LordNikon writes "According to this CERT advisory: 'Full-width and half-width encoding is a technique for encoding Unicode characters. Various HTTP content scanning systems fail to properly scan full-width/half-width Unicode encoded HTTP traffic. By sending specially-crafted HTTP traffic to a vulnerable content scanning system, an attacker may be able to bypass that content scanning system.' A proof of concept affecting IIS is already being posted to security mailing lists. Cisco IPS and other IDS products are also affected." The CERT advisory lists 93 systems, with 6 reported as vulnerable (including 3com, Cisco, and Snort), 5 known not vulnerable (including Apple and HP), and the rest unknown.

Reader Anonymous Coward the younger sends in a link to an article up at Mises.org on the market functions of piracy. The argument is that turning a blind eye to piracy can be a cheap way for a company to give away samples — one of the most time-proven tactics in marketing. The article also suggests that pirates creating knock-offs might just be offering companies market feedback that they ought to attend to. (Microsoft, are you listening?)