Should Understand)
“Remember the paper Improving the Security of Your Site by Breaking Into It written 20 years ago by Dan Farmer and Wietse Venema?” Ouchn asked. “It is still valid today. The best approach to mitigating the vulnerabilities and threats to an information system remains having the ability to prove that they exist.”
“The following is my list of tools every CISO should be on top of, and it was very hard to narrow it down to these few items with so many valuable tools out there,” Ouchn said. “My choices were driven by a combination of the tool’s value and their ease of use.”

Armitage

“Metasploit has become over the years the best framework to conduct penetration testing on network systems and IT infrastructure. Nevertheless, I will focus on Armitage an open source effort to bring user-friendly interface to Metasploit,” Ouchn said.
“Armitage demonstrations are very convincing and allow you to analyze weak and vulnerable machines in a network in just a few clicks. The compromised devices are depicted with a lightning round,” Ouchn continued.
“This tool has brilliantly hidden the complexity of Metasploit (for a non-technical audience) in favor of usability, and is a great way to demonstrate the security in depth of an IT architecture,” Ouchn said.
“In fact, the framework has several capabilities to exploit vulnerabilities in almost any type of layer to therefore infiltrate (by pivoting) systems to reach the network’s nerve center. Armitage should definitely be part of the CISO’s Arsenal and his internal Red Tiger team.”

HashCat

“There is constantly a battle between security folks and users when it comes to passwords. Although it is simple to deploy a Password Policy in a company, it’s also very difficult to justify it,” Ouchn noted.
“Because in a perfect world from users perspective, the best password would be the name of the family cat with no expiration date, and this fact applies to any system that requires authentication.”
“HashCat has shown that the selection of a strong password must be done carefully, and this tool allows us to demonstrate the ease with which a password can be recovered,” Ouchn said.
“A CISO should certainly incorporate this password cracking tool in his arsenal because it allows to check the complexity of the company password policy. Of course, the complexity of a password is not the only criterion for a well-constructed policy, as there are a plethora of criteria: Duration, length, entropy, etc… So HashCat is a must have for any CISO.” (See also John the Ripper).

Wifite

“You know what you have connected to when using your hardwired network, but have you ever wondered if the air is playing tricks on you? To test your WiFi security, Wifite has the simplest way,” Ouchn says.
“The grip is instantaneous. It is written in Python and runs on all platforms. CISOs should need only to supply the WiFi interface they use and it does the job, verifying that the corporate wireless networks are configured according to the applicable Security Policy, and better yet, it can be used to identify any open and accessible network that can potentially be harmful in terms of Phishing” Ouchn continued.
“Wifite allows the discovery of all devices that have an active wireless capability enabled by default (like some printers for example). Wifite is a very simple and convincing way for a CISO to validate the security of wireless networks. (See also AirCrack).

WireShark

“Known for many years as Ethereal, WireShark is probably the best tool when it comes to sniffing for and collecting data over a network,” Ouchn says.
“On the one hand, WireShark has boosted its capabilities with the support of several types of networks (Ethernet, 802.11, etc.) and also in the simplicity of its use through a very friendly user interface.”
“WireShark allows a CISO to demonstrate that outdated protocols such as Telnet / FTP should be banned from a corporate network, and that sensitive information should be encrypted to avoid being captured by a malicious user,” Ouchn explained.
“Beyond the sniffing features, WireShark is also a great way to validate the network filtering policy. When placed near filtering devices, it can detect the protocols and communication flow in use. WireShark should be considered by any conscious CISO to validate the filtering policy and the need for encryption. (See also Cain & Abel).

