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21st December 2007 Archive

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  • Anti-virus protection gets worse

    What is this thing you call heuristics?

    Antivirus software is getting worse at protecting users from new threats, according to two reports which found malware authors are getting better at disguising their creations. German computer magazine c't studied 17 antivirus programs and exposed them to completely new samples of malware. What they found wasn't encouraging. …

    Software & Security 21 Dec 2007, 03:05

  • New Red Hat CEO checks open source claims

    Not my bag, baby

    The news that the operations chief from a major US airline, Jim Whitehurst from Delta, is taking over at Red Hat from Matthew Szulik is a further sign of the growing legitimization of open source and Linux in the eyes of corporate, mainstream America. It underscores how the “suits to sandals” ratio in the open source and Linux …

    Enterprise 21 Dec 2007, 09:19

  • DCMS inks IT deal with Atos Origin

    Overcomes seven year itch to sign £14m contract

    The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has announced a £14m contract with Atos Origin for IT services. It signifies a seven year continuation of the relationship in which the company has designed, implemented, and managed the IT infrastructure of the DCMS. Under the new contract, Atos Origin will continue to provide the …

    IT Channel 21 Dec 2007, 09:51

  • Fayrewood waves au revoir to French periperals unit

    DCC snaps up firm for €12m

    Fayrewood Plc confirmed yesterday that it had sold French outfit Banque Magnetique SAS to DCC Plc's retail disty subsidiary. Gem Logistics scooped up the consumer electronics and IT peripherals firm after DCC paid Fayrewood €12m to complete the deal. A further €500,000 will be handed over on 30 June next year subject to …

    IT Channel 21 Dec 2007, 10:47

  • Russian Feds close in on Pinch Trojan authors

    Tales from the Underground

    Russian authorities have identified the authors of the notorious Pinch malware creation toolkit. Arrests are expected to follow. Pinch is a Trojan creation toolkit that is reckoned to have been used by virus writers to infect tens of millions of PCs. The toolkit is sold in black market hacking forums. Script kiddies were able …

    Software & Security 21 Dec 2007, 10:48

  • Who's archiving IT's history?

    Column The mishandling of Babbage's baggage

    The relaunch of the IT History Society (formerly the Charles Babbage Foundation) exposes a problem which the Web has brought to journalism and historians - stuff is not being preserved. There are people, however, who are trying to build proper records of the past. The question is whether this works. The IT History Society is …

    Enterprise 21 Dec 2007, 11:41

  • Chambers number 2 walks out of Cisco

    CEO wannabe Giancarlo not a team player

    Cisco number two Charles Giancarlo, who was widely tipped to become the firm's next CEO, has resigned. The network giant said yesterday that a rejig of the organisation's business was underway to shift from a "command and control" structure to a team-led approach. Cisco CEO John Chambers said that he had hired a group of …

    PC Builder 21 Dec 2007, 11:49

  • MIT in pedal-powered 'super' computer stunt

    'Maybe a solution for alternative energy, or something'

    A group of MIT students and staff has used stationary cycles to power a computer, in a feat that was described by one of them as "something that will hopefully lead to maybe solutions for alternative energy, something like that". Ilana Brito, a graduate student in biology, and her nine teammates in the MIT Cycling Club …

    Enterprise 21 Dec 2007, 12:02

  • IBM forges Solid acquisition

    Xmas shopping for in-memory database software

    IBM announced this morning that it will buy privately-held database software developer Solid Information Technology for an undisclosed sum. Solid's in-memory database software allows quick retrieval of data from a computer's memory (or RAM). Using the technology, enterprises can access and store data at speeds up to ten times …

    Enterprise 21 Dec 2007, 12:59

  • Chip overflow puts dent in 2008 forecast

    Talks of pesky recession ain't helping much either

    The semiconductor biz looks set for a bumpy start to the New Year with analysts downgrading worldwide spending and sales expectations amid oversupply woes, high energy costs, and credit crunch fears. Gartner reduced its forecast for sales for chip building equipment by nearly 10 per cent to $40.3bn for 2008, a decrease of $4. …

