Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 07 Issue 48
Volume 7, Issue 48 Atari Online News, Etc. November 25, 2005
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2005
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
Kevin Savetz
Fred Horvat
To subscribe to A-ONE, change e-mail addresses, or unsubscribe,
log on to our website at: www.atarinews.org
and click on "Subscriptions".
OR subscribe to A-ONE by sending a message to: dpj@atarinews.org
and your address will be added to the distribution list.
To unsubscribe from A-ONE, send the following: Unsubscribe A-ONE
Please make sure that you include the same address that you used to
subscribe from.
To download A-ONE, set your browser bookmarks to one of the
following sites:
http://people.delphiforums.com/dpj/a-one.htm
http://www.icwhen.com/aone/
http://a1mag.atari.org
Now available:
http://www.atarinews.org
Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
http://forums.delphiforums.com/atari/
=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0748 11/25/05
~ Spyware Foes Push Law! ~ People Are Talking! ~ CCAG 2005 Update!
~ Browser Makers Agree! ~ Band Against Phishing! ~ Sony BMG Sued!
~ Sony Losing Gaming War? ~ 360 Reselling on eBay! ~ FBI Scam Alert!
~ Nigerian Scam Busted! ~ Hackers Hitting Apps! ~ No More Dots?!
-* Desktop Configurator Released *-
-* Kazaa Given Deadline, and Extension *-
-* New Web Mail Is More Polished and Powerful *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Ahhhhhhh!! I normally try to put my comments together on Thursday nights,
but last night I was pleasantly recovering from our Thanksgiving feast! Our
turkey this year came out really well - definitely in the top 5 best birds
of my Thanksgiving "career"! It was just my wife and I this year,
accompanied by the two 4-legged kids. None of the family felt up for
travelling, so it was just us. Not to many complaints here because there
are now more leftovers for us! But, I did miss the opportunity to spend
some holiday celebration with family. After all, that is the holiday
tradition.
So, while I regale in more turkey and fixins' leftovers, let's get right to
this week's issue. And while we do, I'll loosen up a notch or two!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
Desktop Configurator Released
Simon Sunnyboy / Paradize has announced:
The Desktop Configurator has been released.
A small utility which allows you to select one of up to 10 individual
DESKTOP.INF (or NEWDESK.INF) files from the AUTO folder of your hard disc
so you can boot into a custom tailored desktop, e.q. one for games, one
for coding, one for tools,etc..
Check http://paradize.atari.org/
This tool only manages selection of the DESKTOP.INF and nothing more.
Most AUTO folder and DESKTOP.INF management tools offered too many
unneeded features for me so I wrote this one. If it is of any use, feel
free.
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE User Group Notes! - Meetings, Shows, and Info!
"""""""""""""""""""""""
CCAG Show: December 4, 2005
CCAG Show Rescheduled to December 4, 2005
As some of you may be aware, we are allowed the use of the National Guard
Armory in Lorain, Ohio because one of our committee members is a member of
the National Guard. This allows us to hold this event very inexpensively
and free to vendors and attendees. In order for us to hold CCAG at the
National Guard Armory in Lorain, he must attend the event. Unfortunately,
Hurricane Rita activated the National Guard unit that he is in which meant
he was unavailable for the now previously scheduled event date of
October 22, 2005.
We have rescheduled the show to December 4, 2005, and have announced it via
our email mailing lists and on this website.
Link: http://www.ccagshow.com/
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. I sit here, Thanksgiving evening, stuffed
after a delicious dinner of turkey with all the fixin's.
I'll forgo my usual holiday speech about how much I love turkey... but I
do. <grin>
Anyway, as I sit here trying to justify the level of gluttony that I
tend to achieve each holiday, I think back to the year that's past
since the last Thanksgiving. It's been many things, but 'uneventful'
wasn't one of 'em.
There have, of course, been highs and lows throughout the past year, and
we've muddled through the lows and soared through the highs. My
father-in-law passed away earlier this year, and we're still smarting
from that, but all in all, we're doing okay. And, even if we were doing
as poorly as we possibly could, we'd still be in a lot better shape
than a majority of people all over the world. That's a sobering
revelation. It makes it all the more important that we stop and give
thanks for all that we have. When I stop and add it all up, it's hard
to come to any conclusion other than that I'm one of the luckiest
EssOhBe's in the world.
Okay, enough of that. Let's get to the news, hints, tips and info
available on the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
'Phantom' asks about system disks for different Atari computers:
"Is there a Atari CD that contains all or most, System Disks
for each Atari ST Computer?
Or maybe a Online Site that has most all Atari Computer
System Disk software?
I am mostly looking for the System Disks for an Atari Stacey.
Could also use the manual."
Peter Schneider tells Phantom:
"I don't think anybody needs a system disk for an Atari Computer. The
system is to be found in the ROM chips.
As far as I remember, the ancient system disks just provided BASIC or
LOGO, but no interesting soft.
And because Atari (yes, the brand still exists) or its buyer still
holds the TOS' copyright, I'm afraid that there will be no such disk.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
'TJ' tells Phantom and Peter:
"I don't think there is a problem with downloading Atari ST System disks
as there is nothing more than BASIC, LOGO or HDx on it and they all
came with every ST computer anyhow, so there should be no problem as
long as the user has a ST computer. TOS ROM code on the other hand, is
copyrighted as that is the actual OS which is burned in ROM. The only
computer that loaded TOS from disk was the very early 520ST computer,
and that TOS is very buggy and pre 1.0 anyhow."
Phantom tells TJ:
"I have been looking for that old TOS Disk that I have.
As I said before, one can use it on a TOS 1.62 STE to run some very
early games and programs that will not work on TOS 1.62.
Crash Garrett is one game I remember that would not work on my STE
unless I booted up the old Tos disk first.
And I am fairly sure that the version of that TOS wasn't pre .99.
It was 1.something. Don't recall the version, but am looking for the
disk to make sure.
It wasn't a System Disk. It was Grey and had TOS in big letters
written across the label.
If I do find it, not sure that I will upload it, if there's a conflict
about ownership and etc. Even though ever Atari ST program out there
has been copied and put into files for use on PC ST emulators.
Even several versions of TOS on chips were made into images.
I personally don't like the idea of using TOS chip Image Copies
on PCs. Why not just get a ST or STE and use it instead. But that's my
opinion."
