Security blame game
Though much of the finger-pointing for software vulnerabilities falls on hackers, virus writers and software developers, it may be time to take a closer look at how the PC user also contributes. A treasure trove of personal and corporate information was uncovered on used disk drives by two Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate students. The pair bought 158 disk drives for less than $1,000 on the Web and at swap meets. On those drives, they found more than 5,000 credit card numbers, medical reports, detailed personal and corporate financial information, and several gigabytes worth of personal e-mail and pornography. The students found that 129 of the 158 drives they acquired were still functional. Of these, they found 28 drives in which little or no attempt was made to erase the information. On one drive, the pair found a year’s worth of financial transactions. The drive apparently came from an ATM in Illinois.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-981076.html
Microsoft reveals source code to Russia
Russia has become the first country to get its hands on one of the world's most closely guarded corporate secrets -- Microsoft's blueprint for its Windows operating system, the software giant said Monday. The U.S. software giant announced last week it would reveal its source code to governments to help them protect state software used for tracking personal data, taxes and ensuring national security. "Russia is the first country to sign such an agreement with us, but it will not be the only one," said Olga Dergunova, managing director of Microsoft's Moscow office. Signing on to Microsoft's Government Security Program will allow Russia, and any other signatory, to weave its own technology into Microsoft's Windows platform and adapt Windows to its needs and test its ability to fend off hackers. With this move, Microsoft aims to strengthen its position in government markets, where it faces growing competitive pressure from free open-source software.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-981298.html?tag=fd_top
Net music giveaway plays encore
Major music and technology companies on Monday announced the return of a promotion they tried six months ago that involved the giving away music to attract customers to their nascent Internet music businesses. In an effort to curtail the global outbreak of online piracy, a phenomenon that is chipping into CD sales, the major music labels have launched their own subscription services in the United States and partnered with third parties in America and Europe, including the United Kingdom's OD2. But the industry-backed services, many less than one year old, have had little impact swaying Internet users to abandon free download sites such as Kazaa and Grokster. Despite pending law suits, the free sites continue to operate, serving tens of millions of music fans who trade millions of tracks daily.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-981296.html?tag=fd_top
'DVD Jon' Acquittal Under Appeal
Norwegian prosecutors will appeal the acquittal of a Norwegian teenager charged with digital burglary for creating and circulating a program online that cracks the security codes on DVDs. Rune Floisbonn, a prosecutor with Norway's economic crimes police, told the NTB news agency Monday that an appeal would be filed. He did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press. Jon Lech Johansen, 19, was found innocent of violating Norway's data break-in laws Jan. 7, in a ruling that gave prosecutors two weeks to decide whether to appeal the high profile case. That deadline expires Tuesday.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,57301,00.html
How to Foil Data Thieves, Hackers
A suspected crooked insider at a New York software company sells consumer credit reports to identity thieves, at roughly $30 a pop, in a high-tech scam that prosecutors say victimizes thousands. An unemployed British computer administrator fights extradition to face federal charges in Virginia and New Jersey that he hacked into 92 separate U.S. military and government networks, often getting past easy-to-guess passwords to download sensitive data. These and other recent data intrusions, whose authors are typically intent on theft, sabotage or cyberterrorism, have given rise to a promising profiling-and-reasoning strategy aimed at preventing online break-ins as they happen. Just as authorities use profiling to guard against criminals at ports and borders, researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo are developing software that can generate highly personalized profiles of network users by analyzing the sequences of commands entered at each computer terminal.
http://www.wired.com/news/infostruct...,57302,00.html
Techies and the RIAA: A Telling Truce?
Last week was a big one in tech land -- a slew of almost unanimously positive earnings reports were released, Microsoft announced its first-ever dividend, and AOL Time Warner chairman Steve Case resigned. But one curious event that was buried under the avalanche of other technology news warrants some further attention: an announcement regarding a new "truce" between the Recording Industry Association of America and various tech industry lobbying organizations. The agreement puts an end to the RIAA's attempts to have government-mandated copyright protection embedded in products sold by technology companies. In return, the tech companies -- big names such as Adobe, Apple Computer, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft, represented under the aegis of the Business Software Alliance and the Computer Systems Policy Project -- have agreed to work with the RIAA to craft an industry-based solution to the piracy problem.
http://www.business2.com/articles/we...,46561,00.html
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