German firm defends hiring worm author

German security firm Securepoint has hit back at those who have criticised the company for hiring Sasser author Sven Jaschan. The company's technical director Lutz Hausmann says that Jaschan was 'just an immature boy with mindless intent'. Hausmann says that Jaschan was a 'casual script kid' who will 'never do such a thing again'. ...more

PlusNet begins screening test for Internet traffic

The Internet service provider PlusNet has begun testing a system for providing real-time screening of Internet traffic for viruses, spyware, adware and inappropriate content. StreamShield's combined software and hardware platforms are designed to scan up to 250,000 Web page requests and 5,000 emails each second without diminishing network performance. Unlike firewalls and IDS/IPS products, which operate on packets, the StreamScan scanning engine analyses the entire content stream in real-time allowing it to detect more complex threats. ...more

Adobe updates Illustrator 10

Adobe has released an Illustrator 10.0.1 update, incorporating a number of fixes. ...more

The men from EC say 'Yes' - to HP-Compaq

European Commission approval granted for the HP and Compaq merger. Having formally filed to the EC for regulatory approval on December 20, HP now has the European go-ahead to acquire Compaq. In its official statement, the Commission states that 'a careful analysis of the merger, the largest ever in the Information Technology sector, and of the competitive forces in the markets concerned has shown that HP would not be in a position to increase prices and that consumers would continue to benefit from sufficient choice and innovation. ...more

Microsoft releases security patch for Internet Explorer

The latest patch bungs up three new vulnerabilities and fixes other known security issues. IE 5.5 and 6. ...more