Security
ZDNet, 6/4/03: New Bugbear worm emerges
By Ian Ferguson and Matthew Broersma
A new variant of the Bugbear virus--Win32.Bugbear.B--has emerged and threatens corporate and home computer systems, according to anti-virus experts.
Computer Associates expert Jakub Kaminsky on Wednesday confirmed the company's anti-virus laboratories had received their first sample of the variant from an Australian user late on Thursday afternoon, Australian time, but had seen nothing from their customers since.
Other security firms have also discovered the new worm "in the wild", or affecting computers outside the lab. IDefense first found Bugbear.B in Australia and the United States on Wednesday, and said it has since gained ground rapidly. Messagelabs, which runs outsourced e-mail servers for 700,000 customers around the world, has labeled the worm "high risk" and reports more than 12,000 infections in 98 countries.
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InternetNews.com, 6/4/03: IE Object Tag Buffer Overflow Patched
By Ryan Naraine
For the third time this year, Microsoft (Quote, Company Info) has issued a cumulative patch to fix security holes in its flagship Internet Explorer (IE) browser, warning that the flaws affect versions 5.01 through 6.0, including IE 6.0 for Windows Server 2003.
The software giant tagged a "critical" rating on the vulnerability, which was detected by researchers at eEye Digital Security.
The latest cumulative patch includes the functionality of all previously released fixes for IE and two newly discovered security holes, the company said in an alert issued on Wednesday.
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Computerworld, 6/4/03: Microsoft issues first patch for Windows Server 2003
It had touted the product as one of its most secure products ever
by Joris Evers
Two serious security flaws that could allow an attacker to take over a user's system exist in all current versions of Microsoft's Corp.'s Internet Explorer Web browser, including the one that ships with Windows Server 2003, Microsoft said today.
Affected are Internet Explorer Versions 5.01, 5.5, 6.0 and 6.0 for Windows Server 2003, Microsoft said in Security Bulletin MS03-020. The bulletin includes a software patch for all browser versions that the software vendor is urging users to install immediately.
[more]
PC World, 6/5/03: Sobig: Spam, Virus, or Both?
Virus writer likely used spamming techniques to spread the worm quickly.
Paul Roberts
The quick spread of the recent Sobig.C virus may owe more to advances in spamming techniques than to the skill of the anonymous virus writer, according to a leading antivirus company.
An analysis by Russian antivirus company Kaspersky Labs of e-mail messages containing the new worm variant revealed what appears to be a distribution pattern more akin to that of spam e-mail than to that of a fast-spreading virus, according to Denis Zenkin, head of corporate communications at Kaspersky in Moscow.
[more]
Microsoft
The New York Times, 6/5/03: Microsoft Leader Tells Workers of I.B.M.-Linux Threat
By STEVE LOHR
In a long e-mail message to Microsoft employees yesterday, Steven A. Ballmer, the chief executive, singled out International Business Machines as the company's chief corporate rival and the rise of free software like Linux as a threat to Microsoft's lucrative portfolio of products.
Mr. Ballmer expressed optimism about the long-term growth opportunities for Microsoft and the computer industry. But for now, he noted, many customers are skeptical. "As I talk with business customers," he wrote, "there is less passion and enthusiasm for technology, and greater focus on doing more with less."
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Optimism
InternetNews.Com, 6/4/03: High-Tech Layoffs Easing Up
By Sharon Gaudin
The high-tech sector, which has been slammed with heavy job cuts for the past two years, seems to be getting a break.
The cuts are still coming but the numbers are lower than in recent quarters, mirroring the overall U.S. economy.
Telecommunications and the computer sector announced 54,278 job cuts from January through May. That is 67 percent fewer cuts than the 165,391 logged in the same period last year, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., an international outplacement firm based in Chicago.
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Future
News.Com, 6/4/03: Big Brother and the next 50 years
By Declan McCullagh
Bruce Sterling calls himself an author, a journalist and an editor--and all that is true. But Sterling, who wrote "The Hacker Crackdown," is also a contrarian and a leading cultural critic of modern technology.
From his home in Austin, Texas, Sterling has written popular science fiction novels such as "Islands in the Net," "Distraction," "Heavy Weather" and, with co-author William Gibson, "The Difference Engine." In technology circles, Sterling is almost as known for his droll conference speeches through which he dispatches politicians and corporate titans alike with Mark Twain-like wit and precision.
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