Alkottab, an Egyptian games developer has released a Facebook game based on battles between protesters and thugs during the 2011 uprising.
The company describe it as a “tower defense game” that is built around the events of the so-called Battle of the Camel on 2 February 2011, when a peaceful sit-in in Tahrir was attacked by armed thugs riding horses and camels.

The developers say the game will allow players to “have a glimpse of the battle that happened that day and witness how the people stood to defend their freedom.”

Alkottab is a games and animation studio founded by Eslam Almohandes, Omar El-Khafif and Mahmoud Adly Ezzat.

The game provides cartoon visuals of the iconic square, and also includes real sound recordings from the square and politicians’ speeches during the early days of the revolution.

To play the game go here.

Share and Enjoy

The concept of car polling or ride sharing is not new, but it is new to the region. Kartag has developed an iOS and Android app that enables car drivers in Cairo Egypt to share their ride with friends and friends of friends.

The concept is simple. If you are looking for people to join you in your ride you post a request and people who want to use a ride post also a request then a matching happens enabling users to agree in both others. Also users can rate each other to give a feedback to the community.

Here is exactly how KarTag works:
Get KarTag App
1. You login using your Facebook account.
2. You select either “give a ride” or “need a ride”
3. According to your choice (either give or need a ride), you will be shown the list of your Facebook friends and friends’ friends who have made similar (either give or need a ride) requests.
4. You can choose from this list with whom you would like to carpool (in other words, share a ride to a common destination or from a common starting point).
5. You will also be shown a list of commonly frequented places in Cairo – including CityStars, AUC, GUC and Smart Village – at or to each of which you can decide to give or need a ride – going to work or university with fellow students or colleagues, daily or weekly, for example.
6. When a (give or need a ride) request is made, the receiving party will receive it and decide whether to Accept or Decline – in your Inbox you will receive a notification of Accept or Decline.
7. Your Inbox serves you for sending and receiving messages and notifications to and from fellow KarTag-ers.
8. You have the possibility to rank (1 – very bed, 5 – very good) your fellow KarTag-er, which will allow other KarTag-ers to have your feedback and make a decision accordingly.
9. Currently, we will NOT be charging any service fees from KarTag-ers, assuming that you will share your rides for FREE with your Facebook friends or friends’ friends or let the decision to KarTag-ers who carpool together.

Innovative idea that solves lots of traffic problems in traffic heavy Cairo.

Share and Enjoy

It is very well known that Syria has the worst profile in blocking websites world wide, but who are these websites that are blocked?

Syrian online magazine the-syrian.com/ has received a leaked document about the blocked web sites in Syria by one of the ISPs and they are 634  sites: .

The blocking in Syria goes like this: security officials at the official telecom body orders the blocking of a certain website and then orders all ISPs to block the website.

Blocking websites is a policy that does not make sense, with all these sites blocked, but this has not prevented the revolution in Syria against the regime of Bashar Al Assad form spreading and growing.

Here is the list of the blocked websites:

