Microsoft has no plans to release a set of tools for Office 2007 that would allow users to access blocked file formats, even though it did so for customers running Office 2003 Service Pack 3.

Amazon.com said its digital music store will now offer songs from Sony BMG Music Entertainment without digital rights management protection.

A one-pound handheld gadget running Windows CE is enlisting for duty with police departments and the armed forces. The Seeker CDU is designed to detect trace amounts of certain chemicals used to make narcotics, explosives and such.

A five-exploit toolkit aimed at vulnerabilities in a number of popular programs including QuickTime and Windows demonstrates the extreme rapidity with which hackers are jumping on newly revealed holes, say researchers.

We've feared it for a long time, and now the situation has come to pass: The malware's moving faster than the tools to thwart it. But since you can't simply hide under a non-wired rock and hope it goes away, it's worth knowing how AV manufacturers are battling back -- and how you can too.

The year ahead? Expect fast-paced improvements in security technology, says Jon Espenschied -- also, slashed budgets, "tactical" security fixes, and continued consumer obliviousness.

Symantec says U.S. agencies need to better protect their cyberassets, echoing concerns raised last year by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

(Source: Webex) Without huge investments, businesses are expanding their reach in the marketplace and closing more sales. Web meetings save them time and money and allow them to better sell, train, support, market to and collaborate with customers, prospects and partners. And you can reach a global audience without the burden of travel.

Online technology retailer Geeks.com displays a security vendor's "Hacker Safe" logo on its Web site. But now it's warning customers of a possible data compromise.

A rootkit based on proof-of-concept code presented at 2005's Black Hat conference is currently infecting thousands of Windows-based PCs, and researchers say it's a remarkably sophisticated -- and hard-to-eradicate -- infection.