NewsScan Daily, 16 November 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 16 November 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"  
       World Community Grid for Health Research
       Wireless Will Drive Internet
       Microsoft Cracks Down on Xbox Modifications
       SBC Will Offer Internet-based TV and Phone Service
       Software Free as the Sun, From Sun

FEATURES           
       Flash Card
       Worth Thinking About: Man as the Product of History
       Safe & Sound in the Cyber Age: Feds to the Rescue?

WORLD COMMUNITY GRID FOR HEALTH RESEARCH
     An IBM project called World Community Grid will apply the untapped
computing power of millions of personal computers to the study of AIDS,
Alzheimer's, malaria, cancer and other diseases. Dr. Eric Jakobsson of the
National Institutes of Health says, "This program is both a sizable
commitment of computing resources and an encouraging sign of progress in
moving toward a community model for biomedical computing." The new
networks's first mission will be the Human Proteome Folding Project of the
Institute for Systems Biology, which seeks to identify all the proteins in
the human body and their functions. People who want to join the grid project
and donate computer time will be able to download software from the
following Web site: <http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org>. (New York Times 16
Nov 2004) <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/16/technology/16grid.html>
WIRELESS WILL DRIVE INTERNET
     John Doerr, a prominent venture capitalist of the  Internet boom, says
the future of computing is in wireless: "I think the Internet's largest
opportunities are in bringing new services, ones that we barely imagine, to
billions of people around the world, wirelessly. We're probably in the
early... adolescence of this Internet world." Among the many technology
visionaries who agree with Doerr is Intel president and chief operating
officer Paul Otellini, who notes: "The interesting thing about wireless is
what it can do to bring the rest of the world into the Web. You can start to
think about bringing this into rural markets."(Reuters/Washington Post 16
Nov 2004)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53073-2004Nov16.html>

MICROSOFT CRACKS DOWN ON XBOX MODIFICATIONS
     Cameron Ferroni, Microsoft's general manager for the Xbox software
platform, says the company's not planning to sue individual users but that
it does want to stop users of the Xbox Live online service from modifying
their machines to improve their performance at games. Ferroni believes it's
important that Microsoft prevent cheating on Xbox Live (where multiple
players can take part in games) and says that the company's goal is to make
sure there's a level playing field for game players. (AP/San Jose Mercury
News 15 Nov 2004)
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/10189248.htm>

 SBC WILL OFFER INTERNET-BASED TV AND PHONE SERVICE
     SBC Communications, which has committed $4 billion over the next three
years to build an advanced high-speed fiber network, plans to start selling
Internet-based TV service and phone service by the end of 2005. Explaining
the company's strategy, SBC marketing executive Scott Helbing says: "It's a
game of chicken, to a certain extent. Cable operators have been pushing to
get into our bread-and-butter business [basic phone service], and now we're
going to get into theirs. This keeps us competitive." (USA Today 16 Nov
2004) 
<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/phones/2004-11-16-sbc-nettv-netphone_x.htm>

SOFTWARE FREE AS THE SUN, FROM SUN
     Sun Microsystems, which spent $500 million developing its
next-generation operating system, will offer its Solaris 10 operating system
free, in hopes of expanding both its customer base and the number of
software developers who write programs for it. To generate revenue, the
company will charge subscription fees for Solaris support and service
programs. Sun chief executive Scott McNealy says: "Hewlett Packard sells a
printer at a low price and makes a lot of money on printer cartridges.
Gillette gives you the razor and makes a lot of money on the blades. There
are different ways to drive market penetration." (AP 15 Nov 2004)
<http://apnews.excite.com/article/20041115/D86CA3700.html>

*****

FLASH CARD
     "Man is an animal that makes bargains: no other animal does this -- no
dog exchanges bones with another." (Adam Smith)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: MAN AS THE PRODUCT OF HISTORY
     History professor Arthur Herman wants us to remember that the Scots
gave us more than Scotch Whiskey:
     "When you mention the Enlightenment to most people, it conjures up
images of glittering aristocratic salons lit by scores of candles, of
scandalous wit and cultivated laughter, of bewigged philosophers and critics
pressing their progressive ideas on various European autocrats. Voltaire
visiting Frederick the Great at Sans Souci; Denis Diderot editing the
Encyclopidie and urging Catherine the Great of Russia to outlaw the use of
torture and the knout; Jean-Jacques Rousseau scandalizing polite society in
the years leading to the French Revolution. Indeed, the famous names of the
French Enlightenment seem to dominate almost every discussion of culture in
she eighteenth century.
     "This is a mistake. The Scottish Enlightenment may have been less
glamorous, but it was in many ways more robust and original. More important,
it was at least as influential. In fact, if one were to draw up a list of
the books that dominated the thinking of Europeans in the last quarter of
the eighteenth century, the Scottish names stand out. Adam Smith's "A Theory
of Moral Sentiments" and "Wealth of Nations." David Hume's "Treatise of
Human Nature" and "Essays Political, Literary, and Moral." William
Robertson's "History of Scotland" and "History of the Reign of Charles V."
Adam Ferguson's "Essay on the History of Civil Society." John Millar's "The
Origin of the Distinction of Ranks." Thomas Reid's "Inquiry into the Human
Mind." And at the top of the page, Francis Hutcheson's "System of Moral
Philosophy" and Lord Karnes's "Sketches of the History of Man."
     "It is an impressive list. If one had to identify two themes that most
of these works share, they would be 'history' and 'human nature.' Indeed, it
is the Scots who first linked them together. The Scottish Enlightenment
presented man as the product of history. Our most fundamental character as
human beings, they argued, even our moral character, is constantly evolving
and developing, shaped by a variety of forces over which we as individuals
have little or no control. We are ultimately creatures of our environment:
that was the great discovery that the 'Scottish school,' as it came to be
known, brought to the modern world."
                       ***
[Source: Arthur Herman, "How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True
Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything
in It." [To find a library copy of



visit RLG's RedLightGreen.com:


-- or to purchase a copy of "Learning to See: Historical Perspective on
Modern/Popular Commercial Arts," go to:


Note: We donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult literacy
programs.]

