Instant-messaging virus costs a man his job

A businessman whose computer had been infected by a virus found that his entire buddy list had been sent a record of all his IM conversations, said Derek O'Carroll, managing director of IM software vendor IMLogic on Tuesday. Read this and more new on instant messaging at IM Frame News You should take note of the following story. Can you imagine what would happen if all of your instant messages were sent to everyone on your buddy list? At the minimum complete embarrassment, at the maximum "You are fired".

Source ZDNet UK June 30, 2004, 09:05 BST

A virus can transmit previous IM conversations to a user's buddy list without his or her consent - and with disastrous consequences

Virus attacks are not yet frequent on instant-messaging applications, but the latest threat is likely to send a shiver down the spine of all IM users. A businessman whose computer had been infected by a virus found that his entire buddy list had been sent a record of all his IM conversations, said Derek O'Carroll, managing director of IM software vendor IMLogic on Tuesday.

O'Carroll was speaking at a panel discussion on the war against spam at a security event aligned with the Microsoft TechEd conference in Amsterdam. He said the businessman, a vice president at a US-based company, discovered that IM conversations stored by the application had been sent to colleagues on his buddy list, which included partners at the company.

He was fired because of negative comments he'd made about his colleagues in what he thought were private IM conversations. His computer had been infected with the virus after clicking on a URL received in an IM application, according to O'Carroll.

O'Carroll pointed out that various IM applications can keep a record of conversations although they can be set up so that they do not do this. He advised that companies implement content checking with instant messaging to prevent employees from making defamatory comments and to stop critical information from leaving the company.

The Radicati Group recently predicted that instant-messaging spam, dubbed 'spim', will increase dramatically during the next year. This increase in spim could result in an increased risk of security breaches such as these, because hyperlinks embedded in spim can provide a doorway through which viruses enter a corporate network.

About the Author

Robert T DeMarco is CEO of IP Group in Herndon VA. IP Group offers software communication tools for use on the Internet. These include: PowerTools, Watch Right, Always on Time and IM Frame. Mr. DeMarco is the author/editor of several Weblogs and is also a member of the High Tech Crimes Industry Association (HTCIA). Mr. DeMarco spent 20 years on Wall Street during his second career.

Robert T DeMarcoIP Group Inc.
mailto: rtdemarco@aol.com

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Inflation on the Horizon?

I am old enough that I lived through the big inflation in the late 70's. And right now it appears to me that we are embarking down a similar road.

The thing that surprises me most is that most analysts I read and see on CNBC say the same thing, "inflation is not a problem." They must not do any of their own shopping.
Inflation on the Horizon?

I am old enough that I lived through the big inflation in the late 70's. And right now it appears to me that we are embarking down a similar road.

The thing that surprises me most is that most analysts I read and see on CNBC say the same thing, "inflation is not a problem." They must not do any of their own shopping.

The important thing to think about right now is the trend of inflation. We are coming out of a 20 plus year period where the environment was disinflation. As a result, most people think right now a "little" inflation is good. And, I agree with that. Unfortunately, when inflation begins to pick up there is no real way to determine how far, how big, or how long. But right now the trend is up.

Right now, it’s true that short term price increases of products will tend to help the economy and add to GDP. The longer term downside, however, will be a reduction in purchasing power, and the reduction of "real" GDP. So in the short term the economy will continue to look great, but it’s only a short term phenomena. The longer term effects of inflation are always debilitating to the economy.

Sometimes you really need to wonder what the analysts are thinking about. They continually say the oil price is not a problem. Meanwhile, if you added up all the commodities of the world you would find that oil all by itself is about 49 percent of the entire value of commodities. And, oil goes into just about everything you can imagine.

I tend to watch the price of things I buy. For example, let’s take the Oreo cookie. A year ago full price on Oreo cookies in my grocery store was $3.39. Now? The price is $3.89. A whopping 14.7 percent increase. I don't know if you noticed this one--the amount of product in a given container. Last year a bag of Hershey kisses weighted 13 ounces, right now? A bag contains 12 ounces. Same price, 7 percent less product. And actually the full price is up more than 10 percent.

Do you ever hear the term a "pound of coffee"? Well, go look at the cans in the coffee isle. You will find that a pound no longer equals 16 ounces. Buy any steak lately?

Not convinced? Import prices rose 1.6 percent last month. You will be seeing the effects of jumps like this soon. It takes a while for price increases to show up in retail.

The biggest problem on the horizon is clear. You ever take Econ 101 in college? They have that section on guns and butter. Anybody remember that section? Well bottom-line, the book says governments cannot have guns and butter without causing inflation and slow downs in the economy. Well we have guns--Iraq. And we have butter--tax cuts. You can decide for yourself, but this strategy has never worked in the past. Remember Viet Nam. I don't mean the war; I mean the cost of fighting a war and not taxing to fight the war. That is what lead to the late 70's explosion in prices. Of course, there were other bad decisions that helped add fuel to the fire.

Right now, most investors are thinking the FED might raise short term rates 25-50 basis points. What happens if its 50-100, 100-200? Short term rates are going up, and they are going up dramatically in the years ahead. If anything, the historians will look back at this point in history and shake their heads. Too young to remember when the fed funds rate was 20 percent?

Think rates cannot go up much? Like I said, I have been around a while. The mortgage rate on the first property I ever purchased? 14.75%. And, I had excellent credit and no debt.

Next time around we'll talk about the next Internet bubble--housing! And along the way we will talk about ways to benefit from rising inflation.


All American Investor

I am also the editor of the Watch Right Internet Crimes Against Children Weblog

About the Author

Robert T DeMarco is transitioning from the corporate world to the world of Blogging. He is interested in meeting people on the Internet that are interested in becoming P*S*Ds.

Feel free to email me direct at rtdemarco@aol.com . If you are wondering what P*S*D stands for email me with PSD in the subject box.

YAHOO blocks Trillian--again

ZDNet.com - USA
Yahoo on Wednesday began blocking Cerulean Studios' Trillian software from
communicating with its instant messaging service in its latest step to
fence its ...

AOL Phases Out Business IM

The exodus of instant messaging service providers from the enterprise software market continues this week, with America Online announcing plans to abandon its AIM Enterprise Gateway product and migrate users of that product to a similar one from IMlogic.

Yahoo scraps enterprise IM

Yahoo confirmed on Thursday that it is no longer selling a version of its popular instant-messaging service for corporations, ending the Web portal's attempt to sell IM as a software package.

Read the entire article


Go to All American Investor

Inflation: CPI Breaks Secular Downtrend

Today's CPI report shows the annual rate of change in the CPI at 3.1%. This breaks the down trend which has been in place since rates last peaked in late 1990. The down trend in Core inflation remains intact... By Gibbons Burke

Inflation: CPI Breaks Secular Downtrend

Inflation on the Horizon?

I am old enough that I lived through the big inflation in the late 70's. And right now it appears to me that we are embarking down a similar road.

The thing that surprises me most is that most analysts I read and see on CNBC say the same thing, "inflation is not a problem." They must not do any of their own shopping.


I tend to watch the price of things I buy. For example, let’s take the Oreo cookie. A year ago full price on Oreo cookies in my grocery store was $3.39. Now? The price is $3.89. A whopping 14.7 percent increase. I don't know if you noticed this one--the amount of product in a given container. Last year a bag of Hershey kisses weighted 13 ounces, right now? A bag contains 12 ounces. Same price, 7 percent less product. And actually the full price is up more than 10 percent.

Read the Entire Article