Privacy, Hacking and Virus Alerts

The Conficker worm is scheduled to activate on April 1, and the unanswered question is: Will it prove to be the world’s biggest April Fool’s joke or is it the Information Age equivalent of Herman Kahn’s legendary 1962 treatise about nuclear war, “Thinking About the Unthinkable”?

Adobe Systems Inc. has found itself in the midst of a public relations maelstrom of the sort once reserved only for Microsoft Corp., as security experts chastise the company for not moving fast enough to address a critical security hole in its products even as third-party software makers offer makeshift fixes for the flaw.

Thieves apparently used a Nigerian-based scam to steal $2.5 million from the Utah treasury, covering their tracks by using intermediaries and a church address.

The company has formed a cybersecurity posse with technology companies, academic organizations, and Internet infrastructure firms to dismantle the Conficker/Downandup worm’s infrastructure.

“The man I talked to there told me it’s just a scam,” McMillan said. “People need to know not to go online with this outfit … times are tough and people are trying to take advantage of the situation.”

Hackers in Grand Forks, North Dakota of all places have hit on a clever Trojan Horse: using a fraudulent parking ticket to direct unsuspecting motorists to their virus laden websites.

Stolen copies of Windows don’t get all of the updates, and those with stolen copies are much more likely to turn off their automatic updates.

A new digital plague has hit the Internet, infecting millions of personal and business computers in what seems to be the first step of a multistage attack.

"We’re heartsick over this."

The list is being hailed as a major breakthrough that should gradually make the Internet much safer.