Fisher Capital Management Scam Prevention News : “State actor” behind slew of cyber attacks

http://fishercapitalmanagementscamreviews.com/2011/08/09/fisher-capital-management-scam-prevention-news-state-actor-behind-slew-of-cyber-attacks/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/03/us-cyberattacks-idUSTRE7720HU20110803?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&dlvrit=59363

By Jim Finkle

BOSTON | THUR Aug 04, 2011

(Reuters) – Security experts have discovered an unprecedented series of cyber attacks on the networks of 72 organizations globally, including the United Nations, governments and corporations, over a five-year period.

Security company McAfee, which uncovered the intrusions, said it believed there was one “state actor” behind the attacks but declined to name it, though several other security experts said the evidence points to China.

The long list of victims in the extended campaign include the governments of the United States, Taiwan, India, South Korea, Vietnam and Canada; the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); the International Olympic Committee (IOC); the World Anti-Doping Agency; and an array of companies, from defense contractors to high-tech enterprises.

In the case of the United Nations, the hackers broke into the computer system of its secretariat in Geneva in 2008, hid there for nearly two years, and quietly combed through reams of secret data, according to McAfee.

“Even we were surprised by the enormous diversity of the victim organizations and were taken aback by the audacity of the perpetrators,” McAfee’s vice president of threat research, Dmitri Alperovitch, wrote in a 14-page report released on Wednesday.

“What is happening to all this data … is still largely an open question. However, if even a fraction of it is used to build better competing products or beat a competitor at a key negotiation (due to having stolen the other team’s playbook), the loss represents a massive economic threat.”

McAfee learned of the extent of the hacking campaign in March this year, when its researchers discovered logs of the attacks while reviewing the contents of a “command and control” server that they had discovered in 2009 as part of an investigation into security breaches at defense companies.

It dubbed the attacks “Operation Shady RAT” and said the earliest breaches date back to mid-2006, though there might have been other intrusions. (RAT stands for “remote access tool,” a type of software that hackers and security experts use to access computer networks from afar).

Some of the attacks lasted just a month, but the longest — on the Olympic Committee of an unidentified Asian nation — went on and off for 28 months, according to McAfee.

“Companies and government agencies are getting raped and pillaged every day. They are losing economic advantage and national secrets to unscrupulous competitors,” Alperovitch told Reuters.

“This is the biggest transfer of wealth in terms of intellectual property in history,” he said. “The scale at which this is occurring is really, really frightening.”

CHINA CONNECTION?

Alperovitch said that McAfee had notified all 72 victims of the attacks, which are under investigation by law enforcement agencies around the world. He declined to give more details.

Jim Lewis, a cyber expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said it was very likely China was behind the campaign because some of the targets had information that would be of particular interest to Beijing.

The systems of the IOC and several national Olympic Committees were breached before the 2008 Beijing Games. And China views Taiwan as a renegade province, and political issues between them remain contentious even as economic ties have strengthened in recent years.

“Everything points to China. It could be the Russians, but there is more that points to China thanRussia,” Lewis said.

McAfee, acquired by Intel Corp this year, would not comment on whether China was responsible.

There was no comment from China on the report.

The U.N. said it was aware of the report, and had started an investigation to ascertain if there was an intrusion.

A U.S. Defense Department spokeswoman, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel April Cunningham, said “it is unknown who is perpetrating these intrusions.”

“With regard to China, we reported to Congress in 2010 that China is actively pursuing cyber capabilities with a focus on the exfiltration of information, some of which could be of strategic or military utility,” Cunningham said.

White House spokesman Jay Carney declined to comment on the report’s findings but said U.S. President Barack Obama viewed cybersecurity as a top priority and was working to tighten the defenses of both the government and private sector.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said, “We obviously will evaluate it, look at it and pursue what needs to be pursued in terms of its content.”

Britain’s electronic spy agency told Reuters the McAfee report highlighted the need for international cooperation as cyber security challenges were transnational.

