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News
posted 31 Aug 2004
American trio face sentencing after hacking intranet
A Michigan man, whose friends hacked into a home-improvement store intranet and stole credit card numbers, has pleaded guilty to using the internet through an open wi-fi access point.
Paul Timmins, who works as a network engineer, was cleared of a more serious charge of taking part in a plan to use the wireless network to hack into a Lowe’s store computer to use customer credit card information.
Timmins and his former roommate came across the unsecured network in the spring of 2003, while wardriving – the act of using a laptop computer, antenna and a wireless LAN adapter to exploit existing wireless networks that have ranges extending outside the perimeter of buildings. Wardrivers usually try to obtain free internet use or illegally access an organisation’s data.
Timmins told SecurityFocus.com he used the network to check his e-mail, but once he realised he was connected to Lowe’s corporate portal, he immediately disconnected.
Six months later however, Timmins’ two friends accessed the network to route through the company’s data centre and connect to seven stores in six different states. The two men then built a virtual wiretap that would store customer credit card numbers where they could be retrieved later. The store eventually noticed the intrusions and alerted the FBI, who arrested the two men last November.
Jennifer Granick, director of Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society, told SecurityFocus the wardriving conviction was likely the first of its kind in the US. But she added she wasn’t convinced Timmins had committed a crime.
“Using an open wireless access point isn’t the same thing as using a computer illegally,” she said.
“Convictions for this type of thing are possible where it’s part of a larger criminal case, but it shouldn’t happen in the absence of some other criminal purpose, like stealing credit cards, or knowledge that the network is closed. Wardriving isn’t criminal.”
Italy offers Iraq new intranet
The Italian government will provide technical and financial aid to Iraq to help the country establish a government intranet.
Rashad Mandan Omar, Iraq’s science and technology minister, said establishing the technology would be a key element in restoring stability in the country, which has been plagued with uprisings since US-led forces invaded 15 months ago.
“Information technology will be the basis to build a sound Iraq based on scientific approaches,’’ Omar told reporters shortly after meeting with Italian counterpart Lucio Stanca, the technical innovation minister.
The agreement will see an Italian expert travel to Iraq and help officials install the intranet system. Italy has a military contingent of nearly 3,000 troops in Iraq.
Swansea IT staff strike over outsourcing
A dispute over Swansea City Council’s decision to outsource its IT support to a private-sector partner has seen staff go on an indefinite strike from August 16, 2004.
The clash, which saw about 100 staff cast a near-unanimous strike vote in early August 2004, centres on the Council’s ten-year e-service business transformation programme, Service@Swansea.
Staff voiced concerns about the lack of clarity over their future status if they are transferred to one of the bidders short listed for the venture, ITNET and Capgemini.
Public-sector union UNISON claims Swansea’s senior management has failed to consult with staff, give due consideration to an in-house option or provide a convincing business case throughout the entire process. UNISON regional organiser Jeff Baker said staff first learnt about the project and the proposed IT outsourcing after chancing upon the tender notice on the internet in August 2004.
The Council says business will proceed as usual for the duration of the strike. Council has described the decision as “regrettable”, but gave reassurances that no decisions had been taken on whether personnel would be transferred or remain in-house.
www.swansea.gov.uk
DFID to spend £9.5m on records management
The Department for International Development (DFID) has signed a £9.5m contract with LogicaCMG to develop and support a new document and records-management system.
The Quest programme, scheduled to be used in 60 countries, will deliver electronic document and records management and web-content management to DFID’s 2,500 employees. DFID leads the UK government’s effort to tackle world poverty.
www.logicacmg.com
www2.dfid.gov.uk
UAE ministry deploys intranet system
The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has launched an intranet system that will allow for improved communication between its departments and regions.
The ministry is one of the first within the UAE to implement the system as part of the country’s e-government initiative. It plans to complete 76 per cent of the network linking its regions by the end of the year.
www.uae.gov.ae/maf
IBM and Orange reach secure-access deal
About 50 million Orange mobile customers will be able to securely access online banking, e-mail and other services after the company signed a software-and-services deal with IBM.
Users will access the service via a secure single sign-on process provided by Liberty Alliance.Web services underpin the sign-on technology that will allow customers to access their online accounts without having to go through multiple-entry points.
www.ibm.com
www.orange.co.uk
Yahoo! makes deal for Oddpost
Yahoo! looks to gain the upper hand in the ongoing battle for e-mail supremacy against Google and Microsoft after purchasing web-mail service Oddpost.
Oddpost, launched in San Francisco three years ago, had garnered a reputation for creating a web-based e-mail that worked more like a desktop application. Oddpost has stopped opening new accounts since the purchase and plans to shift its customer base to Yahoo! within a year. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The past few months have seen companies like Yahoo! and Microsoft try and trump each other in the e-mail market after Google announced plans for 1,000 mb of storage with its Gmail service.
www.yahoo.com
www.oddpost.com
SORCE to support Virgin intranet
In an effort to support rapid growth and improve internal communications, Virgin Mobile has selected SORCE to provide a new intranet.
