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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 10 Issue 49
Volume 10, Issue 49 Atari Online News, Etc. December 5, 2008
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2008
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:
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1049 12/05/08
~ DHS Needs Fresh Ideas! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Acer's New Notebook!
~ YouTube's Sex Content! ~ Icahn: No Partial Sale ~ Opera 10 Preview!
~ Patch Tuesday Is Big! ~ Spam Volumes Rising! ~ MS Targets Auctions!
~ Malware Getting Smarter ~ Britain Seizes Fakes! ~ Cyber Monday Good!
-* Apple Yanks Antivirus Advice *-
-* Cybercrime Alert System in Europe! *-
-* Destructive Koobface Turns Up on Facebook! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I'll apologize early, because I have no idea when this week's issue will
be released. It may be sitting in your mailbox or available online hours
before our normal "on the newsstand" time, or some time Saturday morning.
The reason for this is that I'm now working evenings, and an occasional
Friday evening scheduled work night has developed. Can't be helped folks,
but we'll do what we can to stay as close to schedule as possible. And I
think you'll understand the facts of reality these days that a paycheck is
more valuable than receiving a free mag every Friday night around 8:00 pm!
Anyway, thanks for understanding!
It's been a horrible past couple of weeks, personally speaking. As I
mentioned in last week's issue, or "oldest 'son" Butkus has been ailing as
of late. We took him to an animal hospital earlier this week and had an
ultrasound and biopsy performed. We got the biopsy results back on
Thursday, and he has lung cancer. That was devastating news to us, but
we knew that was a possibility. Next week, we're scheduled to take him in
for an additional consultation and try to find out what our options might
be. So, it's been a stressful couple of weeks, and my wife and I are
doing what we can to make sure that one of us is always around to be with
him. He's doing okay under the circumstances, but he's noticeably very
weak and obviously very ill. So, I hope you'll understand that my mind is
on other things much more important to me at the moment.
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Another week has come and gone, and
another handful of messages magically appeared in the NewsGroup... a
whopping 18 messages in seven days... Heck, I can remember when 18
messages an HOUR was a slow day... but that was years ago.
So... what's new in the world? Well the 'big three' American auto makers
are standing on the steps of the House of Representatives with their
hands out... looking for a paltry 40 or 50 BILLION dollars in bail-out
money... at least they drove to the meeting this time instead of each
flying in their own company jet.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against jets or perks for executives, but
when you're asking for billions of dollars to save a company that's
dying because you couldn't or didn't want to see the way out, you'd best
not do it in Armani and Leer.
So this time at least one of them drove his company's hybrid vehicle...
does it look any better to show up in a brand new 40 thousand dollar
car? Not to me it doesn't.
You want to impress me? Show up in a Men's Warehouse suit or dockers and
a button-down, driving a 1998 Cavalier. NOW you're talkin' like you're
one of us. 'Till then, thank your lucky stars that we're not tarring and
feathering your fat, bonus-taking butt and running you out of the
country on top of a SmartCar.
The cost to each and every person in this country is going to be
enormous, to say the least, but it's got to be done. Can you envision
what this country would be like without auto manufacture?
And no, it's not the unions that are killing things... at least not all
by themselves, it's multi-million dollar bonuses, it's poor investment
of talent, manpower, resources, it's outsourcing, deferred debt and
'tricky' accounting practices, and it's the 'stock is our product'
mentality... the idea that cars and trucks are just ways to pump up
stock prices so you can get new shareholders who'll pay more money per
share so you can build more overpriced vehicles to pump up stock prices
more so that you can get new shareholders who... well, you get the idea.
Anyway, we may have to save the industry, but we don't have to save the
management that allowed this mess to overtake them. Boot their asses out
and get a couple of bean-counters in there and round out the boards with
'real' people... you know... people who work for a living. Get some of
the people who shower AFTER work as opposed to those who shower BEFORE
work... and let 'em get to work. There's not an auto worker in the
country who wouldn't jump at the chance to build a better car... a
smarter, more efficient, more 'green' car... Is there anyone who
wouldn't rather be PROUD of what they've build, what they're a part of,
what they helped their company, their community and their country
accomplish? Well, yeah, to be fair there are a few, but for the most
part we all want to be proud of what we do. We all want to be a part of
something good and helpful. And yes, we want to participate in the
rewards as well as the work. The United Auto Workers' union is doing
things I never thought I'd see them do to help the corporations, and I
applaud the union for it... but there's more to do. They need to
concentrate on fairness in the workplace and forget about silly things
like getting to work five minutes early in order to leave ten minutes
early or some of the other silly things I've heard of lately... A fair
days pay for a fair day's work. That's what it used to be about, and
that's what it's going to have to be about again... and nothing else.
Oh, and one other thing... every executive should have to spend one full
day every month "on the line" with manufacturing employees. Each month
in a different department until the exec knows what every line in every
department does. He/she doesn't have to know it inside-out, just know
that it's vital to the product, and therefore, the company.
