9th August 2002 Archive

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Dangers of the Google tool bar exposed

From annoyances to threats

A series of attacks based on a flaw in the way the Google tool bar uses URLs to alter browser settings has been described by Israeli security outfit GreyMagic Software. In its mildest forms, exploiting the bug will allow an attacker to irritate a user with such stunts as clearing his toolbar history or uninstalling the Google …

Security 9 Aug 2002, 04:56
Trio of bugs bite MS Content Management Server

Buffer overflow, SQL injection and malicious interaction flaws

A trio of vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Content Management Server (MCMS) has come to light, the most serious of which potentially allows attackers to gain control of victim's machines. Microsoft has issued a patch - which Redmond characterises as of "critical importance" - designed to fix the problem with Content Management …

Security 9 Aug 2002, 04:58
WorldCom accounting disaster doubles

Ooops, there goes another $3.3 Bn

Embattled telecoms monstrosity WorldCom has just announced the discovery of an additional $3.3 billion minrepresented in falsified financial reports, adding to the $3.6 billion scam revealed earlier in which operating expenses were slyly listed as capital expenses. Additional shenanigans of that sort have been disclosed, in …

Music and Media 9 Aug 2002, 06:34
EFF pimps X-Box cracker ‘victory’

Not getting enough attention lately

"The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is pleased to announce that former MIT doctoral student Andrew 'Bunnie' Huang will present a paper explaining a security flaw in the Microsoft Xbox (TM) videogame system," a recent press release begins. Of course the paper has been available from Huang's account at MIT since April, so …

Software 9 Aug 2002, 08:02
Web pornographer hacks bin Laden

New breed of YIHAT weenie

The Western intelligence establishment must be dancing for joy knowing that Internet pornographer Jon Messner has managed to infiltrate the shadowy world of al-Qaeda cyberterror involving a Web site called Al Neda. This amazing story, hacked out by senior CNN drone Mike Boettcher, details the cheap publicity stunt of a pathetic …

Security 9 Aug 2002, 08:50
Covad DSL business shrinks

But so does loss

Santa Clara, California-based Covad Communications Group Inc yesterday said its DSL subscriber base shrunk in the second quarter as the company deals with a wholesale business that has bankrupt resellers. Despite this, the company said it managed to reduce its losses in the three months to June 30. The company reported a …

Telecoms 9 Aug 2002, 09:46
Go Daddy launches budget domain biz

Cremation exit strategy

Bob Parsons, president of domain name industry success story Go Daddy Software Inc, has launched a sister company aimed at extending the same deep-discounted domain services to a wider channel, Kevin Murphy writes. Wild West Domains Inc, the new venture, said this week that it has recruited 1,600 resellers in the first …

Music and Media 9 Aug 2002, 09:46
Quantum scores Sun OEM tape deal

Replaces HP

Quantum Corp has scored an OEM deal with Sun Microsystems Inc for its tape drives, and is claiming a boosted relationship with IBM. The deal with Sun will see Quantum's midrange tape libraries re-badged as Sun equipment. This is the first OEM relationship Quantum has had with Sun, and its announcement comes very hard on …

Hardware 9 Aug 2002, 09:47
Sybase to support Microsoft .NET with PowerBuilder

Phased approach

Sybase Inc has outlined its strategy for supporting the Microsoft .NET framework, announcing that its PowerBuilder development tool will interoperate with .NET. The Dublin, California-based firm, which announced the availability of the beta version of PowerBuilder 9.0 at its annual user conference in San Diego earlier this …

Hardware 9 Aug 2002, 09:48
Bankers to decide if Qwest will survive

Sink or swim?

A group of New York bankers will decide next week whether to give Qwest Communications International Inc a financial lifeline or leave the debt-laden carrier, at the center of a revenue recognition scandal, to slide into bankruptcy. After recording a second-quarter loss of $1.1bn, and forecasting that revenue this year …

Business 9 Aug 2002, 09:48
Subsidiary drawn into C&W-Akamai court battle

Patent infringement

Cable & Wireless Plc has added another patent infringement lawsuit to the seemingly endless barrage of litigation between itself and Akamai Technologies Inc, Kevin Murphy writes. In a complaint filed this week in San Francisco, the company also listed Akamai spin-off Sockeye Networks Inc as a defendant. C&W says Akamai and …

Business 9 Aug 2002, 09:48
Handset shortages delay Vodafone 3G rollout

Surprised? No, we didn't think so

Vodafone is to sell dual mode 3G handsets in Japan only this year, citing shortages, according to the FT, This means that Vodafone will not begin selling 3G phones in Europe until 2003 - previously it said it would start marketing the service in the second half of this year. The news is no great surprise: everyone - bar new …

