Dennis Fisher

Yet another e-mail-borne worm is making the rounds on the Internet using an infection and pattern that should be quite familiar to administrators and users. The worm is capable of deleting anti-virus and a lengthy list of other files. On the sixth day of every month save January and July, the worm tries to overwrite […]

Timing, as they say, is everything. As the furor over Oracle Corp.s new Unbreakable ad campaign grows, Application Security Inc. this week introduced the new version of its AppDetective, a security scanner specifically designed to look for vulnerabilities in Oracle databases. Oracle, the Redwood Shores, Calif., database software maker, lately has been running a print […]

As the launch of Microsoft Corp.s critical .Net Framework draws closer, Bill Gates is launching an all-out effort to repair his companys reputation for poor security and reliability. Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft in Redmond, Wash., has developed a broad-based plan to combat present and future security and reliability problems in all […]

Network Associates Inc. on Thursday reported pro forma fourth-quarter earnings of $0.23 per share, or $40.5 million, a sharp improvement over the year-ago quarters loss of $0.87 per share. Analysts had expected the company to turn in pro forma earnings of $0.08 per share. This was the Santa Clara, Calif., security giants second consecutive profitable […]

The Electronic Privacy Information Center has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that two government agencies have ignored the centers repeated Freedom of Information Act requests for information on data privacy. EPIC filed its suit in United States District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday, charging that the departments of Justice and Treasury have […]

Looking to grab a larger piece of the rapidly expanding authentication and authorization market, Novell Inc. this week rolled out its new security suite, SecureAccess. The new suite is meant to be a one-stop shop for security software and comprises six Novell products: eDirectory, NDS Authentication Services, iChain, Novell Modular Authentication Services, SecureLogin and BorderManager. […]

Symantec Corp. on Wednesday reported third-quarter earnings of $0.78 per share, well above the $0.64 per share that analysts had expected. The Cupertino, Calif., security company also reported gross revenue of $290.2 million for the quarter, a 20 percent increase over the $241.8 million for the same period a year ago. Those numbers, however, are […]

Crackers are actively exploiting a dangerous flaw in Sun Microsystems Inc.s Solaris operating system that gives attackers complete control over a vulnerable system, according to a new advisory released by the CERT Coordination Center. Researchers first identified the vulnerability, which also exists in several other operating systems, in 1999, and CERT issued an advisory last […]

One of Microsoft Corp.s key e-commerce sites is currently offline after a security researcher found that the site was vulnerable to a common security problem known as cross-site scripting. The Microsoft Developer Store at Developerstore.com has been unavailable for several days, and there is no indication when it may be back online. An Argentine security […]

The business software alliance is taking its aggressive and somewhat controversial campaign against pirated software to 10 more areas this month. Under its Grace Period campaign, the BSA is using letters and radio ads to offer businesses in selected cities the opportunity to avoid penalties and acquire licenses for any illegal software they may have […]

Hacker attacks that exploit flaws in commercial software have caused tens of billions of dollars in damage in the past year. The Code Red worm alone is estimated to have cost enterprise users more than $2 billion. Software companies have hidden behind user agreements that protect vendors from liability for such damages, and few victims […]

The amount of malicious activity on the Internet is increasing at a frightening rate and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. 2001 marked the third consecutive year that the number of security incidents handled by the CERT Coordination Center doubled compared with the previous year. The center, based at Carnegie Mellon University in […]