Paul F. Roberts

The Securities and exchange Commission ordered McAfee to pay a $50 million penalty, bringing to a close a long- running investigation into shady accounting practices at the anti-virus software maker. The SEC filed securities fraud charges against McAfee, alleging that the company inflated revenue by $622 million between 1998 and 2000. As part of the […]

Two of the leading names in biometric identification have agreed to merge, in a deal estimated at $770 million. The deal between Viisage Technology Inc. and Identix Inc. will create a single stable of biometric technologies including facial, fingerprint and skin biometric products. The combined company, which has not yet been named, will have approximately […]

Cyber-security and computer experts from the government and law enforcement are increasingly concerned with malicious code that runs on Linux and Apple Computer Inc.s Mac OS X operating systems and threats posed by devices such as iPods and Xboxes. Intensive courses on the Mac OS X and Linux operating systems, as well as iPods, were […]

Up to 20 percent of the computer accounts used by the U.S. military are unauthorized or abandoned, providing a major opportunity to hackers and foreign governments who want to spy on the United States, according to a senior military official. An ongoing audit of user accounts in the armed services has uncovered an epidemic of […]

Microsoft Corp. late last week changed course and released a patch for a critical hole in Windows five days before its scheduled release date. The company cited faster-than-expected testing and intense customer demand for one of the fastest patch releases in its history. But Microsofts handling of the release of a patch for a vulnerability […]

A 20-year-old Massachusetts man has been charged with hacking into dozens of customer accounts at online auctioneer eBay Inc. and racking up $32,000 in charges. Sean Galvez of Boston was indicted on one count of larceny and 10 counts of unauthorized access to a computer and identity fraud committed during 2003. He is believed to […]

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ordered McAfee Inc. to pay a $50 million penalty Wednesday, bringing to a close a long-running investigation into shady accounting practices at the anti-virus software maker. The SEC filed securities fraud charges against the McAfee Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., alleging that the company inflated revenue by $622 million […]

Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday that it would release a patch for a critical hole in the Windows operating system five days ahead of the planned release date. The company began releasing a patch for a vulnerability in a Windows component used to render WMF (Windows Metafile) image files late Thursday, citing faster-than-expected testing of […]

Security appliance maker Blue Coat Systems Inc. said that it is buying Permeo Technologies Inc. of Austin for $60 million in cash and stock. The deal will add Permeos technology for protecting computer “end points” such as desktop and laptop computers to Blue Coats line of security “proxy” appliances that scan ingoing and outgoing network […]

Security software company Symantec Corp. said Tuesday that it had signed a definitive agreement to buy IMLogic, a maker of security software for instant messaging applications, based in Waltham, Mass. The acquisition for an undisclosed sum will add IMLogics IM Manager technology to Symantecs growing stable of messaging security products, and give the Cupertino, Calif., […]

Some H&R Block customers who received free copies of the companys TaxCut software also had their Social Security numbers exposed, according to a company spokesperson. H&R Block sent a letter to customers in late December saying that a tracking number used on packages containing TaxCut contained the customers Social Security number as part of a […]

Whale Communications is partnering with Microsoft to combine Microsofts Internet Security and Acceleration Server with Whales Intelligent Application Gateway. The deal, which is the first of its kind for Microsoft, will combine Whales SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) VPN technology with Microsofts IP Security VPN and put the ISA Server technology on a secure hardware appliance, […]