Mobile 9 Aug 2002, 10:57
Microsoft ‘hoovers millions’ from UK schools – update

MP disappointed with response

Bob Blizzard, the Waveney, Suffolk MP who is campaigning against 'unfair' Microsoft licence terms for schools, has published an email from the software giant, replying to his complaints. David Burrows, education head at Microsoft UK, says the firm has the no plans at present to alter license terms, which see schools pay much …

Software 9 Aug 2002, 11:23
OECD updates network security guidelines

Common sense, basically

The Organisation For Economic Co-Operation And Development (OECD) this week released a set of guidelines for information security aimed at creating a "culture of security" among government and business in the wake of last year's September 11 attacks. It's the first time in ten years that the 30-nation inter-government group has …

Security 9 Aug 2002, 11:52
‘Safe’ web still wide open – Windows sleuth

PrivaSec bolts through open stable door

Professor David Martin and Andrew Schulman - the latter best known for his Windows forensics - have updated their analysis of SafeWeb's privacy browsing system, and say it still leaves users "sitting ducks". SafeWeb licensed the architecture to PrivaSec, which says its suspended its entire product line - including the public …

Security 9 Aug 2002, 13:49
Amiga revs OS, wins more phone blessings

Going native

The rejuvenated Amiga company, Amiga Inc., this week released the a feature list for the latest version of its OS, bringing support for the recent hardware to the platform. AmigaOS4 - it's alloneword, you see - is being developed on old 68000-based Commodore Amiga 4000s (running PPC cards), but it's a transitional release that …

Software 9 Aug 2002, 13:51
PC Plod fills email inboxes with The Great Scam Spam

Do not pass it on

A couple of weeks ago, my wife was told to watch out for a female stranger conducting an ingenious phone scam. The modus operandi was simple: a knock on the door, my car's broken down, can I use your phone. Woman uses phone, pretends to ring husband but in reality rings premium rate phone line, set up at £50 per minute. ( …

Music and Media 9 Aug 2002, 13:57
Damn the Constitution: Europe must take back the Web

Opinion Meatspace rules rule, OK?

I've had enough of US hegemony. It's time for change -and a closed European network. Today's Internet is a poor respecter of national boundaries, as many repressive governments have found to their cost. Unfortunately this freedom has been so extensively abused by the United States and its politicians, lawyers and programmers …

Music and Media 9 Aug 2002, 14:02
MMS to become the new WAP?

Mobile industry accused of hyping 'texting on steroids'

The mobile industry is in danger of swallowing its own hype about the growth potential of Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS), leaving it in danger of repeating the mistakes made with the introduction of WAP. That's the view of market researchers Wireless World Forum (W2F) which reckons estimates that users will be sending 10 …

Mobile 9 Aug 2002, 14:29
Last call for the EU DRAM dumping debate

Fax now or forever hold your peace

In June this year, Infineon filed a complaint with the European Commission over alleged subsidies made by the Korean government to Korean DRAM makers. The EC has not yet decided if it is to launch an investigation. And today is the last day that interested parties can register their, err, interest. Here is the fax number for …

Channel 9 Aug 2002, 14:43
IRS returns to HP after Dell dalliance

$35m 'competitive win-back'

HP has won a $35 million five-year contract to supply the US Internal Revenue Service with PCs after a deal between the tax authority and Dell went sour. The IRS had been a HP customer, prior to defecting to Dell, after the tax authority held a reverse auction to decide on its preferred supplier. Problems appeared half-way …

Personal 9 Aug 2002, 15:57
Hutchison, ST buy Global Crossing

Shareholder wipeout

Global Crossing, the stricken US carrier, is to have Hong Kong and Singapore owners, after its sale was approved by the New York bankruptcy court. Hutchison Telecommunications and Singapore Technologies Telemedia are to take a 61.5 per cent stake in the US firm following its emergence from Chapter 11. Global Crossing US will …

Business 9 Aug 2002, 16:49
MS ‘Software Choice’ scheme a clever fraud

Monopoly by another name

Microsoft's new "Software Choice" campaign is all for your right to choose... as long as you choose Microsoft. It's too bad that Intel and the U.S. Government couldn't see through the rhetoric. Microsoft is worried about Peruvian Congressman Edgar Villanueva's proposal for his nation's government agencies to standardize on Free …

Software 9 Aug 2002, 22:10