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SOMALIA SHUT DOWN
The U.S. government has shut down Somalia's Internet services.
The only two firms to carry Internet services inside the African
nation, the Somalia Internet Company and Al-Barakaat, are both
on the official U.S. list of fronts for Osama bin Laden. Both
companies have stated that they are not linked to al-Qaeda. The
service closure not only denies access to the Internet for
Somalia but has also restricted international telephone service
and shut down electronic fund transfers.
MORE EXPLORER BUGS
Microsoft still has major security problems with its Internet
Explorer web browser. There is still a flaw in IE that allows
any web page or HTML email to read arbitrary local files on user
computers. The flaw could also "lead to remote command
execution". In short, hackers can not only read your files but
they may be able to execute programs, erase data or put virus
programs on your machine.
NETSCAPE EMAIL FLAW
There is also a flaw in Netscape's email software. The flaw
allows hackers to track email readers, obtaining the full
pathnames to the email reader and can possibly lead to access to
the users system. At very least the flaw allows companies to
track users over the Internet. At very worst, it could allow
hackers to sign on using stolen passwords and accounts.
GREEN BERET PHONE HOME
U.S. special forces teams are equipped with scrambled Iridium
satellite phones. The phones allow CIA and U.S. military
personnel in Afghanistan to call in air strikes and other
assistance for the Northern Alliance. The space phone company
went bankrupt in 1999 and nearly had to de-orbit its ring of 77
satellites last year. Now the company appears to be flush with
new government contracts and is ready to orbit replacement
satellites.
LONG DISTANCE RATES
One feature likely to be turned off on the Special Forces
Iridium phones is the tracking software. Iridium was designed
to bill by long distance rates, using special accounting
software to locate the caller in 3 dimensions and calculate
the exact position. The company would then bill by the distance
from the caller. The farther the call, the higher the rate.
The Defense Dept. had Iridium turn off the tracking feature
since it would reveal the exact location of military users.
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