Week of October 27, 2005

Articles from last posting

Wiggling out of US security breach laws

Consumers unforgiving if personal data exposed

Harvard business strategy guru Michael Porter talking sense

MS tries to win (back) German hearts and minds

Most of the big IT vendors have finally figured out that they have to give a little to keep you buying. Not that they will necessarily give you a little for free, but it is progress nonetheless. Rome wasn't built in a day either.

Microsoft is peppering Germany with a campaign to keep Germans 'Safe on the Net'; offering freebie guides on CDs to be distributed by large German IT magazines, web site aid, and my personal favourite- Geek MS Help Vans that arrive in big German cities and invite all and sundry to bring in their PCs to be disinfected. Desperate German grannies are even lugging in their desktops to be saved.

Keen Germans can also do an exam to become an MS 'security assessor', and a guide to best security practices is being made available to small and medium sized companies.

Has MS gone soft? Is this the new, softer, cuddlier MS in the making?

Or could it be that Steve Ballmer (CEO) wants to reclaim the business he lost from the City of Munich to Linux and OpenOffice? And he needs to up the charm quotient to have a hope of doing so?

Theat to incumbent security vendors is very real

Of course, MS has now finally announced (from Munich- where else?) that it will enter the corporate security market with gusto, starting the end of 2005- with a new anti-spyware product, followed in 2006 with anti-virus and anti-spam ware. The new line is to be called 'Antigen', as part of a 'Client Protection' technology drive at MS.

Symantec files EU complaint

In Europe, I read that Symantec, dominant in these markets, has filed an informal complaint with the EU anti-competition authorities. You can almost smell the fear in the air.

Dell offers backup for dummies

Michael Dell doesn't miss much. And selling an extra drive to consumers under the guise of additional security- is a savvy move.

Dell is offering US customers the option of paying an extra $99 for a second 80GB hard drive on various models. The drive will be set up to automatically back up the main drive.

Of course, backing up data is not rocket science - if you know what you are doing - but you have to remember to do it, and even the experts are not always as diligent on that front as they should be. This option saves you frying your head about back-up- if it works that is.

I wouldn't get your hopes up though that if the second magic drive fails to do what it is supposed to do, that you have deep pockets to sue. I feel sure that the Dell lawyers have disclaimed their way out of that mess, to the maximum extent possible in law.

Surfing in Italy? Take your passport along

It may not quite take the dolce vita out of sojourns in Italy, but it certainly might act as a damper, if you are unprepared.

As a result of tough new anti-terrorism laws post 911, and the Milan bombings, you now have to produce your passport if you want to surf at an Italian Net cafe. You may also have to sign a security disclaimer, whatever that is, and the owner has to have a $1600 special licence, as well as special tracking software to keep an eye on what you are doing online.

The list of sites you surfed, with your personal details, gets turned over to the local flic from time to time. So bad taste jokes to friends, and curiousity about international money laundering rings are best not to be indulged while in Italy.

Or you may take home more than fond memories of yourself doing dazzling impressions of Russell Crowe in Gladiator, while cavorting in the Forum. That is if you ever get home...

Rome in particular, is worth it nonetheless. Go see the Circus Maximus - where the 150-300K crowd cheered on the racing charioteers.

And if you think your job is risky, be grateful you were not a charioteer back then. Or at least a good one. Peeved Roman Emperors were wont to execute successful team members, who beat their favourites. One way to narrow the odds. And give a whole new meaning to losing....

Another hacker gainfully employed

We have often written about the fact that a certain number of hackers seem to do quite nicely for themselves. Some avoid prison, and/or even get good jobs.

However, it is a risky business, and a positive outcome is by no means assured. Add to the mix the fact that being innocent - at least morally - is just as hazardous, and you have a very tricky risk environment to ponder. Or so IT contractor Daniel Cuthbert, 28, of Whitechapel, east London recently found out to his peril.

But some people have far better luck.

Jon Lech Johansen, a Norwegian, at age 15, became a legend for breaking the copy-protection on DVDs with software called DeCSS. In the process he earned the eternal wrath of the the film industry, but got off at trial in Norway- a close shave. He now has a job in San Diego at MP3tunes.

Jon also recently cracked the copy protection on Apple's iTunes, so his popularity is soaring with the music industry as well. The CEO of MP3Tunes, apparently like- minded, has also had his share of run ins with the entertainment industry.

They seem to be quite the pair. One worth watching - to see if their luck holds out.

'Weaselboy' spammer on trial in UK

We have written before about the unholy alliances that have been forged between the virus, spyware writers, phishers and the spammers. Spammers are generally a bad lot, but here is a story that sets a new low.

Francis-Macrae, 23 is on trial in the UK for scamming and spamming innocent victims out of STG 1.5 million pounds from his father's row house in Cambridgeshire, England. The scams mainly revolved around the selling of fake registrations for the new .eu domain name registration. It is alleged that he used the money to buy fancy designer clothes, and to take helicopter lessons.

It is worth reading about the scams to recognize, if you needed convincing, that trusting any web page that looks legitimate is a dangerous business. How to know what to trust, is, of course, an entirely different discussion, and one with no solution in sight.

But a little paranoia can go a long way.

Macrae apparently also went by the nomenclature 'Weaselboy'- which seems most apt if the charges stick, and was 'the only UK resident listed on The SpamHaus Project's Register Of Known Spam Operations'.

But stealing money wasn't enough. In the process, he allegedly also terrorized a UK police telephone operator, telling her in sneering tones that he hoped she got cancer, which in fact the unfortunate woman already had; threatened to put a car bomb at local police headquarters, and made grandiose statements as follows:

“I’m going to make sure you never answer another phone again as long as you live. My name is Peter Francis-Macrae. I am your worst nightmare.”

Indeed.

We will post the outcome of the trial.