SAFE & SOUND IN THE CYBER AGE: FEDS TO THE RESCUE?
            [by Stephen Cobb and Chey Cobb]
     Feds to the Rescue? Don't Hold Your Breath
     First the bad news. If you were hoping that the threat of organized
cybercrime would turn out to be something that we information security
experts invented to drum up business, the time has come to stop hoping.
International gangs of cyber-criminals do exist, as evidenced by the arrests
announced recently by the U.S. Secret Service, which hauled in 28 people for
alleged involvement in a global organized cybercrime ring (see NewsScan, 29
October 2004).
     According to the financial institutions victimized by this criminal
enterprise, it netted more than $4.3 million. The suspects, who come from
six different countries in North America and Europe, are alleged to have
trafficked "in at least 1.7 million stolen credit card numbers." According
to Secret Service Director W. Ralph Basham, "These suspects targeted the
personal and financial information of ordinary citizens, as well as the
confidential and proprietary information of companies engaged in
e-commerce." According to ComputerWorld, where Mr. Basham was quoted, the
suspects operated Web sites that were used to buy and sell counterfeit
credit cards and false identification documents, and also share information
on how to commit fraud, trade in stolen information, and operate the tools
needed to commit such crimes.
     We realize that the world today is full of big numbers, so if $4.3
million doesn't strike you as a lot of money, bear in mind that this is just
one bust of a few dozen felons. There are strong indications that hundreds,
if not thousands, of criminals are getting in on the cybercrime wave. And
there is little doubt that banks in the U.S. and Europe have lost several
billions of dollars over the last twelve months to just one form of
cybercrime: phishing (see Newsscan, 1 May 2003). A few months ago Gartner
put the direct losses from phishing, that is, money fraudulently removed
from people's account, at over $2.4 billion, and sources in the UK cite
losses of similar magnitude.
     So what's the good news? We don't think there is any, despite the
admirable work of the Secret Service (assisted in this case by the U.K.'s
National Hi-Tech Crimes Unit, the Vancouver Police Department's Financial
Crimes Section, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Europol). Sadly, as
hard as the fine officers of these agencies work, they are hardly making a
dent in the problem (see the lead story in NewsScan Daily, 20 September
2004, for more on the scale of organized cybercrime).
     One reason for this lack of progress is undoubtedly the lack of
government investment in basic cyber security research. Given the huge
negative impact of cybercrimes on both U.S. citizens and U.S. financial
institutions, you might expect the federal government to be pouring money
into improving computer security. Sadly, according to experts in the field,
the amount of federal funding for basic cyber security research is currently
less than $50 million a year (by comparison, the government recently
contributed $50 million to the building a rainforest in Iowa).
     Some say this disturbing situation was highlighted by the October
resignation of Amit Yoran after just one year as director of the National
Cyber Security Division of the Department of Homeland Security. This follows
two previous high profile departures from the top cyber security post in
less than two years (by Howard Schmidt and Richard Clarke respectively).
Observers have cited a lack of funding as a major factor in all three
resignations.
     One person who is very much in touch with this situation is Dr. Eugene
Spafford, the executive director of the Center for Education and Research in
Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS). Speaking at the Information
Security Decisions conference in Chicago last month, Dr. Spafford surprised
the audience of 500 information security practitioners with a multiple
choice question: How much do you think the federal government is spending
each year on basic computer security research? The responses, quickly
tabulated by a very clever electronic audience feedback system, showed that
most people assumed the government was spending a lot more than it really
is.
     Always keen to give NewsScan readers the most accurate data, Stephen
asked Dr. Spafford for clarification. After all, you might recall, as we
did, the Cyber Security Research and Development Act of December, 2002, in
which the President authorized up to $903 million in cyber security research
funds and fellowship opportunities at NSF and the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST), from 2003 through 2007. So how could
spending be less than $50 million per year?
     Sadly, replied Dr. Spafford, "Authorization is not appropriation... The
authorization simply says that if the money is available to NSF, they can
spend it. No additional money was actually appropriated." For readers
interested in learning more, a report on cybersecurity research funding is
due soon from PITAC, the President¹s Information Technology Advisory
Committee,. It should show up here: http://www.itrd.gov/pitac/index.html. If
that report does not bear good news, you might want to contact your
congresspersons, whomever they now may be.
     [Chey Cobb, CISSP, the author of "Network Security for Dummies," is a
former senior technical security advisor to the NRO. Her email address is
chey at soteira dot org. Stephen Cobb, CISSP, is the author of "Privacy for
Business" and the Chief Security Executive at STSN. He can be reached as
scobb at cobb dot com.]

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