Well, that's enough of that. Let's get to the news, hints, tips and info
available this week from the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
I've lost the full context of our first topic, but I gather that someone
was asking about the CTB2 handled different clock speeds. 'RedSpecter'
posts this on the subject:
"The CTB2 is not "aware" of whether the 32mhz clock is connected to
anything or not. The absence of this clock will only effect VIDEL
modes that enable the external video clock input. The default TOS
resolutions do not use the external clock, but you'll need it if you
want the higher resolutions/bit depth the VIDEL is capable of.
If you use a screenblaster or equivalent device you can feed the VIDEL
an external clock via the video port of the falcon and achieve higher
resolutions even though the CT2B clock is not connected."
Francois Le Coat posts this list of sites he cannot find:
"The following WEB sites are missing
<http://www.atari-source.org/> Your SOURCE for Atari 16/32
<http://www.atari42.de/voja/> Volkers Atari Welt: Main (EasyGEM ...)
<http://www.atari42.de/weets/> Holger Weets Software (RscView ...)
<http://www.ppest.org/atari/imgrun.php> Image runner
<http://www.spythis.com/cca/> Crawly Crypt Archives
<http://www.stud.uni-karlsruhe.de/~uk48/TOSBook/> Documentation
<http://www.rottengatter.de/index-e.html> Peter Rottengatter (Sting)
<http://www.atari42.de/> atari42.de (Volker Janzen)
<http://ragnars-world.homelinux.org/atari/> Ragnars World of Atari
<http://www.ppest.org/atari/> P. Putnik's Atari pages
May we have news from their maintainers?"
PPera replies:
"[<http://www.ppest.org/atari/>] is moved to:
http://ppera.07x.net/atari/ or/and
http://ppera.exofire.net/atari/ "
Mark Duckworth adds:
"I run atari-source.org and it loads for me. It's not loading for you?
I know it hasn't had updates for some time. [frown]"
Last week, Jo Even Skarstein wrote about the difference between the NOVA
and NOVA Plus cards:
"I believe the difference is in the ISA card. A friend of mine had a
Nova Falcon with a 4Mb ATI Mach 64 with VRAM, I had one with a 1Mb ATI
Mach 64 with RAM. The former was (IIRC) a Nova Plus."
Guillaume Tello now surmises:
"Okay, so changing the card itself can improve the whole thing."
Jo Even tells Guillaume:
"Yes. Good luck in finding an ISA Mach 64 with VRAM though ;-) I found
one on eBay a while ago, with a starting price of $199!"
Mark Duckworth adds:
"May not be 100% true IIRC. I have a super nova that was originally a
Nova TT. It wasn't originally mine and the original owner had to get
replacement GAL's from the manufacturer for the VME card to complete the
upgrade."
Jo Even brings up a good point:
"There are probably differences between the TT and Falcon versions. I'm
only familiar with the Falcon version, and the same interface works
with
both RAM and VRAM versions of the ISA card."
Frank Szymanski adds:
"But only with 2MB. I have a spare 4MB isa card and it does not work
with NOVA falcon."
Jo Even tells Frank:
"That's weird. I'm pretty sure that my friends Mach64 is a 4Mb card."
Phantomm adds:
"If my sources are correct, The Nova Falcon was sold with either 1MB or
2MB at the start. It was really expensive, and the cost between a 1MB or
2MB Nova was a lot.
There seems to be a few different models of the Nova card, such as the
SuperNova. Memory and graphics power determine the name of the graphics
card.
The info I have is, The SUPERNOVA 64 was a 2 or 4 meg VRAM and the NOVA
PLUS 64 was 1 or 2 meg DRAM.
Also, there seems to be a Mach 32 version, 1 or 2 meg D/VRAM.
There were versions for the Falcon, MSTE/TT. It also came in the "EAGLE"
at one time so say some. The Nova could also be used in a Mega ST using
a Mega Bus adapter.
I'd like to find a source for all the software drivers and etc that
were
created for the Novas. I'd like to see a few good close up pics of the
Mega Bus adapter and the Falcon adapter.
I have a MSTE/TT version of the Nova, I would think one could use it in
a Falcon with the Correct Adapter. Does anyone happen to have a spare
Adapter?"
Well friends and neighbors, that's it for this time around. Tune in
again next week, same time, same station, and hopefully we'll be able to
grub up enough messages to make a good column. Till then, keep your ears
open so you'll be sure to hear what they're saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Britain Seizes "Dangerous" Fake Consoles!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Industry Sales Good So Far!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Britain Seizes "Dangerous" Fake Game Consoles
British customs officials issued a pre-Christmas warning on Friday after
seizing fake Nintendo games consoles with potentially dangerous power
adaptors.
"At best these consoles would have led to disappointment on Christmas
morning. At worst they could have caused serious harm or injury," said
Pamela Rogers, from HM Revenue and Customs.
