ACM TechNews - Friday, September 14, 2001

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ACM TechNews
Volume 3, Number 252
Date: September 14, 2001
Site Sponsored by Gateway (http://www.gateway.com)

Top Stories for Friday, September 14, 2001:
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html

"FBI Issues Cyberthreat Advisory"
"Companies Struggle to Cope With Chaos, Breakdowns and Trauma"
"Firms, Agencies Brace For Possible Cyber-Terrorism"
"Privacy Trade-Offs Reassessed"
"Anti-Attack Feds Push Carnivore"
"Companies Test System-Backup Plans As They Struggle to Recover
 Lost Data"
"Data Recovery Could Spur Tech Boom"
"U.S. Attack: Senate Committee Looks Into IT Vulnerabilities"
"Tech Companies Rush to Offer Help to Get Enterprises Working Again"
"Restoring Phone, Data Services Will Take Months"
"Tech Sector Braces for Tougher Times After Attack"
"Tech Giants Scramble to Track Down Workers"
"Global Internet Body Faces Conflicting Power Plays"
"A Web-Guided Tour of Cooltown"
"Computer Viruses: Can We Ever Outsmart Them?"
"Just Like Ants, Computers Learn From the Bottom Up"
"Laid Off? Work At Selling Yourself"
"Wetware"

******************* News Stories ***********************

"FBI Issues Cyberthreat Advisory"
The FBI sent an advisory to InfraGard members, who are mandated
with keeping the nation's digital infrastructure intact, warning
them to upgrade their security precautions in light of recent
terrorist activity.  InfraGard is comprised of federal agencies ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item1

"Companies Struggle to Cope With Chaos, Breakdowns and Trauma"
Following this week's terrorist attacks, many companies
implemented emergency plans originally designed for the Y2K
crisis.  As senior executives were left stranded in different
parts of the country and some offices were evacuated due to ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item2

"Firms, Agencies Brace For Possible Cyber-Terrorism"
The devastating terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 have spurred both
businesses and government to fortify their computer systems in
anticipation of cyber-assaults.  Government agencies have been
carefully examining their dependence on the information ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item3

"Privacy Trade-Offs Reassessed"
The terrorist attacks that sent a jolt throughout the nation on
Sept. 11 have forced some people to reevaluate the need for
privacy versus the need for security.  Some Internet companies
that initially refused the FBI's request to install email ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item4

"Anti-Attack Feds Push Carnivore"
It appears that FBI agents are asking some Web-based firms and
email and network providers to accept the placement of
Carnivore-like Web-surveillance systems for a few days while the
FBI sets up main boxes at Tier 1 carriers.  The aftermath of the ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item5

"Companies Test System-Backup Plans As They Struggle to Recover
 Lost Data"
Although much of the financial and corporate data that was stored
in the World Trade Center is backed up, data-backup firms
executives say that the process of retrieval may proceed
cautiously, due to the disruption caused by loss of equipment and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item6

"Data Recovery Could Spur Tech Boom"
Data recovery and backup services firms will benefit from a
heightened sense of vulnerability, say analysts.  At the same
time, telecommunications equipment providers and other tech
companies are desperately needed to rebuild the infrastructure of ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item7

"U.S. Attack: Senate Committee Looks Into IT Vulnerabilities"
In a hearing on Wednesday, the U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs
Committee detailed how prone critical-systems computer networks
are to cyberterrorism.  The security measures of government
systems is poor.  Furthermore, such systems depend on commercial ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item8

"Tech Companies Rush to Offer Help to Get Enterprises Working Again"
Technology companies are offering free services to assist firms
whose offices have been destroyed or evacuated after this week's
attacks.  United Messaging, for one, said it will let companies
use its networks and services to establish their own Web-based ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item9

"Restoring Phone, Data Services Will Take Months"
Verizon Communications says it will take weeks, maybe months, to
restore telecommunications service to the area surrounding the
World Trade Center towers.  After the collapse of the twin
towers, a third building in the complex collapsed.  Verizon says ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item10

"Tech Sector Braces for Tougher Times After Attack"
Tech sector analysts say that the attacks this week could have
diverse effects, including slower PC sales because of dropping
consumer demand and an increase in demand for corporate security
services.  Giga Group analyst Rob Enderle said the attacks would ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item11

"Tech Giants Scramble to Track Down Workers"
Many technology companies are frantically attempting to locate
their employees in the wake of Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the
World Trade Center and Pentagon.  IBM has offices in both New
York and Washington, D.C.; a company spokesperson says that IBM ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item12

"Global Internet Body Faces Conflicting Power Plays"
An initiative by ccTLD administrators at ICANN's Uruguay meeting
to place ccTLD representation on ICANN's board may derail the
current "At Large" proposal to have six ICANN board members
elected by domain name holders.  ICANN Chairman Vint Cerf says ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item13

"A Web-Guided Tour of Cooltown"
Researchers continue to make advances in ubiquitous computing,
where computers will monitor and provide for human needs without
obvious prompting.  Hewlett-Packard, for one, features Cooltown
technology in two of its research labs that allows people with ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item14

"Computer Viruses: Can We Ever Outsmart Them?"
The threat of nastier, more infectious computer viruses being
created has prompted antivirus experts to investigate the
possibilities of heuristics, in which antivirus programs are
trained to identify viruses based on their behavior.  Experts say ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item15

"Just Like Ants, Computers Learn From the Bottom Up"
Feed magazine editor Steven Johnson has written a new book,
"Emergence," that explains how computer networks and software can
learn and develop the same way other systems do.  He compares the
personalization features at Amazon.com that recommend likely ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item16

"Laid Off? Work At Selling Yourself"
Unemployed IT workers would do well to acquire new skills and
experience, demonstrate their assets to prospective employers, be
more flexible in terms of what they expect from jobs, and, above
all, strengthen their determination to win the position.  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item17

"Wetware"
Scientists continue to make advances in research involving
brain/computer interfaces (BCI), systems that empower people to
control computers with their thoughts.  Case Western Reserve
University researcher P. Hunter Peckham made a major breakthrough ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0914f.html#item18

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