Skype's social media accounts targeted by hacker group

Skype said its social media properties were targeted, with a group styling itself as the Syrian Electronic Army appearing to claim credit for the hacks.

"You may have noticed our social media properties were targeted today," Skype said in a Twitter message late Wednesday. "No user info was compromised. We're sorry for the inconvenience."

Skype's Twitter account, blog and Facebook page appeared to have been attacked by the SEA, a group that supports the Syrian government, according to reports. The Skype blog was still inaccessible late Wednesday and redirected users to the Skype home page.

IDG News Service - Skype said its social media properties were targeted, with a group styling itself as the Syrian Electronic Army appearing to claim credit for the hacks.

"You may have noticed our social media properties were targeted today," Skype said in a Twitter message late Wednesday. "No user info was compromised. We're sorry for the inconvenience."

Skype's Twitter account, blog and Facebook page appeared to have been attacked by the SEA, a group that supports the Syrian government, according to reports. The Skype blog was still inaccessible late Wednesday and redirected users to the Skype home page.

The SEA reproduced in a Twitter message a copy of what appeared to be its message using the Skype account on Twitter. The message read: "Don't use Microsoft emails(hotmail,outlook),They are monitoring your accounts and selling the data to the governments.More details soon #SEA". It did not figure by late Wednesday on Skype's Twitter feed.

SEA later posted on Twitter contact information purportedly of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, stating: You can thank Microsoft for monitoring your accounts/emails using this details.

The attack on Skype's social media accounts appears to be linked to disclosures through newspapers by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that Internet companies allegedly provide the agency real-time access to content on their servers for surveillance purposes.

The SEA has targeted previously many high-profile websites and Twitter accounts. In August, an attack purportedly by SEA on Melbourne IT, an Australian domain registrar, affected the websites of The New York Times, Twitter and other top companies.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.

View the original article here

When boron butts in: Bridging N–N ligand borylation in group 4 metallocene complexes

For nature and chemists alike, making atmospheric nitrogen available for the formation of more complex nitrogen compounds is both essential and difficult. In the European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, Paul Chirik and Scott Semproni at Princeton University, USA, report the first examples of the use of group 4 metallocene complexes for boron–nitrogen bond formation from elemental N2.

The bond in molecular nitrogen (N2) is very hard to cleave. Transition metal complexes have been used more and more to this end, and recently it was shown that N–N bond cleavage can be coupled to N–element bond formation by use of suitable reagents. Chirik and Semproni achieved this change by treating hafno- and zirconocene complexes containing a highly activated, side-on bound bridging N–N ligand with pinacolborane. Subsequent carbonylation of the borylated fragment leads to N–N bond cleavage and concomitant N–C bond formation.

In contrast, treatment of the borylated metallocene with cyclohexanecarbonitrile or tert-butylisocyanide results only in the insertion of the cyanide ligand into the metal–hydrogen bond but not in cleavage of the N–N bond.

The cyclopentadienyl rings used in the metallocene complexes are well suited for the construction of more elaborate nitrogen-based ligands after dinitrogen functionalization, as they are robust and do not give rise to undesired ancillary ligation. The clean reactivity reported was achieved by a systematic study of the substitution of these ligands to obtain the appropriate activation of the side-on bound N2 ligand. These reactions expand the scope of CO-induced N–N bond cleavage.

More information: Chirik, P. Dinitrogen Borylation with Group 4 Metallocene Complexes, European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, Permalink to the article: dx.doi.org/10.1002/ejic.201300046

Journal reference: European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry

Provided by Wiley

View the original article here