Authorities Break 'LoveBug' Author's Heart
The author of the worst virus spread in history has been detained by Phillipino authorities. The 27-year old China Bank employee was arrested at his home today, after authorities searched his house and seized as many as 17 items, none of them being a computer. After three days of investigation, and original thoughts that the author may be a woman, Romel Lamores was taken into custody by authorities under the Access Device Act, which allowed them to obtain the original search warrant. Crimes under this law carry a maximum 20-year jail sentence. Lamores' 23-year old girlfriend is expected to turn herself in sometime today as well, as authorities believe her computer was used to launch the virus.
One of the key pieces of evidence involves the password-stealing trojan entitled WIN-BUGSFIX.exe. This trojan, created in January of this year by a user with the alias Spyder, appears to be an important part of the ILOVEYOU virus.
IE5 Browser 'Bug' Detected; E-mail Passwords At Risk?
A Seattle glitch hunter says he has found a security flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5 browser that makes it possible for a hacker to use a Web page they designed to gather such sensitive data as a Web surfer's browser history, or even their e-mail passwords.
Bennett Haselton, who is both an anti-censorship advocate and a glitch hunter, has posted a demonstration of the problem on his Peacefire.org site, (http://www.peacefire.org), which normally is devoted to efforts blocking censorship of content to and from young people. It now contains links to three Internet hacking "exploits," or security risks, that Haselton has uncovered since April 24.
Napster Loses First Round Of Copyright Suit
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has won the first round in its lawsuit against Napster, Inc. the online service that allows consumers to download software, enabling them to share MP3 music recordings with each other over the Internet.
On late Friday afternoon, Chief Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (San Francisco), rejected Napster's claim that it was protected from liability for copyright infringement by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 on the basis that it was acting like an ISP (Internet service provider) in providing its music sharing service.
Microsoft Teams With Atmel on Secure Smart Card Systems
Software giant Microsoft has announced a three-year deal with Atmel Corporation, makers of non-volatile memory and RF semiconductors, to produce a secure Smart Card system. Using Microsoft's newly developed Windows for Smart Cards and Atmel's AT90SC AVR family of flash-based Smart Card ICs, the pair plans to make waves in the e-commerce pool and bring security to online transactions with the Smart Card.
In the deal, Microsoft will create development tools for implementation on the Atmel hardware. Tools will include a Visual Basic and Visual C++ application builders, a platform builder, custom module APIs, compilers, and a testing system for Smart Card certification. It will also include the ISO 7816 communications protocol and several payment systems amongst other things.
Apache Web Site Hacked
In an attack earlier this week, a group of users appparently hacked the Apache Web site and placed an advertisement for Microsoft rival software on the main page. The group was deemed "white hats" or helpful hackers, by Apache officials due to the fact that the group then told the company how it used exploits in the software to gain access to the server. Rasmus Lerdorf, a member of the board of directors for the Apache Software Foundation, stated the group, "seemed friendly" and that the amount of damage was mild. Visit Apache.org for more information.
CDNow Not Dead Yet
A Mexican billionaire named Carlos Slim Helu has put the brakes on the crash and burn of CDNow, the popular online retailer of CDs and other music related items. With an already promised investment of $52.8 million, equating to 9.2% of the company, Helu is discussing the possibility of an even further investment in the failing firm. Current funds will keep CDNow afloat at least until the end of the second quarter, President and CEO of CDNow Jason Olim says, at which time they hope to have the investment agreements completed with Helu. Visit CDNow for more information.
ILOVEYOU Virus Mutating - 10 Variants; More To Come
It's now clear that the original ILOVEYOU worm, apparently created by a 23- year-old Filipino and e-mailed out at around 03:00 GMT Thursday, is the worst virus outbreak on record.
Latest reports from Symantec (http://www.symantec.com ) confirm that 10 variants, other than the original, are now in active circulation, masquerading as jokes, Mother's day gift orders, for example.
Subscriptions to Listen to Music?
