It's a crime-filled week in IT land
In an unusual week for IT news, headlines were dominated by alleged crime, actual crime and crime that could be in the offing. Technical details of the dreaded DNS flaw were inadvertently released, leading to publication of the attack code, there were more twists and turns in the story of the jailed San Francisco network administrator, and a convicted spammer who walked away from a minimum-security prison apparently killed his wife, their young daughter and himself. And, we sadly learned that Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch died -- he inspired countless people with his "Last Lecture" that is a YouTube classic.
1. Details of major Internet flaw posted by accident and DNS attack code out in wild: After a computer security company inadvertently posted details online of a major flaw in the Internet DNS (Domain Name System), it was just a matter of time before the attack code made the rounds. The errant post from Matasano Security was quickly removed, but as we all know, once something has hit the Internet, it's not possible to really remove it. Sure enough, attack code was posted two days later. And now we all just have to wait and see if the expected exploits of the flaw will be catastrophic, as some believe, or not such a big deal, as others have opined.
2. San Francisco DA discloses city's network passwords and San Francisco's mayor gets back keys to the network: Arguing in a court motion against a defense request to decrease the US$5 million bail in the case of Terry Childs, the San Francisco district attorney publicly revealed usernames and passwords of the city's network. Part of the argument against reducing the bail for Childs? The usernames and passwords, found by investigators to be stored on his computer, pose an "imminent danger" were they to be used. OK, then. Childs is the city network administrator charged with computer tampering after he refused to give up passwords, thereby holding the city wide-area network hostage. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom secretly met with Childs at the jailhouse and got him to turn over the passwords Monday.
3. Fugitive spam king dead in apparent murder-suicide: Convicted spammer Eddie Davidson, who walked away from a minimum-security prison camp Sunday, was found dead Thursday in his hometown of Bennett, Colorado, after he shot his wife, their 3-year-old daughter and himself in an apparent murder-suicide, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Davidson, known as the "Spam King," was serving 21 months at the federal facility in Florence, Colorado, after pleading guilty late last year to spam charges. A teenage girl who was also shot survived and sought help.
4. Microsoft's online woes hint at larger vulnerability and Microsoft exec leaving to become Juniper CEO: Microsoft reorganized the division that oversees its Online Services Business and Windows OS, splitting Platform and Services to separate the distinct product lines. The move could well signal that the company is no longer content to
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