“Attribution for attacks in cyberspace is always difficult. But whoever is responsible, this report is another reminder of the need for effective cyber-security,” said a spokeswoman for the Government Communications Headquarters, one of the three main arms of British intelligence.

STONE AGE

Vijay Mukhi, a cyber-expert based in India, said some South Asian governments were highly vulnerable to hacking from China.

“I’m not surprised because that’s what China does, they are gradually dominating the cyberworld,” he said. “I would call it child’s play (for a hacker to get access to Indian government data) … I would say we’re in the stone age.”

In Taiwan, an official of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, which has a cyber crime unit, said he had no knowledge of the McAfee report but added there had been no cases in recent years of hacking of government websites.

An official from the Japanese trade ministry’s information security policy team said it was difficult to determine whether a specific government lay behind a cyber attack “although we see which countries the attacks originate from.”

McAfee released the report to coincide with the start of the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, an annual meeting of security professionals who promote security and fight cyber crime.

(Additional reporting from Tom Miles in Geneva, Jack Kim in Seoul, James Pomfret in New Delhi, William Maclean in London, Laura MacInnis and Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington; editing by Tiffany Wu, Martin Howell, Ron Popeski, Ed Lane, Eric Walsh, Bill Trott and Matthew Lewis)

New Commercial Boilers Presented - Triad Boiler Room Systems by Fisher Capital

Fisher Capital on Boiler Room Equipment, Inc: Triad Boiler Systems creates distinctively tough small-footprint hot water boilers, steam boilers, and radiant heating systems.

All of our boilers use 12 gauge firetubes in compact vessels that suit through very small doorways! Inputs range up to 2,000,000 BTU's. Create a highly efficient system with millions of BTU's by sequencing a string of these modular vessels.

TRIAD's commercial boilers and industrial grade Hot Water Heating, Domestic Hot Water, and Steam boilers are used in a wide variety of applications. Our commercial boilers are used at schools, universities, apartments, hospitals, office buildings, retirement communities, and churches. Industrial uses have included bakeries, smelting operations, food processing, quenching systems, and various heating applications for manufacturing. Triads’ modular boilers and radiant heating systems can be natural gas fired, oil fired, or dual fuel fired. For simplicity of operation and maintenance, all controls on our boilers are well known, off-the-shelf products. There area no proprietary parts on these boilers! This simplicity of operation is part of our philosophy, and an important reason why our customers return to us again and again.

TRIAD has been manufacturing high-quality boilers since 1926, and developed the modular boiler concept with primary/secondary piping, receiving a patent for it in 1967. We put this experience, knowledge, and expertise into every boiler.

We believe in quality - it is the overriding characteristic driving our company. This is why we manufacture extremely rugged, well-designed hot water and steam boilers that can provide decades of dependable service. We welcome your inquiries.

Benefits of Modularity

TRIAD's elegantly simple design maintains consistent water volume where heat is required.

•           Boilers are activated sequentially, drawing water from the main loop into the next hot water boiler until the heating need is meet.

•           firing boilers remaining isolated, so no heated water circulates through cold boilers.

•           During most of the year the unfired boilers provide additional backup.

•           Outdoor temperatures and loop water temperatures are constantly monitored.

Fisher Capital on Boiler Room Equipment, Inc: The efficiency of this design is most apparent during warmer months, when a conventional hydronic heating or steam boiler could still be operating at full capacity.

Primary-Secondary Piping - TRIAD integrates modularity with a single pipe primary-secondary system. TRIAD was the first company to employ a Primary-Secondary concept. It operates with two loops, (i) the primary loop, or building main loop, and (ii) smaller secondary loops off of each hot water boiler, which supply heated water to the primary loop.

Upon a call for heat, the boiler pump begins pushing the return water into the boiler and out through the secondary loop, supplying this hot water up into the primary loop (the main header), where it mixes with the cooler return water from the main loop of the building.

•           Supply and return water are blended, avoiding the need for expensive and unreliable mixing valves commonly used in two pipe systems.

•           The secondary loop isolates each hot water boiler, resulting in a very efficient system that minimizes thermal shock.

