An anonymous reader writes “Netcraft has written about a website offering free phishing kits with one ironic twist — they all contain backdoors to steal stolen credentials from the fraudsters that deploy them. Deliberately deceptive code inside the kits means that script kiddies are unlikely to realize that any captured credit card numbers also end up getting sent to the people who made the phishing kits. The same group was also responsible for another backdoored phishing kit used against Bank of America earlier this month.”

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An anonymous reader writes “Netcraft has written about a website offering free phishing kits with one ironic twist — they all contain backdoors to steal stolen credentials from the fraudsters that deploy them. Deliberately deceptive code inside the kits means that script kiddies are unlikely to realize that any captured credit card numbers also end up getting sent to the people who made the phishing kits. The same group was also responsible for another backdoored phishing kit used against Bank of America earlier this month.”

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Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Bad news, From the boards, Press releases, Products and services, Management, Insiders, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, eBay (EBAY), Amazon.com (AMZN), Marketing and advertising

Shares of e-commerce giant eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) are trading around 7% lower in after hours trading today following its fourth quarter earnings release shortly after the market close.

As we looked at in our earnings preview, the company has been struggling to keep up with the competition in its auction business. Two key components that have hurt eBay’s auction business are (1) raising fees that have left some of the company’s long term users looking for other venues to do their business, and (2) massive number of fraudulent items on the site.

The company announced that its fourth quarter numbers were actually better than Wall Street had expected, with earnings per share of 45 cents per share, easily topping the 41 cents that analysts had been expecting to see.

So why is the stock down in after hours trading? Looking ahead the company forecast earnings below what the market had been anticipating to see. The company announced that it now is looking to see between 37 and 39 cents for its first quarter, below the 40 cents that Wall Street was hoping to hear.

One of the biggest pieces of news regarding eBay was the announcement that the company’s CEO, Meg Whitman, would be stepping down from her post at the end of March. Taking over for her will be John Donahoe who is currently running the company’s on the web auction business.

eBay users over the past few years have definitely had a love/hate relationship with Whitman, and it will be interesting to see just how well liked her successor finds himself. From a users perspective, eBay users are going to be looking for one main thing… lower fees. Don’t be surprised to see fees coming down once Donahoe takes control.

From a shareholder point of view we should probably anticipate to see the new CEO come with the main goal of reducing overall costs. While anticipating to see overall cost reductions, marketing and advertising should be an area where investments are made. The company is in fierce competition with Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and it needs drastic measures to fend off its most powerful online rival.

Lower fees, heavier advertising… what other recommendations would you have for Donahoe as he prepares to take over the reigns in a tiny under 10 weeks from now? Let us know what changes you would like to see. Whether you are a eBay user, or an eBay investor… what changes would you love to see at eBay?

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the on the web investment advisory service Investor’s Observer

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Filed under: Deals, Products and services, Competitive strategy, Apple Inc (AAPL), Wal-Mart (WMT), Amazon.com (AMZN), Target Corp. (TGT), Sony Corp ADR (SNE), Technology

Billboard reported yesterday that Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) has entered a “special promotion” with Sony BMG, owned by Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) and Bertelsmann Music Group, to launch a digital music service offering high quality MP3 files for just one artist and one album: John Legend and his Live from Philadelphia album. The album comes without the anti-piracy Digital Rights Management software and sells for $10; there’s no option to buy single tracks. The CD version of the album is currently available at Target, as an “only at Target” special.

Song BMG seems ready to make the headlong entrance into high quality MP3 sales, even if this deal is a special promotion for an album only available at one retailer. Target is one of the limited companies also offering Sony BMG’s new album cards that let buyers download high quality DRM-free MP3s. Sony BMG also entered a new agreement with Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) last week to sell the same quality tracks in the new MP3 store the on the internet retailer has opened.

An interesting aspect of this promotion is that the album in question is available “only at Target” in both physical and now digital formats. This isn’t an unfamiliar method of selling an album: the Eagles’ Long Road Out of Eden was only released in Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) stores and on the company’s website. Previous albums released in only one physical retailer also saw release in various digital stores, like Collective Soul’s Afterwords, released at Target and in Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)’s iTunes Store. The verdict on this method is quite good, after Billboard chart regulations were changed in late October, which allowed the Eagles’ album to hit number one above the most current Britney Spears release, which was available in numerous outlets and on the internet.

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Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Bad news, From the boards, Press releases, Products and services, Management, Insiders, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, eBay (EBAY), Amazon.com (AMZN), Marketing and advertising

Shares of e-commerce giant eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) are trading around 7% lower in after hours trading this day following its fourth quarter earnings release shortly after the market close.

As we looked at in our earnings preview, the company has been struggling to keep up with the competition in its auction business. Two key components that have injured eBay’s auction business are (1) raising fees that have left some of the company’s long term users looking for other venues to do their business, and (2) huge number of fraudulent items on the site.

The company announced that its fourth quarter numbers were actually superior than Wall Street had expected, with earnings per share of 45 cents per share, easily topping the 41 cents that analysts had been expecting to see.

So why is the stock down in after hours trading? Looking ahead the company forecast earnings below what the market had been expecting to see. The company announced that it now is looking to see between 37 and 39 cents for its first quarter, below the 40 cents that Wall Street was hoping to hear.

One of the biggest pieces of news regarding eBay was the announcement that the company’s CEO, Meg Whitman, would be stepping down from her post at the end of March. Taking over for her will be John Donahoe who is currently running the company’s on the web auction business.

eBay users over the past few years have definitely had a love/hate relationship with Whitman, and it will be interesting to see just how well liked her successor finds himself. From a users perspective, eBay users are going to be looking for one main thing… lower fees. Don’t be surprised to see fees coming down once Donahoe takes control.

