All You Want to Know

March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp., the largest U.S. bank by assets, and General Electric Capital Corp. raised a combined $16.5 billion today selling bonds backed by the U.S. government as they seek to hold down borrowing costs.

Bank of America, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, sold $8.5 billion of notes in its second-largest offering under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s Temporary Liquidity Guarantee program. The finance arm of General Electric Co. sold $8 billion of notes, also its second-biggest under the program.

Financial companies are relying on the FDIC program as yields relative to benchmarks on their debt that isn’t guaranteed by the government soar to the highest on record. Banks have few alternatives to finance themselves at lower interest rates as investors grow concerned that they don’t have enough capital to absorb losses amid a deepening global recession, said Guy Lebas, chief economist at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia.

“It’s so much cheaper to issue TLGP debt than unsecured that every bank out there is replacing maturing debt with TLGP deals,” Lebas said in a telephone interview. “No financial issuer in their right mind would come with a non-FDIC debt issue right now. Markets are penalizing them very severely.”

Yields Over Benchmarks

The average yield over benchmark rates on financial company debt has risen 1.64 percentage points this year to 8.52 percentage points as of March 6, according to Merrill Lynch & Co.’s U.S. Financial Corporate index. That is the highest on record, the data show. The index doesn’t include FDIC-backed debt.

Financial issuers marketed more than $16.5 billion in FDIC- backed debt today, bringing this month’s total to $18 billion and already eclipsing the $17.4 billion of issuance in February. Banks, seeking to reduce borrowing costs and diversify their funding, are using the government’s program to boost cash levels and reduce risk.

“GE ran into a few stresses in the last weeks and I think they’re likely to employ a more conservative funding mix going forward,” Lebas said.

GE Capital, based in Stamford, Connecticut, issued $4 billion of 30-year, 6.875 percent bonds in January without a government guarantee at 98.48 cents on the dollar to yield 400 basis points more than similar-maturity Treasuries, Bloomberg data show. The senior unsecured bonds traded at 72.319 cents on the dollar on March 6 to yield 9.74 percent, according to Trace, the bond price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Bank of America

Bank of America sold $4 billion of floating-rate notes due in September 2010 that pay three basis points more than the three-month London interbank offered rate, and $2.5 billion of floating-rate notes due in June 2012 that yield 20 basis points more than three-month Libor, Bloomberg data show.

The bank also sold $2 billion of 2.375 percent fixed-rate notes due June 2012 that pay 102.5 basis points more than similar-maturity Treasuries, Bloomberg data show. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. Libor, a borrowing benchmark, is currently set at 1.31 percent.

Bank of America spokesman Scott Silvestri couldn’t be reached for comment.

GE Capital sold $4 billion of two-year, 1.8 percent notes priced to yield 86.7 basis points more than Treasuries, and $1 billion of two-year, floating-rate notes at eight basis points over three-month Libor, Bloomberg data show.

GE Capital also sold $1.5 billion of three-year, 2.25 percent notes at 91.2 basis points more than similar-maturity Treasuries, and $1.5 billion of three-year, floating-rate notes at 20 basis points over three-month Libor, the data show.

“There was tremendous demand for the offering,” said GE spokesman Russell Wilkerson. GE has now “pre-funded” about $41 billion of the $45 billion planned in long-term debt maturing this year.

Bonds guaranteed through the FDIC program are rated Aaa by Moody’s Investors Service and AAA by Standard & Poor’s, their highest rankings.

To contact the reporters on this story: Gabrielle Coppola in New York at gcoppola@bloomberg.net; John Detrixhe in New York at jdetrixhe1@bloomberg.net

Source : http://www.bloomberg.com

The new federal stimulus bill helps subsidize insurance coverage for laid-off workers, but it also creates a new headache for employers.

Sandy Reynolds, an executive vice president of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, said the Boston-based employer group’s human resources hotline has been flooded by calls in the past two weeks from businesspeople who have questions about the new subsidy rules.

“It’s been off-the-wall busy with people calling and asking what they need to do and when they need to do it,” she said.

The callers are concerned about how to handle a new subsidy that could last up to nine months for COBRA coverage, a federally mandated extension of health insurance coverage for people who leave an employer.

Typically, workers who opt for the coverage pay the full cost of COBRA premiums to continue to participate in their former employer’s health plan. But the federal stimulus bill signed by President Obama last month provides subsidies for up to nine months for eligible workers who have been involuntarily terminated between Sept. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2009.

