Analysis of security, technology, and attempts to filter random noise
Tom is a technology reporter for ZDNet.com. He covers the security beat, writing about everything from hacking and cybercrime to threats and mitigation. He also focuses on open source and emerging technologies, all the while trying to cut through greenwash.
Microsoft Office Open XML has failed to gain enough votes to become an ISO standard, according to the International Organisation for Standardisation.Microsoft failed to reach two specific milestones: it failed to gain a two thirds majority of positive votes from JTC1, while also failing to gain a quarter or less of negative votes from all of the national bodies.
The British Standards Institute is today to give the result of its vote regarding whether the UK will approve fast track ISO certification for Microsoft's Office Open XML specification.The BSI is due to send me a press release within an hour: please watch ZDNet UK for news of the vote.
Security company Websense is reporting that the official website for ITV police drama The Bill has been compromised by hackers."Websense Security Lab has discovered that the official Web site of The Bill, the popular TV series, has been compromised and laden with malicious JavaScript code meant to infect visitors with a Trojan horse," said the Websense press release.
New Zealand is to pass a law to make spamming illegal, according to NZ news site TV3."Next month the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act will take effect - meaning spammers in New Zealand can be prosecuted," said the article.
A Ukrainian man has been arrested outside a Turkish nightclub for allegedly trying to flog credit card details online, lifted from the victims of the TJX hack, reports the Associated Press.The man, Maksym Yastremskiy, was arrested weeks ago on suspicion of trafficking data.
Two Russian hackers have allegedly stolen over $500,000 from bank accounts in Turkey, according to Russian newswire Ria Novosti.The hackers, who came from the Russian city of Togliatti on the Volga:"purchased a dedicated server with remote access to a desktop hosted in a U.
The reduction of the number of data fields handed to US security services announced by the European Union was achieved by squeezing almost the same amount of data on to fewer lines, according to Out-Law.com.
The US will now keep European Union passenger name records (PNR) data for fifteen years -- far longer than the the three and a half years it kept it previously, reports Out-Law.com.
Apparently junior doctors are toting unencrypted confidential data around on USB sticks, according to an article in E-Health Insider.One of the sticks, which contained highly confidential patient data, was stolen at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust recently.
Music giant Sony BMG is to sue one of the companies involved in creating its digital rights management software for damages.According to an article on Out-Law.