December 13, 2002 - December 18, 2002
News - December 18,2002
Nildram ISP Upgrades MySQL Support
By:mark.j @ 9:38:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] UK ISP Nildram has apparently upgraded their support for MySQL, which is a commonly used database standard among online web hosts and ISPs:
Nildram upgrade support for MySQL…
Nildram, one of the UK’s leading Internet Service Providers, have upgraded their support for MySQL.
With over 3 million users MySQL is the world's most popular Open Source Database, designed for speed, power and precision in mission critical, heavy load use.
The upgrade includes the provision of a new dedicated MySQL server and reflects the interest Nildram are currently seeing in this platform.
Iain Ogilvie, Nildram’s marketing manager comments: “We are pleased to be able to announce yet another important upgrade to our hosting portfolio, especially as it represents a further tangible response to customer feedback and requirements.”
For further information, please visit: http://www.nildram.net/webhosting.htm |
News - December 17,2002
Microsoft's IE6 Web Browser Still Top
By:mark.j @ 2:56:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Despite the recent influx of more website browsing software choices, Microsoft's market leading Internet Explorer (IE) v6 software has still managed to extend its global share from 52.3% in September to 57.6% at the end of November:
IE 5.5 and IE 5.0 are the second and third most popular Web browsers with global usage shares of 18.3 percent and 16.9 percent respectively.
Netscape Navigator 4.0 and Mozilla 1.0 have a global usage share of 1.1 percent each, while Opera 6.0 has a global usage share of 0.8 percent.
According to OneStat, Netscape’s latest Web browser, Netscape 7.0 recorded a slight rise in global usage share from September to November. The browser’s share rose 0.1 percent to 0.6 percent.
The Nua Internet Surveys item is interesting, although perhaps Netscape's share should be combined with Mozilla, after all, they do use the same code base. |
Online Christmas Costs UK Business
By:mark.j @ 2:51:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The Christmas Internet shopping boom does appear to have had at least one negative impact, many employees have used it for such activities during work hours.
Some 22 million working hours are estimated to have been lost because of it, costing medium-sized businesses alone roughly £154m!:
So says Open Orchard, a company which predicts that personal email traffic -- already accounting for around a third of all emails -- will rise a further 28 per cent this Christmas.
What's more, the risks of sending out inaccurate contracts, unapproved quotes and competitive information apparently go up at this time of year.
More @ Silicon. |
11.4 Million UK Households Online
By:mark.j @ 2:46:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The governments Office for National Statistics (ONS) website has once again published its view of the UK Internet access market, this time covering the period from July to September 2002 (October report) - HERE (.pdf format).
11.4 million people now have access to the Internet from home, which works out at around 46% of the population. It's estimated that 62% of adults have accessed the Internet at some time during the period, which compares with 52% in the month prior to the survey.
99% of individuals who use the Internet for personal use have done so using a computer. This compares with 11% who have accessed the Net using a mobile phone, and 7% who used Digital Television.
Over three-quarters of Internet users in the UK use the Internet for email, while 71% use it to find information about goods and services, and 36% use it for finding educational information.
This report is somewhat larger than the usual monthly view, thus we'd suggest reading it yourselves to get the best understanding. |
UK Fibernet ISP Reports Growth
By:mark.j @ 2:36:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Fibernet, the once troubled UK business ISP, has claimed a positive start to the financial year after reporting that sales booked in Q4-2002 were 50% higher than the previous quarter:
In a first-quarter trading statement, the company said it booked contracts worth a total of £14.5m during the period, up from £9.7m in the last quarter, and a more than threefold improvement on the same period last year.
Its decision to retreat from Europe - which cost the firm £70m - has allowed it to redeploy some £5m worth of surplus network equipment in the UK, which it said will lower the cash required for ongoing equipment.
More @ netimperative.info . |
BT Fast-Tracks ADSL Pre-Reg Scheme
By:mark.j @ 1:33:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BTWholesale has today announced plans to streamline the broadband ADSL pre-registration scheme.
The change(s) should help to speed up the process of upgrading an exchange where demand for ADSL has been proven by up to six weeks:
BT WHOLESALE FAST-TRACKS BROADBAND REGISTRATION SCHEME
BT Wholesale today announced plans to streamline the broadband demand registration scheme, speeding up the time taken to upgrade an exchange where demand for ADSL has been proven by up to six weeks.
The registration scheme, introduced in July, is set to change from a three stage process to a two stage process, benefiting both service providers and people wanting broadband services.
With immediate effect BT Wholesale will start the build process to upgrade any exchange reaching the trigger - removing the 42 day confirmation process. From January 15 a new order process will be in place by which service providers will be able to take orders from people wanting broadband after an exchange demand trigger is hit.
With the suspension of the confirmation stage from today, work will begin to upgrade 18 exchanges currently in the confirmation stage or just passed their triggers. The dates when these exchanges are due to go live will be updated on the broadband checker on bt.com/broadband shortly.
