SECURITY PIPELINE NEWSLETTER
http://www.securitypipeline.com/
Thursday, April 29, 2004

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Editor's Note: Don't Strangle Businesses Before They're Born
2. Top Stories This Week
  - New Ad Tech Overcomes Ad Blockers
  - Independent Developer Releases Win98 SE Service Pack 
  - Legoland Uses Wireless And RFID For Child Security
  - Fighting Back Against Spyware
3. This Week's Attacks, Patches And Bulletins
4. CSI NETSEC '04: Building the Secure Enterprise
5. Only The Best Security News
6. Trends: Network Associates Restructuring Reflects Changing Security 
Market
7. Trends: Eyeing Spyware
8. Trends: Elections Panel Recommends Voting Machine Ban
9. Voting Booth: Cast Your Vote On Counter-Attacking Hackers
10. Shameless Self-Promotion

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Tuesday, May 4, 2004 - Time: 11:00-12:00 PT / 2:00-3:00 ET
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-----------------------------------------

1. EDITOR'S NOTE: Don't Strangle Businesses Before They're Born

I love the history of technology, so bear with me if I take a
while to get to the point: 

In February, 1976, Sony introduced the first Betamax VCR in the
United States. Sony believed that consumers would buy the
technology to record TV shows and watch them later, a practice
which later came to be called "time-shifting." Sony advertised:
"Now you don't have to miss 'Kojak' because you're watching
'Columbo' (or vice versa)." (Who loves ya, baby?) 

But VCR sales malingered until a couple of entrepreneurs had the
insight that consumers didn't want so much to record tapes as
play pre-recorded ones. Magnetic Video started selling
videocassettes mail-order, and, in December 1977, the first video
rental store, The Video Station, opened in Los Angeles. VCR sales
got another boost when Jane Fonda released "The Jane Fonda
Workout" in 1982, leading to a rush in exercise videos.

Around the same time, the first consumer PCs were being
introduced. Advocates said one of the chief uses would be to
store recipes. Indeed, one of the very first consumer PCs was the
Honeywell Kitchen Computer, introduced way back in 1966, designed
to store recipes. It required two weeks of programming and cost
$10,000. I can't be sure of this, but I believe that its target
market was the extremely wealthy (and stupid). 

My point: Very often, when technologies are introduced, we have
absolutely no idea how they'll be used. We're utterly ignorant.
We're completely clueless. We stumble around for years, thinking
this "hammer" thing would be great for putting on top of paper to
keep it from blowing away, and only later does it occur to
someone that, you know, I bet you could drive a nail with this thing. 

One of the worst things that can happen to embryonic technology
is to be strangled by regulation. That almost happened with VCR
technology in the late 1970s, as media companies sued to try to
get time-sharing blocked as intellectual property theft. Those
same companies are now seeing most of their revenue from VHS and
DVD sales, which would not have happened if those original
lawsuits had killed the VCR industry before it was born. 

(Advocates of filesharing use those very lawsuits as evidence in
favor of filesharing. But that's not the point of this editorial.)

We're now at the pioneering stages of Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) technology. We think we know what RFID will
be used for: by business, the military, and government agencies
to track their supply chains. RFID tags are cheap enough that
they are already being used to track pallets-full of stock, and
they are expected to get cheaper, and more powerful, so that
tracking individual items of merchandise on store shelves will
become possible. 

Privacy advocates fear this will be used to keep track of
everyone's possessions, and are raising the alarm. Politicians
are responding to those fears in the way that politicians do:
introducing legislation. And that's scary, because we don't know
what we're trying to legislate, and what potential business might
be strangled by clumsy legislation. 

We're already seeing RFID being used in unanticipated ways. In
Denmark, the Legoland amusement park is using RFID tags combined
with mobile phones to help parents find their kids after the kids
have wandered off. 

Legoland Uses Wireless And RFID For Child Security 
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex126dx159485&

And a recent survey showed that developers aren't using RFID for
inventory control so much as for security. 

Developers Use RFID For Security Applications Most 
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex126ex159485&

Probably someone reading this article is right now thinking up
the killer app for RFID, the one that drives it into the
mainstream. In 20 years we'll look back and say, "Hey, remember
in 2004 we thought RFID was going to be used for inventory
management? Wasn't that silly of us?" But that won't happen if
RFID is strangled by government regulation before it's born. 

P.S. Here's some links about the history of the VCR and the
Kitchen Computer:

Consumer Electronics Association: Digital America
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex126fx159485&

Video cassette recorder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1270x159485&

The Kitchen Computer
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1271x159485&

Honeywell Model 316 "Kitchen Computer"
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1272x159485&

Mitch Wagner
mailto:mwagner@cmp.com?subject=SPNfeedback
Editor
Security Pipeline
http://www.securitypipeline.com

If you send e-mail, let us know if you'd rather we didn't publish it.

