Up to a million PCs in the zombie army

Up to one million PCs are part of an army of zombie computers attached to the internet, according to a survey carried out by a group of security experts. Attackers can control as many as 50,000 at a time. The survey was carried out as part of the Honeypot Project. ...more

EC backs grid computing to the tune of €52mn

The European Commision has given a grant of €52mn to kickstart 'Grid' computing in Europe. The package goes to twelve EU funded research projects. Grid computing combines together the unused computing power of a network of machines to tackle one particular project. ...more

eBook to get $100,000 prize

The International Frankfurt Book Fair has begun today and with it comes official recognition for electronic books. For the first time, there will be a number of "eBook awards". The winners, to be announced this Friday, will receive $100,000 for the best work published originally in electronic form, while prizes for works in other categories - those converted from print - will be awarded up to $10,000. ...more

Flash prices falling further

Prices for flash memory cards, which have been falling recently, are expected to continue declining as more and more companies begin production. Taiwan's DigiTimes reports that in the last few months some manufacturers have switched from DRAM production to more profitable falsh products such as CompactFlash. With Toshiba installing a new flash production line, the increase in supply has led to falling prices as demand has yet to catch up, despite a rise in digital camera shipments. ...more

Rate of spam surging warns security firm

The enterprise email security firm FrontBridge has reported a strong increase in the prevalence of spam, both across the year and within the last month. The proportion of email it has quarantined for analysis and deemed to be junk has almost doubled - from 48 per cent in January to nearly 70 per cent for October, a rise of 47 per cent. Furthermore it has reported a 15 per cent increase of spam in the space of a week alone in mid-October. ...more