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Thursday, October 21, 2004 |
Security freeware is pretty popular. The price is right and everyone needs more security. What's the catch? But just because software is free doesn't exempt it from the requirements of paid software. Folks who write security tools should practice secure coding. Authors of security freeware should be accessible and accountable for the product they provide; in security-speak, the software should have readily identifiable, non-repudiable origins. Folks who make security software available should have competent, security-savvy staff to support and maintain it.
So if you are considering security freeware, remember the five Ws. Who wrote the software? Can you identify and trust the developer? What does the software do? When should you use security freeware? Why are you choosing freeware over commercial ware? Where do you intend to use security freeware?
6:21:07 PM 
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Startup Affini launched a free email service on Wednesday that will eventually pay users to receive advertisements. Initially, the service will work similarly to other "whitelist" email services such as Mailblocks, which allows members to pick and choose who they want to correspond with. In a few weeks, however, Affini will charge companies about 15 cents each to send advertisements to users, who will be able to opt in to the service.
The idea of paying for spam has circulated for years, prompting strategies designed by independent consultants as well as IBM's research team. Most have used some sort of authorized whitelist to determine legitimate emailers, and then offered some form of a token or cash payment to let advertisers into the system. Affini's model will start off as a token model. The tokens will be exchangeable for cash at a later date, in what Chang said would be a matter of weeks. At the launch, users will receive 1,000 points just for signing up, worth about $10 during the cash conversion, he said. A user can block all spam, or opt in to the payment system. Affini members won't pay to send messages, but will have the right to charge a fee for receiving a message from anybody outside the network – individual or commercial sender alike. If the recipient so chooses, he can waive the fee and also invite the sender into the network. At some point, Affini will allow users to alter the initial fee, allowing them to charge a dollar, for example, to receive unsolicited mail.
4:43:41 PM
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Security firm CipherTrust has reported that fewer than five zombie networks may be involved in all Internet phishing attacks worldwide, suggesting that only a small number of people are responsible for the threats. CipherTrust researchers found that less than 1 percent of e-mail messages are phishing attacks, but says these threats should be taken very seriously.
In its research, the firm analyzed customer e-mails during the first two weeks of October, and found that about a third of all zombie machines launching phishing attacks are based in the U.S., with South Korea coming in second at about 15 percent. However, the findings do not imply that the attacks originate within the U.S. Because zombie networks can be controlled from any geographic region, U.S. machines used in an attack can be manipulated by phishers in other countries. Most notably, the research indicated that attacks are sending out messages using networks of only about 1,000 PCs. This suggests that the number of perpetrators is small, but very adept at using compromised machines.
4:33:50 PM
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Microsoft on Tuesday introduced a desktop computer application that aims to seamlessly integrate e-mail, instant messaging, video conferencing, traditional phone service and Internet-based calling.
9:26:08 AM
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