Larry Dignan

Recent attacks in the West Bank, Riyadh and Casablanca may mean the war on terrorism is far from over. But despite those ominous rumblings, technology executives say they have not increased spending on securing their data networks—and are still wrestling with the question of how much to spend. These are findings of the Project Security: […]

When Data Processors International (DPI) revealed in February that an “unauthorized outside party” ran off with more than five million Visa and MasterCard account numbers and expiration dates, it got an instant wakeup call. Not only were the credit card customers accounts potentially at risk, so was the companys reputation for trustworthiness. Luckily, the accounts […]

Monitor-maker ViewSonic did not see this one coming. A network administrator it once employed was arrested last month for hacking into the monitor-makers network and wiping out critical files. It could have been worse. The former employee, Andy Garcia, 39, of Montebello, Calif., could have been more destructive. He also was charged with possession of […]

Earnings season is over. Executives have given their all-important “guidance” about upcoming quarters and the outlook. So now what should an enterprising investor do? Watch those regulatory filings. Its time for 10-Qs and 10-Ks, also known as quarterly filings and annual reports. These often long-winded reports have to be filed with the Securities and Exchange […]

The market for initial public offerings may be stagnant, but the market for secondary stock and debt offerings sure is heating up. In recent days, many tech highfliers have floated debt and stock offerings in a move to fill their coffers. These offerings havent exactly been chump change either. Ciena (Nasdaq: CIEN) raised $1.5 billion […]

The January effect was a beautiful thing for the tech sector. The Nasdaq composite index surged more than 12 percent. Investors even found a bright side to gloomy earnings reports. The January effect is a Wall Street phenomenon in which retirement money floods the market and investors go on a buying spree. Aided by bargain […]

In recent days, youve likely heard some outlook for the tech sector in 2001. Intel, Yahoo! and others projected a gloomy year, industry wonks have been reversing their forecasts and cyclical sectors such as semiconductors have gone from boom to bust. The consensus view is that the tech sector will rebound in the second half […]

Theres nothing like some hard times to make a company re-evaluate the company it keeps. Internet health property WebMD (Nasdaq: HLTH), which is in the middle of a massive restructuring, is rapidly redoing its partnerships to push up its profit target. The effort illustrates the big difference between dot-coms circa 1999 and dot-coms now. Like […]