Assange granted bail

WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange was granted bail yesterday by a London judge, but prosecutors said they will appeal the decision, reports CNet.

In a media-mobbed hearing, a UK judge decided to release Assange on bail of £200 000, on the condition that he surrenders his passport, wears an electronic tracker, provides a UK address, and reports to police daily.

UK prosecutors, acting on behalf of the Swedish government, told the court that they will file a formal appeal within 48 hours. This follows some confusion about whether an appeal will take place, with an ABC News correspondent posting a note on Twitter saying no appeal would happen.

The UK's national security adviser, Sir Peter Ricketts, has warned that government Web sites could become the next target for pro-Wikileaks hackers, says the BBC.

He told civil servants that Web sites used to file tax returns or claim benefits could be the most vulnerable.

So far, attacks from the Anonymous group of “hacktivists” have concentrated on firms perceived to be anti-Wikileaks.

Microsoft has posted its final scheduled security update for 2010, according to V3.co.uk.

The company says the December “Patch Tuesday” release would include 17 bulletins, which address a total of 40 different security vulnerabilities. The bulletins include fixes for vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer, Office, SharePoint and Exchange.

Of the 17 flaws, just two were rated as critical and listed by Microsoft as top deployment priorities. The two critical bulletins addressed remote code execution vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer and the Windows OpenType Font driver component. If targeted, the flaws could allow an attacker to install and execute arbitrary code without user interaction or notification.

The US Army is working on plans to issue every one of its soldiers with a smartphone - either an iPhone, Android device or perhaps even a “Palm Trio” [sic], notes The Register.

However, the Windows 7 was not mentioned. The Army Times reports on the military smartphone plans have been rumbling along for a while now in various forms.

Some US units have been using the ARM-based Land Warrior wearable rig in combat since 2007, which has the same capabilities as a modern smartphone. Other initiatives have seen efforts made to use ordinary consumer hardware backed by military app stores and cell networks.