SLAMMER BREAKS ALL RECORDS
The "Slammer" virus that crippled the Internet almost two weeks ago was the fastest computer worm ever recorded, representing "significant and worrisome milestones in the evolution of computer worms," a report by a California computer experts finds. The report said the worm doubled its numbers every 8.5 seconds in the first minute of its attacks -- infecting more than 75,000 vulnerable hosts within 10 minutes of its Jan. 24 debut. At its peak, the worm was scanning 55 million hosts per second, causing "a computer version of freeway gridlock when all the available lanes are bumper-to-bumper," said Colleen Shannon, a researcher at the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis at the University of California's San Diego Supercomputer Center, which produced the report together with Net security firm Silicon Defense, as well as UC Berkeley and Berkeley's International Computer Science Institute. The report said the worm was able to reproduce so quickly because of the small size of its code, which at 376 bytes was about the size of an average paragraph.
USING THE NET TO COMBAT SMALLPOX
A new project seeks to use the Internet as a tool to find drugs to protect against exposure to smallpox, a disease widely viewed as a potential bioterror weapon. The project, originally launched by Oxford University's chemistry department and United Devices Inc., of Austin, Texas, sought to distribute a screensaver over the Internet that would use the idle time of PCs around the world to screen millions of molecules in an effort to discover anti-cancer drugs, with an anthrax component launched this spring. The newest iteration, unveiled Wednesday, pairs Oxford with IBM and other partners in a new screen-saver to harness PC time to scan 35 million drug compounds. The hope is to develop a drug that would protect against smallpox exposure without the major side effects of the current smallpox vaccine. The original effort gained 2 million users in the screen-saver community, which will be used in the latest project. "Nothing could be more appropriate in seeking protection against a universal threat than to engage ordinary people across the world in a coordinated effort to discover a druge which would render smallpox impotent," Oxford scientific researcher Graham Richards said. The screen saver is available online at chem.ox.au.uk/smallpox.
SURFING AT WORK, WORKING AT HOME
Companies should not worry about workers' idle Net-surfing on the job, according to the 2002 National Technology Readiness Survey. The survey's results might be surprising: employees with Web access both at home and in the office spend more time working from home than they do playing at work. According to the survey, conducted jointly by University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business and the technology marketing research firm Rockbridge Associates Inc., of Great Falls, Va., such employees spend an average of 3.7 hours each week on personal online activities at work -- but also average 5.9 hours per week of work-related Internet use at home. However, the study also found workers not hooked up to the Internet at home spend on average 6.5 hours a week on personal Web business while at work. The numbers are not insignificant. According to the study, 85 percent of those surveyed said they use work Net access for personal pursuits.
SOTHEBY'S AND EBAY: TOGETHER, BUT DIFFERENT
Sotheby's and eBay are parting ways -- sort of -- in their mutual online auction endeavors. The two companies said Tuesday that Sothebys.com's separate auctions would be discontinued in early May, but added the two auctioneers would continue their partnership in promoting Sotheby's live auctions. The partnership is advantageous for both sides. Sotheby's builds up eBay's arts, antiques and collectibles category, which last year brought in more than $1 billion in sales, while Sotheby's uses eBay's Live Auction technology, allowing purveyers of its high-end merchandise to bid in online real-time. The Sothebys.com Web site will continue, Sotheby's said, but will focus on live auctions.
(Got a tip for UPI's On the Net? Send an e-mail to [email protected])
