Y2K plans fail? Call the crisis network

Y2K Japan Airlines simulates date roll-over n the biggest test so far for year 2000 compliance, Japan Airlines Flight JL2000 recently took off from Tokyo's domestic airport at 11.25 pm with its clocks wound on to the end of the year. This was prompted by the Japanese public's concerns over the millennium bug in addition to a warning by the Japan Travel Bureau that it would not sell any flights that would be in the air during the end of the year. For a country that was said to have only really woken up to the problem a few months ago, the result was satisfactory, with all systems performing faultlessly.

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NEWS Y2K plans fail? Call the crisis network h r o u g h o u t 24 countries, a n e t w o r k of crisis command centres is being set up to deal with public relations issues for multi-national companies if the best-laid Y2K plans do not go to plan. The centres are staffed by Y2K-dedicated professionals who can provide rapid advice in any time zone between Friday 31 December and Monday 3 January. Few users expect any serious in-house Y2K problems, although they say that no company can guarantee its immunity from a crisis. The European Y2K crisis centres are being set up in London, Brussels, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, The Hague, Madrid, Milan, Oslo, Paris and Stockholm. Much interest has been expressed by multi-national companies.

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Microsoft warns of hoax Y2K advice sers have been warned by Microsoft to beware of hoax Y2K advice and solutions that appear to have o r i g i n a t e d f r o m the M i c r o s o f t Web site s u p p o r t @ m i c r o s o f t . c o m . Y 2 K c o u n t . e x e has been m a l i c i o u s l y d i s t r i b u t e d to s o m e users, who, on executing the attachment are likely to infect their

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systems with the virus. Microsoft has pointed out that it does not distribute patches, updates or any Other Y2K solutions as E-mail attachments. For further information, contact Microsoft at Web site: www.microsoft.com.

Y2K 'lockdown' program keeps systems compliant ally Systems has announced the launch of its Y2K 'lockdown' program, helping companies that have a l r e a d y i m p l e m e n t e d s u c c e s s f u l Year 2 0 0 0 remediation projects to keep unauthorized, nonc o m p l i a n t s o f t w a r e o f f their s y s t e m s . U s i n g NetCensus (PC auditing software) and CentaMeter (software usage management) packages, companies that have successfully beaten the bug can now ensure that their systems remain Y2K compliant in the run up to the New Year.

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detect a rogue PC on a network as well as any software that might have been i n t r o d u c e d w i t h o u t the IT manager's knowledge. CentaMeter is a comprehensive software usage management tool that compliments NetCensus by reporting on what software is running across a network and who is using it. It also provides a mechanism to prevent unauthorized or non-compliant s o f t w a r e from b e i n g e x e c u t e d , by a l l o w i n g an administrator to detect and isolate such software, preventing it from being used again.

NetCensus provides an a c c u r a t e and c o m p r e h e n s i v e audit o f e x i s t i n g h a r d w a r e and software, recognizing more than 20 000 products installed across an enterprise. The software can also

For further information, contact Randy Britton at Tally Systems on Tel." +1 603 643 1300 ext. 2282; Cell." +1 603 359 0162.

Computer Fraud & Security November 1999 3723199/$20.00© 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved