technology - "computer"

Nearly a year after Estonia weathered an onslaught of cyberattacks, its name has become a rallying cry for countries pressing to strengthen global cooperation between governments and private Internet service providers to combat computer crime. But some privacy advocates and computer experts remain wary of such efforts.

It's a conundrum that the best and brightest of the tech industry haven't yet solved: how to get computers to the 'next billion' customers in developing countries. The highest-profile effort to date, One Laptop Per Child, has run into a series of setbacks.

There are few greater hassles for computer users than the loss of a laptop -- whether it was stolen from the airplane or left lying in a bus. Yet in many cases, the data contained in the machine is considered more valuable than the computer itself. One way to ease these concerns is to take steps to make data inaccessible to third parties.

alphadogg points out a story about 11-year-old Jon Penn, who took over control of a 60-computer school network in Alabama after the old administrator suddenly left. Penn provides technical support, selects software, and teaches his classmates about computers. From NetworkWorld: 'The first thing Jon found as he leapt into the role of network manager was that he had to map out the network to find out what was on it. He bought some tools for this at CompUSA and realized there was an ungodly amount of computer viruses and spam, so he pressed the school to invest in filtering and antivirus protection. 'These computers are so old they don't support all antivirus programs,' Penn says. The school took advantage of a Microsoft effort called Fresh Start that offers free software upgrades for schools with donated computers, switching from Windows 98 to Windows 2000.' of this story at Slashdot.

As you surely know by now, the CanSecWest conference was the stage for a contest, PWN to OWN. Three laptops were set up; laptops running Windows Vista, Ubuntu Linux, and Mac OS X. The goal was to hack the computer and read the contents of a file located on each of the machines, using a 0day code execution vulnerability. During the first day, you can only attack the machine over the network, without physical access. On the second day, user interaction comes into play (visiting a website, opening an email). On the third and final day, third-party applications are added to the mix. Each machine had the same cash prize on its head. As you all know, the Mac was hacked first, on day two. The user only had to visit a website, and the Mac was hacked. Vista got hacked on the third day using an security hole in Adobe's Flash, and the Ubuntu machine did not get hacked at all. on this exclusive OSNews article...

Cologne, Germany - The Sims is one of the most popular computer game series of all time. Sims 3, the next iteration of the series, is due to hit stores in 2009, according to Electronic Arts (EA), the game's publisher. Among the most important changes...

Hanover - Aftermarket installation of storage card readers is often a poor choice for PC owners. These devices in particular proved to be particularly unsuited for their duties, the Hanover- based computer magazine c't reported recently. Among other ...