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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, OCTOBER 02, 2006 U.S. Law Attacks Online Gambling Smaller Budget Proposed for DHS IT Procurement Crime Groups Use IE to Exploit Windows Weakness Yahoo Opens Core Code for E-Mail to Web Programmers NetFlix Offers Prize for Better Movie Reviews U.S. LAW ATTACKS ONLINE GAMBLING President George W. Bush is expected to sign legislation passed by the U.S. Congress outlawing Internet gambling in the United States. The law, called the Safe Port Act, was passed Saturday. The legislation could halve the $12 billion Internet gambling industry. Several companies have already suspended operations in the United States. Red Herring, 2 October 2006 http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=18906&hed=Snake+Eyes+for+Online+Gambling SMALLER BUDGET PROPOSED FOR DHS IT PROCUREMENT A recent House/Senate conference report on the fiscal 2007 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill indicates that the DHS will receive less money for its IT programs in 2007 while facing closer oversight of its management of the programs. Language picked up from an earlier House report on IT oversight requires DHS's CIO to approve any IT procurement of $2.5 million or more, giving the CIO greater control over IT planning. The report specifies that all IT procurements conform to the department's enterprise architecture plan, with justification for any deviations. Federal Computer Week, 29 September 2006 http://www.fcw.com/article96287-09-29-06-Web CRIME GROUPS USE IE TO EXPLOIT WINDOWS WEAKNESS Online crime groups reportedly are using Internet Explorer as an attack vector against a Windows Shell vulnerability. Several third-party patches have already surfaced for the flaw, and Microsoft plans to issue a patch October 10 in addition to prepatch workarounds already provided. Attackers use IE to trigger an integer overflow error. According to Exploit Prevention Labs in Atlanta, two online crime groups are hacking into Web sites and message boards to plant a malicious HTML tag. Web surfers visiting the legitimate site are redirected to an exploit server that attempts to deposit up to eight different exploits onto the visitor's computer. eWeek, 30 September 2006 http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2022805,00.asp YAHOO OPENS CORE CODE FOR E-MAIL TO WEB PROGRAMMERS Web programmers will have access to the core code for Yahoo's e-mail program, although the company will retain control of the code dealing with usernames and passwords. According to Chad Dickerson of Yahoo's software developer relations, "Yahoo is a very large company, but we can't build every application that a user might want." Yahoo Mail has more than 257 million users. BBC, 2 October 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5398310.stm NETFLIX OFFERS PRIZE FOR BETTER MOVIE REVIEWS Online movie rental service Netflix announced a contest that will give $1 million to the first person to improve the accuracy of movie reviews. The winner must come up with a recommendation system that beats the company's current system by at least 10 percent. Netflix will offer 100 million movie ratings provided by its customers to improve the level of research. New York Times, 2 October 2006 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/02/technology/02netflix.html ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your settings, or access the Edupage archive, visit http://www.educause.edu/Edupage/639 Or, you can subscribe or unsubscribe by sending e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName To UNSUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SIGNOFF Edupage If you have subscription problems, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE RESOURCES The EDUCAUSE Resource Center is a repository for information concerning use and management of IT in higher education. To access resources including articles, books, conference sessions, contracts, effective practices, plans, policies, position descriptions, and blog content, go to http://www.educause.edu/resources ***************************************************** CONFERENCES For information on all EDUCAUSE learning and networking opportunities, see http://www.educause.edu/31 ***************************************************** COPYRIGHT Edupage copyright (c) 2006, EDUCAUSE