Social Engineering Toolkit (SET)

“Those who attended the latest demo by David Kennedy (SET lead developer and author) at the BlackHat Arsenal in Las Vegas understand the importance of such a tool” Ouchn said.
SET is a framework that helps the in creation of sophisticated technical attacks which operated using the credulity of the human. It can be used in the process of preparing a phishing attack mimicking a known website or trapping PDF files with the appropriate payload,” he continued. “The simplicity of use via an intuitive menu makes it an even more attractive tool.”
“It is the dream of every CISO to drive security awareness campaigns without ruining the security budget. With SET, the team in charge of security audits can design attacks scenarios and distribute them internally to the targeted users,” Ouchn says.
“This will confirm the users security perception within the company and validate the best Awareness Policy to deploy. The SET tool is very well maintained and is also based on a framework already mentioned above: Metasploit.”

VPNBOOK Review

VPNs are used in different ways by different people. Corporate users use it to connect to their workplace from other locations, students use it to bypass firewalls and website blocking still some others use it for the added security while using public WIFIs.
VPNs are the best way I know to bypass firewalls or hide my tracks online. There are many VPN service providers, both free and paid.

VPNBOOK.COM is a free VPN service provider. They offer different servers based in Romania, UK and US. Their service is absolutely free and is based on advertisement and donation. They offer two kinds of encryption PPTP and OPENVPN. You can get the server address, username and password from the website itself without needing to register or login. However,one annoying thing is that the password changes every few days or week. So, you have to keep visiting the website to get the updated password.

PROS:
* Absolutely Free
* PPTP support (can be used on mobile devices like android)
* OpenVPN support (a bit slower, but more secure, and cannot be blocked)
* P2P allowed (torrent downloads are allowed)
* Stable connection (doesn't get disconnected)
* Steady speed (no fluctuation in speed)
* Servers based in US,UK and Romania
* Do not store logs
* Unlimited bandwidth!
* No registration required

CONS:

* Speed is not as fast as paid VPN providers, but I think thats a bit too much to ask since it is a free service.

OVERALL:

Vpnbook is probably the best free vpn service provider I have ever used. I have used many free VPNs and I used to face connectivity issues, bandwidth restrictions etc, but not with VPNBOOK. Apart from my laptop, I also use it in my Android mobile when using college wifi or public hotspots. So, if you need a free and reliable VPN service provider, vpnbook is the one you need.

NOTE: I am not paid to write this article. It is just my views and opinion after using the service.

Earn Money Online through Freelance Writing

There are many ways to earn money from the internet. You can take surveys, do data entry jobs, or even view ads. However, the most foolproof and profitable job is freelancing. Freelancing may be in the form of writing, programming, admin support etc. Here, I will discuss about freelance writing and also give tips to get you started.

If you have a passion for writing, the freelancing is the perfect job for you. If not, you can still take up freelancing but you will need commitment to be successful in it. Writing articles may sound easy at first, but the fact is that it involves a lot more effort and determination to come up with a good article. Freelance writing may be profitable for some, while it is not so for others. This is because successful freelance writing depends on one’s writing skills, ability to meet deadlines and most of all, dedication. You have to write quality articles and deliver what the customer wants.

In many freelancing sites, clients will post their job requirements and you, as a contractor will have to bid for the job by submitting your proposal. The client will then review all the proposals received and select the contractor best suited for the job. Here, it is important for you as a contractor to submit your proposal and bid wisely. The best thing about freelancing is that you are your own boss. You can choose what jobs you would like to undertake.

To get you started, here I will give you an insight on two of the most popular freelancing websites. You may read the reviews and choose the one you would like to start with.

1. Elance.com

Elance is a very good platform for beginners. You need to pass an entrance test. The syllabus is basically the Elance rules and regulations. You will also have to verify your mobile number. Basic membership is free and you can start submitting proposals once you are ready with your profile. Your profile reflects the jobs you have done, your earnings, ratings and comments given by your clients. Payments are guaranteed with Escrow. Once you start the job, you are funded by the client using Escrow. The client will release payment once the work is done. You can use bank transfer or PayPal for receiving payments.

You can sign up for Elance here.

