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COMPUTER SECURITY AND CRIME

Internet users in 2004 faced numerous threats to computer security because of the ongoing emergence of new versions of malicious Internet software known as viruses and worms and because of security flaws in commercial computer software. According to the Internet Security Threat Report published by Symantec Corp., in the first half of 2004 there was a sharp increase in malicious Internet software aimed at computers using Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system (OS), and the number of newly discovered software security flaws in Windowsbased applications rose in the first half of 2004 after having declined in the second half of 2003. Microsoft recommended that Windows XP users upgrade to the latest version of the software, called Service Pack 2 which it said added security features and removed applications that potentially were security risks. Service Pack 2 itself, however, also required some security patches.

(Enclyclopaedia Britannica, Book of the Year, 2005: 161)

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FINANCIAL REPORTING GOES GLOBAL

Cross-border investors often find it difficult to understand financial statements that foreign companies prepare using their respective nations' accounting principles. But greater uniformity and efficiency are coming to the international investment community now that most public companies domiciled within the European Union (EU) will be required to use international financial reporting standards (IFRS) beginning in January 2005. This article will show CPAs how to assist their employers and clients in preparing for the impact of the EU requirements on their financial reporting.

IFRS is a body of accounting and financial reporting standards developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Every major nation is moving toward adopting them to one extent or another. The European Union requires their use, the United States and Canada are converging their versions of GAAP with IFRS and some companies in other countries are using them voluntarily.

(http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/sep2004/gannon.htm, em 28//06/2005)

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How to Choose the Right Tax Advisor
by Greg Orr, WiserAdvisor.com

Few people appreciate the difference between a tax preparer and a tax advisor. Most people seem to expect that a tax preparer will help them save taxes, but their job is usually just focused on the actual paperwork filing of your taxes. If you believe that you might be able to save on taxes, I have two things to say to you: 1) you are probably right, and 2) you will need a tax advisor. Here are ten considerations for choosing a good tax advisor...

1. Hire an advisor that concentrates on taxes. Many professionals spread themselves too thin across a range of services, which makes them less likely to have strong experience and knowledge of taxes in particular...

(http://www.womenof.com/Articles/mm_3_15_04.asp)

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Mediamatic/Special: Rambling Thoughts on Reality Engineering

How could you deal with the internet, master-infrastructure of our world, and totally escape from contemporary society? It's impossible. As soon as you think twice about computer technology, you end up thinking about how technology structures, shapes, engineers, designs society, your life, your interactions...

You all know the stories: the success of the peer-to-peer networks, the copyright issues that came from that and from the use of samples made easy by all the digitizing equipment. The sometimes horrifying stories concerning the regulating of the Internet; the spying possibilities built in software; the demand for better filtering. Or, on the other hand, the success of Open Source and Linux. You cannot but ask the question - also if you don't understand a lot about computers -: wait a minute, how do we want to work with this, how do we want to organize this world?

Working in this field, you end up talking and thinking about questions concerning standards, protocols - how are they designed and how should they be designed? How open are the standards and protocols, what do they allow and what not? And since you're not only dealing with the building blocks of your computer and your own little network, but with the protocols that shape or engineer the basic infrastructure of contemporary society, you get to the question: how's the Reality engineered by these protocols, these standards, this software, this infrastructure? What exactly is the connection between protocols and society? How should we conceptualize that interaction?

(http://www.mediamatic.net/article-200.6007.html&q_keyword=200.194)

LEIA O TEXTO E RESPONDA À PERGUNTA:

TEXTO

How to Choose the Right Tax Advisor
by Greg Orr, WiserAdvisor.com

Few people appreciate the difference between a tax preparer and a tax advisor. Most people seem to expect that a tax preparer will help them save taxes, but their job is usually just focused on the actual paperwork filing of your taxes. If you believe that you might be able to save on taxes, I have two things to say to you: 1) you are probably right, and 2) you will need a tax advisor. Here are ten considerations for choosing a good tax advisor...

1. Hire an advisor that concentrates on taxes. Many professionals spread themselves too thin across a range of services, which makes them less likely to have strong experience and knowledge of taxes in particular...

(http://www.womenof.com/Articles/mm_3_15_04.asp)

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MSN Spam Postman Delivers Twice
By Sean Michael Kerner
May 26, 2005

As part of its spam fighting efforts, Microsoft today announced a pair of new services to help users and ISPs fight the deluge.

MSN Postmaster is a new online resource that Microsoft is making available globally in 10 different languages to help users and ISPs understand when and why MSN's popular Hotmail service considers an e-mail to be spam.

The Postmaster service provides a variety of tools and information resources that will help streamline the reporting of e-mail abuse, as well as improve the delivery of legitimate commercial e-mail messages.

