A new variant of Gpcode, a dangerous encryptor virus has appeared, - Virus.Win32.Gpcode.ak. Gpcode.ak encrypts files with various extensions including, but not limited, to .doc, .txt, .pdf, .xls, .jpg, .png, .cpp, .h and more using an RSA encryption algorithm with a 1024-bit key.

Town hall snoopers used controversial anti-terror powers to delve into the phone and email records of thousands of people last year. They wanted to check for evidence of dog smuggling and storing petrol without permission - and even to trace a suspected bogus faith healer.

Mozilla Corp. yesterday warned users about a worm that slipped into Firefox's Vietnamese language add-on and went undetected for months.

"Nov. 2, 1988, started as an ordinary day at Goddard Space Flight Center where I was working in the data communications branch. By the end of the day ... well, actually, that day never ended. We just kept fighting to bring our servers and networks back to life. Our SunOS and VAX/BSD systems, which were connected to the Internet, had slowed to a stop."

Security vendor Symantec has warned that the Storm worm, the malware which contributes to the Storm botnet, is continuing to evolve and now has two further possible avenues of attack.