Sober worm variant identified by security firm CyberDefender -- and more tech news briefs

Short takes on this week's technology news

Low use of collaboration development technology

The use of collaboration technology to speed up product development is still very low, analyst firm AMR Research has found. In a survey of 45 companies conducted with the National Retail Federation, only 7% of respondents used technology to aid collaborative product development.

'Highly dangerous' Sober worm variant identified

A highly dangerous virus has been identified by security firm CyberDefender. The virus smss.exe is difficult to contain or remove, said the firm. The executable is a component of a Sober e-mail worm variant that is installed under the Windows folder.

IBM launches initiative to help cancer research

An initiative from IBM will allow users to aid cancer research by donating their idle computer time to a public grid project. Help Defeat Cancer is the third project to use the World Community Grid, the world's largest humanitarian grid.

Business intelligence retention is a low priority

Little importance is placed on safeguarding business intelligence, a survey by Vanson Bourne, commissioned by Microsoft, has found. The survey of 200 UK firms found that although 66% use business intelligence tools, most intelligence resides with employees.

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