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December 31, 2004
Seven sites have been defaced by a worm which appears to combat the Santy worm according to the Security company F-Secure. The anti-Santy worm uses Google to find sites that use the PHP Bulletin Board software exploited by the earlier worm, anti- santy infects the sites and attempts to make the sites more secure by installing a patch. Sites that have been attacked by the anti-Santy worm are defaced with the words: "viewtopic.php secured by Anti-Santy-Worm V4. Your site is a bit safer, but upgrade to >= 2.0.11." According to Mikko Hypponen, director of antivirus research at F-Secure even though anti -santy appears to do good it is likely to cause problems administrators who will have to handle the increase in traffic.
via CNET
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ebay's recent announcement to no longer offer Microsoft's Passport services appears to have sent Microsoft over the edge. Microsoft has announced it will no longer push the Passport service to third party companies. The Passport system aimed to create one central system with credit card information which users could use on any site using the passport service, erasing the need for multiple user names and passcodes. Privacy groups and antitrust regulators did not like the idea of one central login, and in 2003 security experts unearthed a flaw that could have allowed scam artists to hijack older Passport accounts. Passport will continue to be the sign-on service for various Microsoft properties, including the Hotmail e-mail service and MSN.com.
_ MORE via FT
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The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has started an investigation into seven incidents in which laser beams were directed into plane cockpits since Christmas. While pilots from time to time encounter laser beams that stray into the cockpit on approach to an airport, the volume and span of latest occurrences have some officials worried about an organized effort to take down planes. The FBI is probing two incidents in Colorado, and one each in Ohio, Washington, Texas, New Jersey and Oregon. Laser beams can temporarily blind or disorient pilots endangering a plane. There was no evidence of a terrorist plot to use laser beams as weapons so far, but pilots were troubled by the incidents, according to reports. Earlier this month, the FBI issued a warning that there was a possibility terrorists might use laser devices as weapons. Scientists discount the possibility that pilots are merely the victims of a laser pointer from an electronics store since the distance the Laser reached required a fairly sophisticated system.
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The Internet security company Netcraft has released a Internet Explorer plug-in toolbar that could help you escape the wrath of online fraud. Netcraft's plug-in toolbar displays information about the popularity of a site, the country in which the site is hosted and the Internet address of the site. It also indicates whether other toolbar users have flagged the site as a possible phishing scam which uses fake websites that look like they belong to a trusted provider to obtain credit card information, passwords etc.
Netcraft director Mike Prettejohn said the effectiveness of the toolbar will largely depend on how widely the software is adopted.
Download from Netcraft for Internet Explorer. A version for Firefox browser under development.
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A group of 26 wireless carriers and telecoms equipment makers, including Britain's Vodafone Group Plc, Cingular Wireless LLC, Germany's Siemens AG, France's Alcatel and Japan's NEC Corp. and DoCoMo have agreed to develop an advanced mobile phone standard capable of sending large files quickly, this move is in hopes of increasing demand for cellphones with a large displays for playing games and watching movies, and to help handset makers cut costs through mass production. Services based technology will offer transmission speeds more than 10 times as fast as the current third-generation (3G) service which offers about 2Mbps transmission peak. Specifications will be ready by 2007. no date has been set for a commercial launch.
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December 30, 2004
Starting late January 2005 eBay will no longer support Microsoft's Passport and .NET Alerts. The Microsoft Passport button that is currently displayed on Sign In pages will be replaced with links to a page with more information, including Help in case you cannot remember your User ID or password. eBay will begin offering Wireless alerts to replace .Net alerts, the service sends alerts on your mobile phone, pager or PDA when you have won an item, or you are no longer the high bidder (Free). eBay will also start to promote their toolbar for Internet Explorer which gives similar information on an auctions status.
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The Japanese transport ministry has announced plans to start lending to personal digital assistants (PDAs) with travel information and translation services to foreign visitors. The pilot program is part of a government drive to find ways to make Japan more attractive to foreign tourists, who are often put off by the language barrier and the country's high prices. The mobile units with Chinese, Korean and English software will be lent to selected tourists who land at Narita Airport near Tokyo from February through March to test the response.
Japan has set the goal of nearly doubling the number of foreign tourists to 10 million in 2010 from 5.73 million in 2003.
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Oracle Corp has announced control of PeopleSoft Inc. now that 75 percent of PeopleSoft's shareholders tendered their shares. This news comes a day after PeopleSoft Chief Executive and Chairman Dave Duffield resigned from the company he helped found in 1987.
PeopleSoft's board earlier this month agreed to a $10.3 billion buyout by Oracle, ending an 18-month fight and making Oracle the world's second-largest maker of business-management software. Oracle has appointed four people to PeopleSoft's board, giving it a majority.
Reuters reports the initial period for the tender offer expired on Tuesday, while a subsequent offering period expires on Jan. 4, Oracle said in a statement. The deal is expected to close in early January.
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The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has been denied regulation of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services by the Eight US Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis. VoIP technology allows you to make telephone calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular (or analog) phone line. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission believes VoIP providers should be regulated as they do traditional phone companies. A lower court ruling said that Vonage(large VOIP provider) provided more of an information service than a telecommunications service and should not be governed like a phone company. The order by the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis upholds a lower-court ruling.
The Federal Communications Commission last month issued its own rules saying that VoIP providers should not be regulated or taxed via the same provisions as telephone service providers.
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Government Agency OPTA responsible for regulating Spam in the Netherlands has imposed their first fines for Spam since the enactment of Dutch law banning unsolicited e-mail messages to consumers. The government telecommunications agency, issued three separate fines for unsolicited e-mail sent to consumers. The largest fine, $58,000, was imposed on an individual involved in four Spam runs. Printing company Gorenendaal received a $34,000 fine for soliciting orders for the banned book Mein Kampf, written by Adolf Hitler. Yellow Monday received a $27,000 fine for spending Spam to mobile phones via SMS. Consumers who opened Spam from Yellow Monday were automatically billed $1.50.
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