July 19. 2003 by Del.

VIRAL MARKETING’ STOOPS TO NEW LOW

Internet security company Sophos is warning of a new marketing scheme reported by its Australian tech support team, which tricks users into visiting a Web site featuring free comic video clips and then installs software that sends out e-mails from their computers to people listed in their address book. The Web site, run by Curacao-based Avenue Media, uses ActiveX to display a humorous video clip and at the same time downloads an additional software component called ‘Internet Optimizer’ onto the PC, which then sends the e-mails. Peter Ducklin, head of technology at Sophos’ Asia Pacific division, says: ‘What tricks a lot of people is that the ActiveX control which kicks the process off is digitally signed. Many users assume that a program which has been signed in this way is automatically both trustworthy and desirable. Ironically, even though Internet Explorer presents a ’security warning,’ many people treat this as some kind of a ’security approval’ and are more inclined to go ahead.’ (ZDNet Australia 16 Jul 2003)”

Source: NewsScan Daily: July 17, 2003

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July 19. 2003 by Del.

“HOW DO YOU MEASURE COMPUTING CONSUMPTION?

‘We’re looking for that single unit of measurement that will be the tech industry’s equivalent of the kilowatt,’ says Bernardo Huberman, a director at Hewlett-Packard’s research laboratories. Identifying and agreeing on such a unit is essential to the future success of the much-hyped initiative called ‘utility computing,’ touted by tech giants HP, IBM and Sun Microsystems. Currently, the three companies offer a jumble of pricing schemes for their utility-computing offerings, but all agree that finding a simple and standard way to measure and charge for computer use would enable the nascent market to really take off. At HP’s labs, researchers have coined the term ‘computon’ — a mix of ‘photon’ and ‘computation’ — to describe the unit, but coming up with exactly what a computon is, isn’t as easy. The problem is that unlike a kilowatt, a computon can’t be a strictly scientific quantity. It must cover aspects such as data-storage capacity and processing power, and must be flexible enough to accommodate the evolving needs of customers. ‘Ten to 20 years from now, you might see computing companies as closer to the electrical utility of today,’ says Nick van der Zweep, HP’s director of utility computing. ‘Tech companies will have big computer-processing generation stations all over the world, and there may be meters on everybody’s houses measuring how much computing power they use.’ (Wall Street Journal 17 Jul 2003) ”

Source: NewsScan Daily: July 17, 2003

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July 19. 2003 by Del.

It had to happen eventually - the movement of very public hacks of computer networking to the backbone of the internet: Cisco. Microsoft has been beaten and abused over the years over security issues. Ok, so maybe that is what it took to get them to ship server software with defaults for “some” security rather than “no” security!!

YESTERDAY A MICROSOFT FLAW, TODAY A CISCO FLAW

Cisco, which makes communications routers and switches, has found a flaw in its software that could be used by network vandals to cause widespread outages; the company has released a free patch to fix the flaw in its Internetworking Operating System. No vandals have exploited the vulnerability up to this point, and Cisco says: ‘We literally have people working around the clock right now to get this situation taken care of.’ According to the company, the vulnerability could only be exploited by sending a ‘rare sequence’ of data packets to a device running IOS, the equivalent of Windows for routers and switches. (AP/San Jose Mercury News 17 Jul 2003) ”

Source: NewsScan Daily: July 18, 2003

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July 19. 2003 by Del.

More news of the linkage between technology and humans. I’m not sure if these are advances or …? Someday we’ll figure out the privacy implications, advantages of the technology, etc. Untill then these types of news releases will cause concern on the privacy front, wonder for the technocrats, and mild amusement for everyone else.

“IMPLANTABLE MICROCHIP STRIKES A CHORD IN MEXICO

Palm Beach, Fla.-based Applied Digital Solutions, maker of the implantable VeriChip, is targeting consumers south of the border, where people see the tiny devices as a possible new way to thwart crime. The microchips, which are available in the U.S. as well, are implanted under the skin and can be used to link to information on identity, blood type and other information housed on a central computer. In Mexico, citizens hope the tiny devices could prove one more weapon in the arsenal needed to combat a rising wave of kidnappings, robberies and other crimes. The Mexican company in charge of distribution says it hopes to implant 10,000 chips in the first year and ensure that 70% of all hospitals contain the technology necessary to read the chips. Company officials say they are working on developing a similar technology that would use satellites to locate people who’ve been kidnapped, an application that is popular with Mexicans, but has raised privacy concerns in the U.S. (AP 18 Jul 2003) ”

Source: NewsScan Daily: July 18, 2003

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