In addition to providing information to employees, the site will also be used to deliver management-reporting data. The intranet will also allow business users to manage their own content, allowing for better communications within the company.
www.sorce.biz/index
www.virginmobile.com
SAP plants its foot firmly in India
Business-software colossus SAP said it plans to invest a20m (£13m) and hire 1,900 software programmers in India, making the country SAP’s global software centre by the end of 2006.
In early August 2004, the German-based company broke ground for its SAP Labs India facility in Bangalore, where it already has a centre that employs 1,100 people and a software campus.
Bangalore will be SAP’s largest development centre outside of Germany once the new hiring is completed.
www.sap.com
Victoria government to standardise content management
The Victoria state government in Australia is set to replace 38 separate content-management systems with a standardised system.
The multimillion-dollar project will encompass ten departments and four key agencies, including Victoria Police, Victoria Roads, the Environment Protection Agency and the State Revenue Office. It is expected to serve more than 30,000 people by 2008, the year the state’s electronic-records strategy calls for digital-archiving compliance by.
Eclipse to launch public wi-fi service
Internet-service provider Eclipse will launch a public wi-fi service in September that allows users broadband internet access while in transit.
The service, operating in conjunction with BT Openzone access points, targets the increasing number of people who work away from their offices, and will offer 11mbps download speed.
www.eclipsebroadband.com
www.btopenzone.com
FAST and Aptas join forces
FAST Search and Transfer (FAST) has signed a technology and partnership agreement with Aptas, a solution provider for online directories and Yellow Pages publishers.
The agreement names FAST as Aptas’ new partner for search technology and will see FAST’s enterprise-search-platform technology integrated into Aptas’ Destination Search platform.
www.fastsearch.com
www.aptas.com
Open Text and Siemens in European deal
Collaboration and content-management software provider Open Text will combine its products with Siemens Business Services for European IT customers.
The alliance will provide customers with a solution for consulting and system design, system integration, deployment and ongoing support.
www.opentext.com
www.siemens.com/sbs
Captiva partners with SWT
Input-management solution provider Captiva has signed an original-equipment- manufacturing agreement with document-capture technology developer SWT.
The deal will see Captiva enhance its products by using b-Wize Dispatcher, SWT’s classification module, to supply advanced document-classification and data-extraction technology.
www.captivasoftware.com
www.swt-uk.com
Tellus to resell FAST product
Tellus Software, a search-application developer, has signed an agreement allowing them to market and resell FAST’s Enterprise Search Platform technology (FAST ESP) as a search tool for oil, gas, energy and shipping software solutions.
Tellus will use FAST ESP to tailor solutions specifically to European oil and energy industries.
www.tellus-software.com
www.fastsearch.com
Microsoft and Fiat to develop web-capable cars
In what might be the ultimate driving distraction, Microsoft and automaker Fiat have agreed to jointly develop ways to integrate mobile phones, pocket PCs or Windows mobile devices into cars.
Known as telematics, the technology connects car and driver to outside information services through wireless communication and the internet.
But both companies say the technology won’t be a disruption because it uses a Bluetooth connection and will be voice-activated. The first vehicles with the new systems are expected in 2005.
www.microsoft.com
DataFlux unveils web services data management
Data-management-solution provider DataFlux has introduced Release 6.2, a product that will allow users to access the company’s data-management capabilities through web-based connectivity.
The product features real-time data monitoring, trend reporting and e-mail alerts, which are sent when data does not match a pre-existing profile.
www.dataflux.com
Ericom and SCO expand partnership
The owner of the UNIX operating system, SCO Group, has extended a partnership with web and wireless-integration provider Ericom Software by releasing Web Services Substrate (WSS) on UNIX platforms.
The WSS toolset combines web-services technology from both companies, allowing SCO UNIX customers to transform legacy applications and databases into new web and wireless applications.
www.sco.com
www.ericom.com
Open Text acquires Artesia
Content-management provider Open Text has purchased Artesia Technologies, a digital-asset-management company.
The acquisition is meant to expand Open Text’s rich media integration and management capabilities as part of its enterprise-content-management suite.
www.opentext.com
www.artesia.com
XML marks the spot for IBM’s content management
Computer services stalwart IBM is planning to make storage and retrieval of corporate documents more flexible by using XML technology.
The new technology, called Project Cinnamon, is designed to speed the implementation of content-management systems and simplify making changes to XML documents.
The technology will be built into IBM’s DB2 Content Manager Software for corporate information within six months.
www.ibm.com
Olympic intranet slow out of the blocks
INFO 2004, the Athens Olympics intranet, struggled to keep up with demand after three days of competition.
The system, available to accredited media and Olympic participants, broke down and failed to deliver results for some competitions on August 14. The INFO 2004 terminals are only one of three ways the media can normally access results to any event; the other two are the Commentator Information System and paper results that are printed and distributed. A spokesman said technicians were working to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.
www.athens2004.com