Phantom now asks about using a flat screen (LCD) monitor with his Falcon:
"I am looking to update a few of my Monitors to Flat screens and was
wondering if any are made that will support the the lower RGB ST
Resolutions and still work fine with the Falcons VGA Resolutions and
enhanced Resolutions. Anyone know of a Brand and Model that will do
this?"
Ronald Hall tells Phantom:
"This is something that I've been looking at long and hard as well. What
I've found so far, is that some of the newer LCD TVs that can double as
computer monitors (with resolutions 1024x768 and higher) *should* fit
the bill. Unfortunately, they are rather expensive! From Google
searches I've seen models that actually list a horizontal freq of 15khz
(which is what is required for RGB stuff).
Try entering "15khz LCD TV" at Google, and you should get some of the
same results I did. I checked through several brands and models. The
cheapest I could find was 15" models for around $500-600 or so..."
Daniel Mandic tells Ronald:
"Hey man.... for this Money I could buy two of the 70CM (28") TV-Set, I
use now (249 bucks "Welltech" at "LIDL" Foundation). With Black-Matrix
CRT and Philips Tuner integrated. The Tuner is surprisingly working
very well, obviously bez of Philips.
Well, the Technology seems to be from the late eighties (Circuitry,
Schematics etc.), but the TV is new, of course. The Picture is nearly
as good, as my old (still working) Philips TV (also a Valvo-Tube
integrated - already). The Philips is so old, I connected every HC I
know (had/have) of. I got it 1983 :-) , at this time such tech costs
about 1000 bucks. Today you can get it for the half-price. The best
Tech till now, for watching TV, IMHO. Plasma does not endure the
quarter of the time my Phillips does, and still do so :-) . LCD is
nothing to speak of. Beamers are nice but make also clunky LCD pictures
and need every 1000h a new lamp, nothing for people letting the TV-Set
running for many hours a day.
Well, LCD is at least economic (lower power consumption) for
longtime-watcher, but you have to sit like an Elk in front of the
screen to see something. Or a Remote controlled LCD Swivel-Arm ;-)
Paying 500 bucks for a Micky Mouse-Screen and such a low-tech (256
color information) is below my understanding. Why pushed the Industry
the PC to make colors beyond 24bit, when they make afterwards such a
low-quality monitoring of that :-) ????
Well, It's sharper O.K. But did the PC industry not try to make smooth
edges (pixel), going with computers? And now all this pixxy, clunky
stuff comes back!? Investing GHz of CPU Power to anti-aliase it
afterwards. I do that with my CRT and the Aperture Grill. Mechanical
Anti-aliasing is the real Stuff.
This all is for me a fundraising campaign. ;-).... Not with me.
P.S.: The TV mentioned is fully digitally outfitted (where digital
should be, hehe), with all controls needed. PIP!, Teletext. Receives
smooth, afterglowed and fast analog Television, from the best analog
TV-Stations of the World. PAL+, NTSC, PAL, 3 Scart, 1 Video IN, 1
S-video In, etc etc etc.... dark, black picture...depth of field, of
course due to Analog TV."
Ronald tells Daniel:
"Daniel, thank you for that information. Unfortunately, from all that, I
wasn't able to ascertain one thing - does it work with both (s)VGA and
RGB modes on the Falcon? Also, I would find it rather difficult to put
a 28" model on top of my Falcon Rack case. :-(
I mean, without changing monitors, can you boot up to an SVGA screen,
then run an RGB demo (say Hydroxyd or somesuch) without having to day
anything else?
That was really what I was talking about.
Also, from the tech-specs on the models I was looking at, they achieve
far greater colors than just 8bit/256..."
Daniel tells Ronald:
"Yes, I understood. Well, what about a Multisync 15-38KHz, 50-100HZ
(85-90 nominal) or so. I saw Industry Monitors, ranging from 7-28
inches. B/W, color... everything. The Case is ugly, but the CRT are
best. Black Matrix etc... Multisync!!
The 28" one makes 15-40KHz... I could connect many different computer.
Also PC-Games, as I play mostly 640x480 or 800x600. No VGA to RGB
Converter needed anymore :-) Just connect a VGA-Plug and don't go over
38 (40) KHz."
Stephen Moss asks about how to get a "modern" operating system to
recognize 720K floppies:
"I seem recall that someone posted some instructions for getting XP to
recognize 720K floppies without having to set up a second OS. I know I
printed to instructions out but seem to have lost them so if anyone
out there know the answer could you please either post it again or
E-Mail the instructions to me."
'Chris' tells Stephen:
"I think the article was for formatting 720K not reading them in XP. As
long as its formatted 720K on the PC then there shouldn't be any
problems. XP itself does not seem to want to support 720K formats
which is a little sad really."
Greg Goodwin adds:
"I wonder if there are freely distributable utilities for WinXP that can
format in 720K. WinXP does appear to read the format well enough...
Except that I am told by a tech acquaintance that some of the newer
drives don't bother checking format and assume that all disks are
1.44k. I do hope he's wrong."
Steve Sweet tells Greg and Chris:
"One of them utilities is the Command-line format command
Format /T:Tracks /N:Sectors "
Chris adds this tidbit:
"http://www.cps-electronics.co.uk/temp/a-720k.zip
quick zip with a batch file, 1 liner, very easy "
Ronald Hall now asks about swapping out hard drives:
"I just bought a Mega STe, with a small internal HD. I've got a 4 gig
SCSI drive that I would like to swap out. The original drive has
Atari's AHDI driver on it, the 4 gig has HDDriver v8.15 or so.
Is there any reason why I just can't swap (physically) hard drives out?
The 4 gig HD has been formatted and run under TOS 1.04 while, of course,
the Mega STe has TOS v2.06.
PS The Mega STe is nice! Built like a tank."
Dr. Uwe Seimet, author of HD Driver, tells Ronald:
"In order to access more than the first GByte of this drive you need an
ICD compatible host adapter. With the original MegaSTE adapter you
cannot access more than the first GByte of a SCSI drive."
Ronald asks Uwe:
"Hmm, so does one have to disable the internal Mega STe adaptor? If so,
how do you do that? Could you simply unplug the internal hard drive,
and plug up an ICD adapter/hard drive to the Mega STe's ASCI port and
go?"
Uwe explains:
"Yes, I think this is the way to go. If you have an external ICD
compatible adapter you should be able to simply connect your drive to
this adapter instead of the internal adapter."