http://www.18-3.net

www.24proxy.com
www.2shared.com
www.3alami.com
www.4flying.com
www.6071ija.com
www.607lija.com
www.6o7lija.com
www.aafaq.org
www.aalalbait.net
www.aawsat.com
www.abaladonline.com
www.ablela801.maktoobblog.com
www.abssyria.freewebpage.org
www.abu-qatada.com
www.abubaseer.bizland.com
www.abulojain.com
www.adab-sy.com
www.adnkronos.com
www.ado-world.org
www.ahewar.info
www.ahewar.org
www.ahrar-syria.com
www.ahrar.org.lb
www.ahraralsham.net
www.ahrarnews.com
www.airssforum.com
www.akhbaar.org
www.aksalser.com
www.al-farok.com
www.al-majalla.com
www.al-medan.com
www.al-mourabitoun.com
www.al-seyassah.com
www.alaan.fm
www.alalbayt.com
www.alarabiya.net
www.alashraf.ws
www.alasr.ws
www.albawaba.com
www.albayyna-new.com
www.aleftoday.com
www.aleftoday.net
www.alenfetah.com
www.algadtv.com
www.alhadass.com
www.alharak.org
www.aljazeera.net
www.alkurdiyanews.net
www.all2chat.com
www.all4syria.com
www.all4syria.info
www.all4syria.org
www.all4truth.com
www.alm3alee.com
www.almaara.com
www.almahatta.net
www.almajdsms.com
www.almarfaa.net
www.almassira.com
www.almoharrer.net
www.almokhtsar.com
www.almoslm.net
www.almounadil-a.info
www.almustaqbal.com
www.almustaqbal.org
www.alnashraalsouria.com
www.alparty.de
www.alparty.org
www.alqanat.com
www.alquds.co.uk
www.alraimedia.com
www.alrasidalarabi.net
www.alsabahsyria.com
www.alsafahat.net
www.alsafernews.com
www.alsaha.com
www.alseyassah.com
www.alsharq.net.sa
www.alshiraa.com
www.alsunnah.info
www.altartosi.com
www.altawasul.com
www.altawasul.net
www.alwatan-alsouri.com
www.alyosef.com
www.amazon.com
www.amuda.com
www.amude.com
www.amude.net
www.anbaar.net
www.annahar.com
www.annaqed.com
www.annidaa.org
www.anon.info.tu-dresden.de
www.anonnow.com
www.anonymizer.ru
www.anonymouse.org
www.ansab-online.com
www.ansabcom.com
www.aohrs.org
www.ar.alkouwat.com
www.ar.suriyeder.org
www.ar.wikipedia.org
www.arab6.net
www.arabstoday.com
www.arabtimes.com
www.aramaic-dem.org
www.ardalrebat.com
www.armanc.org
www.arraee.com
www.arraee.net
www.as-ansar.com
www.asharqalarabi.org.uk
www.asharqalawsat.com
www.ashraf-online.com
www.atahadi.0vr.net
www.atahadi.1er.us
www.atahadi.com
www.atahadi.ne1.net
www.atahadi.r8.org
www.atahadi.ubb.cc
www.atomicboards.com
www.avaaz.org
www.ayyam.org
www.azadi-syria.com
www.babil.info
www.badoo.com
www.bafil.cjb.net
www.bafil.it.tc
www.bagog.rab7net.org
www.baiadna.fm
www.bambuser.com
www.banatdream.com
www.barada.tv
www.barzehlive.com
www.beidipedia.wikia.com
www.beirutobserver.com
www.bigrev.webatu.com
www.bingeh.com
www.bingeh.org
www.birati.org
www.bishrm.com
www.blogspot.com
www.boredatschool.net
www.browseatwork.com
www.bulksms.com
www.c-we.org
www.canadainternational.gc.ca
www.cartoonstock.com
www.causes.com
www.cgi-proxy.net
www.chahadatouna.com
www.chaknews.com
www.children-of-abraham.org
www.cihrs.org
www.civat.net
www.civet.net
www.ciwanekurd.net
www.clickatell.com
www.communitywalk.com
www.concealme.com
www.couchsurfing.com
www.creeparound.com
www.dadhuman.info
www.dadkurd.co.cc
www.dailymotion.com
www.dailymotion.fr
www.dailysham.net
www.damas-radio.com
www.damascuscouncils.org
www.daveproxy.co.uk
www.dchrs.org
www.dctcrs.org
www.dd-sunnah.net
www.debitel.de
www.debka.com
www.do3atalsham.com
www.dongtaiwang.com
www.dpu-syria.com
www.dr-mahmoud.com
www.efrin.net
www.el7ad.com
www.elaph.com
www.elaphblog.com
www.eldorar.com
www.elhelal.org
www.embedproxies.com
www.emissa2012.com
www.en.kendincos.net
www.enqaas.montadarabi.com
www.eproxy.pl
www.etccmina.com
www.facebookoxy.com
www.facesyria.com
www.fajer.cc
www.fatehforums.com
www.fatherzakaria.net
www.finder.tooway-instal.com
www.fnoor.com
www.foorsa.net
www.foreignpolicy.com
www.forsanalsham.org
www.forsanelhaq.com
www.forsyria.org
www.forum.aljayyash.net
www.forum.maktoob.com
www.free-sms.com
www.free-sms.fr
www.free-syria.com
www.freecall.com
www.freelebanon.org
www.freeman.org
www.freeproxy.ca
www.freesyria.do.am
www.freesyriantranslators.net
www.freesyriaproject.com
www.freesyriaradio.webs.com
www.fring.com
www.froggyproxy.com
www.fsa-dam.com
www.fsurf.com
www.future.com.lb
www.futuremovement.org
www.futureyouth.org
www.gayegypt.com
www.geekproxy.com
www.gemyakurda.biz
www.gemyakurda.net
www.get-proxy.com
www.gilgamish.org
www.giyus.org
www.glype.net
www.goldmineint.com
www.goproxying.com
www.guardster.com
www.h-alali.net
www.h5hs.com
www.haaretz.com
www.haaretzdaily.com
www.hadatha4syria.com
www.hadatha4syria.org
www.haithammalehfoundation.org
www.halabnews.com
www.hamafree.com
www.hamapress.com
www.hanein.info
www.haqeeqa.com
www.haythammanna.net
www.hdhod.com
www.hem.bredband.net
www.hevgirtin.wz.cz
www.hidebox.info
www.hidemyass.com
www.hizb-ut-tahrir.info
www.hizb-ut-tahrir.org
www.hizbuttahrir.org
www.homesrevolution.org
www.hooran.net
www.hras-syria.tripod.com
www.hrmn.org
www.hrw.org
www.http-tunnel.com
www.ibreach.com
www.ibypass.org
www.icloak.net
www.icpc.tv
www.idlib.org
www.ifex.org
www.ikhwan.net
www.ikhwanonline.com
www.ikhwanonline.net
www.ikhwanonline.org
www.ikhwanpress.com
www.ikhwansyria.com
www.imgroups.net
www.informersyria.com
www.internetsms.com
www.intifada4syria.org
www.ipproxy.biz
www.ipsecret.com
www.iraqiparty.com
www.islam-christianity.net
www.islam-kurd.wen9.org
www.islamicsham.com
www.islammemo.cc
www.islamtoday.com
www.islamtoday.net
www.islamwasat.com
www.islamway.com
www.it2-sms.com
www.izonesms.com
www.jaami.info
www.jam3ty.com
www.jamaa.cc
www.jarablusliberal.org
www.jawlan.org
www.jeddahbikers.com
www.jidar.net
www.jihadalkaida.jeeran.com
www.jpost.com
www.jumblo.com
www.justin.tv
www.kafranbel.com
www.kataeb.org
www.katib.org
www.kdp.se
www.kdps.info
www.kebreet.net
www.khilafah.net
www.knntv.net
www.kobani.org
www.kobanisat.co.cc
www.kobanisat.com
www.kproxy.com
www.kurdfuture.com
www.kurdistan-times.com
www.kurdistanabinxete.com
