Intel's Pentium III is starting to meet with some resistance. Some
analysts are saying that the new features simply don't provide that
much more performance. In the meantime, the debate about the serial
number rages on. An as yet unconfirmed report from Germany states
that the ability to read the number can be turned on and off remotely,
without the user's knowledge. The trick uses only documented
features. Read the
full story.
A RISKS reader reports that recently, a charge that he made, for an
unusual item, and in an unusual manner, tripped some kind of automated
security feature at the bank. The charge card system, seeing this
unusual pattern, flagged his card as stolen. With the increasing use
of expert systems, this type of intervention will become increasingly
common. And the computer, of course, never makes a mistake ...
Media, including Reuters, have been saying that a group of "hackers"
claimed to have taken over a British military satellite, and were
threatening to do the same with another if a ransom wasn't paid. To
date, I haven't seen anyone identify who these hackers are supposed to
be. The British military says all their satellites are where they are
supposed to be.
There is also a vague possibility that this is related to a prank
doing the rounds: pinging every Internet node with "skynet" in the
name. Apparently there is a reference to "Skynet" becoming "self-aware" on or around the present time, in the movie "Terminator II." Read more
here and
here
Get caught by the "
Good Times" hoax? "
Penpals"? "
Join the Crew"? Well, your chance to be one of the good guys, and ignore a false alarm, may be coming. The latest false virus warning seems to be the
"Jesus" hoax.
Use
Netscape Communicator 4.5? Even if you tell it not to remember your password, it does if you use the mail notification feature. The password is stored in a registry key. It is encoded, so it can't be
read. It can, however, be copied to another computer, and used to
access your e-mail.
I've mentioned the encyclopedia of computer security before. They
have now started a
product catalogue. The entries are merely recycled press releases, and even the contact information could use some work, but as a first search for security related products it might be worth a try.
It's hard to call
Happy99 a virus, since it arrives as an attachment, and relies on you being foolish enough to run it. However, it seems that there are a lot of foolish people out there. Happy99 seems to be quite successful at the moment: it even holds the dubious record of
