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Jonathan Schwartz: Freedom, Open Source, and Choice Before his keynote today, I had never had the opportunity to meet Jonathan Schwartz in person. Following his company’s recent announcement to purchase MySQL for approximately $1 billion, and the resulting criticism the acquisition received from industry pundits, I didn’t know what to expect. Following his afternoon keynote at Day...

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InfoWorld - Information Technology News, Computer Networking & Security

Hackers find a new place to hide rootkits
Security researchers have developed a new type of malicious rootkit software that hides itself in an obscure part of a computer's microprocessor, hidden from current antivirus products.
Microsoft to appeal $1.3 billion EU fine
Microsoft is appealing the $1.3 billion (€899 million) fine imposed on it by the European Union for failing to honor a 2004 antitrust agreement, the company said Friday.
Vista as insecure as Windows 2000
Good news for users of Windows Vista. According to figures compiled by PC Tools, the OS has experienced only slightly more vulnerabilities than Windows 2000, which appeared eight years ago when malware was far less common.
Four Microsoft security patches due next week
Microsoft plans to fix critical bugs in its Word, Publisher, and Jet database software next week.
Judge slaps TorrentSpy with $111 million damages
A U.S. judge has ruled on a nearly $111 million copyright-infringement decision against TorrentSpy.com, the BitTorrent peer-to-peer search site.
Belgium accuses China of cyberattacks
It’s not just the U.S. and U.K. who are crying foul over China's behavior in cyberspace -- now the government of tiny Belgium has accused hackers from the country of targeting its systems.
Hollywood wants $15 million from Pirate Bay
Hollywood wants SEK93 million ($15.4 million) in damages for copyright infringement from the people behind The Pirate Bay, according to a claim filed by industry organization the Motion Picture Association Wednesday
Japan eyes adding copyright fee to iPod price
Japan's Cultural Affairs Agency has proposed adding a fee to the price of Apple iPods and other digital music and video devices to partially compensate rights holders for revenues lost to piracy.
Accused software pirate denounces Microsoft
A software dealer who Microsoft charged with engaging in the sale of pirated software is vowing to fight back. Next week he plans to file a complaint with the European Commission alleging abuse of power and anti-trust violations.
Parasitic botnet spams 60 billion a day
The Srizbi botnet has stormed over its competition to become the Internet's biggest spammer.