    PC Builder 21 Dec 2007, 13:48

  • Ad hijacking Trojan targets Google

    Misdirection ruse

    Security researchers have identified a Trojan that hijacks Google text advertisements, replacing them with "ads" from a different provider that are likely to be laced with spyware. The Qhost-WU modifies an infected computer's hosts file, thereby poisoning systems with bogus DNS lookup records. The hosts file matches domain …

    Software & Security 21 Dec 2007, 13:57

  • Sun gets EMEA boss at last

    Early Christmas present

    Sun has finally found someone to take the reins of its European operation, just in time to sign this year’s Christmas card. Alain Andreoli is to take over as senior vice president for EMEA. His 25-year tech CV includes a 14-year stint at TI, five years at StorageTek, and stings at McData and Verio. Most recently he was CEO at …

    Enterprise 21 Dec 2007, 14:34

  • Private equity firm snaps up Northgate

    Shares surge, investors line pockets

    Kholberg Kravis Roberts and Company has inked a £593m deal to buy UK HR software outfit Northgate Information Solutions Plc. News of the private equity acquisition pushed shares in the firm up by nearly 44 per cent on the London Stock Exchange this morning. Investors can expect a big 95 pence a share payout from the sale, …

    IT Channel 21 Dec 2007, 14:56

  • Skipton in lost laptop security woes

    14,000 accounts suspended after latest data breach

    Skipton Financial Services has confessed to losing a laptop containing records of 14,000 customers. Information exposed by the breach includes names, addresses, National Insurance numbers, and fund investment details of clients of Skipton's Fidelity FundsNetwork. The laptop was nicked from a locker being used by a staff member …

    Software & Security 21 Dec 2007, 15:06

  • Tesco to start flogging Dell computers

    Pile-high sell-cheap squared

    Tesco has clasped Dell to its sizeable retail bosom, and will begin punting the firm's computers from next month. Closely following DSGi, which last week inked a similar deal with the PC giant, Tesco will be dishing out Dell XPS desktops and Inspiron notebooks to its huge customer base. The retailer will also flog Dell …

    IT Channel 21 Dec 2007, 15:08

  • One in five apps are insecure

    Survey exposes patching woes

    One in five software apps installed on computers are insecure or out of date, according to data from an online security inspection service. The data is based on scans of more than 14.5 million applications on end-user computers whose users installed Secunia's freely available software inspection tool. The Danish security firm …

    Software & Security 21 Dec 2007, 15:44

  • Samba shakes hands with Microsoft

    No royalties to pay in interop deal?

    The Samba team has reached an agreement with Microsoft, with the software giant agreeing to disclose technical and legal information to the software libre project. Samba is by far the most widely-used software stack that allows non-Microsoft computer to talk to Windows machines, and use proprietary Microsoft network services. …

    Enterprise 21 Dec 2007, 16:46

  • Dell buys UK storage networking consultancy

    Methodist hymn

    Dell is buying a UK data storage consultancy for an undisclosed sum. It's called The Networked Storage Company (TNWSC) and the founder, Simon Pennock, ran EMC in the UK and Ireland for a while. Dell likes the methodologies TNWSC has devised to evaluate, choose and install storage networks, and will roll the service out across …

    IT Channel 21 Dec 2007, 21:06

  • Compaq returns to Germany - as brand for bottom-feeders

    Faded glory

    From January, HP is to start selling Compaq PCs in Germany again - because it needs a downmarket brand to help it better compete with the local market leader Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC). Compaq, you will recall, always charged more than its competitors, but it was not particularly strong in Germany, where the brand …

    IT Channel 21 Dec 2007, 22:51

  • Click here to turn your HP laptop into a brick

    More bundled software madness

    A second bug in HP laptop utilities creates a means for hackers to turn PCs into "unbootable" bricks. Flaws in the automatic software update tool bundled with HP notebooks might be abused to alter vital system files (in the kernel or elsewhere) leaving PC unbootable, according to a post on the milw0rm full disclosure mailing …

    PC Builder 21 Dec 2007, 23:12

  • Serious Flash vulns menace at least 10,000 websites

    No patch anytime soon

    Researchers from Google and a well-known security firm have documented serious vulnerabilities in Adobe Flash content which leave tens of thousands of websites susceptible to attacks that steal the personal details of visitors. The security bugs reside in Flash applets, the ubiquitous building blocks for movies and graphics …

    Software & Security 21 Dec 2007, 23:44

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