And also today (22-Jan-2001), for the record...

Here, in brief, are some of the day's other stories. Version 3.23 of the Open Source database MySQL, is now officially declared stable. ...more

Sobig, so long lasting

Sobig, the notorious mass-mailing worm has now adopted another guise. But while the signature may have changed with the latest variant, the fundamentals of the mass mailing worm remain the same. Copying itself into the Windows folder (this time as winssk32. ...more

Formac announces designer combo

Formac has unveiled the latest additions to its Designer range of drives, a combo CD-RW/DVD-ROM - similar to that which has proved overwhelmingly successful in Apple's new iBook - and a high-speed CD-RW. Both drives incorporate Formac's proprietary BURN-Proof technology, which controls the flow of data into the unit to prevent the "buffer under run" errors that can lead to many a CD ending up as a coffee cup coaster. It also enables CDs to be burned in the background. ...more

Microsoft buys SCO Unix licence

IP-wielding SCO has found a friendly ear with Microsoft, as it upsets the Linux community. Microsoft has obligingly agreed to license SCO's Unix patents and source code that lies at the heart of SCO's $1bn suit against IBM. Brad Smith, general counsel for Microsoft said that 'the announcement of this license is representative of Microsoft's ongoing commitment to respecting intellectual property (IP) and the IT community's healthy exchange of IP through licensing. ...more

Anti-phishing technologies have no effect on spam

A security company has warned that technology touted to combat phishing attack and emails with spoofed addresses will have little effect on the war against spam. Technologies such as Sender ID and Sender Policy Framework are indeed an effective way of weeding out email that appears to be from one address but is in fact sent from elsewhere, says CipherTrust, but they have no mechanism to identify what messages are and are not spam. Indeed the company's latest finding reveal that spammers have taken to authentication technologies with gusto - registering their details to meet Sender Policy Framework requirements - and to such an extent that 34 per cent more spam email is getting past these authentication checks than legitimate email. ...more