After almost two years of developing and testing its own technology, Microsoft launched a new Internet search engine Tuesday in 25 countries and 10 languages.

The move boosts Microsoft’s position in a highly competitive market dominated by Google and Yahoo and while industry analysts say the new search service has some catching up to do, Microsoft promised Tuesday’s launch is only the beginning.

Until it developed its own product, Microsoft was relying on Yahoo’s Inktomi search technology to power searches on its MSN (Microsoft Network) sites. The new search engine fills that gap with Microsoft technology and paves the way for the software giant to challenge the competition in a market that is expected to grow in the U.S. to $3.2 billion US this year, up from last year’s $2.6 billion. By 2009, advertising revenue is expected to reach $5.5 billion.

Niki Scevak, an analyst with Jupitermedia Corp., said the new search engine is “leaps and bounds ahead of the almost Frankenstein approach they had with the partnership.”

“The technology is now under Microsoft’s control,” he said. “The pace of their catch-up is remarkable but it is still catch-up rather than leaping ahead of Yahoo and Google.”

Scevak said search engines are unlike other media in terms of competitive space. While television networks can charge ad rates depending on where they stand relative to competitors in the ratings, money is made selling online advertising when a consumer clicks through to the advertiser’s website.

“It is very democratic,” he said. “The more volume you have directly correlates to how much revenue you have. In search engines it is simply the volume of traffic times the cost per click. There is no premium for being number one.”

The price per click-through on the new MSN search site for ads ranges from 50 cents to $5 US per click. The average click price in the sector is rising, with Jupitermedia predicting it will reach 47 cents in 2009, up from 29 cents in 2003.

Stephen Evans, manager of information services and merchant platform for MSN Canada, said the launch marks an important step for the company.

“This is a first step for Microsoft. We are just starting and we will be investing heavily in doing a lot of new things.”

Evans said it is a key part of Microsoft’s integrated online offerings.

“Our focus is to answer people’s questions quickly and efficiently,” he said. “It’s about the potential of search, that is important for Microsoft.

“Our main goal is to provide consumers with great online experiences and search is a part of that.”

Microsoft has spent some 20 months and $100 million US developing and testing the technology. It has been operating a beta version in recent months as it tested and tweaked the service.

“We have an index of over five billion Web pages and we refresh that index every couple of days,” said Evans.

“We are in a competitive market, but we have built a foundation on which to innovate and we plan to announce a lot of new innovations in the next few months.”

In Canada, the service is available at sympatico.msn.ca, at search.sympatico.msn.ca, or simply by pointing your browser at msn.ca which redirects to the Sympatico/MSN home page.

WHAT THE ENGINE RUNS:

Among the features of the MSN search site:

– A link to Encarta, allowing users to search Microsoft’s online encyclopedia, allowing a free two-hour pass (each visit) to all of Encarta’s premium content.

– A search builder that Evans suggests you “think of as advanced search on steroids.” It offers a number of ways to filter results, to increase the relevance of the sites that are served up.

– In beta testing is a desktop search link, following the lead set by Google’s desktop search function.

– A ranking of results geared to the country you are in.

– Image search allowing users to filter on the basis of such factors as size, colour or black-and-white, and filter out images that are deemed objectionable.

– Searching from other MSN channels, including from MSN Messenger 7 beta in which users can highlight a key word in a message to launch a search.

– News bots in beta that build a page with the most commonly read stories at the time, along with an individualized offering, based on the user’s interests.

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

1) CANON POWERSHOT A510, $375.

Small and light and sporting 3.2 megapixel capability, the A510 is designed to introduce its users to the concept of digital photography. It comes equipped with a 4x optical zoom lens that offers a 35 to 140mm range (35 mm format equivalent.) Despite its size, this replacement for Canon’s popular A75, has a 1.8-inch LCD screen. It uses only two AA batteries for 300 shots with the screen on, as opposed to four in previous models. Two new settings called Night Snapshot and Kids & Pets have been added.

2) ONKYO TX – NR1000 THX ULTRA 2 NETWORK HOME THEATRE RECEIVER, $4,300.

