THE WHATIS.COM WORD-OF-THE-DAY February 17, 2004 CAPTCHA ______________________ SPONSORED BY: SearchSecurity.com
WEBCAST TODAY: 1:00 PM EST (18:00 GMT) EXPERT'S GUIDE FOR EFFECTIVE PATCH MANAGEMENT Patching is often recommended as a way to deal with today's security threats. But it is easier said than done. Learn how to overcome the challenges inherent to patch management, including ROI justification. http://searchsecurity.com/patchmanagement2?track=NL-34 ______________________ TODAY'S WORD: CAPTCHA See our complete definition with hyperlinks at http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci950098,00.html?track=NL-34 A CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing Test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) is a test, used with challenge-response systems, that's designed to differentiate humans from automated senders. A CAPTCHA sets some task that should be fairly easy for a human to perform, but impossible for an e-mail spammer's program. Typically, when a challenge-response system receives an e-mail message, it sends a reply with a URL linking the user to a Web page with a CAPTCHA. There are a number of different types of test used. Carnegie Mellon University's CAPTCHA Project Web site has demo versions of several tests. "Gimpy," for example, is a program that randomly selects seven words from a dictionary and then presents them, somewhat distorted, in an image. The user is asked to type three of the words that appear in the image. Another test, "Pix," presents the user with six images of a single subject, such as babies or horses, and asks them to define the subject of the pictures. Once senders have satisfied the CAPTCHA test, their addresses can be added to the recipient's whitelist of permitted senders, so they won't have to prove themselves each time they send a message. _________________________ RELATED TERMS: Turing Test http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci886577,00.html?track=NL-34 challenge-response system http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci949518,00.html?track=NL-34 spam http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid40_gci213031,00.html?track=NL-34 whitelist http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci896131,00.html?track=NL-34 ______________________ SELECTED LINKS: Carnegie Mellon's CAPTCHA Project pages offer links to more information and CAPTCHA demos. http://www.captcha.net/ PC Magazine has an article about "CAPTCHA-ing the Spammer." http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1306805,00.asp ______________________ TODAY'S TECH NEWS: GARTNER ADVISES FIRMS TO DEACTIVATE BLUETOOTH Following security warnings about Bluetooth from handset makers Nokia and Sony Ericsson, Gartner is advising most enterprises to deactivate Bluetooth on their mobile devices. http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid40_gci950572,00.html?track=NL-34 THE PRIVACY FALLACY Protecting customer privacy eats up costs, right? Actually, one consultant argues that, if you do it right, it might actually make you money. http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid11_gci950646,00.html?track=NL-34 SEAGATE TOUTS SAS DRIVES AS FASTER ALTERNATIVE TO SATA Seagate is set to demonstrate a 2.5-inch hard drive based on the serial-attached SCSI interface. The company says the product will fill the need for a smaller, faster and more reliable alternative to serial ATA disks. http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid5_gci950677,00.html?track=NL-34 >> Catch up on all the latest IT news at http://searchtechtarget.techtarget.com?track=NL-34 ______________________ QUICK POLL | SearchExchange.com Lately we've gotten a lot of messages bearing the dreaded Mydoom virus. How much did Mydoom affect your e-mail system? http://searchexchange.techtarget.com/news/0,289141,sid43,00.html?track=NL-34 ______________________ WORDS-TO-GO | Wireless Mobile computing has its own vocabulary. We've created a glossary to help you stay on top of new terms. If you have a Palm OS or PocketPC device, you can download a PDA version of this handy reference. http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid40_gci947525,00.html?track=NL-34 ______________________ SECRET WORD-OF-THE-DAY | What is IT? Luncheon meat delivered to your inbox? This is the common name for unsolicited bulk e-mail. Do you think you know the Secret Word? Click to see if you're right! http://searchexchange.techtarget.com/gDefinition/0,294236,sid43_gci213031,00.html?track=NL-34 ______________________ QUIZ #27 | Security Awareness for End Users The SANS Institute recommends that organizations take time to educate employees about computer security and periodically test them to make sure they understand the basics. To help you in your efforts to raise security awareness in your organization, we've created the following quiz. http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid19_gci826572,00.html?track=NL-34 ______________________ HOROSCOPES FOR GEEKS | February Find out what the stars have in store for you the rest of this month! http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid19_gci919205,00.html?track=NL-34 ______________________________ RECENT ADDITIONS AND UPDATES [1] XQuery http://searchdatabase.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid13_gci950349,00.html?track=NL-34 [2] Lindows http://searchenterpriselinux.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid39_gci899769,00.html?track=NL-34 [3] Can-Spam Act of 2003 http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid11_gci948840,00.html?track=NL-34 [4] demo and demoscene http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci557356,00.html?track=NL-34 [5] Mathematical Symbols http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci803019,00.html?track=NL-34 ____________________________________________________________________ ::::::::::::::::::: WHATIS.COM CONTACTS ::::::::::::::::::: MARGARET ROUSE, Site Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) IVY WIGMORE, Consulting Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) LOWELL THING, Consulting Editor and Founder ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) GABRIELLE DERUSSY, Advertising ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ::::::::::::::::::::: ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER :::::::::::::::::::::: This e-newsletter is published by WhatIs.com, a targeted Web site from TechTarget, the most targeted IT media and events company. 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