2. Freelancer.com

Freelancer.com is considered to be largest freelancing site in the world. Here also, basic membership is free, but you will have to pay (around Rs. 250) for taking ‘Exams’ which will be an added bonus for your profile. Phone verification is required, but there is no entrance exam. Here too, the client will fund you as soon as you start the job; however the money will be released only when the job is completed to the client’s satisfaction.

You can sign up for Freelancer here.

All in all, whichever sites you choose, hard work and dedication to your work will count the most in the long run, enabling you to earn more money.

A Layman's Idea of Hacking

When I was in Class 11, a friend of mine showed me a cool trick to invert the desktop of a computer just by pressing some keys in the keyboard. It was Ctrl+Alt+(Down Arrow). I was amazed as I had never seen anything like that. At that time, we were siting in the school computer lab, and it got me thinking about all the cool things that can be done with computers. I started searching online for computer tricks, pranks and hacks, hoping to annoy and amaze my friends at the same time. That was what got me started into the world of hacking.
Due to our heavy influence of movies we think of hackers as computer geniuses who can hack WiFi passwords, Traffic cameras, NSA or FBI servers, emails, websites, all with just a few clicks of the mouse or keyboard. Hackers are also thought to be able to derail trains, sink ships or launch nuclear missiles. Although many of these things are possible in real life, Hollywood has made it look far too easy. In the real world, hacking involves a lot of steps and techniques which requires you to have extensive knowledge and experience with computer systems.

People tend to think of hackers as evil geniuses or high-tech criminals. That may be partly true, but those who use their skills for malicious purposes are 'crackers'. A hacker is someone who is adaptable to any environment and tweak systems to make things better or more convenient.

There is a big misconception about teenage hackers. The movies portray teenage hackers and the media hypes them. If a teenager manages to 'hack' a website, he comes to the limelight and is portrayed as a prodigy. I'm saying as a teenager myself. The fact is that the website was hacked not because of the teenager's skill, but because of the website owner's carelessness in properly implementing security procedures. Majority of hacking attacks happen due to the programmer or system administrator's ignorance of security. I'm not saying that there are no prodigies. I'm saying that majority of teen hackers are script kiddies who know a particular hacking trick or technique and got lucky.

Hacking is not a crime if you have the permissions to hack. Professional hackers are called Penetration Testers or Pen Testers. They are hired by companies and governments to hack their systems to 'test' how secure they are. And it is a pretty cool job too. Getting paid to hack. Hackers are very normal people, not someone sitting in a dark basement with a computer and wires dangling all around. Anyone can become a hacker, provided he has the determination and perseverance.

10 ways you can earn money as a computer science student

You may be a BCA or BTech student studying computer science. During your 3 or 4 year degree course, you can earn some pocket money and also gain experience at the same time. I have listed here 10 ways you can earn money, not much, but like I said, enough for pocket money. The concept of earning while in college is relatively more common in the west than here in India. In India, we tend to view college life as either studies only or enjoyment only, depending on the student.

1. Develop websites for others

Since you are a computer science student, you can develop websites for people. Initially, it might be hard to find a client as you have no experience, so, develop your own websites and showcase them as your portfolio. You can develop static html pages or dynamic php or asp pages depending on your choice of languages. If a traditional website is what your client wants, you can use popular Content Management Systems(CMS) like wordpress or joomla. Wordpress and joomla are readymade website' templates' and are very easy to set up. You may even offer a whole website package which includes the domain name, website , email , hosting and support. This can earn you some money as well as give you experience to enhance your resume.

2. Become a freelance software developer

Becoming a software developer is not difficult, but it requires a lot of effort and perseverance. It is similar like becoming a website developer except that you will be developing software applications for small businesses and enterprises. You can start by developing a student management software for your school or college. They may or may not use it, but it will give you some experience to start with. If you will be developing GUI desktop applications, you have an array of choices like VisualStudio, QT C++, Netbeans, Delphi etc. I have written an article on becoming a software developer here.

