Chinese hackers infiltrate US smart cards

Hackers in China have found a way to infiltrate supposedly secure smart cards used by US government employees, according to security company AlienVault, writes Cnet.

The security firm said it has seen dozens of such attacks, which tap into a unique variant of a nasty bit of malware known as Sykipot.

The hackers appear intent on stealing data from the Department of Defence and other related agencies. The malware is capable of capturing the PINs used by government smart cards, thereby allowing access to supposedly secure information.

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has ruled against Apple in its patent suit against rival mobile vendor Motorola, says V3.co.uk.

The ITC said in its preliminary decision that the Android vendor was not in violation of Apple patents on mobile hardware and software.

Filed in 2010, the suit alleged Motorola was infringing on three Apple patents with its handsets. The company had requested that the court block the import of the devices in question.

Hailed as the French Steve Jobs, entrepreneur Xavier Niel is shaking up the country's mobile phone market with a maverick style far removed from France's traditionally conservative business practices, notes AFP.

A rare business heavyweight not to emerge from the country's elite universities, Niel started his career in the 1980s operating adult chat services on a French forerunner to the Internet called Minitel.

In 2002, he unveiled Freeview, a pioneering set-top box that offered combined Internet, telephone and television services at a low-cost - a market benchmark that drove prices down.

Apple has published a list of its suppliers for the first time as it looks to head off criticism over how workers are treated, reveals the BBC.

The company also said it has increased its inspection of factories in a bid to ensure proper working conditions for suppliers' employees.

Apple came under fire last year after workers committed suicide at factories owned by its supplier Foxconn.