Onkyo is pushing its top-of-the-line, cutting-edge new home theatre receiver as being what it terms “future proof.” In other words, it comes with plug-in circuit modules, which means that every time there’s a must-have update in technology, early-adopter owners will be able to replace a card rather than the entire receiver. As well, Onkyo says it will offer software upgrades as necessary to go along with the technology. The seven-channel (150 watts each) receiver can be connected via ethernet to a home computer network.

3) KONICA MINOLTA DIMAGE Z5, NO PRICE AVAILABLE YET.

Aimed at the travel and home photography market, this just-announced five-megapixel digital camera from Konica Minolta comes with a 12x optical zoom lens with a 35mm camera equivalent of 35-420 mm (especially good for sporting events). It also features the company’s proprietary anti-vibration technology that helps halt that blurring problem that a lot of amateurs see when they try to shoot at slower shutter speeds because of lower light levels. Has a two-inch LCD monitor and can focus at 0.2 seconds at wide angle and 0.3 seconds at telephoto.

4) TOSHIBA PORTEGE M300 NOTEBOOK COMPUTER, $2,600.

Weighing just 3.6 pounds, this notebook is described by Toshiba as being ultra portable. It features built-in protection that stops the 60 gigabyte hard drive from being read should the notebook be dropped. It also has a spill-resistant keyboard. The M300 features a 12.1-inch screen and an Intel Pentium M processor, 512 megabytes of DDR memory and up to six hours of battery life. It also has a combo CDRW/DVD drive that allows DVD viewing and data burning to CD.

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. is using its popular Internet search technology to find information and images broadcast on television, continuing a recent effort to extend its reach beyond the web.

The California-based company planned to introduce the new video search service today in an index that will be operated separately from the market-leading search engine offered on its home page. The feature pinpoints content previously aired on a variety of television networks by scanning through the closed-caption text that many programmers offer.

Google’s index, which began storing information last month, includes programming from ABC, PBS, Fox News and C-SPAN.

“We think TV is a big part of people’s lives,” said Jonathan Rosenberg, Google’s vice-president of product management. “Ultimately, we would like to have all TV programming indexed.”

The television product represents Google’s latest attempt to get a better handle on the reams of vital information that isn’t stored on web pages. The company recently set out to scan millions of books from several major libraries into its search engine and is offering a program that finds material stored on computer hard drives.

Search engine analyst Charlene Li of Forrester Research said Google’s latest innovation is likely to disappoint many people because it doesn’t provide a direct link to watch the previously broadcast programming.

Google instead is displaying up to five still video images from the indexed television programs, as well as snippets from the show’s narrative. The search results also will provide a breakdown on when the program aired and when an episode is scheduled to be repeated. Local programming information will be available for those who provide a ZIP code.

Rival search engine Yahoo Inc. also has been tinkering with a product that finds video available for Webcasts. Hoping to counter Google’s entrance into the space, Yahoo planned to step up the promotion of its video search tools Tuesday by linking to the service from the home page of its heavily trafficked website.

Li said Yahoo’s service is flawed, too, because “most of the (video) that you can see on the web isn’t the stuff that you really want to see.”

If the Google and Yahoo services attract a following, more television programmers may be compelled to provide better online access to their content, Li said. “Video search is going to be a very long-term play.”

Google doesn’t plan to use the television search engine as another vehicle for displaying the text-based ad links that generate most of its profits.

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

CREDIT: Glenn Baglo, Vancouver Sun The range of choices for buyers of new television sets is enormous, but plan to look for high-definition TV, which is the wave of the future.

When it comes to television sets, there’s an entire universe of choices.

Should you go for plasma? What about liquid crystal display? Should you be considering that rear projection model? And what about high-definition TV? Would it just be better to wait another year?

North Americans are snapping up new sets in record numbers. In 2004, total sales of digital TV products reached $10.2 billion US, a jump of 78 per cent over 2003.

There are lots of options sitting on the sales shelves. Here’s a guide to help you navigate through that galaxy of choices:

1. Don’t put it off getting that set, and, when you buy, opt for high definition:

David Heim, deputy editor of Consumer Reports magazine, doesn’t believe you should wait around for the next big thing before you buy a set, as long as you make sure it’s capable of giving you a good high-definition picture.

