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In this Issue:

• Featured Site - Aussie House Sitters
• NT hacker blames 'segregation'
• Kiwis nabbed in spam bust'
• Canberra pushes school PCs despite NSW boycott
• Microsoft makes Windows 7 name final
• Microsoft plans big patch Tuesday 21-10-08
• Quotes of the day

Featured Site  

Home owners! Are you planning on being away from your house for a period of time in the future? If you are, then there is no better way for you to gain peace of mind than by having a house sitter care for your home, garden, pets while you are away.

House sitters! Are you sick of paying rent? Want to save for that something special? Need a change of scenery? Want to open your heart by giving love to someone's pets and/or gardens? If so, then house sitting is definitely for you.

House sitting is where you live in a person's house for an agreed period of time while they are away. You are relied upon to maintain the house as if it was your own, doing any household jobs that need doing such as pet care, garden maintenance, forwarding mail etc. House sitting can be either a short term stay of a week or anything up to a year or longer.

Visit the Aussie House Sitters website...

NT hacker blames 'segregation'  

Here is some news that sould delight those who have suffered at the hands of a hacker...

A Northern Territory hacker who allegedly caused millions of dollars of damage to government systems this week blamed segregation and "stress" for his crime.

According to a report from the Northern Territory News, computer engineer David Anthony McIntosh, 28, allegedly crashed several government services at Berrimah prison, Royal Darwin Hospital and the Supreme Court on 5 May this year. McIntosh also allegedly deleted over 10 thousand public servants from the system.

McIntosh is alleged to have breached the systems of CSG, a large Darwin-based ICT firm, a month after he quit his job at the company. CSG holds a contract to maintain key pieces of government ICT infrastructure.

The Northern Territory News reported that McIntosh said he felt "isolated" and "stressed" due to his physical segregation from the rest of his team. McIntosh is allegedly to have used his colleague's log-in and IP address to breach the systems.

McIntosh is facing charges of property damage over $50,000 and up to 10 years jail if convicted. ZDNetAustralia October 2008.

Kiwis nabbed in spam bust  

hree New Zealand men face fines of up to NZ$200,000 for their role in one of the world's largest spamming operations, which was shut down this week by US and other regulators, officials said today.

The alleged spammers were part of a ring that sent billions of emails in recent years encouraging people to click through to web sites that allegedly used false claims to peddle prescription drugs, "male enhancement" products and weight-loss pills.

New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs alleged company director Shane Atkinson, his brother Lance Atkinson and an associate Roland Smits were involved in sending more than two million spam emails to New Zealand addresses alone between September and December 2007.

Lance Atkinson is also subject to a US Federal Trade Commission complaint in the US District Court that named several Americans involved in the ring, department spokesman Trevor Henry said.

Under New Zealand anti-spam laws, the activity is not criminal and carries no prison term but the men are being sued in civil court by the department. In a statement of claim filed in New Zealand's High Court, the department claimed the trio earned more than US$2 million (AU$2.8 million) in sales commissions from the global operation.

The department alleged Shane Atkinson was co-manager of the Genbucks Affiliate Program and that Lance Atkinson, trading under the name of Sancash, recruited and paid spammers to market Genbucks products, adult sex toys and replica watches.

It said Roland Smits registered the domain names used in the Sancash spam emails and created alternative subject lines used to avoid interception by internet service providers' spam filtering software.

The emails marketed pharmaceutical products manufactured and shipped by Tulip Lab of India.

The defendants have 30 days to lodge a defence to the claim, and are expected to face civil trial next year, Henry said. ZDNetAustralia October 2008.

Canberra pushes school PCs despite NSW boycott  

THE federal Government has charged ahead with its plan to equip secondary school students with computers, despite a semi-boycott by the NSW government.

Most NSW schools eligible for funding are in limbo, as the federal and state governments continue to wrangle over costs.

NSW initially barred state schools from entering round two of the federal scheme, but 29 out of 256 schools defied the order.

