BRUSSELS -- Microsoft Corp. by midyear plans to initiate more than 100 legal actions against suspected operators of fraudulent Web sites in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The plan is part of a global antiphishing campaign announced by the software vendor last week.
Neil Holloway, president of Microsoft's Europe, Middle East and Africa business unit, detailed the Global Phishing Enforcement Initiative at a roundtable discussion that was hosted here by the European Internet Services Providers Association and supported by Interpol and Microsoft.
Holloway said that Microsoft is planning to work with law enforcement agencies, companies in a variety of industries and governments to educate consumers about phishing, increase prosecutions of alleged cybercriminals and identify new ways to use technology to combat Internet scams.
Microsoft has already taken action against 53 people in Austria, Egypt, France, Morocco, Spain, Turkey and the U.K. for allegedly enticing Internet users to visit phony Web sites and disclose personal data. It's also pursuing phishers in the U.S., Holloway said.
-- China Martens, IDG News Service
NTT extends security monitoring to China
TOKYO -- NTT Communications Corp. has extended to China a service that's designed to prevent sensitive corporate information from being accidentally leaked to outsiders.
The service, which is offered alongside the Tokyo-based company's server monitoring and antivirus services, tracks networks and end-user PCs for compliance with corporate security guidelines. If an employee breaches a security policy, a pop-up warning will appear on his system.
NTT Communications, a subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., said the compliance-monitoring service is also available in Japan and will soon be launched in other countries in Asia, Europe and North America.
-- Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service
Unisys sets plan for IT services in China
SHANGHAI -- An executive at Unisys Corp. said this month that a new software development and outsourcing services center in Shanghai is the start of an effort to expand the Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-based technology vendor's operations in China.
Over the next three years, Unisys plans to hire 1,000 workers to staff its Chinese outsourcing operations, said T.C. Kong, managing director of Unisys Global Services China.
The outsourcing center, which opened in February, currently employs 10 workers. Over time, it will provide a range of services, including open-source software development and management of help desk operations, Kong said.
Unisys selected Shanghai for the center because of the large number of multinational companies that have operations there, he said.
-- Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service
Briefly noted
Microsoft said it will offer unlimited technical support to licensees of its Windows workgroup server protocols in the company's latest attempt to comply with the European Commission's 2004 antitrust ruling. The EC suggested the support strategy in January. The commission called the proposal "constructive."
-- Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service
Motorola Inc. has invested in two IT vendors that do development work in China. Edward Zander, Motorola's chairman and CEO, said that Motorola Ventures has invested in Shenzhen Shenxun Information Technology Development Co. and Legend Silicon Corp., the Fremont, California-based parent of Legend Silicon Beijing.
-- Steven Schwankert and Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service
Dell Inc. Chairman Michael Dell last week said in Bangalore, India, that the company plans to double its workforce in India to about 20,000 people over the next three years. Later, he said the company also plans to increase the head count at a Philippine call center from 300 to 1,400 and add 200 employees at a design center in Shanghai.
-- John Ribeiro, April B. Rojales and Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service
Global fact
148
Capacity of external disk storage, in petabytes, sold last year in the Asia-Pacific region (except Japan), up from 76 petabytes in 2004.
Source: IDC, Framingham, Massachusetts
Compiled by Mike Bucken.