Two researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have created an add-on to instant messaging that they claim will enable the participants to identify each other and have a secure conversation without leaving any proof that the chat occurred. The result, dubbed off-the-record (OTR) messaging by security researchers Ian Goldberg and Nikita Borisov, is a plug-in for the Gaim instant-messaging client that enables encrypted messages sans leaving a key–a sequence of characters–that could be used to verify that the conversation happened. That attribute, known in cryptography as perfect forward security, also prevents snoopers from reading any copies of the conversation.

BorderWare announced its first "tier-1" distribution relationship with SYNNEX Corporation. Under this relationship, SYNNEX will distribute BorderWare’s complete range of security products in North America, including the MXtreme Mail Firewall appliance, which provides large enterprises with comprehensive perimeter email security, and the series of BorderWare application-proxy firewall servers. SYNNEX will also distribute the 3Com Email Firewall "powered by BorderWare", a collaborative solution that delivers BorderWare’s MXtreme enterprise level protection against spam, viruses and other email-borne threats to small and medium -sized businesses.

MessageOne announced OneSwitch, the first fully automated replication and failover service that manages enterprise application availability with the push of a single button. With the OneSwitch enterprise console, users have a Web-enabled, centralized view of all critical Windows applications (Exchange, SQL Server, Internet Information Services and others). It provides the controls to initiate failover and failback at the push of a button, remotely from any location. In 15 minutes or less, OneSwitch enables companies to recover from outages and resume access to their Windows applications, without the risks and errors associated with traditional replication solutions.

Microsoft has shelved plans to release a 2.0 version of its customer relationship management software in March, saying it needs until the end of the year to finish the program. The delay, which the company discussed on Thursday, comes as Microsoft hires a new executive to lead its customer relationship management division. Former PeopleSoft executive Brad Wilson joined the company on Monday as general manager of Microsoft CRM. Dave Batt, former senior director of Microsoft CRM, left the company last month.

Technology executives from the largest U.S. software companies have called on President Bush to create a high-level commission to address cybercrime and identity theft. During a meeting with administration officials Thursday, chief technology officers from more than a dozen companies said the threat of malicious Internet incidents has become so great that a high-profile governmental response is necessary.

The European Commission on Friday said it had restarted its review of plans by Microsoft and Time Warner to acquire joint control of ContentGuard, a maker of antipiracy software. However, the future of this deal is unclear because Microsoft and Time Warner since then have modified it and brought in French technology company Thomson.

F-Secure has released a patch for a serious flaw in its antivirus products, the second time this week a security company has warned of a risk in its software. The security hole in the antivirus library affects 18 products for desktops, servers and gateways, with the network products at "critical" risk, F-Secure said in a bulletin Thursday. By creating a specially crafted ARJ archive file, an intruder could use a buffer overflow to run arbitrary code on an unpatched machine, said Tony Magellanez, a systems engineer at F-Secure.

Microsoft on Friday forced its millions of MSN Messenger users to download a new version of the software to plug a vulnerability discovered earlier this week. The mandatory upgrade began early Friday morning after a security company posted a how-to guide describing how the vulnerability can attack computers. MSN Messenger users were then greeted with a notice to upgrade before they could open their instant messaging clients.

A previously unknown vulnerability in Mailman, a popular open-source program for managing mailing lists, has led to the theft of the password file for a well-known security discussion group. The theft, discovered this week and reported in an announcement to the Full Disclosure security mailing list on Wednesday, casts uncertainty on the security of other discussion groups that use the open-source Mailman package. By specially crafting a Web address, an attacker can obtain the password for every member of a discussion group.

India and China will be the main winners from an increase in offshoring, but Eastern Europe is also set to benefit, according to CEO Briefing, a report published by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The report, which includes a new ranking of 60 global offshoring environments and a survey of 500 senior executives, concludes that companies will redistribute more service functions to Asia and Eastern Europe over the next three years. Only a few developed markets emerge as attractive offshoring locations, with Canada leading the way.