The New York Times' Steve Lohr and Gary Rivlin report that Microsoft is in talks with spyware / malware / adware purveyor and developer Claria (Gator) for $500 million. Claria was formerly named Gator until an image makeover and re-branding effort in advance of an aborted IPO in 2004. The name Gator had become synonymous with unethical practices, intrusive spyware and aggressive pop-up ads -- a notorious reputation that just wouldn't do for the dog and pony show that precedes IPOs.

The Wall Street Journal's Mylene Mangalindan and Robert A. Guth attempt to explain Why Microsoft May Wade Into 'Adware' ...   more »

I received my first Gmail spam today.

Why do I think it's spam? Because I don't know anyone on the recipients list, my address isn't on the recipients list -- even though a very similar address is -- and the content is typical of the "funny joke" spams that I have seen over the last decade.

I know each of the very small circle of people who have my Gmail address. I can count them on one hand. All of them are very aware of how to avoid spam, both coming and going.
 
The message appears to be a mass e-mail message from India ...   more »

The SANS Institute released 2004's Top 20 Internet Security Vulnerabilities list, its fifth edition of the annual list.

It's a good, evolving guide that draws attention to the problem of Internet security which is of growing importance as we become more reliant on the Internet as a platform for our communications and commerce. (More on the relative importance of Internet security in another blog post -- when I get some time to write about that).

Notable additions to the list are e-mail client software vulnerabilities and instant messaging vulnerabilities on the Windows list. I am unsure why both of these were not added to the list before....   more »

CNET News.com / GameSpot's Hirokiko Noiizumi reports from the Nintendo press conference at the CEATEC technology conference in Tokyo that Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said the dual-screen Nintendo DS handheld gaming console will feature downloadable software and content via its wireless networking function.

This isn't really surprising but it immediately opens the Nintendo DS to the possibility of malware, viruses and other security vulnerabilities.

I wonder how long it will be before the first DS virus or worm is discovered and propagated.