Control Panel

TRIAD Boilers can be sequenced by the use of our control panel that provides many attractive features:

•           Temperature set-back when less heat is required, such as nights and weekends.

•           Adjustments for latent heat, to take advantage of hot boiler water that retains heat after the burner shuts down.

•           Outdoor reset based on atmospheric temperatures.

•           Monitoring of return water temperatures to maintain accurate heating output.

It is also very easy to sequence our boilers using the panel of any other major manufacturer.

Packaged Product - Fisher Capital on Boiler Room Equipment, Inc: All TRIAD hot water boilers and steam boilers are fully assembled, packaged products, which offer several advantages over boilers that must be assembled at the jobsite

•           Onsite labor costs are minimized.

•           Quality control is higher at the factory than at the jobsite

•           The ease of installation of a packaged boiler allows for quicker start up.

Benefits of Steel Boilers

Easy to Clean - To maintain boiler efficiency, heating surfaces must be kept clean and free of combustion by-products. All TRIAD heating surfaces, especially the firetubes, are easy to access. It is impossible to clean all the heating surfaces of a cast iron boiler, and what can be reached is difficult to clean.

TRIAD also makes it easy to maintain clean water surfaces. The cleaning of the interior of a cast iron boiler is a major undertaking, and even then only the vertical surfaces can be cleaned. The inability to clean the horizontal surfaces can have a significant impact on operating efficiency.

Easy to Repair - Because of their steel construction, TRIAD hot water and steam boilers can be repaired in the field with minimal disruption. A leak can be permanently welded or the tubes re-rolled with little difficulty. It is impossible to permanently weld a cracked cast iron boiler section or a leaking copper fin-tube boiler. The firetubes are easily accessed through the top and through the firedoor.

Fast Water Circulation - Poor circulation of water within the typical cast iron boiler is very common due to their design limits, while TRIAD's steel hot water boilers provide for faster circulation.

Fisher Capital Equipment Update - Market slams Fisher and Paykel on profit Warning

The share market has come down hard on Fisher & Paykel Appliances - with its shares falling 40 per cent after the company issued a profit warning today.

The whiteware manufacturer's shares, which were worth $2.94 this time last year and worth $1 on Friday, went into free fall and are currently trading at just 60 cents, a 40 cent fall.

Earlier today the company said it expected a net profit of $25 million to $30m, down up to 54 per cent on last year.

Due to the deterioration in the New Zealand dollar, Fisher & Paykel Appliances' total bank debt grew $122 from March last year to $512m at the end of January. It was predicted to be $570m by the end of March.

It is now looking at reviewing its capital structure and alternative sources of capital.

Fisher Capital Equipment Update - Market slams Fisher and Paykel on profit Warning - The market was very concerned the company had to come back with a capital raising, which was unexpected, said Hamilton, Hindin, and Greene director Grant Williamson.

The home appliance market had dropped off in all areas Fisher & Paykel exported to and there did not appear to be too many signs of a turnaround in world housing at the moment, he said.

"I think investors are starting to say; how long is it going to be before conditions change for the company? I think that's the biggest concern."

Williamson said Fisher & Paykel Appliances' wares were sold into most new homes but when very few new homes being built it would have a serious effect on their sales.

A 40 per cent drop in share value was a big hit for the share price to take but that was the general state of the market.

"If any company disappoints the market then the market is very harsh on their share price and we have certainly seen that this morning with Fisher & Paykel Appliances."

The company announced it would not proceed with a capital note issue and was looking an alternative source of capital.

The directors were considering the merits of issuing equity, including to a cornerstone investor.

Williamson said he did not believe a capital notes rising would have been particularly well received.

He did not see any short term bounce in the price until there was clarification around the structure of equity rising. That was expected to be announced in early March.

