Cryptography break threatens digital signatures

Researchers in the field of cryptography have been successfully breaking the hash functions that are used to secure the privacy of electronic communications, threatening the integrity of digital signatures, according to a report on Slashdot. Details from the Crypto 2004 conference indicate that one Antoine Joux has broken the hash function used within the SHA-0 algorithm, and there are rumours that somebody is about to announce a partial break of the SHA-1, which is one of most popular cryptographic hash functions (CHF). As well as potentially undermining secure email web connections, such breakthroughs threaten the integrity of digital signatures. ...more

Microsoft edges ahead in deal with AOL

A deal between one of the big search engines and AOL looks like materialising in the coming weeks according to the Wall Street Journal. According to anonymous sources, the Time Warner board is leaning towards a deal with Microsoft although this might be misinformation leaked in order to get a better deal from Google. The deal seems to be somewhat short of the proposed merger or acquisition that was on the cards a few weeks ago. ...more

Skype adds voicemail service to its IP telephony

Net telephony giant Skype has updated its eponymous application to include voicemail and other new features. For about ?10 a year, Skype users can leave voicemails up to 10 minutes long for any other Skype user, even if they are not subscribed to the voicemail service. Voicemail has been in beta along with Skype's SkypeIn - giving Skype users a standard phone number that can be called from landlines or mobiles - since April. ...more

Australian faces four years in jail for ?3mn email scam

A 39-year-old man has been sentenced to at least four years behind bars for his part in an email scam that netted him AU$ 5mn (?2.94mn). Nick Marinellis, from Sydney, was allegedly the Australian head of the so-called Nigerian or West African scam, where email was spammed out suggesting the recipient had unclaimed lottery winnings, inheritance and business opportunities they could claim if they sent off a sum to cover administration. ...more

PS3 gets March date for UK launch

Sony said on Thursday it will launch the high-end version of its PlayStation 3 (PS3) game console on 23 March in Europe, but it has no plan at the moment to offer the basic model there. The electronics and entertainment conglomerate last September delayed the European launch of the PS3, Sony's most important strategic product for this business year, to March from November due to a production glitch. 'We will focus on the launch of the one with a 60GB drive and have no plan now to introduce the 20 gigabyte model,' Sony Computer Entertainment spokesman Satoshi Fukuoka said. ...more