Ben Worthen

Email Giants Move to Slash “Phishing”

Ben Worthen, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on January 30 at 4:30 am PT

Email-service providers Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and AOL Inc. are backing a new effort intended to dramatically reduce “phishing” emails — which attempt to trick recipients into thinking they come from a legitimate source.

Battle of the Bands: Tech Firms Compete for Rock Stars

Ben Worthen, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on January 3 at 10:44 am PT

Shortly before Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison gave his keynote speech about a new cloud-computing effort at his annual customer conference here in October, a surprise guest came on stage: Sting.

HP to Limit Severance Payouts for Ousted Executives

Joann S. Lublin and Ben Worthen, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in News on December 15, 2011 at 4:27 pm PT

Hewlett-Packard Co., still smarting from criticism over the exit packages it awarded to ousted chief executives Mark Hurd and Leo Apotheker, will limit severance payments it makes to senior executives who are pushed out.

Intuit Plans to Offer Free Phone Tax Advice

Ben Worthen, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on December 1, 2011 at 4:30 am PT

Tax-preparation software made by Intuit Inc. is supposed to help taxpayers avoid using accountants.

HP Offers Customers Path Away From Maligned Chip

Ben Worthen and Don Clark, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in Enterprise on November 23, 2011 at 3:45 am PT

Hewlett-Packard on Tuesday offered help to customers who want to shift away from systems that use a microprocessor called Itanium. But HP insists it is not dumping the chip, nor reacting to a nasty dispute with Oracle over the technology.

Tide Shifts on Web Start-Ups

Ben Worthen, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on November 22, 2011 at 11:44 am PT

After taking a back seat in recent years to consumer Internet companies like social websites and mobile-apps makers, technology start-ups that sell to businesses are hot again with Silicon Valley investors, helped by the growing popularity of online software.

HP’s Customers Backing Off

Ben Worthen, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in Enterprise on September 2, 2011 at 12:00 am PT

Hewlett-Packard Co.’s recent strategic moves have shaken the confidence of investors. Now customers of the technology giant are also getting nervous.

Small Firms, Big Options

Ben Worthen, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on August 1, 2011 at 5:00 am PT

A chief executive who boosted his company’s stock price more than 50 percent in two years might be expected to trade up to a larger company as his next career move. Instead, Mark McLaughlin resigned last week from the top job at publicly traded Internet-infrastructure company VeriSign Inc. to join a Silicon Valley start-up.

Hackers Shift Attacks to Small Firms

Geoffrey A. Fowler and Ben Worthen, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in News on July 21, 2011 at 12:41 am PT

Recent hacking attacks on Sony Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. grabbed headlines. What happened at City Newsstand Inc. last year did not. Unbeknownst to owner Joe Angelastri, cyber thieves planted a software program on the cash registers at his two Chicago-area magazine shops that sent customer credit-card numbers to Russia. MasterCard Inc. demanded an investigation, at Mr. Angelastri’s expense, and the whole ordeal left him out about $22,000.