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US Senate approves federal anti-spam legislation. The US Senate has approved the first federal anti-spam legislation. The ‘CAN-SPAM Act’ was approved by Senate in a unanimous 97-0 vote at the end of last month. The bill requires bulk commercial emailers to include both opt out provisions and valid email headers and subject lines in their…

VB plans to present a selection of news and articles on spam and anti-spam techniques – some technical, some ethical, some relating to real-world experiences of dealing with spam. Over the last 12 months VB has taken a couple of fleeting glances into the anti-spam arena and has decided that now the time has come…

Helen Martin recounts the Virus Bulletin conference. full article Posted on 30 October 2003 by Virus Bulletin

Pete Sergeant responds to an article by a SecurityFocus columnist, which hints that Linux users really don’t need to worry about viruses. Regarding Linux vs. Windows Viruses : The single biggest security issue facing Linux users at the moment is the misconception perpetuated by highly vocal advocates that Linux is somehow impenetrable to security-based attacks,…

US Congress starts to take computer security seriously, four alleged malware writers arrested… A US Congressional hearing was held last month to discuss the current state of Internet virus and worm attacks in the wake of the recent outbreaks of Blaster and Sobig.F. Members of law enforcement bodies and computer security experts including representatives from…

Teenager suspected of creating Blaster variant faces arrest. An 18-year-old suspected of creating a variant of the Blaster worm is reported to be facing arrest today. The teenager is not believed to be the author of the original Blaster, but to have created the B variant . According to reports, the authorities were informed after…

On 22 August 2003 anti-virus experts and sysadmins worldwide waited to discover what events, if any, would unfold when Sobig.F began a synchronized attack. Anti-virus experts and sysadmins worldwide waited to discover what events, if any, would unfold when Sobig.F began a synchronized attack at 1900h GMT on Friday 22 August 2003 and subsequent second…

Symantec pays $62.5m for a software patent, considers litigation against infringing competitors. Symantec announced yesterday it had paid $62.5m for the infamous US Patent No. 5,319,776 , bane of major players in the anti-virus industry for the last six years. In 1997, Hilgraeve (the owner of the patent) sued both Symantec and McAfee (now NAI)…

Welsh virus-writer shown justice, not mercy London’s Court of Appeal has turned down Welsh virus writer Simon Vallor’s appeal to shorten his two-year custodial sentence. Vallor, who was convicted on three counts of releasing a computer virus contravening the Computer Misuse Act 1990, claimed at the time (as is the virus writer’s wont) that he…

Ontario plays host to VB2003 and NTBugtraq Retreat. This year’s Virus Bulletin conference programme covers a wide range of subjects – from the detailed analysis of emerging threats and new technologies, to user education, corporate policy and law enforcement. With themed panel discussions at the end of each day will there will be ample opportunity…