Hot Tip: Watch E-Mail

Christmas, or at least its computer virus, has come early this year. Already at least 10 Fortune 500 companies have been hit by a Christmas-themed virus called "Navidad."

Experts say it's annoying but only mildly dangerous.

It affects systems using Microsoft Windows operating systems. It shows up as a reply when a user sends an e-mail to a previously infected computer. The reply contains an attachment - "NAVIDAD.EXE" - which, when opened, ultimately produces a message in Spanish that says "you have given into temptation and will lose your computer."

But the virus doesn't actually damage the computer.

Security is the key to future Internet development, a group of key industry leaders says.

The Global Internet Project, a group of industry representatives, sponsored an international workshop on security, privacy and reliability. There was general agreement that business will have to focus on these areas if it is to meet the opportunities for Internet development - and avoid government intervention.

You may think America leads the world on the Internet, but it's not quite so. Japan is tops.

A report from Jupiter Media Matrix found that the Web was accessed from home more frequently per user in Japan than any other country. At-home users there went online an average of 13.9 days per month in August.

Americans stayed on longer, though - an average of 15 hours during the month.

A Californian who broke into federal government, NASA and university computers has pleaded guilty and could get up to 16 years in prison.

He is Jason Allen Diekman, 20, of Mission Viejo. He told investigators he had hacked into hundreds, maybe thousands, of computers in the last two years. He used the names "Shadow Knight" and "Dark Lord."

The young and the wealthy are the best customers in the Internet, a new study reports.

The report by the Conference Board found 34 percent of U.S. households made at least one Internet purchase in the past year. That's up from 24 percent the previous year.

"More Americans in all age and income groups are buying online, but Internet activity is still heavily driven by the young and the affluent," said Lynn Franco, director of research for the Board.

Those 25 to 34 were the most enthusiastic Web shoppers; 55 percent made at least one buy last year. The 35-44 age group was the next biggest user element. The study found that 53 percent of those earning more than $50,000 made Internet purchases.

SecureAgent.com has won a major victory in a federal patent lawsuit.

A U.S. district court in San Francisco upheld SecureAgent's patent for SuperVision, a program that helps manage large computer systems. The court ruled Diversified Data Resources had infringed on the patent and ordered it to pay $500,000 to SecureAgent.

The patent for SuperVision was issued in 1997. SuperVision identifies, evaluate, resolves and automates any task, event, or response to any system condition or problem on virtually every platform in your data center enterprise. It is used by many major corporations around the world.

Brent Johnson, president of SecureAgent who developed and patented the program, said the court ruling means a number of competitors will now have to get a license from SecureAgent to use the technology. He said it should have a significant impact on SecureAgent earnings.

The Internet is everywhere. Kiosks are springing up to let you check the Web while you do laundry, grab a cup of coffee or watch sports. Some New York City taxicabs are even offering Internet services.

But the kiosks are the hot new item. They are popping up in shopping malls, movie theater lobbies, retail stores, even some hamburger stands. They offer fast connectivity, generally through high-speed digital subscriber lines (DSL).

Several companies are exploiting the boom. Streetspace provides kiosks in San Francisco. Octopus in Berkeley, Calif., and Urban Cool in Dallas also offer such services.

Urban Cool says its kiosks are helping spread the Internet to lower-income urban areas.

And Web use continues to grow.

SOAP may slip into the Web as a way to improve messaging.

SOAP stands for Simple Object Access Protocol. It's getting broad support as a simple way for Web sites to communicate with one another.

IBM is offering an alpha version of a SOAP processor. Others joining the SOAP drive include Lotus, Microsoft, Ariba, Commerce One, Compaq and Intel.

SOAP will work with any operating system, application software or programming language. It's a tool for server-to-server communication so sites can interchange information easily.

Letting employees use company e-mail after hours may be dangerous.

First, it could open the doors to intruders into the company system. Note that the first successful hacking into the Microsoft system came through an e-mail to an employee's computer at home.

But there also could be a legal liability.

Some experts make a letterhead analogy. If an employee sends a threatening letter on company stationery, the company could have some liability, even if it did not approve of the letter in advance. Similarly, an employee who uses company e-mail to send a sexist joke to someone could thrust the company into a liability role.

Experts urge even the smallest companies to develop e-mail policies. Spell out exactly what an employee may or may not do with his company e-mail address. Monitor employee e-mails to look for violations or other dangers.

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