"At the moment there's still a fair degree of selling in the market place, around the 60c level."- NZPA

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Fisher Capital Equipment Update - Machine Components Industry in China Problems

Fisher Capital Equipment Management Update- Machine Components Industry in China Problems and their causes - the machinery, basic parts - construction machinery industry. Avoid online internet scams; get latest updates on Fisher Capital Equipment Management website. As our country on the basis of pieces of machinery in Machinery Industry Awareness of the importance of late, long-term lack of investment, leading the entire industry based on poor, weak economic foundation and strength of the weak. In particular, as the host country rises the level of basic pieces of machinery behind the main bottleneck is becoming more apparent. In recent years, although the introduction of technology, technological innovation, scientific research and development, our country has given some support, but with the current level of market demand and overseas, there remains no small gap, in particular in: less product variety, low level quality of instability, early failure rate, and poor reliability.

 China Machine Components product variety, small size, especially a big gap between high-end products can not meet the growing needs of the host. At present, various types of host based piece of performance indicators is roughly equivalent to the level of foreign 20th century 80s. Quality of instability, early failure rate, reliability is poor, the Achilles heel of basic items. Therefore, many OEMs to enhance the market competitiveness of its host, often choose to import the basis of supporting documents, resulting in domestic basic parts, especially the low-tech products, the domestic market share declined. Although China's exports of basic items has obvious advantages, but mainly labor-intensive products, the number of large, low-value, technology added value.

Present, China Machine Components Industry of the following main issues: First, redundant construction seriously, the low degree of specialization, not form scale, low economic efficiency, Machine Components, compared with the host enterprises to establish an initial financial and technical inputs required relatively few times in the national economic development period, have increased the number of basic parts manufacturer, also appeared along a large number of low-level duplicated construction, multi-point, volume is small, not form economies of scale. Basic pieces of business, while gradually independent of the OE, but most of the enterprise itself is large and, small but complete, low degree of specialization, the level of equipment is not high, the quality of instability, low economic efficiency. If China Bearing Annual output of three large enterprise sector bearing less than the sum of a well-known foreign companies 50%. The past two years, China built nearly one hundred Hydraulic Parts Plant, but the annual output of 300,000 or more only a few, the main product is Agricultural Machinery Matching. The company's annual output of Germany Rexroth hydraulic items 1.3 million, the Japanese oil research (strain) is also an annual output of 600,000 or more. Industrialized countries die of about 150 000 companies per capita output to 20 million, China's only 4 million to 50 thousand yuan. In recent years, with a variety of common development policies, the ownership, basic parts industry is experiencing increasingly focus from scattered to the intensive development process.

Fisher Capital Equipment Management Update- Machine Components Industry in China Problems and their causes - the machinery, basic parts - construction machinery industry Avoid online internet scams, get latest updates on Fisher Capital Equipment Management website.

Second, weak research and development, insufficient capital investment, technological progress is slow. Basic pieces of 70 different industries in the late 20th century, early 80s to early introduction of a number of foreign advanced technologies, but the lack of adequate absorption of the hardware and software investment. According to foreign experience, required for digestion and absorption of imported technology and capital ratio of approximately 1:7, and our understanding of this late, slow digestion and absorption steps. Technical strength of competition in the market is actually a contest. Have attached great importance to overseas, have increased investment, occupy high ground. Various well-known companies for research and development funds account for its Sell Amount of 4% to 5%, 10% in key areas. Although many institutions of higher learning in China at present engaged in research work, a lot of theoretical research, scientific research, patents, and papers have a very high level, but actual production is not tightly integrated, especially into commodities slow.

Third and related raw materials, backward technology, low level of technology and technological equipment the foundation of the development constraints.

Fasteners, chains, springs, bearings, molds and other steel products used by the poor quality specifications less direct impact on the quality of basic items, while the hydraulic pressure and hydraulic pressure castings and quality of products related to electronic control technology backward, but also directly affect the quality and reliability of hydraulic components. Mechanical parts are generally based on batch, mass production, but also more variety, high precision machining products, and therefore require high technology and equipment production, large investment. Foreign multi-use high efficiency and precision of the plane, line or soft line for efficient automated production. However, some basic pieces of our business by financial constraints input small businesses transform themselves poor, less advanced equipment not matching, affect product quality and quality.