Linux Today

Linux Today News Service

Latest Security Advisories

Microsoft Security Advisory (951306): Vulnerability in Windows Could Allow Elevation of Privilege - 4/23/2008
Revision Note: April 23, 2008: Added clarification to impact of workaround for IIS 6.0 Advisory Summary:Security Advisory
Microsoft Security Advisory (932596): Update to Improve Kernel Patch Protection - 4/23/2008
Revision Note: April 23, 2008: Added an FAQ entry about known issues in installing the kernel update Advisory Summary:Security Advisory
Microsoft Security Advisory (950627): Vulnerability in Microsoft Jet Database Engine (Jet) Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 3/21/2008
Revision Note: Advisory published Advisory Summary:Microsoft is investigating new public reports of limited, targeted attacks using a vulnerability in the Microsoft Jet Database Engine that can be exploited through Microsoft Word. Customers running Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, Vista, and Vista Service Pack 1 are not vulnerable to the buffer overrun being attacked, as they include a version of the Microsoft Jet Database Engine that is not vulnerable to this issue. Customers using Microsoft Word 2000 Service Pack 3, Microsoft Word 2002 Service Pack 3, Microsoft Word 2003 Service Pack 2, Microsoft Word 2003 Service Pack 3, Microsoft Word...
Microsoft Security Advisory (947563): Vulnerability in Microsoft Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 3/12/2008
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reflect the correct Excel file formats in the MOICE Workarounds section. Advisory Summary:Microsoft has completed the investigation into a public report of this vulnerability. We have issued MS08-014 to address this issue. For more information about this issue, including download links for an available security update, please review MS08-014. The vulnerability addressed is the Microsoft Excel Vulnerability - CVE-2008-0081.
Microsoft Security Advisory (945713): Vulnerability in Web Proxy Auto-Discovery (WPAD) Could Allow Information Disclosure - 1/9/2008
Revision Note: Advisory Updated: The registry key for the Configure a Domain Suffix Search List workaround has been corrected to the proper key of SearchList. Advisory Summary:Microsoft is investigating new public reports of a vulnerability in the way Windows resolves hostnames that do not include a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN). The technology that the vulnerability affects is Web Proxy Auto-Discovery (WPAD). Microsoft has not received any information to indicate that this vulnerability has been publicly used to attack customers, and Microsoft is not aware of any customer impact at this time. Microsoft is aggressively investigating the public reports. Customers whose...
Microsoft Security Advisory (943411): Update to Improve Windows Sidebar Protection - 1/8/2008
Revision Note: Advisory Published. Advisory Summary:An update is available for currently supported editions of the Windows Vista operating system. The update to improve Windows Sidebar Protection enables Windows Sidebar to help block gadgets from running in Sidebar. For more information about installing this update, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 943411.
Microsoft Security Advisory (944653): Vulnerability in Macrovision SECDRV.SYS Driver on Windows Could Allow Elevation of Privilege - 12/11/2007
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reflect publication of security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Microsoft has completed the investigation into a public report of this vulnerability. We have issued MS07-067 to address this issue. For more information about this issue, including download links for an available security update, please review MS07-067. The vulnerability addressed is the Macrovision Driver Vulnerability - CVE-2007-5587.
Microsoft Security Advisory (943521): URL Handling Vulnerability in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 with Windows Internet Explorer 7 Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 11/13/2007
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reflect publication of security bulletin Advisory Summary:Microsoft has completed the investigation into a public report of this vulnerability. We have issued MS07-061 to address this issue. For more information about this issue, including download links for an available security update, please review MS07-061. The vulnerability addressed is the Windows URI Handling Vulnerability - CVE-2007-3896.
Microsoft Security Advisory (927891): Update for Windows Installer (MSI) - 5/24/2007
Revision Note: Advisory updated to change title from "Fix for Windows Installer (MSI)" to "Update for Windows Installer (MSI)," make minor edits, and remove unnecessary FAQ. Advisory Summary:Today we are announcing the availability of an update that does not address a security vulnerability, but is a high priority for customers in keeping their systems updated.
Microsoft Security Advisory (937696): Release of Microsoft Office Isolated Conversion Environment (MOICE) and File Block Functionality for Microsoft Office - 5/21/2007
Revision Note: Advisory Published: May 21, 2007 Advisory Summary:Security Advisory
Microsoft Security Advisory (933052): Vulnerability in Microsoft Word Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 5/9/2007
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reflect publication of security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Microsoft has completed the investigation into a public report of this vulnerability. We have issued MS07-024 to address this issue. For more information about this issue, including download links for an available security update, please review MS07-024.
Microsoft Security Advisory (935964): Vulnerability in RPC on Windows DNS Server Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 5/8/2007
Revision Note: Advisory updated. Advisory Summary:Microsoft has completed the investigation into a public report of this vulnerability. We have issued MS07-029 to address this issue. For more information about this issue, including download links for an available security update, please review MS07-029. The vulnerability addressed is the DNS RPC Management Vulnerability - CVE-2007-1748.
Microsoft Security Advisory (935423): Vulnerability in Windows Animated Cursor Handling - 4/3/2007
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reflect publication of security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Microsoft has completed the investigation into a public report of attacks exploiting a vulnerability in the way Microsoft Windows handles animated cursor (.ani) files. We have issued MS07-017 to address this issue.
Microsoft Security Advisory (929433): Vulnerability in Microsoft Word Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 2/13/2007
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reflect publication of security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Security Advisory
Microsoft Security Advisory (932553): Vulnerability in Microsoft Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 2/13/2007
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reflect publication of security bulletin Advisory Summary:Security Advisory
Microsoft Security Advisory (932114): Vulnerability in Microsoft Word 2000 Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 2/13/2007
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reflect publication of security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Security Advisory
Microsoft Security Advisory (927709): Vulnerability in Visual Studio 2005 Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 12/12/2006
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reflect publication of security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Microsoft is investigating public reports of a vulnerability in Visual Studio 2005
Microsoft Security Advisory (930181): Exploit Code Published Affecting Windows Client Server Run-Time Subsystem - 11/16/2006
Revision Note: Advisory published. Advisory Summary:Security Advisory
Microsoft Security Advisory (927892): Vulnerability in Microsoft XML Core Services Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 11/14/2006
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reflect publication of security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Microsoft has completed the investigation into a public report of this vulnerability. We have issued MS06-071 to address this issue. For more information about this issue, including download links for an available security update, please review MS06-071.
Microsoft Security Advisory (925444): Vulnerability in the Microsoft DirectAnimation Path ActiveX Control Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 11/14/2006
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reflect publication of security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Microsoft has completed the investigation into a public report of this vulnerability. We have issued MS06-067 to address this issue. For more information about this issue, including download links for an available security update, please review MS06-067. The vulnerability addressed is the DirectAnimation Path ActiveX Vulnerability - CVE-2006-4777.
Microsoft Security Advisory (925143): Adobe Security Bulletin: APSB06-11 Flash Player Update to Address Security Vulnerabilities - 11/14/2006
