Downtime

Microsoft has confirmed it is investigating after hackers posted details of how to get around its Genuine Advantage anti-piracy system on the internet.

Genuine Advantage requires users to confirm the serial number of their Windows package before updating it online through the Windows Update site.

But hackers claim it took less than 24 hours to break through the security measure aimed at excluding users of counterfeit software. The hackers' code and a gleeful announcement have been posted on the boingboing.net weblog.

This is entertaining enough, but Microsoft's response is priceless: "Because of the high value we are providing to genuine users, we are not surprised hackers would try a number of methods to circumvent the safeguards provided by Windows Genuine Advantage."

It also assured customers the hack did not compromise their security. So they just have the deluge of anti-Microsoft viruses, spyware, spam, worms and Trojans to deal with.

Online marketing teams keep it to themselves

We all know that in the post-dotcom world IT and the business are entwined seamlessly in a virtuous cycle, right? Well, research by SciVisum into online marketing campaigns has found that is not quite the case.

The web testing company found that many marketing departments are guilty of causing website crashes through badly planned online campaigns. A quarter never tell their IT departments about forthcoming online campaigns, and more than half only do so sometimes.

As Downtime suspected, the study also highlighted widespread technical ignorance among marketing teams, with two-thirds having no idea how many users their websites could support, despite being responsible for online campaigns.

Art of conversation is the latest IT craze

Sat in a cubicle, e-mailing the colleague opposite and texting friends, it is easy to forget what fun it is just to talk to people.

As luck would have it, Microsoft is here to help us. A press release from the company reads, "Microsoft announced today that as part of its continued efforts to help make speech mainstreamÉ" and continues with some waffle about call centres.

You may have thought speech had been mainstream for about 150,000 years, but thank you Microsoft for preserving the art of conversation.

IT staff learn that it's all a question of ethics

The concept of ethical hacking may not meet with everyone's approval, but more and more companies are sending their IT staff for training in this dark art.

At UK training provider The Training Camp 500 IT professionals have now completed its certified ethical hacker course.

"Critics of ethical hacking claim that providing IT professionals with the tools required for hacking is putting them in temptation's way," said Robert Chapman of the Training Camp. "In reality these skills are already out there; all we can do is put them in the hands of those seeking to repair, rather than exploit, points of vulnerability."

But for those that do attend the course, the real lure may lie elsewhere: starting salaries of £60,000 are not unusual.