Front page stories in newspapers across the globe this past week warned that a flaw in the most popular communications protocol for sending data on the Internet could allow hackers to shut down the Net.
However, as the week progressed, Paul Watson, a security specialist working in Vancouver, British Columbia, stated that reports about the flaw were overblown. He referred to the media reaction as an “inordinate level of attention in respect to the amount of risk.”
Malicious code has been unearthed that can exploit the flaw, but experts say the risk of real-world problems remains fairly low.
It’s always cold and flu season in the computer world. Viruses are a fact of life for any computer connected to the outside world, and even AntiVirus software is no guarantee of a healthy computer, but knowledge is an important key to prevention. A relatively new site, called Viruslist.com, is an excellent source of information.
Although Symantec, the maker of Norton Anti-Virus, does a pretty fine job of providing information about viruses and other malware intruders, they’re not the only kid on the block. Security software vendor Kaspersky Labsmaker, who produce their own Anti-Virus software, have created Viruslist.com, an information and help centre which bills itself as ‘the biggest virus encyclopedia’.
At Viruslist.com, you’ll find a plethora of information on viruses, with entries sorted into categories of viruses and other nasties, ranging from DOS file viruses to macro viruses to Internet worms. There are even sections on Palm Viruses (just one of those exists so far, according to Viruslist.com) and virus hoaxes. The encyclopedia describes both the category and specific known examples of each. Viruslist.com also provides updates on the latest virus threats confronting computer users, in the form of virus alerts, a monthly top-20 virus list (a Billboard-style chart that tracks virus ‘popularity’), and virus-related news stories. There’s even a calendar section that lets you check which viruses are designed to unleash their payloads on a given day.
And early today, from Sophos (another Anti-Virus company), discovery of the first virus capable of infecting JPEG graphic files.
Tim Berners-Lee, the MIT scientist credited with inventing the world wide web, this week became the first recipient of the Millennium technology prize. The Finnish award, which comes with a $1 million (U.S.) cash prize, is among the largest of its kind.
In awarding the prize, committee members acknowledged Berners-Lee’s contribution “for an innovation that directly promotes people’s quality of life, is based on humane values, and encourages sustainable economic development,” underlining the importance of the scientist’s decision to never strive to commercialize or patent his contributions to the Internet technologies he developed.
Berners-Lee is credited with creating the world wide web in the early 1990s while working for the Cern Laboratory, the European centre for nuclear research near Geneva, Switzerland. His graphical point-and-click browser, World Wide Web, was the first client that featured the core ideas included in today’s web browsers.
Future prizes will be awarded every two years.
When Microsoft notified Windows XP users yesterday that Critical Updates were ready to install, through Windows XP’s built-in automatic update facility, it was absolutely critical and necessary that these updates were installed as soon as possible. Quick action is important when it comes to OS updates.
On Tuesday, Microsoft released four security bulletins, three of them critical. The associated patches fix a total of 20 vulnerabilities in Windows and the Outlook Express e-mail programme. The bulletins are part of the company’s regularly scheduled monthly release, but the number of reported vulnerabilities is significantly greater than usual. Click here to get the full list, and, if you’re a Windows user, instructions on downloading the patches. Here’s an AP story by Allison Linn with more details.