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reflect publication of security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Microsoft has completed the investigation of security vulnerabilities in Macromedia Flash Player from Adobe, a third party software application that also was redistributed with Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. We have issued MS06-069 to address these issues. For more information about these issues, including download links for an available security update, please review MS06-069. This bulletin is for customers using Macromedia Flash Player version 6 from Adobe. The vulnerabilities addressed are the Macromedia Flash Player Vulnerabilities - CVE-2006-3014, CVE-2006-3311, CVE-2006-3587, CVE-2006-3588, and CVE-2006-4640....
Microsoft Security Advisory (917021): Description of the Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 support for Wireless Group Policy in Windows XP Service Pack 2 - 10/17/2006
Revision Note: Advisory Published. Advisory Summary:Microsoft is releasing this security advisory to inform customers about an update that enables Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) support for Wireless network Group Policy settings in Windows XP Service Pack 2. This update is being released to provide parity between Windows XP Service Pack 2 (before a broad release vehicle, like a service pack, is released) and the upcoming release of Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2. With this update, customers can create Wireless network Group Policy settings to simultaneously manage WPA2 on systems running Windows XP Service Pack 2 and for any versions...
Microsoft Security Advisory (926043): Vulnerability in Windows Shell Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 10/10/2006
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reference released security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Microsoft is investigating new public reports of a vulnerability in supported versions of Microsoft Windows. Customers who are running Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 in their default configurations, with the Enhanced Security Configuration turned on, are not affected. We are also aware of proof of concept code published publicly and limited attacks. We are aware of Web sites attempting to use the reported vulnerability to install malware. Our investigation into these Web sites shows that, in most cases, attempts to install malicious software by exploiting...
Microsoft Security Advisory (925984): Vulnerability in PowerPoint Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 10/10/2006
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reference released security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Microsoft is investigating new public reports of limited "zero-day" attacks using a vulnerability in Microsoft PowerPoint 2000, Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003, Microsoft PowerPoint 2004 for Mac, and Microsoft PowerPoint 2004 v. X for Mac. In order for this attack to be carried out, a user must first open a malicious PowerPoint file attached to an e-mail or otherwise provided to them by an attacker. As a best practice, users should always exercise extreme caution when opening unsolicited attachments from both known and unknown sources. Microsoft has added...
Microsoft Security Advisory (925059): Vulnerability in Word Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 10/10/2006
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reference released security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Security Advisory
Microsoft Security Advisory (925568): Vulnerability in Vector Markup Language Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 9/26/2006
Revision Note: Advisory Updated Advisory Summary:Microsoft is investigating new public reports of vulnerability using the Vector Markup Language on Microsoft on Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, on Windows XP Service Pack 1 and Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1.
Microsoft Security Advisory (922582): Update for Windows - 9/12/2006
Revision Note: Advisory published Advisory Summary:Today we are announcing the availability of an update that does not address a security vulnerability, but is a high priority for customers in keeping their systems updated. The update addresses the following issue: You may receive error code 0x80070002 when you try to update a computer running on Microsoft Windows that has a minifilter-based application installed. This error code could occur when updating using any of the following Microsoft tools: Automatic Updates, Windows Update Web site, Microsoft Update Web site, Inventory Tool for Microsoft Updates (ITMU) for Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003, Software...
Microsoft Security Advisory (923762): Long URLs to sites using HTTP 1.1 and compression Could Cause Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 to Unexpectedly Exit - 8/24/2006
Revision Note: Advisory updated to direct customers to the revised version of Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-042 that includes new updates for Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1. Advisory Summary:Microsoft announced last week that it would be re-releasing MS06-042 Tuesday, August 22, 2006 to address an issue affecting Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 customers discussed in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 923762. Due to an issue discovered in final testing, Microsoft will not be re-releasing MS06-042 today. This update will be re-released for Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 when it meets an appropriate level of quality for broad...
Microsoft Security Advisory (922437): Exploit Code Published Affecting the Server Service - 8/13/2006
Revision Note: Advisory published. Advisory Summary:Security Advisory
Microsoft Security Advisory (922970): Vulnerability in PowerPoint Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 8/11/2006
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reference released security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Security Advisory
Microsoft Security Advisory (921365): Vulnerability in Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 7/11/2006
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reference released security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Security Advisory
Microsoft Security Advisory (921923): Proof of Concept Code Published Affecting the Remote Access Connection Manager Service - 6/23/2006
Revision Note: Advisory Summary:Security Advisory
Microsoft Security Advisory (912945): Non-Security Update for Internet Explorer - 6/13/2006
Revision Note: Advisory updated to advise of the release of Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-021. Advisory Summary:Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-021 has been released and replaces Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-013. The Compatibility Patch discussed in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 917425 is also replaced by this security update. The changes to the way Internet Explorer handles ActiveX controls is made permanent by the updates included with Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-021. Microsoft originally released this security advisory discussing non-security update 912945 for Internet Explorer on February 28, 2006. This non-security update includes minor changes to how Internet Explorer handles some Web pages that use...
Microsoft Security Advisory (919637): Vulnerability in Word Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 6/13/2006
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reference released security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Microsoft has completed the investigation into a public report of a vulnerability. We have issued a security bulletin to address this issue. For more information about this issue, including download links for an available security update, please review the security bulletin.
Microsoft Security Advisory (914784): Update to Improve Kernel Patch Protection - 6/13/2006
Revision Note: Advisory published. Advisory Summary:An update is available for Kernel patch protection included with Windows Server 2003 SP1 and later versions of Windows for x64-based systems. Kernel patch protection protects code and critical structures in the Windows kernel from modification by unknown code or data. This update adds additional checks to this protection for increased reliabilty, performance, and security. For more information about this release, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 914784.
Microsoft Security Advisory (916208): Adobe Security Bulletin: APSB06-03 Flash Player Update to Address Security Vulnerabilities - 5/11/2006
Revision Note: Advisory published. Advisory Summary:Microsoft is aware of recent security vulnerabilities in Macromedia Flash Player, a third party software application that also was redistributed with Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, and Windows Mi
Microsoft Security Advisory (910550): Macromedia Security Bulletin: MPSB05-07 Flash Player 7 Improper Memory Access Vulnerability - 5/11/2006
Revision Note: Advisory published. Advisory Summary:Microsoft is aware of recent security vulnerabilities in Macromedia Flash Player, a third party software application that also was redistributed with Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, and Windows Millennium Edition. The Microsoft Security Response Center is in communication with Macromedia and is aware that Macromedia has made updates that are available on their Web site. Microsoft encourages customers who use Macromedia Flash Player to follow the guidance documented in Macromedia's Security Bulletin. The Macromedia Security Bulletin describes the vulnerabilities and provides the download locations...
