Bristol ready to put open source on 3,500 desktops

Bristol ready to put open source on 3,500 desktops

Bristol City Council is to deploy the open source Staroffice productivity suite across 3,500 desktops following a six-month preparation programme. "For the past six months we have been in a detailed preparation phase, testing the product in the council's various IT environments and educating end-users," said Gavin Beckett the council's principal ICT strategy officer.

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Windows History: 1985 to 1994

Windows History: 1985 to 1994

Ever since the early nineties, Microsoft Windows has been dominant in the desktop market. Its roots were in the "Interface Manager", a project initiated by Bill Gates in 1982 after he saw VisiOn, another desktop environment developed by the developers of VisiCalc. He had envisioned an environment similar to that of the Xerox Star 8010 for an ordinary PC XT, while its primary competitors cost thousands of dollars.

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Internet infection holds files 'hostage'

Internet infection holds files 'hostage'

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Computer users already anxious about viruses and identity theft have new reason to worry: Hackers have found a way to lock up the electronic documents on your computer and then demand $200 over the Internet to get them back.

Security researchers at San Diego-based Websense Inc. uncovered the unusual extortion plot when a corporate customer they would not identify fell victim to the infection, which encrypted files that included documents, photographs and spreadsheets.

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Information Security Issues for Instant Messaging

Information Security Issues for Instant Messaging

In today’s fast-moving business environment, Instant Messaging offers a number of advantages, such as sending e-mails, transfer file etc. Because IM uses Peer-to-Peer technology to enable direct communication, it can allow hackers to bypass firewalls and access IT systems and has the potential to threaten your entire network with a whole raft of security attacks.

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Fake Microsoft Patch Triggers Virus Attack

Fake Microsoft Patch Triggers Virus Attack

Like day follows night, a bogus "cumulative update" with a malicious attachment has followed Microsoft's patch day. In what has become a monthly staple, virus writers are taking advantage of the heightened public interest around Microsoft's patching cycle to trick users into executing a malicious attachment.

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Windows file permissions: more is less

Windows file permissions: more is less

Windows permissions are kind of like that. The core security model certainly is sufficient to comply with even the most demanding security policies. The permissions are so flexible you are really only limited by your creativity. The problem is that not enough people take advantage of these features.

Consider for example, some of the things you could potentially do:

* You could remove certain file extension mappings for specific users by denying them read access to the registry keys that contain the mappings;
* With some applications that don't provide per user settings you can sometimes accomplish the same thing with granular user permissions on the registry keys themselves;
* You can set access permissions on programs such as the command prompt so that they are only available to certain users, and only if they are logged in interactively at the console;
* You can set...

Firms urged to check IPSec configurations

Firms urged to check IPSec configurations

Firms using IP Security (IPSec) virtual private networks (VPNs) were warned of a serious new security flaw by the UK National Infrastructure Security Coordination Centre (NISCC) in May.

NISCC said, "If exploited, it is possible for an active attacker to obtain the plain text version of the IPSec-protected communications using only moderate effort."

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Source
ITweek.co/uk

Intel chip flaw opens hacker backdoor

Intel chip flaw opens hacker backdoor

A flaw in Intel's hyper-threading processor technology could allow attackers to crack encrypted information.

Hyper-threading allows one physical processor to be used as two virtual ones, increasing the speed of many applications.


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Source
Vnunet.com

Google releases...

Google releases desktop search for businesses

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Google Inc. (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) late on Tuesday released a desktop search product for businesses with the aim of helping workers more quickly find information on the Web, in their computer hard drives and e-mail inboxes, as well as on corporate intranets.

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Source
Reuters

Security Update for MSN Messenger 6.1 or 6.2

Security Update for MSN Messenger 6.1 or 6.2

A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to compromise your Windows-based system and gain control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

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Source
Microsoft Download Center