News From Around The Industry:

•AOL working on patch for IM vulnerability:
AOL is working on a patch for what security researchers are calling a "major vulnerability" in the company's highly popular IM app. Researchers at Core Security Technologies disclosed a bug that they say could severely impact the millions of registered AIM users. The flaw, according to Core Security, would enable a series of attacks -- enabling a remote hacker to execute malicious code, exploit IE bugs, and inject scripting code in the IE browser. "This vulnerability poses a significant security risk to millions of AIM users," said Ivan Arce, CTO at Core Security, in a written statement. "Core Security has alerted AOL to this threat and has provided full technical details about the vulnerability so that they can address it in their products. Since we notified AOL, this vulnerability has emerged on several public bug-tracking Web sites. Therefore, we believe it is necessary to bring precise details about this issue to light immediately, so that AIM users and organizations using AIM can be made aware of the threat, assess their risk, and take the appropriate measures to ensure that they are protected."

•Microsoft investigates blocked patch updates in XP:
Microsoft officials say they are investigating reports that files the company deployed this summer prevent Windows XP users who run a built-in "repair" function from installing as many as 80 of the company's latest security patches. "We are aware of reports about customers not being able to download some updates from Windows Update when using the latest version of the Windows Update client and after reinstalling Windows XP system files from CD," a Microsoft spokesperson said. "We take this issue very seriously and are investigating the root cause of this behavior and what options are available to address it."

•Media Defender still seeding torrents:
After a rather big fallout with hackers breaking into mail servers and taking 700MB of e-mails, it seems that either hackers hijacked the server name and they’re now using MiiVi.org server name for illegal file distribution, or maybe it’s the name for good old spying technology for the users that are downloading the torrent file with MiiVi trackers in them. Sadly for MiiVii.org, this con was caught fast, and torrent engines and users themselves are massively reporting and deleting files that have miivi.org trackers in them. What, they thought no one would notice?

•Minnesota says Sprint duped customers:
Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson sued Sprint Nextel Corp. Thursday, accusing the wireless carrier of extending customers' contracts without their informed consent. Swanson said she had received hundreds of complaints from Minnesota residents, including some who said they were threatened with a $200 cancellation fee for trying to get out of contracts they thought had expired. "The company has used hidden trip wires to trap unwary consumers into lengthy contracts simply because they made small changes in their plan," Swanson said. Some Sprint customers who accepted a "courtesy discount" were unwittingly agreeing to stay with the company longer, according to court papers. Others had contracts extended when they added more minutes to their plans, even though they received assurances the change wouldn't affect their contracts' length.

•Google plan to buy DoubleClick scrutinized in US Senate:
Microsoft urged a US Senate panel to oppose Google's purchase of online ad targeting colossus DoubleClick, arguing that the 3.1 billion dollar deal threatens competition and privacy. "If Google and DoubleClick are allowed to merge, Google will become the overwhelmingly dominant pipeline for all forms of online advertising," Smith told Senator Herb Kohl, chairman of antitrust subcommittee, at a hearing. Google chief legal officer David Drummond defended the deal, countering that the world's leading Internet search engine and DoubleClick were complementary companies and not competitors. "We are confident, and numerous independent analysts have agreed, that our purchase of DoubleClick does not raise antitrust issues," Drummond testified. "The simplest way to look at this is by way of analogy. DoubleClick is to Google what FedEx or UPS is to Amazon.com," he said, referring to the main US package delivery companies and the popular retail website.

•Apple update bricks unlocked iPhones:
Don’t say you weren’t warned. After cautioning customers earlier this week that unlocked iPhones may be disabled when installing future Apple software updates, the company on Thursday made good on its warning. Two iPhones in the Macworld offices that had the SIM hacks applied to them were disabled after installing iPhone Update 1.1.1. The update process went through without a hitch, however, when the phone restarted an activation message appeared that said, “Insert an unlocked and valid SIM to activate iPhone.” A similar message appeared in iTunes. A note saying the SIM card was not valid and to insert a valid SIM card greeted the user. The update also appears to disable the Jailbreak hack which allows users to install unsupported software on the iPhone, security researcher Tom Ferris said. After the 1.1.1 patch was installed it wiped out all of the third-party applications he had installed on a second iPhone, he said.

•Do Walled Gardens Promote Innovation?:
Mike Masnick writes over at TechDirt: "A former chief economist for the FCC, Thomas Hazlett, has written an article claiming that walled gardens promote innovation -- which seems like an extraordinary claim. Unfortunately, he completely fails to back it up in the article itself. Instead, he mostly focuses on why regulating open access in the wireless space doesn't make sense -- a statement we tend to agree with. Regulating mandatory openness is excessive, and hopefully unnecessary as the industry realizes that openness actually provides more value and opportunity. It's on that point that we appear to disagree with Hazlett. He claims that walled gardens are better for innovation, arguing that innovations like the Blackberry and the iPhone came first to US networks because of their closed, rather than open, nature. That's not necessarily accurate. It's much more likely that both came to North America first because both Apple and RIM are based in North America. And, it's worth noting that both have expanded overseas."

•Mobile malware threat 'not high'; give it 20 years, says F-Secure chief:
The threats from mobile malware are not particularly high - and are around 20 years behind those plaguing PCs now, according to F-Secure CEO, Kimmo Alkio. The company has seen a "consistent increase" in mobile malware but does not expect a "dramatic increase" in the near future because the level of mobile security threats is years behind that currently seen on PCs. There are more than 300 virus variants targeting mobile and smart phones but around 400,000 such threats targeting PCs. Mobile security at F-Secure generates a mere one per cent of the company's total revenue, according to Alkio.

•Are We Getting Any Closer To The Wireless Holy Grail?:
TechDirt has the answer: "For years and years we've been hearing about how software-defined radio was the holy grail of wireless technologies. The idea is that the wireless radio is software-based, rather than hardware-based, and therefore can change on the fly. Thus, a single device can, in theory, do a lot more. For example, it could automatically find the best network and switch you to that network, even if it involves a totally different type of network. That's cool in theory, but it's very, very difficult and can lead to a lot of complications. There was a lot of hype about the technology a few years ago, but it's been pretty quiet for a while. That may be changing as Vanu Bose's company is starting to get some new press coverage long after his SDR company first got attention. It doesn't sound like we're really getting anywhere near the big vision of SDR that people talked about half a decade ago. Instead, it's still being used for very basic things. That's not to say it's not a promising, and potentially revolutionary, technology. It's just to note that we're still a very long way from it living up to its potential, even if the press is suddenly writing about it again."

•Verizon Wireless Offers USB Wireless Broadband Modem With Integrated Data Storage:
Verizon Wireless today announced the availability of the USB727 Modem. Developed by Novatel Wireless, the USB727 features an integrated microSD slot, allowing for the seamless storage and transport of up to 4 GB of files, photos or videos. The USB727 is designed to work with any computing device equipped with a Type A USB port - including most desktops, notebooks, and tablet PCs - and provides on-the-go access to Verizon Wireless' national high-speed wireless broadband network. With out-of-box support for most operating systems, including Windows (Vista, XP, 2000), Mac and Linux, the USB727 enables Verizon Wireless customers to stay connected to online resources. Designed to be extremely durable and fit comfortably in any pocket, the USB727 combines a variety of innovative features into its tiny form factor, including an integrated dual-band diversity antennae system with flip-up antennae to maximize data speed performance and provide a strong network signal reception.