Microsoft Security Advisory (917077): Vulnerability in the way HTML Objects Handle Unexpected Method Calls Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 4/11/2006
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reference released security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Microsoft has completed the investigation into a public report of a vulnerability. We have issued a security bulletin to address this issue. For more information about this issue, including download links for an available security update, please review the security bulletin.
Microsoft Security Advisory (914457): Vulnerability in Windows Service ACLs - 3/14/2006
Revision Note: March 14, 2006: Advisory updated to reference released security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Microsoft has completed the investigation into a public report of a vulnerability. We have issued a security bulletin to address this issue. For more information about this issue, including download links for an available security update, please review the security bulletin.
Microsoft Security Advisory (906267): A COM Object (Msdds.dll) Could Cause Internet Explorer to Unexpectedly Exit - 2/21/2006
Revision Note: Advisory updated to include additional mitigating factors. Msdds.dll file versions have also been revised: updated file version from 7.0.9446.0 to 7.0.9466.0 and added file version 7.0.9064.9143. Advisory Summary:Microsoft is investigating new public reports of a possible vulnerability in Internet Explorer. We are not aware of attacks that try to use the reported vulnerabilities or of customer impact at this time. Microsoft is aggressively investigating the public reports. The Microsoft DDS Library Shape Control (Msdds.dll) is a COM object that could, when called from a Web page displayed in Internet Explorer, cause Internet Explorer to unexpectedly exit. This condition...
Microsoft Security Advisory (913333): Vulnerability in Internet Explorer Could Allow Remote Code Execution - 2/14/2006
Revision Note: Advisory Published Advisory Summary:Microsoft is investigating new public reports of a vulnerability in older versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer. Based on our investigation, this vulnerability could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the user's system in the security context of the logged-on user. The attacker could do this by one or more of the following actions: By hosting a specially crafted Windows Metafile (WMF) image on a malicious Web site; By convincing a user to open a specially crafted e-mail attachment; By convincing a user to click on a link in an e-mail message that takes...
Microsoft Security Advisory (904420): Win32/Mywife.E@mm - 2/1/2006
Revision Note: Additional information about the blank password restriction functionality in Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1. Added link to Virus Information Alliance member Sophos. Advisory Summary:Microsoft wants to make customers aware of the Mywife mass mailing malware variant named Win32/Mywife.E@mm. The mass mailing malware tries to entice users through social engineering efforts into opening an attached file in an e-mail message. If the recipient opens the file, the malware sends itself to all the contacts that are contained in the system's address book. The malware...
Microsoft Security Advisory (912840): Vulnerability in Graphics Rendering Engine Could Allow Remote Code Execution. - 1/5/2006
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reference released security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Microsoft has completed the investigation into a public report of a vulnerability. We have issued a security bulletin to address this issue. For more information about this issue, including download links for an available security update, please review the security bulletin (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=58471).
Microsoft Security Advisory (912920): Systems that are infected with Win32/Sober.Z@mm may download and run malicious files from certain Web domains beginning on January 6, 2006 - 1/3/2006
Revision Note: Advisory published Advisory Summary:Microsoft is aware of the Sober mass mailer worm variant named Win32/Sober.Z@mm. The worm tries to entice users through social engineering efforts into opening an attached file or executable in e-mail. If the recipient opens the file or executable, the worm sends itself to all the contacts that are contained in the system's address book. Customers who are using the most recent and updated antivirus software are at a reduced risk from infection by the Win32/Sober.Z@mm worm. On systems that are infected by Win32/Sober.Z@mm, the malware is programmed to download and run malicious files from...
Microsoft Security Advisory (911302): Vulnerability in the way Internet Explorer Handles Mismatched Document Object Model Objects Could Allow Remote Code Execution. - 12/13/2005
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reference released security bulletin. Advisory Summary:Microsoft has completed the investigation into a public report of a vulnerability. We have issued a security bulletin to address this issue. For more information about this issue, including download links for an available security update, please review the security bulletin (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=53511).
Microsoft Security Advisory (911052): Memory Allocation Denial of Service Via RPC - 11/18/2005
Revision Note: Advisory updated to reference a CVE and to clarify that this issue is anonymously exploitable on Windows 2000 Service Pack 4. Advisory Summary:Microsoft is aware of public reports of proof-of-concept code that seeks to exploit a possible vulnerability in Windows 2000 SP4 and Windows XP SP1. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to levy a denial of service attack of limited duration. On Windows XP SP1, an attacker would need to have a valid logon on the system. For Windows XP SP1 users, an attacker must have valid logon credentials to try to exploit this vulnerability. The...
Microsoft Security Advisory (909444): Various Issues After Installing Microsoft Security Bulletin MS05-051 on Systems That Have Non-default File Permissions - 10/14/2005
Revision Note: Advisory Published. Advisory Summary:Microsoft is aware of reports of isolated issues after deployment with Microsoft Security Bulletin MS05-051. We are working with a limited number of affected customers to help resolve these issues. Systems that do not have the default Access Control List (ACL) settings in the %Windir%\Registration folder may experience various problems after installing MS05-051. The update helps protect against attacks seeking to exploit MS05-051, however this isolated set of issues might impact systems after installation of the update. Based on feedback from those customers, Microsoft has published Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 909444, which addresses the issue....
Microsoft Security Advisory (897663): Windows Firewall Exception May Not Display in the User Interface - 8/31/2005
Revision Note: Advisory published. Advisory Summary:Microsoft has received a report of an unexpected behavior in the way that the Windows Firewall User Interface handles malformed entries in the Windows Registry. By creating malformed Windows Firewall exception entries in the Windows Registry, an exception could be created in the firewall that would not be displayed in the Windows Firewall User Interface. However, this exception is displayed by the command line firewall administration tools. It is important to note that this is not a vulnerability. Administrative privileges are required to access the associated section of the Windows Registry that contains this configuration...
Microsoft Security Advisory (906574): Clarification of Simple File Sharing and ForceGuest - 8/23/2005
Revision Note: Advisory published. Advisory Summary:Microsoft has issued this Security Advisory to clarify information of the issue addressed in Security Bulletin MS05-039 for non-default configurations of Windows XP Service Pack 1. This feature is known as "Simple File Sharing and ForceGuest." If you are using Windows XP Service Pack 2, enabling Simple File Sharing and ForceGuest does not increase your level of exposure to the MS05-039 security vulnerability. Also, customers that have applied the security update included with MS05-039 are not impacted by this issue. We recommend that customers continue to follow our Protect Your PC guidance...
Microsoft Security Advisory (899588): Vulnerability in Plug and Play Could Allow Remote Code Execution and Elevation of Privilege - 8/17/2005
Revision Note: Advisory has been updated to document additional information about variations of Worm:Win32/Zotob.A. We are also announcing the availability of a revised version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool that helps to address these attacks. Advisory Summary:Zotob is a worm that targets Windows 2000-based computers and takes advantage of a security issue that was addressed by Microsoft Security Bulletin MS05-039. This worm and its variants install malicious software, and then search for other computers to infect. If you have installed the update released with Security Bulletin MS05-039, you are already protected from Zotob and its variants. If...