3. Repair computers of friends/family

If you want to plan your career in the hardware and networking path, you can start by offering services - like repairing computers and windows installations - to friends and family members. This will greatly enhance your troubleshooting skills also. The objective here is to establish a name for yourself. You can then expand to shops and cyber-cafes where computer services are in great demand. After you have achieved some repute, you can start charging people for your services.

4. Work part time in call centers as technical support role
This will help you in two ways. One, you will gain some technical know-how about troubleshooting, two, you will learn some people skills and communication skills. You can work part time in a nearby call center or company. Although part-time jobs are hard to come by these days, you can still find them if you look hard enough.

5. Participate in programming contests.

There are many programming and software development contests going on all over the world. Most of them are online. The benefit here is twofold; enhancing your programming skills as well as a cash prize, if you win. The best example is the IBM - The Great Mind Challenge , although t is only for Indians. There are many other contests like this all over the world. Google is your best friend.

6. Write tech related articles

You can write technology themed articles. For this, you can either start your own blog or join an online freelance website like Elance, Odesk or Freelancer. At any given time, there are plenty of potential clients in these sites hiring freelancers to write their tech blogs or websites.

7. Help others in online(paying) forums such as ealp.com

There are several forums online which pay you for answering questions people ask. The best I can think of is the Earn And Learn Program (www.ealp.com). Payment from this site is made once a month. I tried this once, and I got a cheque of Rs. 1000 for a month's work (10 minutes a day). You can earn around 5000 in a month, but It will consume much of your time.

8. Internship at a software company

Many software/IT companies take interns for technical work. Although internships are not easy to find in India, the situation seems to be better in the west. Once you get a job as an intern, you can work at the company for about 2-6 months. This can be counted as experience and will enhance your resume. Twenty19 is an excellent website for searching for internships. They list both paying and non paying internships all over India.

9. Develop android/mobile apps and sell it

Download the Android SDK and start developing android applications. Android is one of the hottest mobile Operating Systems available today. With Karbonn and Micromax launching cheaper and cheaper Android phones, the market is huge. Develop games or applications and sell them in the Google Play store. You can develop Symbian and Apple apps also.

10. Become a freelance ethical hacker

You can learn hacking and once you are good enough, you can start becoming a freelance cyber security consultant. This idea is not mainstream and only few people will be up for this. That is why it is in the last. It will be quite difficult to do this, but once you earn a certain repute as a freelance pen tester, your earnings will be good. You can start by offering to secure the computers of others and remember to constantly practice in your hacking lab. I am currently doing just this through Elance.com. 2 years ago, I signed up for a free elance account and now people hire to test their websites me after looking at my elance profile.

Become an Independent software developer

Target audience: Computer science students or graduates.

So, you are a computer science student or you just completed your graduation, now what? You can start looking for a job or prepare for campus placements or, you can become an independent software developer. The best part of this is that you can start earning money as well as gain professional experience, and the best part? You are your own boss!

So, what does an independent software developer do? Well, to start with, you can develop custom applications for small firms, shops or institutions. Some people earn Rs.10,000 to 50,000 for small to medium sized projects. After you gain some experience and depending upon your reputation in the industry, you can start earning lots more by developing large scale applications or maybe even start your own software consulting company. In this (rather crude) article, I will attempt to show you the way to achieve all this.

All you need is a little background in computer science. For all those BCA/BSc or Engineering students, this will be relatively easy compared to other graduates. Either way, the first step to becoming an independent software developer is to get proficient in the latest technologies and programming languages. We will talk about Web applications here as it is the more popular and a little easier than developing desktop applications. However, if you want to develop desktop applications, you can use Visual Studio, QT framework , Netbeans IDE etc. Visual Basic 6 used to be popular, but it is now highly outdated although you can still use it. Many universities and colleges still teach Visual basic 6 today. If you want, I can even write another article on developing desktop applications. Let me know in the comments.