www.kurdname.org
www.kurdnas.com
www.kurdnas.net
www.kurdroj.com
www.kurdroj.info
www.kurdroj.org
www.lahdah.com
www.lccsyria.org
www.lebanese-forces.com
www.lebanese-forces.org
www.lebanese-kataeb.com
www.lenanondebate.com
www.lightc.com
www.listen2myradio.com
www.liveleak.com
www.livestream.com
www.lojainiat.com
www.lotikxane.com
www.m0dy.net
www.m2all.iwarp.com
www.maarthorma.com
www.march14forces.org
www.megaproxy.com
www.menassat.com
www.metacafe.com
www.metransparent.com
www.metransparent.net
www.mgtrben.com
www.mia10.com
www.miareward.com
www.midan-net.com
www.middleeasttransparent.com
www.mig020.tk
www.mig020.wap.sh
www.mobasher.yoll.net
www.mobivox.com
www.modon.org
www.moheet.com
www.mokarabat.com
www.muhtaref.com
www.mushakis.net
www.muslimsc.com
www.muslm.net
www.myspace-online.net
www.nasnamame.com
www.nccsyria.com
www.netayman.jeeran.com
www.new-fajer.maktoobblog.com
www.new-lebanese.com
www.new-syria.com
www.newsna.net
www.nidaasyria.org
www.ninjaproxy.com
www.nonymouse.com
www.nowlebanon.com
www.odabasham.net
www.omedia.org
www.onemideast.org
www.openstreetmap.org
www.opl-now.org
www.orient-news.net
www.oss-sy.com
www.oss-sy.net
www.oss-sy.org
www.pagewash.com
www.panoramasouria.net
www.pdksp.net
www.pdksy.net
www.peekatwork.com
www.peyamner.com
www.phproxy.org
www.pimpmysms.com
www.playtheradio.com
www.pointofmail.com
www.politicss.com
www.poro6.com
www.proxify.com
www.proxify.net
www.proxify.org
www.proxy-listen.de
www.proxy.org
www.proxyanon.com
www.proxybrowsing.com
www.proxydrill.com
www.proxyforall.com
www.proxyjax.com
www.proxymafia.net
www.proxysafe.com
www.proxytastic.com
www.proxywars.net
www.proxywave.com
www.psp.org.lb
www.pyd.se
www.q-shook.com
www.qawadsuri.faithweb.com
www.quest.ahlamontada.com
www.quest.net
www.qwled.com
www.r-onaizah.com
www.rabeadamascus.com
www.radio12345.com
www.radioliban.net
www.radioncb.org
www.radiosawa.com
www.radiosyria.net
www.radiosyria.ucoz.com
www.readingsms.com
www.reallycoolproxy.com
www.reformsyria.net
www.reformsyria.org
www.rekeftin.net
www.rekeftin.org
www.revolutionintelligence.com
www.rezgar.com
www.rifaatalassad.de
www.roayahnews.com
www.rojava.net
www.rosaonline.net
www.rrdb.org
www.s-hhhh.com
www.saada.syriaforums.net
www.sabr.cc
www.sadasolidarity.net
www.sahab.net
www.sahrcs.com
www.saidaforum.com
www.sandroses.com
www.saowt.com
www.savesyrien.com
www.sbhmagazine.com
www.scarcup.com
www.scaryproxy.com
www.scn-sy.com
www.scn-sy.net
www.sdcsyria.com
www.sendmassage.com
www.shaam.org
www.shababsyria.org
www.shadowsurf.com
www.shaffaf.net
www.sham-newspaper.com
www.shamfalcons.net
www.shamjournal.net
www.shamlife.com
www.shbabq.com
www.shfshf.com
www.shrc.org
www.shril-sy.info
www.shril.info
www.shrll-sy.info
www.shrn.info
www.skeyesmedia.org
www.skynewsarabia.com
www.skype.com
www.skype.net
www.skype.org
www.slideme.org
www.sms-bahrain.com
www.sms-sol.com
www.sms-sol.net
www.sms.ac
www.sms2free.net
www.smscity.com
www.smsfree4all.com
www.smsguidenet.com
www.smsit2.com
www.smsit2.net
www.sooria.org
www.soorya-info.com
www.sooryoon.net
www.soparo.com
www.sorea.jeeran.com
www.sorytna.com
www.sotaliraq.com
www.sotkurdistan.net
www.sotsyria.com
www.soundcloud.com
www.souriahouria.com
www.spaceproxy.com
www.sraqeb.com
www.srgcommission.org
www.ssrcaw.org
www.ssss-net.com
www.starvoip.org
www.surfblocked.net
www.surfingincognito.com
www.surour.net
www.surveygizmo.com
www.swaidavoice.net
www.sy-rev.co.cc
www.sy4sms.com
www.syfox.com
www.syrannc.com
www.syrannc.net
www.syrannc.org
www.syrfuture.com
www.syrhr.org
www.syri1a.syriaforums.net
www.syria-event.sy
www.syria-olamaa.com
www.syria.ajjan.com
www.syria15.com
www.syria2011.net
www.syria2011.own0.com
www.syria2012.net
www.syriaalaan.com
www.syriaanger.tk
www.syriaforums.net
www.syriahr.com
www.syriahr.net
www.syriainsight.com
www.syriakurds.com
www.syriamob.com
www.syriamubasher.com
www.syrian-hurriyat.com
www.syriananger.01lx.net
www.syriananger.tk
www.syrianarmyfree.com
www.syrianchange.com
www.syriancis.com
www.syriancouncil.org
www.syrianhr.org
www.syrianmediacenter.be
www.syriannc.org
www.syrianoor.net
www.syrianoppositionparty.com
www.syrianreliefcare.com
www.syrianrevnews.com
www.syrianrights.bravehost.com
www.syrianshuhada.com
www.syriarevolution.com
www.syriaroom.net
www.syriaroom.org
www.syriatruth.info
www.syriatruth.net
www.syriatruth.org
www.syrorya.com
www.syrrevnews.com
www.tadmor.8k.com
www.tamaden.org
www.tawhed.ws
www.terrorism-information.com
www.textforfree.net
www.tharwacommunity.typepad.com
www.thawrtalsoryienalahrar.maktoobblog.com
www.the-cloak.com
www.the-syrian.com
www.thefreesyria.org
www.themystory.com
www.therepublicgs.net
www.thesyriannationalforum.com
www.tntproxy.com
www.tr-mob.com
www.transparentsham.com
www.truecaller.com
www.truveo.com
www.tsdp.org
www.ufsyrians.net
www.ukproxy.com
www.umahtoday.net
www.unatv.org
www.unitedna.net
www.unitedng.com
www.upsyr.com
www.usatunnel.com
www.ustream.tv
www.vb.aldl3.net
www.vdc-sy.org
www.video.aol.ca
www.video.aol.co.uk
www.video.aol.com
www.video.aol.de
www.video.aol.fr
www.video.aol.in
www.video.aol.jp
www.videoportal.aol.tw
www.voscast.com
www.vtunnel.com
www.wahdatalnimr.com
www.wamyeast.org
www.wata.cc
www.watan.com
www.watnnews.net
www.way2allah.com
www.webwarper.net
www.welateme.info
www.welateme.net
www.welati.net
www.wesal.tv
www.wh-solutions.net
www.whitehouse.gov
www.wifaq-syria.net
www.wikimapia.org
www.wikimedia.org
www.wikisham.com
www.womenundersiegesyria.crowdmap.com
www.wordpress.com
www.workstealth.com
www.xroxy.com
www.yabeyrouth.com
www.yalshaam.com
www.yasa-online.org
www.yek-dem.com
www.yekiti-party.org
www.yekiti.nl
www.ynetnews.com
www.yoo7.com
www.youkal.net
www.yuths.com
www.yuthstube.net
www.zaman-alwasl.net
www.zamanalwasl.net
www.zend2.com
www.zend2.info
www.zofa.com
www.zyzoom.org

