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Reinforcing the image that college networks are highly insecure, the University of Florida is warning more than 330,000 patients of its dental school about a data breach discovered in October.

A laid-off systems administrator, charged with blackmailing his former company for a better severance package, was ordered by a federal judge to be confined to his home without access to computers and internet devices.

The shutdown Tuesday of a California-based hosting company not only cut spam volumes, it also put a dent in malware-spreading botnets and other criminal activity, researchers said today.

Far more dangerous than a normal e-mail attack, targeted at­­tacks choose a particular person as the prospective victim and tailor their message to that recipient. Since their creators craft the messages carefully (with few spelling and grammatical errors, for example), these attacks lack tell-tale indicators and thus stand a far greater chance of snaring a victim.