Bruce Stanford, director of wholesale products at BT, said: "We've seen more than 200,000 people register their interest in getting broadband since the registration scheme was launched and 10 exchanges are now live for broadband as a result. Fifteen more are being upgraded and today's announcement means a further 18 exchanges will immediately be moved into our build programme."
For exchanges where trigger levels are met between now and January 15, service providers will collate the customer details ready to take orders once the new order system is in place.
After January 15 the streamlined process will be fully in place: When a trigger level is hit work will begin to upgrade the exchange and service providers will be able to take orders from their customers.
To detect and prevent frivolous or false registrations improved integrity measures are being taken during the registration phase including sophisticated data analysis. This will ensure a true picture of demand levels is established. BT Wholesale will also continue to work with service providers to check validity of registrations and the additional safeguards BT Wholesale has put in place will also result in false registrations being removed from the system before an exchange is moved into the build stage.
You can find the press release and a list of the new fast-tracked exchanges at the bottom – HERE. |
The Public ISP Data Retention Inquiry
By:mark.j @ 1:26:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Just in case you had forgotten, tomorrow (Wednesday) will see the Government and National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) being taken to task over their anti-privacy plans for ISP etc. data retention:
The All Party Internet Group (APIG), the forum for MPs and the new media industry, will take oral evidence for the inquiry, launched last month, in a public hearing to be held at the House of Commons tomorrow morning.
The move forms part of the preparation of APIG's report, which is due for publication in the new year and will focus on the controversial introduction of legislation to force internet and telecoms service providers to retain data on users' activities, including the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act and the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act (ATCS).
The group will tomorrow question chief police officers from NCIS on current data retention arrangements and take evidence from Home Office officials on the policy background behind the current system. It also said it had questioned industry representatives last week, who repeated "several concerns" over the cost and legal implications of allowing law enforcement access to user data.
No doubt some further information will leak out about the meeting, you can read the rest @ netimperative.info . |
Older Politicians Like To Surf
By:mark.j @ 1:21:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Believe it or not older politicians are more likely to embrace the Internet than younger ones. The research group Parity found that more than three quarters of MPs over 65 have their own website!:
That compares to just half of those under 35. Overall two-thirds of MPs now have their own website. The Liberal Democrats came out as the most web-savvy party.
We can't help but wonder whether the websites are truly made by the MPs themselves or done for them by somebody else. More @ Ananova. |
Wireless Denham Broadband ISP Live
By:mark.j @ 10:08:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Denham Broadband has today announced the launch of their new broadband wireless ISP, backed by NetrinoUK, for the Denham (Buckinghamshire) area.
Denham Broadband is an independent broadband wireless ISP founded by two enthusiasts frustrated by the slow roll out of alternative solutions (ADSL etc.) in their area.
Households within range (2 mile radius) of the transmitter will need to pay £100 for a discreet roof mounted aerial and desktop transmitter to be fitted.
The service itself costs £28 per month and offers speeds of 512/256Kbps (Downstream/Upstream) via 802.11b broadband wireless networking kit using the 2.4 GHz radio spectrum. |
Tiscali - Free ADSL Modem + Connection
By:mark.j @ 9:57:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] UPDATE: Unfortunately Tiscali say that the "offer is an exclusive offer to our current narrowband user base only." In other words, non-Tiscali customers won't be getting anything with the word 'FREE' in after all =(.
Thanks to one of our readers, Richard, for letting us know that UK ISP Tiscali has also introduced a seasonal special offer on its £27 per month broadband ADSL service:
Tiscali would like to exclusively offer all our customers a special Christmas broadband offer. Sign up to our £27 a month Broadband Internet service and we'll give you FREE connection PLUS a FREE broadband modem (usual modem price £65!). Upgrading to Broadband is easy and your existing account details and email address will stay the same.
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/products/broadband/
Tiscali had previously offered a free modem, although the addition of a free connection is no doubt well timed to coincide with BTWholesales recent announcement (half-price ADSL installations). |
Nildram ISP Halves ADSL Set-up Fee
By:mark.j @ 9:51:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Not surprisingly UK ISP Nildram has been one of the first to take on BTWholesales recently announced seasonal offer, which halves the cost of setting up a broadband ADSL connection, at least for a few months:
Full Bodied Nildram Broadband – half the set-up cost!
Nildram, providers of some of the UK’s highest performing Broadband Internet services have today announced a new offer to those wishing to take advantage of the Broadband revolution.
With effect from January 6th 2003, all orders for both the ‘Home’ and ‘Office’ services placed with Nildram will have the set-up fee halved to only £25 plus VAT (£29.38). This offer will be valid for a three-month period – adding to the attraction of Nildram’s already competitive prices.
Iain Ogilvie, Nildram’s Marketing Manager comments: “Broadband services have become immensely popular in the last 6 months with the take up rate amongst new users continually increasing – we believe the reduction in the set-up fee will help stimulate this further.”
