According to a computer security firm, our computer networks may be under threat:

Counter-terrorism sources at DEBKAfile have reported that followers of Osama bin Laden will launch a major electronic Jihad against the West. A coordinated attack against 15 anti-Muslim targets is expected to begin on November 11th in order to test their abilities and skills for such an attack. Previous planned attacks by Cyber-Jihadists have been quickly dismissed because of the presumed lack of technological expertise. However the mass distribution of "Electronic Jihad" software and it's "point and click" user interface now has the ability to cause problems.

Secure Computing Corporation believes that the new Electronic Jihad Version 2.0 software has the potential to wreak havoc among sites that may be targeted. Secure has a screen shot that has been translated into English that shows how easy it is to configure attacks. Additionally, the version of the software adds detail and intelligent coordination capabilities, providing focus for the attacks to make them much more effective. It may get even scarier if the Jihadists implement Web 2.0 style attacks further down the road.

DEBKAfile is a well-known organization which tracks terrorist activities. This situation may bear watching, and, of course, preparation against such offensive acts.

- Mark Kellner

… and I'm not talking about rogue programmers at the University of Southern California. Consider:

Webroot Software, Inc., a leading provider of Internet security software for the consumer, enterprise and SMB markets, today urged Internet users to use caution when searching online for information on presidential candidates. Webroot has detected links to malicious software downloads from spoofed presidential candidate websites. "With campaigning in full swing for the 2008 presidential election, we are beginning to see an increase in spoofing right now. Internet users need to think about protection and good habits when surfing online for candidate information or donating," said Mike Irwin, COO, Webroot Software. "Because cyber criminals are targeting the most heavily trafficked websites, voters seeking candidate information have to use caution when visiting these sites. Do not download applications such as screensavers or videos unless you know they are coming from a trusted source. Voters need to realize that this type of behavior will make them more susceptible to an attack from hackers."

Most users will encounter these fraudulent web sites when conducting a search using popular search engines. They will either unknowingly select a wrong URL from a list returned from a search, or have a slight misspelling of a name that will lead to one of these spoofed sites. These sites are designed to appear as legitimate candidate web pages and lure visitors to click on links, donate or download screensavers or videos. Once clicked, the links can then download a variety of spyware. One popular version is a Trojan horse known as Zlob that can then deploy unauthorized spyware to provide remote access to a computer for spamming attacks, to capture keystrokes, steal passwords or take over a users' identity.

Allegedly, the spoofing involves a misspelled Web site involving Democratic primary candidate Sen. Barack H. Obama (D-Ill.). Presumably, though, it could spread to other sites for other candidates.

— Mark Kellner

A worthy, if gangly, project, Wikipedia is getting financial support:

The Wikimedia Foundation, the international nonprofit organization behind Wikipedia, announced today that in only nine days, its annual fundraiser has generated donations from 10,000 people worldwide. The 10,000th donation came from a contributor in Finland, who donated 10 Euros at 8:58 UTC (4.58 ET). This is a symbolic milestone for the Foundation's fundraiser, which is running from October 22 - December 22, supporting the Wikipedia encyclopedia and the Foundation's other free-knowledge projects.

"Wikipedians are found in all corners of the globe - in every nation, in every age group, and in every neighborhood. The fact that in only nine days 10,000 people have shown such support indicates the broad appeal and excitement that the projects have generated," said Florence Nibart-Devouard, Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees. "This year's fundraiser will enable us to continue improving Wikipedia, as well as to develop programs geared at spreading free information to disadvantaged and underserved communities worldwide."

I haven't donated yet, but I plan to. Wiki's plusses outweigh its minuses, in my opinion. They deserve the support they receive, and then some.

— Mark A. Kellner

Just finished a conference call briefing with FileMaker, Apple's database software unit. Take a look at the following, from their news release, and if you have a Mac and Leopard, download a copy of Bento, pronto. (Double pronto if you're raising money for Fred Thompson.)

FileMaker Previews Bento, The Stylish Personal Database for Leopard

Incredibly easy software unleashes your Address Book contacts and iCal events, and organizes your Mac-based info in one place

SANTA CLARA, Calif.— November 13, 2007 — Today FileMaker, Inc. began a public preview of Bento (download it now at www.filemaker.com/bentopreview_pr ), a new personal database designed specifically for Mac OS X v.10.5 Leopard. Bento is designed to help Mac users organize their lives by giving them one place to put their important information, from contacts and calendars to projects and events. Bento can organize activities related to work, home, school and community.

Bento automatically displays contacts and calendars kept within Address Book and iCal. There is no need to re-enter existing names, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and upcoming events into Bento so users can start organizing and extending to their information right away.

"Bento is the personal database for the millions of Mac users who appreciate the elegance and ease of use of their Mac," said FileMaker president Dominique Goupil. "With Bento, we are providing an incredibly easy way to manage all your information — iCal calendar events, Address Book contacts, digital media and files — all in one place, effortlessly."