Share and Enjoy

Rocket Internet’sNamshi, the Middle East’s leading online store for fashion and lifestyle, has secured funding through its German holding company of US$13 million by the growth equity firm Summit Partners to sustain its accelerated growth target.

This is the second investment by Summit Partners in Namshi, further affirming the investors’ confidence in the online retailer after months of steady growth in the region. Prior to this funding, Namshi secured investments from Investment AB Kinnevik, JP Morgan Chase, Blakeney Management as well as Holtzbrink Ventures and others.
“We see our partners’ growing support as an encouragement for us to continue serving our customers with world-class products and services.” says Hosam Arab, co-founder and Managing Director of Namshi. “Our customers made the company what it is today. Therefore, they will be the ones to see the main benefits coming from this investment. We will further focus on providing a shopping experience like no other in the region.”
“Namshi and its management team have done an exceptional job of growing the company, and we are happy to support the company’s continued expansion,” said Scott Collins, a Managing Director and head of the Summit Partners London office.
The capital infusion from Summit Partners will support Namshi’s efforts to scale up operations and gain a stronger foothold in the Middle East. The investment will also be used to make a warehouse move, from shared space with Aramex to Namshi’s centralised distribution centre with state-of-the-art facilities.

Share and Enjoy

Semantic search engine Kngine has relaunched its web site after focusing on mobile application for android and iOS.

Kngine is funded by Sawari Ventures and is based in Egypt and Silicon Valley.

Share and Enjoy

This is a guest post by Alexander Sverdlov who is the founder of a Cyber Security Startup – NoPasara – http://nopasara.com specializing in managed security services and training. He is an international security conference speaker on the topic of cyber forensic investigations and has published several articles focusing on preventing cyber espionag

With any business involving serious research & development, where a new and disruptive technology is at stake or where information could build or destroy a business or a product there is a risk of cyber / conventional economic espionage.

A few examples
I’ll give you a few examples before proceeding to the practical part of this article – some are relevant to large corporations and other – to small businesses. The purpose of these is to express the fact that cyber/conventional espionage has always been, is and will always be a serious factor in any business endeavor – no matter on which side of it you are.

There are several entities who are potentially after your business secrets: USA, Israel, Russia, China and Corporate (the largest economic espionage corporation – which deals solely with espionage for private or government clients – has more than 200 000 employees worldwide. There are hundreds and thousands of smaller ones, dispersed in every single country).

Unfortunately almost all of the information published publicly regarding cyber / economic espionage is published by western and mostly American media / citizens – there is no surprise that the American espionage efforts are kept under the radar on purpose and the ‘threat’ of cyber espionage is portrayed as coming from outside the United States, where more than half of it actually originates there.

Truth of the matter is, the largest government espionage network worldwide belongs to the United States. Is it a coincidence that they, too, employ close to 200 000 people across the globe (with a total number of employees working for the Department of Defense nearly 3.2 million)?

The simplest example of economic espionage is performed by nearly all businesses all the time – that is researching, what the competition has to offer and at what price, when such information is not readily available. Callers pretending to be potential clients is the most frequently used scenario.
Next up the chain is convincing certain employees to reveal information – either by fake job interviews or in regular conversations – when people are pushed to brag about their accomplishments or when their professionalism is intentionally questioned – at which point they are ready to ‘prove it’ unwillingly revealing confidential information.

So far the risk for the offending organization is low – and such ways of educing information are generally used when the information obtained is not of critical value.
The higher the value goes, the more risks the ‘spies’ are ready to take and the higher is the chance of them obtaining it.
We could move up the chain with bribes, extortion, threats or directly breaching the security of the company to physically steal the information needed – either from their premises or from the home of a valuable employee/director.

There is a good story I read in one information security book long ago – I’ll try to quote it as short and accurate as possible.
A company spent years in developing a game-changing software application – with millions invested in research & development. Months before the application was to be publicly announced, one afternoon a well-dressed man came in the office, looking for the CEO.

The secretary politely told him that the CEO and all higher management was away on a business trip exactly this day, that he should come later, etc. The man seemed disappointed and told the secretary he is a very important business partner and had a lunch organized with her boss – and since the situation did not allow for that meeting to happen, he offered to take her and some other key employees to lunch – he was paying the bill!
During that lunch, the man explained to everybody he is an investor who will invest a large amount of money into their product – the one they’ve all been working on for years. They all got so excited, spending hours discussing the software application and all its advantages over the competition.

The next day, when the CEO came in the office, everywhere were so excited to tell him about the meeting with their biggest investor!
That moment the CEO understood, that his company is ruined. A month later a competitor presented an application with all of the features described to the ‘investor’ during the aforementioned lunch…

Of course, this is a fictional story – but it serves as a clear example of how easy it is to obtain competitive information using time tested means.

Spies started using cyber tools to get the job done from across the globe

But what if it could be possible to get to the most valuable information you have with almost no risk, no bribes, no meeting of employees, no fake job interviews and practically no human interaction?

You have probably already guessed I am talking about ‘hacking’ in the meaning the media uses it – and you are almost right. Because the media portrays hackers as malicious teenagers – while the reality is much different.

FinFisher & Company

There are dozens of similar tools – and I will only name one for clarity and briefness. You just need to get the idea in order to at least try and counter it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FinFisher is so far the most popular commercial cyber espionage tool. More details can be seen on the WikiLeaks site - http://wikileaks.org/spyfiles/files/0/289_GAMMA-201110-FinSpy.pdf

Another really good post on the matter can be found at https://citizenlab.org/2013/04/for-their-eyes-only-2/

When you get back from reading about this ‘tool’, think about the following: if this is public, then what are the capabilities of the software which is kept confidential? Can you fight it? Can you defend from it?

Well, practice says that it is possible to build a defense which would be impenetrable even for such an organization – granted we take away human risks and only trust IT (information technology).
We’ve all heard of the recent breaches of cyber security in Iran – first at their nuclear research facilities which are being governed officially and then in several of their private commercial oil corporations. While the first was clearly an act of cyber warfare, with careful planning and cooperation between certain countries which I don’t even need to name here, the latter was the act of cyber criminals.

What’s common between them, is that they would not be possible – or significantly more difficult to the point of not happening at all – if certain technical measures were taken in the information infrastructure of the nuclear and oil facilities.

The rumor goes (not really a rumor, I just can’t name my sources) that the Information Security practices at the above organizations were so low, it was a mere joke to get in and compromise them. Unfortunately, I can’t agree more and this article has the purpose to change things. It will most likely be impossible to cover all that needs to be done in one go, so there will probably be a need to write a second and a third one, more technical and to-the-point with exact measures to be taken.

Defending your company and yourself from cyber espionage

As has been known for several years now, layered defense no longer works.

Security software – such as Firewalls and Antivirus are effective only to block the ‘noise’ of security threats – they are absolutely worthless against software written to target and attack as a cyber-weapon or serving as a cyber-espionage tool.

