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Details of the VB2003 conference programme announced … Details of the VB2003 conference programme have been announced and are available online. VB2003 will host more than 30 speakers – all recognised experts in the anti-virus field – who will cover a wide range of AV-related subjects, from detailed analysis of emerging threats and new technologies…

Submit your papers for VB2003 now! Virus Bulletin has extended the deadline for submissions from those wishing to present at VB2003, the Thirteenth Virus Bulletin International Conference, which will take place 25-26 September 2003 at the Fairmont Royal York hotel in Toronto, Canada. All AV-related subjects will be considered. Abstracts of approximately 200 words must…

NAI lands itself a hefty fine… Network Associates Inc. (NAI) has landed itself a hefty fine to start the new year after a New York court ruled against the company last month in a legal battle that has been ongoing since early last year. New York State attorney general Eliot Spitzer sued NAI in spring…

Author of Gokar, Redesi and Admirer jailed for two years. Simon Vallor, a 22-year-old web designer from Wales, who pleaded guilty to creating and distributing a trio of mass-mailing viruses – Gokar, Redesi and Admirer – has been given a two-year custodial sentence. The three viruses were proven to have infected 27,000 PCs across 42…

Two organizations send viruses to mailing list subscribers… Despite the recent conviction of Welsh Wiccan Simon Vallor, for writing and distributing three mass-mailing viruses , virus writers seem to have been given a helping hand recently when it comes to distributing their creations. Those with good memories will remember W95/Marburg , which was included on…

VB predicts: ‘Beagle’s bark worse than its bite’, ‘Beware of Bagles in the morning’, ‘The Beagle has landed’, ad nauseam. At first glance, W32/Bagle.A is not a particularly interesting virus from a technical point of view. Or, indeed, at at second glance. It is, however, tipped to be big, with vendors pointing out that it…

Trend estimates $5b virus damage in 2003, monoculture blues, Symantec ‘reels from week of mishaps’, more MiMail, and more… Trend Micro kicks off today’s news summary with an estimate that computer viruses caused $55 billion of damage in 2003 , and a prediction that ‘the spam threat will increase exponentially, and [spam] will become the…

RIAA allegedly buying worms to stop P2P piracy It would appear Gobbles Security has done it again, only this time under the guidance of everyone’s favourite dark corporation, the RIAA . Before going into details, an unnamed security consultant had this to say about the group: ‘They’re real, and they’re damn good. They have made…

What digital and information rights management may mean for the industry. Microsoft is frequently accused of being a hive of lax security, but the company has been very public over the last couple of years about tightening up its code and creating a security-focused culture at its headquarters in Redmond. One aspect of this appears…

NAI buys DeerSoft Inc., manufacturer of SpamAssassin Pro – confusion assured … In what seems certain to be a growing trend in the anti-virus industry, and following in the footsteps of MessageLabs , NAI is branching into anti-spam. The company that recently bought McAfee.com and PGP has announced its acquisition of DeerSoft Inc. , the…