As part of its efforts to combat software piracy, Microsoft is testing a new feature on its Download Center website that can lock out pirated copies of Windows.

During the test period, users of Download Center can opt to have the Windows software installed on their PCs validated as genuine. If the operating system is a legitimate copy, users will get access to all Microsoft downloads. If not, they will be shown information on software piracy before they can download the software they selected.

The Download Center offers many Microsoft downloads, including MSN Messenger, Windows Media Player and security updates. However, it is not the same as Windows Update or Automatic Updates, the website and service commonly used to get security fixes and updates from Microsoft. Story continues

A British man has been arrested in connection with the theft of source code from Cisco Systems.

The 20-year-old was arrested on 3 September following police raids on homes in Manchester and Derbyshire.

The man has not been identified or charged and has been bailed pending an appearance in court in November.

The theft of the core software that controls much of the net's hardware came to light in May when it was posted on a Russian website.

more at BBC News

More than 30,000 PCs per day are being recruited into secret networks that spread spam and viruses, a study shows.

Six months ago only 2,000 Windows machines per day were being recruited into these so-called bot nets.

Experts say the numbers are growing quickly because the remotely controlled networks are so useful to people who profit from hacking and virus writing.

The figures came to light in Symantec's biannual Internet Threat Report which traces trends in net security.

more at BBC News

The objective of the survey conducted by IDC was to assess the Internet security behaviour of home users. With a target of 400 respondents this survey explores the awareness of home users with regard to viruses, spam and hacking in order to understand the drivers and inhibitors of Internet security solution usage. All respondents contacted owned a PC and accessed the Net at home

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ABC.Net.au
September 17, 2004

A new computer virus outbreak has emerged that packs a baffling message - a photograph of accused German virus author Sven Jaschan.

Security officials believe this to be a geeky taunt from a rival gang of computer programmers.

Forbes.com
Robert Lenzner Nathan Vardi
09.20.04

Four years ago al Qaeda operatives were taking flying lessons. Today they are honing a new skill: hacking.

It used to be assumed that you couldn't get infected by a virus just by looking at an image on your screen, because programs that display images don't treat the bits that make them up as code.

Tales of infectious images were just horror stories to scare new users with.

Two years ago anti-virus company McAfee got into trouble for claiming that the W32/Perrun virus could infect image files, when in fact it required a separate piece of viral code in order to spread.

But now Microsoft has released details of a major problem the GDI+ graphics system which has turned the story into a rather unpleasant reality.

more at BBC News

Governments and private sector officials from around the world sought ways Thursday to jointly combat cybercrime, whose growth mirrors the phenomenal rise of the Internet's popularity.

At a conference in Strasbourg, organized by the Council of Europe, delegates from Europe, the United States, Australia and China discussed ways on how can national law stop those who commit fraud, spread racism, steal credit card numbers or sell child pornography worldwide.

Opinion: Making spyware illegal may help, but it'll take some new products that can prevent its installation to really protect against it.

WASHINGTON—When the U.S.

By Tom Gibb

Brazil has become the global capital for computer hacking and internet fraud, according to experts meeting in the country's capital, Brasilia.

Some 500 experts from around the world are attending the first international conference to combat electronic crime.

Southcenter gathering designed to explore links, find weaknesses

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
September 13, 2004

Imaginary cyberterrorists last week were engaged in a vicious attack on the Pacific Northwest.

The scenario was played out in a tabletop exercise at a Southcenter hotel meeting room by dozens of government and business leaders from around the region.

National Journal's Technology Daily
GovExec.com
By Sarah Lai Stirland
September 13, 2004

Attorney General John Ashcroft said on Monday that the Justice Department soon will expand its capabilities for pursuing cyber crimes by broadening its forensic analysis capabilities.
The department has five regional centers for such analysis in the prosecution of cyber crimes and will increase the number to 13, he said.

by Jo Best
Or watch your security downtime triple

Software holes will mean security-related downtime will triple by 2008, unless IT managers take matters into their hands.

According to analyst house Gartner, downtime linked to security problems will rise from five per cent to 15 per cent of all downtime, due to the influx of mobile working technologies and a growing dependence among businesses on the internet and web services.

Henry McNeill, CIO at Telstra Europe, said: "If compensation was enforced, vendors would take a more serious approach to security considerations as a matter of necessity."


more at Silicon.com

by Andy McCue

Hackers could exploit content checking and antivirus products...
The body responsible for protecting the UK's critical national infrastructure against electronic attack has issued an urgent alert to users about eight serious new security flaws affecting hundreds of email gateway products.

The vulnerabilities can be exploited with "malformed" subjects using multiple occurrences of fields, non-standard presence of whitespace and non-standard quoting to evade content checking functionality. This could allow malicious code through content filtering and antivirus software.

more at Silicon.com

The ease of purchasing domains, SSL certificates and now Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records under false identification is ridiculously easy and seems to erode, not enhance anti-spam and anti-fraud efforts. Users who look for certificates, "locks" on their browser, use SPF as a filter will be sadly educated as frauds are perpetrated using the so-called authentication assurance methods touted by technology providers.

Israel21c
By Nicky Blackburn
September 12, 2004

Zak Dechovitch, the founder and managing director of tiny five-man start-up SecureOL, has a different approach to computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. Instead of fighting to keep them out, as everyone else is trying to do, he thinks we should just let them come on in.

By Robert Lemos CNET News.com
September 10, 2004
Source ZDNet.com

Security experts warned on Friday that several new versions of MyDoom have surfaced on the Internet, suggesting that worm writers are taking a stab at improving the venerable virus.

The viruses are largely alike: They are designed to spread by attaching copies of the program to e-mail messages and download additional features from compromised Web sites. Moreover, they are all difficult to clean from an infected Microsoft Windows-based PC, because they stop the system from connecting to antivirus Web sites to download updates.

Story Continues

By Andy McCue

Cheeky virus writers have put a secret message in the latest versions of the MyDoom e-mail worm asking antivirus vendors for a job.

MyDoom.V and MyDoom.U contain a malicious e-mail attachment that attempts to download a backdoor Trojan horse called Surila if the recipient tries to open the infected file.

Also secretly embedded inside the malicious code is a message to the antivirus industry: "We searching 4 work in AV industry."

Graham Clulely, senior technology consultant for antivirus firm Sophos, said no one in the industry would "touch them with a bargepole."

more at News.com

by Robert Jaques

UK enterprises are losing the battle against viruses, with many IT managers blaming poor security on senior managers who fail to provide sufficient investment to meet IT security requirements, a survey has claimed.

Email marketing firm emedia said that the survey showed UK companies "sleep walking" as virus and spam attacks increase.

The study suggested that many companies are not planning to invest significantly in IT security.

The survey of 100 UK IT managers and directors across the technology, finance, construction, education, transport, health and telecoms sectors found that 70 per cent will be spending less than £10,000 on IT security this year.

more at VNUNet.com

Rogue diallers and the student allegedly behind the Sasser worm are amongst those nominated as the web's worst villains of 2004.

The awards, organised by technology press group Future Publishing, highlight organisations and services which shaped the net's highs and lows.

Web users can vote for the nominees until 11 October and winners of the Future UK Internet awards will be announced on 11 November.

The awards are now in their third year.

more at BBC News