Martin Jowett, Sales and Marketing Director said: "This is a resolution that is worth keeping; half price activation and access to one of the fastest Broadband services in the UK - what a way to start the New Year!"
http://www.getadsl.co.uk |
EUTELSATs Streaming Media Award
By:mark.j @ 9:47:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] EUTELSAT, the satellite group behind several UK broadband satellite ISPs, has announced that i2i-technology is the first winner of a new annual award set up to recognise ‘Innovation in the Streaming Arena.’ (online multimedia - video, sound etc.):
STREAMING MEDIA EUROPE AND EUTELSAT RECOGNISE INNOVATION IN STREAMING WITH NEW AWARD
Streaming Media Europe and Eutelsat have announced that i2i-technology is the first winner of a new annual award set up to recognise companies that demonstrate ‘Innovation in the Streaming Arena.’
i2i-technology received the award at the recent Streaming Media Europe show for its work on the 3BTV web site. 3BTV is the UK’s first and only free-to-air streaming Internet TV channel that broadcasts 24/7 with a real time stream that changes daily. Although the channel is principally intended for broadband users giving terrestrial television quality, it also streams in narrowband, so it is available to anyone connected to the Internet.
Judges were impressed by i2i-technology’s 3BTV web site, and in particular for its work encouraging young British talent to showcase their videos on the site.
The competition was open to all streaming companies and entry was free. The participants were required to send a short show reel of work to Eutelsat. i2i-technology receive a prize worth more than £15,000 – free streaming of its content on Eutelsat’s leading OPENSKY™ platform for six months. Content from the 3BTV Web site will be streamed three times a day to an audience of OPENSKY™ subscribers.
OPENSKY Via Eutelsat is the multimedia service developed by Eutelsat for the general public. It is an open standard service platform for both PC and Apple Macintosh users and offers access to a wide range of streamed video and audio content, high-speed Internet and fast file delivery. Customers receive dial up access through their modem and receive broadband services via a satellite dish. The new service offers Internet speeds of up to 1.5 Megabits per second- exceeding the capabilities of ADSL and cable services and it also gives users Internet access. It also delivers a full range of entertainment services including television channels, videos, music and games.
Volker Steiner, Commercial Director at Eutelsat, who presented the award said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Streaming Media Europe to recognise ‘Innovation in the Streaming Arena’. i2i-technology’s 3BTV web site impressed the judges for encouraging young British talent, and we are pleased to be able to award the company with six month’s hosting on the OPENSKY™ platform. An ideal vehicle for showcasing their work, the OPENSKY™ platform has been optimised for the delivery of digital data files, software, multimedia content, audio and video material straight to users’ PC’s at broadband speeds.”
Sara Fallon, Operations & Project Manager at i2i-technology ltd, the streaming media company behind 3BTV, said: “We are very pleased to win this award from Eutelsat and Streaming Media Europe; it’s great to be recognised for what we are doing and to gain valuable exposure for 3BTV and all the talented individuals who have their work shown on the channel.” |
.me.uk Internet Domain Suffix Flops
By:mark.j @ 9:42:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The specialised '.me.uk' domain suffix, which was designed to give UK Internet users some personal space, has apparently flopped:
Dr Willie Black, managing director of Nominet, the UK's national domain registry, said that only 12,000 people have registered for the domain since its launch, compared with three million .co.uk domains.
The .me.uk domain was launched in January 2002, and Nominet claimed that it had had 1,300 registrations on the first day it became available. It was the first second-level name added to the UK domain name space since 1996.
The VNUNet item reports that a lack of confidence in the new suffix compared with the more recognised .co.uk etc. brands was partly to blame.
Nominet expects things to pick up as more people get broadband and start managing their own servers, and hosting their own websites. |
UK Has More Internet Links Than USA
By:mark.j @ 9:35:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] We recently reported, last week, that the London Internet Exchange (LINX) had seen a change in the surfing patterns of UK Internet users. Apparently we're now more likely to surf our own regional UK/European websites than that of the USA.
Yesterday LINX followed this up with its official press release, which some of you may find interesting as it contains more specific information:
EUROPE HAS MORE UK INTERNET LINKS THAN USA
Figures just released by The London Internet Exchange (LINX) - which handles up to 96 per cent of the UK's Internet traffic - shows that Europe now has more Internet routes connected into the UK than the USA has. It is the first time that LINX has published details of the connections to its exchange.
More than 40,000 world Internet routes - around 50 per cent of the global total - can be accessed through LINX which is the largest and most important Internet exchange point outside the USA.
More than 14,600 routes from LINX (34 per cent of the total) are to UK and other European destinations compared with just under 13,000 (30 per cent) going to North America, primarily the USA.
Asian countries account for a further 22 per cent of LINX-connected routes with Oceania having 7 per cent and South America 3 per cent. The whole of Africa accounts for less than one per cent.
Among individual countries, the USA still accounts for the largest number of LINX routes - around 11,000 or 25 per cent of the total. Internal routes within the UK account for only 4.4 per cent of the connections, fourth behind the USA, The Netherlands and Japan.
