A configuration mistake in the new Debian Linux distribution has forced a fix less than 24 hours after the software was released. "New installations (of Debian 3.1 from CD and DVD) will not get security updates by default," Debian developer Colin Watson wrote in an email warning. Installations from floppy disks or network servers were not affected.

A British man suspected of hacking into 53 U.S. government computers is facing extradition, according to Scotland Yard. Gary McKinnon, 39, an unemployed man from north London, was arrested Tuesday night, the agency said. McKinnon, known as "Solo" in the hacking world, was set to appear before the Bow Street Magistrates Court on an extradition warrant from the U.S. government.

RSA Security is introducing a middleware package that will make it easier for developers to implement encryption and other security features in their application designs. Called the RSA BSafe Data Security Manager, this middleware allows application developers to implement security features without having specialized knowledge and experience in security programming.

ToJava, the Lotus Notes and Domino migration specialists, announced ToJava Quickstart, a low cost package that gives organizations the tools and skills needed to migrate Lotus Notes/Domino applications and data to J2EE. ToJava Quickstart includes the ToJava suite (its namesake collection of software tools that automate critical migration tasks), and on-site training in Notes-to-Java migration best practices.

Offshore outsourcing isn’t as gratifying as it used to be, according to a report released Tuesday by a consulting firm. DiamondCluster International’s annual study of information technology outsourcing found that the number of buyers satisfied with their "offshoring" providers has fallen from 79 percent to 62 percent. In addition, the number of buyers prematurely terminating an outsourcing relationship has doubled to 51 percent.

Some five months after IBM gave open-source developers unfettered access to 500 of its software patents, the company has turned its attention to the broader concept of harnessing that model to spark innovation, an effort already catching on with other large technology vendors. The open-source licensing and intellectual property model is also attracting some traditional proprietary vendors, such as Nokia Corp., which is testing the waters with new products tailored to developers of open-source applications.

Over the next two weeks, you may notice a difference in when and how much news gets posted. That’s because I’m taking a bit of a mini-vacation from the news. I’ll likely be posting something each day, just not as much as normal, and probably not at a time you’re used to.–James Booth, Senior Editor.

Citigroup, the world’s largest bank, said on Monday that account and payment history data on 3.9 million of its customers were lost in transit by United Parcel Service. The disappearance is the latest in a series of data breaches involving U.S. banks, including No. 2 Bank of America. New York-based Citigroup said the data was stored on computer tapes, and lost while UPS, was shipping them to an Experian credit bureau in Texas.

mValent has joined the IBM Open Process Automation Library (OPAL) initiative, designed to capture IT best practices and turn them into automation packages for automating manual, repetitive IT tasks. mValent’s participation in the IBM OPAL initiative assures customers that mValent’s technology can be used easily and efficiently to automate application configuration management within IBM’s On Demand operating environment and recently announced IT Service Management offerings.

Computer Associates added a consumer antispam product to its eTrust family of security products. The eTrust Anti-Spam software blocks unwanted email and is available online and at retailers for about $30, the company said. eTrust Anti-Spam includes common features, such as white lists for approved senders and support for digital signatures to verify authenticity of messages.