Articles by Jack M. Germain

Security experts are warning that malware attacks will pose more of a major threat over the next three years than direct hacker attacks. The British mi2g Intelligence Unit claimed this week that the malware risk has risen from 1 in 40 last year to about 3 in 10 for 2004. This reflects a jump from 2.5 percent to 30 percent risk May was the fifth wor...

Security attacks on IT systems have more than doubled since last year. That's what 100 IT chief security officers at financial institutions around the globe reported in a global survey compiled by Deloitte & Touche LLP. External security attacks on information technology systems at a sampling of the world's leading financial institutions more than doubled from a year ago, according to those who responded to the rigorous global survey. Deloitte & Touche LLP is one of the nation's leading professional services firms...

Is it possible to end the investigations and prosecutions that the RIAA, the music download police and similar entities use to prosecute users of file-sharing networks? The answer depends, say online security experts, on which next-generation technology proves to be more successful. So far, enforcement investigators hold the upper hand "Everybody n...

Viruses delivered by e-mail, phishing attacks and spam are becoming as much a part of using computers as accidents, tolls and bumper-to-bumper delays on the freeway are in commuting to work each day. Both situations cause frustration, steal productivity and cost money Phishing scams trick e-mail recipients into clicking a link in the message to rea...

In today's world of merged business and technology applications, e-mail has become as essential as the telephone. But e-mail on the corporate level is also one of the most deadly communication tools. It is through e-mail that most security risks occur, warn security specialists If the corporate e-mail system is not tightly guarded, hackers can use ...

Searching for data on a PC used to be a series of isolated activities. Users needed one or more computer-based software utilities to hunt through the hard drive for specific files containing keywords. Finding information beyond the hard disk meant logging in to a library or university system and entering archaic Boolean search terms into a distant server's query window...

A real security threat is looming with wireless PDAs, WiFi devices and smartphones. These are the electronic marvels that are pushing the goal of wireless telecommunications to new limits. Industry watchers report that people are dropping their older PDAs like hot potatoes and snapping up the latest generation of wireless devices like crazy The new...

A new worm that first materialized last Tuesday appeared in its third minor variant early this morning. The Sasser worm threatens any unprotected Windows computer tethered to the Internet via a broadband connection The rogue code was officially recognized and named early Saturday morning. The new worm also is known by a variety of aliases, includin...

In mid-March, BJ's Wholesale Club announced it was investigating a security breach that involved theft of credit card information from its computer network. Company officials ordered an exhaustive review of the retail outlet's state-of-the-industry technology systems with a leading computer security firm. Following that review, BJ's ruled out the ...

A new worm materialized yesterday in the U.S. Pacific region and was continuing a slow circulation across the U.S. mainland last night in search of compromised computer systems VeriSign engineers have been tracking increased Internet traffic on customers' computer systems around the country since April 16th. The increase in suspicious activity thro...

Early warning last week about increased signs of a possible superworm in the making may have slowed down a new attack on the Internet. But evidence continues to grow, according to a VeriSign security officer, of a major new denial-of-service attack to be mounted from thousands of already-infected computer systems Charles Kaplan, MSS information sec...

An increase in suspicious activity this weekend has Internet security experts bracing for what some analysts warn could be the next big worm attack worldwide. Virus monitors spent the weekend watching an increased level of activity that experts said could be the start of a Blaster-like attack A spokesperson for VeriSign engineers told TechNewsWorld...

Software can kill you. Don't think so? Talk to the family members of 21 deceased patients treated at the National Cancer Institute in Panama in November 2000. The cancer patients died after being overdosed by a Cobalt-60 radiotherapy machine. The technicians who entered patient and medication data into the software that guided that machine will stand trial starting May 18th in Panama City on charges of second-degree murder...

Despite aggressive tactics by U.S. agencies to crack down on illegal software warehouses, distribution of illegal software continues to rival legitimate software retail sales. Studies by industry watchdogs show that while worldwide software piracy has declined steadily from a rate of 50 percent to about 30 percent, the cost of piracy to software manufacturers remains about the same. By some estimates, that cost exceeds US$15 million per year...

Compare the vastness of the Internet with the microminiaturized world of subatomic structures, and you will get an idea of the potential that nanotechnology holds for industrial profit. Some analysts are predicting nanotechnology will become the biggest boost to the technology industry since the World Wide Web Nanotechnology is the science of creat...

A new trend in extorting money from sports and gambling Web sites isn't going away like security experts had predicted. Online gambling Web sites began receiving e-mail threats in October of last year. The messages contained demands for money to prevent distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that would shut down the targeted Web site Internet...

The family of MyDoom e-mail worms remains an active threat because of compromised computer systems and unprotected personal computers even though the virus was programmed to shut down last month As a result of the prevalent infections, the MyDoom creators still can mobilize a vast network of computers at any time. Marching orders sent to infected m...

Voice over Internet Protocol pioneers Skype, Vonage and other voice-communications purveyors have been quietly generating huge user bases online. Market analysts are reporting that VoIP services stand poised to displace conventional telecommunications pricing models. Given the success of improved VoIP technology, industry pundits wonder whether traditional telecommunications technology will adapt or be pushed aside...

If one thing is definite about Internet security and worm attacks, say experts, it is that cyber attacks are on the rise in 2004 Consider the worldwide effect of highly publicized worms like last year's SoBig series and the recent Sinit Trojan and MyDoom outbreaks. Given the potency of some of these worms, security experts are bracing for what some...

Imagine a war in which the combatants are invisible and the weapons they bear are hidden in trickery and stealth. Now picture that war being waged on a battlefield consisting not of desert fields but of thousands of ragtag computers in bedrooms, dens and corporate cubicles across America. The attacks in this war take place silently while Ma and Pa write e-mail to Johnny at college. Office workers huddled over their keyboards inadvertently join the fray with a daily onslaught of corporate e-mail exchanges...