The business of writing, buying, and selling malware has become increasingly commercial over the past few years, but a new report from online security firm Finjan sheds light on just how mainstream the crimeware business has gone. Earlier this month, the company discovered a small, standalone application gathering data on over 8,700 servers, including web sites from 2,500 North American companies and a handful of sites in Alexa's top 100 ranking. Potential buyers were able to log into the malicious server hosting the data-gathering service and evaluate any given web site's size and Google Page Rank to decide whether or not the site's FTP information was worth purchasing or not.

The concept of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is nothing new, but this is the first time anyone has organized the purchase of FTP login credentials, with additional tools available to help a buyer confirm he's making a smart purchase.

Cisco pumps $9.5M into SaaS Startup

Networking giant Cisco led a $9.5 funding round of two-year-old application hosting firm SoonR. The move announced on Tuesday is the latest in a series of investments Cisco has been making in small Web 2.0 software firms.

Facing a changing marketplace where business and personal productivity applications increasingly exist on the web, network hardware giant Cisco has spent about $4 billion in the last year acquiring software firms such as WebEx and Reactivity.

In the last year Cisco has acquired about a half-dozen software and service firms, and earmarked another billion dollars to dole out venture funds on small firms mostly in Silicon Valley, but occasionally in China, India and Russia.

The company has invested heavily in software and services startups such as China Communications Services and Russian e-commerce firm Ozon, and has taken an equity positions in Albaba.com.

Business Briefs: Chamber organizes annual trade show

The Athens Area Chamber of Commerce will be hosting the annual Business Expo on March 27 at The Classic Center. Organizers for the 2008 Business Expo have adopted the theme "Let's Make a Deal" and will provide activities throughout the day. The day will start with a networking event, Business Before Hours, and end with award presentations at 4 p.m. The awards will include the annual Small Business Person of the Year.

Combat Training Solutions, a Stephens County company that manufactures simulated explosives for the military, announced that it plans to add more than 30 jobs and invest $1 million to expand a facility in Eastanollee.

Top Iraq contractor skirts US taxes offshore

They never explained it to us," said Arthur Faust, 57, who got a job loading convoys in Iraq in 2004 after putting his resume on KBRcareers.com and going to orientation with KBR officials in Houston.

So when KBR lawyers argued that the workers were KBR employees, lawyers for the men objected; the case remains in arbitration.

AAAS: State of the Art in Nuclear Physics-Theory

The final symposium I attended on Sunday before heading to the airport was a real brain bender. Titled "Nuclear physics: New answers, new questions about the visible universe." The talks spanned both theoretical and experimental aspects of the field—this article will focus on the theoretical lectures, a second article will cover the experimental discussions. The first speaker, Dr. Don Geesaman, eloquently stated the goals of the field: "the mission in nuclear physics is to understand the origin, evolution, and structure of baryonic matter in the universe—the matter that makes up stars, planets, and human life itself."

All of the talks, both experimental and theoretical focused on hadrons, their substituent quarks, and the forces that hold them together. Hadrons are strongly interacting subatomic particles that are composed of quarks.

MacBook Pro Penryn update imminent (updated)

Update: I really wish that Apple would have built Penryn into the MacBook Air, but George Ou speculates that Penryn was probably still an unknown quantity when the MBA was being designed many moons ago.

WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.

McCain and Obama turn fire on each other

Hillary's attacks against Obama only make her look angry. People are sick of the Clinton's, their antics, their deals, and their arrogance in assuming the presidency should go to the former First Lady who has only served a few years in the Senate and while there, never lead any opposition to Bush's disastrous foreign policies. Had Clinton shown any leadership in the Senate, had she not botched the health care issues Bill threw to her in the first year of his presidency, she might be a credible candidate even though she has no real record of public service and certainly nothing like 35 years as she claims. But HIllary's judgement has always been bad. America needs positive leadership.

Camilla delights Winchester on royal tour

WINCHESTER welcomed a royal visitor today as Camilla Parker Bowles embarked on a tour of the city.

The Duchess then visited the City Space exhibition room and saw the huge textile piece put together for the centre by Winchester artist, Alice Kettle.