“I’ve been telling people for some time that if you want a set for the long haul, for five or seven years and if you’re going to spend $5,000 or $6,000 or more, you’re making an investment and you want to make sure you’re getting all the resolution you’re paying for.”

In other words, buy a set, no matter what type you choose, that is at least HD-ready. And what does this mean?

Your current analogue television set shows a picture made up of 480 horizontal lines. To be considered HDTV a television set has to have a minimum of 720 horizontal lines and a wide screen.

When it comes to that decision about HD sets, most Canadians don’t need a built-in tuner but can go with HD-ready (no tuner, but capable of handling HDTV pictures) sets because you get a tuner with the new digital boxes offered by the cable and satellite services — each of which have at least a few HDTV channels.

Shaw, for example, offers one movie channel, four Washington state stations (KOMO, KIRO, KING, KSPS) and a special events channel called HDTV1.

Basically, if you don’t have cable or satellite, you’re out of luck when it comes to HDTV.

2. Gear the size of the set to the room you’ll be using.

Sony Canada‘s communication manager John Challinor said that after asking if the set is HD or HD-ready the next step is simple:

“Ask how big a TV do I need, where is it going and what technology that I can afford will fit in the space that I have.”

Enough said.

3. Narrow down your choices, which are wide and plentiful.

“It’s not as if anyone is being deprived of a selection here,” said Heim. “Far from it. In fact, there’s probably too much for people to choose from.”

Among the most popular choices are:

* Rear projection sets: These come in two different types:

— The large, space-hogging, but relatively inexpensive models based on the cathode ray tube (CRT) technology that provides the picture in traditional TV sets.

— The more expensive, but much slimmer and lighter microdisplay models that offer a better picture through more modern liquid crystal display (LCD), data light processing (DLP) or liquid crystal on silicon (LCoD) technology.

The most common technology used in microdisplay models is LCD, which is what is used in current computer monitors.

* Plasma: What most people still think about when they think big screen, these sets, thin enough to be wall mounted, have thousands of red, green and blue pixels activated by plasma and work something akin to fluorescent lights. They have bright, eye-catching images.

* LCD: These thin and light, but expensive and relatively small sets — similar to modern computer monitors — have a backlight that shines through thousands of red, green and blue pixels to create colourful images.

4. Do I want a rear-projection set and, if so, what type?

The set of choice for Christmas at Canada‘s giant Future Shop chain was the rear-projection set, divisional merchandise manager Tony Sandhu said.

“Traditionally, the projection sets have been the most affordable for the size,” said Sandhu, who says that both the CRT and microdisplay models sold well, but the trend is towards the microdisplay.

A 50-inch microdisplay set generally runs around $3,500, while an equivalent 50-inch high definition plasma model would go in the $8,000 to $9,000 range.

Sony’s Challinor said that his company’s most popular set with consumers is its LCD-based rear projection model.

“It’s a combination of a bunch of things,” Challinor said. “The screen size gives them the home theatre experience and the quality of picture relative to other technologies. And the weight of the product and its design allows them to put it in their living room or den and other areas where they want to watch TV.”

Heim says CRT-based projection TVs often do well in Consumer Reports tests, the most recent of which will be in the March issue.

“Some of them have a very slight edge in performance and they certainly have a big edge in price,” Heim said.

5. What about those big, colourful plasma pictures?

Plasma is certainly the most eye-catching of the technologies so far and many owners love them and swear by them.

However there are concerns.

“For all the pizazz, there are still issues with plasma sets, not the least of which is their price,” said Heim.

Other worries, he added, are colour accuracy and burn-in, where a ghost image can be left on the screen by such things as crawls across the bottom of the screen from news channels and images from games.

“If you’re paying $5,000 or $6,000 or $7,000 for a set that’s not something you really want to look forward to,” Heim said.

Challinor said that plasma is not as robust as other technologies.

“I categorize plasma as the Paris Hilton of television,” said Challinor. “It’s high maintenance, it’s technology you have to take care of.”

Challinor also mentioned burn-in and said that plasma was subject to changing conditions in a room. “The technology is sensitive, so it really does require someone who is very keen about what they want and where they watch it and the environment around the television.”