'Phantom' tells Ronald:
"Depending on how you want to use the Drives, you could use the small
internal drive as a boot drive and still connect the Larger Drive to the
DMA port using a ICD Link II/Link 97. That's what I did with mine.
And it is probably possible to Boot off the external Drive while having
a internal one installed. I think ICDs software allows this, Not sure
if HD Driver does. You may have to use a Setup Disk in the internal
disk drive to do that.
I had something setup like this before when using the Spectre GCR
cartridge. I had a hard drive just for it and booted up that drive only
when I wanted to use the GCR cart. on the MSTE. Can this be done with
HD Driver Uwe?"
Uwe replies:
"Any driver most likely supports this, even AHDI. TOS scans any hard
disk drive for an executable root sector and it executes the first
executable root sector it finds. Usually the code on this sector then
initiates the bootstrapping of the actual hard disk driver."
Well folks, that's it for this week. It's time for me to sit back and
wonder why I always over-do it when having a turkey dinner. I sincerely
hope that you who observe the holiday had a happy, healthy and safe
day. 'Till next time, keep your ears open so that you'll hear what
they're saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Sony Losing Grip In Console War?
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" XBox Owners Reselling on eBay!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Sony May Lose Grip in Next Game Consoles War
Sony Corp., the maker of Playstation game consoles, may lose its iron grip
on the market for game machines as rival Microsoft Corp. launches a new
model just in time for the holiday season.
Microsoft's new Xbox 360 will debut in the United States on Tuesday and in
Europe and Japan in December, while Sony is not expected to launch its
upgraded Playstation, PS3, until next spring.
Analysts and game fans say PS3 is the sexier game machine with twice the
processing speed of Xbox 360, next-generation DVD technology Blu-ray, and
seven control pads that can connect wirelessly to the console.
But Xbox 360 will have the advantage of being in time for the holidays with
an initial line-up of 18 games including surefire hits like "Need for Speed
Most Wanted," "Ridge Racer 6" and "Madden NFL 06."
Sony, the world's second-largest consumer electronics maker that dominates
the console market with its Playstation 2 (PS2), may lose more than 20
percentage points of its 70 percent market share with much of that going
to Microsoft.
"The risks are surprisingly higher than people think because unless they
can replicate its 70 percent dominant market position, things are going to
be very difficult for them going forward," said Hiroshi Kamide, a
Tokyo-based game analyst for KBC Securities.
Sony has a market share of roughly 70 percent and Microsoft and Nintendo
Co. Ltd., which plans to launch its upgraded version some time next year,
each hold 15 percent each.
The risks to the company's healthiest business would come at a time when
the overall group is struggling to turn itself around after its mainstay
consumer electronics business stumbled.
Wedbush Morgan Securities said in an industry report in July that it
expected worldwide PS3 and Xbox 360 sales to be tied at 23 million units
each in 2007.
Sony said it was not concerned.
"We will launch according to our own agenda and strategy," said a
spokeswoman for Sony Computer Entertainment, adding that it planned to
compete this year with a diverse line-up of PS2 and Playstation portable
games.
Sony has not disclosed the price of its PS3, but analysts expect it to be
the most expensive console ever, costing as much as $500 versus PS1 and
PS2's $300 price tag when they debuted in the United States in 1995 and
2000.
Microsoft, which aims to get its consoles into living rooms around the
world this holiday season and build momentum by Christmas 2006, is offering
a $300 and $400 package for Xbox 360.
A year from now, Microsoft is likely to be hitting its stride with even
more games that take fuller advantage of the new machine's fast speed while
Sony is still working on gaining momentum, analysts say.
"PS3 will do very well, but it's said that development costs will be high
and it'll take longer to make games, so it's likely that it won't have a
full line-up of games until the end of 2006 or the beginning of 2007,"
said Hirokazu Hamamura, president of Enterbrain, the publisher of leading
game magazine Famitsu.
The quality of the game line-up can make or break a console's popularity.
The Playstation series have remained at the top of the market because of
the high quality of games whereas the first Xbox is said to have failed in
Japan when it launched in February 2002 because of the lack of appealing
games.
Despite the possibility of losing market share, analysts say not all is bad
for Sony which plans to introduce its advanced "cell chip" in the console.
The cell chip is significantly more powerful than Intel Corp.'s Pentium 4,
the most common chips for PCs and game machines.
Sony plans to use the chip in other electronics such as home servers and
flat televisions. The company could also sell its chip to other
manufacturers.
Sony's game unit reported a 79 percent rise in revenues to 214.2 billion
yen in the July to September quarter, outpacing the financial unit, whose
revenues rose by 40 percent.
Sony's game business accounts for about 12.6 percent of the group's total
revenues, and it has sold 102.5 million Playstations and 96 million PS2
machines to date.
"Sony has to launch a new game machine every four, five or six years to
maintain the game division's strength," said Koichi Hariya, senior analyst
at Mizuho Securities, adding that PS3 is likely to be less profitable than
the earlier versions because it is pricier to make and the price will make
it less affordable for some consumers.
"One of Sony's strengths is that it has an operation like the game business
where, at the peak, it can sell 20 million units per year," said Hariya.
Xbox 360 Buyers Resell Product on eBay
Forget day trading - the best way to make a buck this holiday season may be
to flip your Xbox 360.
Some people fortunate enough to get their hands on Microsoft Corp.'s new
videogame console when it was released Tuesday immediately resold them on
eBay, occasionally fetching thousands of dollars for packages that
sometimes also included games and other add-ins.
The online auction site said about 1,800 Xbox 360s were sold there between
midnight and noon Pacific time Tuesday. Retailers across the country had
opened their doors at midnight so gaming enthusiasts - and, apparently,
entrepreneurial eBay users - could get their hands on the console
immediately after it came out.
Internet retailer Amazon.com Inc. and the Web sites for Circuit City Stores
Inc., Best Buy Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. all listed the consoles as
being sold out Tuesday. Best Buy spokesman Jay Musolf said the company also
sold out of the consoles at most of its brick-and-mortar stores Tuesday.
EBay said the average price for consoles, including those sold with games
and other add-ons, was $660. However, the company said some console
packages were selling for as much as $2,500, with bidding and sales prices
varying widely.
The North American retail price for the consoles is $399.99, while a
slimmed-down version without a detachable hard drive and wireless
controller sells in stores for $299.99. Some retailers were offering
packages including games and other add-ons for hundreds of dollars more,
however.
