US under simulated hacking attack

For the past week, the US has been under a simulated cyber attack. The exercise, known as Cyber Storm, was intended to test America's defences in response to a full-scale cyber attack by hackers. The main aim was to discover how well the US is prepared to respond not only to attacks on military and other security services but also against energy, information technology, telecommunications, and transport infrastructures. ...more

Novell announces Q1 results

Microsoft's half a billion dollar payout swelled Novell's coffers in its Q1 results. During the quarter, Novell received a $448mn cheque from Microsoft, settling its complaints around NetWare, which were part of the EU investigation. Revenues for the quarter were at $290mn, compared with $267mn for the corresponding quarter last year. ...more

Symantec drops Norton Utilities for Mac

Symantec has stopped development of Norton Utilities for the Mac, according to a report by The Mac Observer. The report quotes Nancy Mohler, Symantec's senior product manager, who insists that the copmpany remains committed to the platform and that its other Mac products - Norton AntiVirus, Norton Internet Security and Norton Personal Firewall - will continue. 'The decision was based solely on the strategic desire to focus Macintosh development resources on Internet security solutions,' Mohler said. ...more

Broadband to arrive at Scottish Islands

Three of Scotland's main island groups are to get fixed-line ADSL broadband for the first time. THUS, working together with BT Scotland, has announced plans to take broadband across the Minch and Pentland Firth to the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland. The fast Internet access is scheduled to arrive in the Spring of 2004. ...more

Korea stops music file-sharing

Korean file sharing services have banded together and agreed to block p2p downloading of music files. From last Friday a majority of p2p services said that they would intercept files, in a country where the value of CD sales has fallen by 70 per cent in five years. 'We held an urgent meeting last week, and eight of 11 member companies agreed to block MP3 files until we find ways to charge users,' said spokesman Jun Hyun-sung. ...more