6. LCD works fine for my computer monitor, what about it as a choice for television?

The picture on the thin, light LCD screens looks good and is steadily improving in quality. The big knock against LCD at the moment is that the sets are very expensive.

“Traditionally, with LCD for a 40-inch screen you’re looking at about $10,000,” said Sandhu.

However, he added, that could change when sets with screens from a new Sony/Samsung LCD plant in South Korea begin hitting the market.

“I believe that by about May you’ll be able to pick up that 40-inch screen for about $5,000.”

Heim said that those looking for a flat panel, five-inch thick display, would probably be best to go with an LCD set, assuming they buy as big a screen as they want.

“That’s because there are probably fewer issues with LCD than there are with plasma,” said Heim.

[email protected]

NEW SWING AT FED TELEVISION

Diamond dust — or perhaps just plain old carbon — could soon be coming to a television screen near you.

And, if it does, then it could launch the category killer that wipes Plasma and LCD TV sets off the digital map — eventually.

The dust will be used in what are called field effect displays (FED) which, if you believe the hype, could offer a better picture and be cheaper than LCD or plasma and, as an environmental bonus, eat less energy.

FED TVs (and, be warned, this technology fizzled the first time it was tried by Motorola in the 1990s) might make it into stores by late 2006. Samsung already has a prototype of a carbon-based TV.

Others working on it include Sony, Fujitsu, Hitachi, LG Philips, Mitsubishi, Motorola and Pioneer.

As if that weren’t enough another, similar technology, called surface conduction electronic emission (SED) is also being tried by the likes of Canon and Toshiba.

The FED concept works — stretching things just a bit — somewhat like a combination of the plain old cathode ray tube (CRT), with its electron gun, and the LCD, with its sandwich technology.

It’s said that, if the technological problems can be overcome, a FED TV set could cost half of what a similar LCD model would run.

And this could mean that FED would also work well in large computer monitors.

However, those hungering for a flat-panel or wide-screen or HDTV experience might not want to wait for something that, at best, is likely to be two years away.

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

Microsoft Corp., whose popular Windows software is a frequent target for Internet viruses, is offering a free security program to remove the most dangerous infections from computers.

The program, with monthly updates, is a step toward plans by Microsoft to sell full-blown antivirus software later this year.

Microsoft said Thursday that consumers can download the new security program from the company’s website — www.microsoft.com — and that updated versions will be offered automatically and free each month. It will be available starting Tuesday.

Also, Microsoft offered Thursday a free program to remove “spyware,” a category of irritating programs that secretly monitor the activities of Internet users and can cause sluggish computer performance or pop-up ads.

Ryan Purita, senior security consultant with Vancouver‘s Totally Connected Security Ltd., slammed Microsoft for producing software that is susceptible to virus attacks and so drives the anti-virus market.

“Viruses are caused by flaws in Microsoft software, spyware is caused by flaws in Microsoft,” he said. Instead of creating its own anti-virus solutions, Purita said Microsoft should be asked: “How about you get your programmers to code secure software so we don’t have to worry about anti-virus?”

Companies like Sophos, an international network security company with North American headquarters in Vancouver, will be in competition with Microsoft only if the new anti-virus services are extended to businesses as well as consumers. Unlike Symantec and McAfee, which offer consumer products as well as business solutions, Sophos caters only to the corporate crowd.

Catherine Ducharme, director of corporate communications for Sophos, said it is too early to determine what effect the Microsoft announcement could have a Sophos‘ business.

“We don’t know anything about what the product is or who the product is targeted at,” she said. “From Sophos‘ point of view, our focus is exclusively on providing protection to business. We don’t know if it is competition for us. It’s a little speculative right now.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

The 1983 tech-thriller War Games is remarkable in motion picture history.

In the lead role, actor Matthew Broderick was nearing the peak of his ability, years before he became Ferris Bueller or Mr. Sarah Jessica Parker. And his on-screen collision with fellow Hollywood titan Dabney Coleman defines the era as, say, the combination of Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud in Richard III redefined film making in the 1950s.

More than this, however, War Games introduced computer hacking to the masses.

Broderick nearly unleashes the Third World War when he accidentally hacks into Norad’s mainframe by using as a password the name of the dead son of a dead computer programmer who, fortunately for civilization, was not really dead but flying toy dinosaurs in Oregon.

As Gen. Beringer, impeccably played by Barry Corbin, prepares to vapourize Russkies in retaliation for a mock, computer-generated nuclear strike against the United States, computer chief Dr. John McKittrick (Coleman) shouts incredulously: “There’s no way a high-school punk can put a dime in a telephone and break into our system.”

That was the paleolithic age of computer technology. Now, a pay phone — if you can find one — requires 25 cents for a local call and hacking is free.

And with the proliferation of wireless technology and Wired Local Area Network (WLAN) computer systems in the last year, hacking has never been easier.

“What Matthew Broderick did was more difficult to do than what it is today,” security consultant Ian Watson says. “That movie spawned the term war dialing. War driving is what hackers do today. They get a laptop and antenna, slap it on their car and drive around the city looking for wireless access points.

“You can buy kits off the internet for war driving for $150. You can make your own antenna out of a Pringles can for about $10 in parts. Coffee cans work better. They can give you a good couple of kilometres. In our building, I’ve picked up a wireless signal from Grouse Mountain.”

Watson’s building, DTM Systems Corp., is at Boundary Road and the Lougheed Highway in Vancouver, about 10 kilometres from Grouse Mountain.

If Watson were a bad guy — a “black-hat” or “cracker” in hackerspeak — he could have infiltrated that wireless network, used the computers of others in that system as hosts and attempted to launch cyber attacks against companies, government agencies or individuals.

Offences can range from merely using someone’s Internet service for free, to junk-mailing or “spamming,” to more serious acts, such as cybervandalism to criminal theft or fraud.

Since clever crackers leave a trail back to their hosts, unwitting accomplices, or no trail at all, there is almost no way for authorities to catch them.

Of course, WLANs could have any one of a variety of electronic security shields, but Watson says many smaller networks and home users are defenceless.

And wireless access points in public spaces such as cafes, hotel lobbies and libraries can be especially vulnerable, he says.

“[On] the statistics that I’ve seen, up to 60 per cent of access points right now aren’t using encryption at all,” Watson says. “And 28 per cent of [wireless routers] are straight out of the box from the manufacturer, no changes made.

Hackers Thrive in Wireless World

CREDIT: Bill Keay, Vancouver Sun Computer security consultant Ian Watson says there can be consequences to cutting the cord and letting wireless technology take over.

“Right now, security is simply an option [on wireless devices]. And if I’m doing my online banking at home, yeah, I think that security is pretty important to me. I think it’s important that my doctor’s office has some security, and my dentist and my lawyer. There are a lot of doctors’ offices that have wireless for the functionality, but have no security. The home user and small-business user are definitely at risk.”

Watson says larger companies, which have technology professionals on staff and big budgets for security, can also be compromised if a manager or employee decides to work from home using unsecured wireless.

A war-driving hacker can locate the wireless signal — all networks operate at essentially the same frequencies, 2.4 GHz or 5.7 GHz — and use the unguarded access point as a portal into the person’s work network.

Many businesses and agencies, including The City of Vancouver, have put off implementing WLANs, due partly to security concerns, but Watson says there remains widespread ignorance about the risk of unsecured access points.

Coquitlam criminologist Bessie Pang, executive director of the Society for Policing Cyberspace, is trying to do something about it.

The global society’s website, www.polcyb.org, has been set up as a security resource.

“Cybercrime is absolutely increasing,” Pang says. “But with help, people can be made more aware of it.”

Pang says public awareness about child pornography and identity theft are helping combat those cybercrimes, but she adds: “Just as much as those, there are other problems. It’s becoming very, very serious.

“There are two sides to the coin in the improvement of technology and wireless technology. It’s easier to use, but easier to get into. You pay for the convenience of technology.

“Companies sometimes want to save money [on security]. You might save money in the long run, but you just need one person to hack in and the whole company is down.”

Preventing cybercrime is far easier than prosecuting it.

Police rely almost entirely on electronic forensics to catch hackers, but often the trail ends abruptly. There are rare cases of war drivers being caught on location, but Const. Ken Kuan, part of the RCMP’s 12-member Integrated Technology Crime Unit in Vancouver, says these arrests usually involve intelligence, such as a witness.

