Monster.com, TJX, Pfizer–the list of companies and organizations affected by database breaches grows bigger and badder every week, but most enterprises remain focused on the perimeter and ignore the database. Some 80 percent of enterprises lack a basic database security plan, according to Forrester Research surveys. A secure database is a matter of process, not technology, and the enterprise process needs to focus on five key elements.

F-Secure is releasing its Internet Security 2008 product with new parental controls, improved anti-phishing features and a free trial version of anti-virus software for mobile devices.

With Internet Security 2008, released Sept. 3, F-Secure officials said they have improved the detection and scanning performance of phishing mail, as well as added a plug-in to allow users to configure security from the control panel in Windows Vista. Also, whitelisting is now possible so parents can define exactly where a child may surf on the Internet, and four new categories have been added that can be blocked: violence, travel, dating and sports.

IBM is showing off its new chip set architecture for its own line of high-end x86 servers just in time for the launch of Intel’s new platform for multiprocessor systems.

On Sept. 5, IBM will begin offering details of its X4 Architecture, which it plans to build into systems that use Intel’s quad-core "Tigerton" processors, which are expected to come to market during the third quarter of 2007. (Some publications reported Sept. 5 that the platform is launching this week.)

While most midsize organizations have implemented some kind of help desk technology to speed problem resolution, only a third of help desk managers surveyed earlier this year were completely satisfied with what they had deployed.

The survey, whose results will be released Sept. 10 by sponsor SupportSoft, found that while those polled had largely deployed some type of help desk system to increase problem resolution rates, many weren’t fully successful, according to Rajeev Shrivastava, senior director of product marketing at the technology problem resolution company in Redwood City, Calif.

What began as a ninth-grade prank, a way to trick already-suspicious friends who had fallen for his earlier practical jokes, has earned Rich Skrenta notoriety as the first person ever to let loose a personal computer virus.

Although over the next 25 years, Skrenta started the online news business Topix, helped launch a collaborative Web directory now owned by Time Warner’s Netscape and wrote countless other computer programs, he is still remembered most for unleashing the "Elk Cloner" virus on the world.

IBM has issued a patch to plug a critical flaw in its DB2 database management system that an attacker could exploit to take complete control of a system.

The flaw was discovered in DB2 version 9.1 Fixpack 2 Enterprise server edition. A buffer overflow condition exists within the sysproc.auth_list_groups_for_authid function.

The discovery was made Ariel Sanchez of New York City-based database security vendor, Application Security Inc. The vendor issued an advisory Friday for the DB2 flaw after IBM released a fix.

Working with Web applications today requires accessing information dynamically in an open and platform-agnostic manner that allows data and process integration. The Atom Publishing Protocol (AtomPub) is a mechanism that meets this requirement, providing a standardized way to work with components. It is an application-level protocol for publishing and editing Web resources, and it is supported in these IBM Lotus Connections features: Activities, Blogs, Communities, and Dogear (in Profiles, only reading is supported). This article is an introduction to working with Lotus Connections through its Atom API.

Oracle has agreed to acquire Netsure Telecom, a provider of network intelligence and network data integrity software.

The deal is expected to boost Oracle’s ability to help networking and telecommunications customers improve their network utilization, optimize capacity, financial modeling and streamline network life cycle management, the Redwood Shores, California company said in a statement dated Sunday.

IBM announced it has completed its acquisition of DataMirror Corporation, a publicly held company based in based in Markham, Ontario, Canada.

IBM announced an agreement to acquire DataMirror on July 16, 2007. DataMirror’s operations will be integrated into IBM’s Information Management software business.

A network of infected zombie computers has been roped into acting as vectors in a new distributed attack that’s targeting eBay accounts.

The attack, which is trying to wrestle personal financial data out of eBay accounts by brute force, has been going on for at least a week, officials at Aladdin Knowledge Systems told eWEEK. The security firm discovered the new botnet Sept. 3.