Melbourne, Aug 9 : Olympic Games organisers have claimed that the controversial decision to block Internet sites was taken to protect Chinese children.

Asked why sites such as Free Tibet and those covering the Tiananmen Square Massacre were not accessible, Wang Wei, the vice-president of organising committee BOCOG, said: “We (BOCOG) promised free access except for a few websites that jeopardise our security and the healthy growth of our youth.”

London, Aug 9 : Cyber attacks on British Government computer systems and vital parts of the economy have become one of the greatest threats to national security, an official report has disclosed.

The Government confirmed for the first time that a series of electronic assaults on official and private sector databases have already been carried out and are continuing.

Washington, Aug 7 : That constant cribbing about the antivirus software in your computer may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a new "cloud computing" approach to malicious software detection developed at University of Michigan that tackles computer bugs seamlessly on the Internet.

Named CloudAV, the new approach moves antivirus functionality into the "network cloud" and off personal computers.

It analyses suspicious files using multiple antivirus and behavioural detection programs simultaneously.

The researchers say that antivirus software from popular vendors are not very effective, and that new threats go undetected for an average of seven weeks.

London, August 4 : The members of the social networking website Bebo, have been asked to contribute to a digital time capsule that will be sent on a 120 million-mile journey to the most Earth-like planet outside our solar system, in search of extraterrestrial life.

According to a report in the Telegraph, more than 12 million Bebo users can create their own messages to see if theirs will be one of 500 eventually selected for a place in the capsule.

Entrants to “A Message from Earth” can submit photographs, drawings or text and can make their message about any topic they want.

The final 500 will be chosen in a web vote that runs until September 30.

Washington, Aug 3: Bullies have moved over the school grounds and have found a new place to wield punches on their prey – the cyber world.

“Cyberbullying,” as it’s now called, is like regular bullying except it’s done online through sites like Facebook and MySpace and the use of cell phones, says Dr. Vivian Wright of the University of Alabama. 

Dr. Vivian Wright of The University of Alabama defines cyberbullying and discusses how schools deal with its student impact, how students can protect themselves online, and how teachers embrace new technologies as teaching methods.

“‘Cyberbullying’ is much worse because you cannot see the bully, and it’s a 24/7 thing. You can’t get away from it,” says Wright.

Bonn - Internet users are currently being warned too look out for e-mail messages claiming to be from package courier UPS. The messages, delivered in English and in German, actually originate from hackers, the German Federal Agency for Security in Information Technology (BSI) reported recently.

The messages tell the recipient that a package could not be delivered due to a non-existent address. The message then encourages the user to click on an e-mail attachment to check the delivery slip data; anyone who does so allows a Trojan virus to sneak onto their computer.