Short takes from this week's news
UK spammer sentenced to six years in jail
A UK spammer has been jailed for six years for defrauding
businesses and individuals out of up to £1.6m. Peter Francis-Macrae
was sentenced at Peterborough Crown Court after being found guilty
of fraudulent trading, threatening to destroy or damage property,
making threats to kill, and blackmail. Francis-Macrae defrauded
thousands of businesses by tricking them into sending him money to
register a .eu domain name on their behalf.
Greenpeace accuses US computer firms
Environmental group Greenpeace has accused US computer firms of
dragging their heels in ending the use of toxic chemicals in their
products. Greenpeace has focused on the use of BFRs - toxic
substances used to resist high levels of heat. The pressure group
singled out Hewlett-Packard as lagging when it comes to phasing out
BFRs, even though HP recently pledged to end the use of BFRs in
product casings.
Microsoft exploit code published online
Exploit code has been published online that can take advantage
of security flaws in Windows XP SP1 and all versions of Windows
2000, Microsoft has warned. The exploit code can be used to launch
denial of service attacks through the two operating systems. The
threat has not so far been patched by Microsoft, but the
vulnerability is classed as only moderate.
CIM uses Aruba WLan across campus
The Chartered Institute of Marketing is using secure wireless
Lan technology from Aruba to provide secure network access across
its nine-acre Moor Hall campus. Aruba's wireless Lan mobility
system will be deployed to help both staff and students benefit
from secure mobile computing, allowing access to the data network
wherever they are on campus.
Online mortgage application launched
CitiFinancial's Future Mortages operation and West Bromwich
Building Society have begun offering mortgage intermediaries a
complete online mortgage application process, available to all
intermediaries who use the Electronic Trading Centre
mortgage-sourcing platform. Nearly two-thirds of mortgage
intermediaries already use the ETC platform.
Police improve penalty notice performance
West Yorkshire Police has commissioned a document management
system from Northgate Information Solutions to improve the
performance of its penalty notice system. Using intelligent
recognition software to scan new penalty information, the software
automatically updates West Yorkshire Police's VP/FPO penalty notice
system. It can also store and extract information from up to
750,000 images per year, and provide a full audit trail.
Biometric passports will cost more
The new biometric security features being introduced on UK
passports will be accompanied by a hefty price rise, the UK
Passport Office has confirmed. From 1 December the cost of a
10-year adult passport will rise £9 to £51. Biometric chips will
feature on all UK passports issued from February next year, holding
facial, fingerprint and iris information.
IBM adds Collation to management portfolio
IBM has acquired IT resource management company Collation to
improve its systems management portfolio. The acquisition, for an
undisclosed sum, will see IBM add Collation's technology to its
Tivoli systems management software suite. Collation's software
automatically captures information about IT resources. It is
designed to help IT staff better understand the impact of changes
to an IT environment.
Sun processor takes on multicore rivals
A low-power server processor from Sun may help cut datacentre
costs while delivering more processing power than rival chips. The
Ultrasparc T1, code-named Niagara, has up to eight computing cores
on a single chip, each of which is capable of handling up to four
tasks at once. The first servers equipped with the Ultrasparc T1
should be out by the year-end.
Benefits system too complex, says NAO
A report by the National Audit Office has said the UK benefits
system is too complicated, and the government needs to do more to
tackle the £2.6bn loss arising from fraud and error that was
recorded last year. The public spending watchdog said the
complexity of the system has led to errors in payments because of
mistakes made by both staff and customers.