P2P-Zone - View Single Post - The Newspaper Shop -- Monday edition

walktalker · 25-11-02, 05:57 PM

I have a tight schedule, so I'll write this piece by piece...

Attack targets .info domain system
An Internet attack flooded domain name manager UltraDNS with a deluge of data late last week, causing administrators to scramble to keep up and running the servers that host .info and other domains. The assault sent nearly 2 million requests per second to each device connecting the network to the Internet -- many times greater than normal -- during the four hours of peak activity that hit the company early Thursday morning, said Ben Petro, CEO of UltraDNS. "This is the largest attack that we've seen," Petro said. He stressed that it didn't affect the company's core domain name system (DNS) services, but administrators had to work fast to get the attack blocked by the backbone Internet companies from which UltraDNS gets its connectivity. "From a network management perspective, it certainly kept us on our toes," he said.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-971178.html

Linux companies name new CEOs
SuSE and MandrakeSoft, two sellers of the Linux operating system, on Monday named new chief executives whose goals will be to attain profitability. Both companies are selecting new leaders after completing months-long restructuring operations. SuSE has solidified partnerships with software and hardware companies, joined the UnitedLinux collective, and put an emphasis on selling through business partners such as IBM. MandrakeSoft has returned to its roots, selling a desktop version of Linux. SuSE, the No. 2 Linux company after Red Hat, named Richard Seibt its new CEO. The 20-year IBM veteran was CEO of Big Blue's software sales in Germany, general manager of its software group in North America, and most recently executive board member of German Internet service provider United Internet.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-971151.html

Updated Macromedia tool goes old school
After months of focusing on improving Web services and design, Macromedia is returning to an old favorite -- the CD-ROM. The software maker is set to announce on Monday a new version of Director, the multimedia authoring tool that is one of the company's oldest franchises and helped kick off the CD-ROM boom of the early 1990s. While the new Director MX ties in with Macromedia's Flash animation software and other Web tools, it is primarily designed for putting together packages of sound, graphics, video and animation for delivery via CDs and other static media. One key market is in companies building custom educational and training software. Another is in developers creating simple games and other animation for Macromedia's Shockwave player.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-971085.html

Court blocks state DVD-cracking suit

The California Supreme Court handed Hollywood's antipiracy efforts a setback Monday, ruling that a Texas resident who posted controversial DVD-cracking code online can't be sued in the Golden State. The ruling, released by the court Monday, deals with just one part of Hollywood's multifaceted attack on DeCSS, a controversial bit of computer code that can assist in the copying of DVDs. The justices didn't address the legality of posting the software program online, saying only that Texas resident Matthew Pavlovich couldn't be sued in California for doing so. "There is no evidence in the record suggesting that the site targeted California," the judges wrote in their majority opinion. But that didn't mean he couldn't be sued elsewhere, they noted. "Pavlovich may still face the music -- just not in California," the court wrote.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-975285.html?tag=fd_top

Major test of copyright law set to start
The first big courtroom test of a U.S. law that makes it illegal to offer software for cracking digital copyright protections should finally begin next week, after visa delays for two of the case's main players. Dmitry Sklyarov, a programmer at Moscow-based software company ElcomSoft, and Alex Katalov, the company's CEO, have been granted special permission to come to the United States for the court proceedings. "They are ready to go," ElcomSoft attorney Joseph Burton told a judge at a hearing Monday in federal court in San Jose, Calif. In a widely publicized case, ElcomSoft faces charges that it violated criminal provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by offering software that could be used to circumvent the copyright locks in Adobe Systems' eBooks digital books.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-975280.html?tag=fd_top

Feds charge 3 men with identity theft
Calling it the largest such bust ever, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan and the FBI apprehended an alleged ring of identity thieves, accusing three men of stealing tens of thousands of credit reports. The ring is alleged to have operated over a period of three years, suspected of pilfering credit reports from the three major commercial credit reporting agencies and using that information to siphon funds from bank accounts and make fraudulent purchases. Authorities have accounted for $2.7 million in losses so far. At the center of the alleged scheme as outlined Monday by Justice Department and FBI officials is a help-desk employee of Teledata Communications (TCI), a company in Bay Shore, N.Y., that lets banks and other lenders access credit histories compiled by Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-971196.html?tag=fd_top

Flat-panel sellers perk up monitors
Two flat-panel monitor companies launched new displays Monday, looking for ways to branch out their business. Planar Systems introduced its PX line of liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors, the first of which is a 17-inch model with a resistance-free swivel arm that pivots and adjusts for height. Meanwhile, competitor Sharp Systems of America unveiled a 17-inch flat-panel monitor with a high screen resolution. The announcements come as the market for LCD monitors continues to grow. Flat-panel display makers are adding features to distinguish their screens from myriad rival products, while making sure not to tip the balance too far away from the No. 1 priority for consumers: price.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-971181.html?tag=fd_top

