Worm Rips Through Internet; Government to Mine Health Data; White House Security Adviser to Resign; Oil Pipeline Security Lax in Nigeria

Worm Rips Through Internet

At least 160,000 computers, many of them at banks, airlines and media companies were knocked offline Saturday by an Internet worm known as “Slammer,” according to an article in the Washington Post. The Post reports that the worm, whose origin is unknown, shut down all Internet service in South Korea.Government to Mine Health DataNew York Times. The Times reports that the network has raised concerns about medical privacy rights.

The Center for Disease Control plans to build a computer network that will track health data of people in eight cities in an effort to spot evidence of a bioterror attack, according to an article in today’s

White House Security Adviser to ResignWashington Post website on Friday afternoon, Richard A. Clarke, the blunt-spoken White House adviser who raised warnings about Islamic terrorism and biological weapons years before they became headlines, will resign from government soon. The APs sources, people familiar with his plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity, say Clarke already has submitted his resignation letter to the president. He is among the country’s longest-serving White House staffers, hired in 1992 from the State Department to deal with threats from terrorism and narcotics. A spokeswoman, Tiffany Olson, told the AP reporter that Clarke, who reports to Condaleeza Rice and Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge, hasn’t told White House staff at the President’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Board that he plans to leave.

According to an AP report posted on the

Oil Pipeline Security Lax in NigeriaTechnology Review discusses the digital divide in oilfield security technologies. Oil pipeline operators in the U.S., the story says, have a large incentive to spot or prevent leaks quickly. Spills can leave them subject to costly lawsuits. But in Nigeria, for example, companies like Shell and ChevronTexaco arent vulnerable to such potential payouts. Nigerian courts and government rarely order payments to citizens damaged by oil spillsor even order companies to clean up after themselves. Because of limited penalties for pipeline leaks, foreign oil companies in Nigeria stick with the low-tech, old-fashioned method of human surveillance to monitor the pipelines. Tech Review concludes, the continued failure by oil companies to make use of available technologies reflects the way in which technological applications emerge in response to political and economic pressures.

A story in the current