The products, versions of Nintendo DS and DS Lite which had been bought
from websites mainly based in Asia, cost about 40 pounds (58 dollars)
instead of the usual 100 pounds.
Rogers warned people to take care when buying such goods online, saying
they should use reputable or regulated sites.
"We are asking all concerned parents to be diligent - when a bargain
seems too good to be true, it often is," said Mike Rawlinson, managing
director of Nintendo's fraud investigation company ELSPA.
Take-Two: Industry Sales Good So Far
Black Friday sales for the video games industry were probably better than
expected, but that's no guarantee of strong sales for the rest of the
holiday season, Take Two Interactive Software Inc Chief Executive Strauss
Zelnick said on Thursday.
"I think everyone was encouraged by Black Friday," Zelnick told the
Reuters Media Summit in New York, referring to the day after the U.S.
Thanksgiving holiday that marks the start of the holiday shopping season.
"It was better than expectations, but it's pretty hard these days - being
slightly down is the new up," said Zelnick, a veteran of the U.S. media
industry. He has been at the helm of Take Two, the New York-based video
game publisher best known for its blockbuster 'Grand Theft Auto' game,
since March 2007.
Healthy sales on Black Friday are no indicator that the industry will be
able to sustain the sales momentum through December, Zelnick said.
Strong game titles will continue to sell well, but "everyone's at best
cautiously optimistic," Zelnick said. "You're unlikely to be
celebrating, but you'll be OK. In terms of how our titles are
performing, I feel that it's within that range."
Earlier this week, Microsoft Corp's vice president of strategy and
business development for interactive entertainment business, Shane Kim,
told the summit that Black Friday weekend sales of its Xbox 360 video
game consoles broke a record, up 25 percent from a year ago. Kim also
said he remains "cautiously optimistic" about holiday season sales.
Zelnick did not disclose sales figures for "GTA 4," which has sold more
than 10 million units as of August, since launching in April.
This month brings to a close a year in which Take-Two, whose other hits
include "Bioshock" and the 2K Sports series, was closely pursued by much
larger rival Electronic Arts.
Zelnick reiterated that its strong titles make it secure enough to go it
alone, even in an environment where consolidation may affect weaker
companies.
"We are well financed and well structured (and) we own our intellectual
property," he said. "I feel really good about how we are positioned to
be an independent company."
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
DHS Needs Fresh Ideas on Cybersecurity
The Department of Homeland Security is too reactionary to cybersecurity
threats, policy experts said Wednesday, and needs to develop stronger
incentives for the private sector to take preventative measures against
cyberthreats.
The DHS cybersecurity initiative has come under heavy criticism,
and some have suggested responsibility for cybersecurity be shifted to
the White House. Panelists at a roundtable discussion Wednesday hosted
by the House of Representative's Homeland Security Committee agreed
there could be stronger leadership, but they emphasized that there are
potentially more effective means of improving the nation's response to
cyberthreats.
"I personally don't believe you can designate some person and say,
'You're responsible for securing the nation's computers,'" said Marc
Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information
Center. "At the ground level, we're going to have the right system of
incentives."
Those incentives could be legislative, he said, such as encryption
requirements for electronic health records.
Regardless of how the government encourages network managers to protect
their systems, it will be critical for the private and public sector to
work together, panelists said.
"We're going to need encouragement so that there are incentives in place
to invest the money necessary to make sure your machines are up to date,
patched, and firewalled," said Fred Cate, director of the Center for
Applied Cybersecurity Research at Indiana University. "Increasingly we
need to worry about security as something we can convince others to
engage in."
If the private sector and private citizens are expected to cooperate
with the government's cybersecurity efforts, it needs to trust them,
panelists added. That requires more accountability and clearer missions
for programs like "Einstein 2," the department's new intrusion detection
system.
"The key point to understand is when we're looking at government
surveillance, we need to know the reason for it," Rotenberg said. "If
it's purely for security purposes, we would say that's OK, but it has to
be solely for that purpose with a means of accountability."
The country also needs to take a more forward-looking approach to
cybersecurity, the panelists said. Privacy implications should be
considered from the very start of the development of security
technologies, said Carol DiBattiste, senior vice president of privacy,
security, compliance and government affairs for LexisNexis Group. Then,
the government can develop policies around the technologies.
A more forward-looking approach should also include some creative
thinking, Rotenberg said, such as devising ways to verify a person's
identity without revealing their personal information.
"There ought to be more thinking of a strategic vision not just for the
(Homeland Security Department) as a whole, but for each of its
initiatives," Cate said. "What are the 10 top cybersecurity threats?
Let's deal with those. The impetus to do something should not be
stronger than the impetus to do something intelligent or thought
through."
Spam Volumes Rising Despite McColo Shutdown
Spam is on the rise again, just in time for the holiday shopping season.
Spam dropped two-thirds in November after Silicon Valley-based McColo, a
major spam network, was shut down. At the time, Symantec correctly
predicted little long-term effect on spam levels.
