Sam Costello

A part of the Internet that existed before the Web ever did, and was once among the busiest places online, is now, despite its loss of visitors (and many would argue, loss of quality, as well), a breeding ground for some of the Internet's most vicious viruses, according to anti-virus firm McAfee, a division of Network Associates Inc.

In an effort to add new layers and strength to the security that keeps remote workers safely connected to corporate networks, Sygate Technologies Inc. will release version 2.0 of its Sygate Secure Enterprise suite.

Due to a "serious" flaw in Microsoft Corp.'s Index Server 2.0 and Indexing Service

A security flaw in Microsoft Corp.'s SQL Server 7.0 and SQL Server 2000 Gold can allow an attacker to take control of a targeted server, the company said in a security bulletin late Tuesday night. Microsoft issued a patch for the flaw at the same time it released the bulletin.

Sapphire, the annual conference held by software maker SAP AG, is focusing on partnership announcements and deal-making this year.

When the Mac versus PC wars start up, as they inevitably do, on Usenet or Web message boards or just around the office, Mac partisans always tout the dearth of viruses for their chosen computer as one of the main benefits in adopting Apple Computer Inc.'s operating system.

Perhaps the greatest thrill for any prankster is to have his hoax taken as truth. Just such a thing has happened to Ray Owens, who runs a Web site called Joke A Day.

Distributed denial of service attacks are growing in number and sophistication, though tools to fight them are just over the horizon, said Stefan Savage, a researcher at the University of California at San Diego and the founder and chief scientist at Asta Networks Inc.