InternetNews.com Developer News

Real time developer news, programming trends, analysis, features and opinion for IT managers.

Microsoft’s Automated Agent: Can We Talk?
The latest version of Microsoft's automated help agent for companies, adds support for SharePoint searches.
Borland Finally Sells CodeGear
After a year and half of trying, Borland find a buyer of developer tools spinoff.
Red Hat Heads For The JON 2.0
New JBoss Operations Network takes aim at open source middleware management, though the solution isn't entirely open source -- yet.
Out with the Old, in with the New at JavaOne
Java EE 6, SE 7 and JavaFX all make impressive debuts.
Trolltech Expands WebKit Footprint
Thought that WebKit was just for Apple Safari? Think again.
Oracle: Eating its Own Open Source Food
The database giant isn't just into Linux and Xen for the money, is it?
Big Money and Open Source May Not Compute
UPDATED: Open source has the adherents and the contributors, but what about the income? Patience, say the developers.
Open Source Embrace Gives Sun New Fans
Prelude conference to JavaOne highlights Linux, Ruby and MySQL. Welcome to the new Sun Microsystems.
NetBeans, OpenSolaris Also in Spotlight at JavaOne
Java will still take center stage, but Sun will make other announcements in support of the popular programming language.
SAP Is Wooing the BlackBerry CRM Crowd
Software giant will natively integrate its business apps into RIMM's BlackBerry.
SpringSource's Spring Cleaning for Java
It's out with the old libraries and in with the new, courtesy of the Spring library developer's newly released modular application server.
Can HP Broaden SOA's Appeal?
The system giant has enhanced its testing and management products to improve service-oriented architecture.
Sony Ericsson Adds Flash Support to Mobile Java
Developers writing Java ME apps for their mobile phone can now add Flash Lite animations. Next stop: open source.
AOL to Open VoIP APIs
On the heels of Open AIM, AOL is now planning to open its pay-per-minute Call Out service to developers.
Tellme to BlackBerry: Listen Up
The Microsoft subsidiary targets BlackBerry for 'on-the-go' information services.
Sun Latest to Help App Vendors Get 'SasSy'
Using its existing technologies, Sun will allow customers to convert their existing Solaris applications into on-demand versions.
Ubuntu's 'Hardy' Cozy With Windows
Popular Linux distribution isn't afraid of desktop Linux and will even let users use Windows to get there.
The $4.6B Business of The Social
New research looks forward to a booming market for Web 2.0 technologies geared for the workplace.
Office 2007 Fails The OOXML Test
Despite its origins in Microsoft's productivity suite, changes made to woo ISO votes now mean Office 2007 is noncompliant.
Intel Moves Into Mashups
Chipmaker takes a rare step beyond hardware with consumer-focused mashup application.