"Symantec cautions users to continue to be on guard against spam and
malicious code attacks as attackers have traditionally tried to leverage
festive session and topical global events to lure users into opening and
responding to their messages," said Vincent Weafer, senior director of
the Symantec Antivirus Research Center.
Symantec warned that control systems would be reestablished and the
McColo shutdown would drive spammers toward peer-to-peer botnets, which
are more resilient. It also warned that the end of the year sees a large
increase in spam volume, often driven by holiday spending. The profit
motive encourages spammers to find a way to get their messages to victims.
Indeed, while the McColo shutdown was a significant blow to spammers,
volumes will probably continue to rise in time for Christmas, according
to Graham Cluley, a senior security consultant at Sophos.
"The spammers guys are back in business with their unwanted e-mail
campaigns," Cluley said. "The spam levels may not have yet returned to
their pre-McColo-shutdown heights, but the bad guys have been working
hard ramping up their infrastructures in readiness for their Christmas
campaigns."
Now, Srizbi, one of the largest botnets on the Internet, has new life.
Asprox, Mega-D and Rustock are also up and running again. This time,
spammers are looking to Internet service providers hosted outside U.S.
borders, making them more difficult to shut down. For example, security
firm FireEye is reporting at least 50,000 Srizbi machines are hosted on
Estonian-based servers.
"The hackers who run the botnets will change the infrastructure of their
botnets, adopting a more distributed model to mitigate the damage done
by the McColo shutdown," Cluley said. "Several smaller botnets were
already following this model. However, because the big (old-fashioned)
botnets were still working, there was no need for them to change their
methods. The closing of McColo has forced changes."
Cluley recently blogged about how spammers are beginning to put more
emphasis behind spams promoting luxury goods like brand-name watches and
handbags - although typically these are cheap faked goods - as the
Christmas holiday approaches.
"The credit crunch will make people be keener than ever to bag a present
at a bargain price," Cluley said, "but purchasing goods sold via spam is
only going to perpetuate the problem of junk e-mail."
Patch Tuesday Will Have Eight Bulletins
The final Patch Tuesday for 2008 will be big, with six critical
bulletins and two important bulletins due, according to Microsoft.
On Thursday, the company announced eight security bulletins set to go
public December 9. The pre-announcement is intended as a heads-up for IT
departments before Patch Tuesday. Six bulletins are considered
"critical," the most serious ranking given by the software giant. Two
are considered "important," the next level down.
Among the critical patches, two affect Windows, and there is one each
that addresses issues in Word, Excel, Visual Basic, and Internet
Explorer. All flaws could enable remote code execution if exploited.
Of the "important" bulletins, one is for SharePoint, and the other is
for Windows Media Center.
Apple Pulls 'Old' Antivirus Software Warning
The latest commercial for Apple's I'm a Mac, I'm a PC campaign against
Microsoft has been tarnished. Just days after Apple posted an article
telling Mac users to run antivirus software on Mac OS X, the company
pulled the article, saying it was old.
"We have removed the knowledge base article because it was old and
inaccurate," said Monica Sarkar, an Apple spokesperson. "Mac is designed
with built-in technologies to provide protection against malicious
software and security threats right out of the box. Since no system can
be 100 percent immune from every threat, running antivirus software may
offer additional protection."
Apple had posted the article on its support site, encouraging Mac owners
to run antivirus software only to turn around, pull it, and say it was a
mistake.
Apple in the article had encouraged the widespread use of multiple
antivirus utilities so that virus programmers will have more than one
application to battle, making virus coding more challenging. In the
article, Apple also suggested running three applications -- Intego
VirusBarrier X5, McAffee VirusScan for Mac, and Symantec Norton
Antivirus 11 for Macintosh.
Apple's article drew a lot of attention, especially since the company's
latest television commercial included a person representing a PC
sneezing and saying it has caught the latest virus. The person
representing the Mac hands a tissue to the sniffling PC before it crashes.
Now it's Apple that might need the tissue after dealing with its own
errors and after officials said no operating system is completely safe
from all threats.
In fact, Apple's Web site tells consumers that no computer using the
Internet is 100 percent immune to viruses and spyware. It goes on to say
that the Mac is built on a solid UNIX foundation and designed with
security in mind. It also says its Safari Web browser alerts Mac users
whenever an application is downloaded.
Reports from security company F-Secure show that 100 or so viruses were
written for the Mac OS this year, and 850,000 for Microsoft Windows. But
F-Secure also found two Trojan viruses that had a great impact on Mac
users, including the PokerStealer Trojan and the AppleScript Trojan
Horse Template.
The Trojan Horse affected Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 and was distributed
from a hacker Web site, according to MacSecure. A discussion on the
hacker site focused on distributing the virus through the iChat and
Limewire applications. The virus ran hidden on a Mac system and allowed
the hacker complete remote access, sent user and system passwords, and
avoided detection by opening ports in the firewall.