Vanessa Evans of LINX explained: "There is no direct correlation between the number of routes to a destination available through LINX and the volume of traffic being carried to a particular destination. It would be perfectly possible to have a large number of available routes to an obscure part of the world which carried no traffic at all.
However, commercial logic suggests that ISPs establish routes to meet the needs of the traffic they are carrying. The connection figures are therefore a crude, but valid, reflection of where the UK's Internet traffic is coming from and going to."
The large number of connections to the USA reflects the historical lead which that country had in the Internet industry and the fact that many major international ISPs are headquartered there. Much traffic which cannot get directly from LINX to its destination is probably routed through facilities in America, even if its eventual destination may be outside the USA. The Netherlands has also become a centre for distributing Internet traffic in continental Europe with a large Internet exchange in Amsterdam.
With a membership of around 130 Internet service providers (ISPs) and content delivery service providers (CDSPs), LINX provides its members with the opportunity to establish 'peering' inter-connections with each other, leading to cost-effective and rapid transmission of Internet traffic. As a result of their combined networks, web traffic being routed via LINX members can be delivered to virtually half the world's Internet community in one direct 'hop' rather than being routed through many different connections.
LINX, which was founded in 1994, continues to attract new members although consolidation in the Internet industry means that its total membership has grown relatively slowly for the past two years. Each new member, however, brings new routes to LINX and the total has now passed 40,000.
The volume of traffic being carried also continues to increase. Total Internet traffic on the LINX exchange is now peaking at around 21 gigabits per second - the equivalent of around 1.25 million e-mail messages per second. This is double the level of twelve months ago. |
News - December 16,2002
New Forum MySQL Database Errors
By:mark.j @ 2:03:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Don't be too shocked if you get an annoying error about the MySQL database on the new forum code, it was one of our biggest fears that this would happen and it has.
We are well aware of this as every single bug is auto-reported; we've thus contacted the host who is presently investigating the issue(s). It appears to be a host issue, although if we can't get it resolved then we may need to backtrack back to UBB =(.
Please don't e-mail us when you see one, just try clicking the refresh link it presents you with (NOT your browsers refresh button). |
NTLs Wearside Broadband "mini-trial"
By:mark.j @ 1:31:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] DigitalSpy reports that NTL customers in the Wearside region should soon be able to join a mini-trial of the operator’s broadband cable modem ISP services.
The trial is designed to, "test the functionality and processes of installing and running ntl Broadband via Stand Alone Cable Modem."
Unfortunately there's only room for 5 trial users, most of which will probably have been selected by the time any of you read this:
The plan is to arrange installation week commencing 16th December and Triallists will get free installation and 1 month free service.
Those with an existing broadband connection via their set-top box will not be eligible. |
BTOs Legal Music Downloads
By:mark.j @ 1:25:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BTOpenworld has today been touting a new deal with Peter Gabriel's digital music distribution company, OD2.
The deal will allow users of BTOs music portal service, dotmusic, to download and stream tracks from its 120,000 strong song catalogue:
The site, which has been redesigned to make it easier for users to access digital music, will feature the latest music news, reviews, interviews, music videos and live sessions. Subscribers to the site can now read a music review on the site and in one click download the album.
BT said 'dotmusic on demand' has access to the inventories of four of the major record labels - Universal, BMG, EMI and Warners - as well as those belonging to hundreds of smaller independents. Users can create and share playlists with their friends.
The site will be reinforced with exclusive content, including videos and competitions, as well as offering its users "permanent" discounts on CDs, ringtones and phone logos, via its e-commerce partners.
The netimperative.info item reminds us that pricing starts at £4.99 per month for 500 credits - allowing the user to stream 500 songs - and 50 downloads.
Perhaps of more interest to broadband users is the new £2.99 per month VidZone service, which obviously streams specific types of broadband music videos. |
NTLs 500,000 Broadband Customers
By:mark.j @ 1:19:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The UKs largest cable operator, NTL, today became the latest operator to announce hitting that once infamous figure of 500,000 (half a million) broadband cable modem ISP subscribers!
NTL is currently encouraging new customers with a free installation promotion and believes that 60% of the total domestic broadband user base has opted for cable modem access over other alternatives (ADSL etc.).
Earlier this month NTL predicted that it would reach this target by the end of the winter holiday season. "This is a remarkable achievement," NTL Chief Executive Barclay Knapp said in a statement on Monday. |
ISPr - Combating SPAM (Junk E-Mail)
By:mark.j @ 12:02:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Being a public website it's of course not uncommon for ISP Review to receive copious amounts of daily spam (junk e-mail). In fact we can spend between 15 and 30 minutes each day clearing it.
Our recent article pointed out that preventing SPAM directly is almost impossible because the remove options rarely work, thus we needed something a little different.
Over the past few days we've resolved to find a good client side solution and tried 6 or 7 different pieces of software. Some were good, others seemed to cause more SPAM than they removed and the odd one simply refused to run.