For more commentary and links by Mitch Wagner, see Wagner's Weblog
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex11aex159485&

-----------------------------------------

2. TOP STORIES THIS WEEK

New Ad Tech Overcomes Ad Blockers
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1273x159485&
Falk's AdSolution FX will automatically detect pop-up blocker
software on users' computers and instantly convert pop-up and
pop-under ads to alternate formats.

Independent Developer Releases Win98 SE Service Pack 
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1274x159485&
The service pack includes 70 hot fixes, a solution to the 512MB
memory limit of Windows 98 SE, and better USB support, its not-
from-Redmond developer claims.

Legoland Uses Wireless And RFID For Child Security
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1275x159485&
The Danish amusement park lets parents trade privacy for peace of
mind by offering technology that tags their children and tracks
their whereabouts wirelessly. 

Fighting Back Against Spyware
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1276x159485&
In addition to violating privacy, spyware causes system crashes
and increases tech-support costs. IT managers, vendors and
government entities are fighting back.

3. THIS WEEK'S ATTACKS, PATCHES AND BULLETINS

Two Sites Shut Down By Netsky DOS Attack
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1277x159485&
U.S. and German sites were knocked offline, but a Swiss site
seems to be weathering the denial-of-service attacks.

Worm Exploiting Windows Vulnerability May Be Out, Says Symantec 
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1278x159485&

Hackers Embed Poetry in Malicious Worm
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1279x159485&

Windows Vulnerability Exploited, Worm May Be Next
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex127ax159485&

4. CSI NETSEC '04: Building the Secure Enterprise
June 14-16, 2004
San Francisco, Hyatt Regency Embarcadero
Be sure to attend CSI's NETSEC'04, the most comprehensive
conference program on network security. The program features over
120 sessions on wireless, intrusion prevention, cryptography,
management, technology, foundations, attacks &?countermeasure &
more. The exhibition June 14-15 features over 85 security vendors
displaying the latest technologies. 800 information security
professionals will be in attendance at this learning and
networking event. Contact Computer Security Institute; phone:
415-947-6320; e-mail: csi@cmp.com
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex127bx159485&

5. ONLY THE BEST SECURITY NEWS

RFID Legislation Gains Sponsors
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex127cx159485&
A Massachusetts lawmaker wants ground rules for how retail RFID
is used. The aim is to allay alarmists' worries while making the
technology more pervasive. 

Symantec Reports Earnings Increase
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex127dx159485&

Network Associates Is Back In The Black
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex127ex159485&
 	
Peer-Based Security Aims To Protect LANs From Insiders 
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex127fx159485&
	
Autonomic Software Automates Patch Management
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1280x159485&

Zone Labs Updates Security Enforcer For Guest Access
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1281x159485&

Lawsuits On Internet File-Sharing Are Having An Effect   
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1282x159485&

Apache Foundation Adds XML Encryption to Java Library 
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1283x159485&
 	
Homeland Security Picks Anser To Run R&D Center 
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1284x159485&

California Legislation Targets Google Gmail
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1285x159485&
 	
Elections Panel Recommends Voting Machine Ban
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1286x159485&

Feds Crack Down On Net Pirates
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1287x159485&
 	
IT Security Pro Fears Stronger, Super Worms Coming 
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1288x159485&

6. TRENDS: Network Associates Restructuring Reflects Changing Security 
Market
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex1289x159485&
The restructuring underscores competition among vendors vying for
market share in the fight to fend off spam, viruses and other threats.

7. TRENDS: Eyeing Spyware
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex128ax159485&
The scope of the spyware problem is beginning to emerge under
both industry and legislative scrutiny--but it could already be
too late to stop the snoops. 

8. TRENDS: Elections Panel Recommends Voting Machine Ban
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex128bx159485&
One panel member said he is "disgusted by the actions of" voting
machine vendor Diebold.

9. VOTING BOOTH: Cast Your Vote On Counter-Attacking Hackers
http://dclsmtp1.techwire.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6ex124ax159485&
Symbiot, Inc., introduced a product to let enterprises strike
back at attackers. Is that right? Should companies under attack
by hackers strike back? 

RESULTS SO FAR: 
- Yes, the best defense is a good offense, 68 percent, 670 votes out of 
990. 
- No, vigilante justice is wrong, 32 percent, 320 votes.

10. SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION

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------- Advertisement -------------------

Join InformationWeek for a FREE, live TechWebCast on
End User Management: Accelerating the Business Value of IT.
We'll discuss the strategic value and overview of End User
Management solutions, and the needed synergies between
active business process and real user monitoring.
Tuesday, May 4, 2004 - Time: 11:00-12:00 PT / 2:00-3:00 ET
http://www.techweb.com/today/eum050404

-----------------------------------------

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