Microsoft claims that its MSN Hotmail service has over 200 million user accounts worldwide and, as such, can provide a wealth of e-mail activity data.

The other new service announced today by Microsoft is Smart Network Data Services, which is currently just a preview release and only available in English.

The service is geared toward ISPs and reports on e-mail traffic characteristics sent from the ISP's IP range to Hotmail. The characteristics will help ISPs determine the volume of e-mail coming from under their auspices that is considered spam by the Hotmail service.

(www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/3508171)

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FINANCIAL REPORTING GOES GLOBAL

Cross-border investors often find it difficult to understand financial statements that foreign companies prepare using their respective nations' accounting principles. But greater uniformity and efficiency are coming to the international investment community now that most public companies domiciled within the European Union (EU) will be required to use international financial reporting standards (IFRS) beginning in January 2005. This article will show CPAs how to assist their employers and clients in preparing for the impact of the EU requirements on their financial reporting.

IFRS is a body of accounting and financial reporting standards developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Every major nation is moving toward adopting them to one extent or another. The European Union requires their use, the United States and Canada are converging their versions of GAAP with IFRS and some companies in other countries are using them voluntarily.

(http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/sep2004/gannon.htm, em 28//06/2005)

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For the internal auditor, information technology is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, our survey shows that information systems have become tools to assist auditors in their day-to-day work; on the other hand, the rapid, continuing development of new information technologies causes continued worry about new auditing risks.

With the proliferation of portable computers and worldwide access through global networks, some auditing managers feel as if they are constantly under siege. "Security has been horrendous for us," states an internal auditing manager from a large agricultural corporation. "We have a lot of technology, but there is not a lot of internal control." This feeling of frustration was echoed by many of the survey's respondents.

Of greatest concern to internal auditors are the methodologies available to address modern information systems. The Internet looms as both an opportunity and a threat. Distributed databases raise new challenges for security and control. Image systems first used in the financial services community are being deployed more widely.

In short, the role of the internal auditor is changing. Partnership is a constant theme in our survey; internal auditing managers participate in business and information systems planning. According to an auditing manager from a major aerospace organization, "We will teach people to audit themselves and then check the checkers. We will be consultants and partners, and our job will increasingly be the training of others.

(http://www.theiia.org//index.cfm?doc_id=860 on July 12^th, 2005)

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For the internal auditor, information technology is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, our survey shows that information systems have become tools to assist auditors in their day-to-day work; on the other hand, the rapid, continuing development of new information technologies causes continued worry about new auditing risks.

With the proliferation of portable computers and worldwide access through global networks, some auditing managers feel as if they are constantly under siege. "Security has been horrendous for us," states an internal auditing manager from a large agricultural corporation. "We have a lot of technology, but there is not a lot of internal control." This feeling of frustration was echoed by many of the survey's respondents.

Of greatest concern to internal auditors are the methodologies available to address modern information systems. The Internet looms as both an opportunity and a threat. Distributed databases raise new challenges for security and control. Image systems first used in the financial services community are being deployed more widely.

In short, the role of the internal auditor is changing. Partnership is a constant theme in our survey; internal auditing managers participate in business and information systems planning. According to an auditing manager from a major aerospace organization, "We will teach people to audit themselves and then check the checkers. We will be consultants and partners, and our job will increasingly be the training of others.

(http://www.theiia.org//index.cfm?doc_id=860 on July 12^th, 2005)

READ TEXT AND ANSWER QUESTION:

TEXT

Mediamatic/Special: Rambling Thoughts on Reality Engineering

How could you deal with the internet, master-infrastructure of our world, and totally escape from contemporary society? It's impossible. As soon as you think twice about computer technology, you end up thinking about how technology structures, shapes, engineers, designs society, your life, your interactions...

You all know the stories: the success of the peer-to-peer networks, the copyright issues that came from that and from the use of samples made easy by all the digitizing equipment. The sometimes horrifying stories concerning the regulating of the Internet; the spying possibilities built in software; the demand for better filtering. Or, on the other hand, the success of Open Source and Linux. You cannot but ask the question - also if you don't understand a lot about computers -: wait a minute, how do we want to work with this, how do we want to organize this world?

Working in this field, you end up talking and thinking about questions concerning standards, protocols - how are they designed and how should they be designed? How open are the standards and protocols, what do they allow and what not? And since you're not only dealing with the building blocks of your computer and your own little network, but with the protocols that shape or engineer the basic infrastructure of contemporary society, you get to the question: how's the Reality engineered by these protocols, these standards, this software, this infrastructure? What exactly is the connection between protocols and society? How should we conceptualize that interaction?

(http://www.mediamatic.net/article-200.6007.html&q_keyword=200.194)