Unfortunately we don't yet know enough about the technology to write an overview, although hopefully this can be accomplished next year. However while the best software hasn't been chosen, yet, we did find ourselves using one application in particular:
SPAM INSPECTOR
http://www.giantcompany.com
Spam Bully (http://outlook.spambully.com) is also another worth looking at, however Spam Inspector (like Bully) integrates into the interface of Outlook Express (v5/6) and even AOL (v7/8). Spam Bully only seemed to support the Outlook 200x editions.
It's very simple to install and we'd suggest setting it to a low level of filtering because that's just safer. The software filters SPAM that it recognises as having been reported and confirmed to SPAM INSPECTOR by users and puts it into your 'Deleted Items' folder.
We like it because it's easy and can be trained locally to filter the bits that don't get picked up. If anybody has any good suggestions for FREE alternatives that work in a similar way then please do suggest them for our future article. The two above are sadly commercial and our 15 day trial is almost up =). |
THUS Telecom To Bid For C&W?
By:mark.j @ 10:18:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Unconfirmed rumours published in The Observer newspaper over the weekend have suggested that THUS Telecom, the backers of UK ISP Demon Internet, may soon make a bid of £1.5 billion for Cable & Wireless (C&W):
The plan envisions giving away the company's money-losing Internet and data services unit to an international telecommunications group, the newspaper said. Cable & Wireless spokesman Peter Eustace declined to comment on the report.
The company failed to tell investors about a potential 1.5 billion-pound tax liability until its credit rating was cut to junk on Dec. 6 by Moody's Investors Service. Its value has halved since the downgrade to about 1 billion pounds. A Thus spokesman declined to comment on the breakup plan, the Observer said.
Unfortunately Bloomberg now reports that shares in THUS have fallen by as much as 0.75p to 8.5p as of 8:27am on the London Stock Exchange.
Shares in Cable & Wireless, which have plunged 46% in the past week, rose as much as 5.2%, or 2.25p, to 45.75p. |
MessageLabs - 2002 UK Virus Report
By:mark.j @ 9:56:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] MessageLabs, the anti-virus firm, has today published a press release summarising its review of this years UK virus infections:
Klez heads “rogues gallery” as MessageLabs stops a virus every three seconds in 2002
* Ratio of virus to email now one in 212
* Klez H, Bugbear and Yaha lead the way
* Home users most responsible for spread, while retail, leisure and entertainment feel the biggest impact
Email viruses continued to have a dramatic effect on UK business in 2002, with the ratio of viruses to email rising rapidly across the year, according to an end of year report from MessageLabs, the email security company.
The ratio of one in every 212 emails containing a virus in 2002 shows a dramatic increase on previous years. In 2001, MessageLabs stopped an average one every 380 emails, while in 2000 the figure was as low as one every 790.
According to the report, which measured results up to the end of the second week of December, the top five most active viruses in 2002 were Klez.H with 4,918,018 copies, Yaha.E with 1,096,683, Bugbear.A with 842,333, Klez.E with 380,937 and last year’s worst SirCam.A with 309,832.
Despite Klez being the most active, Bugbear can lay claim to being the most dramatic outbreak of the year, with MessageLabs stopping one every 87 emails at its height in October. Klez could only reach one in every 169 even at its peak, while Yaha never rose above one every 268. (The two most dramatic outbreaks recorded by MessageLabs remain Goner, at one in 30 last December, and the number one LoveBug, which hit one every 28 in May 2000.)
In total, MessageLabs now scans an average of 10 million emails per working day at a rate of 115 emails per second, stopping a virus every three seconds across 2002. This compares with one every 18 seconds in 2001 and one every three minutes in 2000.
Commenting on the findings Alex Shipp, Senior Antivirus Technologist at MessageLabs, said:
“A ratio of just over one in every 200 emails proves that 2002 has seen a major rise in the number of viruses in circulation, even if we haven’t seen the dramatic outbreaks of previous years. The main cause seems still to be home users, who have the least protection. As a result, industry sectors that deal with them, such as the retail, leisure and entertainment industries, all continue to be more at risk from infection.
The more prevalent viruses this year have been the ones most people have found hardest to spot – like Klez and Bugbear. This is because these are able to ‘spoof’ email addresses, so that the identity of the real sender is difficult to trace. It also means that by mass mailing contacts from a recipient’s address book, further victims are likely to open the rogue email, because they think it is from someone they know and trust.
As a result of these findings, more than ever, firms need to be sure that they are protected not only against existing viruses but also future outbreaks. Traditional, reactive scanners simply can’t handle this increasing threat. The only solution is proactively to protect yourself by stopping the problem before it arrives, scanning for viruses at the internet level.”
MessageLabs notes that the number of prevented infections during 2000 stood at 184,257, this jumped to 1,798,872 in 2001 and 9,343,880 during 2002! The top 10 for this year were:
1. W32/Klez.H-mm
2. W32/Yaha.E-mm
3. W32/BugBear.A-mm
4. W95/Klez.E-mm
5. W32/SirCam.A-mm
6. W32/Magistr.A-mm
7. W32/BadTrans.B-mm
8. W32/Hybris.gen-mm
9. EML/Greeting-Card
10. W32/MagiStr.B-mm |
Oftels December 2002 ADSL Factsheet
By:mark.j @ 9:48:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] We haven't reported on Oftels broadband ADSL fact sheets since August because the progress was slow and there wasn't really anything new to add.
