Government
Information Week, 3/19/03: Feds Think Big When It Comes To IT Services March 19, 2003
Federal spending on IT services soared from 1997 to 2001, according to the General Accounting Office.
By Eric Chabrow
Federal spending on IT services soared by 87% in five years, to $17.1 billion in fiscal year 2001 from $9.1 billion in fiscal year 1997, according to the investigative arm of Congress. During that period, the feds spent $64.1 billion on IT services, the General Accounting Office reported in a February letter to House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R.-Va. The GAO released the letter this week.
In the letter, William Woods, the GAO's director of acquisition and sourcing management, wrote that he included data on midsize companies because they've expressed concern about the share of IT services contracts they received. In an interview with InformationWeek late last year, Davis expressed concern that midsize vendors might be squeezed out by the behemoths and smaller firms. "They're having a tough time surviving," he said of the midsize vendors.
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Security
Computerworld, 3/20/03: Microsoft warns of 'critical' flaw in most versions of Windows
By Paul Roberts, IDG News Service
MARCH 19, 2003
A new software vulnerability that affects a number of different versions of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system could enable remote attackers to use a Web page or HTML formatted e-mail message to run their own malicious code on a Windows machine.
The buffer overrun vulnerability was discovered in the Windows Script Engine, which allows Windows operating systems to run script code written in languages such as Visual Basic Script (VBScript) or JScript, according to security bulletin MS03-008, which was released today.
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Computerworld, 3/18/03: Study: Human error causes most security breaches
By Grant Gross, IDG News Service
Human error, not technology, is the most significant cause of IT security breaches, according to a security survey released by the Computing Technology Industry Association Inc. (CompTIA) today.
The survey, "Committing to Security: A CompTIA Analysis of IT Security and the Workforce," suggests more training and certification of IT workers will help the U.S. protect itself against cyberthreats. In more than 63% of security breaches identified by the survey's respondents, human error was the major cause. Respondents blamed only 8% of security breaches on purely technical failures.
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Wireless
eWeek, 3/17/03: Intel Jumps Off the Wire
By Jeffrey Burt
When Intel Corp. launched its Centrino mobile computing platform last week, it was accompanied by enthusiastic OEMs, each eager to talk about the smaller, lighter notebooks under development. However, the new technology isn't getting the same reception from some potential users.
A handful of IT managers contacted by eWeek last week said they wanted to look before leaping into Centrino. For example, an IT administrator for a major financial services company said he was in the process of buying new notebooks but put that on hold to review Centrino. He plans to buy about 1,000 notebooks over the next six months.
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Microsoft
Computerworld, 3/19/03: Microsoft exec says Longhorn future 'fluid'
By CAROL SLIWA
LAS VEGAS -- Despite recent claims to the contrary, there may be a Windows server operating system code-named Longhorn after all, a Microsoft Corp. executive said yesterday.
Just last November, Microsoft officials said that the next major Windows operating system, code-named Longhorn, would be a client-only release (see story). But Brian Valentine, senior vice president of Microsoft's Windows division, told Computerworld yesterday that that announcement was "a bit premature" based on engineering planning.
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eWeek, 3/19/03: Microsoft Prepares a More Intuitive MOM
By Paula Musich
Las Vegas—Microsoft Corp. Tuesday at its Microsoft Management Summit here will introduce the next version of its Microsoft Operations Manager.
MOM 2004, not due until next year, emphasizes simpler deployment of the tool, streamlined use of it and specific management packs for Microsoft applications.
"It's never been as intuitive as it should be," said David Hamilton, director of the Enterprise Management Division at Microsoft in Redmond, Wash. "We want customers to be able to deploy it in hours, not weeks."
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