Apple Yanks Macintosh Anti-virus Software Advice
Apple has replaced advice that people install anti-virus software on
Macintosh computers with assurances that the machines are safe "out of
the box."
The move prompted online speculation as to whether Apple was merely
polishing the Macintosh image or that the increasingly popular computers
are as impervious to hackers as the California company maintains.
Apple routinely touts how rarely Macintosh computers are afflicted with
malicious software as compared to machines based on Microsoft Windows
operating systems, which run more than 90 percent of the computers in
the world.
On Tuesday Apple removed a 2007 Knowledge Base posting telling people to
install "multiple anti-virus utilities" in Macintosh computers to thwart
ill-willed software savants with arrays of defenses.
"We removed the Knowledge Base article because it was old and
inaccurate," Apple spokeswoman Monica Sarkar said Wednesday.
"The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protections
against malicious software and security threats right out of the box."
Some software specialists believe that Macintosh computers have been
spared attacks mostly because hackers see more return in targeting
Windows-based machines that make up the bulk of the market.
Macintosh sales have rocketed with the popularity of Apple's iPhones and
iPods, but the rising profile of the computers has also made them more
appealing to hackers.
Software security firms consistently urge people to protect computers
with anti-virus software kept up-to-date no matter the operating systems
used.
"Since no system can be 100 percent immune for every threat, running
anti-virus software may offer additional protection," Sarkar said.
Destructive Koobface Virus Turns Up on Facebook
Facebook's 120 million users are being targeted by a virus dubbed
"Koobface" that uses the social network's messaging system to infect
PCs, then tries to gather sensitive information such as credit card
numbers.
It is the latest attack by hackers increasingly looking to prey on users
of social networking sites.
"A few other viruses have tried to use Facebook in similar ways to
propagate themselves," Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said in an
e-mail. He said a "very small percentage of users" had been affected by
these viruses.
"It is on the rise, relative to other threats like e-mails," said Craig
Schmugar, a researcher with McAfee Inc.
Koobface spreads by sending notes to friends of someone whose PC has
been infected. The messages, with subject headers like, "You look just
awesome in this new movie," direct recipients to a website where they
are asked to download what it claims is an update of Adobe Systems Inc's
Flash player.
If they download the software, users end up with an infected computer,
which then takes users to contaminated sites when they try to use search
engines from Google, Yahoo, MSN and Live.com, according McAfee.
McAfee warned in a blog entry on Wednesday that its researchers had
discovered that Koobface was making the rounds on Facebook.
Facebook requires senders of messages within the network to be members
and hides user data from people who do not have accounts, said Chris
Boyd, a researcher with FaceTime Security Labs. Because of that, users
tend to be far less suspicious of messages they receive in the network.
"People tend to let their guard down. They think you've got to log in
with an account, so there is no way that worms and other viruses could
infect them," Boyd said.
Social network MySpace, owned by News Corp, was hit by a version of
Koobface in August and used security technology to eradicate it,
according to a company spokeswoman. The virus has not cropped up since
then, she said.
Privately held Facebook has told members to delete contaminated e-mails
and has posted directions at http://www.facebook.com/security on how to
clean infected computers.
Richard Larmer, chief executive of RLM Public Relations in New York,
said he threw out his PC after it became infected by Koobface, which
downloaded malicious software onto his PC. It was really bad. It
destroyed my computer," he said.
McAfee has not yet identified the perpetrators behind Koobface, who are
improving the malicious software behind the virus in a bid to outsmart
security at Facebook and MySpace.
"The people behind it are updating it, refining it, adding new
functionalities," said McAfee's Schmugar.
Malware is Getting Smarter, CA Warns
Online attacks will be dominated by smarter malware and bots targeting
Web users ranging from gamers and social network users to the elderly
and unsuspecting parents.
This is according to IT management software company CA, maker of the CA
Internet Security Suite, which was recently updated to the Plus 2009
version.
"Families should feel safe and secure when they are online," said Brian
Grayek, vice president of product management for CA. "However, there are
more online threats than ever before. While it's important for parents
to practise general PC safety practices like not placing a PC in a
child's room and monitoring social networking profiles, parental control
software provides an added layer of protection and additional peace of
mind."
"Each element of the suite, which includes a personal firewall,
anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam and anti-phishing software has been
enhanced to provide even stronger protection against a wide range of
emerging online threats," said the software company.
The software is in a single console and is easy to use and install,
allowing users to monitor the security status of all of the licensed PCs
on their home networks, said CA. Other features of the suite include
integrated parental controls that help protect children from
inappropriate Web content and enable parents to monitor Internet
activity. Also, the suite helps users back up and restore their
important data and PC settings or transfer them to a new PC.
Grayek continued: "Historically, high-performance users, like gamers,
turn off security features because it either slows down their PCs or
they get pop-ups that interfere with their experience. This is a huge
risk to their PC security. We've focused on developing a product that
runs quietly in the background for uninterrupted gaming and movie
watching, while keeping the PC secure."
CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2009 is currently available from CA for
US$79.99 (MSRP), with a one-year subscription for up to five PCs in the
household. More information is available at http://shop.ca.com/.
Adobe Admits New PDF Password Protection Is Weaker
Adobe made a critical change to the algorithm used to password-protect
PDF documents in Acrobat 9, making it much easier to recover a password
and raising concern over the safety of documents, according to Russian
security firm Elcomsoft.
Elcomsoft specializes in making software that can recover the passwords
for Adobe documents. The software is used by companies to open documents
after employees have forgotten their passwords, and by law enforcement
services in their investigations.
For its Reader 9 and Acrobat 9 products, Adobe implemented 256-bit AES
(Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption, up from the 128-bit AES
encryption used in previous Acrobat products.
The original 128-bit encryption is strong, and in some cases it would
take years to test all possible keys to uncover a password, said Dmitry
Sklyarov, information security analyst with Elcomsoft.
But Elcomsoft said the change in the underlying algorithm for Acrobat 9
makes cracking a weak password - especially a short one with only upper
and lower case letters - up to 100 times faster than in Acrobat 8,
Sklyarov said. Despite using 256-bit encryption, the change to the
algorithm still undermines a document's security.
Adobe acknowledged the encryption algorithm change on its security blog.
The company said brute-force attempts - where tens of millions of
password combinations are tried in hopes of unlocking the document -
could end up figuring out passwords more rapidly using fewer processor
cycles.
The changes were made to increase performance, Adobe said. But Sklyarov
said that even with the 128-bit encryption algorithm used in Acrobat 8,
the application responds quickly to both correct and incorrect password
entries.
"There is no rational reason why they did that," Sklyarov said.
Despite the change, there is a way to keep documents secure: When
setting a password, people should use a combination of upper and lower
case letters and other special characters, such as quotations marks,
Sklyarov said. If special characters are used, the password should be no
less than eight characters. If only letters are used, it should be at
least 10 to 12 characters, he said.
Adobe imparted the same advice. "With a longer phrase and more diversity
of characters, there are many more permutations to guess," according to
the blog. The company also recommended that the security of documents
can also be enhanced by additional access controls such as smart cards
and biometric tools.
Europe To Get Cybercrime Alert System
Europe is getting a cybercrime alert system as part of a European Union
drive to fight online criminals.
According to plans, European law enforcement body Europol will receive
300,000 euros ($386,430) to build an alert system that pools reports of
cybercrime, such as online identification and financial theft, from
across the 27 member states.
Police will launch more remote searches of suspects' hard drives over
the Internet, as well as cyberpatrols to spot and track illegal
activity, under the strategy adopted by the European Union's council of
ministers Thursday.
The strategy, a blueprint for fighting cybercrime in the EU over the
next five years, also introduces measures to encourage businesses and
police to share information on investigations and cybercrime trends.
"The strategy encourages the much-needed operational cooperation and
information exchange between the member states," said Jacques Barrot,
vice president of the European Commission. "If the strategy is to make
the fight against cybercrime more efficient, all stakeholders have to be
fully committed to its implementation. We are ready to support them,
also financially, in their efforts."
Plans for the EU alert system follow the recent establishments of the
Police Central E-crime Unit and National Fraud Strategic Authority,
which aim to fight cybercrime in the United Kingdom.
Icahn Says Opposes Partial Sale of Yahoo
Billionaire Carl Icahn opposes selling part of Yahoo to former AOL Chief
Executive Jonathan Miller or anyone else because it is undervalued, he
told CNBC on Wednesday.
"I don't think there is very much to having a partial bid for the
company, at least as a large shareholder," Icahn said.
Miller, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, is trying to
raise money to buy all or part of the company. That has not been
confirmed and the New York Post says he is actually trying to raise money
for other purposes.
Icahn said he spoke to Miller over the weekend about the possibility of
buying Yahoo.
"I think the stock is very undervalued," Icahn said.
He said the board would have to listen to any offer for a high price,
but he is not enthusiastic about a sale.
"Right now I would be against that and I pretty much told Jonathan
that," Icahn said.
He said he had not spoken to others on the Yahoo board, but thought they
would agree.
Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang has agreed to resign, under pressure,
following the collapse of a possible acquisition by Microsoft Corp and
poor performance.
Icahn said the company needs a new CEO who is "a hard-nosed,
cost-cutting kind of guy.
He repeated his view that Yahoo needs to do a deal with Microsoft to
share searching.
YouTube Clamps Down on Sexual Content
While the Internet promotes free thought, free speech and the ability
for the world to express itself, companies are attempting to find a
balance between welcoming free expression and censoring inappropriate
content.
YouTube is trying to find that balance. The popular online video-sharing
Web site has 280 million visitors monthly, with members posting 13 hours
of video every minute. With the volume of videos posted, shared and
viewed on the site, the company says it is cracking down on what kinds
of videos are posted.
