Symantec announced an updated email security product for business users. Symantec Mail Security for SMTP 5.0 is an email gateway software product that offers spam, virus and content filtering. Scheduled to be available in May, the product is the final result of the melding of Brightmail and Symantec technologies into a single, integrated product.

If reports issued by several well-known antivirus companies are on the money, IT administrators will continue to face new and sophisticated forms of malware that challenge the security industry’s ability to stay ahead of emerging threats. Based on a new study released by software maker McAfee’s Avert Labs group, the technology used to cloak many different forms of malware, especially rootkits, is becoming increasingly complex and harder to detect.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said that Oracle may be considering buying a Linux company in the future. After considering open source’s and Linux’s pluses and minuses, Ellison has concluded that for Oracle, "We don’t have to fight open source, we have to exploit open source," Ellison reportedly said. That doesn’t mean, however, that Ellison will be pursuing Novell or Red Hat with the ardor that he chased down and then bought PeopleSoft and Siebel. While Oracle uses Linux in its own offices and as a foundation operating system for its major Oracle application platform, Ellison remains unconvinced that owning major open-source programs makes sense.

It’s just the news that hardworking taxpayers want to see in their inbox: an update on their refund from the Internal Revenue Service. But instead of clicking on that email’s links, federal officials advise you to hit the delete key. That’s because dozens of scams, known as ##"phishing" schemes, are making the rounds,## poised to steal your personal information. "This phishing scheme is exploding," said IRS Commissioner Mark Everson.

Implementation of SOA (service-oriented architecture) is on the rise, reports the Yankee Group. The consultancy’s survey of 306 U.S. IT executives found that 84 percent had an SOA project or would be starting one within the next year. SOA is an approach to software design that promotes the development and integration of reusable components that are based on elements of a business process.

Users of Hewlett-Packard printers, scanners and cameras may be experiencing some problems after installing Microsoft’s latest round of security patches, released late last week. The problems, which concern a Windows operating system patch numbered MS06-015, can cause some applications to crash, Microsoft warned Saturday. Microsoft believes the problem is primarily affecting consumer users and is having "little to no impact on corporate networks." The problem affects users who have installed software that is included with a number of HP devices, "including but not limited to printers, scanners, and cameras," wrote Microsoft’s Stephen Hui, in a newsgroup posting. Users also have experienced the problem in popular applications like Outlook or Word.

In the coming war for talent, organizations that recruit and retain top-notch workers before the labor shortfall becomes acute will possess a competitive advantage. So say authors Ken Dychtwald, Tamara Erickson and Robert Morison in "Workforce Crisis: How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills and Talent." IT has felt the pinch of a labor shortage for some time: witness the current shortage of information-technology graduates. But the perfect storm of baby boomer retirements and a deficit of young workers means the situation is poised to go from bad to worse unless employers take steps now to secure their talent pool. Workforce Crisis offers a road map for getting ahead now, by rewriting "the employment deal" with workers today.

The explosive idea of forcing Internet providers to record their customers’ online activities for future police access is gaining ground in state capitols and in Washington, D.C. Top Bush administration officials have endorsed the concept, and some members of the U.S. Congress have said federal legislation is needed to aid law enforcement investigations into child pornography.

Companies that have become expert procurers of information technology services on domestic shores need to be hyperdiligent when they contract offshore. Standardization might be the way to go for IT services, but offshore contracts should be custom-made, says research firm Gartner.

Outsourcing of information technology and business services delivers average cost savings of 15 percent, disproving market claims that outsourcing can reduce costs by over 60 percent. After professional fees, severance pay and governance costs, savings range between 10 percent and 39 percent, with the average level at 15 percent when contracts are first let, according to outsourcing advisory firm TPI.