Dennis Fisher

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, government officials and security experts have warned that the nations vital IT infrastructure is likely to come under assault from terrorists in the near future. To help combat such an attack, Richard Clarke, the cyberspace security advisor, last week announced plans to build a special voice and […]

After nearly three months without permanent leadership, security vendor Baltimore Technologies Plc. on Wednesday appointed board member Bijan Khezri as CEO. The Dublin, Ireland, company also announced that Paul Sanders, chief financial officer and acting CEO since July, has resigned effective immediately. Khezri, who has been a member of Baltimores board off and on since […]

For the second time in three days Monday, a law firm representing shareholders of Internet Security Systems Inc. filed a class-action lawsuit against the security vendor. Both suits allege that the Atlanta-based vendor provided investors with misleading financial guidance regarding the companys performance during the first quarter of this year. The suits also charge that […]

Symantec Corp. and Asita Technologies Inc. this week are announcing sophisticated VPN appliances that, while aimed at opposite ends of the market, deliver similar feature sets. Symantecs 100, 200 and 200R virtual private network appliances are designed for small and midsize businesses, but they include features that are typically reserved for machines deployed at service […]

Microsoft Corp. last week was once again responding to customers that have assailed the company for the latest security breaches affecting its products—this time with a new long-range security initiative and the development of several tools. The Redmond, Wash., company announced the Strategic Technology Protection Program, which is aimed at plugging holes in its software. […]

Security researchers have found a vulnerability in a popular Unix GUI program that could enable an attacker to gain root privileges on a victims computer. The problem stems from a format string vulnerability in the Common Desktop Environment, an open-source GUI that runs on Unix and Linux operating systems. Specifically, the ToolTalk message brokering services […]

Microsoft Corp. on Thursday warned that macros hidden in some Excel or PowerPoint documents could bypass built-in security measures and enable an attacker to execute arbitrary code on a victims PC. Both affected programs have a security feature that is supposed to prevent macros from executing automatically by scanning documents for the presence of a […]

Hoping to cash in on the current climate surrounding online surveillance, Zero-Knowledge Systems Inc. on Thursday released a fully redesigned version of its Freedom Privacy and Security Tools. Designed to be a comprehensive security package, Freedom 3.0 includes a personal firewall, form filler/password manager and cookie manager, among other features. The form filler/password manager is […]

A group of hackers on Tuesday released an exploit that takes advantage of a flaw in America Online Inc.s Instant Messenger program and remotely crashes another users AIM client. A buffer overrun flaw in the latest version of AIM enables an attacker to crash another users client by sending a large string of specific characters. […]

Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday launched a two-tier program designed to secure its customers networks and improve the companys own security incident response and prevention methods. The program is a response to the rash of viruses, worms and other security incidents that have hit the Internet in the last six months or so, Microsoft officials said. […]

A privacy watchdog group on Tuesday ripped the latest draft of the Bush administrations anti-terror bill as vague and warned that the broad powers it grants the law enforcement community could lead to another Watergate. Officials from the Center for Democracy and Technology said the bill gives the government and law enforcement officials too much […]

Sun Microsystems Inc., along with dozens of partners from the high-tech, financial, automotive and travel industries, announced last week the creation of a group dedicated to developing an interoperable network identity technology. The coalition, known as the Liberty Alliance Project, was created to offer direct competition to Microsoft Corp.s Passport identity service. “Our goal is […]