HMSec claims a Barracuda Networks “customer_verticals.php” page has led to a breach of the company’s sensitive data. A list of databases, usernames, and password hashes have been posted as proof of the exploit.

Barracuda Networks is perhaps best recognized for developing a fleet of tired old fuel guzzling vehicles they drag around for marketing campaigns to promote “email and web security” products.

At RSA 2011 in San Francisco the company publicized that they were sparing no expense to rent a strip club for an invitation-only “VIP” party. Although they did their best to promote the event as exclusive and posh, little could be done to hide the fact that the club is known locally for its $5 buffet including peep show.

The company may be asking itself now whether the cost spent appealing to desires of a certain demographic was balanced versus the cost of securing sensitive customer data against the much larger and greater diversity of attackers…. Could this be a good candidate for a MasterCard “priceless” commercial?

Back to the point, the evidence posted shows not only the continued risk of remote SQL injection, including blind attacks, but yet another database of unsalted MD5 hashes (note the duplicate hash values — root has the same as another user) has been exposed within a security product company.

Fresh off the BP disaster in the Gulf three Republicans have proposed to hand over control of natural resources to the oil companies. They apparently believe that ignoring severe health risks, downplaying damage to the environment and lack of independent oversight is good for their political career. They call it their Domestic Jobs, Domestic Energy, and Deficit Reduction Act of 2011 (3-D Act).

The 3-D Act expedites the permitting process and opens the OCS, a portion of ANWR, and the Keystone XL Pipeline to energy production – potentially creating more than 2 million jobs, $10 trillion in economic activity, and more than $2 trillion in tax receipts.

It needs a K. Then we can call it the JERK Act.

The 2 million jobs are not only a short-sighted pipe dream (pun intended) but they are a joke compared to opportunities for long-term skills in the sustainable clean energy technology industry. This bill also is a trick to give the petroleum companies more control of energy policy in America, despite their long record of anti-Americanism. Firms busy moving their headquarters from Texas to the Middle East have these politicians convinced they should to put them in charge of domestic benefits?

This is no way to manage risk. They will just dig America into a deeper hole.

The equivalent proposal by these Republicans in 1919 would be to increase jobs shoveling horse shit and burning horse carcases instead of promoting new industries that used electricity, steam and other innovative methods of propulsion. Imagine what America would look like if it had turned its back on the opportunity to develop the engines that has driven its success for the past hundred years.

Recorded at TED2011, March 2011, in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 10:41

The new Pew Clean Energy Program report (Who’s Winning the Clean Energy Race?) mentions several times that the U.S. has quickly dropped to third place. The U.S. has more venture capital-backed investments compared to other countries by a large margin. Could that be a factor? I was tempted to focus on the U.S. or China, yet I could not avoid noticing a different and very positive point:

Italy saw 124 percent growth in clean energy investments in 2010, the 3rd highest among G-20 members. With almost $14 billion invested, Italy rose up the ranks of G-20 members to take the 4th position. Sixty-two percent ($8.6 billion) of 2010 clean energy investments were directed toward small scale solar projects. Italy also attracted a healthy $4.5 billion in wind energy investments. With high conventional energy prices and abundant solar resources, Italy is the first country in which solar power has achieved price parity with other electric sources.

Hey, look at Italy. First price parity nation for clean energy.

Italy’s 71% growth rate over five years also helped them jump from 8th position last year to 4th position. They achieved the #2 investment intensity (0.79% per $GDP) behind Germany. What do the Italians have to do to be in position to move ahead of the U.S. in the overall standings next year? Is America even threatened by Italy in the same way as Germany? Instead of emphasizing and exploring the Italian rush, or the German move to second place overall, the report makes the point that the West is losing to the East.

…it is clear that the center of gravity for clean energy investment is shifting from the West (Europe and the United States) to the East (China, India and other Asian nations).

Why go with an East, West theme?

A look at the entire globe shows five-year growth rates for countries in the southern hemisphere are even higher than Italy’s. Pew mentions high growth for Latin America, but the question also could be whether the whole southern hemisphere — Argentina (115%), South Africa (94%), Indonesia (89%), and Brazil (81%) — will see the same success as Italy. High one-year growth numbers in Argentina (568%) and Australia (104%) are likewise not just isolated to Latin America. It is curious to me to see an East, West divide when there is powerful (pun not intended) industry data from other countries to the South.

Another interesting issue is that Spain and the UK dramatically scaled-back clean energy investments, yet Italy did not. It may not be useful to depict the very different individual states into a unified West. Likewise, China alone may not be a good representation of the East.

Perhaps this Pew study is meant really to highlight the policies of China (“continued ability to attract record levels of clean energy investments”) and compare to the U.S. (“disproportionate government supports for century-old fossil fuel sources”). All other data points/countries could be just thrown in for good measure but are not meant to interfere with what seems to be the Pew (named after Sun Oil Company founder Joseph Pew) message to America: when China is winning the clean energy race, America is losing.