The displaced workers now only need to pay 35 percent of the premiums, while their former employers need to subsidize the rest. The federal government, in turn, will reimburse the companies by allowing them to claim the subsidies as tax credits.

The problem for businesses, Reynolds said, is that many of them remit their taxes to the federal government on a quarterly basis. That means the employers may need to wait at least three months before they are essentially reimbursed for their COBRA payments.

“There could be quite a few months where a significant amount of cash could be tied up,” Reynolds said. “Our biggest concern is the financial obligation ... and the administrative burden on companies that are laying people off because of the economy. In a very uncertain economic environment, employers are being asked to do more.”

Source : http://www.wickedlocal.com

Comodo, a leading computer and Internet security company, introduced Comodo System-Cleaner. It is the world's first file and registry cleaner to harness the power of 100 percent safe and secure cleaning. It utilizes the revolutionary innovation of SafeDelete, a computer security software tool that allows users to safely recover any files deleted in error. This advancement eliminates risk from the process of PC cleaning allowing the system to clean deeper, more thoroughly and more completely than any other cleaner available.

Jersey City, NJ (PRWEB) March 8, 2009 -- According to a recent research survey from Gartner, the world's leading information technology research and advisory company, nearly one in four PC computers are replaced due to issues related to a hard drive that has too many old, unneeded files and applications. Yet, often people are reluctant to purge old, unwanted computer files because it can be nerve-wracking. Computer files are notoriously difficult to identify and a miscellaneous looking computer file that appears superfluous may actually be supporting necessary system operations.

"PC users are afraid to make a mistake which may cost them hours to repair," said Melih Abdulhayoglu, CEO and chief security architect of Comodo, the world's second-largest issuer of high-assurance Internet SSL certificates.

"PC owners who delete the wrong file may have to reinstall entire software packages if they can find the disks and figure out what their favorite computer systems settings were."

Comodo, a leading computer and Internet security company, introduced Comodo System-Cleaner. It is the world's first file and registry cleaner to harness the power of 100 percent safe and secure cleaning. It utilizes the revolutionary innovation of SafeDelete, a computer security software tool that allows users to safely recover any files deleted in error. This advancement eliminates risk from the process of PC cleaning allowing the system to clean deeper, more thoroughly and more completely than any other cleaner available.

"Now computer users all over the world, from New York, London and Paris to Toronto, Beijing and Moscow can safely delete their old files without fear or hesitation," said Abdulhayoglu. "This is the world's first file and registry cleaner that comes with 100 percent safe cleaning protection." Comodo's new system cleaner enables computer users to store a back-up copy of their computer system just in case they make a mistake.

The Comodo companies provide the infrastructure that is essential in enabling e-merchants, other Internet connected companies, software companies and individual consumers to interact and conduct business via the Internet safely and securely.

The Comodo companies offer PKI SSL, Code Signing, Content Verification and E-Mail Certificates; award winning PC security software; vulnerability scanning services for PCI Compliance; secure e-mail and fax services.

Continual innovation, a core competence in PKI, and a commitment to reversing the growth of Internet crime and identity theft distinguishes the Comodo companies as vital players in the Internet's ongoing development. Comodo secures and authenticates online transactions and communications for over 200,000 business customers and has over 10,000,000 installations of desktop security products.

Melih Abdulhayoglu, has been featured on Paltalk, the leading real-time, video-based community with over four million active members. On the Paltalk TechNow news and feature series, Abdulhayoglu discusses Internet security in: "Are We the Crash Test Dummies For The New Internet Age"

TechNow is a real time Internet Web 2.0 community event which addresses the latest developments in technology.

Comodo is focused on providing next generation, trust and security enabling products, services and solutions. Comodo's innovative products are accompanied with the highest level of support to ensure you can fully unleash the potential of your online business. Comodo provides the following internet security products: Internet Fax Services to send and receive faxes online, Comodo AntiSpam Desktop is an intuitive, easy-to-use, client-based software product that eliminates spam forever from your computer's email system, Personal firewall software with free pop up blocker download to eliminate spyware on the PC, compare and select the most suitable SSL certificate vendor and what they can offer you, Content Verification Certificates - online seal of authentication to build customer trust for e-business, Managed Enterprise Security to maintain full control for your PKI requirements through the outsourced EPKI Manager, Certificate Services, Trustix - a portfolio of critical business infrastructure solutions, providing essential back office applications. Comodo also provides secure messaging software, hardware security, smart card security software, branded security solutions and two factor authentication - server application and PKI service to automatically issue / manage Client Certificates for User authentication and more Security Authentication Solutions.