IBM Liberates the Brain Trust
Last week, IBM (IBM) made a startling announcement: Big Blue is pulling some of its best researchers away from their laboratories to create a new research division called On Demand Innovation Services. Instead of focusing on software and hardware development -- the traditional centers of technology research -- the new division will assist IBM employees who provide technology services. In practical terms, that means some of IBM's best brainiacs will be available to meet with clients and assist with service implementations. "We've never seen anything like this before," says Martin Reynolds, a research fellow at Gartner. "This gives IBM something other service organizations don't have." IBM calls the move its "biggest organizational shift" since the early 1990s.
http://www.business2.com/articles/we...,45530,FF.html

Australia fires up tech anti-terror initiative
The Attorney-General's office has teamed up with Queensland-based AusCERT to create a national information security alert scheme, which will lead to the creation of a centralised information source on IT security issues ranging from viral outbreaks to serious hack attacks. The initiative is part of a broader scheme which will also include a national incident-reporting system foreshadowed at the launch of the 2002 Australian Computer Crime and Security Survey in September this year. While the details have yet to be confirmed, a source within AusCERT told ZDNet Australia the group will be promoted as the first line of reporting for IT security breaches and incidents and provide an important information source for the technology community.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/sec...0270175,00.htm

Argentina bets on cyberspace
Buenos Aires is the capital of a country that was experiencing its own miniature Latino dot.com boom until the economy here went disastrously wrong. But Argentines in the information technology industry are still optimistic. They say the future opportunities in Spanish-speaking cyberspace are simply too large to ignore. Despite the real world problems with the economy, Argentina's internet world is still growing, with 14% more people online than a year ago, according to local market researchers. "The internet in Argentina created a need for information and, like computers, everybody has to live with it," said Gaston Cardey, a web designer and computer consultant.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2502669.stm

Group calls for revamped disaster warnings
The diffused emergency warning systems in the United States need to be revamped and include the use of a mandated messaging standard, a panel of emergency-response experts concluded in a report Monday. The panel -- formed of experts in disaster response from the government, academia and the private sectors -- maintained that the current hodge-podge of warning systems, including the Emergency Alert System and the NOAA Weather Radio, don't work well. "While many federal agencies are responsible for warnings, there is no single federal agency that has clear responsibility to see that a national, all-hazard, public warning system is developed and utilized effectively," stated the Partnership for Public Warning in the report, which called for the newly formed Department for Homeland Security to take charge.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-975287.html?tag=cd_mh

