The message, currently being spread from 160 e-mail domains, requires users to click on the attached "postcard.exe" file in order to cause damage. The file will install several different malicious code variants, including Tibs, Nwar, Banwarum and Glowa, on the computer. It then executes mass mailings from the infected computer.

The worm is already being heavily spammed, VeriSign said. The security company has found one network that is sending out five e-mails per second with the worm.

While the worm requires user interaction to do harm, VeriSign believes that it has the potential to do damage because of the "Happy New Year!" subject line. The company is warning e-mail users to be wary before clicking on messages that they think may be legitimate happy New Year messages from friends.

Will Vista make companies dump their aging PCs sooner?
It seems like common sense. Keep those still-chugging PCs around in your company as long as possible to get the most bangs for your buck.

Of course, companies that see their use of technology as a competitive advantage have long pooh-poohed this idea. But in the past several years, several factors -- the widespread corporate belt-tightening after the economic downturn at the beginning of the decade, more durable hardware and the delayed release of Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system -- have led many corporations to hold onto their PCs longer than ever.

Internet access recovers in Asia after quake
Asia's Internet and telecommunication infrastructure showed signs of recovery Thursday, following service disruptions caused by a series of powerful earthquakes off Taiwan's southern coast earlier this week.

Wikipedia-like search engine in development
The founder of Wikipedia, the user-edited online encyclopedia, is developing a wiki-based search engine to compete with established commercial search engines from Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.

Skype aims to meet more business needs
Skype Ltd. will continue to aim at the business market, adding functions for specific business needs, executives said this week at the company's development center in Tallinn, Estonia.

The company's most recent 3.0 version of its software allows system administrators to configure and control Skype use across an enterprise and Skype will build on that. Its software provides Internet telephony service as well as messaging, video conferencing and file transfer.

Windows Vista security flaw discovered
Windows Vista, the new computer operating system that Microsoft Corp. is touting as its most secure ever, contains a programming flaw that might let hackers gain full control of vulnerable computers.

Microsoft and independent security researchers, however, tried to play down the risk from the flaw, which was posted on a Russian site recently and is apparently the first affecting the new Vista system released to larger businesses in late November.

The software company said it was investigating the threat but found so far that a hacker must already have access to the vulnerable computer in order to execute an attack.

Council of the EU Says "We Cannot Support Linux"
The Council of the EU has a streaming service so that we can watch its meetings — but the service can only be accessed by Mac or MS Windows users. This is because they employ WMV format for the videos. In the FAQ they express a really strange opinion about this: 'The live streaming media service of the Council of the European Union can be viewed on Microsoft Windows and Macintosh platforms. We cannot support Linux in a legal way. So the answer is: No support for Linux.' An online petition has been set up to create pressure to convince the EU council to change its service to one that is platform independent.

2007 in Security
Heise Security did a year end review — for the upcoming year 2007. In their crystal ball they see P2P bots, (almost) crashing stock exchanges, dropping prices for zero day exploits and private mails of gmail users published on the google search engine.

Virtual Reality Getting its Own Network?
We've all watched the Matrix, and regardless of how we felt about them, the concept of plugging into a virtual reality appeals greatly to us. It appears that a nonprofit group called the International Association of Virtual Reality Technologies plans to build a network purely for virtual reality. Its name? Neuronet, and the first generation is planned for 2007, with "consumer applications" planned for 2009. There is some fear, however, that the whole thing is a scam.