By Matt Hicks
June 1, 2004

When it comes to blocking intrusive Internet software, Yahoo Inc.'s new Anti-Spy gives adware the benefit of the doubt.

Yahoo's TechTuesday page has listed Computer Cops in their Online Communities section for expert security assistance. Thank you to Yahoo! for listing us on their site.

This edition of TechTuesday focused on Hackers. CCSP was chosen as one of the two online communities for their 'hackers' theme.

Yahoo Fixes Security Hole in Yahoo E-Mail
Wed December 10, 2003 08:02 AM ET

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc. (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) on Wednesday said it had fixed a security hole in its popular free Web-based e-mail service.

The hole could have allowed an attacker to launch a computer worm or run malicious code on a victim's computer when an e-mail containing the code was opened, according to Finjan Software of San Jose, California, which discovered the problem.

Yahoo plugs IM security hole
By Matt Hines
CNET News.com
December 5, 2003, 11:59 AM PT

Yahoo issued an update to its instant-messaging software, in order to address a security flaw found in the application earlier this week.

Yahoo Proposes New Internet Anti-Spam Structure
By Ben Berkowitz

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Internet services company Yahoo Inc. (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) on Friday said it is working on technology to combat e-mail spam by changing the way the Internet works to require authentication of a message's sender.

Yahoo Launches Anti-Spam E-Mail Decoys
By Ben Berkowitz

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc. (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) , the Internet media and services company, on Tuesday launched a new set of premium e-mail features that lets users create hundreds of decoy addresses to thwart spam mail.

Yahoo Cuts Off Trillian Users
Messenger upgrade to lock out spam also shuts door on third-party IM app.
Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service
Friday, September 26, 2003

Steps that Yahoo has taken to safeguard its Yahoo Messenger instant messaging service from spammers are also disrupting the legitimate use of the popular Trillian application, a problem that had been foreshadowed in recent weeks. Trillian is an application made by Cerulean Studios that lets users manage multiple IM accounts from a single console on their PCs.

Yahoo issued on Friday security patches for its Yahoo Instant Messenger and Yahoo Chat clients in an effort to fix a buffer overflow vulnerability discovered in the software. When users of the software log on to the IM network or enter a chat room, Yahoo is prompting them to install the patches. In addition, the company posted the patches on its Web site.

A buffer overflow is a common security vulnerability in computer programs written in C and C++ that allows more information to be added to a chunk of memory than it was designed to hold.

READERS REPORT that incidents over the holiday period suggest there may be a security bug on Yahoo Chat, if people opt for the insecure link, rather than the safe one.

But Yahoo -- which is running a skeletal service over the holiday period -- said it would never comment on such problems.

One reader told us that while a grown up member of his family was using Yahoo Chat, she got a message from another user, telling her that he had her password details and should communicate with him to get her new password.

She was using insecure "Chat".

Looks like what little privacy we enjoy online is about to dwindle even further. Ho, ho, ho, boys and girls.

Yahoo's announcement this week that it plans to acquire search-engine powerhouse Inktomi for $235 million raises all sorts of troubling questions about who controls information in the electronic ether, as well as how that info gets exploited for commercial gain.

On the face of it, Yahoo is getting itself a good deal. Buying Foster City's Inktomi, which provides the nuts and bolts for searches on Microsoft's MSN portal and other sites, will give Yahoo an important new tool (and revenue source) in an increasingly competitive marketplace.