25-11-02, 05:57 PM	#1
walktalker The local newspaper man Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Montreal Posts: 2,036	The Newspaper Shop -- Monday edition I have a tight schedule, so I'll write this piece by piece... Attack targets .info domain system An Internet attack flooded domain name manager UltraDNS with a deluge of data late last week, causing administrators to scramble to keep up and running the servers that host .info and other domains. The assault sent nearly 2 million requests per second to each device connecting the network to the Internet -- many times greater than normal -- during the four hours of peak activity that hit the company early Thursday morning, said Ben Petro, CEO of UltraDNS. "This is the largest attack that we've seen," Petro said. He stressed that it didn't affect the company's core domain name system (DNS) services, but administrators had to work fast to get the attack blocked by the backbone Internet companies from which UltraDNS gets its connectivity. "From a network management perspective, it certainly kept us on our toes," he said. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-971178.html Linux companies name new CEOs SuSE and MandrakeSoft, two sellers of the Linux operating system, on Monday named new chief executives whose goals will be to attain profitability. Both companies are selecting new leaders after completing months-long restructuring operations. SuSE has solidified partnerships with software and hardware companies, joined the UnitedLinux collective, and put an emphasis on selling through business partners such as IBM. MandrakeSoft has returned to its roots, selling a desktop version of Linux. SuSE, the No. 2 Linux company after Red Hat, named Richard Seibt its new CEO. The 20-year IBM veteran was CEO of Big Blue's software sales in Germany, general manager of its software group in North America, and most recently executive board member of German Internet service provider United Internet. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-971151.html Updated Macromedia tool goes old school After months of focusing on improving Web services and design, Macromedia is returning to an old favorite -- the CD-ROM. The software maker is set to announce on Monday a new version of Director, the multimedia authoring tool that is one of the company's oldest franchises and helped kick off the CD-ROM boom of the early 1990s. While the new Director MX ties in with Macromedia's Flash animation software and other Web tools, it is primarily designed for putting together packages of sound, graphics, video and animation for delivery via CDs and other static media. One key market is in companies building custom educational and training software. Another is in developers creating simple games and other animation for Macromedia's Shockwave player. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-971085.html Court blocks state DVD-cracking suit The California Supreme Court handed Hollywood's antipiracy efforts a setback Monday, ruling that a Texas resident who posted controversial DVD-cracking code online can't be sued in the Golden State. The ruling, released by the court Monday, deals with just one part of Hollywood's multifaceted attack on DeCSS, a controversial bit of computer code that can assist in the copying of DVDs. The justices didn't address the legality of posting the software program online, saying only that Texas resident Matthew Pavlovich couldn't be sued in California for doing so. "There is no evidence in the record suggesting that the site targeted California," the judges wrote in their majority opinion. But that didn't mean he couldn't be sued elsewhere, they noted. "Pavlovich may still face the music -- just not in California," the court wrote. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-975285.html?tag=fd_top Major test of copyright law set to start The first big courtroom test of a U.S. law that makes it illegal to offer software for cracking digital copyright protections should finally begin next week, after visa delays for two of the case's main players. Dmitry Sklyarov, a programmer at Moscow-based software company ElcomSoft, and Alex Katalov, the company's CEO, have been granted special permission to come to the United States for the court proceedings. "They are ready to go," ElcomSoft attorney Joseph Burton told a judge at a hearing Monday in federal court in San Jose, Calif. In a widely publicized case, ElcomSoft faces charges that it violated criminal provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by offering software that could be used to circumvent the copyright locks in Adobe Systems' eBooks digital books. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-975280.html?tag=fd_top Feds charge 3 men with identity theft Calling it the largest such bust ever, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan and the FBI apprehended an alleged ring of identity thieves, accusing three men of stealing tens of thousands of credit reports. The ring is alleged to have operated over a period of three years, suspected of pilfering credit reports from the three major commercial credit reporting agencies and using that information to siphon funds from bank accounts and make fraudulent purchases. Authorities have accounted for $2.7 million in losses so far. At the center of the alleged scheme as outlined Monday by Justice Department and FBI officials is a help-desk employee of Teledata Communications (TCI), a company in Bay Shore, N.Y., that lets banks and other lenders access credit histories compiled by Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-971196.html?tag=fd_top Flat-panel sellers perk up monitors Two flat-panel monitor companies launched new displays Monday, looking for ways to branch out their business. Planar Systems introduced its PX line of liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors, the first of which is a 17-inch model with a resistance-free swivel arm that pivots and adjusts for height. Meanwhile, competitor Sharp Systems of America unveiled a 17-inch flat-panel monitor with a high screen resolution. The announcements come as the market for LCD monitors continues to grow. Flat-panel display makers are adding features to distinguish their screens from myriad rival products, while making sure not to tip the balance too far away from the No. 1 priority for consumers: price. http://news.com.com/2100-1040-971181.html?tag=fd_top IBM Liberates the Brain Trust Last week, IBM (IBM) made a startling announcement: Big Blue is pulling some of its best researchers away from their laboratories to create a new research division called On Demand Innovation Services. Instead of focusing on software and hardware development -- the traditional centers of technology research -- the new division will assist IBM employees who provide technology services. In practical terms, that means some of IBM's best brainiacs will be available to meet with clients and assist with service implementations. "We've never seen anything like this before," says Martin Reynolds, a research fellow at Gartner. "This gives IBM something other service organizations don't have." IBM calls the move its "biggest organizational shift" since the early 1990s. http://www.business2.com/articles/we...,45530,FF.html Australia fires up tech anti-terror initiative The Attorney-General's office has teamed up with Queensland-based AusCERT to create a national information security alert scheme, which will lead to the creation of a centralised information source on IT security issues ranging from viral outbreaks to serious hack attacks. The initiative is part of a broader scheme which will also include a national incident-reporting system foreshadowed at the launch of the 2002 Australian Computer Crime and Security Survey in September this year. While the details have yet to be confirmed, a source within AusCERT told ZDNet Australia the group will be promoted as the first line of reporting for IT security breaches and incidents and provide an important information source for the technology community. http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/sec...0270175,00.htm Argentina bets on cyberspace Buenos Aires is the capital of a country that was experiencing its own miniature Latino dot.com boom until the economy here went disastrously wrong. But Argentines in the information technology industry are still optimistic. They say the future opportunities in Spanish-speaking cyberspace are simply too large to ignore. Despite the real world problems with the economy, Argentina's internet world is still growing, with 14% more people online than a year ago, according to local market researchers. "The internet in Argentina created a need for information and, like computers, everybody has to live with it," said Gaston Cardey, a web designer and computer consultant. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2502669.stm Group calls for revamped disaster warnings The diffused emergency warning systems in the United States need to be revamped and include the use of a mandated messaging standard, a panel of emergency-response experts concluded in a report Monday. The panel -- formed of experts in disaster response from the government, academia and the private sectors -- maintained that the current hodge-podge of warning systems, including the Emergency Alert System and the NOAA Weather Radio, don't work well. "While many federal agencies are responsible for warnings, there is no single federal agency that has clear responsibility to see that a national, all-hazard, public warning system is developed and utilized effectively," stated the Partnership for Public Warning in the report, which called for the newly formed Department for Homeland Security to take charge. http://news.com.com/2100-1001-975287.html?tag=cd_mh __________________ This post was sponsored by Netcoco, who wants cookies, cookies, cookies and, you guessed it, more cookies