I’ve had a discussion with a certain nation state recently and they asked me ‘can you build an antivirus suite such as Kaspersky to stop these attacks’ – the question itself showed their ignorance to the actual situation – they did not understand that any software selling security or protection is practically worthless if the right measures have not been taken beforehand.
It is also true that if you secure your corporate assets properly, you will not even need Antivirus software, because unauthorized applications and code will simply be unable to run.
Can it be done?

Yes, it can. Why is nobody doing it? I don’t know. Ignorance and laziness come to mind as the two primary reasons, as harsh as it sounds – I am not here to give praise, I’m here to provide solutions.

Practical technical steps to security

Usually all how-to guides begin with the simple steps and go on till they reach the most difficult ones. Not this one!
Your first step should be to protect the computers of your employees, and this is the most difficult task any organization could take on itself – mostly because it takes education as well as technical measures. This step – protecting the user computers – comprises of several sub-steps, which I will describe below.
Leaving education aside, as it’s a topic which could fill an entire book (you should, however, look seriously into the topic of Security Awareness) – we will move on to the technical measures you could take to protect from cyber espionage tools such as FinSpy and its friends.

As I said earlier, un-authorized code should not be even able to run on your computers – especially the ones which have access to confidential information. Yes, that includes the computer of the CEO’s secretary!

1. Install and *configure* EMET (http://blogs.technet.com/b/srd/archive/2013/04/18/introducing-emet-v4-beta.aspx ) – it is important to manually apply the configuration for all installed applications, especially Adobe Reader, Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Outlook and all other applications which will be having access to the Internet. There are Active Directory policies to configure it across the whole company.

2. Enable the disabled-by-default security features of Adobe Reader – (Preferences – > Security (enhanced) – > Enable Protected Mode at startup – > for All files and Enable Enhanced Security.

3. Set up a schedule to check for new updates for Adobe Flash (the plugin), Acrobat Reader and all available browsers, on every single computer, every day.

4. DO NOT ALLOW ANYONE TO RUN THEIR COMPUTER WITH AN ADMINISTRATIVE ACCOUNT! Users and Administrators! – especially Administrators – should run their daily operations with a limited access account and only use Run As Administrator when needed. I cannot stress this enough. It is very important! You should actually disable the Administrator account and create a new one with a different name having the same rights and having a different password on every computer.

5. For the Microsoft Windows operating system, there are multiple guides on how to set up Software Restriction Policies – set them to Whitelist mode – meaning, list all applications (and their hashes!) which are allowed to run. Disallow any application which is not in the policy to run. Update your policies regularly to add new trusted and tested applications.

6. Once Software Restriction policies are in place and all other steps have been completed – you should really think about implementing a proper sandbox on your computers. I won’t go into details what a sandbox is, and this article is certainly targeted at technical people – but don’t trust Sandboxie as the most popular sandbox out there – and this is my personal opinion, of course. Try the following product – Bufferzone Pro – http://www.trustware.com/BufferZone-Pro/ – and read the manual before installing it! Make sure to test it on a new computer with no AV installed first, as it tends to crash some Antivirus products.

7. Antivirus – did I say already that it is not effective? Well, the most popular products are not really effective, at least. My personal preference is Webroot, because it is totally different from most of the market leaders. It also has an awesome sandbox built-in! You might not need another sandbox with this product.

8. Firewall… ah, these firewalls! You should not allow external (outgoing) connections to any address but the ones specified in a whitelist. This last advice is only viable for highly sensitive environments and not for regular companies – but you should still think about this measure. Network whitelisting is probably the single, most effective measure in protecting your network from literally any remote cyber threat.

After completing these steps and making no compromise, your user computers will be relatively secure – after all, this is just an article – but if you do at least 7 of the above steps, you will make it nearly impossible for software such as FinFisher to represent any threat to you and your business.

For more information…

If you want to learn more, there is a wide array of e-books on the topic of espionage in our library - http://nopasara.com/download/library/ – such as, for example, http://nopasara.com/downloads/niu/Managing_the_Private_Spies.pdf or http://nopasara.com/downloads/niu/Imperialism_with_Chinese_Characteristics.pdf which will give you a very good overview of what I am talking about.

Share and Enjoy

Google has recognized Palestine as an independent state, Google altered the wording on its local google.ps homepage to “Palestine,” from “Palestinian territories” – a move being interpreted by some as tantamount to a digital endorsement of the Palestinian cause.

“We’re changing the name ‘Palestinian Territories’ to ‘Palestine’ across our products. We consult a number of sources and authorities when naming countries,” said Google spokesman Nathan Tyler, according to the BBC.

“In this case, we are following the lead of the UN, Icann [the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers], ISO [International Organisation for Standardisation] and other international organisations.”

The United Nations recently recognized Palestine as a “non-member observer state,” in a move that was strongly opposed by both “Israel” and its chief ally, the United States.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) welcomed Google’s decision.

“This is a step in the right direction, a timely step and one that encourages others to join in and give the right definition and name for Palestine instead of Palestinian territories,” Dr Sabri Saidam, advisor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told the BBC.

Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin accused Google Inc. of recognizing a Palestinian state when it decided on May 1 to include Palestine in its list of options for national pages.

In a letter to Google CEO Larry Page, Elkin wrote that by doing so Google is in essence the existence of a Palestinian state.
He added that Google’s decision is not only mistaken but could also negatively impact efforts to have peace negotiations between “Israel” and the Palestinian Authority.
According to the Jerusalem Post, he added that Google has brought about so many positive changes in the world by promoting connections between people and between peoples.
This decision, however, is in contradiction to such aims, and distances the parties from real dialogue.
He asked Page to meet with Israeli representatives to discuss the issue.

Share and Enjoy

iMENA Holdings, an integrated and actively managed group of leading online businesses in the MENA region, announced that it invested in OpenSooq.com, a leading Arab world online classifieds business that offers its users the ability to buy and sell products and services online through online classifieds postings across many categories including but not limited to real estate, automotive, electronics, furniture, jobs, and travel services.

OpenSooq.com is an Arabic-Only online classifieds platform that allows users to post their classified advertisements for free and without commission. OpenSooq.com gives sellers the opportunity to advertise their products and services, find the best price and sell it with no intermediaries to millions of users. For buyers, OpenSooq.com allows users to browse thousands of advertised goods, products, and services using simple searches and filters, and often find deals and discounts found nowhere else.

