In recent weeks a worm, a malicious software program, has swept through corporate, educational and public computer networks around the world. Known as Conficker or Downadup, it is spread by a recently discovered Microsoft Windows vulnerability, by guessing network passwords and by hand-carried consumer gadgets such as USB keys. Experts say it may have infected as many as 9 million personal computers around the world. Microsoft rushed an emergency patch to defend the Windows operating systems against this vulnerability in October, yet the worm has continued to spread. Earlier this week security researchers at Qualys, a Silicon Valley security firm, estimated that about 30 percent of Windows-based computers attached to the Internet remain vulnerable to infection because they have not been updated with the patch, despite its availability more than two months ago.
Yahoo freezes workers' pay in bid to cut costsYahoo Inc. employees will forgo their usual pay raises this year, as the slumping Internet company struggles to boost its profit in a brutal recession. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company confirmed the salary freeze Thursday, the day after informing employees of the decision. The pay measure marks one of the first cost-cutting actions taken by Yahoo's new chief executive, Carol Bartz.
