A new study from the Nielsen Norman Group took a look at how users in the UK and the United States fared when asked to complete specific Web-based tasks via regular PCs and via mobile phones—and while it’s no surprise that using the Internet via a mobile phone can be awkward, the differences the study found between the two groups is a little astonishing. According to the findings, some 80 percent of the participants were able to complete assigned Web-based tasks using a regular PC, but only 59 percent were able to complete those tasks using a mobile phone. The conclusion? Mobile Web usability is "neither easy nor pleasant" for phone users—actually, the word they chose was "miserable."
Tag Archive: Norman
Fake Subpoena Phishing Attacks Rise
There’s always a new wrinkle, but one that’s just begun to surface is particularly insidious. E-mails personally addressed to a company’s chief executive, containing fake subpoenas,and asking the person to click on a link to access court documents. The problem is that the link installs a Trojan on the businessman’s computer. According to Norwegian securitycompany Norman, which has reported the scam, the e-mails are very convincing. They claim to lead to US courts, but in fact come from a server in Jinan, China. Therecipient is asked to install a plug-in to access the documents, but in fact installs the Trojan, taking the form of a digitally signed CAB archive. That extracts a file called ‘acrobat.exe,’which installs ‘acrobat.dll.’ This gives the Trojan access to all data that passes through the web browser and Windows Explorer. Norman’s chief executive, Trygve Aasland, said, “It is likely that a large number of people are tricked and infected, given that these emails look very real.”

