|
|
Beware of emails that claim to come from the Microsoft support team. They may be worms in disguise. Sophos, the U.K. firm, warned Monday that the worm Palyh or Mankx has begun spreading via a message with the return address support@microsoft.com. It’s not a message from the software company, but rather an attached worm that invades the Windows folder and replicates itself through address books. Moscow’s Kaspersky Labs says that Palyh may secretly establish spyware programs as well, although Sophos says those claims are not substantiated. The spread so far has been slow, hitting 69 countries since Saturday, and the worm is slated to expire automatically on May 30.
Justice Dept. busts 135 for online identity fraud
Studies keep showing that online identity theft is rising. Well, John Ashcroft is working on it. The attorney general said Friday that 135 people had been charged and more than $17 million seized in a variety of internet swindling cases. So far this year the government has discovered more than 89,000 online fraud victims deprived of more than $175 million. Not surprisingly, the target of many of the scams were online auction sites. There unsuspecting victims bid on computers, Beanie Babies, watches and other items that either never existed or actually were counterfeits. Some of the schemes were fairly far-reaching, with one Californian charged with bilking 15,000 people out of $60 million in a fake investment plan. Another California pair promised to match foreign women with lonely American singles. But instead they bilked them out of some $600,000 total.
Study: European broadband users surf longer
European internet pioneers are most likely to be switching to broadband, a new study from the Yankee Group finds. Although that’s not exactly a revelation, as early adopters of any technology usually are most likely to upgrade, the study also provides some insight into this group’s characteristics. Broadband users spend more time online than their dial-up counterparts yet perform basically the same functions. Yankee Group found that both groups consider email and search functions the most important applications. Broadband users use consumer rich media at a much higher rate and account for much of the illegal downloading and audio streaming on the net. European web users of both types have begun using the internet to research products much more than they used to. They now go online to do research as much as North American consumers do.
Net gains genius with posting of Einstein papers
Albert Einstein passed away long before the internet was born, but the master thinker soon will get an online voice. The California Institute of Technology has established a new web site that will contain 3,000 digital images of Einstein’s writings, including some never-before-published travel diaries. About 40,000 pieces of writing will be cataloged in sum, including Einstein’s special theory of relativity. The site, www.alberteinstein.info, went live yesterday. The papers were culled from a collection kept by former Einstein secretary Helen Dukas and stored at the University of Jerusalem. Many of the Nobel Prize winner’s documents were appeals for peace, a passionate cause of his until he died in 1955.
Times Square billboard to show Yahoo searches
The Times Square billboard has gotten connected. In the first use of its kind, the board will be hooked to the internet to feature real-time searches from Yahoo users from across the country, kicking off the company’s new marketing campaign. For 15 minutes of every hour for the next month, the live searches will scroll across the 7,000-square-foot billboard, which is the equivalent of 22 floors. The 11 screens will highlight searches according to specific cities.
May 20, 2003© 2003 Media Life
Printer-Friendly Version
|
Send
to a Friend
Cover Page |
Contact
Us