You may THINK you`re on eBay

Microsoft is looking into reports of a potential bug in Internet Explorer that could help hackers design convincing Web site spoofs, reports CNet.

The bug, according to alerts, could let hackers display a false Web address on a fake site. Malicious hackers frequently lure victims to convincing replicas of e-commerce sites such as eBay, where they`re tricked into handing over financial and other private information. Savvy Web surfers often figure out the ruse from irregularities in the Web address. But in the method described, IE could allow the address bar for the spoofed eBay site, for example, to read "ebay.com."

For the third time this year, the SCO Group`s Web site came under attack, apparently by hackers unhappy with the company`s legal threats against users of Linux. The denial-of-service attack continued through Wednesday, reports AP.

Unidentified attackers managed to compromise several thousand computers and install software so that they would send out the requests to SCO`s servers at the same time. The company is working with law enforcement officials to find the source of the attack and to see if there is a connection to the previous problems.

New research by Symantec`s Threat Analyst Team has found that potential exploits of Microsoft Windows Messenger Service are much more severe than previously thought, reports CRN.com.

While the Slammer worm had to hit individual systems, this exploit allows hackers to send a single packet to attack every system on an entire network. The Messenger Service is part of the Windows operating system that people can use to send a pop-up message to a computer on the same network and is not Microsoft`s Instant Messenger service.

Lani Spund is SAP`s worst nightmare. He is the chief information officer of Esselte, a $1.1 billion office supplies manufacturer, and helped make a $10 million business applications deal with Microsoft earlier this year.

The five-year deal, which in the past might have been a nearly automatic win for market leader SAP, instead became Microsoft`s largest-ever sale of such business software, reports CNet. Esselte has been using SAP`s applications to process orders and run its factories in Europe for years. But the deal turned on money - Microsoft`s products were cheaper. An analyst quoted cals the deal "a harbinger for what this market is going to be like".

Intel is planning to fold its cellular and handset unit into its communications networking group, reports CIOL. The move comes less than one week after Intel said it was taking a $600 million charge primarily related to a business within the wireless group, called DSP Communications, that Intel acquired in 1999.

Both of the groups to be combined have posted operating losses in the last two quarters, while Intel`s microprocessor business, which accounts for the vast majority of its revenue, has been profitable and growing.