Now, for developing web applications, you will be using one among these languages; asp, php or jsp. These three technologies are the most popular today. I would suggest using php as it is free,open source and easier to learn. PHP is a server side scripting language. The syntax is also a bit similar to C. You can use asp if you have experience with it or if you made your final year project with it.
All right, now let's talk about PHP. In order to be able to develop full fledged applications with php, you need to know a few other things.

1.The PHP language itself.
2. MySql database
3. Ajax
3.Client server technology.

You can learn these technologies all by yourself from the tons of tutorials available on the net. This will be the most cost effective way. Or, you can take a course at a computer institute nearby. MySql is the database which stores data from your application in a secure and easy to retrieve manner. PHP and MySql have native support for each other, so they are the best combo. Next, you will have to design the site where you will host your web application. Since it will be only for the staff or employees to use, it need not be beautiful. You can use Dreamweaver or any other web designing software to design the forms, like text field, buttons etc. You don't need to be an expert web designer although a little proficiency helps. Along with HTML, you will need to know a bit of CSS and JavaScript if you want to make your webpage more interactive and beautiful. (This combination of HTML,CSS,JavaScript, etc is known as AJAX). This part is optional, because you can have a plain looking webpage but still have an excellent application, as long as you know what you are doing.
You can develop your applications using the WAMP or XAMPP platform. WAMP and XAMPP are a readymade combination of Apache web server, MySql, and PHP. Here you can test and deploy your application.

Next comes the web server where you will deploy your application. You can have an Internet based application , or an Intranet based application. If your client needs the application to be accessible from anywhere through the Internet, you will need to buy a domain name or use an existing domain name. You can buy a domain for as cheap as Rs.100 a year, if you are lucky. You will also need a PHP MySql web hosting provider. You will host your web application here. This may be as cheap as Rs. 800 a year, depending on the provider you choose.Here are a few web hosting providers.

If you want your site/application to be accessible only from the local network, it is called an intranet site. This is much simpler and easier than the Internet based one. You will need a desktop computer where you will host your site and database. Other computers will connect to this server via LAN or wifi. The only requirement here is that your server be on during working hours so that employees can use the application. Another important aspect is the security of your application. You need to learn some basic secure coding and web app pentesting methods, that way, your site will be safe from hackers.

Hopefully, if you are still reading this article, you now know how to develop a PHP application and start earning some money. You can take help from people who are already working in the software industry. The best way to get about in this field is to offer your first few projects free of cost. This will be your portfolio and people will start entrusting you with their software needs after that.
Your feedback and comments are always welcome.

Google News changes reflect your feedback

Two weeks ago we gave the Google News homepage a new look and feel with enhanced customization, discovery and sharing. This redesign was our biggest since Google News launched in beta in 2002.

Some of you told us that you really liked it, especially how the "News for you" section lets you see a stream of articles tailored to the interests you specify. The positive usage data we saw during our months-long tests of the redesign has continued since we introduced it to all users of the U.S. English edition, and hundreds of thousands of you have already customized your Google News homepages. But some of you wrote in to say you missed certain aspects of the previous design, such as the ability to see results grouped by section (U.S., Business, etc.) in two columns.

At Google, we’re all about launching and iterating, so we've been making improvements to the design in response to your feedback. For example, we're now showing the entire cluster of articles for each story, rather than expanding the cluster when you hover your mouse over it. We've given you the ability to hide the weather forecast from your local news section. We made the option to switch between List view and Section view more obvious. And today we’re adding a third option in "News for you": Two-column view, which shows the three top stories from each section and looks like this:

A key goal of the redesign was to give you more ways to personalize your Google News, and these changes add even more choices. A heartfelt thanks to all of you who have shared your thoughts with us. Please keep letting us know what you think, and we’ll keep working to make Google News even better.

$5 million to encourage innovation in digital journalism

Journalism is fundamental to a functioning democracy. So as media organizations globally continue to broaden their presence online, we’re eager to play our part on the technology side -- experimenting with new ways of presenting news online; providing tools like Google Maps andYouTube Direct to make websites more engaging for readers; and investing heavily in our digital platforms to enable publishers to generate more revenue.

