February 2005 – Page 6 – CyberSecurity Institute

Microsoft Inches Closer to Final Windows Server 2003 Service Pack, 64-Bit Releases

Posted on February 8, 2005December 30, 2021 by admini

The company is set to post for download the new “Release Candidate 2” (RC2) beta builds of SP1 and its x64 editions, company officials confirmed.

Some industry watchers have pegged April as the likely final delivery date, since that is when Microsoft will be holding its annual Windows Hardware Engineering (WinHEC) conference.

“The difference between RC1 and RC2 really is one of increased robustness as Microsoft prepares for the final RTM,” or release to manufacturing, a company spokeswoman said. “This change was made based on feedback that the link was difficult to find in RC1,” the spokeswoman added.

Microsoft is making the RC2 releases available to members of the Microsoft technical beta program. The company also is making the code for Windows XP Professional X64 edition available to some customer testers, via the company’s Customer Preview Program.

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,1995,1762756,00.asp?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535

Longhorn beta to arrive ‘by June’

Posted on February 8, 2005December 30, 2021 by admini

The final version of Longhorn is slated for the second half of next year.

“There will be a beta 1 of Longhorn… happening in the first half of this year,” John Montgomery, a director in Microsoft’s developer division, said during an interview at VSLive, a conference devoted to the company’s Visual Studio .Net toolkit.

The release will be primarily aimed at developers, Montgomery said. “I do, however, expect that you will find IT departments starting to look at it, kick the tires, figure out what’s in it and what’s not in it.”

Beta 1 will be the first look at Longhorn in its current form. Microsoft released a developer preview version of Windows at the Professional Developers Conference in the fall of 2003 and updated that early code last spring. However, Longhorn has changed significantly since then, with Microsoft announcing changes in August affecting all three of the key pillars of Longhorn.

Two of the components — a presentation engine called Avalon and a Web services architecture called Indigo — are being pulled out of the next Windows release so they can be offered for both Longhorn and the current generation of Windows operating systems. The third major component, a reworking of the Windows file system known as WinFS, has been delayed past Longhorn’s release and is expected to be in beta testing when Longhorn ships. It is unclear when WinFS will be integrated into Windows itself.

Microsoft has not talked a great deal about what features will be part of the beta release. Montgomery said many of the updates have to do with improving the “operational characteristics” of the operating system — basically an effort to make Windows easier to manage and more reliable.

Among the changes will be a new model for drivers.

Another improvement will come in the way businesses are able to install Windows on large numbers of machines. Today, mass deployment is done through a process known as “ghosting” an image of the operating system. An improved method will come with Longhorn, Montgomery said.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/windows/0,39020396,39187091,00.htm

IT security pushes for professional status

Posted on February 8, 2005December 30, 2021 by admini

The growth of compliance regulations, the need to integrate business networks securely and the emergence of security as a business driver rather than a cost centre are driving demands to give security professionals the same status as engineers and accountants.

The body aims to become an organisation for IT security professionals, akin to the IEE for electrical engineers or the IMechE for mechanical engineers. It will accredit security qualifications, lay down minimum standards of knowledge and experience for and create formal continuing professional development programmes.

“The year is designed to highlight, evangelise and promote professionalism in the industry,” said Berlich. The first stage is to raise awareness of information security as a distinct profession.

The programme has won backing from a range of government organisations, users such as General Motors, and universities and IT suppliers.

Berlich said there was no conflict between (ISC)2’s work and the work being done by prominent IT security professionals, including some of (ISC)2’s own members, to develop a new body for security professionals.

“Anyone who promotes specialisation is an ally,” he said.

http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=136577&liArticleTypeID=1&liCategoryID=6&liChannelID=22&liFlavourID=1&sSearch=&nPage=1

VoIP threats ‘must be dealt with now’

Posted on February 8, 2005December 30, 2021 by admini

The providers of voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP), as Net phone services are generally known, are bracing for abuses nonetheless.