According to several online audience measurement services such as Stats Ipsos and Effective Measures, OpenSooq.com is already ranked as the number one online classifieds website in terms of listings and traffic in a several countries in the region. With a simple and highly intuitive interface that is tailored to local audiences, OpenSooq.com generates approximately 100 million pageviews a month. The total number of active classifieds posts on OpenSooq.com continues to grow, allowing it to offer users multiples of the number of classifieds ads in any newspaper print classifieds publication in the Arab world.

Salah Al-Sharef, CEO of OpenSooq.com, said “partnering with a big group like iMENA Holdings will assist our company in achieving its rank as the market leader in Arabic Online Classifieds in the region Insha’Allah.”

“Online classifieds is a proven business model globally, and OpenSooq.com is a rising star in this vertical” said Adey Salamin, CEO of iMENA Holdings.

Share and Enjoy

Egypt based startup accelerator Falt6labs has launched in Jeddah Saudi Arabia.
This comes as part of Flat6labs expansion plan in the Arab Gulf area and other Arab countries.

The Cairo-based accelerator, was formed in a partnership between the American University of Cairo and the venture capital firm Sarwari Ventures, was founded at the start of 2011.

Flat6Labs gives start-ups accepted into its scheme 60,000 Egyptian pounds to75,000 pounds, a space to work and access to expertise and mentors. In return, it takes a 10 to 15 per cent equity stake.

In Jeddah Qotuf Al Riyadh is partnering with Egyptian Falt6Labs to launch the first private tech startup accelerator program in Saudi Arabia focused on enterprises in the IT and communications sector.

I suspect that the accelerator model will follow that of Egypt which is offering cash and space for 10 -15 % equity in the startup.

Flat6Labs Jeddah plans to begin operations this summer and is scheduled to bring on the first accelerator cycle in Fall 2013 in a new facility.

Share and Enjoy

In a major addition to its advertising network, Hsoub Ads, one of the largest advertising platform and ad network in Arabia has announced the implementation of two new online advertising mediums: Pre-roll video ads and Rich-Media ads.

Hsoub Ads Video, which was under active development and testing for several months, allows advertisers to embed their video ads in video content that will be seen throughout hundreds of Arabic websites across the Hsoub Ads publishers network. Pre-roll video ads are streamed before the video content the viewer has requested and its power lies in that advertisers can launch targeted video ads within minutes at a much less cost compared to TV advertising.

The other new advertisement medium is HTML-based “Rich Media”. It allows advertisers and businesses to embed interactive forms within the banner ad itself. For example, one great way of using this ad format is embedding a registration form or a subscription form to a mailing list, in the banner ad. The visitor is only on click away from registration, as when he clicks the banner it turns into a form where the user can enter his details. By removing the need to browse to another page, this would boost conversion rate for companies and businesses seeking to expand their customers’ base.

Mokhtar Algendy, who is the Marketing Manager at Hsoub, stated that both Hsoub Ads Rich Media and Video Ads are available immediately to advertisers using Hsoub Ads. He also emphasized that these are but some of the new features and that Hsoub Ads is constantly developing and testing new solutions for Arabia’s online advertising market.

Share and Enjoy

Egyptian company behind eKayf an Arabic how-to website also owns BookBake an ebook creation software supporting both English and Arabic, giving users the the ability to create rich interactive ebooks flavored with their own design and layout. 
It can be an electronic magazine (ezine), a newspaper, an annual report, a product brochure, and so on; all of these are suitable end-products of BookBake. ( here is the list of features.)

Creating an ebook is simple you download and install bookbake and then add your PDF, then you can add some multimedia and interaction, then customize the layout and design, lastly you can convert to multiple platforms: web, mobile and desktop.

BookBake has setup exclusive coupon for ArabCrunch readers to get a free copy of Bookbake, The code is “ARABCRUNCH”, and it will expire 7th of May 2013 the coupon will give ArabCrunch visitors 3 free BookBake credits ($25 value).

Instructions to get the 3 free credits:
1) Go to purchasing page: www.bookbake.com/buy  (all pages are available in both English and Arabic)
2) Click on “Buy Credits”
3) Select the “3 credits” option, then click on “To Checkout”
4) In the Coupon Code field, type in ARABCRUNCH then click on “Apply to Order”
5) Proceed normally with “Checkout”

Hope ArabCrunch readers will enjoy it.

Finally here is a video trailer of BookBake:




Share and Enjoy

ikoo, the integrated digital marketing solution provider with the largest reach in the Middle East and North Africa [MENA], announced a major partnership with STC Ventures, which has invested US$3 million in the company.
The investment will be used to start new initiatives and future growth including its video network, performance network, audience data and other expansion plans. ikoo also announced plans to explore new markets and unveil new initiatives soon as part of its regional expansion strategy.
he announcement comes close on the heels of ikoo announcing the launch of the region’s first and only Arabic Video Network in Beta in late 2012.
Talking about the investment and partnership with ikoo, Angus Paterson, Partner of STC Ventures, said: “digital advertising spend in MENA is growing at a fast pace, a trajectory projected to continue as brands inevitably shift more ad spend online; with digital’s share of total ad spend also still extremely modest compared to its share of media consumption and also to rates seen in more developed advertising marketplaces. In addition overall ad spend per capita remains a fraction of spend per head in the US and Europe, which provides strong scope for further overall market growth.”
 
He added: “ikoo represents a leading platform in the regional online advertising space, with a strong position in core display advertising, providing unique access and support to local publishers, and is also at the forefront of developing new innovative advertising tools in fast growth areas such as performance, video and programmatic advertising. STC Ventures is delighted to announce this substantial investment in ikoo, in partnership with existing investors Jabbar Internet Group and Tiger Global, and together looks forward to providing financial and strategic support to the business in its future development.”
 
Samih Toukan, Chairman of Jabbar Internet Group, said: “Jabbar Internet Group is very excited to welcome STC Ventures as a partner in ikoo. ikoo is a leading digital advertising platform reaching millions of users in the region. It has a wide range of services and digital solutions that helps advertisers reach their targeted audience effectively. The investment by STC Ventures will give ikoo the needed growth capital to solidify its position and conquer new markets.”
 
“ikoo is committed to innovation” added Isam Bayazidi, CEO of ikoo. “This new partnership is expected to go a long way in reinforcing our market leadership across the region and beyond”

Share and Enjoy

eJaba.me, a new online destination targeting the Arab world provided by Mesh Venture Ltd, is launching the first online assistance destination dedicated to individuals as well as Small Businesses professionals in the Arab world.

eJaba’s says its mission is to make business and law advisory accessible and affordable to everyone. Experts will be diligently providing answers to those with questions 24/7..

eJaba.me operates on a price per question basis, with the average question costing USD 20.

