Forum

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hackers briefly overwhelmed at least three of the 13 computers that help manage global computer traffic Tuesday in one of the most significant attacks against the Internet since 2002.

Experts said the unusually powerful attacks lasted for hours but passed largely unnoticed by most computer users, a testament to the resiliency of the Internet.

Behind the scenes, computer scientists worldwide raced to cope with enormous volumes of data that threatened to saturate some of the Internet's most vital pipelines.

Experts said the hackers appeared to disguise their origin, but vast amounts of rogue data in the attacks were traced to South Korea.

The computer and Internet industries need to work together to promote better security online, or lawmakers are likely to regulate the Web, a Washington, D.C., lobbyist said at the Trusted Computing conference Wednesday.

Congress has become impatient with the perceived lack of progress by industry, said Michael O'Neill, a partner with lobbyist firm Preston Gates Rouvelas Ellis & Meeds, adding that government-mandated security guidelines may coming.

The FBI has teamed up with the industry experts to formulate a list of the 20 most important Internet security vulnerabilities.

Acting as a resource to show which security holes of common platforms should be prioritised, the list covers general vulnerabilities, as well as bugs specifically affecting Windows and Unix boxes. A previous chart covered 10 vulnerabilities and the latest run-down expands and updates that list, which is now over a year old.

LONDON (Reuters) - As great inventions go, e-mail had a rather ho-hum beginning back in 1971.

In fact, Ray Tomlinson, the American engineer considered the ``father of e-mail,'' can't quite recall when the first message was sent, what it said, or even who the recipient was.

``I have no idea what the first one was,'' he told Reuters. ''It might have been the first line from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address for all I know. The only thing I know was it was all in upper case.''

Tomlinson, principal engineer at Cambridge, Mass.-based BBN Technologies, finds himself in the spotlight again after all these years, having to answer questions about the computer program he designed as it reaches its 30th birthday in the coming weeks.

Poor sales have prompted online liquidator Overstock.com to end its partnership with Amazon.com, just two weeks after Overstock's used computers became available at Amazon's new PC store, an executive said Monday.

Overstock will remove about 40 refurbished computers from Amazon's PC store and about 700 electronics products from Amazon's electronics department, according to Patrick Byrne, Overstock's chief executive.

Amazon today opened its PC store to the American public- and it's a straight A-brand affair.

The etailer is touting AMD, Apple, Compaq, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba lines. It is also flogging consumables, add-ons and refurb kit complete with warranties supplied by a clutch of "trusted sellers".

Although sources said Monday that the reduction is on schedule, they warned that the announcement could be delayed. They said the cuts would affect about 1,000 employees, clarifying previous estimates of "several hundred."

America Online spokesman Jim Whitney declined to comment on the anticipated layoffs. AOL employs 16,000 people.

Two out of three people in the UK have access to the Net in one form or another, according to the latest ponderings from Jupiter MMXI.

Analysts claim that more than 33 million people used the Net between April and June with 35 to 49-year-olds making up a quarter of those online.

The Internet is growing faster than ever, with traffic doubling every six months.

That's according to a survey by networking startup Caspian Networks through the first quarter of this year, based on data gained from carriers under non-disclosure agreements.

The Reuters wire service is reporting that Code Red has already cost an estimated $1.2 billion in damage, and may top out at an incredible $8.7 billion when its bitter reign of destruction finally ends.

 Articles

 Opinion Polls

  Join CPU-Central