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Technology Stocks : Y2K (Year 2000) Stocks: An Investment Discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JDN who wrote (13274)	11/13/1998 2:28:00 PM
From: DD™	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13949

Veronex Technologies Inc. (VXTK) for real? biz.yahoo.com Subject 16460 DD

To: JDN who wrote (13274)	11/13/1998 4:45:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Respond to of 13949

' More than computers vulnerable to Y2K The first radio signals from Sputnik 41 years ago helped redefine American national security, just as the so-called Year 2000 computer bug is underscoring the latest risks to a nation built on technology. "The Year 2000 problem could be an event equivalent to the launching of Sputnik, (which) raised the awareness about the vulnerabilities of the United States," says Marvin Langston, deputy chief information officer for the Department of Defense. The Year 2000 problem, or Y2K as it is commonly known, has riveted attention on what may happen when computers fail to recognize the year 2000, disrupting internal clocks and causing system shutdowns and crashes. Governments and corporations here and abroad are allowing unprecedented access to computers as programmers look to fix the Year 2000 bug. That's raising concerns about potential security compromises, industrial espionage, even sabotage. And as in the days following Sputnik, analysts see a need for more domestic talent to keep U.S. technology on the cutting edge. A serious re-evaluation of security issues has been under way since last year, when a presidential panel warned that the nation's economy and vital services were vulnerable to hacker-style attacks. "In the millennium bug, we have developed a technology equivalent to natural forces. If it is anywhere, it is everywhere," says G.K. Jayaram, chairman of Transformation Systems of Princeton, N.J. "Nowhere at any time in human history has there existed such a problem." Opening 'trap doors' One of Jayaram's clients is Provident Bank of Cincinnati, which boasts that it is "among the nation's 100 largest banks, with 72 financial centers and over $6.7 billion in total assets." It also has about 8.5 million lines of computer code, which Jayaram's firm upgraded for Y2K using a staff of 30 people in Cincinnati and 40 in Chennai, India, linked by satellite. While Jayram's firm has a solid international reputation, the increasingly common practice of using overseas workers to handle U.S. computer systems concerns some people. "We are looking, as an intelligence priority, very carefully for people who may present a threat in this area," says Richard Clarke, a senior National Security Council official. "When systems are modified to be Y2K-compliant, the question remains: Do you know what was changed?" says Sam Varnado of Sandia National Labs, which is working on system security with the federal government and private industry. It's a simple matter for a programmer handling computer source code to install, undetected, a secret entrance, or "trap door," which can be used to gain access to a system to read sensitive information, copy records, alter files or transfer money. "We have seen multiple times where Y2K activity has resulted in trap doors being placed in commercial systems," says Duane Andrews, executive vice president with SAIC. "It's a very serious matter," says John Sarazen, director of SynComm Group, a technology consulting firm. "An unprecedented amount of code is being opened up right now as part of Year 2000." Foreign code-busters Outside the USA, programmers in India, Pakistan, Ireland and the Philippines are doing most of the world's Y2K upgrades. And each of those nations has issues with the United States or a thriving underground of anti-American terrorist groups. Given the chilly relations between the United States and India since it and Pakistan conducted nuclear weapons tests earlier this year, concerns are heightened by the amount of computer work done in those countries. .... usatoday.com