virtualization.info

Endeavors plans to stream Office, Microsoft doesn't think so

On April 22 the application virtualization firm Endeavors Technologies announced that was about to offer a streamed version of Office according to the new Microsoft Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA) that allows 3rd party vendors to do so.

Unable to find a confirmation in the available SPLA, virtualization.info contacted Microsoft asking for a clarification.

The answer was surprising: while Office can now be streamed through Application Virtualization (as announced in January 2008), the current SPLA doesn't extend the capability to any 3rd party, and Microsoft was completely unaware of the Endeavors announcement.

The Endeavors...
Virtual Iron loses its Chief Marketing Officer

virtualization.info has learned that Mike Grandinetti, Chief Marketing Officer at Virtual Iron, left the company recently.

Grandinetti, in Virtual Iron since the beginning in 2003, was the public face of the company.
His role is now covered by the new Chief Strategy Officer Tony Asaro, appointed this March.

Before Grandinetti also Alex Vasilevsky, co-founder and CTO, left the company in December 2007.
The company management team was further reshuffled in October 2007 with a new CEO, Ed Walsh, and a new Vice President of Sales, John McCarthy.
...
VMware ThinApp is the final name for Thinstall technology

In January 2008 VMware, a hardware virtualization company, acquired an application virtualization startup called Thinstall.
The plan is to use the Thinstall technology to stream virtualized applications on the virtual desktops that VMware spawns through its connection broker: the Virtual Desktop Manager (VDM).

So fare VMware has been pretty fast in rebranding the Thinstall Application Virtualization Suite: the beta program for the new version is open since end of February and the testers can already download the beta 2.
The final version of the product, temporarily called Project...

Microsoft opens Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool beta

Microsoft just opened the beta program for a new tool, the Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool, which aims addressing a concrete challenge: keep updated a large amount of virtual machines stored in a VM library and acting as templates for cloning operations.

Since these virtual machines are not supposed to be powered on the task is challenging.

To solve it, the new Microsoft tool uses PowerShell, System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2007 and a patch management product between Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) 3.0 and System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007.

Thanks to PowerShell scripts,...

Dell offers VMware ESXi at $99, Citrix XenServer Embedded Express at $299

According to the news that virtualization.info broke yesterday, Dell announces today its new server for virtualization: the PowerEdge R805 and 905 (two sockets the former, four sockets the latter).

The hardware comes with an interesting configuration (AMD Quad-Core, 16 DIMM slots, integrated quad-ports NIC with TOE, up to 292GB local storage, etc.) and the option to pre-install a couple of hypervisors: VMware ESXi and Citrix XenServer Embedded Express (renamed XenServer Dell Express Edition).

The VMware lightweight hypervisor, which was supposed to be free, is priced $99.
The Citrix hypervisor for...

VMware launches a new certification for virtualization architects

Yesterday, opening its new conference for partners, the Partner Exchange 2008, VMware announced a new technical certification for VAC partners: the VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX).

The VCDX targets virtualization architects who already achieved the VCP certification and it's made by two exams:

the VMware Enterprise Administration Exam (which include live labs)

the VMware Design Exam (which includes simulations and questions about design scenarios)

Additionally, the candidates have to present and discuss a VMware design and implementation plan (it's not clear if this one must be a real-world,...

Tool: Proxmox Virtual Environment

Proxmox Server Solution GmbH is building an open source management tool for virtualization platforms: Proxmox Virtual Environment.

The product, still in beta (0.9), has some interesting capabilities:

Bare-metal installation (based on Debian Etch 64bit, which includes the supported virtualization platforms)

Support for KVM and OpenVZ

Web-based management console (AJAX based)

Host-level backup (OpenVZ containers only)

Support for host-level clustering (Proxmox VE Cluster)

Additionally, the developer is...

Neocleus leaves the stealth mode, to launch the hypervisor for desktops

A new startup enters the virtualization market today with a soft launch: Neocleus.

The company, founded in 2006 and based in US (with the R&D center in Israel) received a first round of investments in 2007: $5 million from Battery Ventures and Gemini Israel.

Neocleus has a strong focus on security as testified by the management team: its co-founder and CTO, Etay Bogner, comes from SofaWare (the historical partner of Check Point, leader in enterprise firewalls), its Vice President of R&D, Yair Tor, comes from BeeFence (a startup focused on intrusion detection systems) and its Chief Security Architect, Yoav Weiss comes...

