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Stuart Okin, Chief Security Officer at Microsoft UK, said that the cost of supporting earlier Microsoft platforms has gone up because of the expense in applying security updates.

But if customers invest to modernise their systems and move on XP and Windows Server 2003 then their support costs will eventually fall to a level lower than they ever had with earlier versions of Windows, according to Okin. Okin said any decision to move operating system platform should based on a solid business case; security is only one of the elements to be considered.

Windows Servers 2003 comes with many services turned off by default to the impact of any security vulnerability tends to be less serious on that platform. Security depends more on people and process than OS platform but upgrading technology can improve an organisation’s security stance.

More info: [url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/53/35088.html]http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/53/35088.html[/url]

The MSBlast worm, also commonly called the Blaster worm, started spreading last August and is believed to have spread to hundreds of thousands of systems.

While most corporations have cleaned up the worm, Microsoft has found that a large number of home users are still unknowingly infected, the software giant said in a statement.
“For many users in this situation, there is little indication that they are infected other than possible performance degradation,” Microsoft said in a statement. “And those infected are still actively transmitting the worm, causing Internet congestion in the process.”

Microsoft’s aim in releasing the latest tool is to reduce the amount of traffic being born by ISPs by cleaning up a significant number of home computers.

The tool can be found on Microsoft’s download site.

More info: [url=http://news.com.com/2100-1002_3-5136260.html?tag=nefd_top]http://news.com.com/2100-1002_3-5136260.html?tag=nefd_top[/url]

Office 2003 hit the retail shelves in late October, although volume buyers could get it a month earlier. The release also will include fixes and security bolstering as part of the company’s continued security push, code-named Springboard, the sources said.

The service pack “is still in the early development stages, so anything we say about it would only be speculation right now, as a lot can change during the development process,” said Dan Leach, lead product manager of the Information Worker Product Management Group, through a spokeswoman.

Microsoft has acknowledged that Watson and new tools including Service Quality Monitor (SQM) are key in the development of the Longhorn Office release, also known as Office 12.

More info: [url=http://www.securitypipeline.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=CBYIQNDVDK3DIQSNDBCCKHQ?articleId=17200134]http://www.securitypipeline.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=CBYIQNDVDK3DIQSNDBCCKHQ?articleId=17200134[/url]

The rank of Knight Commander is the second most senior rank of the order of the British Empire.

Berners-Lee sowed the seeds of the Internet in 1980 where, working as a software engineer for the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva (CERN), he wrote “Enquire,” a program for storing information.

In 1989, he proposed the Web as a global project designed to allow people to work together by combining their knowledge in a Web of hypertext documents.

More info: [url=http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3294181]http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3294181[/url]

Other important directions stated by Chambers and other executives at Cisco’s annual analysts meeting included moving key products off their current Windows-based platforms and onto Linux, and building better multifunction, integrated ASICs to boost system reliability.

Conference attendees also were given peeks at new products. One was an application for better managing multiservice blades in a Catalyst 6500 chassis. Another offering promises to make video calling as easy as dialing a Cisco IP phone.

The CEO discussed the company’s six advanced technology areas, which include IP telephony, security, storage, optical, wireless and home network products. Each of these businesses has the potential to grow to $1 billion in revenue for the company, Chambers said. IP telephony is one advanced technology that could be at the brink of hitting this goal.

More info: [url=http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2003/1215cisco.html]http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2003/1215cisco.html[/url]

“In addition to being a world-class company in its own right, Guardent is a perfect strategic fit,” said VeriSign chief executive officer Stratton Sclavos. “By combining forces, we will solidify VeriSign’s leadership in network security,” he said, adding that with Guardent’s customer base, vulnerability management technology and security expertise, the merged company will be better able to serve customers.

The acquisition, which is expected to close in the first quarter of next year, is subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions.

More info: [url=http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=127312&liArticleTypeID=1&liCategoryID=1&liChannelID=13&liFlavourID=1&sSearch=&nPage=1]http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=127312&liArticleTypeID=1&liCategoryID=1&liChannelID=13&liFlavourID=1&sSearch=&nPage=1[/url]