All eyes on bad 'phatbot`

Security experts and the US government are monitoring the moves of a hacker tool dubbed "phatbot", which uses the same peer-to-peer (P2P) networking abilities that power file-sharing networks like Kazaa and BearShare, says WashingtonPost.com.

Described as a "virtual Swiss army knife of attack software", Phatbot apparently allows its authors to gain control over computers and link them into P2P networks that can be used to send spam or carry out distributed denial-of-service attacks on Web sites. It also snoops for passwords on infected computers and tries to disable anti-virus software.

MacCentral reports that Apple has introduced a spoken interface for visually impaired users that it will integrate with the next major release of Mac OS X.

Spoken Interface provides a combination of speech, audible cues and keyboard navigation to help blind users navigate Mac OS X with the same ease of use as sighted users have. Users can manage access to the dock, menu items, tool bars, palettes and other on-screen objects, pressing buttons, activating sliders and checkboxes, selecting radio buttons, and using all the other interface elements of Mac OS X and its applications.

Spam is driving growing numbers of Internet users away from e-mail, according to a recent survey. A report in WashingtonPost.com says a US survey released this week shows that nearly 30% of respondents have reduced their use of e-mail due to spam.

In addition, 63% said the increase in junk e-mail had made them less trusting of e-mail as a communications tool and 77% said spam made being online "unpleasant and annoying".

The CSIR`s Eastern Cape telehealth project has been named as a finalist in the prestigious Stockholm Challenge awards programme for pioneering IT projects worldwide.

The project competed with around 1 000 others from more than 100 countries in six categories. It uses a wireless network to connect the rural clinic of Tsilitwa to the Nessie Knight Hospital in Sulenkama. This gives the rural clinic sister data, voice and video interaction with the hospital`s doctors, allowing for better diagnosis and treatment of the rural patients.

The winners of this year`s Stockholm Challenge will be announced in May.