However after several months and this being the final fact sheet update for 2002, we'd once again like to highlight Oftels latest revision - Read it HERE.
So how do things stand? In August 2002 Oftel had recorded 1,116 (66% of the population) broadband ADSL enabled local exchanges. By the end of November last month this figure had move slightly upwards to 1,120, which isn't quite enough to raise that 66% marker:
Although 66% of households may be in areas served by ADSL-enabled exchanges, not all households in these areas will be close enough to the exchanges to receive ADSL service. BT has estimated that, on average, 95% of households in an exchange area are close enough to receive ADSL, reducing the total ADSL coverage to 63%.
2. Take up (as at late November):
BT: ~500,000
Kingston: ~10,000
None of the developments mentioned are anything new, although there is an update on BTs one-way broadband satellite ISP service trial:
1-way satellite trial ended: BT ended its 1-way satellite trial in November. BT plans to conduct further trials in the New Year, trialling it as a self-install product.
There's also a small note about some of the recent anti-competitive complaints made against BT, but no new information. |
Internet To Get New Domains
By:mark.j @ 9:35:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Having semi-successfully introduced several new domain name suffix’s ('.info' etc.) during 2000, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) is now planning to introduce a further group early next year.
It's not yet known exactly how many are to be introduced (some say 8) or what they'll be called, yet several suggested names are .travel, .health and .news:
They are unlikely to be freely available to subscribers, but limited to organisations in specific fields.
This follows the model of the last round of restricted domain names introduced in 2000, which included .museum, for museums.
It is likely that many of the new names will be proposed and sponsored by organisations.
The BBC News Online item reports that those proposing a new suffix name will have to prove that it's a worth addition and pay a $50,000 application fee.
Not surprisingly the restrictive availability on some domains has often been a point of frustration for many average Internet surfers; it’s a sorry trend that we expect to continue. |
News - December 15,2002
New ISP Review Forum - OPEN
By:mark.j @ 12:17:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It's finally ready, after 14/15 hours of work and very little break the new forum software can now be accessed by you, the public:
>> ENTER HERE <<
Please make sure that you read the general announcement (viewable inside all forums) to get yourselves up to speed with some of the problems we encountered and important differences (username changes, missing forums, topics, private messages etc.).
We're not quite done yet and there's a lot left to do, such as re-adding the custom ID status to ISP Reps, however we felt that enough had been done in order to give safe access to everybody.
Note that some issues may not be resolved until the new year as I'm effectively taking a break from ISP Review now; news etc. will still be updated as I can do that anywhere thanks to the wonders of a Bluetooth enabled Laptop and mobile phone =).
No doubt it will take many of you a fair while to adjust to the new software, as it will us, although over time further changes and improvements will be made. As with anything we’ve ever done, the first change is the major part and the rest is improvement. |
ZDNet Reviews One-Way SatDrive ISP
By:mark.j @ 9:32:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ADSLGuide notes that ZDNet has posted a review of the one-way broadband satellite ISP, SatDrive - HERE. They gave the service a clean 7.8 out of 10.
Please remember that readers can also review their ISP(s) in our new Reader ISP Reviews system. |
ISP Review Forum Change - Update
By:mark.j @ 9:27:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It shouldn't be too long now before the new forum can be opened, we just need to tweak, test and fix a few smaller issues and then the service can finally go public.
Just a quick note to our moderators – you can now access the private section via the normal way; I forgot to fix the permissions for general moderators last night.
Watch for further updates.. |
News - December 14,2002
IMPORTANT: ISPr Changing Forums
By:mark.j @ 11:59:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] UPDATE 3 (10:38pm): Ok time to call it a day; the main processes are now done - HURRAY, although I've still got more to do before it can go public. I've been at this for nearly 11 hours strait, uggghhh. More tomorrow, if I'm still conscious.
We will update further in due course..
UPDATE 2 (7:49pm): It looks as if the upgrade may well continue into Sunday because it's now been nearly 8 hours since the start and some of us need to take a break =). We'll continue on as long as possible and see how far we get, most of the time consuming processes are now almost done.
UPDATE 1 (4:29pm): The primary import process is now complete, although it will take sometime (several hours) to re-build the various indexes. There have been a number of problems, although so far nothing too fatal.
Much as we've been talking about for the past two months, today sees the start of our big forum changeover. We're switching from UBB to a highly customised version of vBulletin, although we've tried to make the look as cosmetically similar as possible (makes it easier).