Microsoft publishes a ROI/TCO calculator powered by IDC methodology

Some virtualization vendors have an online ROI/TCO calculator that prospects and customers can use to justify the purchase of their hyperivsors: VMware has one, Parallels has one.

Microsoft, which is preparing to release Hyper-V 1.0, now has one as well: the Microsoft Integrated Virtualization ROI Tool.

Compared with the others above, this calculator requires an impressive profiling of the company's current situation for three different areas: production server, development and test lab, and desktop virtualization.
From that data and for all these scenario, the tool provides a very deep analysis of the TCO, the entity of the investments (up...

Release: Qumranet Solid ICE 4.1

Qumranet, the US startup that supports the development of KVM (the hypervisor included in the Linux kernel), announced its first product in September 2007: Solid ICE, an all-in-one VDI solution (the virtualization server based on KVM, the management console, the connection broker and the accelerated remote desktop protocol) for KVM virtual machines.

The company is finally releasing its product which immediately jumps to version 4.1.

This first version has some interesting features to offer, like:

Support for Windows 2000 and XP virtual machines

Self-service web portal

Active Directory authentication support

Virtual machines pools provisioning

Fault-tolerant connection broker

Optimized remote desktop protocol (SPICE) with support for bi-directional audio/video...

Ericom brings VDI to Oracle VM, for free

After InMage, Ericon is the second company announcing its support for the Oracle controverse hypervisor released in November 2007.

So PowerTerm WebConnect becomes the first VDI solution for Oracle VM, filling an empty niche market while the VDI crowd competes around VMware ESX, Citrix XenServer and the upcoming Microsoft Hyper-V.

Ericom published a 3 minutes demo of the product here.

The price of this version is unclear: the websites uses the word free instead of free trial everywhere.
Download it here and please report back if there are feature limitations or timebombs.

Update: Ericom contacted virtualization.info and confirmed that PowerTerm...

ClearCube moves the VDI business to the VDIworks spin-off

In January ClearCube started a process to become an agnostic VDI vendor and broaden its business focus beyond the blades manifacturing.
The release of Sentral 5.6 in fact introduced the support of its connection broker for 3rd party hypervisors.

Now the company goes further, announcing the spin-off VDIworks, which will develop and sell the connection broker with the new name of Virtual Desktop Platform.
ClearCube will continue to offer Sentral thanks to an OEM agreement between the two entities.

The ClearCube President, Rick Hoffman, is now the VDIworks President. His place at ClearCube has been replaced by Randy Printz, previously covering...

Dell launches its new VMware ESXi powered servers tomorrow, prefers AMD

Dell is expected to launch tomorrow its new servers supporting VMware ESXi.

The first two products will be the PowerEdge R805 and R905 which features some interesting (and surprising) hardware components:

AMD Opteron Quad-Core CPUs (up to 2)

16 DIMM slots (up to 128GB RAM DDR2-5300)

PERC 6/i SAS Controller

Quad-Port 1Gb NIC with TCP/IP Offload Engine (TOE) and Intel I/O Acceleration Technology (IOAT)

32MB SecureDigital with VMware ESXi pre-installed

Still no words on the price that Dell will ask for the VMware lightweight hypervisor. In March a VMware representative reported that the OEM may offer the product for free.

Anyway the new servers will provide support...

Amazon to offer OpenSolaris VMs into EC2, now in beta

The on-demand virtual infrastructure that Amazon offers since August 2006 under the name of Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is powered by Xen and Red Hat Enterprise Linux virtual machines. But Amazon is working on extending the guest operating systems offering.

In fact today the company started a beta program which allows customers to use Sun OpenSolaris virtual machines instead of Red Hat ones: the OpenSolaris Amazon Machine Images (AMIs).

Sun prepared two different guest OSes for this program: the first is the just released OpenSolaris 2008.05 (formerly codename Project Indiana) and the other is the Solaris Express Community Edition (codename...

VMware opens Fusion 2.0 beta program
Nine months after its entrance in the Apple marker, VMware is ready to open the beta of Fusion 2.0.

This first public build (89933) introduces a number of features and graphical improvements like:

DirectX 9.0 Shader 2 3D experimental support

Multi-Display support

Virtual Printing

Virtual Machine Library

Integrated VMware Importer

Enroll for the beta program here.

Leostream raises $3 million in Series A funding

Leostream is one of the oldest firm in the virtualization space, along with few others like Vizioncore and PlateSpin.
Used to sell an enterprise management product for virtualization platforms in the early days, the company completely changed direction, dropping its first product and focusing first on P2V migration (with P>V Direct) and then on VDI (with Hosted Desktop Connection Broker).

While others got funded and became acquisition targets (Vizioncore by Quest, PlateSpin by Novell), Leostream is one of the few that never raised major resources over time.

The situation is now changed since Meakem Becker Venture Capital has just invested $3...

