____/ Ramon F Herrera on Wednesday 14 November 2007 22:55 : \____
>
> "A Microsoft executive calls the ease with which two British e-crime
> specialists managed to hack into a Windows XP computer as both
> "enlightening and frightening."
>
> The demonstration took place Monday at an event sponsored by Get Safe
> Online--a joint initiative of the U.K. government and industry. At the
> event, which was aimed at heightening security awareness among small
> businesses, two members of the U.K. government intelligence group
> Serious Organized Crime Agency connected a machine running Windows XP
> with Service Pack 1 to an unsecured wireless network. The machine was
> running no antivirus, firewall, or anti-spyware software and contained
> a sample target file of passwords to be stolen."
>
> [...]
>
>
http://www.news.com/Microsoft-exec-calls-XP-hack-frightening/2100-7349_3-6218238.html
>
> -RFH
Microsoft should be held liable for the damage it knowingly did to the Web when
it designed an O/S with back doors (for the US Federal government). If there
is no intention in the States to restrain the sloppy monopolist, then foreign
countries should take action (which they increasingly do).
,----[ Quote ]
| "Is this a good idea or not? For the first time, the giant software maker
| is acknowledging the help of the secretive agency, better known for
| eavesdropping on foreign officials and, more recently, U.S. citizens as
| part of the Bush..."
`----
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/01/nsa_helps_micro_1.html
Microsoft could be teaching police to hack Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft may begin training the police in ways to break the
| encryption built into its forthcoming Vista operating system.
`----
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2150555/microsoft-teaching-police-hack
UK holds Microsoft security talks
,----[ Quote ]
| "UK officials are talking to Microsoft over fears the new version of
| Windows could make it harder for police to read suspects' computer files."
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4713018.stm
Microsoft patents the mother of all adware systems
,----[ Quote ]
| The adware framework would leave almost no data untouched in its quest to
| sell you stuff. It would inspect "user document files, user e-mail files,
| user music files, downloaded podcasts, computer settings, computer status
| messages (e.g., a low memory status or low printer ink)," and more. How could
| we have been so blind as to not see the marketing value in computer status
| messages?
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070717-microsoft-patents-the-mother-of-all-adware-systems.html
Encrypted E-Mail Company Hushmail Spills to Feds
,----[ Quote ]
| Hushmail, a longtime provider of encrypted web-based email, markets itself by
| saying that "not even a Hushmail employee with access to our servers can read
| your encrypted e-mail, since each message is uniquely encoded before it
| leaves your computer."
|
| But it turns out that statement seems not to apply to individuals targeted by
| government agencies that are able to convince a Canadian court to serve a
| court order on the company.
`----
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/11/encrypted-e-mai.html
No email privacy rights under Constitution, US gov claims
,----[ Quote ]
| This appears to be more than a mere argument in support of the
| constitutionality of a Congressional email privacy and access scheme. It
| represents what may be the fundamental governmental position on
| Constitutional email and electronic privacy - that there isn't any. What is
| important in this case is not the ultimate resolution of that narrow issue,
| but the position that the United States government is taking on the entire
| issue of electronic privacy. That position, if accepted, may mean that the
| government can read anybody's email at any time without a warrant.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/04/4th-amendment_email_privacy/
Experts are calling for product liability for software
,----[ Quote ]
| "Product liability does not apply to software," Gerald Spindler
| of the Faculty of Law of the University of Göttingen complained.
| "But what if a whole company comes to a standstill due to faulty
| software?" he mused.
`----
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/86932/from/rss09
,----[ Quote ]
| Ah, from the horse's mouth: Microsoft just might be held legally
| responsible for selling software that is insecure.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=2006112223522439
Microsoft confirms OneCare zaps Outlook, Outlook Express e-mail
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp. has acknowledged that a bug in its Windows Live
| OneCare security suite has been causing users' e-mail to vanish
| from Outlook and Outlook Express.
`----
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9012499
Botnet 'pandemic' threatens to strangle the net
,----[ Quote ]
| Cerf estimated that between 100 million and 150 million of the
| 600 million PCs on the internet are under the control of hackers,
| the BBC reports.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/26/botnet_threat/
Windows XP repair disk kills automatic updates
,----[ Quote ]
| The company is getting a kicking from critics for this - the same people who
| slammed the company two weeks ago when Microsoft forced a Windows patch on
| users who had turned off automatic updates.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/29/windows_update_flap/
Microsoft Excel fails math test
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp.'s Excel 2007 spreadsheet program is going to have to relearn
| part of its multiplication table.
`----
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070928/ap_on_hi_te/microsoft_excel_bug
Microsoft: Excel Bug Doesn't Add Up
,----[ Quote ]
| If you've been depending on your Microsoft Excel software to do your number
| crunching for you, you might want to grab a calculator and review your
| spreadsheets before you send the document out the door. That's because the
| latest version of Excel is housing bugs that are dead set on ruining your
| reports.
`----
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20070927/tc_nf/55613
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | "The only source is Open Source"
http://Schestowitz.com | Free as in Free Beer | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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