Through its dedicated research and development lab, Comodo has quickly established itself as a market leader in the design, development and deployment of enterprise security services. Through their Consultancy Services Comodo can assist customers in the design, planning, deployment and management of security throughout their organizations. Comodo services are available to help customers provide the most efficient time to market possible, making deployment of our solutions as effective as possible.

Comodo's Managed Security Solutions, such as the EPKI Manager and automated SSL system for hosting companies, represents a great step forward in the provision of branded security solutions to customers. As their PKI deployment expertise has been illustrated with the success of these facilities, Comodo can offer consultancy assistance for unique enterprise security deployment requirements. The Comodo team can empower critical staff with the necessary skill and knowledge to roll out solutions effectively and efficiently.

Comodo will demonstrate its Protection Landscape for enterprises at the RSA® Conference 2009. Comodo is distributing free conference expo passes. Comodo's Protection Landscape is an enterprise-grade suite of innovative and effective IT security solutions that encompasses endpoint security, digital certificate management, content & identify authentication, and compliance.

Comodo works with a number of key OEMs, design houses and development experts in order to provide industry leading products and services including Microsoft, Intel, IBM, HP, Fujitsu, Pkware, Digital Persona, IFL and Venafi.

Comodo System-Cleaner for Windows Vista 32-bit, Windows 2003 Server 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit and Windows 2000 SP4 is available at: http://download.comodo.com/csc/download/setups/CSC_Setup_1.1.63928.28_2k_xp_vista_server2003_x32.exe

Comodo System-Cleaner for Windows Vista 64-bit, Windows 2003 Server 64-bit and Windows XP 64-bit is available at:

http://download.comodo.com/csc/download/setups/CSC_Setup_1.1.63928.28_xp_vista_server2003_x64.exe

For additional information on Comodo - Creating Trust Online™ visit http://www.comodo.com

Source : http://www.prweb.com/

SAN MATEO, CA., and DULLES, VA " March 5, 2009 " Fortify Software, the market leader in Software Security Assurance solutions, and Cigital, the largest consulting firm specializing in software security, announced today the release of the "Building Security In Maturity Model (BSIMM)," the industry's first"ever set of benchmarks for developing and growing an enterprise"wide software security program.

Based on in"depth interviews with leading enterprises such as Adobe, EMC, Google, Microsoft, QUALCOMM, Wells Fargo, and Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the BSIMM pulls together a set of activities practiced by nine of the 25 most successful software security initiatives in the world. Unlike some industry standards, BSIMM is a structured set of practices based on real"world data rather than philosophy and ideas. BSIMM provides insight on what successful organizations actually do to build security into their software and mitigate the business risk associated with insecure applications.

"Microsoft's Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) was one of the first real enterprise software security methodologies, and we are always eager to share our ideas and best practices with the industry," said Steve Lipner of Microsoft. "BSIMM provides a public 'yardstick' for measuring the progress of any organization's own software assurance program."

"Software security has turned the corner from a good idea to a business necessity. The industry has finally reached a point where enough real experience has been accumulated to compare notes and talk about what works," said Dr. Gary McGraw, CTO of Cigital and author of Software Security. "Using BSIMM, an organization can determine where its software security initiative stands, figure out how to evolve its initiative strategically, or even get a brand new initiative off the ground. BSIMM is a tool for identifying realistic business goals and implementing those technical software security activities that make the most sense for an organization."

"Virtually every organization today relies on software to operate, and at the same time the threat to that software is at an all"time high," said Dr. Brian Chess, co"founder and Chief Scientist of Fortify Software. "Businesses need software that doesn't leak millions of identity records, gin up huge legal liabilities, or allow secrets to fall into the wrong hands." Chess, McGraw and coauthor Sammy Migues collected data on each initiative's software security activities for strategy and metrics, training, standards and requirements, security testing, code review, etc., and uncovered a number of common themes among each of the successful initiatives, including:

The necessity of a Software Security Group: Each of the nine enterprises has a designated group of software security personnel"the SSG"tasked with carrying out and facilitating software security. Average SSG size is just over one percent of the size of the software development organization. Advocacy over audit: Successful SSGs, even in regulated industries, always emphasize security education, technical resources, and mentoring rather than policing for security errors and handing out punishments. Use of automated technologies: Each organization performs automated code review and deploys black box testing tools, but use of these technologies requires considerable SSG know"how. Training for development: All organizations have an institutionalized security training curriculum for programmers, QA engineers, and project managers.

