- Email: [email protected]
The season for virus hoaxes
Jcrnucrry 7997
export requests, wouid not take into act.ount whether comparable technology is already available overseas. IBM and Hewlett-Packard are still trying to salvage a compromise with the Administration, but a spokesman for Hewle~-Packard said that the company still had a number of misgivings.
The season for virus hoaxes The problem with computer viruses at the moment seems to be more of a problem of hoaxes than the real thing, though reai viruses are stilt as prevalent as ever. Thousands of computer users are receiving warnings sent via E-mail to be on their guard for a number of viruses which are in fact hoaxes. One such warning is about the ‘Penpal Greetings’ virus which according to the warning will obliterate your hard drive and that of any person whom you send the same message to. The Penpai message is the work of an unknown prankster, Having said that, the warning, and other similar ones such as ‘Good Times’, is traveiling through cyberspace at a rate of knots because people believe it, and then helpfully forward it to colleagues and friends. The larger the Internet grows the more pranksters it seems to attract __._____~
Panel urges better protection A US Defense Department, reports the ~a/~Stree~Journal Europe, has recommended $3 billion in additional spending over the next five years to improve the security of the country’s cations and
01997
teiecommunicomputing
Elsevier Science
Ltd
infrastructure. Warning of a possible ‘electronic Pearl Harbor’, the task force said that the Pentagon should seek legal authority launch to counterattacks against computer hackers. Current procedures, the task force claims, ‘are ingredients in a recipe for a national security disaster”, The report also predicts that by 2005, attacks on US information systems by terrorists, organized criminals and foreign espionage agencies will be widespread. The report continues, ‘In today’s information military age, campaigns will be organized to cripple the capacity of an information-based society to carry out its information-dependent enterprises,” study, The conducted by a panel of 20 computer and informationsystems experts from the military, industry and academia, sharply criticizes current Pentagon efforts as inadequate. The report states that the military should begin using a new five-level warning system under which, as attacks are detected, the information systems national security of the establishments would first be monitored more closely and ultimately be disconnected from outside information systems. The panel also recommends the devetopment of new software and hardware to provide security, such as a system for automatically tracing hacker attacks back to their origins. The task force recommends that the Pentagon be given the legai ability to repel and pursue those who try to hack into its computer systems.
Eagle provides security for Internet product Raptor Systems has announced that Compaq will begin shipping Raptor’s Eagle NT firewali ,with each SmartStart, Compaq’s optimization and configuration utility for servers. Future SmartStart releases are designed to give Compaq’s Prolaint and ProSignia server platform customers enhanced software for building a full-service intranet capability, The product should increase lnternetlintranet server performance by optimizing key operating system parameters, This optimization results in more efficient use of network resources and reduced user response times. For further inf~fmat~~fl, contact Jack Hembrou~~, Raptor Sysfems on +312c)5207970.
Axent acquires AssureNet Pathways Axent Technologies has signed an agreement to acquire AssureNet Pathways subject to approval by the respective boards of directors and government regulatory approval. The acquisition further enhances Axent’s position in enterprise information security by adding complementary remote access authentication products, Internetlintranet authentication products and significantly expands Axent’s indirect distribution capabilities, AssureNet’s Defender product line includes software and hardware-based tokens that are easy to use, difficult to circumvent
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export requests, wouid not take into act.ount whether comparable technology is already available overseas. IBM and Hewlett-Packard are still trying to salvage a compromise with the Administration, but a spokesman for Hewle~-Packard said that the company still had a number of misgivings.
The season for virus hoaxes The problem with computer viruses at the moment seems to be more of a problem of hoaxes than the real thing, though reai viruses are stilt as prevalent as ever. Thousands of computer users are receiving warnings sent via E-mail to be on their guard for a number of viruses which are in fact hoaxes. One such warning is about the ‘Penpal Greetings’ virus which according to the warning will obliterate your hard drive and that of any person whom you send the same message to. The Penpai message is the work of an unknown prankster, Having said that, the warning, and other similar ones such as ‘Good Times’, is traveiling through cyberspace at a rate of knots because people believe it, and then helpfully forward it to colleagues and friends. The larger the Internet grows the more pranksters it seems to attract __._____~
Panel urges better protection A US Defense Department, reports the ~a/~Stree~Journal Europe, has recommended $3 billion in additional spending over the next five years to improve the security of the country’s cations and
01997
teiecommunicomputing
Elsevier Science
Ltd
infrastructure. Warning of a possible ‘electronic Pearl Harbor’, the task force said that the Pentagon should seek legal authority launch to counterattacks against computer hackers. Current procedures, the task force claims, ‘are ingredients in a recipe for a national security disaster”, The report also predicts that by 2005, attacks on US information systems by terrorists, organized criminals and foreign espionage agencies will be widespread. The report continues, ‘In today’s information military age, campaigns will be organized to cripple the capacity of an information-based society to carry out its information-dependent enterprises,” study, The conducted by a panel of 20 computer and informationsystems experts from the military, industry and academia, sharply criticizes current Pentagon efforts as inadequate. The report states that the military should begin using a new five-level warning system under which, as attacks are detected, the information systems national security of the establishments would first be monitored more closely and ultimately be disconnected from outside information systems. The panel also recommends the devetopment of new software and hardware to provide security, such as a system for automatically tracing hacker attacks back to their origins. The task force recommends that the Pentagon be given the legai ability to repel and pursue those who try to hack into its computer systems.
Eagle provides security for Internet product Raptor Systems has announced that Compaq will begin shipping Raptor’s Eagle NT firewali ,with each SmartStart, Compaq’s optimization and configuration utility for servers. Future SmartStart releases are designed to give Compaq’s Prolaint and ProSignia server platform customers enhanced software for building a full-service intranet capability, The product should increase lnternetlintranet server performance by optimizing key operating system parameters, This optimization results in more efficient use of network resources and reduced user response times. For further inf~fmat~~fl, contact Jack Hembrou~~, Raptor Sysfems on +312c)5207970.
Axent acquires AssureNet Pathways Axent Technologies has signed an agreement to acquire AssureNet Pathways subject to approval by the respective boards of directors and government regulatory approval. The acquisition further enhances Axent’s position in enterprise information security by adding complementary remote access authentication products, Internetlintranet authentication products and significantly expands Axent’s indirect distribution capabilities, AssureNet’s Defender product line includes software and hardware-based tokens that are easy to use, difficult to circumvent
5