1. Britain to Hand over Gary McKinnon the Hacker
The British government has OK'ed the extradition to the United States of Gary McKinnon, who is accused of the biggest hacking of military sites ever. McKinnon was arrested in the in June 2005 after prosecutors charged him will illegally entering 97 government sites, including the Pentagon, NASA and the U.S. Army and Navy. McKinnon, who is said to have caused about $700,000 in damages, faces up to 70 years in jail and fines of $1.75 million. The hacking is said to have occurred over a one-year period starting in February 2002.
2. There are now 200,000 viruses in the McAfee VirusScan malware detection database. Researchers say it took 18 years to reach 100,000 (in September, 2004) and less than two to reach 200,000. They expect the number to reach 400,000 in about two years.
3. BusinessWeek has a good article on the extent of financial losses to retailers and companies in relation to data loss. Here's a rarity in the world of online security: Good news. The theft and loss of data that has dominated the news for the past several months rarely translates into actual financial losses to the owners. In fact, experts now say that real losses may actually be just one-tenth of the previous annual estimates of $48 billion.
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