
Silicon.com: Patchless Christmas from Microsoft10-Dec-03 7:08 ET
Story Highlights:“Microsoft announced on Tuesday that no security patches would be forthcoming this month. While several new flaws have been announced by researchers, Microsoft said that it is still investigating the issues and doesn’t have a patch prepared for December. ‘It is not that we are not doing anything, it’s just that we don’t have a patch ready in the pipeline,’ said Iain Mulholland, security program manager for Microsoft. He said that the company is putting heavy emphasis on increasing the quality of its patches, and that has had an effect on the release timing.”
WashingtonPost.com: Gov’t Computer Security Lagging – Report9-Dec-03 17:45 ET
Story Highlights:“Most federal government agencies have failed to adequately protect their computer networks from hackers and other online threats, the fourth year in a row that the government has earned low marks on a computer security report card issued by a congressional oversight committee. The Department of Homeland Security — the government’s lead agency on matters of Internet security — led the list of seven federal agencies that earned an ‘F’ grade for their own network security efforts in 2003.”
Full Story on WashingtonPost.com
CNET: Flaw Could Unleash Another Slammer09-Dec-03 21:39 ET
Story Highlights:“A research company warned Tuesday that an attacker could use a recently patched Microsoft flaw to create a fast-moving worm similar to SQL Slammer, which spread rapidly across the Internet a year ago. Core Security Technologies discovered that the Windows Workstation vulnerability announced by Microsoft last month could be exploited using the same type of data used by the SQL Slammer worm to spread across the Internet in just minutes.”
The Register: Mafia Recruiting Spammers, Crackers, AV Chief Warns09-Dec-03 12:33 ET
Story Highlights:“Spammers, beware — organised criminals are positioning themselves to take a slice of your business. Virus writing — once the sole province of hooligans — has edged itself into the arena of organised crime with viruses like Sobig-F that are capable of setting up a spam-sending proxy network.”
ComputerWeekly.com: Chinese Security Standard Could Fracture WiFi, Says IEEE10-Dec-03 7:30 ET
Story Highlights:“The implementation of a Chinese security standard for wireless networking could undermine efforts to develop a global standard for wireless Lans and drive up the cost of networking equipment for end users, warned a senior executive at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The Standardisation Administration of China (SAC) announced the adoption of China’s WLan standard, called GB15629.11-2003, in May.”
Full Story on ComputerWeekly.com
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