Using VoIP, virus writers could conceivably commandeer someone’s phone, or telemarketers could send messages to thousands more phones at a time than they can now.

With little evidence to suggest a problem, however, the 22 member companies of the VoIP Security Alliance run the risk of provoking the digital world’s black hats.

But the outlaws’ attention is inevitable, alliance members say, because VoIP technology is teetering on the mainstream, becoming an increasingly interesting target. There are about 5 million customers worldwide, with almost a third in the United States. Vonage, with 500,000 customers, is the world’s largest VoIP supplier and has recently started offering its services in the UK. VoIP services have begun winning converts, thanks to cheap rates and a slew of features that traditional phone companies can’t match.

The alliance includes business telephone maker Alcatel, network security specialists Symantec and several schools, including New York’s Columbia University, and the 20 other companies.

“The technology has finally arrived, and vulnerabilities need to be discovered and mitigated,” Ron Gula, chief technology officer of alliance member Tenable Network Security, said in prepared remarks.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,39020336,39187096,00.htm

Europeans Step Up Fight Against Spam

Posted on February 7, 2005December 30, 2021 by admini

Viviane Reding, the EU commissioner in charge of new media and information society, also announced that “anti-spam enforcement authorities” in 13 EU countries agreed to cooperate in investigating complaints against spammers. “Enforcement authorities in member states must be able to deal effectively with spam from other EU countries,” Reding said in a statement.

The deal reached among the 13 national agencies in charge of combatting unsolicited e-mails is voluntary but “establishes a common procedure for handling cross-border complaints on spam” and closes loopholes “exploited by spammers and data thieves,” the Commission said.

EU laws requiring companies to get consent before sending e-mail, tracking personal data on Web sites or pinpointing callers’ locations via satellite-linked mobile phones have been in place since 2003, though some in the 25-nation bloc were slow to enact legislation against spammers.

The majority of unsolicited e-mails to Europeans originates from outside the EU. About 80 percent of all e-mails sent last year were unsolicited commercial bulk e-mail, according to U.S.-based e-mail filtering company MessageLabs, and the vast majority of those e-mails originated in the United States, where for a year national anti-spam laws have been in effect.

http://www.messagingpipeline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=59301595

Check Point tool to keep an eye on networks

Posted on February 4, 2005December 30, 2021 by admini

The software then automatically correlates and analyzes the information in real time and produces a consolidated report for the information security manager.

The release will mark Check Point’s entry into the nascent market for products that help administrators monitor network events, such as log-ins, and be able to respond quickly to perceived security threats.

Analysts noted it’s a market that has only recently gained significant customer attention in the past year or two. “They’re just a little late to the game, but not too late,” said Steve Hunt, a security industry analyst. Burton said Eventia Analyzer has a bank of 70 predefined problems that make it easier to detect security shortfalls, meaning managers have less need to customize the system. It enables information security managers to follow its recommendations, or can automatically take steps to resolve any problem, he said.

Security event management is a relatively small market that’s expected to grow to roughly $300,000 this year, analyst Hunt said. And while the industry is expected to generate steady growth, no large growth spikes are anticipated, he added. “Security event management products are just one piece of the problem that customers are trying to resolve,” he said. “A security manager has to buy eight other products to go along with it, from asset management technology to patch management technology to policy configuration management.” The security event management industry will likely see its growth come from a consolidation of all related products into one integrated offering, Hunt predicted.

Eventia Analyzer software licenses are expected to cost $1,000 per device. It is scheduled to begin shipping in March.

On Monday, Check Point also plans to announce an upgrade to its Integrity PC firewall software. Version 6.0 will feature a subscription service to control which applications can access the network from a PC, said Rich Weiss, Check Point’s director of end-point marketing. Integrity 6.0 will also feature server-clustering technology and intrusion-prevention services at the PC level to block attacks, Weiss said.

Security holds its spot among the top IT initiatives at number three, increasingly paying more attention to spyware.

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5564185.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnet