Ryan Naraine

E-mail security firm MessageLabs has detected a sharp increase in malicious viruses, spam and Web-based scams this year, warning that the technical sophistication of attacks is making it tougher to stay ahead of hackers. MessageLabs, which provides e-mail filtering software to government and enterprise clients, said the problem of clogged in-boxes from spam has become […]

Microsoft has tagged its highest alert rating on one of eight new security flaws found in Virtual Machine , the most serious of which could allow attackers to take complete control over a compromised system. The 69th advisory this year from the Redmond-based software giant carries a “critical” rating for one of the flaws detected, […]

Technology and life sciences giant Agilent Technologies continues to expand its footprint in the Asia-Pacific region, announcing the opening of a new telecommunication research and development center in China. Agilent cut the ribbon on the China Communications Operation (CCO) in Beijing to push R&D efforts on the region’s burgeoning wireline and wireless communications industry. It […]

There is a remotely exploitable security hole in Sun Microsystems’ Cobalt RaQ 4 server appliances and the CERT Coordination Center is warning that exploitation could lead to the code execution with superuser privileges. A security advisory from CERT/CC warned of the vulnerability in Cobalt RaQ 4 servers running Sun’s Security Hardening Package (SHP) and recommended […]

Sprint Corp. is trimming about 2,100 jobs in a company-wide restructuring move that affects the global markets, local telephone and corporate divisions. Sprint, badly hurt by the massive downturn in the telecommunications sector, said cuts account for about 3 percent of its workforce and would help eliminate overlaps and redundancies and a maintain competitive cost […]

Ottawa’s Corel Corp. is giving no quarter to the likes of Microsoft and Adobe in the XML content creation and deployment space, rolling out a souped-up version of its XMetaL platform that adds support for the ActiveX technology. By adding support for Microsoft’s ActiveX technology, Corel’s new XMetaL 4 platform, Corel’s pitch is to simplify […]

A group of high-profile consumer electronic firms has released the final 1.0 specification for the HDMI digital interface, clearing the way for the secure distribution of uncompressed high-definition video and multi-channel audio in a single cable. The founders of the High-Definition Multimedia Interface — Hitachi, Matsushita Electric (Panasonic), Royal Philips Electronics, Silicon Image, Sony Corporation, […]

Telco and technology giant Cable & Wireless has inked a deal to provide the content delivery infrastructure for the high-profile MovieLink movie rental service, beating out rival Akamai . Cable & Wireless, which was been embroiled in a legal squirmish with Akamai over content delivery technology, said it would build a customized content delivery infrastructure […]

The all-out push by Seattle-based RealNetworks for control of the digital media sector got another boost Monday with the release of source code for the Helix DNA Producer. On the heels of the recent release of the Helix DNA Client, RealNetworks said the move to lift the lid off the RealProducer code would give developers […]

The sounds will soon stop flowing from Redwood City, Calif.-based Liquid Audio following a decision Friday to dissolve the company, sell its remaining assets and distribute the proceeds to shareholders. It’s the final chapter in the ongoing saga at the digital media software firm, which initially found a buyer for its assets only to have […]

Looking to expand its database of business information for the research services it sells, Murray Hill, N.J.-based D&B has shelled out $117 million in cash for Hoover’s Inc. . Hoover’s, which has headquarters in Austin, Texas, runs an Internet database of business information that it sells to public and private companies. The acquisition by D&B […]

Microsoft on Thursday lifted the veil off the newest version of its Small Business Manager accounting software, touting slicker integration to its bCentral Web services platform and applications with Microsoft Office. Microsoft Small Business 7.0, a general accounting software package for companies with 50 employees or fewer, features newfangled, integrated modules that allow customers to […]