From a shareholder point of view we should probably expect to see the new CEO come with the main goal of reducing overall costs. While expecting to see overall cost reductions, marketing and advertising should be an area where investments are made. The company is in fierce competition with Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and it needs drastic measures to fend off its most powerful online rival.

Lower fees, heavier advertising… what other suggestions would you have for Donahoe as he prepares to take over the reigns in a tiny under 10 weeks from now? Let us know what changes you would like to see. Whether you are a eBay user, or an eBay investor… what changes would you love to see at eBay?

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the on the internet investment advisory service Investor’s Observer

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Anonymous Coward writes “Boosting the ranks of federal employees who telework is a slow, sometimes painful process, despite numerous incentives and legislative edicts lobbed at U.S. agencies over the years. Take the situation at the Agency of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which last month was ordered by a federal arbitration panel to allow its legal instrument examiners to telework on a pilot basis. ATF was against letting these specialists telework because it states the material they need to remove from agency offices in order to telework posed a security risk. The Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP) became involved at the request of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which successfully argued its case for allowing the examiners to telework on a pilot basis.”

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orlando writes “Much drama is unfolding prior to the OOXML Ballot Resolution Meeting in Geneva, currently schedule for the end of February. After that there’s a subsequent 30 day period while countries can still change their vote. As a result, Bob Sutor is recommending that saving your documents in OOXML format right now is probably about the riskiest thing you can do, if you are concerned with long term interoperability. At this point nobody has the vaguest idea what OOXML will look like in February, or even whether it will be in any sort of stable condition by the end of March. ‘While we’re speaking about interoperability, who else do you think is going to provide long term complete support for this already-dead OOXML format that Microsoft Office 2007 uses this day? Interoperability means that other applications can process the files fully and not just products from Microsoft. I would even go so far as to go back to those few OOXML files you’ve already created and create .doc, .ppt, and .xls versions of them for future use, if you want to make sure you can read them and you don’t want to commit yourself to Microsoft’s products for the rest of their lives.’”

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Filed under: Deals, Products and services, Competitive strategy, Apple Inc (AAPL), Wal-Mart (WMT), Amazon.com (AMZN), Target Corp. (TGT), Sony Corp ADR (SNE), Technology

Billboard reported yesterday that Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) has entered a “special promotion” with Sony BMG, owned by Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) and Bertelsmann Music Group, to launch a digital music service offering high quality MP3 files for just one artist and one album: John Legend and his Live from Philadelphia album. The album comes without the anti-piracy Digital Rights Management software and sells for $10; there is no option to purchase single tracks. The CD version of the album is currently available at Target, as an “only at Target” special.

Song BMG seems ready to make the headlong entrance into high quality MP3 sales, even if this deal is a special promotion for an album only available at one retailer. Target is one of the limited companies also offering Sony BMG’s new album cards that let buyers download high quality DRM-free MP3s. Sony BMG also entered a new agreement with Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) last week to sell the same quality tracks in the new MP3 store the online retailer has opened.

An interesting aspect of this promotion is that the album in question is available “only at Target” in both physical and now digital formats. This isn’t an unfamiliar method of selling an album: the Eagles’ Long Road Out of Eden was only released in Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) stores and on the company’s website. Previous albums released in only one physical retailer also saw release in various digital stores, like Collective Soul’s Afterwords, released at Target and in Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)’s iTunes Store. The verdict on this method is quite good, after Billboard chart regulations were changed in late October, which allowed the Eagles’ album to hit number one above the most current Britney Spears release, which was available in numerous outlets and online.

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Filed under: Products and services, Competitive strategy, Apple Inc (AAPL), Research in Motion (RIMM), iPhone, Technology

It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there in the competitive landscape of telecommunications, and often the most intuitive, user-friendly, aesthetically amusing device takes top honors. For years, the BlackBerry, brainchild of Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) was THE device to have for yuppies on the go and young adults in need of a 24/7 e-mail fix. Then came Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)’s iPhone and other hot devices to battle the BlackBerry’s dominance.

This day, RIM officials stepped up the competition, announcing new features to boost the ease and improve the service of BlackBerry’s wireless e-mailing. According to an article in this morning’s Wall Street Journal, BlackBerry users will “soon be able to edit documents directly from the handheld device and to view messages in their original formatting.”

Other added functions include the capabilities to check the availability of a colleague before attempting to book a meeting and retrieve e-mails that aren’t stored on the device. Additionally, IT departments will be able to wirelessly update software on the devices.

The BlackBerry continues to position itself as the smart device for business users. David Heit, director of Enterprise Product Management for RIMM, told the Journal that the iPhone’s appeal to the corporate market is unproven. My husband, an attorney, infinitely likes the BlackBerry, with a functioning keyboard, to the iPhone touch screen.

The new features, announced during IBM (NYSE: IBM)’s Lotusphere conference in Orlando, will roll out during the first half of this year.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer’s Investment Research.

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NewYorkCountryLawyer writes “MIT’s on the internet newspaper, The Tech, reports that a student named as a John Doe by the RIAA is planning to fight back against their questionable legal tactics. The anonymous student told The Tech that he’s ‘the victim of a fishing expedition by the RIAA,’ and is ‘disappointed that MIT isn’t going to step up … Other schools like Boston University and the University of Oregon have resisted RIAA subpoenas of student records more actively than MIT has, he said’. Maybe his attorneys will be able to get some assistance from some of the Harvard Law School students in Professor Nesson’s ‘Evidence’ class, who have been assigned — as part of their coursework — the drafting of a motion to quash an RIAA subpoena.”

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