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true pinnacle of excellence,” itsays.

The strategy is one thatfrightens America becausealthough they have impressivemilitary capability, they feelvulnerable to informationwarfare. And they are not theonly ones.

Microsoft hack isthreat to nations

A report states that the October attack onMicrosoft Corporation could“pose grave national-security-related concerns”.

The report in question is theCyber Threats and InformationSecurity: Meeting of the 21stCentury Challenge from theCenter for Strategic andInternational Studies (CSIS).It warns that both the publicand private sector should bewary of Microsoft’s products.“It is doubtful that the millions (sometimes billions)of lines of code required topower Microsoft’s productscould readily be sanitized,” itstates.

The reliance of military andGovernment systems on these,and other off-the-shelf products is a concern tonational security, say CSIS.

Microsoft disagrees. Aspokesperson said that thereport, “Sensationalizes the inci-dent and mis-states the facts in anumber of important ways.”They explain that, “There is noevidence…we have no reason tobelieve that the intruders wereable to see Windows or Officesource code, much less modifyit. Microsoft’s current andfuture products remain intactand secure.”

CSIS reported, “Whoeverstole proprietary secrets at theheart of the ubiquitousWindows program can hackinto the any PC in the worldthat uses it and is connected tothe Internet.”

Microsoft products willremain a powerful hackermagnet because of their continued popularity. If thereport is indeed accurate, therewill be serious internationalrepercussions.

IT giants team upto fight threat of'cyber-terrorism'

Big players Microsoft, Oracle,Intel, AT&T and 15 othershave formed a cyber-terrorism fighting club.

It is called the InformationTechnology InformationSharing and Analysis Center(IT-ISAC).

The basic premise is that thelarge corporations will poolinformation on their hardwareand software vulnerabilities, aswell as sharing what theyknow about new hackingthreats.

All this is to be done for thegreater good of E-commercein a united stand againstcyber-terrorists. Informationwill also be passed on the USGovernment.

Mary-Ann Davidson fromOracle explained that, "Noman is an island. Andnowhere is this more apparentthan in protecting the nation'sinfrastructure… Every one ofus has been or will be attackedin cyberspace, a threat againstone is truly a threat againstall."

The IT-ISAC is a not-for-profit organization which isrun by the Internet SecuritySystems. It will disseminatein-formation to its members24/7. Members paid $750 000in total to join, and newrecruits will be charged$5000.

Although this seems to be anoble cause and a good idea intheory, there is cause to won-der whether, at the end of theday, Microsoft and Oracle, orexample, will be able to live inharmony. They do not seem tobe able to do this in the com-petitive environment, asproven by the incident whereOracle admitted to goingthrough Microsoft's bins totry and uncover secrets.

EU to fight spam

Spam is one of the biggestproblems on the Internet,and it was the focus of theEuropean Union's first meet-ing to discuss privacy on theNet.

At the moment, the onus ison self regulation, however,judging by the amount ofunsolicited E-mails we allreceive, this approach is notworking.

At a Federal TradeCommission (FTC) meeting inDecember there was muchdebate over whether disclosureof location information shouldbe 'opt-in' — you must specifythat you want the informationto be given out — or 'opt-out'(data will we given out unlessyou say otherwise).

A spokesman from privacygroup, the Electronic Privacy

Information Center said, "Weseem to be moving toward anagreement...that the standardshould be 'opt-in'."

This seems to be in the pub-lic interest. The FTC agreethat there should be somestandard, but made it clearthat they "are very big fans ofself-regulation...it makes ourlives easier," said Joel Winstonfrom the FTC's consumerprotection arm.

Erkki Liikanen is the man incharge of 'information societyinitiatives' in the EU. He pro-poses to extend existing priva-cy legislation, from 1997,which applies to unsolicitedphone calls, to cover spam.

The problem with banningspam outright is that there area number of worthy excep-tions. These include govern-ment run mailing lists in caseof emergencies such asnational safety or severeweather warnings and advice.

It is good that the EU is fol-lowing the lead of the US inthis matter. Clearly, self-regu-lation is proven to be ineffec-tive at preventing spam andtherefore it is time for some-one to set some standards.

eBay spams itscustomers

Online auction site eBay willbegin marketing to registeredcustomers who have askednot to be. Some 6 millioncustomers who registered lastyear between April andNovember will begin receiv-ing calls and mail from 23January.

The site has explained thatalthough it conscientiouslyasked questions during

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Privacy News

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