11th October 2002 Archive
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Sendmail Trojan looks familiar
And hard to trace
The Trojan horse discovered in a distribution of the Sendmail open-source e-mail server has striking similarities to a backdoor planted in OpenSSH last summer, according to security experts who've analyzed the code. But missteps in the alerting process may have given the culprits a chance to cover their tracks. The …
Security 11 Oct 2002, 08:37
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Paying for DRM
Letters If only we could...
: Music biz strikes back with free, DRM 'padlocked' downloads WMP users 'wish' for better DRM, wider takeup of WMA O geeks, what has become of us? The geeks are in fine fettle, Tom - get with the program Some very nuanced responses from you in response to the Fair Use debate. Perhaps the point of OD2 is a little more …
Personal 11 Oct 2002, 08:39
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SEC takes belated fraud action against L&H
Blast from the Past
The US Securities and Exchange Commission said yesterday it has filed a lawsuit against defunct language software developer Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV, alleging "fraudulent schemes" that wiped $8.6bn off the company's market value. The complaint claims that L&H, based and listed in Belgium and the US, …
Business 11 Oct 2002, 09:16
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IBM Japan fined for misstating income
Expensive expenses
IBM Corp's Japanese subsidiary has been fined in approximately JPY 1.5bn ($12.1m) and forced to pay taxes relating to JPY 3bn ($24.3m) in revenue that was hidden by the company over three years, according to Japanese reports. A spokesperson for the Tokyo-based subsidiary has confirmed that IBM Japan has paid back taxes for …
Business 11 Oct 2002, 09:16
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NAI posts profit on revenue up 13%
Good Q
Network Associates Inc has reported net income of $9m for its third quarter, ended September 30, on revenue up 13% at $232.2m, including revenue from its recently reacquired McAfee.com Inc subsidiary. The Santa Clara, California-based security software and services vendor's net income compared with a net loss of $11.3m on …
Business 11 Oct 2002, 09:16
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Security tops list of reasons not to deploy Web Services
Future proofing
End-to-end security of web services forms the most significant barrier to implementation by organizations, but this is not expected to hinder future development. A biannual survey of North American developers by Evans Data found 24% of respondents list security concerns as the number one reason for not rolling out web …
e-Business 11 Oct 2002, 09:17
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Microsoft Passport boost through limited code access
Pseudo open source initiative
Source code from Microsoft Corp's .NET Passport online authentication service is to be turned loose under a pseudo open source initiative, a move the company claimed will assist development of .NET applications. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft yesterday announced code for its Passport Manager would be released to …
Software 11 Oct 2002, 09:17
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Intel to appeal $150m Itanium patent ruling
Intergraph wins latest round
Intel Corp is to appeal a judge's ruling yesterday that its Itanium processors infringe on patents owned by Intergraph Corp, risking an additional $100m payout on top of the $150m it has already agreed to pay Intergraph, Kevin Murphy writes Texas District Court Judge John Ward ruled that two Intergraph US patents are " …
Channel 11 Oct 2002, 09:19
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AIX 5.2 provides dynamic partitions, other tweaks
Works with Power4
IBM Corp will today roll out the software that will enable its Power4-based AIX servers to make use of dynamic logical partitions. These have been available for decades on its mainframes and since 1999 on its AS/400-iSeries line, writes Timothy Prickett Morgan. The dynamic logical partitioning support which is built into …
Servers 11 Oct 2002, 09:50
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102 ways to kill your computer
Update 2 This guy melted a NeXT Cube with a blow torch
Thanks to everyone who sent us their killer computer links. We've compiled them all at the end of this article for ease of reference. NeXT please The casings for NeXT Cubes are as light as plastic (reader Sean Lukes writes), but phenomenally difficult to destroy, as they are made out of solid magnesium. Yet when he was a …
Bootnotes 11 Oct 2002, 09:54
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Outlook Express in crypto processing flaw
Lookout Express
Code used to authenticate messages to Outlook Express users might be turned against them by attackers to run hostile code on victims' machines. Microsoft's latest security advisory warns that a buffer overflow flaw in the Outlook Express S/MIME parsing functions "could enable system compromise". Redmond has issued a patch. Yes …
Security 11 Oct 2002, 10:49
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Is this the end for .net.uk?
'Pointless' domain living on borrowed time
The second level domain .net.uk may be dead before Christmas due to underuse, thanks to the changing Internet world. A recent subcommittee of Nominet's Policy Advisory Board (PAB) concluded that it had outgrown its use and should be shut down to new applicants, with existing domains maintained until renewal, and then removed …
Music and Media 11 Oct 2002, 12:25
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Channel mired in networking depression
Where's the Prozac when you need it?
