Anti-Spam Web Pages Shut Down by Attacks

<font size="3">Anti-Spam Web Pages Shut Down by Attacks</font>

Three Web sites that provide spam blocking lists have shut down as a result of crippling Internet attacks in what experts on Thursday said is an escalation in the war between spammers and opponents of unsolicited e-mails.

The technological war comes as Congress considers a federal anti-spam law and California adopts what is widely considered to be the toughest law in the country. The California law, signed on Tuesday, allows people to sue spammers for $1,000 per unsolicited e-mail and up to $1 million for a spam campaign.

"This definitely marks an escalation in the spam wars," Andrew Barrett, executive director of The Spamcon Foundation, a spam watchdog group, said of the recent Internet attacks on lists used to block spam.

Two of those spam block lists have shut down after being attacked by denial-of-service attacks, in which compromised...

MSN Chatrooms Axed

<font size="3">MSN Chatrooms Axed</font>

Computer giant Microsoft is to close the majority of its internet chatrooms to stop paedophiles praying on young children.

It will axe all its chatrooms run by its MSN websites in 34 countries while others will be more tightly monitored or operate on a subsciption-only basis.

The company also hopes the move will combat spam emails.

Companies are known to collect e-mail addresses from those visiting chatrooms which they use to send what are often x-rated adverts.

Matt Whittingham, head of customer satisfaction at MSN UK, said: "Most people treat this type of service with respect but we have found that chatrooms - and not only ours - are increasingly being used for inappropriate communications.

MSN will shut its free, unmoderated Chat services around the globe on October 14.

News source:...

Will Microsoft ever get secure?

<font size="3">Will Microsoft ever get secure? </font>

It must be tough to be the largest software company in the world. Everyone's always trying to exploit every little hole in your applications and every little mistake you make gets played up in the media. On the other hand, your software is in so many homes and offices across the world that you directly or indirectly touch the lives of millions, if not billions, of people.

With that popularity, though, comes a responsibility not only to call attention to any flaws in your products that might adversely affect your customers, but also to build products from the ground up that are secure as they can be. Microsoft is improving its track record on the former, but after almost two years of Trustworthy Computing, I've yet to see much progress on the latter.

Let's start with the positives. Since the MSBlast worm appeared last month, the software giant has been on the...

Putting a lid on broadband use

<font size="3">Putting a lid on broadband use </font>

Earlier this month, a Philadelphia Comcast broadband subscriber got a letter from his service provider, telling him he'd been using the Internet too much. Keith, who asked to keep his full name private, said he'd subscribed to the service for four years and never had a complaint before. Now he was being labeled a network "abuser."

Worse, he said, Comcast refused to tell him how much downloading was allowed under his contract. A customer service representative had told him there was no specific cap, he said, adding that he might avoid being suspended if he cut his bandwidth usage in half. But even then, the lack of a hard number gave Keith no guarantee.

"I don't mind restrictions, but how can Comcast expect users to stick to a limit when they don't say what the limit is?" he said. "If they're going to impose limits, that's one thing, but at least tell us...

Windows to Power ATMs in 2005

<font size="3">Windows to Power ATMs in 2005 </font>

Within three years, most bank machines that dispense cash will run on the Windows operating system, according to a study published last week. By 2005, 65 percent of bank ATMs (not including free-standing machines in places like convenience stores and casinos) in the United States will use a stripped-down version of Windows. About 12 percent of the machines will use the operating system by the end of this year, according to Gwenn Bezard, an analyst at market researcher Celent.

Bezard asked 20 of the top 60 banks in the country about their plans to upgrade ATMs. He also interviewed the top 10 ATM manufacturers and software vendors. He concluded the banking industry is ready to scrap IBM's OS/2 operating system, which powers most ATMs today. They would prefer Windows, a platform they consider "open" in that it is compatible with their internal corporate networks....

SBS Exam in Beta Next Week

<font size="3">SBS Exam in Beta Next Week </font>

Microsoft may release exam to beta testers Sept. 22-28, but the cert group has yet to confirm whether newest exam for SBS implementers is a go.

Although Microsoft certification program managers announced that the 70-282, Designing, Deploying, and Managing a Network Solution for a Small- and Medium-Sized Business would be available Sept. 22-28, as of this writing the company hasn't listed specific exam beta dates on the exam guide (click here). Microsoft program managers announced the exam, which is aimed at implementers of the upcoming Small Business Server 2003, at the MCP TechMentor conference in San Diego.

Nonetheless, the exam, numbered 71-282 while in beta, appears on both the Prometric and Vue registration sites....

emails not 4U

<font size="3">emails not 4U</font>

Phones 4U has banned its 2,500 staff from emailing each other. John Caudwell, the owner of the mobile phone retailer, reckons the move will save his employees three hours a day(three hours?!) and his company at least a £1m a month in time saved.

Caudwell told the Press Association: "I saw that email was insidiously invading Phones 4u so I banned it immediately.

"Management and staff at HQ and in the stores were beginning to show signs of being constrained by email proliferation - the ban brought an instant, dramatic and positive effect."

Staff are still allowed to respond to external emails, he said. That should ward off any complaints on human rights grounds...®

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk

BIND developer blocks Verisign Net grab move

<font size="3">BIND developer blocks Verisign Net grab move</font>

The developer of the technology used to direct surfers on the Web has announced it is developing a workaround designed to stop users who mistype URLs ending up at VeriSign's new search site.

The Internet Software Consortium, the nonprofit body that develops the ubiquitous BIND domain name server, is adapting its software so that those users who enter mistyped domain names would not automatically end up at VeriSign's Site Finder search engine service, AP reports. The patch could be available as early as today.

DNS servers running the modified version of BIND would recognise - and ignore - wrongly typed addresses that resolve to Site Finder.

The controversy kicked off on Monday, when Verisign added wildcard DNS records to all .com and .net domains - redirecting surfers who get lost on the Net to a search page, called Site Finder, run by...

All your Web typos are belong to us

<font size="3">All your Web typos are belong to us </font>

Network administrators are fuming about changes made by domain registrar Verisign to the DNS system yesterday that they say violate longstanding Internet standards.

Verisign yesterday added wildcard DNS records to all .com and .net domains - redirecting surfers who get lost on the Net to a search page, called Site Finder, run by the company. Those who type in non-existent addresses will also be served up Site Finder, instead of an error message.

There's widespread concern the alterations will frustrate commonly used anti-spam techniques. Mail packages often check to see whether the domain an email is coming from is valid but with the changes all domains have suddenly become valid, frustrating the technique.

The radical, and largely unheralded, changes were made yesterday and followed up by a post by Verisign to the NANOG mailing list. This did...

Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 RTM

<font size="3">Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 RTM</font>

Final Release in Windows Server 2003 Family Tailored To Meet Specific Needs of Small Businesses

Microsoft Corp. today announced that Windows® Small Business Server 2003 has been released to manufacturing. Based on groundbreaking innovations that dramatically simplify the deployment process, ongoing management and use of server technology, Windows Small Business Server 2003 enables small-business customers to ensure that their data is automatically protected, significantly increase their productivity and improve their connection with customers. Specifically tailored to address the requirements of small businesses, Windows Small Business Server 2003 now makes server technology a viable and approachable option for this underserved market segment. For partners who are often the sole IT administrators supporting small businesses, Windows...