Who will protect from hackers? Only the Shadow group knows
Hackers have help breaking into government networks. They share their resources and techniques on special mail lists and encrypted chat areas. Government security administrators are taking a similar team approach to combat the intruders. A small group of government network security experts has been using the method with industry counterparts. The exchanges have helped them form a consensus, though not full agreement, on what to do when an intruder penetrates a private network via the Internet.
There's nowhere to seek refuge if your software starts out extra buggy
"What's the deal with Microsoft Windows 98?" the Rat muttered from his lead-lined cubicle. The furry one had just heard that Microsoft Corp.'s first service pack for Win98 was going into beta testing only a couple of weeks after the operating system made its debut. The cyberrodent was afraid he knew what was going on. Instead of shipping out hundreds of thousands of beta copies for marketing purposes, as it had with Windows 95, Microsoft is instead
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
This version's almost perfect To John McCormick: I liked your column, and I share your view regarding the addition of "… a zillion useless bells and whistles …" in WordPerfect [GCN, June 15, Page 43]. The first version of WordPerfect I learned was 5.1. I find that it still meets almost all of my needs, executes very quickly, never crashes and doesn't take up much disk space.
Commerce will supply export licenses via Net
The Bureau of Export Administration will soon let companies apply for export licenses via the Internet. "The Simplified Network Application Processing system uses strong encryption, certification and authentication technologies, as well as provides recovery capabilities," said William Alan Reinsch, undersecretary for export administration at the Commerce Department. "SNAP will reduce paperwork and improve accuracy in the bureau."
DOD scripts revision to date code management plan
"Read it. Do it. Report back," Curtis said. The Defense Department has drafted a new Year 2000 Management Plan to give systems managers more detailed guidance on fixing date codes. Defense in April 1997 issued its first version of the Year 2000 Management Plan, which contained broad guidance on prioritizing systems with date code flaws. A draft second version with more specifics was issued late last month by William Curtis, DOD's
Justice expands IT strategies
Justice will enumerate its systems needs in a late summer report, says Mary Ellen Condon, the department's director of information management and security. The Justice Department will soon unveil an ambitious information technology program that aims to increase the reach of law enforcement using more secure systems, a top Justice IT official said recently.
Go that extra mile on your IP network bandwidth with new voice-over products
Several new voice-over-IP products promise not only to reduce long-distance telephone costs but also to squeeze more duty out of existing IP network bandwidth. E-Net Inc. of Germantown, Md., has announced a new version of its Telecom 2000 Digital Trunk Interface Gateway to connect private branch exchange trunk lines across a WAN. E-Net also released an audio card that lets a telephone plug directly into a PC for Internet calls.
The sound of your voice can be the key that unlocks new IVR systems
Periphonics Corp. of Bohemia, N.Y., which supplied the IRS' TeleFile interactive voice response technology, is turning to voice verification on its IVR systems. Periphonics has incorporated voice verification products from Veritel Corp. of Chicago and T-Netix Inc. of Englewood, Colo., into its Open Signal Computing and Analysis Resource, or OSCAR, speech-processing algorithms. A caller's voice can determine system access rights similar to the way a fingerprint does.
Oceans apart, Navy sailors see eye-to-eye via videoconferencing
Videoconferences let commanders carry out routine meetings. The service wants all its ships and submarines to have videoconferencing systems by 2003. The Video Teleconferencing (VTC) Project is part of the service's Information Technology for the 21st Century initiative, said Adm. Archie Clemins, commander of the Navy's Pacific Fleet, at last month's Naval League Convention in Seattle.
IRS hires IT consultant—is he the next CIO?
"This is a complicated position where you have to keep a lot of balls in the air." As Congress was putting the final touches on a bill to reform the IRS, which lawmakers passed July 6, the agency was tapping a consultant to help it with systems modernization.
BRIEFING BOOK
Computer autopsy? The computer forensics laboratory at the Air Force Office of Special Investigations is now a Defense Department lab. The Defense Computer Forensics Laboratory at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington will help DOD process evidence used in counterintelligence, criminal and fraud cases. A joint working group selected OSI to become an executive agency based on its expertise in forensic media analysis. The lab will analyze computer disks and hard drives for evidence of fraud
NUMA servers enter first phase of integrating Unix and NT
Data center users will see Unix and Microsoft Windows NT integrated on non-uniform memory access (NUMA) servers over the next three years. The first phase of integration will begin this year in Sequent Computer Systems Inc.'s NUMA-Q 2000 servers, which will execute NT applications against Unix databases. The servers will have shared storage and systems management software under NT and Dynix PTX, Sequent's Unix operating system.
Win95 reps rush to aid the Air Force in installation battle
Sonny Brown got the attention of software giant Microsoft Corp. when he complained about the struggle he had installing Windows 95 at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. The base had to upgrade about 200 PCs and buy as many as 300 more to accommodate the changeover to Win95 from MS-DOS and Windows for Workgroups.
JWID '98 expands on past and looks to future
Military leaders will put a smorgasbord of high-tech systems through their paces during Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstration '98, which begins today. The Coalition Wide Area Network, which lets U.S. and allied forces share operational data, is making a return engagement from last year's JWID. The Defense Information Systems Agency developed CWAN for coalition forces because America's allies cannot use the Defense Department's Secret IP Router Network.
LAB NOTES
Light at the end of the tunnel? Or is it an oncoming train? Microsoft Corp. has said the second beta version of its Windows NT 5.0 is on track for release this summer. A third beta version will get wider distribution before the final release. Previous statements had indicated a final NT 5.0 release in the first half of next year, and observers think the date may slip to late 1999. Some organizations that have held
Commerce creates separate CIO organization
Roger Baker, who will become the first chief information officer at the Commerce Department, says that by selecting him, the senior management has indicated its intent to embrace electronic commerce. "I believe my hiring shows the commitment of Secretary William Daley and Commerce to be a fully active participant in the electronic commerce age," he said.
DOD agrees with IG, builds new system to track code work
ASD-C3I's Arthur Money says an improved database for Defense agencies' use is in the works. The Defense Department is fielding a new database to track progress on year 2000 programs. DOD began work on the database in May. It had been using the Defense Integration Support Tools database to monitor date code work departmentwide.
Microsoft, like Unix crowd, will find that more is less
"There are too many flavors." That was the knock on Unix given to me when I asked why we should switch our network operating system from Unix to Microsoft Windows NT. Too many versions wasn't the only explanation, according to one of the information technology managers involved in the decision. Other, less-public reasons were that Windows had a familiar look and feel and that the technical support staff never was very comfortable with Unix in
ENTERPRISE COMPUTING
Network Integrity Inc. has added transactional safeguards for database files and support for Novell Btrieve and GroupWise databases to its LANtegrity 4.0 for NetWare package. The real-time data protection software supports symmetric multiprocessing servers and user-controlled system utilization. The Marlborough, Mass., company prices LANtegrity 4.0 at $6,995 for 100 users. Contact Network Integrity at 508-460-6670.
PROFESSIONAL CALENDAR
28-30 Data Warehousing Conference and exposition. New York. Contact Digital Consulting Inc. Customer Service, 204 Andover St., Andover, Mass. 01810; tel. 978-470-3880. 10-12 Information Systems Auditing Seminar. Chicago. Contact Michael I. Sobol Training Institute, 498 Concord St., Framingham, Mass. 01702; tel. 508-879-7999. 24-26 Managing Information Security Programs Seminar. New York. Contact Michael I. Sobol Training Institute, 498 Concord St., Framingham, Mass. 01702; tel. 508-879-7999.
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