But while we're mostly focused on working with news organizations to develop better products for users, we also believe it's crucial to encourage innovation at the grassroots level. That's why we’re giving $5 million in grants to non-profit organizations that are working to develop new approaches to journalism in the digital age. Our aim is to benefit news publishers of all sizes.

We've granted $2 million to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which has a proven track record of supporting programs that drive innovation in journalism. It will use $1 million to support U.S. grant-making in this crucial area. The other $1 million will augment the Knight News Challenge, which is accepting funding proposals from anyone, anywhere in the world, until Dec. 1. Now in its fifth year, the News Challenge has supported projects like DocumentCloud, which aims to bring more investigative-reporting source material online so anyone can find and read it.

We’re eager to do even more internationally, so we will be investing the remaining $3 million in journalism projects in other countries through a similar partnership. Stay tuned for more details early next year.

We hope these grants will help new ideas blossom and encourage experimentation. As Thomas Edison once said, "When there's no experimenting, there's no progress. Stop experimenting and you go backward." We look forward to working with the journalism community to help digital news move forward.

Google News highlights unique content with Editors’ Picks

News organizations tell stories online in ways that bring together the best of traditional and digital journalism, whether that involves long-form investigative features, compelling photo slideshows or interactive maps and charts that add new levels of engagement to the day's news. To help connect you to the best works of news publishers, Google News is introducing a new section in the right-hand column of the U.S. edition. The section is called "Editors' Picks,” and it displays original content that publishers have selected as highlights from their publications. This is the latest addition to recent improvements we’ve made to the variety and presence of stories and multimedia on Google News.

An array of news organizations, including local, national and niche publishers, are now using Editors’ Picks to display their best, most engaging content. Because Google News relies on algorithms, Editors' Picks will always be just that—picks provided by publishers themselves, and not by Google. You can browse a set of publisher feeds that span national, specific and local interests—like The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, ProPublica, the Guardian and The Root, among many others—via the side-to-side arrows next to each publisher's logo. The feeds you see are chosen based on a variety of factors, including your news preferences. If you’re interested in using source preferences on Google News, Editors' Picks helps you do that with the slider that appears just below the articles.

You may have first noticed Editors’ Picks as an experiment last year. Based on the data from that experiment, we have been working with nearly two dozen publishers in recent months and have seen a positive response from readers and publishers alike: readers get the news they're interested in from the sources they trust, and publishers receive higher traffic to their websites. We encourage any news organizations that are interested to visit our Help Center to get started.

Designing News for you on the go

Friday, December 6, 2013 11:00 AM

Posted by Mayuresh Saoji, Product Manager, Google News and Social

Increasingly people are reading News “on the go” and using their smartphones to keep abreast of the latest happenings around the globe. Over the next few days Google News readers on Android and iOS devices will start to see a beautiful new version of the mobile web app that will provide an improved overall experience resulting in a kind of real time news desk for you on your phone.

Here are just some of the highlights:

Improved overall look-and-feel making it easier to read and track separate stories.
Ability to customize the webapp to suit your taste by changing the theme from light to dark, the font size and opting for a larger “story card” with more information per story at your fingertips (from the Settings menu, at top right).
Simplified navigation to any section within News; just click on the Google News icon (top left) to see a list of available sections (including any custom sections you created).
Easier integration with Google Feedback located in the menu at the top right.

Additionally we have ensured that some favorite desktop features have been included such as:

A weather gadget in the Local section.
The popular “Editors Picks” option.
Social posts from Google + related to the story are included in the article cluster.

We’re launching in the US first and plan to bring the same experience to all our international editions soon.

All this goodness is packaged in a browser so give it a try by just visiting news.google.com from the Chrome/Safari browser on either Android or iOS phones.

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Cloud Computing Adoption by Federal Agencies Increases 400%

Cloud Computing Adoption by Federal Agencies Increases 400%