“Certainly, the prevention part should be the focus,” Kuan says. “For us, because of the [security] issue, the RCMP ourselves are reluctant to use wireless technology. I put up a wireless network at home and I could detect one or two access points in the homes of my neighbors. It certainly opens the door to hackers.”

Pang says: “It’s hard for investigators to catch up to cybercrime because of the enormous amount of financial resources you have to put into technology.”

Kuan says everyone should enable the security features on the wireless routers they buy.

Watson notes, however, that people want these devices for their convenience, so manufacturers build them to work easily, straight out of the box. Enabling built-in security is a chore.

“Go to Future Shop, look at a box: ‘Quick and Easy, Easy to Use, Installs in 10 Minutes.’,” Watson recites. “You plug it in, it works. That’s how these wireless devices are being marketed to the consumer. The consumer then brings that attitude into the corporation, not realizing their risks for their home networks is completely different than risk for the corporation.

“The corporation may have spent thousands of dollars hardening their outer security so they have a perimeter defending against all the threats, but they most likely have a soft, chewy centre. It’s kind of like the bubble gum — hard outside, soft, chewy centre. And someone’s just plugged in this $100 piece of gear that has defeated a $100,000 security system that a corporation has put in place.”

Watson says, however, that the latest wireless technology — defined within the industry as 802.11i — has far more advanced encryption capabilities than earlier versions.

So, if properly secured, WLAN is getting safer.

“We want to do it [install WLAN], but technical and security issues have so far kept us from being able to do it,” City of Vancouver technology manager Martin Crocker says. “I believe it can be made secure. A lot of airports and police forces are using it, but it’s not something you do with a wireless router you pick up at Radio Shack.”

The Surrey school district recently installed wireless networks at two of its high schools.

“Demand is there,” district manager of information services Colin McLellan says. “It’s convenient and efficient, but you really need to do your research and set it up securely. Yes, security is a concern, but there’s technology to mitigate it.”

Watson estimates that 30 to 40 per cent of Vancouver companies are running wireless, but there are only a handful of local firms specializing in WLAN security.

Safeguards for wireless users range from basic data encryption and electronic firewalls to WPAs (Wi-Fi Protected Areas that include user authentication), DMZs (buffer networks that protect an inner one) and Virtual Private Networks.

Pang cautions, however, that there is always something new to make users wary.

“Just when you think you’re safe, someone else on the other side of the world thinks up something new,” she says.

In November, the first felony conviction for spamming — mass and often fraudulent junk e-mailings — was achieved in the United States.

Jeremy Jaynes and Jessica DeGroot, a brother and sister from Raleigh, N.C., were found guilty of soliciting sales for a non-existent “FedEx refund processor” they promised could earn people $75 an hour. In one month, Jaynes received 10,000 credit card orders at $40 each.

The conviction followed by one month news that a cracker in California had hacked into a university computer in Berkeley and accessed the Social Security numbers, addresses and phone numbers of 1.4 million Americans.

Watson believes most cybercrime goes unreported.

Companies are loath to publicize a breach in security for fear it will erode public confidence or their stock price, he says. And individuals are often unaware that their computer security has been compromised and they are being used by hackers.

Big Brother isn’t watching, but DarkRaider could be, or ezPrey or Blackspyder — hacker handles.

“It can go on for months, years, forever,” Watson says.

“There are people out there right now who don’t know their machines are compromised and being used by other people for nefarious means. “There’s something to be said for that wired world. It was slower, but it was more secure.”

Imagine what Matthew Broderick could do today.

“It would be an interesting movie,” Watson says.

WAR DRIVING

WHAT: War driving has nothing to do with George W. Bush.

It’s the evolution of hacking, a means of exploiting security breaches in modern Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN).

HOW IT WORKS: A mobile hacker equipped with a laptop computer, wireless ethernet card set to “promiscuous” mode and an antenna locates unguarded access points that allow him or her into wireless networks.

It is also called war mapping, because hackers, who share intelligence, can map out large areas of access points for continuing abuse.

