Paul Roberts

Four new versions of the Bagle e-mail worm appeared on Thursday, and antivirus experts warn that new techniques by the worm's creator could make it harder to stop the new worm variants.

Security experts downplayed the danger of a Trojan horse program named Phatbot that uses peer to peer (P-to-P) technology to create a network of infected zombies for carrying out attacks or spreading malicious code.

Industry trade group The Liberty Alliance Project will announce on Thursday that it is adding computer chip maker Intel Corp. to its list of members, according to a Liberty Alliance spokeswoman.

Microsoft Corp. continued its policy of releasing monthly security updates with three new software patches on Tuesday, including fixes for the MSN Messenger instant messaging program, Windows Media Services and the Outlook e-mail client.

New hardware and enhancements to a number of Cisco Systems Inc.'s software products will make computer networks more resilient to attack, the company said Tuesday.

Antivirus software companies warned customers about a new variant of the Sober e-mail worm, which began spreading on the Internet Monday and masquerades as a Microsoft Corp. software update.

It's the Reader's Digest for penetration testers: "@Risk: The Consensus Security Alert" is a new online newsletter that highlights the week in software vulnerabilities, with analysis and commentary by leading security experts.

Conventional wisdom claims March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. But with new versions of the Bagle e-mail worm and a virulent new form of Netsky virus, March's arrival is looking more wormy than leonine.