This process will last quite awhile (most of Saturday) and will no doubt cause some confusion among members and non-members alike. Please do bear with us, a fair bit of data will be lost, but not enough to be worried about. |
Councils Could Become Unwitting ISPs
By:mark.j @ 11:02:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Speaking at the 'Internet Goes Public' meeting in London, Roland Perry, director of public policy at the London Internet Exchange (LINX), warned that the e-government agenda could unwittingly put public bodies at risk:
E-GOVERNMENT AGENDA PUTS PUBLIC BODIES AT RISK INTERNET EXPERTS WARNS CONFERENCE
Meeting the government's target to put all public services on line could open local councils and other public bodies to a wide range of legal and financial risks, a conference in London was told yesterday (Thursday 12 December 2002).
Roland Perry, director of public policy at the London Internet Exchange (LINX), was talking at Internet Goes Public, a meeting which brought together representatives of the Internet industry, local and central government to explore some of the practical issues involved in delivering 'e-government' in the UK.
Mr Perry told delegates: "Some of the things which government wants local councils to do will bring them very close to acting like Internet Service Providers in their own right. They may then find the police, acting under the new Regulation of Investigatory powers Act, will be calling on them asking for data to be used in evidence. It is not clear where the boundaries lie between being a council and being an ISP but few councils seem to have given thought to the responsibilities they may have to take on.
Councils may also find themselves liable under the Computer Misuse Act if members of the public use the facilities now being provided at libraries to hack into computer systems. Precedent seems to have established that Internet cafes are liable in such circumstances and libraries would appear to be acting in a similar capacity where they provide terminals and on-line access for public use."
There are other areas of legal concern as well, Mr Perry told the conference. Councils and other public bodies may find themselves involved in legal actions relating to copyright, where material is inappropriately posted on websites, or for libel where an organisation fails to respond to a request to remove potentially offending material.
"There is no clear legal basis and no code of practice for local authorities regarding so-called 'notice and take-down' procedures," said Mr Perry. "The legal precedent has been well established that a council might become liable for damages if it continues to display something on its website after it knows that the material is there and is libellous - but the precedent does not define exactly when the council can be considered to know that something is libellous. Is it when someone alleges that there is a libel or when a court determines that there is a libel?
Until issues such as this are cleared up there are risks. Websites are particularly exposed to risks around copyright and libel because often there is no central control over what is placed on the website, with many departments and individuals - sometimes even external organisations and members of the public - contributing material."
Data protection and human rights legislation open up other areas of potential risk, Mr Perry said. For example, an e-mail address can be regarded as personal data - so publishing a list of the e-mail addresses of local school headmasters without following the correct procedures for obtaining consent could be unlawful. Streaming images from a webcam at a bus stop - useful for allowing would-be passengers to see the state of queues and the arrival or departure of buses - might run into problems with the Human Rights Act for breaching the privacy of passengers caught on camera. |
Data Retention Active Before Law
By:mark.j @ 10:54:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Despite government plans for ISP data retention being put on hold pending a further review, it has now emerged that numerous government agencies are already requesting communications data before the law has even been finalised:
The scale of the situation was revealed during an inquiry in data retention by the All Party Internet Group (APIG) on Wednesday, when ISPs detailed the requests already flooding in from government agencies who want to look at the small amounts of data that are retained by ISPs for 'operational purposes'.
Communications data means IP addresses of Web sites that people visit, and email headers -- the information that contains origin and destination addresses.
AOL and Thus said that in common with most ISPs they both store communications data for their business needs, and that they receive a significant number of requests from various government agencies -- both in the UK and abroad -- for the data.
So what exactly are 'operational purposes'? If it's not to do with serious crime then no doubt many of us would be a little concerned about people having such access to our private lives. More @ ZDNet. |
News - December 13,2002
Pipex's Improved Customer Support
By:mark.j @ 2:40:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] PC Advisor appears to be praising UK ISP Pipex for finally being able to turn the problems of its customer support department around and get things back to normal:
To deal with the increase phone traffic, Pipex increased its support staff by a third, bringing the total to 90 people. The increase in staff appears to be paying dividends according to PC Advisor reader and forum stalwart, Ray Cutts.
At the end of November, Ray had cause to request help from Pipex support about an ADSL dialup problem. The phone was answered within 10 seconds and he was swiftly taken through a checking procedure. All was fine at Ray's end, so a 'ticket' was sent to BT to check things at their end. Two hours later he was up and running again. "I am very grateful to both Pipex and BT on their quick response to my problem," he exclaimed. "I am now one very happy bunny."
Fellow reader and forum star Derek Loader, has also noted a distinct improvement. He first signed up to Pipex ADSL in March last year, and found "their telephone customer support was so bad, that it was almost non existent. It could take well over 30 minutes to speak to someone," he explains. "We were assured, via this forum, that new advisors were under training, and things would improve. Well they have." |
Christmas Helps To Feed SPAM
By:mark.j @ 1:41:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Reception of junk e-mail (SPAM) is set to soar during the Christmas period as marketing machines and e-greetings firms go into seasonal overdrive:
Alarmingly, as we approach Christmas 2002, spam filtering firm Brightmail has released figures which show spam now accounts for 40% of all email. In the run-up to Christmas 2001, this figure was a comparatively meagre 8%, highlighting the extent of the problem this time around.