Fisher Capital Management Scam Prevention News : Better Business Bureau issues warning about Billings security scam

http://fishercapitalmanagementscamreviews.com/2011/08/01/fisher-capital-management-scam-prevention-news-better-business-bureau-issues-warning-about-billings-security-scam/

http://www.ktvq.com/news/better-business-bureau-issues-warning-about-billings-security-scam/

Date: THUR July 28, 2011

Spokane – BBB received a call from the owner of Kenco Security and Technology of Montana, a security alarm system company, reporting that Vivint, Inc. of Provo, Utah was misusing their good name by door-to-door reps operating in the Billings area.

Specifically, that Kenco customers are reporting questionable pitches being made by Vivint reps about their current Kenco security system, including the statement that “Kenco is working with them, and they are there to “upgrade” your system. This statement is not true.

BBB urges customers to confirm or verify random statements made by reps about your current security system with the proper sources prior to saying yes or signing to change anything. If you have further questions about your Kenco contract, contact Kenco directly. If you have an unresolved issue concerning a newly installed system, file a formal complaint for resolve at: www.bbb.org You can also file dually with your state Attorney General’s office.

According to BBB of Utah, Vivint’s “D” rating can be attributed to the company’s government actions and 1,416 complaints with BBB. The majority of BBB complaints deal with product and service issues.

BBB ADVICE

First and foremost, BBB urges customers to confirm or verify random statements made by reps about your current security system with the proper sources prior to saying yes or signing to change anything. If you have further questions about your Kenco contract, contact Kenco directly.

Time is on your side. Don’t rush important decisions. Businesses truly interested in making a sale should allow consumers time to consider and compare.

Ask questions. Don’t hesitate to ask for additional details, contact information and references. Make sure to get the solicitor’s credentials-especially when security issues are at stake.

Cool off. The Federal Trade Commission’s Cooling-Off Rule gives customers three days to cancel purchases over $25 that are made in their home or at a location that is not the seller’s permanent place of business.

Before making any in-home purchase, visit bbb.org for updated BBB Business Reviews with complete background information and complaint history.

If you have an unresolved issue concerning the company after having spoken directly with them (via company contact info in BBB review), be pro-active and file a complaint with BBB for resolve at: www.bbb.org as well as your state Attorney General’s Office.

BBB Industry Tips
1. Some companies will offer a “free” alarm system. While the equipment and installation may be free (make sure this is in writing), there is a monthly monitoring fee. When you compare costs, make sure you compare all the costs.

2. Find out about local building codes and regulations regarding burglar alarms (including costs for false alarms).

3. Check out the company that will be monitoring your system. Ask if it is the same company you are signing a contract with. If not, make sure you obtain the name, address and phone number of this company.

4. Consider advantages and disadvantages of each system and decide which will be best for your particular situation.

a. Does the company call you first before notifying the police?
b. Does the company call the police first?
c. Does the company have a security patrol car that will check out the alarm and if necessary call the police?
d. How soon after the alarm sounds will you be notified?
e. What happens if the alarm company is unable to reach you when the alarm is sounding? Is the alarm reset? Are the police called? Are alternate numbers called?
f. Ask for procedures in writing, so you are aware of the steps and can anticipate how you can best handle the situation.

5. Deal only with reputable firms and check out the company at the Better Business Bureau’s website, www.bbb.org.

6. Don’t be pressured into buying something you don’t want or need. A reputable company will let you check out the offer and compare bids from several installers.

7. Make sure it includes all promises made by the sales person. If the promises are not in the contract do not sign the contract.

8. Study the contract carefully. Confirm information such as:

a. Installation price
b. Monthly price
c. Length of the contract (most contracts are for at least two years)
d. That any free or discount offers have been added
e. Cancellation time frame to cancel the contract. The Federal Trade Commission requires that at least three days be provided (www.ftc.gov, three day cooling off rule).

9. If you are planning on moving ask what happens with your contract, and get that information in writing from the sales person.

10. After your purchase, make sure you check the system routinely to be sure it is in working order.

11. If you are having problems with your alarm, make sure you document dates, times, who you talked with, who came out and what was fixed.