After MP3.com was found guilty of copyright violations last week it was forced to regroup and come up with a way to circumvent those issues while still providing digital music to Web surfers everywhere. Its solution, a subscription based service where users pay a small fee for the ability to listen to music over the Internet.
Today, Sony announced that it would team with Universal Music to launch a similar service, whereby users can access music and video both streaming and possibly for download. Users will not only have access from their home PCs, but also with wireless devices such as handhelds, and set-top boxes.
Web Companion Flaw Discovered
Filemaker, maker of the database software Web Companion for Apple, has reported that a glich in the popular software may allow unauthorized access to any database posted to the Internet using its software. Blue World Communications made a press release detailing the issue yesterday, and Filemaker immediately began working on a solution to the problem. No incidents have been reported yet, and the company suggests changing access levels and passwords until the fix for the problem is available next week.
Excite Mobile Service Launched
Ten weeks after launching its mobile Internet service in the UK, ExciteAtHome has today unveiled its US service for mobile users. Known as Excite Mobile, the US service is HDML (handheld markup language)-compliant, rather than WML (wireless markup language)- compliant, as is the case with the UK service. This means that, while the UK service is limited to WAP (Wireless Application Protocol)-enabled mobile phones, the US service will be accessible to mobile Internet-enabled devices, such as the Palm PDA (personal digital assistant) series and two-way HDML-compliant pagers, as well as the growing based of Internet-enabled mobile phones.
Karen Snow, a spokesperson for ExciteAtHome, told Newsbytes that the US service, like the UK service, will be free-to-access for the time being, but the company is looking at the possibility of launching a number of add-on pay-for services.
Quicken2001 Beta Testing Open
Intuit, Inc. has begun recruiting for beta testing of its flagship program Quicken2001, code-named Tycho. The testing will begin in May and end in August. Users will need to fill out a short application to become eligible. Visit the Intuit Beta Testing site for more information, or sign up now.
MP3.com Found In Violation Of Copyright Laws
A Federal District Court Judge has today found that the Internet-based music service, MP3.com, is liable for infringing on the copyrights of the members of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). According to an Associated Press report, the order by United States District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff, is being seen as a blow to the San Diego-based online music firm that allows users of allows users of its Web site to hear music and add to their personal music play list.
The RIAA, as well as various music artists, has contended that the MP3 business model did infringe on copyrighted protected recorded music.
Microsoft Reveals Details About Office 2001 - For Mac
Last week several details concerning new features in the Macintosh Edition of Microsoft Office on the Mactopia Web site. Today, Microsoft officially commented on several of the new features, including tools to simplify e-mail management more than ever. The suite, which is expected to be released concurrently with Mac OS X, boasts enhancements and capabilities not yet found in the Windows version of Office.
The newest version enhances autocomplete options by saving the most recently used addresses, including ones not found in the users address book. By integrating Microsoft Word functions into e-mail composition, users find that mispellings in their messages will now be highlighted by the well-known red line. Other enhancements also improve e-mail management and other related tasks.
Intel Celeron - Meet AMD's Duron
In an effort to provide consumers with a high quality, low priced processor, Advanced Micro Devices today introduced its newest processor, the Duron. Coming this summer at speeds faster than the top-of-the-line K6-2, which peaked out at 550MHz, the Duron will be available in sub-$1000 PCs.
A child of the Athlon processor, the Duron offers lower clock speeds and lower L2 cache, and will use Socket A technology to attach to the motherboard. It also features a lower 200MHz bus speed and 128KB on-die cache, and is built on AMD's 0.18 micron manufacturing process.
Private MS Lawsuits To Be Heard In One Court
A panel of federal judges has reportedly ordered that 27 private antitrust lawsuits filed in 17 different federal jurisdictions against Microsoft Corp. will be handled by a single court in Baltimore.
A report in today's Wall Street Journal said that US District Judge J. Frederick Motz will coordinate pretrial activities for the suits. The judiciary panel decided that centralizing the lawsuits, at least for the present, will "promote the just and efficient conduct of the litigation" because testimony by experts is expected to "overlap substantially."
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