WHY IT WORKS: According to cyber-security consultant Ian Watson, 60 per cent of wireless systems are deployed without encryption. WLAN signals, radio waves, are unconfined by walls, allowing war drivers to detect them outside corporations and private homes.

HOW WAR DRIVERS ARE CAUGHT: They’re not.

“It’s difficult to find them,” Watson says.

“There’s anonymity. They’re not physically in your office, plugged into your network doing harm. They’re in their car in the parking lot, they’re down the road, they’re in Starbucks connected to your open access point.

“If they launch an attack from your open access point, it’s going to be traced back to you and your network. They’ll be long gone.”

Hackers hide behind our privacy laws

Iain MacIntyre

Vancouver Sun

December 4, 2004

The biggest problem in prosecuting hackers is that there are so few cases to prosecute.

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms and The Privacy Act, laws that protect Canadian citizens, also shield hackers and make investigating cybercrimes extremely difficult.

“It’s not a prosecution issue; it’s an investigation issue,” Crown counsel Henry Waldock says. “I haven’t yet had a case involving forensic computer evidence.

“The Internet was designed by academics. It was a time before black-hat hackers were part of this world. It wasn’t designed for forensic accounting or forensic analysis. The forensic trail left by computers is relatively slim.”

Since cybercrime usually leaves no physical evidence in the traditional sense, investigators have little more than computer forensics to pursue.

Often, there is nothing to chase.

Every computer hardware card has a serial number or MAC (Media Access Control) address to identify it. Addresses, however, can be changed by adept hackers, who make themselves transient.

Time-stamping on data also can be doctored.

“The trouble with electronic data is its fragility,” Waldock says. “A fingerprint on a car door, it would be ludicrous for someone to suggest someone fabricated it.

“But any kind of incriminating data can be planted by someone else by placing it in the hard drive. And there’s no way to date it. All date stamps can be changed.”

Waldock, an experienced Crown prosecutor in Chilliwack who has a degree in computer science and lectures on cybercrime, says the easiest way to catch hackers would be to intercept and trace their transmissions.

This, however, is illegal.

Section 184 of the Criminal Code makes it an offence to intercept private communications.

Investigators require judicial authorization to wiretap a phone or monitor the communications of a cybercrime suspect. They must convince a judge there are “reasonable and probable grounds” to order a wiretap against an individual.

Sometimes police do not have a single, identifiable hacker suspect. When they do, it remains difficult to establish the legal grounds necessary for wiretap authorization.

A honeypot is a cyberspace sting operation that Waldock says could be an effective tool for police. Authorities establish a vulnerable computer to lure hackers, much like police use bait cars to entice auto thieves.

But again, without reasonable and probable grounds for a wiretap against a specific person, the police cannot intercept transmissions. Also, officers could be assisting a hacker as he commits cybercrime.

“You’re stopped before you get started,” Waldock says. “You have a chicken and egg problem.”

By definition, laws follow crime.

In the case of hacking and cybercrime, the lag seems more pronounced.

Early in the electronic age, the Supreme Court ruled that stealing a copy of information was not a crime because data did not constitute property. Information taken was merely borrowed as long as it still existed at its origin.

Existing law progresses through changing interpretations and new laws have given authorities more latitude to combat cybercrimes involving child pornography and identity theft.

“The technology is moving along at a frightening pace,” Waldock says. “There are telephones you get in Japan that have infrared cameras, so you can take pictures of someone and see through their clothes.

“I have a degree in computer science and am very much into technology, and I have no idea what’s coming next.

“A decade is a long time in the information age. In law, it’s relatively brief. From 1993 to 2003, the Web went from 2,700 sites to 45 million. In about the same time frame, the Long Term Offender designation went from an idea to legislation interpreted by the Supreme Court of Canada.”

While the law tries to catch up, the private sector charges ahead.

There are global efforts to regulate the Internet and technology giants such as Microsoft and Intel are developing so-called “trusted computing,” which would make users easier to track.

Even as a prosecutor, however, Waldock has concerns about civil liberties being compromised by this possible future wave of technology.

“Hackers enjoy their privacy, but so do the rest of us,” he says. “That’s the balance here. How much of an Orwellian state do you want to live in?”