Hani Durzy, a spokesman for San Jose, Calif.-based eBay Inc., said the
company couldn't compare the amount of Xbox 360s being sold, and the
premium users were willing to pay, to previous videogame console releases.
That's because the company only recently began using technology to track
sales in such a detailed way.
But in general, he said he wasn't surprised by the frenzy, calling it "par
for the course" whenever a hot new electronics item is released in limited
numbers.
"What you see on eBay is a classic reflection of supply and demand," he
said.
Microsoft has said it plans to sell 3 million of the new Xbox 360 consoles
worldwide within 90 days of its launch.
The Redmond company has said it is producing Xboxes as fast as it can, and
that there aren't any production problems. Some retailers have said they
expect to be able to restock their shelves weekly between now and the
holidays, although most won't divulge how many consoles they will get each
week for competitive reasons.
Still, Microsoft has conceded that an ambitious plan to launch the console
worldwide within a few weeks - rather than staggering releases over months
and months, as is typical - will mean fewer consoles initially in North
America.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
FBI Warns of E-Mail About Surveillance
The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued an alert Monday about a scam
involving unsolicited e-mails, purportedly sent by the FBI, that tell
computer users that their Internet surfing is being monitored by the
agency.
The users are told they have visited illegal Web sites and are instructed
to open an attachment to answer questions.
The FBI did not send these e-mails and does not send any other unsolicited
e-mails to the public, an agency statement said. As many harmful computer
viruses are located in e-mail attachments, the FBI said it strongly
encourages computer users not to open attachments from unknown recipients.
The FBI is investigating the scam. Recipients of these e-mails are asked to
report them by visiting the Internet Crime Complaint Center at
http://www.ic3.gov.
Spyware Foes Push New Law
A Senate committee has approved a bill that would outlaw the practice of
remotely installing software that collects a computer users' personal
information without consent.
In addition to prohibiting spyware, the Software Principles Yielding Better
Levels of Consumer Knowledge (SPYBLOCK) Act would also outlaw the
installation of adware programs without a computer user's permission. The
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved the bill
Thursday.
SPYBLOCK, sponsored by Senator Conrad Burns, a Montana Republican, would
prohibit hackers from remotely taking over a computer and prohibit programs
that hijack Web browsers. The bill would protect antispyware software
vendors from being sued by companies whose software they block.
"I am pleased that a majority of the committee agrees with me that Congress
must act to protect the right of consumers to know when potentially
dangerous Spyware is being downloaded onto their computers," Burns said in
a statement. "As the SPYBLOCK Act moves forward to the Senate floor, I hope
we can continue making it a stronger bill by making sure the private sector
has all the right tools it needs to successfully slow the spread of
malicious spyware."
The SPYBLOCK Act now moves to the full Senate for consideration. The House
of Representatives passed two antispyware bills in Fall 2004 and again in
May, but the Senate has so far failed to act on spyware legislation.
The Spyblock Act would allow the Federal Trade Commission and state
attorneys general to seek civil penalties against spyware and adware
distributors.
Nigerian Email Scammers Jailed
A court has sentenced two men to a total of 37 years in prison for their
part in defrauding a Brazilian bank of $242 million, the biggest scam in
Nigerian history, newspapers reported on Saturday.
The sentencing of Emmanuel Nwude to 25 years and Nzeribe Okoli to 12 years
follows negotiations in which they agreed to plead guilty to 16 of the 91
original charges, and to forfeit assets worth at least $121.5 million to
the victims of the scam.
A third fraudster, Amaka Anajemba, was sentenced to two and a half years
in prison in July after agreeing to return $48.5 million to the Sao
Paolo-based Banco Noroeste S.A., which collapsed after the theft.
"The activities of the accused persons not only led to the collapse of a
bank in a foreign country, but also brought miseries to many innocent
people," Justice Joseph Oyewole was reported as saying.
The fraudsters obtained the money by promising a member of the bank staff
a commission for funding a non-existent contract to build an airport in
Nigeria's capital Abuja.
Scams have become so successful in Nigeria that anti-sleaze campaigners say
swindling is one of the country's main foreign exchange earners after oil,
natural gas and cocoa.
These are the first major convictions achieved by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which was established in 2003 to crack
down on Nigeria's thriving networks of email fraudsters.
Typically fraudsters send out junk e-mails around the world promising
recipients a share in a fortune in return for an advance fee. Those who pay
never receive the promised windfall.
Ranked the world's sixth most corrupt country, according to an index by
Transparency International, Nigeria has given new powers to the EFCC which
is prosecuting about 200 fraud and corruption cases.
The anti-fraud agency has arrested more than 200 junk mail scam suspects
since 2003. It says it has also confiscated property worth $200 million and
secured 10 other convictions.
Hackers Hitting Popular Apps
Cyber criminals are stepping up their efforts to hack popular software
applications and network devices, where efforts to close operating system
vulnerabilities have had little impact.
At a London press conference on Tuesday, the SANS Institute and government
representatives from the U.S. and the U.K. plan to release a report on the
20 most critical Internet security vulnerabilities for 2005.
The computer security research organization's report reveals that cyber
criminals have shifted targets. Over the past five years, most hackers went
after operating systems and Internet services like Web servers and E-mail
servers. In 2005, they took aim at software applications.
The applications under fire span a variety of operating systems. They
include enterprise backup software, anti-virus software, PHP applications,
database software, peer-to-peer file sharing software, DNS software, media
player software, IM software, and Internet browsers.
The second major finding of the report is that vulnerabilities in network
operating systems such Cisco s Internetwork Operating System (IOS), which
powers most of the routers and switches on the Internet, represent a
significant threat.
"The bottom line is that security has been set back nearly six years in the
past 18 months," Alan Paller, director of research for the SANS Institute,
wrote in an E-mail. "Six years ago, attackers targeted operating systems
and the operating system vendors didn't do automated patching. In the
intervening years, automated patching protected everyone from government to
grandma. Now the attackers are targeting popular applications, and the
vendors of those applications do not do automated patching."
Security experts credit Microsoft's efforts to improve its software with
forcing hackers to look for lower hanging fruit. "Part of the reason we're
seeing a more of the attacks go against things other than the Windows
operating system is that the Windows operating system has gotten better,"
says John Pescatore, VP and research fellow for information security at
market research firm Gartner, Inc.