Bento users can organize contacts, calendars, photos and files so they can easily do the following and more:

Manage a vast amount of contact details

Coordinate events, parties and fundraisers

Track projects, assignments and deadlines

Connect related information together

Prioritize tasks

Catalog inventory, donations and items for sale

Record hours worked and payments due

Assign ratings to service providers and sellers

Create libraries for music, movies and other media

Store files and photos in relation to projects and events

Bento builds on Leopard's gorgeous new look and consistent design to bring simplicity and style to personal databases.

Key features include:

Built-in links to Address Book and iCal. Be productive instantly by integrating and adding to your contact and calendar information. Add photos to your contacts, add invitees to an iCal event, and more. And because Bento links with Address Book and iCal, you can see data on your iPhone or share it over the Web with .Mac.

Stylish templates and themes. More than 20 ready-to-use templates sport elegant themes to reflect each user's unique style, personality or activity. Forms and fields are designed with coordinated colors, layouts, fonts and text styles for immediate use.
Works with iPhone and .Mac. Bento links to live Address Book and iCal data. No synchronization is necessary to be in sync with Bento, since Apple's core technology takes the information to iPhone and .Mac for sharing over the Web.

iTunes-like search. Searching, organizing and sorting records is simple. Create collections to store work, personal or volunteer tasks in the same way you would create smart playlists in iTunes or albums in iPhoto.

Drag, drop and import with ease. Rearranging, regrouping and viewing lists or forms are drag-and-drop easy, as is importing or exporting data from Microsoft Excel, Numbers or any other program that creates CSV files.

See things your way. One-click customization options for themes, columns displayed, label positions, text sizes, shading, and alignment; the Table View allows for easy sorting and quick stats in Summary Row; Add more pages to view different slices of information. Get the Leopard experience. Users will love many of the exciting new
Leopard capabilities in Bento, including: Media Manager, which allows users to store and change images in Bento fields; live connection to iCal, which exchanges data between calendars and tasks; Advanced Find, which reuses the "Advanced Find" module from Leopard's Finder for pinpointing specific information within the database; and Time Machine, the new Leopard feature that allows for easy database
back-ups.

Bento by FileMaker
Bento is brought to you by FileMaker, and it takes advantage of the company's 20 years of database software experience. FileMaker, Inc., makers of the legendary FileMaker Pro, one of the world's easiest to use full-featured databases, now brings you a personal database with virtually a "zero learning curve."

Availability

Bento is designed to run exclusively on Mac OS X v.10.5 Leopard. A free public preview is available at www.filemaker.com/bentopreview_pr. FileMaker intends to ship Bento in January, 2008. The Bento public preview is time-limited beta software meant for evaluation purposes only. Please read the software license accompanying the preview software for full terms and conditions.

I was playing with it during the news conference, and it's pretty darned impressive. Go and grab it, if you can, or take a look at the FileMaker Web site for an overview.

— Mark Kellner

According to a new report commissioned by — surprise — the video game industry's own trade association, "Virginia's computer and video game industry grew by 552 percent in 2006, more than 172 times as fast as the commonwealth's overall growth." There were no dollar figures attached to that, but if national job averages in the industry are over $90,000 (see below), perhaps your blogger should sign up for some tech courses, and pronto.

The details:

The US computer and video game industry's annual growth rate from 2003 to 2006 exceeded 17%, according to a ground-breaking study released today by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). This far outpaces the US economy as a whole, which only grew at 4.0% during this same period. According to the study, Video Games in the 21st Century: Economic Contributions of the U.S. Entertainment Software Industry, the US entertainment software industry directly employs more than 24,000 individuals and indirectly supports, with an average salary of $92,300 in 2006. The economic impact report was conducted by Economists Incorporated for the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).

"Computer and video game companies play an ever increasing role in our nation's growing economy," said Michael Gallagher, CEO of the ESA, which represents U.S. computer and video game publishers. "These companies and their colleagues across the nation are making entertainment software one of the fastest growing industries in the United States."

Video Games in the 21st Century is the first economic study to outline the specific contributions of the entertainment software industry on the U.S. economy. The report concluded that:

The computer and video game industry's value added to U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2006 was $3.8 billion;
In 2003-04 and 2005-06, the industry's contribution to real growth exceeded its share of GDP by more than four to one;
The entertainment software industry directly and indirectly employs more than 80,000 people in 31 states; and,
U.S. industry employees received total compensation of $2.2 billion.

The report states that California is the largest employer of computer and video game personnel in the nation, accounting for approximately 40 percent of total industry employment nationwide. These companies provided over $1.8 million in direct and indirect compensation to Californians last year. California's computer and video game industry grew by 12.3 percent last year, nearly three times faster than the state's overall growth, and added $1.7 billion to the state economy.

Other specific state findings include:

Virginia's computer and video game industry grew by 552 percent in 2006, more than 172 times as fast as the commonwealth's overall growth;
Washington state ranked second nationally in computer and video game personnel in 2006, with 9,284 direct and indirect employees at more than 59 facilities across the state; and,
New York's entertainment software companies directly and indirectly employ 4,415 individuals at more than 25 facilities across the state.

My opinion: It's nice to see that video games are paying some people back. Perhaps there are other trends to extrapolate here.

— Mark Kellner, The Washington Times