Michael Hall

LinuxPlanet Classics: “No,” the technician explained, “Linux is probably causing this problem and it needs to come off the machine.” Michael Hall’s classic battle with Dell tech support was first published July 16, 2001. Has anything really changed? Portland, Oregon is something in the vicinity of 3,000 miles away from Charlottesville, Virginia. I drove all […]

A research firm says network access control (NAC) enforcement will grow over 1100 percent in the next two years. Infonetics Research says its newest report, “Enforcing Network Access Control,” focuses on just one of three components in a typical NAC solution. Besides enforcement, most approaches to NAC involve client and and backend components. Network integrated […]

The IMlogic Threat Center has published a pair of reports on instant messaging security recapping 2005 and looking forward to 2006. According to the organization, 2005 was a year of growing sophistication for IM security threats, with 2006 promising to continue that trend as criminals are attracted to the opportunities IM’s rapid spread provides. The […]

With Microsoft calmly asserting that it plans to release a patch for a widespread vulnerability on January 10, security experts are advising concerned administrators to download a third-party patch. On Tuesday, Microsoft issued a statement acknowledging a vulnerability in the Windows Meta File (WMF) code in Windows operating systems including XP, Server 2003, ME, 98, […]

The SANS Institute has announced that it’s accepting applications for new graduate degrees in security through its newly certified college. SANS, known for its Internet Storm Center and several other security services, said in a statement that the state of Maryland approved its application to establish a degree-granting academic institution, and that it plans to […]

A messaging security company says November has been the worst month of the year for spam thanks mainly to a widespread virus outbreak. According to CipherTrust the latest Sober virus outbreak ratcheted up the total number of bogus messages. The virus has, according to the company, accounted for more than 500,000 total infections since its […]

After years of mutually beneficial barriers between their respective networks, instant messaging’s ”Big Three” will finally interoperate, at least between enterprise users. An agreement between Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft is aimed at IM customers looking for a way to provide chat between employees on different networks. Microsoft announced early today that users of Microsoft’s Office […]

About a month ago, we spoke with John Loiacono, Sun’s VP of Operating Platforms, to get an idea of where Sun’s head was at on the Linux question. It turned out to be in a better place than most give the company credit for. The interesting twist in the conversation was Sun’s new institutional take […]