The networking market remains in a state of deep depression, with recovery not expected until the second half of 2003, and resellers in particular feeling the pain. A survey published by channel analysts Global Touch tells a story of declining volume, compressed gross margins, and flat 'add-on' sales. Telco-orientated …
Channel 11 Oct 2002, 13:32
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HP reaches out with software strategy
Partners galore
As the world moves down the road to a web services based future, HP, like every other vendor, is making its play in the big exciting world of applications on demand. Rather than setting up as a jack-of-all-trades, the new HP is collaborating and playing to its strengths in its latest web services software strategy. First, there …
Hardware 11 Oct 2002, 14:22
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Office 11 Beta due within a month
Ballmer jumps the gun ever so slightly
The next version of Microsoft Office - codenamed office 11 - is not yet in beta, says Microsoft, but it is due within a month, Alun Williams writes. Yesterday Steve Ballmer announced that Microsoft already had the next Office release in beta, but this is not quite the case. 'We're not in beta yet', the Microsoft Office XP …
Software 11 Oct 2002, 14:23
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Mobile phone growth to stagnate in Europe
Slow crawl
Western Europe's mobile phone market will stagnate at around the 300 million mark, says a new report. According to UK telecoms consultancy Analysys, mobile subscriber numbers in Western Europe have grown by only three percent in the first six months of the year and this will reach just six percent by year-end. This is down from …
Mobile 11 Oct 2002, 14:25
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US tech job losses slowing?
Getting worse at a slower pace
The number of job losses in the US tech sector have hit staggering levels through the first half of this year. A report from the AEA, the American Electronics Association, shows that in the first few months as many as 113,000 employees were shown the door in one way or another. But hope is at hand - the organisation reckon that …
Business 11 Oct 2002, 14:30
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Who will buy O2?
Opinion Looking frail
Simon Rockman is the publisher of What Mobile, a monthly magazine/buyer's guide for people interested in mobile phones. The bursting of the telecoms bubble and the huge amounts paid for 3G licences are problems, which fed of each other. The effect will be felt for decades, perhaps even centuries. It's inviting future ridicule …
Mobile 11 Oct 2002, 15:32
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Todmorden might not get broadband
ISPs slow to pass on vital information
There are fears that Todmorden in West Yorkshire might not be upgraded to DSL because some ISPs are failing to pass on information to BT Wholesale. Last month Todmorden became the first exchange in the UK to hit the threshold in a demand-led initiative to get areas without broadband upgraded to xDSL. ISPs then had six weeks to …
Telecoms 11 Oct 2002, 15:34
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BTo admits ‘oversight’ in Todmorden pre-registration initiative
Fails to process orders vital for ADSL upgrade
BTopenworld has admitted that it has so far failed to process any orders as part of a demand-led initiative to convert exchanges to DSL. The broadband pre-registration system was put in place earlier this year by BT Wholesale to map demand for broadband in areas that are not currently served by DSL. The idea is that if enough …
Telecoms 11 Oct 2002, 15:38
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BTo takes ADSL to the high street
Well, some high streets
BTopenworld has teamed up with high street electrical retailer Maplin to show off its business-class broadband service. SMEs will be able try out the service before deciding whether they want to fork out for the high-speed Net access. What's more, with more than 65 retail stores and in excess of 400,000 customers in the UK, …
Telecoms 11 Oct 2002, 15:38
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Gio Internet in Pipex plagiarism row
'Mistake'
The boss of Gio Internet claims that the appearance of Pipex's Ts&Cs on his ISP's Web site was "a mistake". ADSL Guide reports that Gio's Ts&Cs look similar to Pipex's, except for in the place of the word "Pipex" it reads "Gio Internet". The giveaway, it seems, is the inclusion of the term "Public IP Exchange Limited" - the …
Telecoms 11 Oct 2002, 15:38
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Scottish ISP in repeat DDoS attack
Again, and again and again
Edinburgh-based ISP edNET was hit by a distributed denial of service attack, again. The attack started yesterday morning, and continued throughout the day, continuing until late afternoon today. Residual problems still remain. EdNET's customer status page said that the attack was minor but customers tell us that they have lost …
Telecoms 11 Oct 2002, 15:38
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Messenger users get Henpecked
Childish tricks part 94
Virus writers have targeted MSN Messenger users with a childishly transparent, but at least partially effective, piece of social engineering. The Henpeck (or Rodok) worm began circulating to MSN Messenger users earlier this week inviting users to download and feedback on the 'readme' file of a program. The link contained in …
Malware 11 Oct 2002, 17:25
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Introducing the latest hacker exploit: War Phoning
Bluetooth bites
Bluetooth-enabled phones and PDAs with inadequate security could become the target of the next wave of security exploits, allowing phreakers to filch confidential information or even make calls using someone else's identity. Such War Phoning exploits, as they have been dubbed, arise because security features on Bluetooth- …
Security 11 Oct 2002, 17:46
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Carly's bananas to worry about Dell ink
Letters And a gentle Linux corrective
Quick question for you, by way of introduction:- What happens to naughty children who ring doorbells and run away? They grow up to become Fed Ex delivery agents! Here at The Register's West Coast Bureau, we're gathering delivery notices faster than we gather parking tickets, and that's saying something when you live slap bang …
Letters 11 Oct 2002, 19:01
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NEC chip heretic was not Fisted
Tall man implicated in tall tale
We reported here that an outspoken critic of Itanium at NEC Leonard Tsai had lost his job because of remarks made about the troubled processor. Tsai's tall tale implicated a very tall man: Intel server chief "Iron" Mike Fister, an affable chap who earned his Register nickname "The Fist", after his bonecrushing handsake at a …
Channel 11 Oct 2002, 20:02
