Anonymous, spurred by the suicide of coder and activist Aaron Swartz, reportedly hacked into the Department of Justice’s computer systems and stole what it is calling “multiple warheads.” That is, a number of files that the U.S. government wouldn’t want revealed.

Swartz committed suicide earlier in January while facing a up to 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine for siphoning off nearly five million JSTOR articles through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s network. He had a total of 13 felony charges against him. Anonymous is calling for a change in the justice system and says situations like Swartz’s promote “outdated and poorly-envisioned legislation, written to be so broadly applied as to make a felony crime out of violation of terms of service, creating in effect vast swathes of crimes, and allowing for selective punishment.”

The group claims it has a number of files that it hopes not to have to use and hacked into the Department of Justice’s United States Sentencing Commission overnight to announce the grab. Anonymous says it will not ruin the speculation by saying what the documents hold, but it will release redacted sections to reporters who provide a secure means of communication, starting as early as today.

“Suffice it to say, everyone has secrets, and some things are not meant to be public,” the group said in its statement.

Anonymous also pointed out recent reports of Red October, cyber-spying malware that targeted a number of governments around the world, particularly in Eastern Asia. It also mentioned the recent outcries around a major vulnerability in Java, saying:

“None of this comes of course as any surprise to us, but it is perhaps good that those within the information security industry are making the extent of these threats more widely understood. Still there is nothing quite as educational as a well-conducted demonstration.”

This is perhaps a hint that Anonymous used the Java exploit to enter the DoJ’s systems. It might also just mean the group is showing off its own hacking prowess — well, if it provides anything to substantiate the supposed lifted files.

via Gawker; Anonymous mask via Shutterstock

Sept. 9 - 10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

YouSendIt, the Campbell, Calif.-based startup that wants to do more than let users send large files, has made its latest strategic acquisition.

The company bought a venture-backed startup called “Found” (the founders are pictured, above) for an undisclosed sum. The technology lets users discover their files, documents, and data across a variety of devices and cloud services.

YouSendIt’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse aims to “go beyond send”, and help users access and manage their data. In an interview, he liberally uses the term “cloud-nogistic” to describe how technology should be able to cater to the full spectrum of providers, whether its Google Drive or Dropbox.

Garlinghouse said the corporate development team was tasked with finding startups to potentially acquire “that were thinking horizontally, not just vertically.” The company bought Found with a combination of cash and stock. They will retain the full team in their San Francisco offices, and will provide resources for the 5-person team to build out the product.

YouSendIt has raised a total of $49 million in venture funding in the previous seven years. According to Garlinghouse, they are experiencing 50 percent growth year over year, and recently exceeded 40 million users. Last year, the company pulled in $57 million in revenue.

Sept. 9 - 10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Find any file in two taps: That’s the promise of Openera.

The cloud is wonderful, but when you have accounts at Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, Evernote, or any number of other cloud storage companies — not to mention your email — how can you ever find anything?

“I’ve been in the content management space for 15 years,” says Openera chief executive Peter Lalonde, who previously worked for OpenText and other enterprise file management companies. “I’ve lived the pain of file management … but realized that no one likes managing files!”

Even when it’s simple, Lalonde says, people don’t put files where they’re supposed to be. Instead, they put files where it’s convenient and easy. So he created a cloud-enabled mobile service that automatically files your documents and email attachments so you don’t have to.

“I love my iPhone but can’t find any files on it,” Lalonde says.

So Openera lets you connect all your cloud services, and then automatically saves, organizes, and backs up your files. Even better, from an enterprise perspective, companies can set up corporate policies to automatically file certain types of files in predefined places.

How does it work?

“First you download the app,” Lalonde told me. “You then connect your email — that’s the first thing you do, and then connect all your cloud services.”

In the background Openera then indexes, tags, and categorize all your files — no matter where they’re stored. Then you’re set up for finding your apps easily. In addition, you can create rules and personal preferences of where you want files to go. For example, all Word documents from Agnes, your corporate counsel, go to Dropbox. Or all documents with “revenue” in them go to your Google Drive.

Essentially, Openera has created an abstraction layer for file storage services and knows where to put what based on the sender, metadata, and terms and keywords in the file. The company is adding even more intelligence shortly, Lalonde said.

But it’s not syncing, it’s finding, he’s quick to say, adding that Openera is useful for finding files even if you don’t care where they are stored:

“Personally, I don’t care where my files are stored. As the CEO of Openera, I do care.”

The company’s iPhone app is available right now, and the Android app is under development. Microsoft and RIM are interested in native apps for their phone platforms as well, Lalonde said.

Tomorrow the company is graduating from FounderFuel, a Montreal accelerator. Lalonde, who’s a veteran of the software and online services industry, doesn’t exactly fit the twenty-something image of an accelerator graduate, and his co-founder, Mark Lennox, recently had a $40 million exit with MXI Technologies.

So I asked him why he joined the accelerator.

“I’ve always been an intrapreneur, but it’s a big difference starting your own company,” he said. “I’ve always been a believer in accepting the resources that are offered, and it’s been one of the best experiences. I know enterprise, and I know how to sell. But we also have to raise money, and develop on a shoestring, which is new to me.”

That humility and wisdom is likely to put Openera in good stead as the company navigates out of acceleration mode and into revenue mode.

photo credit: Junior Henry. via photopin cc

Sept. 9 - 10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Dropbox just announced a new integration today, and it’s a doozy: Facebook. Starting soon — possibly as early as today — Facebook users can share Dropbox files, pictures, and folders to their friends and contacts in Facebook Groups.

Once you’ve linked your Facebook and Dropbox accounts, you will be able to browse and select files from your Dropbox just as if you were selecting from your own computer and then share them to your group. They’ll immediately show up on your group’s wall, and any updates or changes you make to the documents will automatically be shared to the group as well.

Source: Dropbox

Adding a file from Dropbox to your Facebook group.

This is huge for Dropbox, which in spite of some security missteps has continued to add users at an astounding rate through smart partnerships and bigger, better storage plans.

But I hope they have added plenty of extra storage in anticipation of this integration. Facebook is the mother of all social networks, in the Saddam sense, and if even a fraction of its billion users start using this feature, Dropbox will see a huge influx of new users … and new files.

The feature is rolling out today, and Dropbox says you should see it in Facebook “soon.”

photo credit: ryancr via photopin cc

The device lets users save content safely on USB hard drives connected to the Pogoplug device and is available from any Internet enabled device, including apps for the iPhone, Android, iPad, BlackBerry, and Palm (see below).

The new device has all the same features as the original, including searching across drives, create slideshows, photo timelines, share address books, and even playing movies, but now includes wireless capabilities, making it easy to place anywhere in the home or office.

Setup is easy, the company says. Plug the box into a regular power outlet, find a wireless connection and connect a hard drive or flash drive via a USB cable. 

The company has had a fair amount of activity over the past year since the launch of the original Pogoplug, including securing a second round of funding for $3 for a total of $6.25 to date. Several months ago, the company added two new features; streaming media and automatic back-up for files.

The San Francisco-based company, founded in 2007, plans to sell the new Pogoplug Pro at Best Buys and online for $99.