MyDoom not that difficult to duck

Experts say companies that follow recommended practices relating to secure e-mail use should be protected against the MyDoom virus.

PC World quotes anti-virus experts as saying that despite the speed with which the MyDoom virus has spread, there`s nothing about the virus that a combination of anti-virus, e-mail filtering and intrusion-detection technologies can`t handle.

MyDoom, also known as Shimgapi, Novarg and MiMail.R, started spreading earlier this week and has quickly become the most virulent e-mail virus ever, but several companies report they have escaped the virus unscathed.

Hard on the heels of the outbreak of MyDoom and its variants, another report from PC World says the US Department of Homeland Security has introduced the country`s first coordinated national cyber security system.

The system will provide cybersecurity bulletins and tips for registered users on the Cyber Security Division`s Web site, which is open to the public.

CNet reports Apple has announced on its Web site that it is launching a worldwide programme offering free repairs to customers with faulty logic boards producing various display problems.

Apple says the programme covers iBooks with serial numbers from UV220XXXXXX to UV318XXXXXX. The company says the problem is related to a particular component on the logic board and does not pose any known safety issues.

The computer maker says it will cover machines within three years of their first retail sale and reimburse affected customers who have already paid for repairs related to the logic board fault.

The newly-founded Universal Transportable Memory Association (UTMA) is to unveil a new format for memory cards that will be smaller than Secure Digital cards, which are the size of postage stamps, reports CNet.

The report says the cards will connect to computers and other devices through a universal serial bus connector.

UTMA`s Michael Minneman says it will put two flash memory chips in a single package, like existing high-density cards from makers such as SanDisk, but it will place the processors side by side instead of stacking them. "The cards will be able to hold 1GB of data at first and add more capacity over time as the two chips become denser."

A US federal judge has sentenced a former Microsoft employee to nearly two years in prison and ordered him to pay more than $4 million in restitution for his role in a scheme to steal software from the company.

According to an Associated Press report, prosecutors said that between October 1998 and August 2000, Wilson Delancy conspired with Kori Brown, administrative assistant for Microsoft`s Xbox video-game-console program, to steal the software.

Brown placed 17 orders for high-end business software from Microsoft`s warehouse in Columbus, Ohio, and indicated the software was for business use or for donation to charitable organisations. In reality, prosecutors said, Brown gave the software to Delancy, who knew it was stolen and sold it to the owner of a software store.