News roundup... [13-06-2002]

By Alun Williams

Posted on 13 Jun 2002 at 17:10

Here, in brief, are some of the day's other stories.

• More MS security alerts Following in the wake of the Gopher-related security alert for Internet Explorer, Microsoft has released 3 more security bulletins. The first - with a maximum severity rating of 'critical', affecting Windows NT, 200 and XP - involves the Remote Access Service (RAS). A flaw exists in the RAS phonebook implementation such that a phonebook value is not properly checked, and is susceptible to a buffer overrun attack. This is potentially critical because specially malformed data could be run as code on the system. The other security flaws - with a maximum severity rating of 'moderate' - involve SQL Server and its handling of XML and IIS (4.0 and 5.0) and its handling of HTR, which is an older, largely obsolete scripting technology now replaced by ASP (active server pages). [more...]


• Open Mobile Alliance At the annual meeting of the WAP Forum, a host of companies - including Microsoft, Nokia and Sony-Ericsson - announced their support for the Open Mobile Alliance. In its own words, the alliance is seeking 'to align the wireless, Internet and PC industries' efforts to build a thriving wireless ecosystem and deliver on the promise of interoperable services and applications for mobile communications'. According to Juha Christensen, VP of the Mobility Group at Microsoft: 'This new alliance is a significant step to consolidate the multiple and overlapping standards bodies and specifications forums into one industry body, and break down the barriers to building a thriving market for mass adoption of wireless voice and data communications.'
  
• KPNQwest deadline extended The deadline for keeping the KPNQwest netowrks running has been extended to the end of the month. It is believed funding from the Dutch telecom KPN has enabled the administrators to prolong their search for a possible buyer, a move which also gives more time for KPNQwest clients to find alternative carriers.


• Conforming to XML The Internet Standards body W3C has released the XML 1.0 (Second Edition) Conformance Test Suite. The suite contains over 2000 test files that any developer can download free of cost and use to test the conformance of an XML processor to the XML Recommendation. [more...]