AMD is fine tuning its CPUs for Sun xVM Server

AMD announced that its facility dedicated to fine tuning, the Operating System Research Center (OSRC), has extended its focus to include Sun OpenSolaris and the xVM products.
This may imply that xVM Server may have a performance advantage when used on AMD processors.

It's unclear if and how this new effort will impact the upcoming release 1.0 of the new Sun hypervisor, but one thing is for sure: with Intel in strong partnership with VMware, AMD has to find another strong virtualization partner to boost the sales of its finally released quad-core CPU (codename Barcellona). Maybe the chip manifacturer...

Release: Sun VirtualBox 1.6

Sun releases today the first version of its desktop virtualization product VirtualBox since the acquisition of innotek.

The new VirtualBox 1.6 introduces:

full support for Solaris (now including Guest Additions) and Mac OS versions (which means tha Sun is now an official competitor of Parallels and VMware)

seamless window (what Parallels call Coherence and VMware calls Unity) for Solaris and Linux guest OSes

support for virtual SATA hard drives (for the first time in a virtualization product)

PAE memory support for guest OSes

introduction of a web services API

Download it free of charge here.

The virtualization.info Virtualization Industry Roadmap has...

KVM reaches version 68, introduces support for Intel EPT

Just one week after version 67, KVM releases version 68.

The new build introduces support for the upcoming Intel nested pages technology dubbed Extended Page Tables (EPT).
The EPT technology should be available only in 2009/2010 when Intel will introduce a completely new architecture in its upcoming Nehalem CPU.

Despite all virtualization vendors are working to support Intel EPT in their hypervisors, KVM is probably the first platform to offer it today.

Download KVM 68 here.
...

VMware releases Project North Star (formerly Thinstall) beta 2

VMware continues at fast pace the beta program of the recently acquired Thinstall Application Virtualization Suite, now temporarily called Project North Star.

Today the company releases beta 2 (build 3.386) and introduces two new features:

Application Sync
This feature enables you to deploy Project North Star (Thinstall) application updates. Application Sync automatically checks for and installs updates to your packaged applications. Updates might include changes such as a new version, service pack updates, or configuration changes in the package.ini file

Application Link
This feature connects deployed applications. For example, you can establish a relationship between a deployed instance of Microsoft Office 2003 and...

VMware finalizing VMmark 1.1

In July 2007 VMware released its first benchmarking tool, VMmark, trying to fill a void still existing today: a commonly accepted measurement system to evaluate performance of different virtualization platforms on different hardware (the SPEC is still mum about its plans).

Since that time all major OEMs, Dell, HP IBM and Sun, adopted VMmark and published on VMware website the results for their 4/8/16 cores systems.

Now VMware is about to release a minor update which introduces support for 64bit workloads.
Three of the six virtual servers which compose each VMmark tile are now 64bits: the Java server (running SPECjbb...

Parallels Server hits beta 4

Parallels publishes the fourth beta of its upcoming hypervisor dubbed Parallels Server.
The new beta re-introduces support for Mac OS X 10.5 Server as guest OS.

The product is now in beta since almost one year (the company demonstrated the first private beta at Apple WWDC event in June 2007) but Parallels is working on it since much more: in January 2006 SWsoft (the company former name) was talking about a Parallels Server and a Parallels Enterprise Server planned for early 2007.

Hopefully the only product survived from that original plan will be released at the upcoming WWDC, set for this June...

Microsoft closes a major OEM agreement with Parallels for the Apple market

It seems that the Microsoft relationship with Parallels is becoming multi-dimensional.

A number of former Microsoft employees work for Parallels since the early days when the company was known as SWsoft.
Among them, since this January, there is also Mark Zbikowski, former Microsoft Architect who led the development effort in MS-DOS and Windows NT.

And now the two are linked by a major OEM agreement which brings key Microsoft products (Express Studio, Visual Studio, Office 2007 and Windows XP or Vista) to the Mac OS community through Parallels Desktop.

Microsoft had the opportunity to deliver this package, dubbed Expression Professional Subscription,...

Desktone announces support for Microsoft SCVMM 2008

Desktone is a US startup which left the stealth mode 10 days ago to unveil an innovative hosted VDI architecture.

While waiting to unveil the first major implementation (probably from Verizon) the small company announces its support for the upcoming Microsoft virtualization products: Hyper-V and System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2008.

The Desktone platform supports multiple hypervisors and management consoles despite the first edition is released with support for VMware VI only. So it's natural to see the upcoming support for Hyper-V as well as for XenServer (since Citrix is one of the four firms that invested in...

Citrix to embed Marathon Technologies HA into XenServer or vice versa?

Marathon Technologies, already providing one of the first high availability solutions for XenServer virtual machines (at guest level), managed to further integrate with the Citrix hypervisor.

The two company are now working to include Marathon everRun VM into the XenServer setup, integrate the everRun Availability Center inside XenCenter and transparently synchronize the HA settings into each other console.

It's not clear if this integration will be provided by a special version of XenServer that only Marathon Technologies can resell (since the company has an OEM agreement in place), or if it will be an out of the box solution for...