Sample questions:
1- I am starting a new business, what should I outsource in priority and what should I try to internalize as much as possible?

2- Can my product/service become a real business? What are the parameters I should be looking at?

3- I would like to create a gaming platform for the region. What are the various business models I should be looking at?

4- I have a logo that another company seems to have copied. What can I legally do?

5- It seems that I set the wrong pricing level for my product. What should I do?

eJaba intends to meet the growing need for SME development in MENA and entrepreneurship as the region needs to diversify its economies.

Share and Enjoy

Several CBS twitter accounts has been hacked by pro Syrian regime hackers. These accounts are @60minutes @48hours, and @CBSDenver.

Some of these accounts has been suspended by Twitter, until things get together.

Via The Verge..

Share and Enjoy

Saudi Telecom Company and Iris Capital (STC Ventures’ Fund Manager)
announced today that STC Ventures Fund has recently concluded the acquisition of a significant minority stake in IT Interactive Software Company (Acadox). Acadox is one of the early startup companies that has recently graduated from the New Ventures & Entrepreneurship Program of King Abdullah University of Science &
Technology (KAUST).

Mr. Teo Uysal, Acting Director of New Ventures & Entrepreneurship at KAUST said: “We are thrilled that STC Ventures, a leading Saudi venture capital fund, partnered with Acadox, one of our first Seed Fund graduates.
The influx of new capital reflects the high potential of Acadox and is a testament to the innovativeness of Acadox’s technology platform, its exciting business potential and the strength of its team. With this new funding and Board representation of STC Ventures, Acadox will be able to accelerate its growth in the education marketplace.”

Mr. Mustafa Nabulsi, Co-Founder and CEO of Acadox said: “The idea started when we saw a need for an efficient tool allowing students to learn on their own terms & timeline. We knew that the traditional course tools are increasingly irrelevant for today’s students and faculty. Acadox aims to be the educational hub for the Middle East providing top notch technologies for faculty and students to manage their academic lives in an easier and more practical way. This service is provided through a web-based platform that facilitates a better learning environment for students and faculties. The company provides extensive services that follow world class standards in terms of hosting, security, scalability, and cloud computing. Our values are to increase
knowledge sharing and an overall better learning experience for all. We are now looking to collaborate with more universities, and to provide our tools to more students and faculties.”

This investment represent STC Ventures first investment since its inception.

Share and Enjoy

Dakwak, a website translation technology provider, has secured a $100,000 investment from 500 Startups in a second round of seed investment.

In addition to the investment, Dakwak will be joining 500 Startups Accelerator Program (Spring batch 2013), which is one of the top 5 accelerator programs worldwide! Dakwak’s team has headed to the heart of Silicon Valley to receive mentorship and direct access to the most developed technology community in the world in order to take the product to the next level.

Dakwak is looking to raise $400,000 in this round. $100,000 were already secured from MENA Venture Investments. And with the investment of 500 Startups, $200,000 remain to be seized by potential investor

Share and Enjoy

Jeeran’s growth and focus on local content resulted in bringing over 150 thousand businesses to the online world in more than 15 cities around Saudi Arabia.

Realizing the importance of providing information “On-the-go”, Jeeran recently released a more advanced version of its popular apps for iPhone and Android phones which allow users to sign up using Facebook and Twitter accounts. The latest version provides users with the ability to search, browse, review and add places and photos, as well as find nearest places and share further data points such as price range, payment method, and even parking availability.

Jeeran provides detailed information to the users; such as phone numbers, locations, maps, in addition to working hours, while navigating through more than 20 different categories such as restaurants with their various cuisines, doctors of different specialties, shopping stores, gyms, service providers, beauty centers, schools, and many more. People will also notice stickers on places across the city reminding customers to review and rate the service is placed on the front door of these places. Doaa Awaysheheh, Heading the Community Department at Jeeran said “” We really believe in the power of local content to enrich lives. It’s always great to see people tweeting how Jeeran has helped them in their everyday life”.

There are local meetups of Jeeran users consisting of the most active users, who are considered as a trusted source of information. They meet on regular basis with the community manager in one of the local places in their city. Users with the most useful contributions are rewarded with the “Elite” title.

The Saudi market is a challenging yet rewarding one, says CEO Omar Koudsi. “Enriching the local content in Saudi Arabia is something we are committed to” noted Omar Koudsi. Jeeran plans to add more cities and places in the future in the Kingdom and further entice users to write reviews that benefit the consumer and the owner of the reviewed business alike.

Share and Enjoy

A UAE based startup company Alter Ego has developed the first anime series in the Arab world called Torkaizer. Which is about an Emirate youth who needs to save earth from destruction during his vacation.

The robot that the Emirati youth with use called Torkaizer something like Grendaizer.




#Via Teedoz.

Share and Enjoy

UAE telecom operator Etisalat has unblocked Skype, the VoIP calling service, in the UAE,
according to emirates 24|7 Etisalat confirmed this in a tweeted response to us: “Hi, yes it’s now accessible to all Etisalat users ” one of the telecom operator’s Twitter accounts (@Etisalat_Care) said in a response to emirates 24|7 tweeted query.

Emirates 24|7 says that they were able to login to skype website and download the app without any problems.

Nevertheless, it isn’t the first time that a Skype ‘ban’ has lifted in the UAE. The ban has seemingly been lifted on more than one occasion in the past, with this website reporting in mid-March about Skype’s accessibility in the UAE, when du users were able to use the service.

Share and Enjoy

Al Qaeda Electronic Army in collaboration with Tunisian Cyber Army has announced #opBlackSummer a planed massive cyber attacks against US companies and government in order to put “limits “ to US crimes against Muslims.

The attacks are coming this summer on April the 30s.

The organizers of the attacks asks every Muslim and free hacker and anons from around the world to join the effort.

On twitter the Tunisian Cyber Army asked Muslims to withdraw their money from US banks specifically Washington, New York, Texas Seattle and Georgia.

We do not know if AlQaeda Cyber Army is part of Al Qaeda the mother base in Afghanistan, we will ask and let you know here -inshallah-. Updated: It is part of AlQaeda as confirmed by Tunisian Cyber Army.

To follow the attacks events here is facebook event page and here is a link to Tunisian Cyber Army

The facebook page” Obama Obama We are all Osama” posted a documentary video which calls Muslims individuals to wage jihad against the US, for the following reasons: the unlimited support the US government is giving to “Israel” which occupies Palestine and oppress its natives and the US occupation of Afghanistan.

