San Jose Business Journal: Talk about your dubious honors: The amount of spam associated with pirated software has doubled recently and is the fastest growing category of junk e-mail. In addition to pointing out the unlawfulness of pirated software, experts also warn users away from the e-mails, reminding recipients that spam is increasingly a vehicle for viruses, spyware, and other malicious code. While spam promoting penny stocks is also on the rise, neither upstart category can hold a candle to so-called “healthcare” spam — pharmaceuticals and marital aids — which commands 54 percent of total spam volume, according to messaging vendor Clearswift.

Sky News: Spam volume is now so high that computers end up being out of commission more often than humans take sick days, as the machines try to shed junk messages or any nefarious payload they may contain. PCs now take nine “sick days” a year, compared to seven for the average British worker, according to the survey, commissioned by Yahoo. Nearly half of the surveyed users said they find dealing with spam more stressful than traffic jams, while nearly one-third indicated a willingness to make a “drastic lifestyle change” in order to put an end to spam.

eWEEK: While the automobile analogies are laid on a little thick here, the columnist explores the implications of Microsoft’s recent decision to make native database encryption part of SQL Server 2005. Never mind that this addition will mean delays to the long-awaited upgrade, widely known as Yukon. The benefits of protecting this key element of IT infrastructure will be worth the wait, the columnist argues. While native encryption is considered more powerful than encryption from a third-party product, the tradeoff is that it also taxes the CPU more heavily. But that’s acceptable to financial services and healthcare companies facing regulatory requirements to lock down all parts of their infrastructure.

vnunet.com: But perhaps not as much as this story’s headline, which conceals an interesting discussion about the resources and computing power needed to crack open even consumer-level encryption for law enforcement and surveillance needs. Indeed, a recent report from an export controls group publicly doubted whether the process for intercepting and decrypting intelligence could be done quickly enough to prevent or even prosecute any misdeeds the communication might obscure. The 128-bit encryption built into most browsers, for example, could take decades to decipher. While that’s great for military applications, the guys at NSA are probably wondering (or cursing) what the Internet hath wrought.

News.com: As part of a 20-city dog-and-pony show, Microsoft's trotted out a series of improvements it has made to its products and networks to improve security. Interestingly, the vendor said its IT group now can veto emerging products that don’t quite measure up and that it has merciless ability to cut off internal users’ access if they don’t follow certain usage policies. The Security Summits explain Microsoft’s use of virtual private networks to contain any virus outbreaks, and its application of encryption to overcome vulnerabilities in wireless networking. Microsoft expects to use the summits to train 500,000 people around the world to better protect their systems.

Enterprise Systems: Procurement is fraught with potential for missteps or overlooking something, and that’s particularly problematic for security-related purchases. Unlike with more commoditized products, IT buyers will want to ask whether a security solution keeps the company safe, as opposed to whether the product has enough of the features desired. The author encourages buyers to look at product design cycles, development cycles, distribution and the vendor’s public track record to assess whether it’s worth doing business together. Unlike run-of-the-mill applications software, security purchases are much more integral to the business, which makes security vendors more than just a source — it turns them into virtual partners.

TechRepublic: Consider yourself warned: Stop rebooting a router or switch every time it has some service-affecting problem. The source may be a huge security vulnerability that can be easily uncovered by using a traffic-logging server. The writer claims the process is both simple and inexpensive and provides very straightforward, step-by-step instructions on how to implement a logging server. Of course, that means someone has to actually read the logs, but the article doesn’t address how to assign that unhappy task. (Free registration required)

Business Wire: Standards body Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) has begun work to improve the security of IP networks, including those handling voice over IP. ATIS said it will look at transport issues, including packet filtering, optical control, lawful intercept and Wi-Fi issues in order to manage security-related services within IP networks. ATIS will also look closely at network address translators, and will hold a symposium this fall to come to some agreement about how to defend against denial of service attacks.

InSourced: Bankers, telephone companies, retailers and technology companies have banded together to fight phishing and establish international standards to protect consumers and businesses from this form of online fraud. The Trusted Electronic Communications Forum includes Charles Schwab, Best Buy, CipherTrust, IBM and AT&T Wireless. While the group plans to research and promote new anti-phishing technologies, it lacks the legal authority to establish any kind of binding standards; instead, it’ll likely trade on its collective commercial might to stem the losses associated with phishing, now estimated in the billions.

Forbes: Under a U.S. Senate bill proposed by Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), cellular carriers will have to get customers’ permission before handing over their mobile phone numbers to a national 411 database. The Wireless 411 Privacy Act comes in response to a plan by the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association to create a directory of wireless subscribers and their numbers by the end of the year, which has drawn the ire of consumers and privacy groups. Verizon Wireless has already opted out of the plan for customer privacy reasons. States aren’t waiting for federal action — there’s already a cellular privacy bill in front of the California legislature.