Specifically, YouTube is putting a tighter grip on content considered
sexually suggestive. Videos with sexually suggestive - but not
prohibited - content will be age-restricted and available only to users
who are 18 or older, according to the company.
Company officials say they aren't asking for the respect reserved for
nuns, but want users to not abuse the service.
Videos considered sexually suggestive will also be demoted on YouTube's
Most Viewed and Top Favorite pages. In testing, YouTube found that, of
the thousands of videos on those pages, several each day are
automatically demoted for being too graphic. Those are the videoes that
get flagged by the community for being inappropriate.
YouTube, which is available in 19 regions, is being very clear about
what kind of videos users can post, warning against pornographic videos
even if the user is in the video. YouTube warns users that it works
closely with law enforcement.
"We remain serious about enforcing these rules," a company blog posting
read. "Remember, violations of these guidelines could result in removal
of your video, and repeated violations will lead to termination of your
account."
The crackdown does not end with porn. Users are also being told to avoid
posting videos showing animal abuse, drug abuse, or bomb making. Dead
bodies and gross videos are also prohibited.
Like other social sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, YouTube also
requires that its community avoid stalking, harassment and threats.
YouTube has put its community in charge of finding video content that
breaks the company's guidelines, including most nudity and videos of
people being physically hurt, attacked or humiliated.
YouTube's online community has been encouraged to flag a video that
violates the guidelines by clicking on a red flag below each posted
video. Once selected, a drop-down window will open, listing different
kinds of content that violate the guidelines, and the viewer must choose
one of the violations. The video is then flagged, viewed by a member of
the YouTube team, and acted on within an hour, according to the company.
"We encourage free speech and defend everyone's right to express
unpopular points of view, but we don't permit speech that attacks and
demeans groups based on certain characteristics," YouTube said. "We draw
the line on content that is intended to incite violence or encourage
dangerous and illegal activity."
Content deemed restricted after staff review is viewable only by
signed-in users who represent that they are 18 years of age and older
and who have clicked through an interstitial page warning, according to
the company.
"At YouTube, we are always looking for ways to improve user experience,"
said Victoria Grand, head of policy at YouTube. "Our decision to clarify
what we consider sexually suggestive and to demote sexually suggestive
content on certain browse pages is part of that effort."
"We believe that this change, along with the change in the way
thumbnails are selected, will benefit users, partners and advertisers by
making their YouTube experience more relevant," she added.
Opera Previews Next Version of Desktop Browser
Opera Software is giving developers and users an early look at its
Opera 10 browser, which features a new version of its rendering engine
that the company says offers 30 percent improvement in the speed of
loading Web pages.
An alpha version of Opera 10 is available online. The rendering engine,
called Opera Presto 2.2, is the foundation of all of Opera's browsers,
including the popular Opera Mobile. It also runs on the server that
powers the Opera Mini, Opera's thin-client browser that is used on cell
phones.
Jan Standal, director of consumer product management and developer
relations at Opera, said better loading speed and support for Web
standards are the key design goals for Opera 10's release.
Standal noted that the alpha of Opera 10 released Thursday received a
perfect 100 test score on the Acid3 test, which is the standard test
from the Web Standards Project that gauges how well a browser follows
generally accepted standards - such as Javascript, Document Object
Model and Cascading Style Sheets - for Web pages. In the Acid3 test, a
browser is expected to render a page a certain way.
Support for Web Font, a technology that allows a Web developer to
specify any font that's available on the Internet rather than depend on
ones available locally, also is available in the alpha release of Opera
10 as part of the Presto 2.2 software, Standal said.
Opera expects to release a beta of Opera 10 in early 2009 and a full
version of the browser before midyear, he said.
While Opera's desktop browser has only a very small market share in the
U.S., the software is more popular with users in Europe and Asia.
Acer Plans Netbook With 10.2-inch Screen
Acer, the world's third largest PC vendor, is planning to launch a
netbook next year with a 10.2-inch screen, the largest netbook screen
from Acer so far, a company representative confirmed.
The Taiwanese company's Aspire One netbook has been a hit this year.
Launched at mid-year, the device now has Asustek Computer's popular Eee
PC in its sights. Acer has forecast shipments of 6 million Aspire One's
this year, against estimates of 5 million from Asustek for its Eee PCs.
The Aspire One out now has an 8.9-inch screen, but most companies are
putting out netbooks with 10.2-inch screens now. The slightly larger
screen sizes are more popular with people who like to view Web pages
without scrolling left and right to see the entire page.
Asustek, which has offered a 7-inch screen on its Eee PCs, has said it
does not plan to offer the small screen size in the future because
people don't seem to like it as much.
Netbooks are mini-laptop PCs designed for mobility, typically sporting
7-inch to 10-inch screens and weighing less than 2 kilograms. Most
netbook components, including the microprocessor, are less powerful than
those of full-fledged laptops so batteries last longer. Netbooks are
designed for dealing with e-mail, browsing the Internet and working on
word processor or spreadsheet documents, not for heavy-duty gaming,
video editing or other multimedia work.