Here is the video done bu Al Sahab media the media wing of Al Qaeda and here is the message from the amir of Alqaeda Cyber Army Ahmed Bin Ladin of the attacks ( both in Arabic)

Share and Enjoy

The scope of the agreement includes the screening of around 200 premium Bollywood film titles on Istikana’s video platforms.
Istikana co-founder Tareq Abu-Lughod stated that “Bollywood is one of the most important film hubs in the world in terms of number of films being produced. We shall showcase some of the best films Bollywood has to offer to many fans around the world, MENA and specifically to those residing in the GCC”.
Head of Content Alliances & Syndication at Everymedia Technologies, Vishvendra Sharma declared: “The MENA is a huge market for Indian Entertainment content which cannot be overlooked. With growing popularity of Indian content around the globe, MENA has certainly become an important market and we see a lot of opportunity in content consumption. There is no theatrical or DVD release of Indian Movies in this region making Internet, VOD, Mobile a very integral platform for content delivery to the audience.
Tareq Abu-Lughod added: “EveryMedia is a leading player in the digital content space with a strong foothold in Bollywood. It has a capability of offering viewers the flexibility and convenience of watching a bouquet of content to watch anytime, anyplace and on any device and this is exactly what we provide at Istikana.”
Vishvendra Sharma concluded that  ”With Istikana’s growing popularity and subscriber base in the MENA region, we are confident that Indian content will become more popular. Associating with Istikana gives both companies a first mover advantage with the kind of content we have to offer. We looking forward to a great experience. 
Everymedia Technologies association with Istikana makes it a first Indian Content company to enter into internet VOD in the MENA region.

Share and Enjoy

Egypt’s ministry of ICT has unveiled that it has agreed with with 3 intentional tech firms and the UNISCO to start manufacturing local tablets.

According to a statement AIT NEWS has received the Egyptian ministry has agreed with Microsoft, Intel and the Indian firm Aido com in addition to the UNISCO to implement the millennium initiative to manufacture local tablets at a low cost.

The ministry said that the project aims to manufacture 11000 tablets to be used in the educational sector. It added that 7 entities from the public and the private sector in Egypt will join forces.

The ministry statement did not reveal when the tablet will be ready but it said that tablets will be available to Egyptian citizens soon.

Share and Enjoy

PayPal will finally launch in Lebanon and Egypt in 2013, the general manager of the online payment gateway, Elias Ghanem, announced Thursday at the ArabNet conference.

Paypal is fully enabled – meaning buyers and sellers with locally issued bank accounts can do complete transactions – in the GCC and Jordan. In Yemen, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria

In an interview with ArabNet founder and CEO, Omar Christidis, Ghanem said that e-commerce in the MENA region was a $9 billion industry in 2012 and is projected to reach $15 billion by 2015.
PayPal currently has a 5 percent share of the market and aims to raise its share to 10 percent in the next three years.

Via Daily Star

Share and Enjoy

Yahoo! Maktoob has announced the launch of a new Arabic football app for iPhone, providing football fans in the Middle East with a highly engaging and easy way to stay connected to their favorite teams, scores and daily sports news. The new Yahoo! Maktoob Football app for iPhone is a full-featured Arabic app, which was built with sharing in mind through deep social integration that allows instant and seamless sharing via Facebook and Twitter.

Key features of the new application include live and full coverage of ongoing regional and international championships, information about matches such as timings and locations, game stats and minute by minute updates including goals, penalties, and fouls, and an ability to post and share all this info instantaneously Facebook and Twitter.

Adel Shehadeh, Product Manager, Yahoo! Maktoob said: “When we looked at sports apps that target our region, we saw that there’s a real opportunity to deliver a rich Arabic application that can satisfy the appetite of sports fanatics whose love for the game is a big part of their daily habits, and who want to be able to keep up with their favorite teams and matches at all times.”

He added, “The new Yahoo! Maktoob Football app leverages our extensive web content and delivers a true mobile companion that focuses on performance, speed and a unique user experience. We also plan on continuously updating the app and adding new features.”
Key features of the new Yahoo! Maktoob Football app, which can be downloaded here:
Live and full coverage of the latest regional and international championships
Minute by minute updates on the games, goals, yellow and red cards, penalties, etc…
Ability to post and share updates on Facebook and Twitter
Information about matches timings, stadium, capacity, stadium map and referee
Statistics about the matches goals, fouls, etc…
News coverage with detailed reports on the most important regional and international championships
Ability to customize the display of championships and news on the screen

Share and Enjoy

Info2cell.com, the leading mobile service application provider in the Middle East, has revealed the launch of I2CME and Social Buzz, two of the company’s latest services that have been designed to address the growing demand for mobile-based social media services from mobile subscribers in the region. The launch of the two new offerings are expected to complement recent industry reports forecasting that the UAE is set to achieve a 70% smartphone penetration rate by 2016.
 
According to Informa Telecoms & Media, the Middle East region is expected to witness dramatic growth in the number of mobile phone subscriptions over the next few years—exceeding over 350 million by the end of 2016. Looking to capitalize on this, Info2cell.com has constantly been at the forefront of creating and developing world class mobile apps that cater to the demand from the region’s rapidly growing mobile subscriber base.
 
The company’s Social Buzz service allows mobile users to have a sneak peek at what’s hot and trending across social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Once subscribed, users will be able to receive weekly updates on the most popular social media feeds. The service covers a ‘Best of Twitter’ update on Sundays; a ‘Best of YouTube’ update on Tuesdays and a ‘Best of Facebook’ update on Thursdays.
 
Bashar Dahabra, Founder and CEO, Info2cell.com, said, “Social networking is no longer just about communicating with friends or family; it has emerged as an effective tool for businesses to connect with their customers, target audience and their stakeholders. Given this backdrop, we have launched I2CME and Social Buzz, two new services that not only aim at keeping you connected with everyone and everything on a 24/7 basis but also gives you the ability to interact seamlessly. These new offerings demonstrate our continuing commitment to provide our subscribers with world-class apps, services and solutions.”     
 
Info2cell.com’s I2CME is an add-on to existing SMS alert services that integrates interactivity and social media elements to create a more enhanced user experience. Subscribers availing the new service will now be able to comment on the alert content while at the same time have the ability to share it across their favorite social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Other benefits of I2CME include zero cost for both the carrier and the customer; zero time to market; minimum churn and increased speed.

Share and Enjoy