Gerhard Eschelbeck, CTO and VP of engineering of vulnerability management
company Qualys, Inc. says some credit goes to Microsoft and some goes to
overall improvements in patching behavior. Patching as soon as possible is
critical: As Eschelbeck notes in "The Laws of Vulnerabilities," a study
released by Qualys in November, 80% of exploits are available within the
first 19 days after the disclosure of a critical vulnerability.
Patching has its limits, however. Ira Winkler, author of "Spies Among Us"
and global security strategist with CSC Consulting, says attacks against
vulnerabilities that can be repaired by patching represent less than a
third of hacking attacks. "When the Department of Defense did studies on
the matter, they found that actually these attacks account for only 30% of
hacking," he says. "Attacks against configurations, essentially poor system
hardening, account for 70% of successful attacks. And that means that
automated patching probably won't help."
The vulnerability of backup systems, in particular, puts businesses at
great risk because backup software provides one-stop shopping for critical
corporate data. As the SANS report points out, "An attacker can leverage
these flaws for an enterprise-wide compromise and obtain access to the
sensitive backed-up data."
And criminals are doing just that: Exploits for many of these
vulnerabilities have been publicly posted and are in use today.
What's significant about the SANS report, says Pescatore, "is that the most
dangerous attacks are the targeted attacks that are going after specific
vulnerabilities at specific companies."
Mark Richmond, network systems engineer for U.S. District Court, Eastern
District of California, says it is widely recognized that cyber crime has
been become increasingly professional. "The coordination of attacks over
the last few years seems to be increasing," he says. "There are cooperative
arrangements between various groups, formal or information, that seem to be
facilitating the use of networks and computers for criminal activities."
Nonetheless, Richmond feels he has the situation in hand. "As part of the
federal government and the judiciary, security is and always has been a
very, very important concern, both physical security and data security,"
he says. "We limit access to our systems beyond the point of inconvenience.
We use a private network. We're gated to the Internet in very narrow gates
that are very tightly controlled, partly because of security concerns and
partly to protect the performance that we need to get out work done."
Despite such attention to security, targeted attacks can test even the most
security-conscious organizations. In mid-July, the Department of Energy
Computer Incident Advisory Capability issued a warning about a rise in
targeted attacks. "We are seeing more targeted attacks both within and
outside of the DOE," the bulletin says
Recent revelations about Titan Rain demonstrate that sometimes targeted
attacks are successful. "Titan Rain is the code term that the U.S.
government has assigned a series of coordinated attacks against a variety
of government and commercial systems that contain, at the very least,
sensitive data," explains Winkler. He notes that these attacks - conducted
though Chinese Web sites and believed by some U.S. officials to be directed
by the Chinese government - have been going on for years, and have been
escalating recently.
According to Winkler, data on satellite systems, space exploration, and
other export controlled technologies have been taken in these attacks. But
it's not just companies with advanced technology being targeted. Pretty
much any organization with sensitive personal or financial data represents
a potential target. Pescatore points to recent reports of credit card
identity theft, some of which have involved the installation of a rootkit
- the hacking tool that recently got Sony sued - on a specific server in
order to harvest databases and send them to criminals. "There's just so
much more financially motivated attacking going on," he says. "People are
stealing these credit card databases not just to have fun and say, 'Look
what I did.' They're stealing them because they can sell the credit card
numbers."
The success of hacking attacks is having a dramatic impact on consumers.
Two recent studies, one by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and the
other by Consumer Reports WebWatch, find that over 90% Internet users say
they have adjusted their online behavior out of fear of cyber crime. The
Consumer Reports WebWatch study indicates that fully a quarter of
U.S.-based Internet users have stopped buying things online.
Pescatore and others note that fear of online victimization has curtailed
the growth of electronic bill presentment and payment, which offer
companies significant savings over paper payment processing.
Because targeted attacks don't typically get reported - unless required by
a law like California Security Breach Information Act - there's a chance
tight-lipped companies may staunch the hemorrhage of online shoppers with
silence, under the theory that what they don't know won't deter them.
But silence also makes it harder for security professionals to make the
case for increased investment in security. "[Targeted attacks] don't
generate press, so they don t encourage other companies to prepare for
them," Pescatore explains.
In an e-mail, Howard Schmidt, a noted cyber-security expert and former CSO
for both Microsoft and eBay, said the SANS report highlights the utility
of hardening the presentation and application layers as a means to reduce
cyber security events. "The first stop on the way to fix this is through
secure coding and better QA of development processes, penetration testing
on compiled code as well as vulnerability testing of integrated deployed
applications via Web front ends," he wrote.
Pescatore says that companies in general are better prepared to deal with
security issues than they were a few years ago. But criminal hackers are
better prepared too. "The good news is the termites are no longer eating
the bottom floor of your house," he says. "The bad news is they're eating
top floor."
Sony BMG Sued Under Anti-Spyware Laws
Sony BMG Music Entertainment's troubles over anti-piracy technology on
music CDs deepened Monday as Texas' attorney general and a
California-based digital rights group said they were suing the music
company under new state anti-spyware laws.
The Texas lawsuit said the so-called XCP technology that Sony BMG had
quietly included on more than 50 CD titles leaves computers vulnerable to
hackers. Sony BMG had added the technology to restrict to three the number
of times a single disc could be copied, but agreed to recall the discs last
week after a storm of criticism.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation said Sony BMG needs to further publicize
the recall and compensate consumers for costs associated with removing the
software, an onerous process. It was filing a lawsuit in California
Superior Court in Los Angeles.
When XCP-enabled discs are loaded into a computer - a necessary step for
transferring music to Apple Computer Inc.'s iPods and other portable music
players - the CD installs a program that restricts copying and makes it
extremely inconvenient to transfer songs into the format used by iPods.
Critics say consumers aren't adequately told what the program actually
does.
Security researchers say XCP is spyware because it secretly transmits
details about what music the PC is playing. Manual attempts to remove the
software, which works only on Windows PCs, can disable the PC's optical
drive.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott accused Sony BMG of surreptitiously
installing spyware because XCP masks files that it installs. This
"cloaking" component can leave computers vulnerable to viruses and other
security problems, Abbott said, echoing the findings of computer security
researchers.
"People buy these CDs to listen to music," Abbott said. "What they don't
bargain for is the computer invasion that is unleashed by Sony BMG."
