US, Israel blamed for Stuxnet

Israel and the US created the Stuxnet worm to sabotage Iran's nuclear programme, a leading security expert has claimed, reports the BBC.

Ralph Langner told a conference in California that the malicious software was designed to cripple systems that could help build an Iranian bomb.

Langner was one of the first researchers to show how Stuxnet could take control of industrial equipment. It is widely believed that its target was machinery used to enrich uranium.

After several days of silence on the issue, Google has confirmed that it removed several malicious apps from its Android Market and says it would remove the apps from users' devices as well, states CNet.

Only devices running an Android version earlier than version 2.2.2 were susceptible to the rogue apps, which took advantage of known vulnerabilities, the Internet giant reported in the Google Mobile blog.

The company believes the only information accessed by the apps were the unique codes used to identify the specific device and the version of Android that it was running.

Eighteen of the UK's most successful technology start-up companies are jetting off to the US as part of a government-backed initiative designed to promote UK Web entrepreneurship and open their businesses to an international market, notes V3.co.uk.

The Web Mission project is backed by a range of public and private sponsors, including government agency the Technology Strategy Board and government body UK Trade & Investment.

The project, which has also been run by previous governments, starts with a competition aimed at picking the most innovative and fastest growing Web companies in the UK.

Mozilla has released early code in its campaign to create a completely open alternative, not only to Apple's app stores, but also Google's fledging Chrome Web store, according to The Register.

The company has delivered the first developer release of its Web Application project. The goal is to serve up Web-based apps for any device and any browser.

The first build includes a spec to describe a Web application, a set of new browser application programming interfaces that include the ability for a Web site to “install” itself in a browser, and documentation on how to build what Mozilla calls a free or paid "directory of applications".