Purported Skype Worm a False Alarm

By the Betanews Staff | Published December 19, 2006, 12:02 PM

Consider an earlier warning by some news organizations that a self-propagating worm making its way through the Skype network a false alarm. Websense, the company that first disclosed the threat on Monday, retracted its earlier statements Tuesday and called the vulnerability a Trojan horse instead. The changes were made after the firm discussed the issue with the development team at Skype.

"The behavior of this Trojan using the Skype API is as per the specifications of the API. The end-user who is running Skype does get notified that a program is attempting to access it and must acknowledge it," the firm wrote in a new alert. "There is no vulnerability in Skype at this time that has been uncovered." At the time of this story, the site hosting the Trojan was down.

View comments by with a score of at least

After telling US to mind its own business, Kroes slaps caps on Rambus royalties

The holder of many patents worldwide pertaining to DDR memory offered to reduce its royalty stake in that technology, and today the EU said yes.

Why Apple succeeds, and always will

The company consistently plays by different rules, literally like David did in his battle against Goliath.

EC's Kroes to US senators: Mind your own business on Oracle + Sun

UPDATED The EU's antitrust chief told the United States Senate Tuesday that any merger that takes place in the world is more her affair than theirs.

Betanews Podcast: Rupert Murdoch and the buying stuff online problem

We'll have a more difficult time paying for online news if the underlying protocol for online payment has a big gaping hole in it.

In a peace offering to newspapers, Google offers a new news format

It's probably not a solution to the woes of major news publishers, but Living Stories may gather a few of those publishers together in search of one.

Google Maps doesn't prevent car accidents, only search accidents

This week, Google updated Maps for Android 3.3.1, adding topography, nearby points of interest, and error reporting.

DOJ: Microsoft interop docs are now 'substantially complete'

A major milestone in the US Government's oversight of Microsoft is passed, as the Justice Dept. is now saying the company's protocol documents make sense.

The $1 DVD rental debate: LA group says Redbox will lose movie makers $1B

A report from the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation says cheap Redbox DVD rentals could seriously damage the movie business.

First impressions of Droid: Easy, breezy, friendly, if a little fat

Though it's not quite as well-polished as Apple's iPhone OS, the version of Android that Motorola's Droid phone sports is still a breeze to use.

Windows fix for TLS security bug still forthcoming, won't be Tuesday

Anyone looking for a fix for last month's discovery of a potentially serious security hole in TLS and SSL may have to wait until everyone is ready to act together.

Not the first, not the last, technology predictions for 2010

Carmi Levy | Wide Angle Zoom: The real truth is probably that what went around in 2009, will come around to haunt us next year.