Sony executives have rejected the description of their technology as
spyware. Officials for the New York-based label would not comment Monday,
saying the company does not discuss pending litigation.
The Texas spyware law allows the state to recover damages of up to $100,000
in damages for each violation. Abbott said there were thousands of
violations, and that any money would go to the state.
The California law under which the EFF was filing its lawsuit bans
collecting personally identifiable information through deceptive means and
lets consumers can sue for damages.
The EFF also invoked state laws on consumer protection and unfair business
practices.
Cindy Cohn, the EFF's legal director, said Sony BMG should announce the
recall using the same marketing tactics they had used to sell CDs,
including advertising and radio promotions.
"Just putting a little something up on their Web site I don't think is
sufficient," she said.
The EFF complaint also covered another anti-piracy technology that Sony
BMG has used, MediaMax from SunnComm Technologies Inc., which was
introduced first in markets outside the United States. SunnComm was not
named in the lawsuit.
The EFF said it also would seek better disclosure about both technologies
used by Sony BMG and an end to what it considered "outrageous,
anti-consumer" licensing terms over which CD buyers have little choice.
Sony BMG's Web site offers information on the XCP technology, the CDs that
use it and ways consumers can mail them back, postage-free, for a
replacement.
Sony BMG initially rejected the uproar over XCP as technobabble. But after
security experts discovered that XCP opened gaping security holes in users'
computers - as did the method Sony BMG offered for removing XCP - Sony BMG
agreed last week to recall the discs.
Some 4.7 million had been made and 2.1 million sold. CDs that had XCP
included releases by Van Zant, The Bad Plus, Neil Diamond and Celine Dion.
Browser Makers Agree to Standards
Developers of four of the most widely used Internet browsers have agreed to
make a number of changes to their products to make Web browsing a more
secure and trustworthy experience.
Among the changes, which were informally agreed to during a recent meeting,
are plans to create a new way of informing Web surfers that they are
visiting a trusted Web site and major changes to the look of pop-up
Windows.
Developers representing the Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and the
Konqueror browsers had been discussing ways to combat phishing and improve
security in their products for about eight months, but they agreed to the
new ideas during a meeting in Toronto on November 17, according to George
Staikos, president of Staikos Computing Services, and a Konqueror
developer.
The most noticeable change will be in the way that certain high-profile Web
sites are displayed. Developers would like to make the browser's address
bar turn green when browsers are visiting popular Web sites like eBay.com
or Paypal.com, much in the same way that the Firefox address bar goes
yellow and displays a padlock when visiting a secure Web site.
The green address bar will contrast with the red address bar that Internet
Explorer 7's Phishing Filter will display on known and suspected phishing
sites.
To make this happen, developers would introduce a new, and as yet
undetermined, more rigorous way of creating digital certificates. Digital
certificates are a kind of electronic identification card used by Web sites
to prove that they are, in fact, who they claim to be. They are issued by
"certification authority" companies, including Verisign and EnTrust.
Developers at the Toronto meeting agreed to create a way of making a new
type of "high assurance" certificates, said Staikos. "We want to create a
stronger identity mechanism for sites that require a stronger identity," he
said. "We need to be able to tell the users, 'Yes, you're actually at your
bank,' as opposed to, 'You're at a site that looks like it might be your
bank and you're using encryption.'"
Current digital certificates are supposed to reassure users, but that trust
is undermined by the fact that these certificates can be fraudulently
obtained, Staikos said. "There have been organizations in the past that
have abused the system," he said. "It's not widespread yet, but we know
it's not hard to abuse."
Developers from the Mozilla Foundation, which develops Firefox, and from
Microsoft also endorsed the concept.
"This is pretty much a theoretical idea at this point, but something that
would be interesting from a browser point of view," wrote Mozilla developer
Frank Hecker, in an e-mail interview.
"We want to take the experience in the address bar a step further and help
create a positive experience for rigorously identified HTTPS (HyperText
Transport Protocol Secure) sites," wrote Microsoft developer Rob Franco in
a post to Microsoft's Internet Explorer blog.
Franco has also posted examples of how these Web sites might appear in the
upcoming IE7 browser.
In addition to the green background, IE would show the name of the company
being visited along with the name of the certificate authority that vouched
for the Web site, Franco wrote.
Developers in Toronto also agreed to improve browser security by no longer
allowing pop-up windows to be displayed without an address bar or a status
bar. This will make it harder to mistake them for other types of Windows
messages, Staikos said. "You'll always know that a window belongs to a Web
browser," he said.
Internet Explorer will adopt this practice in IE7 and, like Firefox, it
will show a lock icon in the address bar when it is viewing secure Web
sites, Franco wrote.
There is much work to be done before the new types of certificates will be
broadly adopted, but with the idea approved, at least in concept, by the
browser makers, Staikos was confident that it would also be picked up as a
profitable new product for certificate authorities.
"If we provide a facility for this, I think it would be downright silly for
companies not to jump in and start issuing these things," he said.
But it's still going to be awhile before IE or Firefox users are seeing
green, he said. "I would not be surprised if it takes at least a year and
a half."
Microsoft Seeks to Standardize Office Format
Microsoft Corp. is seeking to standardize the document format used for its
popular Office products, partly in response to concerns that documents
stored using its proprietary technology may be difficult to access in years
to come.
The company's proposal to Ecma International, a Geneva-based industry group
that develops and publishes technical standards, would make Microsoft
Office Open XML an international standard.
Alan Yates, general manager of information worker strategy at Microsoft,
said the company would then provide a simple, free license to anyone who
wants it, making it easy for others - including possibly rival companies -
to build products and other ways to access the information.
The move comes as companies and governments are growing more concerned that
electronic information will be hard to access if intellectual property
concerns, compatibility problems or other issues come up years from now.
A document stored today, for instance, might not be readable at all 10 or
15 years from now if Microsoft decides to change its formats and computers
no longer exist to run today's versions of Microsoft products. Publishing
the standards leaves open the possibility that someone else would develop
programs then to run today's formats.
"It gives them the confidence that there is a foundation for documents that
is not controlled by just one company but is a real consensus within the
industry," Yates said.
It's a similar strategy taken by Adobe Systems Inc. and its widely used
PDF format. Adobe publishes details about its format so anyone else can
create compatible programs.
