Networking

Network security company SSH Communications said Friday that it is investigating claims that advanced pattern recognition can be used to weaken the security around an encryption standard used to protect connections between computers. The standard, known as secure shell, or SSH, encrypts the data traveling between an administrator's computer and a remote server, allowing for much more secure communications, even over the Internet.

Got a wireless home computer network? Careful you don't get whacked in a drive-by hacking.

Such wireless networks are popular because they allow everybody in the house to share a single Internet connection, printer or just about anything else connected to the system. And it all happens without cables, which means you can answer e-mail while sitting out in the back yard with your laptop.

While notebook might spell mobility and convenience, it also spells theft and disaster. Statistics show that 3000 notebooks are stolen in US every year. And if the notebook happens to contain sensitive information, everything goes for a toss.

A Trojan horse dubbed "Offensive" does much more damage than just leaving lewd messages in the Windows registry, and can arrive as an innocent-looking Web page link A Trojan horse that uses ActiveX is lurking on the Internet. Trojan horse Offensive, so named because it makes offensive references within the Windows registry, could arrive via email as a link to a Web page ending in .html.

L33tdawg: Right, well this news is a little old (about 2 1/2 maybe 3 days old), but all the same, perhaps some of you might not have heard of it yet.

Security experts and vendors of Linux and other Unix-like operating systems are urging network administrators to replace some versions of popular e-mail server software known as Sendmail, because the most recent open-source versions can provide a doorway for local hackers.

Microsoft has released a new security tool that makes it simple to secure an IIS 4.0 or 5.0 web server. The tool, known as the IIS Lockdown Tool, allows web servers to quickly and easily be put into the right configuration ? in which the server provides all of the services the administrator wants to provide, and no others. Customers can use this tool to instantly protect their systems against security threats that target web servers.

Alarmed at the disclosure of the existence of a controversial email and telephone eavesdropping network, Echelon, the European Commission has already taken the step of urging the public to encrypt all their emails. There is deep concern within the European Union (EU) over the implications of Echelon, especially as the US will not openly admit to the existence of the spy network. This is exacerbated by reports that Echelon, said to have been set up at the start of the Cold War, is only operated by five principal countries: the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

Secure Site Seal will authenticate Web sites so that consumers know they are shopping at a genuine site

VeriSign has launched a new service for ISPs and Internet hosting firms, aimed at enabling small and medium-sized businesses to securely exchange data such as credit card information and social security numbers.

A new permutation of the Code Red II worm is on the loose, but while security experts believe its impact will be minimal, they say the appearance of the new worm could be a harbinger of trouble.

The new variant, which has initially been dubbed CodeRed.d, is nearly identical to its predecessor except for two minor pieces of code, according to Roger Thompson, head of malicious code research at TruSecure Corp....

New Code Red II Variant Reported

By Brian McWilliams for Newsbytes

Criminal use of technology is not only putting a serious dent in worldwide economic productivity, it's also pushing police resources to the limit, according to one cybercrime expert. Bill Bogart, vice-president in the global law enforcement program with Electronic Data Systems in Washington, DC, is in Saskaton, Saskatchewan this week to speak to the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police about the issue at that group's annual general meeting and conference.