The state had requested a deadline extension, as problems with round-one funding had not been resolved, but this was rejected by federal Education Minister Julia Gillard.

The main stumbling block was who would pick up the tab for additional costs to run the computers. The issue has been dragging on since June, when Ms Gillard announced the recipients of the first round.

She allocated more than $116 million to secondary schools, including independent and Catholic schools, across the country.

Applications for the second round of the five-year, $1.2 billion national secondary schools computer fund closed on October 9.

Nationally, a total of 1933 secondary schools were invited to apply in round two, worth about $180 million.

Of this number 73 per cent, or 1420 schools, submitted applications, according to the federal Department of Education.

More than 50 per cent of the applicants were state government schools. The highest level of participation was in Tasmania, where 56 out of 57 schools participated, while the lowest participation was in NSW. The total funding for NSW schools in round one was $74.8 million for 74,838 computers in 455 schools. AustralianIT October 2008. >>> more

Microsoft makes Windows 7 name final  

For the first time in recent memory, Microsoft has chosen to stick with its code name for a final Windows release.

In a blog posting, general manager Mike Nash said that the next version of Windows will retain its Windows 7 code-name when it is released to the market -- a date currently pegged as late 2009 or early 2010.

"Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore "Windows 7" just makes sense," Nash wrote.

Microsoft plans to give developers at the Professional Developer Conference later this month a pre-beta version of the software.

"For me, one of the most exciting times in the release of a new product is right before we show it to the world for the first time," Nash wrote. "In a few weeks we are going to be talking about the details of this release at the PDC and at WinHEC. We will be sharing a pre-beta 'developer only release' with attendees of both shows and giving them the first broad in-depth look at what we've been up to."

Nash said the decision to stick with the Windows 7 name is "about simplicity."

"Over the years, we have taken different approaches to naming Windows," Nash wrote. "We've used version numbers like Windows 3.11, or dates like Windows 98, or 'aspirational' monikers like Windows XP or Windows Vista. And since we do not ship new versions of Windows every year, using a date did not make sense. Likewise, coming up with an all-new 'aspirational' name does not do justice to what we are trying to achieve, which is to stay firmly rooted in our aspirations for Windows Vista, while evolving and refining the substantial investments in platform technology in Windows Vista into the next generation of Windows."

Microsoft has said precious little about what's actually in Windows 7. In a May interview, engineering chief Steven Sinofsky said it would use the same driver structure and underpinnings as Vista. The software maker has also talked about its multitouch capability. ZDNet Australia October 2008.

Microsoft plans big patch Tuesday 21-10-08  

IMicrosoft has announced 11 security bulletins for next Tuesday when the monthly patch cycle hits, with four considered critical.

The announcement is intended as a heads-up for IT departments before 'Patch Tuesday'. Four fixes are considered critical, six important, and one is moderate as ranked by the software giant.

Starting this month, Microsoft will share the technical details of new vulnerabilities to give software developers a catch to update affected products before the public announcement. And on Tuesday, Microsoft is expected to provide with each bulletin an "exploitability index" to help system administrators prioritise the patches.

Among the critical patches one each affects Windows, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Host Integration Server, and Microsoft Excel. All four could enable remote code execution if exploited.

Of the important patches, all six affect Windows, and could enable remote code execution or elevation of privilege if exploited.

The lone moderate patch affects Windows Office and could enable information disclosure if exploited. ZDNet Australia October 2008.

Quotes of the Day  

So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work. Peter Drucker (1909 - 2005)

What is youth except a man or a woman before it is ready or fit to be seen? Evelyn Waugh (1903 - 1966)

Critics search for ages for the wrong word, which, to give them credit, they eventually find. Peter Ustinov (1921 - 2004)

It's not enough to bash in heads. You've got to bash in minds. Joss Whedon, Zack Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, and Jed Whedon, Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, 2008

Brought to you by The Quotations Page

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