In Massachusetts, Gov. Mitt Romney's administration has directed state
executive offices to begin storing new records by Jan. 1, 2007, in an open,
proprietary-free format called OpenDocument, in response to such concerns.
That's been widely seen as a blow to Microsoft, whose Office line of word
processing, spreadsheet and other business applications dominates the
market.
Yates said the company is hoping to hear from the standards body in nine to
18 months.
The proposal is backed by companies including Apple Computer Inc., Intel
Corp. and Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays
Bank PLC.
Kazaa Given Deadline
An Australian court has given file-sharing network Kazaa until December 5
to either filter copyrighted music from its system or shut down, music
industry officials said on Thursday.
The imposition of the deadline follows a ruling in September by the judge
in Sydney that Kazaa users were breaching copyright and that the network's
owners had to modify the software.
Other global peer-to-peer (P2P) services, which distribute data between
users instead of relying on a central server, also have come under fire
from courts in recent months.
Kazaa's operators, Sharman Networks, had appealed the judgment. But
according to music industry trade group IFPI, the Australian court said
that to avoid complete shutdown Kazaa must, as a first step, put in place
a keyword filter system within 10 days.
Sharman Networks had said it could not control the actions of an estimated
100 million users.
"It's time for services like Kazaa to move on - to filter, go legal or make
way for others who are trying to build a digital music business the correct
and legal way," IFPI Chairman John Kennedy said in a statement.
A growing number of legal online music services such as Apple Computer
Inc.'s iTunes, Napster and RealNetworks Inc.'s Rhapsody have grown in
popularity over the past year as a new generation of P2P services like
Mashboxx hope to offer the advantages of file-sharing without infringing on
copyright.
Kazaa Injunction Stayed
Sharman Networks, the operator of file-sharing network Kazaa, on Friday
said an Austrailian court has extended until late February a stay of an
injunction barring it from distributing copyrighted recordings.
Sharman said the extended stay is conditional on the company's modifying
its software to filter out copyrighted music from the peer-to-peer
file-sharing network.
Peer-to-peer networks let users share files rather than relying on a
centralized server. In recent years, such networks have been a hotbed of
pirated entertainment and software.
Browser Makers Band Together Against Phishers
Representatives from the most prominent browser makers - including
Microsoft and Mozilla - recently gathered to discuss ways to make it
clearer to users which Web sites are safe and which are fake.
Developers speaking for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and Konqueror
met in Toronto last week to hash over ideas on how their browsers could
better identify trusted and suspicious Web sites. Additionally, they talked
about changes to browser pop-ups that would make it more difficult for
scammers to spoof sites or trick users into divulging personal information
such as bank or credit card account numbers and passwords.
"This should go a long way toward addressing phishing attack issues," said
George Staikos, a developer for the open-source Linux/Unix KDE graphical
environment, and the host of the browser meeting in his Toronto office.
Rob Franco, lead program manager for IE's security group, represented
Microsoft, and explained his team's take in a blog entry on the official IE
site.
"If the browsers and the Certification Authority industry can generate
better guidelines to identify sites, we want to take the experience in the
address bar a step further to help create a positive experience for
rigorously-identified HTTPS sites," Franco wrote.
The basic plan would be for all browsers to tint the address bar green when
users visit major-brand sites with a "highly-assured" digital certificate.
Suspicious sites that might be sources of phishing scams would be indicated
by a red address bar. A padlock icon would be also be set in the address
bar, where it's more visible, when users are at an SSL-secured page.
"We want to show the users a special display to indicate they're in fact at
a reputable site, as opposed to one which is only masquerading as one, said
Staikos.
The move couldn't come too soon, as phishers have already used self-signed
certificates to fool users into trusting fraudulent sites.
Additionally, the plan would put an address bar in every browser window,
even those popped up or under as forms, to defeat fraudsters' camouflaging
tricks.
Such tactics are common; the old-but-still-effective bogus security alert
is perhaps the best-known example. These pop-ups resemble dialog boxes - as
if the operating system had cranked them out - but are in fact browser
windows stripped of an address bar.
"A missing address bar creates a chance for a fraudster to forge an address
of their own," noted Franco.
"This will prevent sites from mimicking a local application window or make
it look like a security dialog box," added Staikos. "By forcing the address
and status bar to appear on every window, it will be very clear that this
is still in a browser window, and so connected to the network."
Some browsers already include elements of the plan. Firefox and the
open-source Konqueror, for example, put the padlock icon in the address
bar, while the under-development Internet Explorer 7 uses the green/red
combination in its integrated anti-phishing filter.
The browser builders and certificate issuing companies have yet to come up
with a new way of creating more rigorously-checked certificates, but
Staikos was confident it will happen. "All parties recognize that there are
issues with current certificates, and over the past eight months, we've had
numerous discussions. The major signing authorities know this is an open
issue, and they'll come to some sort of agreement."
No promises were made at the meeting that all four browser makers will
adopt the ideas, in part because representatives of the open-source Firefox
and Konqueror can only pass on recommendations to their developers.
"That's one of the problems with open source, we don't have someone who
pulls all the strings," Staikos said. "All we can do is bring
recommendations.
"But I think it's extremely likely, say 99.9 percent, that Konqueror goes
this way," he added. "And I think Firefox will, too."
Frank Hecker, one of the two Firefox developers who attended the meeting,
backed up Staikos.
"I haven't made any commitments on behalf of the Mozilla project, nor do I
have the power to do so," Hecker wrote on his blog. "I can only make
suggestions. Final decisions on the user interface for Firefox,
Thunderbird, etc., are up to the development teams for those products."
New Web Mail: More Polished, Powerful
Drag-and-drop functionality makes it easy to quickly organize messages in
the Yahoo Mail beta and other Ajax-based e-mail apps.Microsoft and Yahoo
are poised to make Web-based e-mail more powerful than ever with updates
that bring a desktop-style interface to their respective Web mail
offerings.
We tested betas (currently invitation-only) of Windows Live Mail and Yahoo
Mail, and also looked at an open-source newcomer called Zimbra. All three
apps use an increasingly popular programming technique called Ajax
(Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) to improve on standard Web mail and even
Google's Gmail.
As Ajax applications, the mail clients we tested can preload information
and update their displays on the fly. So when you open up an e-mail
message, you'll see it immediately, rather than having to wait for it to
download. And when you delete a message, the application can update
instantly, even though the delete request is still being processed in the
background.