"I was surprised by the amount of common ground discovered between the financial services organizations, ISVs, and technology companies in the BSIMM study," said Jim Routh, CISO of Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). "All software security initiatives are by no means identical, but these findings demonstrate that an organization isn't going it alone when it comes to software security"you can learn from your peers. The BSIMM encapsulates important lessons from the best programs around."

"Comprehensive software security involves a combination of people, processes, and technologies, and it almost always requires some change to the way the organization operates," said analyst Joe Feiman of Gartner. "As software security comes of age, using a maturity model will only help to accelerate your enterprise security initiative." The BSIMM is the first such maturity model created entirely from real"world data.

Over the next several months, Cigital and Fortify will gather data from other leading software security initiatives to enhance the study and provide additional insight on trends and activities particular to certain vertical industries and company sizes, among other factors.

The BSIMM is available under creative commons license here: http://bsi-mm.com.

About Fortify Software, Inc. Fortify''s Software Security Assurance products and services protect companies from the threats posed by security flaws in business"critical software applications. Its software security suite"Fortify 360"drives down costs and security risks by automating key processes of developing and deploying secure applications. Fortify Software's customers include government agencies and FORTUNE 500 companies in a wide variety of industries, such as financial services, healthcare, e"commerce, telecommunications, publishing, insurance, systems integration and information management. The company is backed by world"class teams of software security experts and partners. More information is available at www.fortify.com or visit our blog.

Press Contact Katherine Nellums Merritt Group 415-247-1663 Nellums@merrittgrp.com

About Cigital Cigital, Inc. is the leading software security and quality consulting firm. Established in 1992, Cigital plans and implements initiatives that help organizations ensure their applications are secure and reliable while also improving how they build and deploy software. Our recognized experts apply a combination of proven methodologies, tools, and best practices to meet each client's unique requirements. Cigital is headquartered near Washington, D.C. with regional offices in the U.S. and India.

Source : http://www.darkreading.com

Qt Software has made Qt 4.5 and the Qt Creator 1.0 IDE available for download. For the first time, Qt SDK is available, a convenient bundle of the two. Qt Software will be opening up their development process by making it easier for people to contribute patches and add-ons in the forthcoming weeks. Both Qt and Creator now come with the an LGPL licensing option along with the current GPL and commercial licenses.

Qt 4.5 brings many new features such as a new pluggable graphics system, ODF support and an updated WebKit component which features HTML 5, Netscape-Plugin (e.g. Flash) support and the SquirrelFish JavaScript engine. Find out more in the Qt release blog, the Qt Creator release blog and feel free to join the new #qt-labs IRC channel on Freenode.

Source : http://dot.kde.org

Mr. Kirincic is Vice President Finance of Vancouver, British Columbia based Zynik Capital Corporation a private equity firm founded in 1983 and has extensive experience as a member of various boards and committees of boards.

"I am excited to join the Texada board and working with the new leadership. The Company has many core fundamentals that make it a leader in its marketplace and I look forward to working with the board and management to assist in any way I can" said Mr. Kirincic.

"We are very pleased that John has joined us on the Company's Board of Directors" said Brian Spilak, President and CEO of Texada. "His experience with a number of company boards should serve us well as we move forward with Texada", added Mr. Spilak.

Celebrating its 25th year servicing the Asset Management Software space, Texada is the premier provider of enterprise software solutions for rental and mobile equipment management. Texada's solutions are fully flexible and scalable to meet the unique needs of any sized operation and are backed by proven implementation, services and support.

Texada's market-driven software products combine knowledge and best practices from over 400 customers worldwide, resulting in solutions that manage the complete asset life-cycle from acquisition through to disposal. Texada's customers enjoy the benefits of enhanced efficiency through better asset utilization, effective location tracking, and optimized scheduling.

Texada Software can be reached at 519.836.7073, or at www.TexadaSoftware.com.

From :http://www.msnbc.msn.com