Over a million computers hijacked

More than one million computers on the Net have been hijacked to attack Web sites and send out spam and viruses. This is according to a report by security researchers who have spent months tracking over 100 networks of remotely-controlled machines.

BBC News says the data was gathered by the Honeynet Project using networks of computers set up to attract hackers and gather information about how they work.

The research found that, once compromised, machines tend to report in to chat channels on IRC servers and wait for instructions from the hacker behind the tools used to recruit the machine.

Researchers say well-known vulnerabilities in the Windows operating system were exploited by hackers to find and take over target machines.

Microsoft has joined the paid-search online advertising world with the introduction of the beta of MSN adCenter, which will provide advertisers with demographic usage profiles linked to keywords.

InfoWorld reports that MSN adCenter is an option-based search technology for advertisers. Microsoft is using technology from other applications such as Hotmail to develop adCenter. Data gathered through MSN registration and homepage customisation is enriched with data from third-party sources to create an information database mapped to keywords.

Microsoft will provide advertisers with demographic usage profiles tied to keywords, including users` geographic location, gender and age group.

Police in London say they have foiled one of the biggest attempted bank thefts in Britain aimed at stealing lb220 million from the London offices of the Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui.

BBC News reports that computer experts are believed to have tried to transfer the money electronically after hacking into the bank`s systems.

The British National Hi-Tech Crime Unit discovered that computer hackers had gained access to Sumitomo Mitsui bank`s computer system and attempted to use keylogging software to track every button pressed on computer keyboards.

Yahoo has confirmed plans to allow Firefox users to access all its products and services, many of which are currently available only through Microsoft`s Internet Explorer (IE) browser.

News.com says although Yahoo launched a search toolbar for Firefox in February, users of the open source browser were forced to revert to IE to access some Yahoo features. Yahoo has now committed to making sure all future products and services will be compatible with Firefox, but has not given a date for making its current services available to Firefox users.