Coding consortium including Microsoft and Juniper issues guidelines for safer applications
An industry consortium dedicated to assuring the security of software has issued guidelines to lower the risk that vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers will wind up in finished code.
In particular, SAFECode (Software Assurance Forum for Excellence in Code) is addressing how to prevent vulnerabilities that may worm their way in during the Agile software development process.
Agile is a framework for incremental software development by teams that work together in stages called sprints to develop the first iteration of code then revisit it regularly to refine the product based on new requirements and input from users.
SAFECode's new paper (PDF), "Practical Security Stories and Security Tasks for Agile Development Environments," presents Agile teams with a list of specific goals they may be trying to achieve at the outset and tasks necessary to achieve each one. Read more...
Courts OK $4.5B Nortel patent buyout
U.S. and Canadian courts have approved the sale of thousands of patents from bankrupt Nortel Networks to a consortium including Apple and Microsoft for about $4.5 billion.
The purchasing group, which also included EMC, Ericsson, Research In Motion, and Sony, won an auction for the patents on June 30. On Monday, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice approved the deal at a joint hearing. Nortel is based in Mississauga, Ontario. Read more...
Polycom, carriers to tie videoconferencing systems
Polycom, a maker of unified communications equipment, has joined several major carriers around the world to form the Open Visual Communications Consortium (OVCC), intended to make it easier to link one videoconferencing system to another.
By defining a common architecture, the OVCC aims to allow easier collaboration between organizations and their partners and customers who may use different service providers and different brands of equipment.
At its launch on Wednesday, the OVCC was set to include more than a dozen service providers, including Verizon Communications, AT&T, Telefonica, Telstra, Global Crossing, and Cable & Wireless Worldwide. Read more...