Reports also indicate that Acer plans to launch a rival to Asustek's Eee
Top, which is a low-cost competitor to Apple's iMac, a display with
computing functions built-in.
Microsoft Targets Auctions in Counterfeit Crackdown
Microsoft continues to crack down on people it believes are
counterfeiting and selling its software. On Thursday the company will
add another 63 legal filings in 12 countries against individuals who it
says are selling counterfeit Microsoft products.
The 63 actions are against people allegedly selling counterfeit versions
of Microsoft Office, Windows XP and other products at online auction
sites, said Matt Lundy, senior attorney with Microsoft's anti-piracy and
anti-counterfeiting team.
Of the cases being filed, 16 are against defendants in the U.S., 12 each
in Germany and France, and seven in the U.K. The other cases deal with
activity originating in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, the
Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico and New Zealand.
Auction sites are especially dangerous for consumers because they allow
counterfeiters to reach anyone who browses the Internet, giving them a
broad swathe of potential victims, Lundy said.
In one case Microsoft is working on, a defendant operating in New
Zealand was able to ship counterfeit software from China to customers in
the U.S., he said. "This demonstrates the global reach that the Internet
and online auction spaces can provide pirates," Lundy said.
Sites at which the alleged activity occurred include Amazon.com,
Craigslist, eBay, MySpace, PCWorld and PriceGrabber, to name just a few,
according to Microsoft.
A popular scam Microsoft is targeting in this round of legal activity is
a fictitious marketing scheme called the "Blue Edition." In these cases,
counterfeiters say they are offering a special edition of Microsoft
software, called the Blue Edition, that is available very cheaply
because it was part of a manufacturer's surplus of the product, Lundy said.
"It's critical for customers to understand that Blue Edition is
fictional," Lundy said. "It's merely an attempt by pirates to fool
unsuspecting consumers into buying this product."
Microsoft identified the Blue Edition scam through complaints from
customers that came directly to the company or were posted at online
auction sites when people realized their merchandise was counterfeit,
Lundy said. Most of the Blue Edition cases Microsoft is dealing with
target customers in the U.S., he added.
Microsoft's continued legal activity to prevent the sale of counterfeit
or pirated software is part of its Genuine Software Initiative,
described at the company's Web site.
Microsoft also has a site called "How To Tell" that helps people
determine whether the Microsoft software they were sold is genuine.
Shoppers Opened Their Wallets on Cyber Monday
Cyber Monday, the day after the Thanksgiving weekend in the U.S.,
lived up to its reputation for big online retail sales, triggering
disproportionately high spending during this so far modest holiday
shopping season.
U.S. shoppers spent 15 percent more than on last year's Cyber Monday, a
boon to online retailers that are facing a muted holiday season with
spending expected to be flat compared with 2007, comScore said Wednesday.
The surge in spending began on Thanksgiving Day - last Thursday - with
a 6 percent increase over 2007, followed by a modest 1 percent increase
the next day, Black Friday, and a robust 19 percent rise during Saturday
and Sunday, comScore said.
The US$846 million spent on Cyber Monday represents the second heaviest
online spending day on record, comScore said. Overall, spending grew 13
percent between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Unfortunately, some large retailers may have been unable to fully
capitalize on this spending boost because their Web sites buckled under
heavy traffic. Some that faced significant problems at some point
between Friday and Monday included Sears, Bloomingdale's, Victoria's
Secret, Staples, Costco and J. Crew, according to various reports from
industry observers, shoppers and Web site monitoring companies.
For example, between 6 a.m. and midnight U.S. Eastern Time on Black
Friday, Sears' Web site had availability of 61.90 percent, meaning that
out of every 100 shoppers, 38 were unable to complete a purchase,
according to Web site monitoring company Gomez. Sears acknowledged the
problem.
Staples had availability of 83.64 percent on Friday and of 88.32 percent
on Monday, Gomez said. However, a Staples spokesman downplayed the
problem, saying via e-mail: "Our customers may have experienced a slight
slow-down in page download times during our peak volumes over a two-hour
period on Cyber Monday but we do not see any time where our customers
were unable to complete their online purchase." Bloomingdale's,
Victoria's Secret, Costco and J. Crew haven't responded to requests for
comment.
Between Nov. 1 and Dec. 1 - the first 31 days of the holiday shopping
season - U.S. residents spent $12.03 billion in online retail sales, a
drop of 2 percent compared with the corresponding period last year,
according to comScore.
Big discounts and attractive promotions prompted U.S. shoppers to open
their wallets, at a time when many of them are curbing spending due to
the widespread economic woes that have affected their jobs, real estate
values and retirement accounts.
Although U.S. shoppers spent 9 percent more in online retail purchases
during the first 10 months of 2008, compared with the same period in
2007, comScore forecasts that spending during the holiday season -
November and December - will be flat, matching the $29.2 billion of
2007's holidays.
=~=~=~=
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