© The Vancouver Sun 2004

The wild world of Internet surfing is more dangerous than ever, due to a greater prevalence of malicious hacking, says IBM spokesman Pete Sturm.

But Sturm says that “spyware” — rather than worms or viruses — has become the No. 1 threat to be feared by those navigating the information highway.

“It’s mostly spyware now that I see people having trouble with,” said Sturm.

“Browser hijackers, tracking cookies to see what sites you visit — that’s more prevalent right now.”

Sturm said that, more than ever, individuals have to exercise the utmost care in their online habits to avoid having their computer compromised.

He offered several bits of advice:

– If you’re in the Windows world, and 90 per cent of users are, make sure you’ve installed Microsoft’s Service Pack 2 update package to take advantage of security fixes.

– Make sure your computer has antivirus software, and always keep it up to date.

Sturm said IBM’s security team is still seeing activity from viruses as old as CodeRed and Nimda, which first appeared three years ago.

– Install a firewall for your home-computer network, especially if you use an always-on connection like broadband or DSL. Malicious hackers are constantly scanning for home systems they can hijack.

– If you use WiFi hotspots to connect with the Internet with your laptop, make sure it has a firewall.

– Never respond to unsolicited e-mail. The Unsubscribe function on a spam e-mail can redirect you unknowingly to a malicious website that downloads a virus on your PC.

– Use passwords that aren’t easily guessed. About 40 per cent of computer users use the word “password’ as their password. Go for longer passwords, of at least seven or eight characters and mix in numbers.

– Back up your important files regularly.

© The Vancouver Province 2004

Shaw Internet subscribers will have a new set of tools to defend their computers against viruses and other attacks with the company’s announcement Wednesday of a new online security package.

Wrapping up anti-virus and firewall protection with parental control, spam control, a pop-up blocker and anti-spyware, Shaw Communications is offering the service on a six-month free trial to current customers and new subscribers.

After six months, the service will cost $4.95 a month. The monthly fee covers up to three computers, so home users who might have had to install security software on each machine can get coverage for three under a single subscription. The service will also be available to Shaw business Internet customers.

Shaw customers and new subscribers can sign up at start.shaw.ca starting today.

“Security concerns are on the minds of virtually every Internet user, and we want our customers to be able to use the Internet confidently and securely,” Peter Bissonnette, president of Shaw Communications said in a release announcing the product. “This new service is embedded in our Internet product and will be constantly updated to give our customers the peace of mind they’re looking for.”

The security service checks for virus updates hourly and provides information and descriptions of new and emerging viruses.

The service follows the rollout earlier this year of the company’s E-mail filter. According to company statistics, some 145 million of the 267 million e-mail messages that arrived at Shaw’s Internet data centre in October were identified as spam and tagged or deleted by the filter. The e-mail filter is built into the new security system which is being supplied by F-Secure.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004

The next voice you hear on your office or home phone could be digital, delivering a text message from your children at a party or your boss stuck in a meeting across town.

Called Txt 2 Landline, the new service, announced Monday by Rogers Wireless, will allow cell- phone users to send text messages to people with landlines.

And it will let you respond to them with a voice-only message in return.

The service will be free until April 2005 and then will add 25 cents to Rogers text messaging charges.

“The ability to send a text message to a landline device is non-existent today,” Rogers product and hardware management vice-president Raj Doshi said in an interview. “Now Mom and Dad will be able to get a message from their children saying, ‘I’m at this party, I’ll be late.’

“Or I might be sitting in a meeting and I have my cellphone but I can’t exactly leave to make a call, but I can send a quick text message saying ‘Honey, I’ll be home late for dinner.’ “

Doshi said that such a text message would be sent with the landline phone number on it and the system would recognize immediately that it’s not going to another cellular phone.

The technology will then translate the message from text to voice and deliver it, either to the recipient, or leave it as voicemail. The sender gets a message back saying the text has been delivered.

A live recipient can also reply, although that response would have to be sent via voice, said Doshi.

“Ideally it will evolve to the point where a text message is sent back but today that’s not a possibility,” said Doshi.

Telus Mobility representative Jennifer MacNeil said the company has no concrete plans for a Txt 2 Landline service yet, but is considering it.

Doshi said he believes Rogers’ competitors will eventually get into the service.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004