Yahoo Mail offers desktop-like features such as a full complement of
familiar hot-keys and the ability to use the <Ctrl> and <Shift> keys to
select multiple messages. Although it's only a beta, the application is
graceful, powerful, and nuanced. Its three-pane layout mirrors that of
desktop apps such as Microsoft's Outlook Express and Mozilla's Thunderbird.
Yahoo Mail also mimics the handy tab feature included in many Web browsers,
allowing you to open multiple messages in a single window and switch
between them without loading a new page. Thanks to some intricate coding,
you can quickly delve deep into your inbox, using the familiar scroll bar
or the <Page Down> key.
Yahoo Mail's search shines, reaching into attachments as well as e-mail
messages, and showing the document snippet where the search term was found.
Yahoo Mail also interacts logically with your browser's back button - often
a trouble spot for Ajax apps that continually update one "page" in the
browser. In contrast, Gmail disables the back button, while Zimbra warns
you that using it will log you out.
Microsoft's Windows Live Mail works just like Outlook in your browser,
right down to the keyboard shortcuts and right-click menus.If you're not
familiar with desktop mail apps, Microsoft's Windows Live Mail, which feels
more like a tweak to Hotmail than a total rethinking of Web mail, may be a
better fit. Like Yahoo Mail, Live Mail lets you drag and drop messages, and
right-click to print, forward, and answer messages without opening them
first. Live Mail puts its weight on tools that let users add emoticons and
formatting to e-mail, and it also integrates powerful calendar, antispam,
and antiphishing functions.
The Live Mail service we tested, which Microsoft emphasizes is still a very
early beta, uses a three-column layout similar to Microsoft Outlook's. A
scrollable inbox, on-the-fly spelling checking, and enhanced right-click
menus are on tap for the next beta.
The beta of Zimbra's open-source offering was rougher around the edges,
marred by small, cryptic interface icons and some bugs in the version we
tested. But its search and virus protection are good, and Zimbra sports
some nifty calendar integration - users can mouse over dates in e-mail to
see what activities they have scheduled that day.
But Zimbra's real strength is as a full-fledged communication server,
allowing a company to integrate its databases so users can, say, jump from
a message with an order number to the order database itself.
Zimbra doesn't offer individual accounts, but broadband providers such as
Speakeasy are looking at using it to replace their current Web mail
offerings.
Zimbra is available to enterprises right now, and Yahoo and Microsoft each
hope to introduce their new interface to their millions of users in the
first half of 2006.
Firm Wants to Rid Net of Suffixes
A Dutch technology company has breathed life into a project to rid the
Internet of suffixes such as .com, and instead offer single names which can
be countries, company names or fantasy words.
Such a system, which enables countries, individuals and firms to have a Web
address which consists of a single name, offers flexibility and is language
and character independent.
"The plan is to offer names in any character set," said Erik Seeboldt,
managing director of Amsterdam-based UnifiedRoot.
UnifiedRoot offers practically unlimited numbers of suffixes, unlike the
short list of suffixes currently in use. Its offer is different from other
"alternative root" providers such as New.net which offers to register names
in front of a small range of new suffixes, such as .club and .law.
"We've already had thousands of registrations in a single day," said
Seeboldt after the official opening of his 100-strong company which has
installed 13 Internet domain name system (DNS) root servers on four
continents.
Dutch airport Schiphol is one of the early customers. Registering a name
costs $1,000 plus an annual fee of $240. Companies can then invent
additional Web site addresses in front of their top-level domain (TLD)
name, such as flights.schiphol or parking.schiphol.
Critics argue alternative root companies such as UnifiedRoot introduce
ambiguity because they bring a new set of traffic rules to the Web which
are, certainly in the beginning, only recognized by a limited number of
computers around the world.
"Those who claim to be able to add new 'suffixes' or 'TLDs' are generally
pirates or con-men with something to sell," said Paul Vixie, who sits in
several committees of the California-based Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) with day-to-day control of the Web, on
his CircleID blog.
Others are more welcoming.
"The existence of alternate roots, and the possibility of new ones,
provides a useful competitive check on ICANN," said Jon Weinberg, a member
of ICANNwatch which keeps a critical eye on ICANN.
ICANN is overseen by the U.S. Department of Commerce and operates the root
servers of the Internet which guide all Web traffic. The organization also
determines which top-level domains are recognized by those root servers.
At the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society earlier this
month, many countries said they wanted to take part in the governance of
ICANN. But the United States would not give up control.
UnifiedRoot plans to take advantage of unhappiness about ICANN by offering
geographic locations for free to countries, regions and cities.
If alternative root companies want their TLDs recognized by computers
around the world, they need to circumvent ICANN by pointing every single
Internet computer around the world to their own root servers - which
contain a copy of ICANN's root server plus the addition of own-made TLDs.
A quicker way to change the settings in individual computers is by closing
deals with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) which can change the settings
for all their subscribers.
UnifiedRoot has already clinched deals with most ISPs in Turkey. ISP
Tiscali is also a UnifiedRoot client.
To avoid conflicts between TLDs from UnifiedRoot and ICANN, the Dutch
company will not register existing ICANN TLDs.
UnifiedRoot took over from a Dutch company called UNIDT which launched the
initial plan for TLDs last year, but which relied on a network of root
servers controlled by individuals. This made the network vulnerable to
manipulation or even criminal attack directing Internet surfers to fake
Web sites.
"The network has not been abused, but this was a mistake," said Marty van
Veluw, the
founder and manager of UNIDT who sold his client base and some
other assets to UnifiedRoot.
"UnifiedRoot has understood that the network needs to be 100 percent
reliable, and they put a new one in place," he said.
=~=~=~=
Atari Online News, Etc. is a weekly publication covering the entire
Atari community. Reprint permission is granted, unless otherwise noted
at the beginning of any article, to Atari user groups and not for
profit publications only under the following terms: articles must
remain unedited and include the issue number and author at the top of
each article reprinted. Other reprints granted upon approval of
request. Send requests to: dpj@atarinews.org
No issue of Atari Online News, Etc. may be included on any commercial
media, nor uploaded or transmitted to any commercial online service or
internet site, in whole or in part, by any agent or means, without
the expressed consent or permission from the Publisher or Editor of
Atari Online News, Etc.
Opinions presented herein are those of the individual authors and do
not necessarily reflect those of the staff, or of the publishers. All
material herein is believed to be accurate at the time of publishing.