Brightmail's statistics show the amount of spam is still rising month on month -- a fact which points to a bumper December for spam-plagued mail servers.
Brightmail reports that during November alone it intercepted more than 5.5 million spam emails, which is almost 3% up on the figure for October.
The Silicon item also warns Internet users to be aware that virus writers might also use the seasonal cheer for more socially engineered attacks. |
BTOpenworld ISP Launches NetProtect
By:mark.j @ 1:39:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] UK ISP BTOpenworld has today launched a new service for its customers called NetProtect. It's a PC security service that helps protect customers from hacks and viruses, but it comes at a price:
BT OPENWORLD UNVEILS NETPROTECT TO FIGHT HOME PC SECURITY BREACH INCREASE
BT Openworld has today launched a security service to help consumers in the growing battle against computer hackers and viruses.
NetProtect is the first in its PC security range to be offered to the public. It has been developed in response to increased demand as more people spend longer online.
NetProtect is a combination of McAfee VirusScan and ISS Desktop Protector Firewall software. Once customers register for the service, they can download the software straight to their PC. It will be available to all internet users, although it will be targeted at BT Openworld and BT Broadband customers initially. Customers pay a monthly fee of £3.50, making it more flexible than similar services from other ISPs that are only available on an annual basis.
The service also complements the free, Brightmail-powered email protection service available to BT Openworld customers. This shields users from internet spam and viruses whilst NetProtect offers a more comprehensive PC-based protection. Together, the products give consumers added peace of mind over internet and PC security.
Demand for the service, which is suitable for both broadband and narrowband, is expected to be high, especially amongst broadband users with their always-on connection. NetProtect guards against hackers and viruses even when users aren't connected to the internet.
A managed service, it scans for 'worms', viruses and 'trojans'. It then updates its knowledge by connecting automatically to a security server and collecting information on new risks.
On the discovery of a virus, the McAfee VirusScan element of NetProtect will take immediate action and attempt to disinfect the affected file with the corresponding anti-virus. VirusScan will either clean, delete or quarantine the infected file. No user intervention is required.
Duncan Ingram, managing director at BT Openworld, said: "As people spend more time on the internet and download more files, they naturally become more vulnerable to security threats. ISPs have a duty to help provide protection from these problems and BT is leading the market with the introduction of NetProtect.
At the same time, internet users need to realise that they should take precautions. Just as they invest in security for their homes or cars, so they should for their personal data stored on PCs. They need to protect themselves, fast, and NetProtect is a quick and affordable way to keep hackers and viruses out of home hardware."
Home users can protect their hardware by purchasing NetProtect over the Web at: http://www.btopenworld.com/netprotect |
Netscape v7.01 Browser Kills Pop-ups
By:mark.j @ 1:27:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] AOL UKs website browsing software, Netscape, has just released v7.01 of its Mozilla (open source) based client software, which, among other things, prevents those ugly advertising pop-ups:
The new pop-up-stopping Netscape 7.01 was released this week, offering a belated compromise for Web surfers increasingly buffeted by intrusive advertising.
Netscape's decision to offer pop-up blocking comes as the advertising unit finds itself under siege by irate Web surfers and Web properties increasingly nervous about the format's use -- particularly AOL.
Some Web watchers said AOL's new stance will likely stoke a broad consumer backlash against pop-ups that could eventually lead more publishers to cut back on or abandon the format.
Hopefully more browsers will follow this trend, although unless Microsoft adopts it into their Internet Explorer browser then little is likely to change. More @ ZDNet. |
BTO Fights AOL For Streaming Football
By:mark.j @ 1:20:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ISPs BTOpenworld and AOL UK are slugging it out over who will get the rights to stream English premier league football highlights over the Internet:
Both ISPs have recently launched broadband-supported online sports services, either of which would receive a significant boost over its' rival by winning this contract. Sources estimate the deal to be worth around GBP5m (E7.76m).
The successful ISP is also likely to have an advantage during negotiations over contract for the subsequent period.
More @ Europemedia. |
UK Internet Surfers Stay Local
By:mark.j @ 10:09:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] In the past, when UK websites were rare and of rather poor quality, most of the early Internet surfers chose to roam the then more advanced U.S websites instead.
However, new research from the London Internet Exchange (LINX) shows that UK surfers are now more prone to surfing sites in their own UK and European regions of the globe:
LINX, which handles roughly 96 per cent of the UK's Internet Traffic, claims that 34 per cent of UK traffic was destined for UK and European destinations, with 30 per cent headed across the Atlantic. Asian countries accounted for 22 per cent.
Exactly when Europe took the lead is unclear, as this is the first time LINX has published such figures, although we were told anecdotally by a LINX spokesperson that the USA has traditionally held a head start as it is essentially the birthplace of the Web.
The PC Pro Magazine item reports that the LINX Internet traffic is nearly trebling on a yearly basis, currently peaking at roughly 22Gbits/sec. |
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